Went to the last outdoor ballet of the season this past weekend. This time around we got there in time for the kids program and it was surprisingly fun to watch. The leader of the group of kids was someone I know – she’s the director of the dance institute at UA. And I built her website. 🙂 So, it was pretty cool to see a familiar face leading a group of happy children dancing on stage.
The traditional part of the ballet was a little dull, but one segment had Johnny Cash singing a song called Hurt. The song was originally written and performed by Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Cash did a cover of this in his own style shortly before he passed away. The line, “You can have it all – my empire of dirt”, struck me as deeply sad and stayed with me. The dancers acted out the song, one pair moving the others like puppets. Haunting and very well done. I discovered later that Leona Lewis also did a cover of the song – adding a pop-style to the moody and the country.
Strange how one song can convey so much depth and be covered in such interesting ways. Guess that’s a tribute to the writer.
Also over the weekend I got to go with some friends out on the lake for a boat trip. The weather was nice most of the time and we spent quite a while swimming. It was a little cold, but that didn’t stop me from doffing my suit once in the water. I swam out quite a ways from the boat and went down to see how deep the part of the lake was. I touched bottom – at least, I hope it was the bottom. It was squishy.
After a while, I put my suit back on and got back into the boat – managing to injury myself a bit in the process. Too bad it wasn’t a lake monster – would have made for a better story.
In other news… today, I returned some food. I had gone up to the student center to get some lunch and decided on a slice of pizza. I got to a table, sat down and took one bite – and nearly spit it back out. Cool to the touch, dry and chewy crust, greasy, and the cheese was congealed. I’ve sent back food before that didn’t match what I ordered, but this was the first time that I had taken something back that just tasted bad. I waited until I attracted the attention of one of the women at the checkout station and asked to see a manager. The manager came out and I explained that the pizza was terrible and what was wrong with it. She offered to make it right and get me another slice (how that would help I don’t know), but I was already running late and had lost much of my appetite with that bite anyway. So, I declined and said I just wanted to report it so that the pizza that had been sitting under the heat lamp could be discarded and no one else would get a serving of that. I made do with my coke zero and a pop-tart.
So, after a very busy day in the office – it was a “webteam of one” for a while – I hopped in my car and headed over to the BMV to get the plates changed over. No waiting in line, I had all the paperwork needed, the clerk was efficient, friendly, and helpful – and the transaction only cost me $4.50. I was on the road in no time and took a CD to the Ladies from New York that they had asked me to find. From there, I went to get my haircut and again didn’t have to wait in line. I got a great hair cut from a friendly stylist and was on my way in short order.
I guess the Fates of Retail felt bad about the pizza because the rest of my evening went pretty smoothly.
Just wrapping up some laundry and then off to bed.