1. Waking up at 9, getting to work at 11, going to lunch at 11:45, returning from lunch at 1:30...
2. Getting a FREE pizza at lunch at a kick-ass Roman-Style pizza place. An uberthin red with mushroom and a white with potatoes, rosemary, and pancetta. YUM.
3. Working till 8, apparently. At least when your job includes filming opera stars getting made up, an impromptu backstage tour led by Joyce DiDonato, and talking with Nathan Gunn about Krannert Center. (Did I mention I have a pretty kick-ass job?)
4. When the smoky pink satin jacket you've been eying for MONTHS goes on sale for over $120 less than the original price...even though it's only available in petites (luckily the sleeves are quarter-length anyways, so the slightly shorter sleeves and length mean absolutely nothing).
1. Sometimes a certain special someone calls you nearly two years after the last time and the first time you heard their voice. Just because they want to make sure you don't sound like you're on Jerry Springer. And sometimes that kind of makes your day.
2. True story. I woke up on Emily's couch Sunday morning. I realized that my nose stud was missing. I looked around and couldn't find it in the couch cushions. No biggie. I usually don't sleep with it in as it has the tendancy to fall out and they are super cheap so whatever. An hour later while waiting for the bus I start feeling something in the back of my throat. So I try to hack up and end up spitting out my nose stud. I am guessing it came loose in the night and I sucked it in through my nose and then eventually migrated to my throat. Next time I cough I am hoping to find a diamond ring.
3. Last night was Italian food and Italian opera with Jen. We headed over to Italian Village where I got some yummy seafood ravioli and Reisling and then headed to the Opera! We went to the Barber of Seville which was freaking awesome. The Magritte-inspired sets were amazing. The staging was amazing. Shirtless Nathan Gunn singing Figaro!? Amazing. It was a pretty damn funny opera. If you have never seen it, this video basically sums it up:
4. I want to go to a baseball game here. Seriously, I'd spend $40 a ticket if it meant all I could eat ballpark food!
5. Robert Irvine, star of one of my favorite TV shows was canned for lying on his resume. :( Hopefully they will find a good replacement because "Dinner: Impossible" is one of my favorite shows ever.
"Act 2 is everything you hate about opera: it's too long and you won't understand any of it."
- Director librettist Peter Sellars on Doctor Atomic
Last night Alina and I went to see...
Doctor Atomic at Lyric. I finally got to see Act 2!
After a quick dinner at the Corner Bakery we headed off to the theatre an hour early to catch the director/librettist Peter Sellars give a lecture. I'm glad we caught it because he is an excellent speaker who was very passionate and was very good at defending his work without being defensive. He even flat out told us that the second act was too long and confusing But then went on to justify it (and the fact that the last twenty minutes before the bomb drops takes 40 minutes to portray) without calling us a bunch of idiots for not understanding. I liked that.
The opera was very different, but very interesting. A lot of the libretto wasn't actually written, it was taken from actual conversations and the writings of Oppenheimer's favorite poets (Donne and Baudelaire) and the Bhagavad-Gita (which Oppenheimer had studied) and, according to the director, some of it was taken from classified documents that only very recently became unclassified. Visually and vocally the production was really powerful and beautiful. I wasn't impressed with all of the choreography, but, since I used to dance, opera choreography doesn't usually impress me. But really, opera is all about the voices.
Despite the fact that there was no singing, my favorite part was actually the last few minutes of the performance. It was very subtle, but extremely powerful and suspenseful. Everyone filled the stage, lying in the trenches, slowly staring out, waiting. And the music did all the work.
But...now how will I ever know if Oppenheimer was successful at detonating the atomic bomb?
I got a chance to catch the first act of Doctor Atomic today. Hopefully I will soon get to see the entire thing and find out how it all ends (hehe), but alas I had way too much work to stay for Act II.
Doctor Atomic is an opera portraying the time just before the first atomic bomb is detonated. It was...interesting. It's kind of hard to get used to because it is a modern opera sung in English. So wile basically any mundane daily dialogue might sound beautiful and interesting in say Italian, in English it just sounds mundane. But it was still really fascinating to watch.
