2006.12.14. Seattle City Hall. Seattle Opera's Bravo event, a panel discussion about the next production "Don Giovanni". Not very interesting. Had sushi before and chocolate afterwards. However, no fish in the sushi, chocolates were too sweet. Gusty wind and rain making the traffic terrible, and bus routes were in a disarray. It took me 40 minutes on the bus to go from work to barely downtown (I walked the rest). Would be 20 minutes to walk.

2006.12.5. White Christmas at the 5th Ave Theater. Frequently changed stage sets, sumptuous costumes, synchronized dances (lots of tap dance, and my favorite is the piano number), and of course, the treasured Irving Berlin's songs. The fun ends in a sparkling "snow fall".

2006.12.3. Cornish College of the Arts' Peer Gynt project at Ned & Kayla Skinner Theater.
Part I: Norway and the Troll Kingdom, directed by Sheila Daniels. The play ran a bit less than 2 hours, ending at Gynt's departure after his mother's death. Peer Gynt was portraited by three students (one of whom is a girl), often at the same time. Quite nice songs and simple dances. No stage sets, primitive costumes.
Part II: The Sphinx and the Onion, directed by Robert Leigh. No stage, no costume, chaotic. The kids tried to be comic, only made things harder to understand. Less clearly articulated. Ran for 3 hours, with Gynt's reminiscence of his past as in Part I.

2006.11.24-25. Winter Camping, first time in my life. Leftover Thanksgiving meal cooked in snow made a perfect warming stew. Wine and candles (crazy idea to have brought them up), flying snow flakes, blissfully calm.
Woke up with ceiling dripping with condensation, and the interior volume reduced to half, as the snow has piled up on the top of the tent. Serene, pristine, blindingly bright. Trails were almost completely obliviated by the overnight snowfall. On the way out, met a few cross country skiers, despite the snow. Maybe lured by the sunshine in Bellevue?

2006.11.16. Seattle Symphony

Arild Remmereit, conductor
Seth Krimsky, bassoon
Grieg: Selections from Peer Gynt
John Williams: The Five Sacred Trees, Bassoon Concerto
Schumann: Symphony No. 1, "Spring"

The conductor is energetic. Memorized the entire Peer Gynt. John Williams' piece sounds so dissonant, complete changed my perception of him, which was mostly based on his melodic soundtracks.