The Flying Dutchman

I went to another opera this weekend!  I went with a friend who had never been to the opera before, we saw the Flying Dutchman.  The opera was created without an intermission in mind, so it was 2.5 hours of opera without intermission.  I was a little worried about that but the time just flew by!  I was really surprised at how I was so engaged in it!  I mean liked the other two operas I had seen but I don't think I could ahve gone 2.5 hours without a break, but this one was different.  I also really liked the set design and costumes   

Must see video!

So touching, make sure you have a box of Kleenex next to you.

Here's the full version, but low quality:


Here are the 5 individual parts, better quality:

Fun Fun Times!!

I went to a free wine tasting/wine match making with a couple friends today. I can't remember the last time I had that much fun! Before the event, we filled out an online survey about our wine preferences. At the event, everyone got four free glasses of wine, but towards the end of the wine tasting portion they were just giving out wine. They also had hor d'orves, a DJ, and a free random book about relationships and the author signing the book. After the wine tasting portion the DJ continued to spin and there a love saxophonist and room to dance. And all of this was for free!!!!! Granted they wanted to get their label out, but I had an amazing time for free! I think what helped is that everyone was a working professional, not immature undergrads; they were all closer to my age and place in life. I wish I could find events like this all the time :( c'est la vie.

Grubwithus

Earlier this year I signed up with a website, called Grubwithus, where the owners organize meals with various local restaurants and people sign-up to eat with strangers and have great conversation and meet new people over delicious food.  Members can initiate meals too, and meals can have topics/interest groups or they can be general.  You can also use the site to organize birthday dinners where you pay for all the guests or each guest chips in for a guest of honor.  The Grubwithus team works with local restaurants to crete a set menu for the dinner and a set price.  Everything (meal, tax, and tip) are included in the meal price and everything is paid for in advance when you reserve on the site.  If you want to order something extra that is not on the menu, you are charged separately at the end of the meal.  Usually there is a minimum number of attendees (4-5) for the meal to actually happen and maximum number (I've seen as high as 12!).  Your credit card isn't charged until enough people sign up for the meal, and though I've never used this feature, there is a 72 hour cancelation policy incase plans change.  Like Gorupon, Grubwithus started in Chicago and spread throughout the country, and is now also in Vancouver, Canada.

I have only been to four of these meals so far and all of them have been fun.  Tonight's dinner, in particular, was very fun!  Three out of the seven people who signed up were no-shows, but the four of us who did show up had great conversation over yummy English inspired food.  I haven't made any lasting friendships with Grubwithus yet, but I have learned a lot from other grubbers (as users are called) and even dinned with a couple more than once, and I have always walked away throughly loving the experience.  I'm usually pretty introverted and shy and definitely more comfortable with a small group of people I know than at a big party.  I use Grubwithus as a way to force myself into situations where I have to be talkative and extroverted, as well as a way to meet fun to people in my city.  I've become rather bored with my group of friends.  I love my friends...most of the time :) but they don't always want to explore new restaurants like I do, or they want to but don't have the money/would rather spend it on other things.  With Grubwithus I can explore new restaurants without having to eat out alone, I then go and tell my friends about my new find.  Since meals with Grubwithus are usually 2-3 courses and some are family style, you get to try a lot of different foods at one restaurant without breaking the bank...as a graduate student, I find that awesome!  Most meals are in the $20-$35 range total, and I usually just get water to drink so as not to have pay extra.  Some meals include alcohol, and thus are pricier. After meals you are encouraged to keep the conversation going by commenting about your meal on the meal's individual site and on fellow grubber's profiles.

The web-developers have re-designed the site and added features that I find confusing and that clutter the space.  The site has also become increasingly glitchy since the re-design.  Hopefully these issues will be resolved soon.  Surprisingly, the iPhone app works better than the site.

If you want to explore your city and network or meet new people, or even if you just want a night away from your friends, give Grubwithus a try!  I guarantee it will be a unique experience!

Two Foscari

I got student tickets for Two Foscari, and was sitting in the founders balcony, fourth row for only $25!! Score!  I liked this one too even though it was dark for dramatic.  The female lead soprano was absolutely amazing.  I thought Placido Domingo would be more spectacular, but man, can he control his breathe!!  He didn't take a breath for a long time!  The production, scenery, costumes were much more elaborate for this one than for Don Giovanni.  I think having supertitles really helps with enjoying opera; sitting there for three hours without knowing what their saying would be rather tiresome.  I definitely want to try to get student tickets for other operas too. I'de never been to an opera until yesterday and now I've been to two in two days!

Don Giovanni

I went to my first opera, Don Giovanni, today!  I really liked it!  I loved the performers who played Zeralina and Loprello, they were hilarious!  I think it was a good pick for my first opera, it was light and entertaining story.  I got student discount tickets, so I was sitting in the fourth row for only $33!!!  I think I shall see if I can get student tickets for tomorrow's Two Foscari with Placido Domingo.

LOBSTER FEST!!!!!!!

