Opera Bug

I love music theatre and have for years.  I’ve been making a recent attempt to see more of it with newly discovered frugal resources (hello, student discount).  Invariably, somewhere near the beginning of a musical, I get a rush of emotion simply because there’s an entire stage full of people, all singing something different that all comes together in a huge and perfectly amazing sound.  It’s impossible to catch ALL the different words and melodies soaring off the stage, but the message comes through and even though it might not be a critical moment in the story, I’m suddenly an emotional basketcase.  I love those moments.

My mother and aunt frequently have opportunities for free tickets to music theatre productions at one of our local universities.  They are happy to share with my brother and I, and we have taken advantage of these opportunities more than once.  The most recent chance was to see the French opera, The Hoffman Tales by Offenbach, and my mother and I went together.

This was not my first opera.  The first was The Wedding of Figaro with my friend Megan years ago (we won’t say how many) when we were either in our late teens or early twenties.  It was, coincidentally, in the same theatre.  Nor was this my second opera.  Again in the same theatre, mom, my brother and I saw The Elixir of Love in Italian just a few weeks ago.  But this one… this one bit me.

In the movie Pretty Woman, with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, Edward takes Vivian to San Francisco for one of his passions, the opera.  He says to her, “People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.” 

(Yes, the grammar is driving me batty, why do you ask?)

I don’t quite fit what Edward said.  It wasn’t until my third opera viewing that I found myself smitten in my very own Pretty Woman opera moment—sadly, without the jet to San Francisco, the ruby necklace, or the amazing red dress.

Stolen from this guy's blog

It was the third scene, and Hoffman’s second love is lured to her death by her mother’s music through the manipulations of the devil.  The simplicity, the emotion, the passion of the actor/singers was an enchantment I hadn’t experienced before and out of nowhere came tears.

So now, I can add opera to my list of “Oooh, I want to go” events.  I don’t think the title, the plot, or the location will matter.  I’ll go just for the possibility of catching that unexpected tidal wave of emotion.

(Note:  sorry for the goofy background formatting.  Copy and Paste and I don't always get along.)

Lesson Learned

I had a great little post written up about the opera my mother and I went to see yesterday, or more accurately, my reaction to it.  I had written it up in Word, with photos and links and all kinds of websical wonders.  Blogger.com spazzed out on me.  I know better than to CUT and paste.  I must copy and paste, make alterations if needed, Post and only after you’ve verified that the post was successful do you delete your original content.

I’ll try again tomorrow with the opera post.

Crystal Bridge - photo

This is a little better, from a visit to downtown Oklahoma City's Myriad Garden and Crystal Bridge.  I only wish I'd gotten the name of the tree like thing that produces this delicate little blossom.

Day 1 pictures

Today is day 2, but I took pictures yesterday.  Between school and taking some downtime for myself to play with my new gadgetry, I didn't pull the pictures from the camera until this morning.  Here's the setting.

I'd finished all my work, and a chunk of a school project when I set out from my office to my car.  The sun was setting behind me, and before me was a tree just FULL of birds.  Behind the tree was the loveliest blending of pinks and purples, and I just couldn't resist.

This was taken from the ground and the only editing I did was to crop out a little leaf from another tree that was intruding on the upper left corner.  From this spot, I traipsed up to the top of my parking garage to see what else I could see.  I had some fun metering at and below the sunset to play with different lighting.  I played with a couple different settings too.  No amazing results, but I have to get over that.  I'm going to shoot and I'm going to post, even if I'm not wowed by the final product.  Wow will come later.

Bonus!  Another of the photos from yesterday evening that about which someone else said "Wow!"  This is the same tree from a different angle.  Before, I was practically under the tree looking up and north-ish.  Now, I'm east of the tree looking west and two floors higher, so we get the more dramatic sunset colors.

These are the reasons new photographers are told to take their camera with them everywhere.  Now if I'd only had it with me at lunch today, I could have caught that cute little lady in the boots and frilly mini-skirt.  I'm pretty sure she's significantly older than me, but she sure was rockin' the teenage look!

Ash Wednesday

As is my habit, this year, 2012, I've taken on a couple of Lenten disciplines.  I always try to give up something and take on something.  This year, I'm giving up Coca Cola.  This will hopefully give me a boost to losing some weight, a perpetual task with which I have perpetual trouble.  For taking on a positive discipline, I have been divided between daily writing (journaling, blogging, etc.) and daily photos.  To begin with, creativity is not my strong suit, and typcially, by the end of Lent, I've run out of things to say in writing.  But I know that better writing only comes with practice, and daily writing is great practice.  I also want to push myself to more actively use my camera(s), so a daily photo project could be a good way to do that.  On another hand (there are almost always more than two options, so you'll rarely hear me say, "on the other hand"), I don't want photography to feel like work (yet), so a daily thing might become not only daunting but off-putting.  So I think I've settled on a combo approach.  I resolve to either write or shoot at least once a day.  And give up Cokes.  And you have been invited to watch.  Hopefully, with two outlets, I won't feel burned out on either one.

Welcome to the first issue of my 2012 Lenten discipline journey!  Are you giving anything up?  If so, what?  Have you started yet?  What do you think will be your biggest challenges to keeping your discipline?

I've started two things.  I've already passed up my first Coke, and I've written something, so I'm off to a fabulous start!  Here's to all of us staying focused and (hello cliché) disciplined!