The Awesome Week of Awesome
The week before last was very eventful, in a good way.
You may recall that we were once big fans of an organization called Milwaukee Shakespeare, until their primary benefactor pulled their funding and they abruptly went out of business. Anyway, they donated their remaining assets to a fund to support the university's performance of Shakespeare, paying for special workshops and so on. To make a long story short, because of this, we were invited (as Milwaukee Shakespeare subscribers and donors) to a complimentary reception and special first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday.
I'd say that the fund was money well-spent, because it was an excellent show. All of the performances were very strong, as was the costuming. There were some nice, subtle bits (such as Hippolyta's personal storyline going on in the background, even though she had few lines), a hilarious performance by Bottom (he stole the show, IMO), and an extremely kinetic Puck. We laughed a lot and it made us feel little better to see that the university is carrying on Milwaukee Shakespeare's tradition. The reception food and after-show dessert weren't bad, either. ;)
On Tuesday, a major snowstorm threatened the area and I was worried that the Emilie Autumn concert (the last of the tour) would be canceled. Fortunately, the snow wasn't that bad, and it wasn't. mrsmetallian and I got (an unremarkable) dinner at Turner Hall, where we were soon joined by shandril, fortinbras16, and L. Soon, we headed upstairs to the ballroom.
I had never been to the Turner Hall ballroom before. I guess it was a fraternal order ballroom until it was damaged in a fire (I want to say in the 1930s) and unused for decades until it was recently restored. Sort of. The overall impression is one of faded, decaying splendour, which perfectly matched the tattered, Victorian-gothic-steampunk aesthetic of the show.
I think we were all expecting more of a concert, as Emilie Autumn is an accomplished violinist, but it was essentially a cabaret with elements of burlesque featuring her troupe, The Bloody Crumpets. I think, at the end of the day, it was more entertaining than a straight concert would have been, especially as not all of the music was especially to our tastes. There was singing and violin and harpsichord and industrial noise, to be sure, but also a lot of comedic and "naughty" skits, audience interaction (Autumn is very charismatic and can impressively command a room), flaming hula hoops, stilts, acrobatics, dancing, and fire-eating. The crowd was very small (lack of interest or the snowstorm, who can say?), which made the whole thing more intimate...and made it more insane when Captain Maggot decided to crowd-surf, forcing everyone to race over and participate lest she be pitched onto the floor.
The show went on for two and a half hours, and was a very, very good time. An extremely good value since the tickets were just a hair of $20 after fees and taxes and everything.
I half-expected a snow day on Wednesday, as the snowstorm was supposed to peak overnight but apparently it hit the whole state except for right around Milwaukee. So that didn't happen after all. But at least we didn't end up with the usual "the roads are bad, but we have to go to work anyway" situation - the roads were fine.
Anyway, the less-awesome part of the week was that we spent all of our free time cleaning, shopping, and preparing for our Holiday Party. But the most awesome part of the week was...our Holiday Party!
We got up semi-early on Saturday and decided to at least make an appearance at the Dartmouth Club Christmas luncheon, which we have missed for the last 3 years because we're always too busy with our party. (As the luncheon is held within walking distance of our house, this is kind of ridiculous.) We had a good time and had good conversations with various interesting people. I wish the club did more activities, as the luncheon is usually the only event that we have all year. I suppose I could try and make that happen.
After that, I picked up swarm0cheezcake from the bus station and started last-minute party prep in earnest. This year I tried to be a bit smarter about room layout (trying to "open up" rooms a bit) and stocking the bar (basement fridge is only for mixers, not beer; use bottled fresh lime juice instead of making a mess cutting and squeezing limes all night, etc.) and I think I was successful...so, naturally, we also had lower-than-usual turnout and not so much drinking! I blame alecsandyr's absence for the latter. Well, that and the fact that I ate too much too early and didn't have much room for drinks, and thus wasn't at the bar encouraging people to join me. But, nonetheless everything went smoothly and we had a wide variety of tasty things to eat and games to play. One activity we decided to introduce was "decorate your own gingerbread man," which was enthusiastically embraced. The only bad part was that it was over so quickly.
The next morning, I dropped swarm0cheezcake off and we finished cleanup. We decided that after all of that, we weren't going to do anything else useful that day and just relax and spend some alone time. mrsmetallian has really been wanting to watch the Star Wars prequels again so we sat down to watch The Phantom Menace over shabu-shabu. We'll never recapture the excitement we felt when it was first released...but we'll also never recapture the crushing disappointment of watching Jar-Jar screw it all up, as we are used to it now. I find that it's easier to focus on the positives once you account for the Jar-Jar factor, though the movie still suffers from the lack of a Han Solo equivalent.
This week wasn't nearly so exciting, though we did have a nice night out with The Gang last night to celebrate someone's impending graduation. ^_^ Today was kind of a mess because the guy giving us an estimate for attic insulation was here for two and a half hours instead of one hour like he was supposed to be. So everything else got screwed up. I did squeeze in a workout and a little Christmas shopping, though.
I love our big ol' holiday party, but it does contribute to my suckitude at gift-giving. We always spend the first half of December furiously preparing for it, then a few days cleaning up after it, and then there's not much time for shopping. That's not the only reason I suck at it, but it's part of it.
