Die Rheingold (The Rhine Gold)

Today I went to see Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold as a movie theater broadcast in The Metropolitan Opera‘s Live in HD Series.  It was awesome!  It was directed by Robert Lepage and conducted by Maestro James Levine.  This is the second show I have seen in the broadcast series, the first being Carmen during the 2009-2010 Encore season in August.

What attracted me to today’s performance was my interest in learning the story of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen tetrology.  And, it seems that the Met is going to complete the cycle in its upcoming performance seasons.

Perhaps even more intriguing is the technical talent that went into making today’s Ring stage performance a success.  ”The Machine” that was built just for the Ring cycle productions, a 45 ton apparatus with independently moving planks hovering above the stage, was amazing.  It was a beautiful backdrop and canopy for the staged lights and added a wonderful twist of creativity to the stage space.

This production of Das Rheingold – the music, the voices, the dialogue, the stage sets – really came together to create an enchanting work of art.  The next opera in Wagner’s series, Die Walkure, airs in May 2011.  I will definitely be there!

Sweet 16

The number of women taking on the role of world leader is on the rise, and it’s about time, too:

The 16 Women Taking Over the World by Matilda Battersby of The Independent.

what happens when i can’t sleep (or List #11).

Tonight is the second night in a row I have been unable to fall asleep. Neither yawn nor eye-rub has passed my way. Not even a quiet whimper.

(While I type this, I periodically look over at my partner…who has been enjoying the benefits of REM sleep for over an hour now…and feel jealous. It’s all good, though: he just mumbled something about muffin pans and chocolate pudding, so I’m sure to have a good laugh in the morning when I tease him about it and he can’t remember a thing).

To be honest, sleeplessness happens to me a lot…well, sometimes. I am somewhat of a night crawler, preferring late nights to early mornings, and mornings and I have had a dysfunctional relationship from the beginning. On most nights I can usually fake it, but not tonight. And not last night, either. I blame the ginko biloba I started taking on Friday.  I thought it would help me stay focused and have less-cranky mornings.  Now, while staying up all night in college almost always guaranteed I would be wide awake when morning happened, after 30 that little trick stopped working so well (in fact, staying up all night in my 30′s has proven to almost always guarantee extreme crankiness and the very real possibility of missing mornings all together).  Oh, the irony.

So, since I can’t sleep, I will plot adventures, instead.

1. Feeding the Wanderlust. I have been feeling anxious to wander. This time around, however, my mind is stuck on Ireland. I just want to go. Now.  Pubs, rolling hills, country towns and the Irish brogue are calling my name. All I can think about is not if, but when and how. (Disclaimer: the last time I felt a similar urge to travel I ended up spending 2 weeks holed up in a tiny bungalow along a fisherman’s beach in the Thai province of Chiang Mai… it was a glorious trip but my initial aim was for Brazil.)
2. Spelunking. Now that the weather has warmed up, I’m planning on hitting a few caves this summer.  I’ve spent a couple hours compiling a spreadsheet of all the national monuments (yes, I bought one of the NM passport books…), categorized by monument type. The Lava Beds in CA and the Oregon Caves look like lots of fun, and getting greater exposure to the west coast is a bonus.  Other caving adventures are being planned…
3. Books…yeah.  The cycle is never ending with this one, I’m afraid.  At the top of my book list this month is The Salmon of Doubt by Doug Adams.  I bought it in 2002 very shortly after it was released but never got around to reading it.  Guns, Germs and Steel is up next after that, possibly The Dresden Files series after that.
4. Movies. I’m planning to check out a few of the outdoor cinema shows this summer.  It combines a couple of my favorite things, evening picnics and films, and I think it’s a great summer tradition to be a part of since it happens all around the world.  Between Denver and Boulder, I will have several chances to see Goonies on the big screen again, as well a few other “oldie but goodies”…that is, if the rain lets up this month sometime.  If not, I’m also looking forward to seeing  The Last Airbender and Predators in the theaters.

