Turkey on Turkey 2008

And so it begins...another Turkey Day outside the US, and this time I'm headed to, well, Turkey. (the country not the fowl) Regina's already on her gloriously direct flight to Istanbul, and I'll be there in, oh, 20 hours or so. Trip's off to a bumpy start: forcibly checked-in carry-on bag, delayed flight to Frankfurt...all in a day's travel, I suppose. Stay tuned to our adventures in our joint travel blog -- http://reginaviv.blogspot.com/

Görüşmek üzere
(That's "See you later" in Turkish)

:)

Fashion does exist in SF

Old friends, hot fashion, and a sexy new store...makes for a perfect opening party for the fabulous new Gucci digs on Union Square. :)

That was *so* 2006

Wow -- so well put, if I do say so myself. ;) Can't believe that was two years ago. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, I suppose.

No plane tickets this time...well, not that many anyway. Time to stay put and actually begin life anew.

Congrats to Mendel and Derek

Just got home from Mendel and Derek's wedding in Boston. I have to say it was probably one of the most relaxing and fun weddings I've been to in a long time, even though I was in the wedding party and all. M&D have such an awesome ease with each other, and their wedding reflected their personalities, quirkiness, and general desire to just be chill and have fun. It was also great to catch up with some familiar faces that I haven't seen in a while. Going to the wedding also gave me a little boost of reassurance that love and romance is still alive in this world -- all the best to you both for a life filled with joy and much love.

Photos can now be found here.

the hardest part

A blog by nature is self-centered and indulgent. You use a very public forum to rant, rave, or generally moan about what's good, bad and ugly in life, and in turn expect that people will either read or be interested in what you have to say. I have no interest in ranting or raving today, but I will be indulgent...just this one time.

the hardest part

it's not the long dark nights
or sleeping on either side,
or even waking up alone.
it's knowing there are no longer
any sides at all.

it's not the sunday afternoons
or wednesday evenings.
it's that each day
brings you farther away.
farther away from what you remember,
farther away from holding on.

it's not the forgetting or forgiving,
the getting over, or moving on.
it's not what could have been, might have been,
should have been.

the hardest part of breaking up
is realizing you've run out of reasons
for why you should not.
and acknowledging that it just wasn't.

Thinking of the past, looking to the future

WHOA. Rough couple of months there...much more than just planetary misalignment or Mercury retrograde. I venture to say that the worst has passed, but obviously, there's still a lot to process in terms of emotions, damages, baggage and closure. Not sure where the next few months will take me, but I'm grateful for the true friends who have stuck around through my stages of denial, indulgence and hysteria -- you guys are the best. Been listening to a lot of Leona Lewis lately, and I suppose Better in Time is the most appropriate piece for the moment...funny how the person who introduced me to it a couple of months ago ended up contributing to all this drama. 

My favourite line from the song?

"I'm gonna smile cause I deserve to / It'll all get better in time."

Misty and Kerri are awesome...

Saw the Olympic gold medalists at work today at the AVP Tournament in SF. Wow. Those ladies are PHENOMENAL. Hats off to them!

Soundtrack of life: Beautiful Disaster (the other one)

I am really loving Pandora...it helps me find all those *other* songs I should be listening to, and is much more helpful than the recommendations on iTunes. Anyway, I recently discovered this song by Jon Mclaughlin (I know, I've never heard of him either...but he sang that sappy love song in the movie Enhanted). Can definitely relate to many of the lyrics, and I'm pulling out the ones that I'm digging right now...

Beautiful Disaster - Jon Mclaughlin

She loves her mama's lemonade,
Hates the sound that goodbyes make.
She prays one day she'll find someone to need her.
She swears that there's no difference,
Between the lies and compliments.
It's all the same if everybody leaves her.

...

And she would change everything, everything just ask her.
Caught in the in between, a beautiful disaster,
And she just needs someone to take her home.

She's giving boys what they want, tries to act so nonchalant,
Afraid they'll see that she's lost her direction.
She never stays the same for long,
Assuming that she'll get it wrong.
Perfect only in her imperfections.

...

She would change everything for happy ever after.
Caught in the in between, a beautiful disaster,
But she just needs someone to take her home.

Cuz she's just the way she is, but no one's told her that's ok.

Why I really really disliked the Bonesetter's Daughter at SF Opera

I really wanted to like it. Love it even. My friend Kat and I went to the final dress rehearsal for the much-anticipated The Bonesetter's Daughter opera which will be having its world premiere this coming Saturday. To be honest, I didn't really know what to expect...I knew there were going to be elements of Chinese music incorporated into the piece, as well as of course, Amy Tan's libretto adapted from her best-selling novel.

So, with an open (and somewhat excited) mind, Kat and I settled into the 2 hour, 40 minute performance. All I can say is, OUCH. Without giving too much away, here are all the things that really, really bothered me.

• The music was this droning, dissonant, minor-key-overkill that pretty much continued throughout the entire performance. I'm not asking that it has be super flowery given the subject matter, but there at least needs to be *one* amazing aria for the obviously-super talented performers to show off a bit. There was no real musical climax, and by the second hour in, my head was just hurting from all the disonance and cacaphony. You just felt troubled and unresolved the whole time. Maybe that was the point. *sigh*
  
  
• The libretto. Oh, Amy Tan, I respect you a lot as a writer, but "I will fill your hole...all your holes belong to me?" during a rape scene? That's just distasteful.
  
  
• The Chinese-American cliches. I can't pinpoint any particular example, but the overemphasis on bad grammar and Chinese stereotypes just annoyed me. Combine that in opera form and it just seems comical. For a supposedly very serious and sad story. It. Didn't. Work.
  
  
• What are you trying to be? Avante garde and modern? Traditional east-contemporary west fusion? There wasn't a strong point of view one way or another. And I didn't feel any emotion for, or connections to the characters -- which is really unfortunate!
  

So the saving grace is that the performers were really good, and we saw strong performances by almost everyone in the cast. I hope people who go to the SF Opera for the first time to see this particular opera don't get turned off by it and dismiss the company as a result -- I honestly don't think this is a good reflection of the usual calibre of performances put on by the SF Opera. *sigh*

A new travel "destination"

I've finally diversified! Here's my new blog on all things related to my crazy 3-day weekend trips, 3 Days or Less... located at http://3daysorless.blogspot.com, and here's why I did it.

Enjoy!