Plus, now I have a good idea of what Scotty does in the physics lab all day!
According to the opera, physicists...
- Sing about formulas and nuclear energy.
- Mime putting chemicals into bottles.
- Dancedancedance.
- Ignore their women for their science.
I wish a naked golden man would come up from my fire pit
Monday night Emily and I went to see Die Frau ohne Schatten. It's a four-hour long German fairy tale opera about an empress who ventures to the human world to procure a shadow so that she can bear children. I got an amazing pair of free tix, right in MF1!
The production was absolutely beautiful. I particularly liked the falcon who came down in a big lighted box and when the emperor came flying down on a flying horse. Oh, and the naked golden dude. He was fun. I also liked the falcon's "theme" music, although, sorry Strauss, it kind of reminded me of what they'd play on a very special episode of the Brady Bunch when something is about to go terribly wrong (see episodes 73-75 where a tiki idol Bobby finds in Hawaii curses the family.) (p.s. I should probably be fired for saying that.)
The production was very very long though, and after an eight hour work day it's tough to stay awake. My head was definitely bobbing through parts of it, but I made it through!
Wait, so you're fine with the fact that she can fly but you can't buy that the homecoming game is basketball?
Tonight I went to see The Sparrow with Alina, Joew, and Meredith. Raggedy Andy and Andra were supposed to come too, but dropped out of the party at the last minute.
The play totally rocked my socks off.
It's about a teenager who returns to her town 10 years after her entire class died in a bus/train accident. We then later find out that she can fly and has magical mystical powers.
During intermission JoeW expressed his distaste because the homecoming game they portrayed was basketball and not the traditional football. I pointed out that this he couldn't buy, but he had no qualms with the fact that the main character could fly...
I absolutely loved the show and highly recommend it. I think my favorite part of all was when the guy who eats his tie gets together with the girl who eats her hair. I was gunning for them as the perfect couple from the beginning of the show.
They had very interesting ways of portraying scenery too, like picture framed houses, and they incorporated video. At times it was a bit too Carrie or a bit too Beetlejuice, but who cares. It was awesome.
Still to come this week: Zumanity and Penn and Teller!
1. I still haven't heard whether I have November 30 off of work...I do however have a plane ticket for that morning :-)
2. I am a sucker for guys in glasses. I am tracing this back to the fact that many guys will wear contacts during the day but then have on their glasses right before bed and in the morning, so it automatically gets your mind thinking about sleeping with him.
3. I am so incredibly screwed. But at least after this week I never will feel this way again :-)
4. I really need to stop working and start seeing operas.
Last night I attended my first ever gala/ball. By attended I mean "worked" but let's not get into semantics.
I put on my ballgown and pearls and headed over to the opera house to work the red carpet. I basically followed around a photographer and took people's names so we can try to identify people on Monday. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I was terrified that I would accidentally ask Mayor Daley or the president of some big company that I should recognize their name, but even the people I probably should have known were really great about it...and I think everyone else was happy to give their name.
It was kind of an awesome event to be a part of because everyone was in a tux (or kilt) or cocktail dress or ballgown...and some of them were simply amazingly glorious dresses. We worked the red carpet as people arrived in their limos, and then during intermissions of La traviata (didn't get to see the show though, but got to sneak some of the appetizers).
The opera house looked amazing as well, covered in flowers and pink spot lights. It was gorgeous.
After the second act intermission the photographers and captioners hopped in a limo over to the Hilton for Opera Ball (which, I must say, was the most elaborately decorated event I have ever been to in my life...with large topiaries of roses and crystals and crystaled candles on all of the tables...).
I have decided that I no longer want a wedding, and instead should just throw a ball. It's basically a wedding but with a live orchestra, three photographers, 750 guests... :)
More captioning ensued as guests arrived up the grand staircase to costumed musicians fanfaring their arrivals. But once everyone arrived, we were free!
