The Great Balancing Act

If you ever try to write a book, do so when you have no other responsibilities, otherwise you will have to attempt a balancing act to rival any juggler. Today for example I attempted to go to the gym to exercise, see my doctor about my allergies, do some work for my college teaching, get ready for tonight's TV show, write this blog, have dinner with friends, and continue editing my book. Then when I finally got home I downloaded the TV show onto my computer, and uploaded it to Youtube. It is really amazing how a 24 hr day can go so fast. In reality I would rather not have to do so much in a seeming endless procession of what I consider very important activities. Here I am at almost 11 PM and still have a couple of hours of work.

I do not usually get much feedback about my TV shows, but this week had two, one from my friend at the YMCA who finally watched a few videos of Alan's Italy on the Youtube, and my new internet friend who appears to be as big an Italophile as I am. His encouraging words have been very gratifying, and I am pleased to have made a new friend. I also solidified the appt I have with Professor Eve D'Ambra to appear on my show some time during the summer.

The actual broadcast, Alan's Italy Show # 91 - My Favorite Streets of Florence, finally fulfilled a plan I had been honing for two years. Over that time I have compiled hundreds of photos of streets in Florence, eventually narrowing it down to about 150 which I had a great time showing. There were the usual problems. With about 10 minutes into the broadcast Ellen, my engineer, pointed out on the air that my photos were apparently cutting off the bottom of the frames. I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong, and frankly still cannot. I may have to just modify some of the graphic detail along the bottom of the images. Then, being very tired tonight after a long week, and even longer (seemingly) day, I made a few mistakes that I eventually straightened out. I referred to the Church of Orsanmichele as the Church of Ognissanti (one of my favorites in Florence), and was stymied when I looked at the Piazza della Signoria not knowing what the name was. That was really shocking since I have used that name and been on that piazza hundreds of times. You cannot be 66 years old and also try to have a life as full as a 23 year old and get away with not being quite tired. Somewhere along the line, something will suffer, and there it was right on the air. I did have a nice time, and did not let the two flubs affect my overall performance as I just reviewed the broadcast. As I have said many times, we are a down-home informal show and we do our best to create a worthwhile and interesting show for our viewers. If there are bumps along the way, then that's the way it will have to be.

In two weeks we will broadcast a show which I title, Italy, Top to Bottom which will show what Italy looks like from high up on hills, towers, and hotel roofs, a compilation of stunning images of a bird's eye view of Italy.