the opera

last night i went to see "die fledermaus," which means the fluttering mouse in german, or the bat. the austin lyric opera presented it at the new long center for the performing arts, the replacement for palmer auditorium.

i got to see it courtesy of a generous editing client, who has season tickets but was unable to go to this production.

my friend john gough, who plays cello with the williamson county orchestra and who LOVES opera, came with me. our seats--row M, orchestra level--were excellent.

i'd seen one live opera before this, when i was in junior high or high school, and it was confusing and boring to me. in german. it was mozart's "the magic flute," and although i enjoyed the music, i hadn't a clue what was going on. i've listened to arias and appreciate them, but wasn't too interested in watching an entire opera. until now.

die fliedermaus was earthy, bawdy, funny, and in english. in short, accessible. the libretto was rewritten by three esther's follies writers, who moved johann strauss jr.'s opera to austin.

thus, the set for the first act had a backdrop of the capital, UT tower, and frost bank tower. the second act is set at the driskill hotel, and the final act takes place at the travis county jail.

the storyline had holes a mile wide, but i don't think anyone cared. the cast seemed to be having a blast.

there were even bits of the overture (the first part that the orchestra plays by itself, says john) that were familiar to me from bugs bunny cartoons! click the title of this post to hear the overture on youtube. go to 2:40 and 4:58 to hear. i can just see bugs, daffy, and porky dancing!

it's not all singing, either, and even when there IS singing (in english), there are still supertitles in english, because, you know, when the soprano, tenor, and baritone are all singing different words at once, it can be hard to understand. i appreciated that.

the second act's costume party featured willie nelson, stevie ray vaughn, the capitol building, the UT tower, a pink flamingo, peter pan (of mini-golf fame--he's gay, don't you know?), the mangia pizza dinosaur, the hyde park bar & grill fork and french fries, and more. then the biscuit brothers AND the quebe sisters entertained the party guests (and us, the audience). nice!

the bat was definitely an in-the-know wink at austin life.

oh, and the singer who played the warden looked just like david dewhurst, our illustrious lieutenant governor!

it's 3 hours long, with two intermissions, during which you can go out on the long center's patio and view the rapidly changing austin skyline--and a few bats fluttering around.

eat, pray, love group

my friend and esteemed NLP colleague katie raver is sponsoring a changework class based on the memoir "eat, pray, love." this book, by journalist elizabeth gilbert, has been a major bestseller. she recounts the year she spent healing from relationship wounds, first in italy, focusing on food, then in india meditating and praying at an ashram, and finally in bali's sensual embrace. thus the title of the book.

katie's class--3 wednesday nights in july--will explore eating, praying, and loving, while looking at our patterns, practices, and goals in these important areas of life. participants will take away new processes for transformation.

i know katie, and she really will make it fun!

click the title of this post to learn more.

dream: i'm in a rock band

dreamed on june 5.

i am with several other women my current age. we move from scene to scene.

we are at a christmas bazaar, wandering through rooms of stuff. i look at earrings hanging on a string from the wall. i see some i like.

we get some special tea and sit together and talk. somehow the fact that i used to compile the daily news clippings comes up.

we're in a library on the UT campus, the "original" library. (i've dreamed this setting before.)

two other women and i are in a band. one of them is sarah irwin. we are listening to an early beatles song that rocks, and we decide to play that. it's instrumental, in the vein of chuck berry or muddy waters. i like it. i have on beatle boots and play guitar.

i feel comfortable with these women. i am embodies, wandering through life, with these women for companions.

dream: play and work

dreamed on june 3.

i am in maui, at the beach. surfers are surfing. the water recedes way out. i know this is a sign of a tidal wave coming,and i tell everyone to run inland. i look back--no sign of the tidal wave, and the water has receded way out. i worry that we won't be able to get high enough before it comes to escape being engulfed.

in the next scene, i'm in a relationship with a man. we keep meeting, separating, meeting, as if some intrigue is occurring between us that we don't want other people to know about. we seem to be actors, and we are enacting something we have planned. we are in a theater-like setting, partly open, in maui. (nothing about a tidal wave.)

