Landlords and other such annoyances

So, for the most part - I have never had an issue with renting vs. purchasing a house. Will we own one someday? Sure. But we've had some decent luck with landlords; there was really only one (in Potsdam, of course) who was a real douche.

The people we rent from in Denton have been getting on my nerves more and more consistently. About 2 years ago, we had a tree in our front yard that had some dead branches, so we asked them to have someone come and trim them so they didn't fall on the house. We come home one day a week later, and the ENTIRE TREE is gone. We called the office, and let them know - and their response was "Oh well, we told them only branches - but no big deal". Well, now we have a big ol' stump sitting in the front yard and our electricity bill is $40-50 higher in the summer because there's no shade on the house any more. Then there was the issue of the A/C - it would limp along, break down 2-3 times a summer. They kept telling us it was fine, and that it was normal for people to set their house temps to 80-85 degrees or so in the summer. Well, it turns out the repair guy they had was full of shit, and they finally replaced the unit this year after it broke down again and I bitched about it to the owner. What do you know? It keeps the house at about 75* on the hottest days of the summer.

Today, I am sitting around doing nothing because they've decided to have annual appliance checks. Of course, everything works fine. If it didn't WE WOULD TELL THEM. We get a form letter addressed to "Resident" (I've only rented from you for 8 years - its so hard to look up my name, right?) telling me they would be here between 9-5. So, yeah. Day wasted. Thanks a lot.

Bleh

I don't post as often enough as I should because I find myself lacking anything of meaning to say; I wonder if its the same way with most people and blogs - I've set the expectation up that I am going to "change the world" (whatever that means) and if I don't have anything,I just don't write.

Of course, the point of a blog doesn't have to be that way - in fact, I'm pretty sure no one reads this anymore, so it really serves no purpose for anything but to entertain myself. With that in mind, I should be writing more. When I put ideas down on paper, it seems to reduce my stress level a bit. This is good - it seems like my stress level has been high for a while now.

So, minutiae in my life:

I just turned 30. It wasn't really stressful at the time. Every so often now, it creeps into my head that I am 30 and I am still not working in my chosen profession for a salary (there's the theater stuff I do, but that doesn't pay - hence no salary). That seems to send me into a bit of a spin, but I also am coming to the realization that I can only apply for jobs as they come. I cannot create jobs, nor can I make jobs magically appear. Doesn't lessen the stress about the situation, but it puts it in some sort of a perspective.

One of the benefits of turning 30 was that my parents decided to give me some money for my birthday, and I ended up buying a new laptop; it was needed, I loved my old one, but it was not only old - but it was just getting warn down. It got me through most of my Master's degree and all of my Doctorate, so it served its purpose. The new machine is a Gateway (as was the old one, I really like the product they make) and it came with Windows 7 Home Premium. I love it. Its everything that Vista was not, and has been very easy to get used to.

My theater life has been interesting in itself - I'm finally on a break, which has been fairly refreshing. Since January 5th, I chained together 4 shows, with the first 3 coming back to back to back (there was a whole 2 weeks between shows 3 and 4). It was mostly fun, I got to work with some fantastic people and meet many new ones. It also gave me a little perspective on my place (or lack thereof). I will admit, I've been spoiled by a few close friends in various productions, but it seems like the reality is that most people don't give two real thoughts about the music director; in the end, it seems that as long as the director and choreographer is good then the rest doesn't seem to matter. I'm not going to sit here and lie to myself and say that this doesn't matter - it does. But, I can't do anything to change it. I can't force people to like me, nor can I force people to audition for things I am a part of when the rest of the team is undesirable. I guess the reality is I am in a position that is seen as a nice bonus - if the music director is good, great. if not, then they'll work around it.

In the end, I need to stay true to myself as a musician and a person - something I've fought very long and hard to accomplish. If that results in people feeling like their time was wasted, then so be it. I will not compromise myself because some people have unrealistic images of themselves - all that matters is what goes on that minute, during that day, during that audition. If you think that is irrelevant because of your hopes or intentions - and consequently speak ill of me because of it - then you need to look closely at exactly why you choose to associate with me, because if you want me to acquiesce because "we're friends", then we're not really friends; you don't respect me.

Wow, now I've gone off and ranted - for no particular good reason. But I feel better. I won't lie - some of my fondest memories of Denton have come in the theater - but so have many of my most stressful moments. I'm still taking gigs up here; who can really abandon their "home"? Its my base of integrity - everything I've worked on to make myself a better director is here, and to abandon it would be morally wrong. But I am also actively looking outside of Denton for shows to work on. Why not? It would be nice to work with larger organizations, and there is always the possibility of getting paid. There are so many shows I would love to do, but it seems that Denton could/would never produce them... so I need to find a place that will have me that can/will.

Finally, total topic change: I need new books to read. Any ideas?