Opera, Food, and Books
Grounded: I went to see the opera, Grounded, at the Kennedy Center on Saturday night. The story involves a female F-16 fighter pilot who gets pregnant as a result of an affair with a rancher while on leave in Wyoming. She takes 8 years off, but returns to the Air Force and is shunted into being a drone pilot. She resents that at first, but she finds herself liking the job, which also lets her go home to her family every night. Then, she’s assigned a mission that may hit too close to home…
I thought this was effective, for the most part, though I had some qualms about the second act. Jeanine Tesori’s score was at its best when capturing the excitement of the battles - especially for the F-16 pilots. The staging, which used projections on LED screens also added a lot of excitement. And Emily D’Angelo was excellent in the starring role.
Overall, I thought this was worth seeing. The Washington National Opera production was the world premiere and it will be at the Metropolitan Opera in New York next season.
I should also note that I find Tesori to be one of the more interesting composers working nowadays. She’s done a lot of both opera and musical theatre and some of her material bridges the two genres. I first became aware of her via Caroline or Change and I also really liked both Fun Home and Kimberly Akimbo. It’s good to see a woman being so successful in those worlds.
Brunch of Losers: On Sunday, there was a Loser Brunch at Aditi, an Indian restaurant in Alexandria. It’s not a particularly convenient location for me, but their buffet is pretty good (especially a spicy okra, potato, and spinach dish) and there was plenty of good conversation. I really should get myself back into actually entering the Invitational. but I’ve just had too much else going on. I’ll have to think about it for next year’s list of goals.
Crones and Tomes: Monday night was this book club’s monthly meeting. We discussed State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I enjoyed reading. I loved tidbits like a description of a crested bird which noted that you could clean a pickle jar with that bird’s head. However, I did find the ending rather implausible. Also, I think I have to go to an opera in Manaus, Brazil.
Manassas Errand Running: I’d made an appointment to get my car serviced on Tuesday morning. It’s always kind of a pain in the neck scheduling service so, alas, this made me miss the pro-Israel rally on the National Mall. Anyway, I got the anti-theft software update done, as well as routine service. But they annoyed me by sending me way too many appointment reminders - several by email, at least 3 by text, and a phone call.
Anyway, I treated myself to breakfast at IHOP before the appointment. And, I took advantage of being out that way to stop at McKay’s Used Books, where I got rid of 33 books and came home with 14 new (to me) ones.
FlyerTalk Dinner: Wednesday night was a FlyerTalk dinner at Lost Dog Cafe in Dunn Loring. Once we got seated away from the area where the extremely loud karaoke was going on, it was fine. I satisfied a craving for spaghetti, as well as having a decent IPA. But, of course, the real point of going to things like this is the conversation, including discussions of last minute travel and great bargains (including mistake fares) we have found in the past.
Medicare: I called the Social Security office again. And this time the person I talked to told me that the person who called me to take the application just sat on it and hasn’t done anything - since September 22nd. So the person I talked to last time, who told me I should have the medicare card “any day now” was also lying to me.
This person said she was messaging my local office and marking it urgent. She also gave me a direct line to my local office and told me to call them if I haven’t heard anything in a week, so I have some hope. But this has been extremely stressful and annoying. My last resort will be trying to get some help from my congresscritter’s office.
Poetry and Punchlines: Last night (Friday), I went to a poetry reading downtown that was organized by Light a magazine of light verse. I knew most of the people reading from the Loser community. There was a reception with time for mingling and light snacks (e.g. cheese and crackers, little sandwiches, strawberries, and cookies) as well as drinks (including wine) beforehand. The readings started with Gene Weingarten reading several “pokes,” i.e. jokes in the form of poems. Among the Losers who read were Duncan Stevens with a selection of limericks among other things, Mark Raffman (who included his song parody about Putin, “If I Only Had Ukraine”), Claudia Gary (who had a lovely song parody to the tune of “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” about the pandas’ departure from the National Zoo), and Melissa Balmain, with pieces from her two books, The Witch Demands a Retraction and Satan Talks to His Therapist. The other “official” reader was J.D. Smith (who I hadn’t met before). There were also four open mike readers, one of whom had a wonderful piece about chemotherapy. Overall, it was a fun evening.
