(Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!)
Well, maybe you aren’t this extreme, but you’re in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don’t worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
I’m feeling a little nostalgic for the Socorro days. For those of you who have no clue what the title means, the last year that I lived at the House ‘o Bob, he set up a Commodore 64. A favorite game for all of us residents was M.U.L.E.
In particular, I remember one day when Mushi and Matt were setting up a game of M.U.L.E. I’m pretty sure I had a pile of homework, but they talked me into taking an hour out of the day to play a game. We sat with the front door open, a spring breeze cooling us, and a pile of pistachios in front of us.
The twinge of nostalgia came with a small bowl of pistachios and the scary amount of work I need to get done by yesterday. I can’t help but think that a good game of M.U.L.E. right now would make this thesis-thing better.
Ever have one of those moments in a conversation where it becomes clear that you are not talking about the same thing as the other person? Yeah. Andrew and I had one of those last night:
Andrew: Speaking of old shows, I used to watch “The Littlest Hobo” when I was a kid. I recently discovered that the actor who plays Tigh on Battlestar Galactica was on it.
Me: Really? Did he have a big afro then?
Andrew: [Blank stare followed by gales of laughter.]
Me: Oh, the new Tigh. [Followed by my own gales of laughter].
For those of you who are not BSG fans, in the original BSG, in the 70s, Colonel Tigh was played by Terry Carter – an African-American actor. In the current BSG, Colonel Tigh is played by Michael Hogan, a balding white actor. So you can imagine the image this exchange brought to our minds.
We went out to the Minnesota Centennial Showboat this evening to see Sherlock’s Last Case. This was Andrew’s first time at the Showboat, but hardly mine.
Back when I was in high school, my aunt Maggie would visit once or twice a year. This meant that my Mom was always looking for fun things for us to do when Maggie was in town. I don’t remember what year it was, but one summer Mom found an ad (or review) for the Showboat. We decided that it sounded like the perfect thing to take Maggie to.
Honestly, I don’t remember what shows we saw there. The experience, however, was always fun. The Showboat has generally played melodramas (at least in the summer shows we’ve gone to). This means that the show is generally a little campy, but also that the audience gets to participate by “boo”ing the villain and “yay”ing the hero. More than that, the show is always accompanied by “olio”s between the scenes. These olios often outshine the show itself. They defy explanation that will do them justice, but suffice it to say that they are silly, often hilarious, comedy-musical shorts.
I remember the Showboat being an old-fashioned paddle boat, complete with a large paddlewheel. I was a bit disappointed by the new showboat, which is really just a floating theater. According to the Showboat’s website, the boat I remember was shut down in 1993 for repairs. Sadly, it was destroyed in a fire set by a stray welding spark in 2000. A new showboat was commissioned, and opened in 2002. I suppose I can’t blame them for designing a new venue which would maximize stage and seating over a design with a paddlewheel, but still.
The current play is the first I’ve gone to at the new theater, and I must say that they have upheld the high standards I remember from my youth. The play was very well done, even if it was hard to tell sometimes who, exactly, the villain was. (At one point, the audience actually boo-ed Holmes, and egged on the man trying to kill him.) The olios were, as usual, a highlight, with the “Cover Girls” a personal favorite.
If you happen to be in the Twin Cities area and looking for something to do one evening, I highly recommend a show at the Showboat, no matter what that show might be.
Now… select five people to tag:
Err…not going to tag specific people – if you feel like doing this, just let us know in the comments (or with a trackback).
What were you doing 10 years ago?
Summer, 1997: This was my second summer in New Mexico – my first summer I actually spent at home, but this one I decided to stay in NM, working as a grader and taking a couple of classes. I was in a biology class (I think…Mushi, weren’t you in that with me?) and a ceramics class. I showed up for the bio class, but I think I only attended the ceramics class a couple times. As I recall, it was a pretty good summer. Mushi and I would meet for lunch most days at the alumni fountain, and if it had recently been cleaned, we’d wade in it.
What were you doing 1 year ago?
Same damn thing I’m doing now: working part-time as a contractor, working part-time toward my PhD, biking, going to movies, playing video games, scrapbooking.
Five snacks you enjoy:
Chips and hummus
Chocolate, dark, and lots of it!
Raspberries
Starbuck’s chai bar
Flavored chips (especially sour cream and onion)
Five songs you know all the lyrics to:
“Ghost” by Indigo Girls
“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” by The Police
“Defying Gravity” from Wicked
“Everything You Know is Wrong” by Weird Al
“They Dance Alone” by Sting
Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
(I’m assuming several million, as one would go way too fast!)
Open a scrapbook store
Pay off the house, car, student loans
Invest
Donate to several charities
Hire a behaviorist for our cats (don’t ask)
Five bad habits:
Swearing
Clutter, clutter, clutter
No taking care of medical problems that aren’t life-threatening (4-year headache, anyone?)
Procrastinating
No answering e-mail or returning phone calls (e-mail is just laziness, phone calls ‘cuz I just hate the phone. Hate it hate it hate it. It’s not you’re fault, and I really want to keep in touch, but I had a friend growing up who would spend all day at school with me, and then talk on the phone for *hours* in the evening, and it was impossible to get off the damn phone. Now I just hate the phone.)
Five things you like doing:
Scrapbooking
Spending time with Andrew
Going to the movies
Finding a new museum or exhibit downtown
Sitting out on the deck with Ares
Five things you would never wear again:
Stretch pants
Knickers (gotta love the 80s!)
Werid cobbled-together “self-expression” clothes (you’d’ve had to know me in senior high to know what I’m talking about)
Did you own a LightBrite? Yes. Technically, it was probably one of my brother’s, and by the time I got around to playing with it, many of the bulbs were gone. But I loved that thing.
