I was checking the DVD of Rollerball (the original) while doing a bit of score reading. (The opening theme is the Toccata from J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.) The arena announcer opened the game with "Welcome to Houston, the energy city." I don't remember ever hearing that line before, nor do I remember Houston being known as an energy city back in 1975 (when the movie was made). Funny how aspects of that movie were a harbinger of things to come, particularly with regards to large multinational corporations (such as Enron) controlling massive sources of energy.


It's appropriate to think of the US energy situation in the wake of the Northeast power outage. I haven't followed much of the details, but it seems we have a lot of work to do so that a fire in one plant does not wipe out a quarter of the country. Will it be possible to get this work done, or will politics get in the way, as they did in California, leading us to our own energy shortages a couple of years ago?


My sister feliz129 who lives in NYC and my aunt who lives in Buffalo made it through the power outage ok. I was very young during the 1965 power outage, and don't remember much of it, but I think the apartment we lived in had its own power source. I vaguely remember seeing no lights looking out of the window across the LIRR railroad tracks that separated our apartment complex from the surrounding neighborhoods.


I was actually productive today -- I swept leaves off the patio, cleaned the toilet, and took care of some other household errands. However, I don't really feel like I've accomplished very much in general. Part of it is because there are still a lot of uncertainties around work. I wish the projects could be structured better so I could have more of a sense of completion of a task, rather than having things continually open-ended. It's this aspect of work that forces me to put other parts of my life on hold. (Granted, at least I'm working.)


Reading some of ambar's postings about going back to vet school reminds me of how I felt about ten years ago, excited about the prospect of (possibly) going back to school to study music. I decided not to do that, and it was probably for the best, because I realized many years later that what I was looking for professionally was a situation where I had peer-level respect and recognition. However, sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to just focus on music for a few years. That's one drawback to my current job situation -- when there is a need for extra work (and there often is), I have to put stuff like piano, chorus, and/or dancing on hold. Every job has its share of problems and required overtime, but it seems to me that we should be able to plan projects so that sort of thing is minimized.


I guess I better stop writing and get in some practice time.