Okay.  Seeing how it is going on 2 o’clock in the morning, I believe I am now officially obligated to lie in bed with the lights off and my eyes closed.  I do have to be at work later this morning, after all.  G’night!

movement.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last few days following news of social justice movements happening around the world, in particular the Red Shirts of Bangkok, anti-dam protests in Brazil and international human rights discussions about the illegality of rape being used as a weapon of war.   Some points are more compelling than others, but to be sure, a lot is happening right now — not 50 or 100 years ago…right NOW — and some of it is too extreme, too terrible to think of.  Despite my varying levels of comfort, however, remaining uninformed about the reality of modern-day injustice is reckless and unacceptable.

Having been in Bangkok not too long before the military coup in 2006, I find it difficult to imagine what the current state of things must be like.  Violent conflict seemed a very distant reality until last week when the military and activists clashed in a rather bloody confrontation, an outcome I’m sure neither side wanted.

I have not seen anywhere a more organized and vehement grassroots movement than what I witnessed in Bangkok during my attendance at the International AIDS Conference 6 years ago.  For one to say they were working together in solidarity would have been an understated description of how activist groups and community leaders responded to the need for increased awareness of and access to HIV/AIDS  education and treatment.  As the number of people joining the protests and peaceful marches continued to increase, the momentum grew like nothing I had seen before.  Thousands of people from all sectors of the community came — from rural to urban, from male to female, from young to old — to exercise their right as citizens to make their priorities known to their elected leaders.  I was impressed and felt fortunate to be part of such a lively voice.  And the people were heard.  Thailand has one of the most comprehensive national HIV/AIDS programs, in terms of education/prevention and access to treatment, in the world.

So when I look at Thailand, and see their citizens demanding to be heard, and see their leaders responding to what is demanded of them, I can’t help but compare that level of activism to other movements around the world (and here at home).  If the people demand justice, will it come?  Will the unsanctioned, misguided, corrupt, self-interested political gestures that lead to disparity end?  I believe the answer is yes… eventually.  There are still many voices that go unheard or are ignored altogether and they are all demanding justice.  It will take time, and it will take staying the course.  I believe that true empathy, by definition, breeds moderation.  We should, therefore, work to understand one another so that we might all enjoy a little peace of mind in our lifetimes.

philosophically speaking.

I’m in a mellow kind of mood today, feeling more introspective and reclusive than usual (and that is saying a lot). When I feel this way I find myself wanting to reach for one of two books: The Prophet by Khalil Gibran and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig.  No matter how many times I read these books I always find something new to mentally chew on, and I think that is what I need right now: new perspective.

The 62nd Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been going on all this week.  Amazing, this event is.  Not only are this year’s speakers wonderfully insightful, but I found audio archives from as early as 1959 when the keynote speaker of the Conference was R. Buckminster Fuller, as well as other phenomenal people.

Philosophy is essential.

List #10…it’s a new year!

This is supposed to be the year we make contact…right?? But the human race still hasn’t organized a global, financially stable space exploration program, much less manned missions to Jupiter. And last time I checked, no one has taken notice of a large monolithic testament to the ancient presence of alien life on Earth or the moon… I know, I know.  I’m a little disappointed, too.

But, 2010 is the year of many exciting things to come in my everyday world, even if they have nothing to do with meeting David Bowman…

1. the International AIDS Conference XVIII in Vienna
2. the World Cup 2010 South Africa
3. Becoming a Graduate student
4. Visiting my best friend and her new baby in London
5. Fully embracing my hair’s natural curls
6. Mike and I moving into our first home as a couple
7. Coming into a ridiculously large and generous fortune from a distant, anonymous benefactor
8. Spending a few days visiting my old haunts in Buffalo and eating delicious food
9. Enjoying more hiking trails and road trips in Colorado this spring and summer
10. Completing another batch of honey wine this fall

Glasses up to 2010…and remember to look everyone directly in the eye …Happy New Year!

relaxing.

We’ve had a busy last few days at our house.

