Here's what actually happened...
Friday around noon I was offered 2 tickets to see Turandot, the opera that was playing at the Schuster Center. (Click on link for more info.) A friend of mine, Shannon, was in the opera (dancing, though not singing) and I was looking forward to going. Jenni emailed to see if I was still up for karaoke, so I asked her if she was up for an opera, and we agreed to do both!
Around that time, Shannon sent me a text asking for places to go for karaoke after the opera, so I let her know that Jenni and I would be at the opera and that we'd be going to karaoke afterwards. She said she might be bringing a few friends - principals from the opera. (Yeah, right.)
Also around that time, Jason let me know that he would have to work until they found someone to fill in for the woman he fired earlier that week. He was afraid he'd miss the beginning of the men's bootcamp. Later he found out that he would have to work until midnight, when the next person came on. I planned on packing his stuff for the retreat and then he could meet at the retreat location at 8am Saturday morning, just in time for breakfast. About 11:40 pm the midnight person called in and said she wasn't going to make it. They couldn't find a substitute, so Jason had to stay until 8am. That's right, he pulled a 24 hour shift - with nothing to eat from 4pm on. Needless to say, the bootcamp was now out.
If I may fast-forward for a moment, the 24 hour shift was horrible on Jason and he still can't get his sleep caught up on. However, he has earned the respect of everyone he works with. Yesterday everyone was telling him how they heard that he had pulled a 24 hour shift. Even the VP came to his office to apologize and also to thank him. She gave him the day off today. :) (Which he spent getting things done instead of getting caught up on sleep!)
Back to my Friday night. Jenni and I went to the opera and we had incredible seats - Orchestra level, row M, right in the middle. You could see the expressions on their faces!! Synopsis of Turandot. Act 1 went quickly. Act 2 was a little slower. And Act 3 was... wow. I could go on and on about it, but I'll just tell you one part I loved. Turandot (the "ice" princess) has a hardened heart and pretty much hates all men. The prince, Calaf, kisses her and you can see her stiff shoulders suddenly relax, and then her head tilts. Just, wow. (Maybe I relate too well to this.)
So we rushed out of there, text our friends, Kira and Megan, that we're on our way and headed down Wayne to the little tavern down the road from my house. Shannon took forever to get out of there and let us know there's a few people from the opera coming. There was a problem though, they weren't getting there until 11:30 and the tavern closes at 1am. Also, they were hungry and the tavern stopped serving food at 11pm. Thankfully, right before they showed up, a guy from a local pizza place stopped by trying to sell pizzas. I told Shannon to tell her friends that the only food to eat was pizza, and that the place closed at 1am, but we could guarantee that they'd have fun.
Then it hits me. These are people who live in New York, or someplace like that, who have traveled the world, and for an evening out after the opera, I've offered for them to come to this little hole in the wall tavern for karaoke??? I was suddenly convinced that they would have a miserable time, stay 10 minutes and head to Therapy Cafe, or somewhere else a little more classy. I couldn't have been more wrong. :)
Shannon and Tara, a Dayton friend of hers who was also in the opera, come in and prepare us that the principals that are coming are Dongwon, who played Calaf, "Yummy" who played Ping, and Jin, who played Pang. (See the bottom of this page for their pictures.) They had a great time, eating pizza, drinking beer, and hanging out with us.
From left to right, Shannon, Yummy, Jin, Dongwon, and Tara.
Yummy sang "Moon River" while Shannon did her version of interpretive dance. (A first at the Red Carpet Tavern.)
Later Jin sang Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" which had about half the people in the bar doing their own versions of interpretive dance.
The remainder of the evening was mostly goofing around with everyone, singing at the top of our lungs, and a lot of laughing. Absolutely surreal. If I didn't have pictures, I don't think anyone would believe me.
The entire time I was at the tavern I was texting Jason and missing him so much. It was one of those moments that I wish Jason would have been there. (But if he hadn't been working, he would have been at the bootcamp anyway.) When I got home I had to call Jason and tell him all about my evening, which probably took almost an hour. I didn't get to sleep until almost 3am.
Jason got off around 8:30 am and got home at 9:30 am. I got up and he fell asleep. I took some time to work on my costume and then got ready to take Emelynn to the Philhar-monster. My costume was a poodle skirt and saddle shoes, and Emelynn was a fairy princess ballerina.
This was Eme's first philharmonic experience and she really enjoyed it. One of her two favorite songs was "Extraction of No. 8" (as in tooth number 8). They actually held up cordless drills and ran them at one point, and we got to scream a couple of times. The composer is from Yellow Springs and his music is quite... interesting. The other song she loved was The Sorcerer's Apprentice (from Fantasia). She asked if brooms were going to come out. She's cute. :)
I dropped Eme off at their church where they were doing Trunk-or-Treat and a chili dinner. I was originally supposed to eat with them, but since Jason was home, I headed off to do dinner with him. Then Belynda came over and we went out dancing at Julia's. The other two friends who were supposed to come had to cancel, but it was a good night with Belyn. It was so good to catch up and just hang out like old times. Jason came along with us to watch the table and to fend off the leaches.
Sunday we got up for church and we were both dragging. I offered to cook lunch so Jason could rest and Jason requested that I make tuna pea casserole, one of my personal favorites. So we hit the grocery store and got everything we needed. I hate cooking, but I definitely love making that casserole. I swear I could eat the entire thing if I could. So yummy!! The rest of the day was spent napping and doing very little. The perfect Sunday. The perfect ending to an incredible weekend.
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