av8rmike

For those who may have been concerned, I did survive the weekend. It was actually kind of fun at times. Since no one remembers, a recap: I had dress rehearsals Thursday and Friday night with the ballet orchestra and dancers, then two performances Saturday and another Sunday. The whole thing came off OK eventually, but a lot of people (myself included) were making mistakes they shouldn't have made, and onstage, everything seemed almost disorganized. Hardly anyone came to the shows, either. The hall seats around 800, so there couldn't have been more than 200 there at any given performance. In contrast, Nutcracker last winter drew probably 600 at its peak. I felt kind of bad for the studio, because everyone put so much work into it, and there's no way they could've made a profit.

In between the Saturday shows, a bunch of us string players went to this place called "Asean Bistro". It was better than the standard Chinese/Asian fare, but I doubt I could find the place again without getting lost.

After Sunday's show I had to run out to get to my friend Inna's graduation party. She graduated from Maryland's pharmacy school Friday morning, and I went to the ceremony, but I promised I'd go to her party as well. So, I had to miss the string people's trip to see Star Wars. =( There were only about a dozen of us there, but she was so happy to have all of us, that it didn't matter. We watched The Parent Trap (the '98 Lindsay Lohan version), and some Russian cartoons featuring a character named Karlson, who has a propeller on his back. Apparently, it's like Bugs Bunny cartoons for Russian kids.