The Opera!

Last night I decided it was high time I hauled my butt out of this house. In the last week I think I've been home every night by at least 7pm, playing the "I'm too sick to venture out" card. My friend EE is in an opera (Egisto), and she (FINALLY) remembered to call and tell me about it, and it just so happened that I had Saturday free. Excellente.

Of course the weather last night was monsoon-esque. I don't think I've ever seen that much rain fall all at once......ok, so I have seen that much rain fall at once twice, once in Costa Rica, the night we went to Costa Verde and it thundered and lightning-ed and rained so severely I thought the taxi was going to drive off the road, and once in Kenya, when I had to stay in my banda even though the whole school was in the chumba because it was too dangerous to make the 20 yard dash to another building, given the severity of lightning. In both of those cases, however, the rain was very much that equatorial rainy season effect, where it pours for a little bit then stops. It had been raining here for 24 hours straight, with increasing severity. Around 4pm I had noticed the wind picking up too. I didn't have to leave at 6:30, so I figured maybe the rain would let up. Ha ha. It did not let up, in fact, it worsened, and with the wind whipping across the highway, there was water everywhere. I literally thanked God several times for giving me the sense to get a pair of glasses - I think I would have had to turn back and stay home without them, as I could not see well at night, but rain exacerbated the vision problems. I felt invincible with my glasses on. Grr! Anyways, I somehow managed to avoid all the flooded potholes (I saw 7 cars with flats) and made it to JP to pick up my friend Rachel.

The opera was at an older theater in Boston that is right smack in the theater district. There's something about going to the theater in Boston that's distinctly special to me. I suppose it's because the city itself is so old, and I think of the old Boston money that used to go to the opera and shows and such. Perhaps it makes me feel worldly, LOL. Of course then there is the whole element of actually knowing someone in the show. That makes me feel SUPER-WORLDLY. I'm like "oh yes, and the role of Hero is actually played by my good friend and collegemate. yes, indeed, it is fabulous" *sticks nose in air* Tee hee.

Of course EE was incredible. I mean, she sings amazingly well, but when she is on stage, she brings her dramatic flair in a way other singers just...don't. I don't want to sound bitchy about that because the singing last night was absolutely fantastic. It's just that the acting is sort of flat sometimes, but in a way that you overlook because it obviously eclipsed by the singing. I can always tell my friend apart from the others by the expression and body movements on stage though. You can tell she has a crapton of acting training, which I can't explain in great detail because it's kind of vague to me exactly what she can do (but she did take stagefighting. ARGH!) but let's just sum it up by saying she stands apart. When my sister and I saw her opera scenes that was one of the first things Amy mentioned. She puts her heart into the role. Anyways, last night EE was playing a heroine that died for love. I imagined this as a sort of romantic and angelic role, but you can imagine my surprise when she appeared in the second act, dressed like this, holding cupid captive in chains.

(this is hijacked from someone's facebook, heh heh heh)
Elizabeth is secnd from the left (the hot one, though she has an "I smelled a fart" face in this pic, ahahahahha) Anyways, the costumes, as you can see, were great. Very sparkly, for which an opera novice like me has a special appreciation. There were also men in gold sparkling hotpants. Excellent. And the sets were fabric, and therefore GORGEOUS. Oh, and did I mention that knowing a cast member means that you get free tickets and amazing seats? Hhahahah there's that perk as well.

Anyways, seeing the opera last night reminded me of Elizabeth's recital in a month's time. I can't wait because I haven't really seen my friend sing alone for an extended period since we went to Smith. It's also sort of my bday weekend (I guess?) and while I don't really have anything specific planned (dinner with Jam and maybe something else) it's just going to be an all-round fun weekend with lots of friends near and great entertainment :D Yay.

Well. Clearly that is what I needed. A fun night out with friends to put me back to right. Though I think I terrorized them with my driving. Though Elizabeth and Rachel seem slightly more acclimated to it, since Elizabeth just says "Go, Crosby, Go!" Her mom was more like "um so have you been in an accident with this car?" (I forget how scary the front seat can be) I wanted to say "Not recently" but I didn't want to scare her, hahahaha. Now I have to finish up my paper before going to a candle party. We had one here last month, so now we get to go to all the parties people scheduled through our party. The candles are somewhat pricey, but I figure it's most likely a short-lived obsession as the PartlyLite hostess (who is so great) is moving to Australia in June!!
Now I'm rambling. Sigh. Back to the Congo Basin Forest Partnership!