QUOTE OF THE DAY I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. - The Little Prince TODAY's READING Information on The Little Prince in preparation for writing my review! TODAY'S CD John Denver's Christmas CDs TODAY's FOOD Breakfast: Special K, toast with peanut butter Lunch: A muffin (time got away from me and I needed to grab something quick on the way to the theatre) Dinner: Lean Cuisine TODAY's EXERCISE A lovely hour-plus long walk up to and around the Capitol, and then around the mall. |
I CAME UPON A MID-DAY CLEAR 11 December 2003 You know how there are just some days when it’s so absolutely glorious outside that you can’t stand to be in the house? That’s what today was. I don’t even know how I knew it was absolutely glorious outside. I don’t see the outside from my desk, or from my office, but my sensors must have known that it was a crisp, clear glorious day.
My plan for the day included working most of the morning and then driving in to Sacramento to see a matinee of The Little Prince, which I was reviewing. Along about 9:30 or so, I went to a window, looked outside and decided that I couldn’t stay indoors another minute. Seven months ago, I would have hopped on the Blue Angel and biked out into the country. Today, I packed up my camera, got in the car and headed for Sacramento. I had only a half-baked plan, which was to find on-street parking near the theatre and then walk about a mile from there to our Mexican daughter’s restaurant for lunch, then come back, see the show, and come home. Well, the first problem was that all parking around the theatre is metered. We go to this theatre a lot, but always for evening shows, so I’d never paid attention to whether there was non-metered on-street parking. There isn’t. And the garage is $1.50 per half hour, so I didn’t want to park and walk. I drove around, with my plans changing by the minute.
Must have been something expected to happen, since there were four news trucks and I recognized one of the local reporters at the scene...or maybe they just keep trucks there in case Arnold decides to come out in public. (I didn’t see him) I wandered around the Capitol and that area, took lots of nice photos and ended up back at the mall, where I had to figure out what I could buy to get my parking validation. It was by now too late to get to Marie’s restaurant, so maybe I could buy a little lunch. Only the only place I found (passing up Carl’s Junior) was a coffee-and-muffin place. I got a snack and, remembering that they sell refreshments at the theatre, decided to get the rest of my lunch there. (The muffin guy validated my ticket).
Drove another few blocks to the parking lot across from the theatre and went to get my ticket. The publicity person had forgotten to leave me a publicity packet, so had to go looking for one, and told me to wait in the lobby. I needed two things: food, and to pee. But I had come on a day when every middle school aged child in a 20 mile radius was being brought to the theatre. The noise level was deafening. I thought about going to the restroom, but the sight of the long line of prepubescent girls, chewing gum and tossing their pony tails as they waited their turn made me decide I probably cold hold it till the play was over. I looked at the menu and found a sandwich that sounded really yummy, so I ordered that, only to be told they were out of food, but I could buy some soup. Soup wasn’t what I wanted, so I skipped it. The publicity woman brought me my packet, but said that she didn’t have any photos for me (the one thing I really needed) and that she would e-mail them to me. (I found out later that I gave her the wrong e-mail address!) I went into the theatre. I’m not sure how many seats it has, but probably somewhere around 300 and I think there were a handful of us over the age of 15 in the audience. I groaned as I listened to the noise level and the activity level. This had all the potential of being a real nightmare. Fortunately, it was not. It was such an excellent production that it kept the kids quiet and enthralled.
At the end of the performance, I went back to the parking lot, went to the machine where you pay before you leave the lot, put in my ticket, paid the $5.50 for the hour-plus that I’d been there, got in the car and headed home. Halfway home, I realized I’d left the publicity packet on top of the machine where you pay for your parking. The one good thing about a matinee is that it’s over early, so early that the staff of the theatre are still at work when you get home, so I called the publicity woman, with whom I’ve been having this ridiculous interaction (couldn’t get hold of her to get opening night tickets, left phone messages and e-mail, heard from her too late to call for tickets, finally called for mid-week tickets because I’m busy this weekend, then no publicity packet, and finally losing the publicity packet!). She must think I’m the world’s biggest flake. But she did FAX me all the stuff from the packet, so now I have what I need to write the review. The day is still glorious, I’ve had a nice walk around a lovely city, saw a good play, and got home in time to get some work done anyway. Not a bad way to spend the day. |
THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
1966 |
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For more photos, please visit My Fotolog and My FoodLog |
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Weight Lost to date: 48.6 lbs
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Created 12/11/03
Ultimately, I went to the big downtown mall and parked there (where you can
get free parking for 2 hours with validation from a merchant), left the car and the mall
and walked up to the capitol. I really did want to see the big Christmas tree that Arnold
lit a couple of nights ago. I’d never seen the Capitol Christmas tree before, and
though it wasn’t lit up, it was still very pretty. 
