It did have to be said!

Small bump in salary and huge increase in workload should be reversed, dammit. I mean, vice versa, not undo it. I hope it does settle down at some point, that doesn't sound like something you should be trying to keep up longterm, if you can avoid it.

Oops, wandered off to do laundry instead of hitting post...

Every week I think, "Well, next week it'll settle down a bit," and then the next week it does the opposite.

Here's hoping next week is The Week!

Oh, I'm not even kidding myself about this coming week. There are still the medical staff and medical group applications to complete, and in the process of doing one of them I found out that one of our faculty was never registered with Medi-Cal, which means he also isn't registered with Ca Children's Services, the second of which I'll have to do but can't until someone else, who should have done it long ago, does the first.

And the new chief is spending 10 hours a day in the OR and we're trying to squeeze meetings and more faculty candidate interviews and sessions with all the CMOs of all the local hospitals in around all that, and I'm pretty sure that his predecessor's assistant is going to be sacked and I feel ill for her, and anxious, and guilty, even though it's in no way due to me.

But it does feel good - weird, but good - to be supported at work. Everyone's happy with what I'm doing, and I didn't even ask for the two raises (I was going to, but hadn't yet, when they happened) but someone else went to bat for me and pushed them through. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but also thinking of a song I heard once long ago called "Sometimes There's Only One Shoe."

I'm glad that you are supported and appreciated at work, JZ, and also yay for the raise! I'm sorry about the extra stress. I hear you about not having much time to connect. I feel like that's been happening a lot for me, too.

Bonus for getting to the airport early: I ran into my hairdresser (and owner of my hair salon) who had just missed her flight, and she treated me to a massage at one of those airport express spas! So now I feel awesome!

JZ, I'm happy for the good, and sending slow-down vibes to the overmuch. Your presence is missed.

Is Dana around? Kind of specific-ish question for her, or anyone else who can guestimate.

How low a number of voices for the Barber Agnus Dei would still be effective in a 2-3,00 seat space with good acoustics, or decent mics and sound system? How many would be optimum?

But it does feel good - weird, but good - to be supported at work.

If you didn't have this, I'd be concerned, but it sounds like you're developing a relationship with your new boss where, at some future point, you can tell him that the amount of work you have is too much for a mere mortal.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but also thinking of a song I heard once long ago called "Sometimes There's Only One Shoe."

I will paraphrase something that Nanita posted on Twitter and say that maybe everything awful that came before at your job was the other shoe?

I don't think I'm getting on a plane again for a whole 4 or 5 weeks, so I should come over sometime with alcohol and celebrate that fact that you saw an actual person who wasn't a coworker or a family member.

How low a number of voices for the Barber Agnus Dei would still be effective in a 2-3,00 seat space with good acoustics, or decent mics and sound system? How many would be optimum?

A capella? You better have a fucking good choir. (I assume this is an imaginary choir.) For that piece, I think it's up to eight parts, and you'd want at least four people on a part, so minimum of around 30-ish? I mean, there are probably groups that could do it with fewer people, but I'd want four on a part.

Yeah, thanks! For this hypothetical choir in a hypothetical Wait Chapel (WFU, Winston-Salem), a friend was insisting two people per part would be fine, since the hall is relatively small. Yes, in floor space. It's cavernous, though. I was thinking more between thirty and fifty, the larger the number, the better. Two people per part would be too intimate--I don't even know if they could successfully sing the piece. Thanks!

That piece has really long lines and not a lot of time to breathe.

I am on a transit adventure because of construction. Eventually I will find my way to the Target.