Hey everyone!
Welcome back! It's been a few very hectic sort of weeks since my last post.
The apartment is coming together nicely and we're gearing up for a painting party next week within the days of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I couldn't be more excited to put some added color into this place. The colors I've been fiddling with--and getting some kind feedback from Ib, the eternal non-confrontationalist (seriously, if we were to cast Toy Story, he would totally be Rex...)--we've got quite the color scheme going on throughout our place. Here's the general idea. Our living area also houses our dining area, so I wanted to accent that somehow and I've decided on a red accent well along our table. Also on that wall is this gorgeous mirror we found at a discount store called La Plaza de las Americas. Virtually, Wal-Mart threw up in this store and that's what we got. Greatest place on Earth. Anyway, the curtains in the living are also red and I want that to be carried throughout the rest of the room, so we're going to paint an 8-12" stripe about 6-7 feet up the wall. Now, our living area leads into a foyer which opens into our kitchen. So all these walls will end up sharing that red stripe. However, the kitchen and foyer will be graced with a lovely warm yellow. The color I picked up today at Home Depot to sample is little brighter than I'd like, so I may go back and get a few others. It's just money... From there, the bathroom is going to be done up in a light brown that has a subtle grey undertone to it. Again, we're painting that glorious stripe but this time it will be purple. I sampled two purples and can't decide which I like more, so we've compromised by painting a 1" stripe within the 8-12" stripe of the opposing purples. COMPROMISE! My bedroom will be a "Rhino" grey--no joke--with a "Rain Storm" blue stripe. Additionally, I love this blue so much that I'm going to make my south wall an accent wall with this undeniable sexy blue. Now, I don't tend to use the term "sexy" too often because, let's face it, sexy is just not my word. However, this is one. sexy. blue. Come check it out;) As far as Ib's room, he's for indecisive and will come up with something after we've painted everything else and we have some leftover paint. That's fine with me, I guess.
And on the social front of my life, I had my first adventure in New York in quite a while. I saw my very first opera at The Metropolitan Opera House: RIGOLETTO! Everything was just so classy. I wore a pair of pants I haven't been able to fit in for quite a few years along with a shirt that has also been hanging up for far too long and a blazer I bought just this past spring that is feeling a bit big... Can we say "high stress=weight loss"? I know I can. (Don't worry. I actually feel great.) Anyways, I was invited to this lovely evening by my good friend John. He's been in NYC for over 40 years and has been a member of the opera guild for some 30-odd number of those years, so we naturally had prime seating and access to the Belmont Suite where we enjoyed dessert and champagne between acts. But before the opera we went out to dinner at the beautiful restaurant across the street from Lincoln Center called Josephina. Drinks, wine, appetizers, breads, pork loin, and a delectable apple crumb something dessert later, we made our way--in the rain, no less--to the opera.
In college I sang "O qual pensiero" (butchered in everyway right there) with Glee Club and knew what had happened surrounding that chorus, so I thought the opera was about a group of idiot servants that can't tell the difference between the relationship a man has with his daughter than the one he would have with his mistress. Luckily, I had just enough time to peruse the synopsis and came to realize the idiot servants only play a small part in the much larger grand scheme of things that make up the intricate plot of Rigoletto.
The performance was spectacular. The production quality was simply incomparable. The orchestra was sublime. The evening was everything I hoped a night at the opera could be. You're probably not reading this, but THANK YOU SO MUCH, JOHN!
On a serious note, I have to comment here on something occurring in our society that pulls far too many strings on my heart. As I'm sure you've heard in the news recently, there has been a surge in suicides among teenagers in the US. These suicides have been attributed to bullying in our school because these teens are either openly homosexual or are thought to be. Equal parts sad and frightening, this hits home pretty close for me. I was one of those kids in high school that was teased because I was in theatre, choir, and band, had a huge personality and huge build that most people thought should have been put to use on the football field. Since I didn't play football, many people thought I was a pansy, sissy, or whatever word they felt necessary to qualify my not being on the football team. Perhaps it was further intensified because my older brother was on the football team and so I was naturally expected to follow in his footsteps after he graduated. I remember what it felt like to be taunted by those guys and made to feel like something was wrong with me. I remember constantly questioning whether people that didn't know me actually knew me better than I knew myself. I also remember that over time the bullying stopped. I remember something clicking among my classmates that caused them to acknowledge my existence in a positive manner. I remember them complimenting me on a job well done in a show. I remember graduating with them and feeling like I was actually just another one of the guys. I remember moving on to college and finding out who I was outside of being teased--granted, teasing still continued in college, but not to the same degree or effect. I remember being told how I made college a more enjoyable experience for someone. I remember walking across campus and having the jocks of the school remember me from the dining hall or a class and say, "Dude, we should get a drink sometime!" I remember being the teacher a student came to after he told his dad he was gay and reassuring that student that "it gets better". I remember being tagged in a Facebook photo under the title "Someone Who Has Changed Your Life". I remember loving the fact that I'm different and unique and whether or not I'm something someone doesn't like not mattering at all. Because I remember that the most important lesson I have ever learned is that love is the strongest weapon. So, if you know someone that is going through a similar situation, please remind them, "IT GETS BETTER".
Happy Adventures!
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