Off to italy

After extensive fun times with Madaline, I am now off to Italy for 6 weeks. Hopefully, I can dig up something good this year, but it will be great food and drink in any case. I'm hoping my smartphone will work properly over there this year, so we'll see if I can give some degree of updates - who knows. I hope to have trips work out where I can meet some friends in Siena one week and then hang out with Peter W and his wife one weekend at their villa on the Bay of Naples - it will depend on their schedule. Should be fun if it works out. I hope everyone has a great summer!

In a Cycle of Entertaining Activities

most of the month has been spent in an intense cycle of entertaining activities with Madaline. Had her 12th birthday yesterday at Disneyland. It should be memorable for her and stand out from other birthday's for years to come. It seemed an appropriate place to have her final childhood birthday there with the next few being the teenage years - hard to think about for me. In any case, she was very happy. the last 3 weeks have been filled with Universal Studios, museums, time at the beach, Medieval Times this last Thursday (our knight incompetently died early in the show - Madaline thought I could take them all with my battle axe when I was still in my prime), tomorrow we go down to the wild animal park outside of San Diego and possibly the zoo as well. Should be fun. I hope everyone is doing well.

Heart like a Racehorse

Cardiologist decided today my heart was functioning within normal operating parameters and was rather large like that of a racehorse (not the roided up ones) with good bloodflow and oxygenation levels. Anomaly spotted on tests was likely a genetic issue from my grandfather that causes EKG rythms to read different. Prior chest pain was apparently pleurisy where fluid builds up in lining of chestwall to cause stabbing pain with each breath. Lots of antibiotics and pain meds, but I'm much better now. On a good note, I will fly Madaline down here soon to have fun for 3 weeks before I go to Italy to dig on July 6th. Lots of SoCal fun with Madaline before my dig. In addition, Peter and his wife said last night I could go down and visit at their villa they own just outside of Pompeii on the Bay of Naples. That should be real nice. Now I've got to grade some bad papers for tomorrow.

Here's a blog I posted as a comment - sorry

I'm absolutely hammered right now having gone to a nice dinner in an exclusive cigar bar in Beverly Hills with P. Weller (Robocop), followed up by more martinis and 18 year old scotch at a bar in Westwood. I have to teach a section at 8am, but it is good to have cut loose for this evening. It is still weird being in LA with people like Jessica Simpson's dad next to us in the bar = less than impressive on that note. I've been dealing with a variety of issues lately and I have to see a cardiologist tomorrow (hopefully I'll live), but I've fully embraced the motto of live in the now and screw the future. Academics take themselves way too seriously and don't realize they are irrelevant to 99.99% of the population. It was good to see Cabiria yesterday and have a good lunch together. She said all of you seemed to be doing well. I do miss the close-knit nature of past years, but I am adapting to LA lifestyle. TV show is going well and I am off to Italy soon for the summer. Sorry my blogs have been non-existent, but here is one. I'm off to sleep it off.

Early Version

Here's how I pay the bills now. Historicity is becoming more difficult in this show, but I'm willing to take cash over preserving academic integrity in the midst of this economy. I have hopes it can be entertaining while still being informative of a long-lost time when it was honorable to be badass; a less hypocritical moral system than we are stuck with nowadays.

Random Airport Blog

I have a few minutes before my flight leaves SeaTac to return to SoCal after a week with Madaline. I have resurrected my laptop after an untimely death earlier in the week that has caused me to fail behind. I was actually assigned a weeks worth of Greek translation that is due by 2pm tomorrow on the first day of the quarter. Needless to say, I am less than pleased with such a heinous situation. I'll probably have to stay up much of the night to start the quarter - how lovely. In any case, everything else progresses, despite the snail's pace. I'll be happy to get the summer in Italy again as it is the only time I can recharge. I'm supposed to make it back for my big high school reunion, but the dates look like I might still be in Italy. Such is life, and Italy is the better situation, but the reunion would have been comical if nothing else. We'll see how it goes. TV show is going off it's own way, but the checks keep coming. I'll likely have to slap a historical disclaimer on my involvement, but I'm content to prostitute my academic soul for money. Be well - I'm off to the plane.

Holding Together

Forgive the lack of blogging. I no longer have the mental energy to compose my moderately entertaining blogs as I used to. My brain is on cruise control with all focus dealing with my present schedule. I no longer have the invested emotion necessary to comment on society's absurdity, the ridiculous political environment, or the economy. Thus, my blogs will be boring for awhile - until I have a renewed sense of vigor and recover my active contempt for society. Right now it is passive contempt that lacks an appropriate edge worthy of TIS blogs - hence, no blogging. On a better note, I had a nice respite last week when my daughter came down to stay with me for awhile. We had fun and she really enjoyed herself. She was able to attend a lecture on Egyptology that she loved. We did lots of shopping at a variety of malls, she happily splurged with my studio money. I felt like we were trying to stimulate the economy all on our own, but it was good overall. She is doing well enough and that is pretty much all I care about anymore. Everything else in my life has faded away at present and I find myself simply going through the motions to advance to the next stage of my academic situation. I've already been in my present phase too long, I'm pretty much functioning as an academic robot until i can get to Italy this summer. It appears to be 95% viable, but it is still dependent on student commitment to provide the necessary funding. Hard to say in a bad economy, but it looks good so far. I need time in Italy to recharge. I didn't realize how important it was until last year. Hopefully it will work out. I hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to muster the energy to blog more, but we'll see.