weekend update
2005-04-13 - 2:26 p.m.
Sometimes I feel like I'm working in Jumanji. There's endless construction going on in my building, and lately I've been hearing a steady, rhythmic thumping, as though giant drums were beating and calling me to my doom. Today I followed the giant drums (actually, I was just sending off a FedEx package) and discovered the fabled locker room underneath my building. This means I can now go out for a quick run during lunch and shower before coming back to my desk. How groovy is that, kids?
We had an absolutely gorgeous weekend. I did my running on Saturday, then R and I cleaned the house a little and did some dallying in the garden. Sunday we went out and got new running shoes (yay!) and then went to the home improvement store, where I drooled over hydrangeas, bought tomato plants, pansies, seeds (sweet peas, cucmber and basil), birdseed, topsoil, lawn seed, a seed spreader, and other assorted goodies. I proceeded to rip out some bushes and plant my pansies and tomatos and R dug up the lawn is planning on replanting new seed, and perhaps putting in a little pathway to our worms. The wormies are doing extra-well--they're back outside. We're about to start up another layer for them. Unfortunately I don't think we'll get enough castings to really make a difference this year, but next spring should be wild. We are getting plenty of compost tea, which we're using to fertilize the tomatos. The rose that I'd given up for dead around the side of the house has sprung into wild life. Sadly, the hosta I'd assumed was simply dormant for the winter is, in fact, dead. I may get another one, as it did so beautifully last summer (at least, until it, you know, died).
The opera on Friday was less than scintillating. The singing was fabulous, but the music less so, and the staging was obnoxious. There was much with veils and material--to make a long story short, at a crucial point in the action, the audience should not be thinking "Not another goddamn veil dropping down." Plus, for feminist reasons I shan't get into right now, I was really offended at the love story. Joan of Arc was many things, but a damsel in distress and slave to lust was not one of them. I deeply resented the composer turning a strong woman into a dithering girl brought down by illicit love.
Next Saturday E. and I are seeing "Die Zauberflote." I have high hopes--as long as you have decent musicians, you have to work pretty hard to screw up Mozart. I'll let you know how it goes....
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Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction From
the Seraglio).
Which Mozart Opera Does Your Life Most Resemble?
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