We watched the dancing to the Stu Hirsh Orchestra (my favorite was matching a man doing some awesome swing dancing...in a kilt) and as all the stars of the opera arrived and as Our general director led a fond farewell to Bruno Bartoletti and introduced a slide show ofSkrebneski photos of him through the years., while dining on lobster, enoki salad, chilled cucumber soup, and some sort of mango spoon...did I mention that was only the first course???
The second course was a cheese-encrusted steak, vegetables, vegetable strudel, and some sort of potato cake. And then for dessert was a giant chocolate nest dome with chocolate marshmallow cake like stuff underneath. yumyum
and yes, yes my coworkers do now think I am nuts because I take photos of all of my food. :)
After that we watched some more dancing, caught up with coworkers, and then finally called it a night. It was a long day but an awesome experience. I mean, how many times do you get to say you've been to a ball??
Except I kept comparing it to RENT because I haven't seen boheme in a long time so was never sure of all of the crossovers.
I cried though, but what doesn't make me cry I guess.
But it is really very good (sorry I am too tired to think of better adjectives).
I woke up at six to get to work an hour early because I had a ton I needed to get done. What we learned today was that when I wake up really early I forget things like how to shower. Seriously I stood in the shower trying to figur out what I was supposed to do. If you were there you'd have laughed at me. I guess you would have also seen me naked (because I at least remembered that step).
The rest of the day...we're not going to talk about that...
p.s. speaking of the south side, I came across this website for the "The Southside Chicago Board of Tourism." I especially like the translator and currency converter...although I would argue that the conversion rate between Bridgeport and Lincoln Park, for example, would be slightly different :)
10:30am - Trapeze Class
Yes, you read that correctly. Trapeze.
It wasn't flying trapeze where you are high up above a net and catch onto other trapezes...it was low(er) to the ground and more like dancing/gymnastics on a trapeze. So I was flipping around and hanging upside down and all that good stuff. Except I kind of suck because I have no flexibility/no upper-body strength/fear of high things. It was still totally cool and I am considering taking more classes in the future.
2:00 - Windy City Wine Festival
After trapeze, I headed over to pick up JoeJoe and Alina to go get some wine. The Windy City Wine Festival was going on, and it was totally awesome. Basically $25 bought you ten tastings, but most of the places weren't too good at collecting the tickets, and they gave out some free tastings at the demonstration area, so I had about double what I was allotted (could have had more if I was less honest/didn't have to work later). We also got a free wine glass, free pasta sauce, a free wine tote, and free roses (guess which color I chose...)
So I had tons of wine. Perhaps my favorites were the PINK merlot, which came in a pretty PINK bottle.
and the wine conveniently just called PINK.
:)
Later we ran into KennyK and Becca, who were also enjoying their wines and were somehow not drooling over the Ferrari like I thought they (OK he) would be.
Alas, after however many glasses of wine I had in three hours I had to leave the festival and cross the winding silver bridge and walk the to-minute walk to work...
5:30 - Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park
The Millennium Park show is a huge free concert event in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. It's a really awesome looking crazy outdoor pavilion with great acoustics. When I got there at 5:30 (2-hours early) there was already a huge line waiting to try to score seats and a pretty good showing on the lawn. And that was two hours early. I ended up helping to man the drop box table, where people could enter a sweepstakes to win free tickets to opening night.
The concert was beautiful and actually flew by considering it was just pieces, and not an opera with a story. And the place was damn-packed.
11:00 - Parts and Labor "Fixed Gear"
After the show...after waiting in line forever just to get INTO the parking lot...after searching around for where the hell section G was...after finding that I had left my window wide open the entire time I was parked...after waiting in my car until someone in line was kind enough to let me back out in front of them...I was off to Charlie's art show.
The show was in the same place that it was last time...which is actually someone's apartment. There was some new work though, and more importantly cheese and vegetables (because at this point, after going all day, working out, wining...I had still only eaten a small slice of pizza).
I hung out with Charlie and Aaron and MikeJ's girlfriend and Charlie's mom (who was totally hilariously basically telling Charlie that she hates all his art work). And then we headed off to the afterparty for a bit, but then I headed home because I needed to find actual food and rest.
