Lament

I don't think I mentioned that I pulled out the cart and did one more 'last' dog and pony show last Thursday night.  It was a drivable distance and I had been hired on two years ago, so I sort of looked forward to it as a mini return to lecturing and teaching, but not on anywhere near the scale of 'BR'  (Before Retirement) about 5 years ago.  The problem was that I was living in two places and the 'stuff' I needed at any given time was always in the Other Place-  and a roundtrip plane fare from FL to MA (or the reverse) sure eats into any monetary gain, certainly not something I can smack the hiring group with.  In addition, I had a couple of harrowing experiences, the details of which I will only discuss in person (so ask when you see me!).  

Yeah, I have stories that will curl your hair-  look what it did to me.  Anyway, I hated the preparation days, the packing, the foreseeing-every-circumstance mindset, the icky white foods, the lumpy beds, and worst--- sharing a bed with someone's cats.  Oh yeah, and then there is the returning home, the sitting like a zombie for a day, the unpacking and returning it all to it's rightful spots.  So I decided that the time I actually spent teaching was profiting me at the princely sum of about fifty cents an hour and therefore time to move on.

So today I was riding up to the New England Quilt Museum with  an old friend and I was telling her about the group last Thursday night.  I had to recreate the whole slide show, pray that my projector bulb would last, roll up and maneuver a log of ten quilts down the stairs and around the building into the car, drive almost 90 minutes through peak traffic.  She asked me if I have done a Power Point presentation this time and of course I haven't.  For one thing I am not marketing myself any longer, and for another it seemed silly to spend the time climbing that steep learning curve when there wasn't much call for the reluctant Dinosaur any longer.  

So, I am asking you all who teach, have you done a PP presentation or are you still mucking along with
borrowed projectors and carousels that eat every third slide?  Do you have any issues with the availability of PP equipment at different venues or do you drag it along with you?  What else do you do with it besides hold an audience captive for an hour?  In other words, give me a reason to build a show that doesn't involve travel!  Huh?  Got any?  I am disassembling the carousel and putting the slides away for permanent vacation tonight-  I was quite distressed at how dated it all looked after not having seen it for maybe five years.  Sigh.  I need to move on.