You may recall that we were once big fans of an organization called Milwaukee Shakespeare, until their primary benefactor pulled their funding and they abruptly went out of business. Anyway, they donated their remaining assets to a fund to support the university's performance of Shakespeare, paying for special workshops and so on. To make a long story short, because of this, we were invited (as Milwaukee Shakespeare subscribers and donors) to a complimentary reception and special first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream on Monday.
I'd say that the fund was money well-spent, because it was an excellent show. All of the performances were very strong, as was the costuming. There were some nice, subtle bits (such as Hippolyta's personal storyline going on in the background, even though she had few lines), a hilarious performance by Bottom (he stole the show, IMO), and an extremely kinetic Puck. We laughed a lot and it made us feel little better to see that the university is carrying on Milwaukee Shakespeare's tradition. The reception food and after-show dessert weren't bad, either. ;)
On Tuesday, a major snowstorm threatened the area and I was worried that the Emilie Autumn concert (the last of the tour) would be canceled. Fortunately, the snow wasn't that bad, and it wasn't. mrsmetallian and I got (an unremarkable) dinner at Turner Hall, where we were soon joined by shandril, fortinbras16, and L. Soon, we headed upstairs to the ballroom.
I had never been to the Turner Hall ballroom before. I guess it was a fraternal order ballroom until it was damaged in a fire (I want to say in the 1930s) and unused for decades until it was recently restored. Sort of. The overall impression is one of faded, decaying splendour, which perfectly matched the tattered, Victorian-gothic-steampunk aesthetic of the show.
I think we were all expecting more of a concert, as Emilie Autumn is an accomplished violinist, but it was essentially a cabaret with elements of burlesque featuring her troupe, The Bloody Crumpets. I think, at the end of the day, it was more entertaining than a straight concert would have been, especially as not all of the music was especially to our tastes. There was singing and violin and harpsichord and industrial noise, to be sure, but also a lot of comedic and "naughty" skits, audience interaction (Autumn is very charismatic and can impressively command a room), flaming hula hoops, stilts, acrobatics, dancing, and fire-eating. The crowd was very small (lack of interest or the snowstorm, who can say?), which made the whole thing more intimate...and made it more insane when Captain Maggot decided to crowd-surf, forcing everyone to race over and participate lest she be pitched onto the floor.
The show went on for two and a half hours, and was a very, very good time. An extremely good value since the tickets were just a hair of $20 after fees and taxes and everything.
I half-expected a snow day on Wednesday, as the snowstorm was supposed to peak overnight but apparently it hit the whole state except for right around Milwaukee. So that didn't happen after all. But at least we didn't end up with the usual "the roads are bad, but we have to go to work anyway" situation - the roads were fine.
Anyway, the less-awesome part of the week was that we spent all of our free time cleaning, shopping, and preparing for our Holiday Party. But the most awesome part of the week was...our Holiday Party!
We got up semi-early on Saturday and decided to at least make an appearance at the Dartmouth Club Christmas luncheon, which we have missed for the last 3 years because we're always too busy with our party. (As the luncheon is held within walking distance of our house, this is kind of ridiculous.) We had a good time and had good conversations with various interesting people. I wish the club did more activities, as the luncheon is usually the only event that we have all year. I suppose I could try and make that happen.
After that, I picked up swarm0cheezcake from the bus station and started last-minute party prep in earnest. This year I tried to be a bit smarter about room layout (trying to "open up" rooms a bit) and stocking the bar (basement fridge is only for mixers, not beer; use bottled fresh lime juice instead of making a mess cutting and squeezing limes all night, etc.) and I think I was successful...so, naturally, we also had lower-than-usual turnout and not so much drinking! I blame alecsandyr's absence for the latter. Well, that and the fact that I ate too much too early and didn't have much room for drinks, and thus wasn't at the bar encouraging people to join me. But, nonetheless everything went smoothly and we had a wide variety of tasty things to eat and games to play. One activity we decided to introduce was "decorate your own gingerbread man," which was enthusiastically embraced. The only bad part was that it was over so quickly.
The next morning, I dropped swarm0cheezcake off and we finished cleanup. We decided that after all of that, we weren't going to do anything else useful that day and just relax and spend some alone time. mrsmetallian has really been wanting to watch the Star Wars prequels again so we sat down to watch The Phantom Menace over shabu-shabu. We'll never recapture the excitement we felt when it was first released...but we'll also never recapture the crushing disappointment of watching Jar-Jar screw it all up, as we are used to it now. I find that it's easier to focus on the positives once you account for the Jar-Jar factor, though the movie still suffers from the lack of a Han Solo equivalent.
This week wasn't nearly so exciting, though we did have a nice night out with The Gang last night to celebrate someone's impending graduation. ^_^ Today was kind of a mess because the guy giving us an estimate for attic insulation was here for two and a half hours instead of one hour like he was supposed to be. So everything else got screwed up. I did squeeze in a workout and a little Christmas shopping, though.
I love our big ol' holiday party, but it does contribute to my suckitude at gift-giving. We always spend the first half of December furiously preparing for it, then a few days cleaning up after it, and then there's not much time for shopping. That's not the only reason I suck at it, but it's part of it.