Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Wednesday, June 6th

I haven't decided if I am incredibly busy or incredibly lazy, but one way or another six or so weeks have gone by and I haven't written anything here. It's not that things aren't happening. It's more like the speed with which things are happening is becoming somewhat unbearable. One of the best definitions of aging is the loss of adaptibility to change, whether that be internal or external and that certainly seems to be happening on the external front. On the work side of things, I was faced with a bit of a perdicament after UAB found a large hole in my salary support. Either return back to an assistant professor's salary, or return to my asstistant professor's clinical work load which I had spent years reducing in favor of more academic pursuits. Having bills to pay and things to support, I chose the latter so I am now busier than ever at work and many of my educational endeavors and more academic work is now history. Needless to say, I am not very happy. We shall see what comes next. It's not really UAB's fault. The state of Alabama is so broke that there are no longer dollars to defray the cost of clinicians being faculty. Tommy and I did get two weeks in Seattle with the family. They are all well. My 50th birthday fell during that time so we had a small party with them and a few old friends who turned up as well. We are all getting older together but I seem to be holding together fairly well. Good genes I suppose. Thanks mom and dad. We also got a few days away in Asheville at Biltmore and in Columbia SC with friends. We now have season passes to the Biltmore giving us an excuse to go for the holiday season sometime. If anyone wants to go, we can get them discounts. The massive project for the moment is, of course, 42nd Street which I am directing and Tommy is producing. We're about two weeks into a six week rehearsal period. The cast is progressing nicely in terms of song and dance but we seem to have something in the water when it comes to ensemble. We've lost five since we cast and are running around like crazy trying to find more people to put on stage. At the moment, the requirements are be able to match pitch slightly and be free of major neurologic movement disorders. I think the end result of the show is going to be fine.