Tomorrow is New Year's Day for anyone who has led the academic life and lived by its calendar as long as I did: rehearsals and classes begun, the clock reset, the air cooling off a bit (even here), the sun heading south and, most important of all, the college football season begun.
The first of twelve Holy Saturdays was yesterday and was celebrated in style: applewood smoked bacon ($8/lb. at the Why-Pay-Less Market!!), eggs, reheated french fries, and milk. Now THAT's a communion meal. And to top it off, USC's offense sliced and diced the Virginia defense while their defense took multiple meat tenderizers to the Virginia offense. Ah, joy. Tomorrow, UCLA tries its luck and new coach against Tinnissee (emphasis on the first syllable). I suspect the Pac-10 will not prevail in this case.
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Erin is enjoying her job very much: two good groups to conduct (two others conducted by fine local people), very amenable colleagues, sweet (though conservative) students who love her, a course in diction, three voice students, and a team-taught conducting course. And time to prepare without spending two hours/day on the 91 and 405 freeways.
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This is the first anniversary of this blog, too. Don't know how I feel about it though I gather that a few folks have enjoyed it, my daughters and some former students among them. I guess I'll keep going for a while.
Tomorrow also marks my first full year of retirement, during which I have done little besides cook, read, shoot hoop, lift weights, see my daughters and grandsons a number of times, help manage and answer tidal waves of email for NCCO, move across the country, establish a nice new home, do a boatload of handyman work, manage my retirement fund, keep track of insurance, medical and dental matters, turn 66, do a number of guest conducting and clinical things, and help train a very bright and athletic golden retriever (America's Favorite Dog!). A former student, Buddy James, commented that if a man had a good dog and a good woman (in that order), there wasn't much else he could ask for.
He may be right.
Nevertheless, tomorrow I also get back to writing, which I have not done at all since retirement except in these pages. It will be another book, though the form it will take and when it will be finished is anybody's guess. I need something in my daily schedule besides the YMCA, cooking and dog eliminations. Might as well be a book.
In a couple of weeks I go visit L and L and the grandsons for a week. Double Joy.
Time for another dog elimination.
Happy New Year, y'all.
Bama Boy
