What made you smile today?

I got a free ticket to the opera on Friday.

My phone rang and I saw it was the boss of our division at work. She asked if I wad interested in a free ticket to the opera Friday night. Hell, yes! Australian Opera, Cosi fan Tutti, at the Opera House.

I had to meet her friend to collect ticket. It turned out her friend was flying in from Darwin, and then discovered flight was late. Finally reached Opera House at 6.50pm for 7.00pm start, and friend was still trying to get taxi from airport. (Sydney airport at that time on Friday is a zoo!)

I'm standing at the coat check counter, trying to check where the friend (that I don't know) was and the coat check lady came up and asked me if I was going to the opera. I said yes, but the friend hadn't arrived with the ticket. By this time it was about 7pm. She walked away and then came back with a ticket and said "Here, take this and run!"

It was a ticket for the circle. I raced up a myriad flights of stairs. Got to the door as they were closing as the overture started. Waited until the end of the overture to take my seat - in the middle of the row.

Absolutely brilliant seat - second row of circle, excellent view!

At interval, finally contacted friend, who said to stay put as her seat was nowhere near as good.

The performance was absolutely stunning. I had looked at going myself, but the tickets were far too expensive for me. Just a brilliant night - at only the cost of parking (in itself hideous! )

Sounds wonderful..

Margo, I'm smiling for you. Great ticket. Great event. Wonderful all the way around.

Reminded me of the time my sister, niece, and I were in Washington DC, and Le Miz was playing at the Kennedy Center - where we happened to be on tour. When I asked the tour director if I could get three tickets, she laughed at me and said tickets were sold out months ago. While on tour, I went to the ticket office and asked if they had three tickets. The clerk said, somebody just turned in three tickets, so I purchased them. The seats were excellent in orchestra by the left isle about 22 seats back. My niece loved the show so much, she collected memorabilia of the show when we got home, and filled her bedroom with it.
That was also the trip where Norm Mineta invited us to have lunch with him at the congressional lunch room. He later became Transportation Secretary under Bush.

Last week I saw a live screening from the Almeida theatre of Ralph Fiennes as Richard III at the local cinema.

He was brilliant, and very funny at times like Leonard Rossiter's Rigsby.

On Tripadvisor Australian board, an American said he had a week to see Australia and New Zealand and wanted to see both cities.

You have to laugh. There are maps in US, I suppose?

We were not able to identify which 2 cities he wanted to see.

Went to lunch with Diane today at the place we still call Nicky V's but it changed it's name to some brewery title I never manage to remember; still owned by the same people. We chewed the fat, as usual, and had great meals, as usual. Mine was the Orvieto pasta -

The fat we talked about at some length was, guess? The Democratic National Convention. We've talked with each other about politics for at least fifteen years now, actually met in 2003, so we have a groove on it, though we vary one way or another from time to time, as it should be. I'm more iffy on Clinton, but still voting for her, natch.

Not all was about politics. A lot was about cats.

Orvietto The menu spells it wrong - it's Orvieto, I should know... but I never remember to tell them, too busy eating.
Pancetta bacon, parmigiano-reggiano, fresh basil, crimini mushrooms, peas and pine nuts tossed with cavatappi in a white wine cream sauce
NM chile pepper available on table (yes!)

the nights I don't have dance class, I take Bella for a sashay

we start offleash for just a moment as Bella zooms down the block to see if Baba Evda is home ... if she is, Bella runs runs and leaps onto Baba's step and tells Baba about her day ... if she isn't home, Bella stands on Baba's driveway and howls and then looks for someone else to love up

the other day, Bella rolled in something icky. Dry dog shampoo didn't work, so yesterday I used the good white dog shampoo and got her cleaned up. Baba was happy with how pretty she was and wanted to know if I'd asked Set what Bella had gotten into. Of course Baba doesn't call him Set - she uses a diminutive of his real name, which totally cracks me up. Told hamburgboy - I thought he was going to fall through the phone laughing - Evda really called him x ? oh yeah - more laughter

I miss hamburgboy - tell him hello (unless you'd rather not).

Have not been to a live theater show in many years. I think that last one was in San Jose. My childhood buddy, Sab Shimono, was in it. It was so long ago, I even forgot the name of the show.
I met Lindsay Hamilton on a cruise many years ago, and she was in only one show during the whole cruise. She had one of the best voice I have ever heard. When my buddy and I were in the Horizon Room for pre-dinner cocktail, she walked in, so I invited her to sit with us for a drink. After several years, I wrote to her by email, because I was going to be in London, and she remembered me. I invited her to join our a2k group, but she said if she didn't have a contract, she would come. Sadly, she had a contract. She has had solo shows (Le Miz) in London in addition to directing musicals.

Absolutely will do so - I'm still trying to get him back online on a regular basis.

He enjoys hearing what his a2k friends are getting up to. He was really happy when M-A met you and Diane.

Last genuine trip I went to, (as opposed to a live broadcast) was Roald Dahl's The Witches back in March. I always take the kids to a panto over Christmas.

Well, that makes me smile big time.

This hamster drifting...

snort

Said hi to hamburgboy for you ... when I got a break in his rhapsodizing about lunch at his new favourite place in town, Pasta Shelf.

http://www.pastashelf.com

Said he'd had the best pizza he's ever had in his life ... the Mama Lina
Roasted garlic plum tomato sauce, proscuitto, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers, smoked mozzarella & smoked white cheddar cheeses.

He takes himself out for lunch every Saturday and the Pasta Shelf has been winning his attention 2 or 3 times a month lately - as he works through their menu

Sounds great! very good ingredient list..

I was browsing through Tripadvisor, reading a thread about a Chinese family who want to fit in as much as possible in Western Australia, a huge state, in a week.

Someone had just told him he couldn't manage a trip to Albany in addition to everything else, and he replied:

Maybe We have huge tummy want to eat too much of large number beauteous sightseeing.

Made me laugh out loud

What made me smile is that I have great friends. My family loves me. And that even though I'm going through a divorce other men are still interested in me. A gorgeous looking man flirted with me at the grocery store(of course I'm not ready to even entertain this) but it was a great ego boost.

You'll be fine. Welcome back, not seen you for a bit.