Gone but not forgotten...

I apologize to My Beloved Bloggie for such serious neglect...I don't know what's the matter here, I just get all wrapped up in stuff, have the best of intentions...and yet...not a post to be had! It's downright embarrassing. So let me just update a few things such as listing some things that I've done - good and bad - to get you educated about the most recent version of ME. Today I am middling good. Hey, it's Monday, I don't want to push it...I don't know why I wrote that, I don't actually mind Mondays. I've always liked them because they are a little mini tiny recurring weekly new year's days - a good day to start things, stop things, begin anew, make promises you won't keep, forswear oaths you have no intention of honoring, setting out on quests to find holy grails, all sort of things can happen - and only on Mondays. The other days of the week just don't have that significance for me. So. That being said - HAPPY MINI NEW YEAR!!!! WOO HOO!!!

So the Opera in HD that I went to last Sunday was good - not great. I think seeing it live would have been great, but the film experience just isn't the same and the set and costumes and such were so dramatically awesome, I think the only way to really capture it is a live show - it's just like when they show Cirque du Soleil on Bravo, it's not breathtaking at all to watch on TV. It's cool and pretty, but there's something to be said for live performances of anything - theater, music, opera, ballet -doesn't matter. I think the whole vibe is different, you are using all of your senses and there most definitely is a mob mentality - I mean that in a good sense, not the scary riot and violence sense - but there's an excitement to a live show - like watching the Mets on TV versus being at the stadium - you know, the roar of the crowd and all that.

But the coolest part was the first act which had the Rhinemaidens, the Sirens, in these water cages and this giant gold fetus in the background which would sometimes switch to having this weird Gollum like lizard face and I found that fascinating and terrifying all at once - very nightmarish. Now the gold fetus reminded me of these little cute fat Buddha figurines I have here on my desk at work:

Plus, can I tell you, I found my people at the showing of this film - Opera People HATE noisemakers. And I HATE noisemakers. It was the quietest film I've ever been too, if someone just whispered or unwrapped her cough drop (wasn't me), you were promptly reprimanded with a loud and miffed "SHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

But it was still a very pleasant Sunday afternoon and then I walked and walked the west side which I rarely visit and it's odd for me to do so - I used to live up there and that was my neighborhood sort of when I went to college - we'd walk down as far as 72nd Street or to the park. And it's odd for me because it all seems so long ago - that was a different life - that used to be my grocery store, there's Mitchell Liquors (ha ha), there's the Barnes and Noble I was always in, I used to eat there all the time, or get coffee over there, hey there's no more Royal Canadian Pancake House, oh there's Harry's Shoes. And it made me find my Cultural Event for this weekend which was also at Symphony Space. I saw Man on Wire - the documentary about Philippe Petit, the guy who walked on the high wire between the Twin Towers and I oh so highly recommend seeing this - he's just this charming little elf pixie of a Frenchman, a very magical and funny character and the film is done as if they are describing how they pulled off a bank heist so it's got some drama to it even though you already know he pulled it off successfully. But it's funny too and just a well-told story and I've had a slight fascination with him ever since I heard him on "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" late last year. Here's a fellow blogger's review that I found - he has some good stills from the film, as well as the trailer:

http://lukeford.net/blog/?p=8020

And now I bring you a list of current obsessions and likes:

1. Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR

2. Car Talk on NPR - yes, I agree, I think I've become an NPR geek. I have absolutely zero interest in cars, but they are so funny and their nonstop laughing at their own jokes or at their own expense always makes me feel good and I find that I typically catch the Giggles from them.

3. Beef barley soup for lunch on Wednesdays only (the only day the soup place makes it!)

4. 3 Current Earworms - Black Cab and The Opposite of Hallelujah by Jens Lenkman and The Rising Tide by Sunny Day Real Estate.

5. Frozen peaches

6. 1 tablespoon of molasses dissolved into a cup of boiling water - an old herbal remedy that's supposed to give you some vim and vigor. Snake oil or not, it's a very soothing drink and I always feel better after sipping some.

7. The Joanne Harris book I bought yesterday "The Girl With No Shadow" which is the sequel to Chocolat, one of my very favorite books, and which I cannot seem to put down but want to make it last so I need to read this in doses only.

8. Eel rolls and seaweed salad for a special treat lunch..eel makes me electric! And as I joked to my mother, if you get near me after eating it, I'll demagnetize all your credit cards...I won't embarrass her by telling you whether or not she believed me.

9. Dead Poet's Society...this was on TV a few weeks ago and I'd forgotten how much I love this movie - I have it on DVD, I should make it a point to watch it more often.

Hmmm, well that' s all I can think of to say to you ... but see what happens when I don't write a thing here, I go CRAZY and it all comes tumbling out...I swear (see, there's that Monday Making Promises thing I wrote about up above) to be a better correspondent.

Girl Scout Honor.