It’s Monday again, and it looks as if, for a while anyway, regular posts will be here on Monday and the rest of the week you’re on your own. I’m working on that, but making no promises.
We lost Harper Lee on Friday. And then, we learned that we also lost Umberto Eco.
Alan Rickman. David Bowie. Antonin Scalia. Harper Lee. Umberto Eco.
And that’s the short list.
We don’t need to lose anyone else in 2016.
But we do need Donald Trump to lose. And, Bernie for that matter, but I don’t play in those reindeer games. And even though I no longer officially play on the GOP side, I still pay attention and have my opinions.
If you now or have ever in your life considered yourself to be a Republican and/or a conservative, this is required reading.
Go on. I’ll still be here when you get back.
After the South Carolina primary, Jeb Bush bowed out. I said years ago (here and here) that I thought he never should have bowed in. Don’t get me wrong, I respect the man and his life in public service, but I just didn’t think we needed another Bush in the White House. We have more families in this country. And yes, I’ve said the same thing about Ms. Clinton.
The GOP’s best hope now lies with Marco Rubio. Whether or not the collective comes to the same conclusion remains to be seen. The Virginia primary is on March 1.
But enough politics for now.
I took today off to recover from the opening of my current show (details below). It was a great opening weekend. That greatness was interrupted by the fact that I had to drive to Harrisonburg on Saturday for a work meeting. Yes, I’ve tried, but failed, to convince them to meet when the rest of the world does on a Monday through Friday. The meeting lasted two hours longer than it should have and I got home at 6:05 and still had time to change and make my 6:30 call for the show.
But, I didn’t like it. I hate being that rushed going into a performance. Still, it went well, and we have two more weekends.
Tonight I have my first rehearsal for my next play (again, details below). And somewhere in there I’ll learn the music for the Cabaret (do I have to say it? details below).
As I’ve been writing this, I just got a request to offer rehearsal availability for my next performance after my next play (details not below…yet).
Today I’m catching up on professional writing assignments that I normally would have done on Saturday.
Life isn’t normal. Nor is it easy.
I have a whole list of other things I could be working on. A whole list of worries, and plans, and projects.
Usually in times like this I roll back around to one of my favorite quotes:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
That’s really all any of us can do. We take what comes our way and make choices in how to respond.
We can’t make a co-worker not be a jerk. We can’t use an atomic blaster on a goober who cuts us off in traffic. We can’t control the weather.
And we can’t always make people meet on weekdays.
What we can control is our reaction and our attitude.
And we can make choices as to what to do with our time. I made conscious choices to join every performance listed above, and to take every professional writing assignment.
Today, I made my choice to use some of the annual leave that I’ve earned in some 22 years with the Commonwealth.
I’m doing that to focus on the things I can control. And to make sure that the things I can’t control don’t absolutely drive me nuts.
As an actor, I’ll be working to make it look like I’ve got it all together. It’s a balancing act.
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