fuoco di gioia

Within 48 hours, I attended 2 of the most famous music halls in the world for the first time. Tuesday: Metropolitan Opera. Thursday: Carnegie Hall. Both were two of the top ten highlights I've experienced since moving to New York.

Otello at the Met was astoundingly amazing. I won't go on and on, but
a) The singers (particularly Renee Fleming) and orchestra were top-notch (of course)
b) Being one of the most technically difficult operas, it was impressive to see great performances across the board
c) our seats, though in the balcony, were great
d) the Met, and its patrons, are visually stunning alone

Alex really liked it too.

A coworker's wife, who is the General Manager for Opera Orchestra New York, got me the free ticket to see their gala concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday. Some of my coworkers went as well, so we went out to drinks before. We get to the theatre, I pick up the ticket right before the show, and I find out I'm comped in the SECOND ROW of the hall, directly to the left of the podium. A $400 ticket if I would have had to pay.

What does this mean? Less than TEN feet from eight of the best singers in the world. Spitting distance. Renee Fleming. Again. Great young singers too. So close I basically had to clap above my head when each was finished with their arias. Huge ensemble finale. Alright, I get really worked up just thinking about it...I will try to form full sentences now. But it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (especially for free!) and a great learning opportunity as well, since you can make out everything singers are doing from that range.

Whew. Due to flash flooding for nearly the whole weekend, Alex and I were confined to our apartment. It was probably a good thing, as it is the best way to stay within our budgets. We did manage to run to Target though to pick up board games on a whim. The rest of Saturday night was quite wholesome with Scrabble, Monopoly and Life.

We are now Netflix connoisseurs as well. I've done the free trial before, but it was during school when time to watch movies was a rarity. Now, it's a steal. Not to mention easy. I know I'm starting to sound like Kelly from The Office ("I just click, click, click...") but I seriously don't understand how movie rental stores stay in business.

I still am in amazement at the number of times I have ran into people that I know but haven't talked to in ages in the streets of New York. You see it on Sex and the City all the time, and I always thought that was one of the many unrealistic parts of the show (love the trailer for the movie, btw). But no. And it's starting to freak me out. Just yesterday, I saw Amanda, Claire's friend from home (Seattle) that I met when visiting her in August 2005. She recognized me just as I was heading to the gym after work, and we stopped to exchange numbers (she lives here now, too). This honestly happens to me more than once a month.

I'm glad that it's light out when I get off work now. For some reason I have more energy. Anyway, must go. There's a funny smell coming from my kitchen (not unlike spoiling fruit) that I need to track down. No worries...besides that, our apartment is incredibly clean.