in the last scene, i am with jeri, a former colleague. she is jolly. we are not at work.

dream: i have a room at work

dreamed on june 1, while staying at glenda's.

i have a room at work. i have an apartment or house elsewhere, but my room at work doesn't match the rest of the workplace. it is more like a room in an old house. the rest of the workplace is very modern, steel, glass, brick. my room has beadboard walls, a single bed, a table and chair, a mini-fridge, a dresser, a computer. very spare.

a few other people have a room at work, but most don't.

groups of people are walking down the halls. these are people i recognize from my waking life job.

i am with some people on the first floor. a large group of people from india are sitting in a dark conference room, watching a presentation. we pass it and come to an area where individuals are sitting at "stations," each watching their own TV screen.

at the end of the hall, there is a stairway to the second foor. i tell my companions i am going to go to my room.

i consider moving entirely into the room. i will save a lot of money if i do this. but my room at work won't hold all my stuff, and it doesn't seem to be entirely private. i have misgivings about doing this.

the cool thing about having this dream is that i awoke aware of having dreamed, but without any memory of the content. i was able to focus on the words "room at work" and the images came back to me. i've lost countless dreams because i couldn't remember. now i have a strategy: focus on something descriptive of the dream and invite the images back.

dream: i like the music

dreamed this on may 28.

i was hanging around with donna, a former colleague and then manager. we were going from place to place via car. she had some samba or chaos music playing that i really liked. we went to her house to get the music for me. we seemed to be in arlington.

jill bolte taylor gets an article in the NY Times

the article gives her background (in short, if you haven't heard anything about it, a Harvard brain anatomist has a stroke, losing her left brain capacities, experiences deep peace--some say nirvana--from her right brain, and goes public with it after recovering), and then describes the growing interest in her experience.

over 2 million have viewed her video, which gets viewed 20,000 times a day, and she was selected as one of time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.

mind over matter

a monkey can control a robotic arm to feed itself, using only its thoughts. click the title of this post to go to the NY Times article, published 5/29/2008.

Poetry in Motion

Moving Our Body

Our bodies love movement. When we stretch or dance, our bodies adjust, realign and start to become fluid with the rhythm of life. Our mood lifts and we feel more connected with the world around us. If you are feeling stuck, ready to release old energy, or eager to feel more alive, try moving your body. By giving your muscles a chance to do what they were created for, you may find that all areas of your body and your life benefit as well.

Many times we can be so busy that we forget moving our body is even an option. Some of us remain seated at our computer for hours every day or rush from task to task with robotic precision. When we are caught up in crossing items off our to-do lists, we tend to neglect all the opportunities there are to enjoy our bodies in the process of living. If this is true for you, begin looking for opportunities to move. You might try dancing or moving about freely as you clean your home, tend your garden or care for your children. If you are able to devote a set amount of time to self-care, practices such as yoga, dance, tai chi and walking are all great ways to keep your body in motion.

Imagine how freeing it would feel to trust your body’s movements completely, knowing it has a perfect strength and rhythm of its own. See if you can sense your bones providing graceful support, your muscles and tendons expanding and contracting in just the right measure, your lungs changing pace to fill deeply with fresh air. Movement is a vital celebration of life. It is a way to proclaim your own existence and relish in the joy of being alive. Today, and into the future, give yourself the gift of your body in motion.

from today's DailyOM email

great gas mileage!

i drove my "new" 2003 honda civic hybrid to dallas and back this weekend for eNLP. i tracked my gas mileage.

i got 49.2 mpg on the way up there! driving the speed limit or slightly over.

then i dropped karan off at sherron's in keller and drove to glenda's in southlake. rode with glenda on saturday. on sunday, i drove from glenda's to pete's in irving, and karan and i left from there.

average gas mileage on the way back was slightly lower, perhaps because i was driving into the wind. i got 45.2 overall for the round-trip. not bad, and just a little more than the 43.5 i've averaged since acquiring the car 700+ miles ago.

i'll blog more about eNLP later. need time to integrate. our homework assignment will certainly help me do that!