Play with a Strawberry Short Cake doll? Yup. It was a gift from one of my aunts. I don’t know how much I played with it, but I loved the smell.
Played with GI-Joe doll? I’m not sure. My brothers certainly had GI Joes, and I probably played with them, but they didn’t leave a big impression.
Had a He-Man or She-Ra toy? No.
Owned a Slinky? Yes! I still love Slinkies! I’m not sure how long they lasted when I was a kid, though, since they always seemed to get tangled when I played with them.
Had a Jem doll? No.
What about a Cabbage Patch Kid? Try three. My neices play with two of them now. The other is dressed up as Captain Picard and lives in my home office.
Owned a Big Wheel? No, but I always wanted one.
Traded Garbage Pail Kids? Yes.
Had a Popple? A who?
Had a Pound Puppy? Yes, they were so cute!
Cartoons
Did you watch the following cartoons?
Thundercat – No
Jem – No
GI Joe – No
Rainbow Brite – No
Care Bears – Yes, I think so
He-Man or She-Ra – No
Fraggle Rock – No, it was on HBO, and we never had the pay-channgels on cable. (Still don’t, in fact.)
Shirt Tales – I don’t think so.
Jabber Jaw – No
Smurfs – Yes. It was the smurfiest!
Transformers – No
Mighty Mouse – No
The Littles – No
TV
Did you watch….
A-Team – No
Charles in Charge – Yes
Full House – No
Dukes of Hazzard – Of course! Those Duke-boys were so dreamy!
Cosby Show – Occasionally, though I never saw the big deal.
Hee-Haw – Once or twice.
Miami Vice – I don’t remember. I remember the characters, and could convince myself that I watched it, but I’m just not sure.
Knight Rider – Yes.
Punky Brewster – Yes, but I didn’t admit it then.
Pee-Wee’s Play House – Yes.
Saved by the Bell – Yes.
Silver Spoons – Hell yes! Ricky Schroder was the dreamiest!
Just the Ten of Us – No
Cheers – Yes.
Dallas – No.
Love Boat – Yes. My Mom loved this show, so I’d watch with her.
Incredible Hulk – Yes.
Styles of the 80s
Did you have big bangs? I tried.
A mullet? No.
Like Michael Jackson’s music? Yes.
Know the Golden Girls theme song? Probably.
Wear Kangaroo sneakers? Yes. Though the tiny pockets weren’t really good for anything more than a quarter or a neatly folded dollar.
Own a pair of Guess Jeans? No.
Like Ocean Pacific clothes? No.
Wear Jordache jeans? No, but I had a pair of glasses frames that were Jordache branded.
Own anything LA Gear? No.
Watch MTV a lot? No. We weren’t allowed to watch MTV – my parents believed that it was evil.
Have a pair of high tops? Yes.
Have a Trapper Keeper? Yes.
Own a Swatch watch? Yes.
Did you love the 80s? I have a love-hate relationship with the 80s.
The fruit of all my costume-making labor came to fruition this evening at the Marvin’s Halloween Monster Mash concert at the Kennedy Center. Our picture was snapped by someone from WASH-FM, a local radio station, but we haven’t seen the gallery up on their web page yet. There were lots of kids there, many of them in costume. A few adults were in costume, too, though not a huge number. Our costumes, in my humble opinion, were among the best there tonight.
The concert hall was decorated up for the occasion. All the doors into the Hall were decked with spider webs. The stage had a pile of carved pumpkins, a couple enormous bats and spiders. There was also a skeleton choir. The decorations set a great mood for the concert.
The opening piece was a spooky-sounding string quartet, during which the other musicians paraded through the audience and made their way up to their seats. This was a great chance for us to check out their costumes. The musicians’ costumes were all top-notch. There were the normal suspects: pirates, witches, a punker, a Nat’s player (or fan), etc. Of note, there was a mad scientist, a sumo wrestler, a old, fat Elvis, an Indiana Jones, and a Raggedy Ann with a knife in her belly. There was, however, one witch that looked exactly like the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz (or Elphaba from Wicked). The best costume was the “balloon guy” – he was dressed as a headless guy (i.e. with a jacket that went up over his head), and then in place of a head, he had an enormous, helium-filled, round orange balloon decorated like a jack o’ lantern. Oh, and the best part of the balloon guy’s costume was that he could make the balloon rise or lower, so for a while it was hovering well above the rest of the symphony.
The entire concert was great. Here are a few notes:
There were a few movie pieces, from King Kong, Psycho, and Harry Potter.
They performed a couple of numbers from Wicked: The Wizard and I and For Good. The soprano who sang the part of Elphaba in the Wicked pieces was fantastic. Sadly, I didn’t really like the other soprano who sang the part of Glinda in For Good – she didn’t sound as natural in the part, singing almost too deliberately for a Broadway song.
They played a tango from The Addams Family, after which a girl dressed as Wednesday Addams came out and chided Hamlisch for vilifying ghosts and goblins, her friends. She then sang a sappy love song, which I can’t remember the name of (and isn’t in the program). While the girl did a great job with the song, I couldn’t believe that Wednesday Addams would sing such a song. She’s all about being morbid, and the song didn’t ring true.
The finale was two numbers from Phantom of the Opera. The singers did a great job with these numbers, but I’m not sure I’m a fan of Phantom. Maybe I should actually see it one of these days.
Overall, this was a great concert. Andrew and I are going to have to look more closely at the Pops schedule and see if there are other concerts we would like to see.
I'm an astronomer, cyclist, scrapbooker, reader, movie-goer, cat-and-dog-lover, wife, gamer, and all-around-wonderful-woman...not necessarily in that order.
