Operaaaaaaaaaaa

We went to the opera last night, a really cool and somewhat posh experience. Josh stood on line for the $20 rush tickets and scored two orchestra seats! We saw Die Zauberflöte (or, The Magic Flute) by Mozart, produced by Julie Taymor of The Lion King, Titus and Frida fame. Josh studied Taymor in school and so really enjoyed the production. It was so lavish, with bright set designs and gorgeous costumes, all designed by Taymor of course. There were some amusing visuals involving animals (a Taymor staple I think), such as a family of giant puppet bears dancing to the flute's music and some brightly-colored feathered ballet-dancing birds. Overall, a fantastic performance and just a really awesome experience altogether. We felt so high-brow for those few hours, even though the opera isn't exactly as it used to be with everyone wearing gowns and such. Maybe it's like that on a Friday or Saturday night, but on a Wednesday night, it's just like a good ol' night at the theatre.

Dreams

It's amazing how vividly one can experience emotion in dreams. It's nearly impossible to feel physical sensations, yet immense grief, fear and love can all be felt with such intensity as to make it feel so real.

Every once in a while, I have a dream in which I am in love...I am actually experiencing the emotions, not just superficial infatuation or lust. It's real...in my dream, that is. When I wake up, I'm often disappointed that it's ended. It feels good to be in love (shock of the century). Most of the time my object of affection is a man I've never seen before, but every so often it's someone familiar like a celebrity. Last night it happened to be Robin Williams, which is extremely odd as I've never found him to be particularly attractive. Such is the nature of these things.

Usually, the dream plays out like real life, not like a movie in which I meet someone and spend the entire time trying to win that person's affections. Most of the time, this is established love, something that feels more genuine. Last night, however, it felt like I was in a novel or a movie and experiencing this through a linear narrative. There weren't many of the hallmarks of a dream such as bizarre and implausible imagery. I woke up wanting to turn the dream into a story.

However, I'm troubled by these emotions. Lately when I think about love, I can't help thinking about how arbitrary it is, how unrecognizable. It's not as easy to identify as things like grief, fear, or even happiness. I don't think there is any one emotion that is as hard to recognize. I feel like a lot of the reason is because love is so commodoticized. How the hell are you supposed to know you are in love when everyone (the media, friends, books, movies, wine, food, airports, etc.) is shoving it in your face? I realize this is an age-old question that has been contemplated since the beginning of civilization, but there must be a reason for it. In my dreams, I have no doubts I am in love so why is it so easy to spot in those situations? Is this not real love? I mean, obviously it's not because it's just a dream, but if I can be so sure of something in my unconscious mind, surely that must mean something in reality.

I suppose all it really means is I'm in love with Robin Williams LOL.

Quitting

I would really like to relish this. Below is a funny article Josh sent me. I think I'll just stick to the normal two weeks notice route.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/75164/five_fun_and_creative_ways_to_quit.html

Stuff

Very full weekend...started and ended both Friday and Saturday nights almost the exact same way: meeting up with people in Union Square and eventually ending up in Brooklyn. I hardly ever spend two nights a row in the city, but the opportunities were there so I had to take advantage. Fun times...

I actually attempted to watch the Super Bowl last night. Josh wanted to watch for the commercials and I agreed as long as we could play Trivial Pursuit in between them. I haven't watched the Super Bowl since I was 14 or so, and I couldn't care less for the commercials really, but I actually wanted to see the pre-show with Cirque du Soleil (which we missed) and the half-time show with Prince, which I partly saw since we were cooking throughout and had to pay attention to the food. From what I heard, though, Prince was awesome! The food was even better...we made teriyaki chicken drumettes and pizza using Pillsbury dough topped with homemade tomato sauce, mozz cheese, spinach, onions and peppers (green AND red). Yummmmmmmmm!!! I swear I've never cooked so well in my life as these past few weeks. Now I am such the domestic goddess.

Yech, it's so cold in the office right now, I have the space heater on. Luckily no one's in the office yet so I have some peace and quiet. I don't think I'll be here for much longer as I've had a couple of interviews in the past week and a half that seem promising, one in particular at a magazine, but I don't want to jinx myself by talking about it. I really cannot wait to give them my two weeks notice. It's imminent, I can feel it...