Southwest Hate, Family, & Salomé
Its mostly my fault for procrastinating and working under the assumption that I could book my flights using my Rapid Rewards credit whenever I want. Now instead of my flying down a day before Thanksgiving and leaving the Sunday after, I'm flying the Friday before and leaving the day after Thanksgiving! This was the only time I could get to use my award, which expires Dec. 26. Dec. 26????? What a horribly day for a credit to expire. Since there seems to be a dearth of available cheap plane tickets at the most convenient times, I booked my flight back from LA on December 27th as well before it got any more expensive.
Ah well. I think in a way this is better because I'll get to spend more time with family. My Dad will still be off traipsing about in China though, so I won't see him until Christmas. I really need to visit my family more often. I've been pretty bad about this for the last several years. Sometimes I do wish I lived closer, but don't tell my Mom that or she'll have me moving home tomorrow! Its not that I don't want to see my family, but I've built my entire adult life in the Bay Area, and I'd really have to restart if I moved back to LA. I'm too attached to way too many things here. All you strange young people who pack up and leave and move to new places far far away every few years... I don't know how you do it. I haven't moved my butt in 8 years!
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In more uninteresting news, Jim and I went to see Salomé at the SF Opera this weekend. Jim proclaimed it "the best one yet this season!" I admit I thought it was definitely intriguing, but it was also disgusting, horrifying, uncomfortable, and not something I would bring up during a dinnertime discussion. Basic plot is based on the biblical beheading of St. John the Baptist, rewritten into a play by Oscar Wilde (add in the character of Salomé, the daughter of Herodias). Incest, lust, necrophilia, psychosis... you name it, its in there! So like I said, uncomfortable, but incredibly intriguing. The opera itself had a very simple structure. Most of the action was in the psychological devolution of Salomé, or in the depiction of the rigid proselytizing of Jokanaan and the lustful incestuous King Herod.
I was very impressed by the lead, Nadja Michael, who played Salomé. Gosh, she was not only stunning but she could act and sing over most of Strauss's thickest orchestration. There were times I couldn't hear her, but I think it was due mostly to our nosebleed seats rather than to the lack of the power of her voice. The music is not exactly what I would call beautiful. It constantly vascillated between harmony and discord, but it fit the setting and all together it really worked. Great production overall, though I'm not sure I want to see it again any time soon!
Ah well. I think in a way this is better because I'll get to spend more time with family. My Dad will still be off traipsing about in China though, so I won't see him until Christmas. I really need to visit my family more often. I've been pretty bad about this for the last several years. Sometimes I do wish I lived closer, but don't tell my Mom that or she'll have me moving home tomorrow! Its not that I don't want to see my family, but I've built my entire adult life in the Bay Area, and I'd really have to restart if I moved back to LA. I'm too attached to way too many things here. All you strange young people who pack up and leave and move to new places far far away every few years... I don't know how you do it. I haven't moved my butt in 8 years!
___________
In more uninteresting news, Jim and I went to see Salomé at the SF Opera this weekend. Jim proclaimed it "the best one yet this season!" I admit I thought it was definitely intriguing, but it was also disgusting, horrifying, uncomfortable, and not something I would bring up during a dinnertime discussion. Basic plot is based on the biblical beheading of St. John the Baptist, rewritten into a play by Oscar Wilde (add in the character of Salomé, the daughter of Herodias). Incest, lust, necrophilia, psychosis... you name it, its in there! So like I said, uncomfortable, but incredibly intriguing. The opera itself had a very simple structure. Most of the action was in the psychological devolution of Salomé, or in the depiction of the rigid proselytizing of Jokanaan and the lustful incestuous King Herod.
I was very impressed by the lead, Nadja Michael, who played Salomé. Gosh, she was not only stunning but she could act and sing over most of Strauss's thickest orchestration. There were times I couldn't hear her, but I think it was due mostly to our nosebleed seats rather than to the lack of the power of her voice. The music is not exactly what I would call beautiful. It constantly vascillated between harmony and discord, but it fit the setting and all together it really worked. Great production overall, though I'm not sure I want to see it again any time soon!