1:00 - McDonald's Drivethrough (it was on the way. It was open)
1. Thursday I went for sushi with Josh and Nadia. We were supposed to go to this one really good place but they were packed and had a ridiculously long wait. So we ended up at another sushi place a few doors down. Now, I have a theory here...If you are in Lincoln Park and one sushi place is packed and another is completely empty there is probably a reason... (I probably also shouldn't take restaurant advice from a boy whose favorite restaurant is Tasty Gyro...) We did have an excellent appetizer of teriyaki beef rolls. And I had yummy plum wine. But the waiter was a meany who would not bring me the plaid 3-legged pony I ordered (he said they were all out of the other types of ponies) and who sat on my imaginary friend. Mean mean waiter :(
2. I baked pudding. OK, OK, so you don't really bake pudding. But it counts. I then ate my pudding all alone by myself watching a movie with a former Dawson having a lot of sex. It was an enjoyable movie. The pudding was too lumpy (I am too impatient some times).
3. A horoscope I enjoyed: CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): If you were to get very quiet and tune in to all that's going on around you, you may realize that you're the thought that turns someone's lips into a bemused smile.
4. Yesterday I got a tour of the Civic for the first time. I kind of forgot that there was this whole other part of my company that I've never seen.
3. My other two worlds collide: Spike TV to telecast 4 competitive eating programs this year. (what I find funniest is that everyone's first reaction to me showing them that link is 'there's a website for competitive eating news?'" - yes there is, and I read it regularly)
4. Is it a bad sign that I only realized Lent was upon us by the amount of fish sandwich commercials I've been seeing?
5. My thoughts on Britney. Now, I never particularly liked Miss Spears, but at least at one point she looked like she could have a long future of fame and stardom based, if nothing else, on her looks and sex appeal. At one point though, something happened and she reverted to some white trash backtracking and seemed to be spiraling downwards from there. For those living in a cave, the weekend Britney shaved off all of her hair. I like celebrity gossip the way I like my TV, horribly bad...Personally I don't even get how someone shaving their head has made news for days in a row. I for one completely understand that desire, as I often feel like taking a razor to my scalp when my hair seems like it will never be as nice as I know it could be (but then I come to my senses and realize that I don't want to be bald). There is one thing, though, that really irks me about this story. After shaving her head, Brit went and got herself some tattoos. While I have not seen pictures of them, the description sounds like horrible cheesy straight-off-the-wall flash. Despite the fact that that is bothersome in itself, it is not the point that I am troubled over. In each article I've seen, the tattoo-shop employees are quoted as saying that she looked agitated, distraught, disengaged. That she seemed out of it. My beef with this is that no reputable studio would tattoo someone in that condition. Tattoos are permanent (I guess though that she has enough money to have them removed...). A reputable shop should turn away business to someone who doesn't seem like they are in a coherent state of mind. Heck, even the hair stylist wouldn't touch her locks, and hair grows back (trust me). And that is my celebrity rant of the day.
6. 5 hours of American Idol this week. Heaven or hell?
We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging...
...Yeah, so I've strayed a bit over the last couple days and decided to just post some random snippets of things I work on. I may try to post more of my writing snips just for the hell of it. I apologize in advance...
1. Yesterday I had a nice Valentines treat of seeing a rather depressing opera. It was about a group of nuns who were killed. Despite the fact that it was kind of a downer, it was pretty damn awesome and I highly recommend it. The staging was just beautiful. Go see Dialogue of the Carmelites. Gogogo!
For trying to fool me into thinking it wasn't his b-day, I told him I'd post a naked pic of him online...
:)
So, you know those memory games online? The ones where each time you make a match it will reveal more and more of a picture until you see the whole thing? It's good to know the government computers in the world of 24 rely on that highly sophisticated computer technology :) Seriously, computer programs on television always make me laugh because they are always made to look so flashy when I am sure in real life anyone in that position is just looking at a black screen with a bunch of white 0s and 1s. My favorite are always those programs where with a click of the button it will shave off ten pounds or give them a nose job or something when that takes a ton of time and skill.
