Free form feeling

So I went to my first opera last night. It was not as good as it could have been. I think it’s because it’s from a smaller opera group with probably less talent than the bigger ones. I plan to go to more so I can have a better experience. The singing was good, the orchestra was pretty good (although there was this one violin who needed a little more practice). The things that were not good were the sets, and the costumes.  There was no set, basically. There was a screen in the background where they projected an image that gave a general feeling, and then there were these big step piece things which they used to climb on and to represent various surfaces. It just had a cheap feeling to me. And then the fact that there were no costumes. The program said something about them electing not to use traditional costumes in order to represent the timelessness of the themes of the opera, but to me it was just sorta chintzy and, again, cheap. I would have much preferred traditional set building and traditional costuming. But maybe that’s just me.
The best part about the opera was that I went with my buddy Jess from high school whom I adore and get to see sadly infrequently. She made the journey down and I am quite grateful because seeing her always makes me feel better about my life.

Today I went for an hour long walk with the dogs in which Jonah stepped on something and hurt his paw, Suki got so tangled in the leash that she panicked and threw herself down on her back in front of some cars coming, and we encountered a dog that had slipped out of its collar which wasn’t too happy with Jonah’s bossy behavior. Quite a lot of excitement. Good exercise though.
I’m proud to report I’m still on track with the 3 hour diet and exercising more. I’m down maybe 3-4 lbs, which is none too shabby after a week and a half or so. Brian says it’s a normal fluctuation range and so there’s no way to know how much I’m really down, but I’m still happy about it and feeling encouraged.

Tonight I’m having dinner at another friend from high school’s house. She apparently relocated up here quite a long while ago but I just reconnected with her on facebook and so put two and two together that we’re in the same general area. She, too, lives pretty far away though–40 min drive. It’ll be worth it to reconnect, I’ll wager.

For now, I’m going to have my snack, watch the rest of the L-Word episode I was on, and then read for a bit before we need to leave for friend’s house.