The Last Dance

... well, hopefully not the last dance... but V and I did wrap up our private dance lessons last week. We had 3 lessons compliments of a Groupon deal that I scored for our anniversary back in December. It was fun while it lasted and, as V likes to point out, it at least guaranteed that we had a date without kids every other week for about a month and a half. I can't say that we're ready for primetime just yet, but I did enjoy sharing in something with her that I know she loves to do but got away from. Now we just have to find a Groupon that'll force us to practice at home before I forget all of my new fancy footwork.

Oh, by the way, check out the 17-week baby bump in full effect. V has officially broken out the maternity gear.

Bacon Makin'

Evidently this recession knows no bounds, as even 3-year-olds (Justin in particular) have been out of work for months at a time (if only we could figure out a way to get some unemployment checks coming his way). But alas, we got an email from his agency, and Justin was back in the zone.

I've gotta say... this kid loves the spotlight. It was easy to be nonchalant about his experiences when he was doing this at 1 and 2 years old since he probably didn't even get it back then. In fact, chances are, he probably doesn't even remember those first few jobs. But he gets it now. He gets television. He gets that he's pretending. He gets that we're squeezed into a really tight room with 2 other people on the set and about 18 other people watching him. And he so obviously loves it.

They did about 6 or 7 takes... none of which started before 10:15 pm, despite a call time of 3pm... but that's a whole different blog entry... one that would be written with a very disgruntled undertone. Anyhow, the first take was uneventful... but by the third or fourth take, he had obviously gotten too comfortable. "Justin the actor" had left the building, and "Justin the clown" was in full effect. Improvisation and the quest for laughs had begun. And as I watched from behind the camera, I thought... how in the world did an introverted math geek produce such a ham? But then I had a flashback to grades 1 through 5... and there I was, in the back of the room, paying the teacher no mind whatsoever. The consummate class clown. Genetics are a funny thing.

"Rob... that was good... but I want you to deliver that

last line with more emotion next time."

"Good job with the lighting, Teddy. Hey, tell the fam I said hello."

Quote of the day:

Earlier in the day, we prepped Justin for his role and explained to him that he was going to have a pretend mommy and a pretend daddy in the scene with him. On the way to the shoot, he told me in the car, "tell them that if I'm going to have a pretend mommy and pretend daddy, that they're going to need a pretend Jasmine, too."

Silver Lining

Friday's message from the Dean:

Congratulations! Your requests for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor were approved by the Board of Visitors today. Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your work on behalf of our students and to encourage you to continue your efforts to help our students be more successful.

________

I guess last week a good week, after all. Tenure... Promotion... Department Chair... Hey... two out of three ain't bad! If this was baseball, I'd be a rockstar.