Sunday and Monday
I had a truly wonderful Sunday. The day started with church, which is so perfect for me I can hardly stand it. I am so happy to be there with God and those people every week. And after having coffee with our rector, Anne, I know this is the perfect church home for me. She's a transplant from the SF Bay Area, and her daughter is a lesbian, so she and I had lots to talk about. Discussion topics included my religious history, being a lesbian and Christian, theatre, San Francisco vs. St. Louis, families, Jamie's transition, and more. What a great hour and half that was. So when we exchanged the peace on Sunday, it meant a little bit more because I knew whom it was coming from. I met some more members of the congregation, too, which is always nice. I really really really like it at Trinity.
Then after a bit of lounging, Amy and headed off to the St. Louis Museum of Art! I'm a bit of an art museum snob, since I was raised on the Art Institute in Chicago, but I was really impressed with the collection here in STL. We got there at around 2, so we had about three hours til closing to explore. We mainly took on the first floor, which included most of the Western art up through the Impressionists, as well as some Asian, Egyptian, and Islamic art. Amy is GREAT to museum with because she knows so much about what she's looking at. I've always liked going to art museums with my Aunt Bobbi, because she's so well-informed on art history, and Amy is the exact same way. Usually I can comment on the technique or composition of a piece, but I know very little about its historical context or what typifies paintings of its time. Amy knows all of those things, so I got to learn a LOT, especially about the medieval pieces that I might have breezed by before. No more of that, because now I know how cool and interesting all of those things are, too. We spent at least a half hour of cumulative time staring at a Monet waterlilies painting, because it was just too riveting to leave behind. We were the last people who got to come up and examine it that day, which made me feel kind of special. We talked about the layers, the texture, the brushwork, the incredible use of color, and Monet's ability to hold the whole painting in his head while working each little part of it. Amy is also a great guide to the pottery because she actually knows what goes into making all those pieces! We were looking at some really amazing Japanese ceramic and porcelain work, and having Amy there to explain the processes by which those pieces were created made me appreciate them SO much more. We even got to breeze through the moderns on the second floor, which is definitely my favorite work to look at. I can't wait to go back and take a closer look at that floor, as well as the African and Oceanic art down in the basement! That's somewhere I would really like to take Arielle when she's here. And it's so close to home!
Sunday night was all about delicious leftovers, watching Stick It, and then lots of individual Olympic gymnastics events! An excellent evening, indeed.
Today I was mildly productive. I deposited some money at the bank, bought new life and theatre journals at Walgreens, had more deep and meaningful discussion with Amy, did my own yoga flow again for the first time in a while (felt so good!), played MarioKart with Casey and Amy and got my butt kicked, ate more delicious rotisserie chicken a la Casey (still my favorite St. Louis dish), and went to the Moolah Lounge to see Tropic Thunder. Wonderfully funny movie, especially Robert Downey, Jr., and Tom Cruise. Casey and I had debated whether or not one can put Tom Cruise in a "top 5 male actors" list, and after watching this movie I've been totally convinced that yes, he absolutely belongs in such a list. Add a gin and tonic and big leather couch to the mix, and I had a wonderful movie-going experience. Though I think I liked the Chase better than Moolah, if only because it's right across the street and the screen was a little less overwhelming. That's where I'll be taking Arielle for sure. Hopefully something good will be out when she's here.
Another audition is coming up tomorrow. I'll be thinking positively about that as much as possible. Good vibes tend to yield good results, so let's keep our fingers crossed!