At last night's Madama Butterfly premiere, my slippers turned up after all.
Dreamed of having a fingernail that was trimmed on one side but not the other.
Yesterday we had Indian food and today we finished it. (There wasn't quite enough.)
Dress-rehearsed Die Fledermaus.
I can't wait till the opera's over! (Maybe I should have skipped this year.) I've always liked rehearsing more than performing, of course.
Dreamed of the song "Three Coins in the Fountain."
Bought a new glasses case at Hakim Optical.
Dinner was scallops.
Dress-rehearsed Madama Butterfly. I left my slippers in the auditorium afterward! Hope they turn up tomorrow: I'm wearing them in the show as part of my costume. We had to put on our own eye makeup.
I also signed up for a couple of Giuseppe's master class sessions. (Maybe I am serious about my singing after all.)
Am I coming down with a cold?
Last night I went to a Games Meetup at the Fox & Fiddle. (I played the Amazeing Labyrinth and Scrabble.) On the way back I lost my glasses case!
Dreamed of Jack Palance saying "Believe it--or not!" on the actual 1980s TV show.
Dinner was pork steak.
I also dreamed of pulling out a few of my teeth, which were the worse for wear (far more so than in real life).
At choir practice we got into the second act of Rigoletto. (Beatrice has called for a meeting to discuss Coro Verdi's future.)
"You are doing without him!"
--The Fighter
Baked multigrain bread.
Donald came over for dinner, which was churrasco chicken.
Saw David O. Russell's The Fighter at the Revue. I was afraid it would be like Black Swan [which I couldn't sit through], but it was quite good.
Left some Toronto City Opera flyers around the neighbourhood libraries.
Dinner was the rest of the stew.
Went to Mary's games night. I played a new game called Gold Digger (won the first game by one point!) and Settlers of Catan. Thirty people came despite the cold weather.
"No, sir, I does it all the time!"
--The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
Dreamed of a non-existent story that young Mickey Rooney was on a Little League baseball team that got to scrimmage with a major league team, but the coach wouldn't include Rooney, and the Little Leaguers went on to appear in a movie!
Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.
Dinner was stew.
Saw the DVD of John Badham's The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings. It's an engaging comedy about a black baseball team in the age of segregation.
Dreamed of a young South African dissident who was exiled to the far east of the country and got drawn into a cult of sexual training.
Went shopping.
Saw an early Ken Burns documentary about the making of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Dinner was rice and chicken and several leftovers.
Rehearsed Die Fledermaus. Women in bustle dresses reduce your room for maneuver! When the curtain comes down on the second act, I'll be the one on stage right making sure it goes smoothly there.
At last night's choir practice we started Verdi's Rigoletto.
Dreamed of a place known as W.W. [like B.C. or P.E.I.]; trying to figure out what the initials stood for.
Helped unload the Toronto City Opera costumes at the Bickford Centre. (I also tried on my Die Fledermaus costume, which includes white gloves!)
Dinner was sausage and mash.
Rehearsed Madama Butterfly. (I tried on my kimono first.) I've ended up carrying in the table with Pinkerton's photo during the first intermission.
Dreamed of a movie where a planeload of people landed on a Swedish island and got taken hostage; the Russian in Rocky IV (Dolph Lundgren) saying "I must break you."
Baked raisin bread.
Dinner was lobster rolls.
Finished the fame issue of Lapham's Quarterly. For the first time since getting the first issue two years ago, I'm all caught up!
Started reading Merchant of Dreams, a biography of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer. In the first chapter it calls New Brunswick a "state"!
Our Coro Verdi concert had to compete with the Super Bowl, and there were more people in the choir than in the audience!
"If I had more sense I wouldn't have had nine children!"
--Carousel
"Money thinks I'm dead!"--ibid.
Dreamed of a schoolteacher getting me to join a group of people lobbying for reform in coastal land use; arriving and finding the teacher in a foul mood; Ava Gardner.
