Shining Star

I have had a headache and nausea since last night, but the worst part is that it's not an uncommon feeling for me to have. This fact combined with the episodes of House that I watched yesterday has of course led me to one inevitable conclusion: I have a rare form of brain cancer caused by any injury to my head when I was 14. That, or the fact that I'm now drinking caffeine-free Coke is starting to catch up with me.

Let's see, my adventures since my last post. I saw the dress rehearsal of Opera Boston's Der Freischütz at the Majestic Theater, courtesy of Adrienne and her new-found office assistant powers therein. I very much enjoyed the show, my first opera in German. The description on the website overviews it thusly: "To win a marksmanship contest and the hand of his beloved, a young ranger makes a deal with the dark side. From its famous overture to its exciting conclusion, Der Freischütz is a seminal work of German Romanticism."

So basically that means there were many rousing beer hall-like chorus numbers, women in Bavarian beer maid costumes, mysterious walk-on appearances by the Devil, magic silver bullets, a dream sequence, and lots of crazy lighting. However, nothing compares to the moment that a mounted deer head nearly fell--antlers first--onto the male lead in Act II. Apparently in opera, dress rehearsals are actually what they sound like: rehearsals in dress. The lights weren't finalized and so kept changing constantly, stage hands made a few appearances to adjust prop placements, and of course there was the "OSHA no-no" (as it was labeled by Adrienne's boss) with the antlers. I think I actually enjoyed it more this way, because it reminded me of how everything on a stage is the result of a long process and a lot of work by many, many people. Plus, the opera itself was awesome.

Of course, since I was at the opera, I didn't play kickball that night or watch the last presidential debate. But as I heard it from people who did do those things, both were kind of a wash. Plus I got to see/read the highlights of the debate the next day, so it was all good.

I finally got to see Sophie's lovely apartment on Beacon St., doubly exciting since Ms. Northway has just received her fine couch the day previous. Adrienne and Mags came over to see my apartment (I finally let them), where we watched Sophia Copolla's Marie Antoinette. The company was good, but the movie had a lot more potential to live up to than what it did. Kirsten Dunst was fabulous as always, though. The following day I had Chinese, as I always do on Monday nights, and I'm growing more and more confident in my ability to hold a simple introductory conversation in Mandarin. My pronunciation of the four tones is still amateur at best, but I think a native speaker would at least understand what I'm trying to say. Reading the charactes, however, is another matter entirely, one that I think will be tackled in higher-level classes.

Peapod delivered my second order of groceries on Tuesday night without incident, mostly due to the fact that I was actually home this time. To anyone living in the Boston area, I highly recommend this method of grocery shopping: the delivery fee is only $9.95, and you don't have to lug bags and carts everywhere on the T. The rest of the week proceeded normally, with the exception of our kickball game on Wednesday night when it SNOWED during the middle of the game. Not much, just flurries, but it was snow nonetheless. Dammit, Winter, can't you let me have my favorite season for just a little longer? Please?

Friday night I journeyed to the Loews AMC on Boston Common with Yuval, Sophie, and Adrienne to see Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, a thoroughly delightful movie that simultaneously managed to showcase every reason why I despise the thought of living in NYC. The traffic, the expense, the noise, the crowds, the filth, the crazy people...all of it was in this movie. At least the characters reveled in it instead of hating it, like me. Want more of my opinion (and who doesn't?), then read my review.

I met Deanna and Adrienne on Saturday morning at the Common once again, this time for GuluWalk Boston. The event is a 3.5 mile walk--the same distance children in Northern Uganda had to walk every night from their villages to safe houses where the Lord's Resistance Army couldn't kidnap them--that seeks to raise awareness and funds for the children who suffered as a result of the 21 year civil war. It was the most interesting charity walk I've done yet simply beacuse of the route we took and the vocalness of the organizers: we walked through the ritzy shopping area of Boston, shouting about wanting peace in Uganda on an otherwise quiet Saturday morning. Some of the shoppers/brunchers were excited by our cause and high-fived some walkers, some glared openly at us for disturbing their peace, and most of all them stared as this crowd of 150 people in bright orange t-shirts marched by Burberry and Valentino stores.

It was satisfying to be a part of something that literally jolted people out of their routine in order to direct their attention to a worthy cause.

That night, Yuval and I had planned to join Mags & Co. in Jamaica Plain for the Latern Parade, but bad weather forced a postponement and sapped our motivation to continue on to an early Halloween party with some of his friends from work. All this turned out well for us, though, as it gave us time to just spend together before he left on his business trip to LA really early Sunday morning.

Today featues a doctor's appointment and Chinese class. Tomorrow I will (hopefully, assuming I feel better) be attending a press performance of The Lieutenant of Inishmore with Adrienne at New Rep. And of course, Halloween is this Friday! Which means Yuval and I will be at Anthony's Bloodsuckers' Ball dressed as (vampire) Luigi and Mario.

Happy tricking and treating, y'all!

Read
Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Seen
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Marie Antoinette