Two posts in one day! This is a first, but I want to strike while the iron is gleeful. I went to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Myer Music Bowl again tonight and it was magnificent. I loved it!
Tonight's performance was an Opera Showcase - bits from various operas - and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Not that I expected not to like it. I've never been one of those people who scorns opera, but I don't own any and I've never really seen it live before. It's so powerful it gave me goosebumps at times. I'm gonna get me some of that on my iPod.
Although it was drizzly at times tonight, I still enjoyed the outdoor setting, high on the hill with the city lights to our left. I enjoyed the opportunity to wear my doona-esque parka in summer too. It got a little cool and breezy, but I was snug.
My friend Anna and I did more sewing practice at Thread Den today in preparation for making a skirt. There was a patchwork class in progress while we toiled away over our zips. When Anna successfully sewed in her first invisible zip, she said, "Yes!" and threw her arms in the air as if she'd just crossed the line in a marathon. A patchworker using the iron looked at us oddly and I said, "We're beginners". Maybe you had to be there..
I'M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!! *squeals* I booked my flights yesterday. I'm flying out on 14 May and returning on 29 May. I got a really good deal too, which is a nice little sweetener.
I haven't mentioned this before here (I dont think...) because I dread the reaction it usually provokes, but for you to fully understand the gleefulness of this trip, it should be revealed: this will be the first time I have set foot outside Australia. No, really. It's not that I have never wanted to travel, it's just not been at the top of my list of priorities for one reason or another. But I decided I was going to do it before I hit 40, and I am.
So, it's a big deal in more ways than one. And I'm doing it on my own! I can't deny that I'm a little daunted at doing it alone, but I'm also looking forward to it. I know I won't regret it one bit and it'll do me good to push myself outside my comfort zone - personal growth blah, blah, blah.
Now I just need to work out what I'm doing while I'm there... Of course, I've already decided to visit the libary!
Speaking of doing things on my own, I went to see The White Stripes music doco Under Great White Northern Lights last night on my own and I didn't even feel like a friendless loser. There couldn't have been more than 20 people in the whole cinema and I think I was the only one flying solo, but it didnt bother me. Go, me.
There were only three people in the cinema when I walked in. I made my way to my allocated seat and it was right next to a not unattractive man all on his own too. I left a seat between us (not like it was sold out) and we had a chuckle and a quick chat...and then his girl friend showed up. Dang. Then another lone guy sat a seat away on the other side of me...and then his girlfriend showed up. Story of my life....
Anyhoo, the movie was great, not perfect, but certainly visually and aurally pleasing. It follows the band on a tour taking in every province in Canada to mark their 10th anniversary. They played gigs in small towns in a range of unlikely places, including a bowling alley and a pool hall, and also did a string of impromptu free performances, like the one on a bus where they had the passengers singing along to The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round!
There was lots of grainy black and white footage, both on stage and off. I love grainy monochrome pictures. The best was the film shot at Iqaluit, waaaaaaaay up in the far north of Canada, where Meg and Jack went for a wander against a backdrop of stark and desolate scenery, including the beach and a cemetery with rows of white wooden crosses. Beautiful.
This is macabre, but I really like cemetries - to look at, I mean. When I was watching Meg and Jack at the cemetery I thought, "Hmmm...maybe I could visit the cemetery in New York...." Yep, I've googled New York cemeteries. Am I strange?
The final scene in the doco was the most powerful - Meg and Jack sitting at a piano as he played and sang White Moon. About half way through, tears rolled down Megs cheeks. Meg is so painfully shy and hardly speaks during the doco which makes the scene so much more affecting.
Oh, and Jack White....I could watch that man all day long.
Here's a bit of the Iquluit footage (wouldn't fit properly, dammit - click on it to view on YouTube).
So much stuff to look forward to! I love this time of year - it's Moomba in a couple of weeks, which brings big crowds, ski jumping competitions, colourful carnival rides and fireworks to town. It can be a bit lame but sometimes they have good bands playing for free and I like the atmosphere. It's great for taking photos too.
Then not long after Moomba the Melbourne International Comedy Festival hits town, which also brings a nice buzzy atmosphere to the CBD. I love the Comedy Festival - who doesn't like to laugh? - although flicking through the festival guide makes me a bit anxious because there's so much to see, but only so much time and money...Decisions, decisions.
In the more immediate future though....I only found out today that The White Stripes' documentary Under Great White Northern Lights is showing in Melbourne for three days only, starting tonight! How did I not know this? I found out from a friend who doesn't even like The White Stripes. They're one of my favourite bands and Jack White is one of my celebrity crushes. (Yup, I likes the pasty, dark-haired, kooky ones...) I'm going to see the doco after work tomorrow night. Can't wait.