Anyways, end rant. 24 is getting really odd and complicated and makes me mad and sad and angry. I need to stick with American Idol :)
After 24 on Monday we watched a new Top Gear, which was pretty funny (except when they showed the huge crash one of them got in) and had JAMIE OLIVER as a guest. Have I ever mentioned here that I am sososo in love with Jamie Oliver??? I love him. I would marry him if he wasn't already married. I own a set of Jamie Oliver pots and pans too. He's so dreamy :)
I also determined that MattyK will get more business if he wears a monkey costume. I swear he would.
My sister officially set her wedding date during Sheboygan Brat Days. No Kobayashi for Val :(
I started mapping out where all the bestest Illinois sites are for a mini-road trip and figure we might be able to do a little loop around the state:
When it's warm, of course. Who's in?
I saw half of Cosi fan tutte today, but was late to the second half :(
"There are four women outside. No, wait. Four women divided by vodka equals two women."
1. So apparently the neighbor who hit my car robbed a White Hen in Western Springs the other day. The police came by and confiscated some stuff from his house, but I guess he is hiding out somewhere and they haven't caught him. I think I should get a new car for that. He could have at least been polite and stolen me a Jetta or something. Hopefully I will have my Saturn back soon.
2. The other day at work I saw the dress rehearsal for Die Fledermaus. It was pretty awesome. A very light opera and very funny. Basically it was about this couple who were both kind of unfaithful, and then as a joke someone sets it up so the wife will witness the husband cheating. And then they drank a lot of champagne. For a better explanation than that, you can click here: Die Fledermaus. What struck me as odd was the amount of spoken dialogue. There was a LOT. And I always thought that opera had no speaking at all ever. Who knew?
3. Yesterday was our holiday party. Yay for free food and wine and meeting people! :)
Fellas, after my experiences today, you're gonna have to do a lot of work to live up to my expectations of what a man should be...
1. JoeJoe, Glen and John
I went to lunch with JoeJoe, Glen, and John because they were all in town at the same time. With those cuties, can it get any better? Damn straight it can!
2. Romeo
After lunch I headed off to the dress rehearsal for Roméo et Juliette at Lyric. It was a really good performance, but was funny because it was a dress rehearsal... Yeah, at the beginning these two chandeliers covered in fabric came down and these guys were supposed to unwrap them. Well, one of the guys didn't make it in time so the chandelier went up leaving a huge piece of fabric draping over the stage. They lowered it later in the scene and got it off finally and everyone applauded. Later they stopped Juliette in the middle of a song and had her start back a bit. Alas that is what dress rehearsals are.
The opera itself was beautiful and those artists are so talented. I cried at the end (UMMM, SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK AND DO NOT KNOW THE PLOT OF ROMEO AND JULIET YET STILL SOMEHOW HAVE INTERNET) because as they were dying they kind of reached their hands towards each other to hold but didn't have the strength to make it. You know, that whole, For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch thing? It was sad. I guess I just have a thing for holding hands. it is one of my favorite things to do if i have the right person to do it with.
3. Bond, James Bond
So, nothing seemed to be going on so I bummed my way into seeing Casino Royale with Andy, ScottyMcHotty, DerekMcHotty (they are brothers so they obviously have the same last name), KennyK (same), Rob, and some other peeps. This is despite the fact that I have only ever seen one Bond movie before all the way through. The movie was really good and entertaining, but it kind of seemed to end like 20 times before it actually ended.
I also am probably the only person who had this problem with the movie because I guarantee a grand majority of the people who read this blog will have no clue what I am talking about. But anyways... this new Bond guy looks so much like Clinton Kelly from "What Not to Wear." I swear. See:
See? Yeah, I am sure you don't and you now think I am even girlier for watching shows like "What Not to Wear."
Anyways, Bond is still pretty damn hawt. And he's got a great body. And he looks like a good kisser. And he is really strong. Mmmmhmmm.
