To make a long story short...

When I lived with Charlotte in Flagstaff, I met tons of her friends from all over the place. One of my favorites was probably Jackie. So Jackie calls me out of the blue and says she's coming to DC for work and wanted to see if I wanted to grab dinner one night. "Sure!" So we went to some Chinese place on Thursday and sat there for three hours talking about everything. The cool thing about Jackie is that she's a trained opera singer, and used to sing. So we talked quite a bit about that. She actually sang for Charlotte and me after the Renee Fleming concert in September. It was quite awesome.

Nada mucho on Friday. It was a slow day at work. Oh, but I did get my haircut when I got off, which was quite the experience. Mel had recommended the place that was a block from the office. I'm not that picky about my hair. Just chop it off and if it's not that good, give it a week and I'll love it. The place was buzzing with activity and I got a masterpiece by Monaè (right, and I'm Michelangelo). But first I got a flippin bath from the lady that washes the hair. They wrapped a towel around my neck, but I should have been given a rain poncho instead. The hair washer was fierce with that water - all down my back, flowing in my eyes. The haircut was great, again I'm not hard to please, but what bothered me was their insistance on trying to get me to purchase their products. It quickly turns a $35 haircut into a $57 visit. In times such as these, I must summon the words of Nancy Reagan and "Just say 'NO!'"

Saturday I woke up at 6:30 so I could spend an hour on the metro and trek all the way out to the last stop on the Blue Line by 8:30. I was meeting Jackie and one of her friends she knew from work to go to Mount Vernon. I had been my Junior year of high school when I came to DC for Bush's first inauguration, so I figured I'd give George Washington's homestead another look-see. It's been seven years, and the house has not changed much. Maybe a few more inches of dust, but the paint job is still hideous. Washington may have been an excellent statesman and general, but his taste in paint colors is pretty narly. I did find a quarter face up when we were walking the grounds. I thought it was kind of special, you know, finding Washington's face on his own estate. Good times for sure.

The Metropolitan Opera does this cool thing where they broadcast an opera in high definition to theaters across the country. So instead of paying an arm and a leg and traveling all the way to New York (like I'm doing this Friday to see Renee Fleming in Otello) you just pay twenty bucks and go to your local theater. I've seen two operas this way, and it's quite enjoyable.

Manon Lescaut, an Italian opera was playing yesterday out in Alexandria, so I went. Here's the jist of the opera: A poor girl falls in love with a poor guy. She yearns for luxary and goes with the rich old man. Poor guy comes back into her life; she gets caught stealing jewels from old rich man so he has her sent to America (weird, I know). Poor guy can't live without girl, so he goes to America with her. They're stranded on a desert in Louisiana without water (Puccini obviously didn't do his research when he wrote the opera). Girl professes her love for poor guy and she dies.

The broadcast was amazing! Karita Mattila was pretty awesome as Manon Lescaut (the poor girl). She's an intense singer and I very much enjoyed the performance. A lot of reviews haven't praised it, but I liked it. I'm not trained in music and can't tell the difference between B flat and B sharp, but I know what sounds good to my ears, and this sounded excellent. The Met broadcasts are also cool because during the intermissions, the camera takes the audience behind the scenes and interviews the singers and stage directors about the production. Renee Fleming (my favorite soprano) was conducting the interviews. This got me really excited about seeing her next Friday. I seriously wanted to stand up in the middle of the theater and tell all the patrons that I was going to be seeing her next week. That's how excited I am!

All-in-all a very enjoyable experience. It's a great way to get your feet wet in regards to opera.

Today, I went to the mall. It was huge, but I was not impressed this trip out. Perhaps I was not in the shopping mindset, but I needed to find something to wear for Friday. I've stuck with the tried and true black top. You can't go wrong.

So three days of work this week. Congress is on recess so it should be uneventful. Last Thursday, the Republicans staged a walk out and I'll try to remember to write more about it tomorrow. I leave for Connecticut Thursday afternoon to visit Sam. On Friday we travel to New York to see Renee Fleming in Otello (I'm excited!).

Happy Birthday Mom!

From the 2/17 Met Broadcast of Manon Lescaut