I went to lobster fest today!!!!!  I had a whole lobster, so delicious!  It's funny, I don't like a lot of fish because I don't like having to pick out the bones, but I love lobster even with all the work that I have to put into eating it.  The tail is so tasty, especially with lemon juice and butter *drool*.  The lobster fest reminded me of the Lobsterfest episode of Bob's Burger:






Unfortunately I was not able to find a clip of Bob falling into a huge vat of butter and Hugo, the health inspector, inspecting it and saying, "Yes, there are traces of Bob's hair and skin cells which means the butter is grade D, but it is still suitable for human consumption, except by those with compromised immune systems, the elderly, pregnant women, and children."

Why is Louise the only female character voiced by an actual women???  It does go along with Tina's personality to be voiced by a man, it adds to her awkwardness, but why the others??

In other news: I found three geocaches today!  And two of them had prizes!

Geocaching, letterboxing, and waymarking

Yesterday I tried geocaching for the first time.  It was so fun!  Geocaching is like a treasure hunt using GPS or a GPS enabled device, there is even an app for that on the iPhone app store (the lite version is free and works fine).  People hide the geocache, which can be as simple as just a log book or larger like a Tupperware container with a log book and prize inside, and post the coordinates of the cache online.  You then can download the coordinates to your GPS and start hunting for the cache.  Click here for more details and for the rules of the game.  After finding the cache you record your information (handle, date, a comment about the search) into the log book and replace the cache exactly where you found it.  You then go online and record your find on the cache’s page.  I used to love making pirate maps and "searching for buried treasure" when I was a kid, now I can actually do it without having to pretend I don’t know where I hid something around the house!  Can’t wait to find my next one!  Another nice thing about geocaching is that it’s a cheap (free!!) way to have fun and gives you and your friends/partners something to do when you can’t think of anything else.

After looking into the geocaching community I stumbled upon the letterboxing world.  That’s even more like following a pirate map!  Letterboxing differs from geocaching in that you don’t necessarily need a GPS for letterboxing but you do for geocaching.  Also, in letterboxing you create your own rubber stamp.  When you find a letterbox cache you stamp your stamp into the log book and record the date, your handle, and any comments about the experience, then you take the stamp from the letterbox and stamp it in your own personal log book.  Then you go online and record your find.  I need to make my own rubber stamp so I can get started letterboxing!  Here is a link to letterboxing.

There is a third treasure hunt activity called waymarking.  From what I gather about waymarking it doesn’t sound as much fun as the others.   People select locations/buildings/etc. and post their location online along with any rules, like must take an original picture or something, you then go to that location and follow the rules then post your find online.  There are different categories and each category has it’s own rules.  Here is a link to waymarking, the website is not as well organized as the other two.

Whichever of these three activities you pick, you will have a great time at a great rate (can’t beat free)!

Little J is a little outta her league

I was flipping through channels tonight and came across an old Gossip Girl episode (really old, I mean when Dan and Serena were together...for the first time kind of old).  It was the episode where Jenny steals a Valentino and trades it for a cheaper dress and the gloves come completely off in the Jenny-Blair cat fight part I.  So, watching that episode led me to Googling Taylor Momsen, the actress who played Jenny.  My, my, how Little J has blossomed...into a cheap imitation of a cross between Patti Smith and Country Love!  Her act was so awful I stopped after one YouTube music video and went back to writing my dissertation.  That's right, Taylor Momsen's wannabe act made me go back to my dissertation.  I understand she wants to be seen as a rebellious punk rocker and all.  But seriously!  If you want people to think you don't give a "fuck", as evidenced by your blatant use of the word on MTV knowing full well it would be bleeped out and by your excessive gesticulating and hair flipping, which BTW only makes you seem nervous– the opposite effect you were hoping to achieve, show more confidence, believe your part, and be a little more original, girl!  Pet peeve: singers who use way too much electronic distortion for their vocals, like Momsen.  Courtney Love, although not the best singer in the world, is far better than what I've heard of Momsen for the simple fact that she is not addicted to computers for fixing her voice and instrumentation like is Momsen.  And Patti Smith is Patti Smith, 'nough said.  With both Love and Smith you can hear and feel their state of mind at the time.  Whereas Momsen's makes me think of Rosie...yes, two Jetsons references in one day, I guess I'm going to need to YouTube me some Jetsons before bed.  Sorry, Little J but everyone knows there's only one Patti Smith and only one Courtney Love in this world.  XOXO

Relax...

I had a wonderful day at a Korean spa today, my second time at a Korean spa, though I had been to Japanese and American ones before.  I thought it was really interesting, culturally, that Korean teenage girls would go there with their friends and bring their books and homework and study in the mineral rooms together and chat and just hangout.  I also saw a group of five American early-20 something women in the spa area just hanging out and chatting.  Made me miss my friend that I went to Japanese spas with.  The Korean spa was same sex for the spa, shower, and body scrub section and coed for the mineral room, computers, library, and restaurant section.  There were private rooms for the massages and there was also a hair/nail salon.  There were a lot of families there, unlike the other Korean spa and the Japanese and American ones I had been to.  It was nice to see the families there together, parents, children, and even grandparents; it looked like it bred togetherness...a family that bathes naked together, stays together 0_o

Wow! 10 months since my last post!

I can't believe it's been 10 months since my last post!  That's pathetic!  I WILL get better at this!