I thought this was effective, for the most part, though I had some qualms about the second act. Jeanine Tesori’s score was at its best when capturing the excitement of the battles - especially for the F-16 pilots. The staging, which used projections on LED screens also added a lot of excitement. And Emily D’Angelo was excellent in the starring role.
Overall, I thought this was worth seeing. The Washington National Opera production was the world premiere and it will be at the Metropolitan Opera in New York next season.
I should also note that I find Tesori to be one of the more interesting composers working nowadays. She’s done a lot of both opera and musical theatre and some of her material bridges the two genres. I first became aware of her via Caroline or Change and I also really liked both Fun Home and Kimberly Akimbo. It’s good to see a woman being so successful in those worlds.
Brunch of Losers: On Sunday, there was a Loser Brunch at Aditi, an Indian restaurant in Alexandria. It’s not a particularly convenient location for me, but their buffet is pretty good (especially a spicy okra, potato, and spinach dish) and there was plenty of good conversation. I really should get myself back into actually entering the Invitational. but I’ve just had too much else going on. I’ll have to think about it for next year’s list of goals.
Crones and Tomes: Monday night was this book club’s monthly meeting. We discussed State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I enjoyed reading. I loved tidbits like a description of a crested bird which noted that you could clean a pickle jar with that bird’s head. However, I did find the ending rather implausible. Also, I think I have to go to an opera in Manaus, Brazil.
Manassas Errand Running: I’d made an appointment to get my car serviced on Tuesday morning. It’s always kind of a pain in the neck scheduling service so, alas, this made me miss the pro-Israel rally on the National Mall. Anyway, I got the anti-theft software update done, as well as routine service. But they annoyed me by sending me way too many appointment reminders - several by email, at least 3 by text, and a phone call.
Anyway, I treated myself to breakfast at IHOP before the appointment. And, I took advantage of being out that way to stop at McKay’s Used Books, where I got rid of 33 books and came home with 14 new (to me) ones.
FlyerTalk Dinner: Wednesday night was a FlyerTalk dinner at Lost Dog Cafe in Dunn Loring. Once we got seated away from the area where the extremely loud karaoke was going on, it was fine. I satisfied a craving for spaghetti, as well as having a decent IPA. But, of course, the real point of going to things like this is the conversation, including discussions of last minute travel and great bargains (including mistake fares) we have found in the past.
Medicare: I called the Social Security office again. And this time the person I talked to told me that the person who called me to take the application just sat on it and hasn’t done anything - since September 22nd. So the person I talked to last time, who told me I should have the medicare card “any day now” was also lying to me.
This person said she was messaging my local office and marking it urgent. She also gave me a direct line to my local office and told me to call them if I haven’t heard anything in a week, so I have some hope. But this has been extremely stressful and annoying. My last resort will be trying to get some help from my congresscritter’s office.
Poetry and Punchlines: Last night (Friday), I went to a poetry reading downtown that was organized by Light a magazine of light verse. I knew most of the people reading from the Loser community. There was a reception with time for mingling and light snacks (e.g. cheese and crackers, little sandwiches, strawberries, and cookies) as well as drinks (including wine) beforehand. The readings started with Gene Weingarten reading several “pokes,” i.e. jokes in the form of poems. Among the Losers who read were Duncan Stevens with a selection of limericks among other things, Mark Raffman (who included his song parody about Putin, “If I Only Had Ukraine”), Claudia Gary (who had a lovely song parody to the tune of “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane” about the pandas’ departure from the National Zoo), and Melissa Balmain, with pieces from her two books, The Witch Demands a Retraction and Satan Talks to His Therapist. The other “official” reader was J.D. Smith (who I hadn’t met before). There were also four open mike readers, one of whom had a wonderful piece about chemotherapy. Overall, it was a fun evening.