AND! AND! I also have a date on Sunday. Ooooh. It's just a casual drinks thing with a boy from Twitter. Twitter is ace!
Saving the best for last...
The most exciting thing is that I'M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY IN MAY! Aiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! OK, I haven't booked anything, but I'm on the brink of shelling out the money and I've ramped up my savings.
It's super exciting, but also a little scary because I'm not well travelled and I'm going all on my lonesome. I can't wait around for a travelling companion to come along...
I'll be going for two weeks. Please feel free to offer me any advice on what I should see and do.
I saw the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Myer Music Bowl tonight. It's the third time I've seen them perform in under six months and I think this was my favourite of the three performances (not because it was free either!).
It was less formal, the crowd was more diverse, I was familiar with some of the pieces (excerpts from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream) and there's just something nice about listening to music in the open air, especially with the city as a backdrop and the sun setting over your shoulder.
I got me some prescription sunglasses. Yay. I had been using an old pair of glasses with clip-on sunglasses, but they're small and didn't cut out enough glare, so I decided it was time for a proper pair of prescription ones. It's such a relief not to be Squinty McSquint anymore. And they're kinda cool too...
What's also pleasing is that after claiming on my insurance, they only set me back $140. Not bad for a pair of Vera Wang prescription sunglasses, eh? I reckon I must be one of the few people who gets back more than they spend on private health insurance (but then I only have extras, not hospital).
It was my adorable quasi-nephew's third birthday today so I travelled out to visit, presents in hand. Of course I was pleased that he played with my presents all afternoon - a Bob The Builder chainsaw (with moving, whirring 'blade') and a purple car that makes revving and wheelie noises. ("Is it a Hummer?" he asked.) Still, I guess cars and power tools will always win out over clothes and books. Aunty Jayne rocks! He chainsawed the furniture ("Why are you sawing the couch?" "It's my job.") and tried to chainsaw his cousin but she ran off.
My flatmate did a feng shui make-over of the loungeroom this morning. I'm very skeptical about the whole feng shui thing, but the place sure does look better. More welcoming and roomier. I likes it. It's fun changing the furniture around. It's a tiny bit like being in a new place.
Before the couches were in an L-shape, one with its back to the door which apparently is a feng shui faux pas.
If I do suddenly meet the love of my life or win the lottery, I'll know who to thank though...
Online shopping really is great for enlivening an otherwise ho-hum day at work. I was sitting at my desk this morning enduring yet another day of mental inertia when the book I ordered from Amazon a few weeks back arrived. Yay. I'd nearly forgotten about it, so it was a nice surprise.
It's a very nice book too - the 150th anniversary illustrated edition of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. It's cloth-bound and has beautiful colour photographs tracking the seasons at Walden Pond (near Concord, Massachusetts, US). It's now sitting on my bedside table while I finish the book I'm reading.
I'm currently reading Capital by Kristin Otto, which is about the time from 1901-1927 when Melbourne was the capital city of Australia. I'm not very far in yet but I read about how Prime Minister Alfred Deakin used to walk from his house into town across "Anderson Bridge". That's right near me! I walk that way to work too! The house he lived in is a few minutes walk from my place, on Walsh Street.
Walden was a reward to myself for sticking to my allergy elimination diet. This week's reward was a half-hour massage which I had at lunch time today.Hmmm...what will I give myself next week? I'm thinking either a professional eyebrow shaping or manicure, things I wouldn't normally pay for.
You may have seen on my other blog that the tree outside my window was cut down yesterday. Normally tree-felling wouldn't be a source of glee, being a fan of trees, as I am, but the absence of said tree gives me a virtually uninterruped view to the horizon from my bed.
And not just any old boring horizon, but the bit of it where the sun comes up. I reckon it's pretty damned special to be able to watch the sun rise from your third floor flat, so close to the centre of a sprawling city, without even getting out from under your doona.
Last night I left my blind up when I went to bed so I would be woken up by the golden sunshine. I got up, took a couple of photos, then pulled the blind down and went back to bed for an hour.
Yes, sunrise was 7.00 am, generally considered a quite respectable hour to be up, but not by me. I do really like being up around sunrise on the rare occasions when it happens, but I don't need to get up that early on a work day and I'm too chronically tired to get up - and stay up - just for the sake of it.
I can also see the Nylex Clock from my bed. I wish they'd hurry up and repair the bloody thing so that if I'm lying in bed at night and feeling curious about the time or temperature, I just have to lift my head and look out the window (well, after putting my glasses on). If the Powers That Be are reading this, GET ON IT, ALREADY! It's been forever.