Early on Friday morning Mike and I hopped on a plane to visit with my best friend and her husband in Washington, DC to celebrate the impending birth of their daughter in December. They had a co-ed baby shower at my favorite restaurant in DC and we had a blast! This was the first co-ed shower I’d been too, loved the idea, but one of the younger, posher attendees told me these sorts of things happen all the time. Who knew?

We came back into Denver late on Sunday night which meant not much sleep before heading back into work for either of us. Late on Monday morning Mike got a call from his oldest son’s school saying the boy was feeling quite ill and needed to be picked up. Four hours and a doctor’s appointment later we were told that he has contracted the H1N1 virus.  Whoa.

Despite exhibiting the other characteristic symptoms for this flu (sore throat, body aches, cough and congestion, vomiting is typically not associated) he did not spike the characteristically high (104F +) fever. His fever stayed under 100F and we are glad for that.  He seemed generally content, even if uncomfortable. Had the fever been worse I fear  the stress on his system and our sanity would have been overwhelming.

When I went into work this morning I found out that several of my co-workers’ children have contracted the virus recently and therefore many of them have been at home caring for them.  Apparently this virus has been whipping through the schools out here like a new fashion fad.  What is slightly comforting about that is I have heard repeatedly that there is no cause for serious concern. Yes, this strain of the flu is novel and alarming, but healthy individuals are at low risk and recovering well. Fortunately, we are healthy individuals.

After a day at home with his dad resting and playing video games to his little heart’s content, my stepson is recovering nicely.  He appears to have missed what could have been a much more severe case.  I am home now, too, sitting on our couch eating the delicious dinner Mike made, sipping chamomile tea and watching Fawlty Towers. I’m glad for it.

Da… Bills.

The Buffalo Bills just lost to the New England Patriots on national broadcast television. Again I say, Monday Night Football is *not* the venue for pulling embarrassing stunts in the last minute of the 4th quarter that lose the game. I mean, come on guys.  Being from Buffalo makes me a Bills fan automatically, but this relationship is starting to feel one-sided.

The End of Summer.

It has been a while.  I had a great summer that went by way too quickly.  Mostly, I went hiking, went to Buffalo for my high school reunion, and went hiking some more. Good times.

I really like this blog, so I am going to try and be better about updating it more regularly, getting photos up and keeping better track of my Life.

It’s been all over the news about the fires that are raging in SoCal right now, and the skies have been smokey all the way out here in Northern Colorado. I am intrigued. On my commute home from work this afternoon I was unable to see the mountains, as they were concealed in smoke. A minute or two later, I noticed the gray haze that was generally in the air all around and felt my eyes beginning to sting when I blinked.

Things at work have been busy but good.  Business has picked up this quarter (I hope this is a sign of good things to come), which means those of us who made it through the layoffs late last year and in the early Spring of this year have been hauling butt to maintain the status quo. If I remember my Macroeconomics course at all, I believe this is probably happening all across America right now and is a positive sign for industry.

Activities at the AIDS service organization (ASO) I’ve been volunteering at for the last 3 years have scaled back up, too. Perhaps it’s just the time of year, summers are always more social. I was concerned to hear some disturbing news at a meeting last week, though: HIV infections are on the rise among young, gay men in our county.  This, in my mind, makes me consider if there are similar trends occurring in other youth populations. Amidst the warm glow of our outreach and prevention programs’ successes, we are steadily taking in more newly infected HIV-positive clients than in months past.  There could be many reasons for this, including more people than ever are getting tested and learning their status, but the news itself is startling. HIV/AIDS is still a real and urgent concern in our community and will remain so for a long time to come.

Mike and I just bought our plane tickets to DC to attend my best friend’s baby shower at the end of the month.  I am more than excited.  I have a tremendous amount of joy in knowing that my family is growing.  I can’t wait for Mike, who is my family here in Colorado, to meet my extended family back east.  All of us together will truly feel like home.

I am happy, I am loved, and on lucky days… I am well-rested

Time for bed. Good night all.

Thirsty

I have been daydreaming about diving into the ocean all day, and with good reason: I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery there…

Malibu Beach in California, 2003

And the unforgettable…

Near Lima, Peru, 2005

…Until the next time we meet!