Went to an Aspergers Meetup at Neisau's place. We played The Amazeing Labyrinth again. Neisau's daughter Autumn was selling candy bars for school fundraising and most of us bought a couple.
Dinner was Chinese food. (My fortune cookie said "Rome was not built in a day. Be patient."
Rented the DVD of the movie version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel (for the second time). It's a classic show.
Dreamed of the Parker Brothers game Careers; a non-existent episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Murray inherited a British title and a state-of-the-art outfit of ham radio broadcasting equipment.
Dinner was lasagna (which we bought oven-ready for just a dollar).
Joined the Move Meetup to see Darren Aronovsky's Black Swan at the Varsity. Believable but too grim for me, with lots of bleeding in closeup. (When I told Moira I was going to see it, her response was "Ugh!") I left in the middle [after I finished my popcorn].
Tonight's opera rehearsal was delayed till tomorrow because of the big snow. (Which means I'll have to miss another Queen Street art walk!)
Dinner was fettucine pesto (which I cooked).
Saw Peter Medak's neo-noir Romeo Is Bleeding on DVD. Kinda fun, though it goes over the top in the second half.
Dreamed of asking where I was, and being told it was Halifax.
Went shopping. (I also got a new nightrobe.)
Dinner was fish.
Rehearsed Madama Butterfly. I think I have my small part down. (Tatiana likes my furry hat.)
Lisa: "Nature's not our enemy!"
Mr. Burns: "But surely you can agree that we can do without it?"
--The Simpsons
Dreamed of the musical Carousel.
Dinner was spaghetti.
At choir practice we dress-rehearsed Sunday's folk song concert. I couln't find an envelope until I remembered that the Games magazine subscription renewal notice included a return envelope. (I renew online.)
Giuseppe's having a master class after the opera is finished, since the auditorium will be available longer than expected. I could go, but I'm not that serious a singing student. [I eventually did.]
"White Americans appear to be under the compulsion to dream, whereas black Americans are under the compulsion to awaken. And this fact is also sinister"--James Baldwin
Dreamed of wondering whether my Ph.D. thesis was worth the trouble; a 1930s musical with Walter Huston as U.S. President. (He actually played the President in the 1933 non-musical Gabriel Over the White House.)
Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin. I played a new game called 7 Wonders (finished last, of course), as well as Puerto Rico and Ticket to Ride.
Dinner was McDonald's.
Dreamed of Al Pacino in Scarface.
Went to a Brunch Meetup at Udupi Palace. I had a vegetable curry.
Dinner was KFC.
Saw some wartime Warner Brothers cartoons on DVD. One of them had a newspaper quote: "The Open Door policy has produced the Draft"!
Saw the DVD of the first chapter of Louis Feuillade's French silent serial Fantomas. Nice job on the musical accompaniment.
"There are motherfucking snakes on the motherfucking plane!"--Weeds
"Mommy, why doesn't he like people?"--Robot Monster
Started a new online game called Glory of Rome. It's essentially the same as Kings of Camelot, with even the same alliances. I took the name Martinianus and called my city Megalopolis.
Relatives from Kingston came for an overnight stay.
Dinner was linguini primavera with shrimp.
Saw the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the notorious 1950s B-movie Robot Monster on DVD.
"Fuck you, I have a Prius!"--Weeds
Dreamed of reflecting that the saddest sound in the world is of a piano being closed; visiting a drugs lab on a rooftop and warning that the icy object nearby on the roof might attract police attention; leaving by a slide to street level.
Found some shrimp noodles at the big Loblaw's near St. Clair & Bathurst. (I didn't know they still made them!)
Dinner was salmon.
Went to a University of Toronto concert with the Classical Music Meetup group. (I moved several more Toronto City Opera flyers.) The music was rather avant-garde for my taste--one piece was performed by a string quartet with an accordion--and I left in the intermission.
