The week following New Year's Eve was relatively unspectacular, and it wasn't until I got back to Philipsburg that I realized just how exhausted I was, so that was probably for the best. Spent another 6 days sleeping, watching Bones with my parents, reading, futzing around on my computer, and generally having a calm, quiet time of things. The weekend following New Year's, however, was another spectacular foray into the Big Apple.
Tom and his girlfriend Kelsey had tickets to go see Carmen, a very famous and incredible opera, at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, a very famous and incredible venue. They bought me a ticket, so it would be barbaric of me to say no, wouldn't it? I was thrilled at the idea of going to this show, as I had heard excellent things, and, despite being a heterosexual male, I happen to love good opera. So, I took a train in this time, instead of the bus, which turned out to be not only faster, but cheaper and more comfortable. I highly recommend it, and I think I'm going to make every effort to travel by train whenever possible. It's quite pleasant. Anyway, after getting into the city, I met up with Tom and Kelsey on Union Square again, and had dinner at the Heartland Brewery. While there, I had two very decent locally-made beers, the Bavarian Black Lager, and "Farmer Jon's Oatmeal Stout", and loved the glass for the Black Lager so much that it now resides in my cupboards, next to my Korea-Town, New Year's Eve Edition golden chopsticks. After dinner, we got on yet another train to head to the Met, and I saw a man performing on a XYLOPHONE down in the station, with his iPod playing the background music. It was fantastic. He played "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid, and "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train before I got onto the subway, which made the wait much more bearable.
PS - I HATE "Hey, Soul Sister" for being as fucking catchy as it is. It is NOT a good song, and yet, I cannot help but sing along/tap my feet. Train makes me mad.
The show itself was stupendous. The songs were exquisite, the story was easily followed by the superb overacting (a skill in and of itself, and one that is necessary if you want to convey anything to the people sitting up in the 9th floor balcony, like I was) and brilliant set/costume design, and the audience seemed genuinely invested, laughing at all of the appropriate times, even though the whole show was in French. The night was probably one of the best I had during my holiday, and definitely the best I've ever had in New York. Tom introduced me to the East Village Opera Company while I was there, which I HIGHLY recommend, as they perform a wide variety of traditional, classic operas, but with electric guitars and drums and such, and an absolutely stunning vocal cast. It's like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra of Opera. Go.
QOTD:
"Stories live in your blood and bones, follow the seasons and light candles on the darkest night-every storyteller knows she or he is also a teacher... —Patti Davis"
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