Spring Awakening

Richard and I went to see this play in order to get to know this theater better since this is where he is likely going to college. He was recently accepted and so far so good.

We attended an open house here at the end of October. Richard got to talk with the head of Technical Theater. This led to a followup visit to see the black box theater. It's within driving distance of home-which is a plus. I also learned that this guy's father was a coworker of mine when I worked at HSB.

During intermission, the teacher came up to us and chatted and invited us to stay after the performance if Richard wanted to talk about the technical aspects of the show and find out more about the theater, etc. We did. Found out the building was originally constructed as an elementary school and the black box was originally the school gym.

As Richard was saying goodbye, he got some valuable tips about registering for classes for the Fall semester. We went home impressed by the show and more confident and optimistic about Richard being in this program.

Initially I was apprehensive about this play due to its adult themes even though it is a musical. I was afraid it would be a lot of PC filth. But although the show was a bit gratuitous at times, overall I was impressed by performance and intrigued by the story.  The ending didn't make any sense. So I looked it up (again) and found that the musical had been adapted from a 1906 German play. The original story made more sense to me. I think that the intent was to shock the audience out of their complacency about some deep topics. I would like to investigate the play and author further in order to get a better idea about the meaning of the play.

The nice thing about a black box theater is that all the seats are pretty good. We sat in the first row on one side. This allowed Richard to get a good view of the lights, scenery, and crew.

Written Sat May 11, 2013

Snow Update - Monday

It was warmer today, above freezing. So the snow started to melt and turn into slush. No one came to clear out the parking lot until almost noon. Instead of a front end loader, there were 3 guys with shovels and snowblower. It was slow going.

Later, a guy stopped by to check on progress and realized that the something bigger was needed. So late in the afternoon, a backhoe arrived and spent the next couple hours clearing the lot.

Initially, some of the snow was dumped next to my car. But then they realized the pile obliterated two (2) parking spots. So, they had me move my car and then moved the pile.  I think it was nice that the building owner and the property manager both showed up and were shoveling and helping. And a bunch of us were moving cars and clearing slush.

After the backhoe left, several of us were out shoveling the snow away from our cars and some of our neighbors' cars so they could get out. Still, there are several cars that are literally buried under the snow. One woman bought some rock salt and spread it out in an attempt to minimize the ice (it is supposed to go down to 31F tonight).

At the finish-this evening.

They also cleared a proper path for the front walk and did the sidewalk. Almost back to normal.

 



Snow Update - Sunday

Woke up this morning to a beautiful blue sky. Did not plan to go out nor to shovel snow today but I did when I saw my retired neighbor outside trying to dig out her car (parked next to mine). Yesterday, I got part of it done but was too tired to finish. So I went out for another hour this afternoon and had a nice chat with her while we cleared the snow away from her car.  Below is what it looked like near the end of the day:

Sunday (2/10/13): My car is the Escape (L).

Note that the lot has still not been plowed. To the left of my car is an open area of snow:

Note the buried car to the right of the black car.

I also cleaned up the front walk, especially by the street where the plows had covered up the opening.

View from lobby looking toward S. Main.

As I was shoveling, one of my neighbors was heading out. He said he was walking up to the gym...if it was open. Trying to hold my temper and be cordial, I mentioned that if the gym was closed he was welcome to return and get a free workout by shoveling some snow (I noted that we had an extra shovel at the back entrance). He was not one of those that I had seen outside shoveling during the past two days. His cavalier attitude is the kind of me first characteristic that is bringing down our society.

Thankfully, we still have a few people that know to at least care about where they live. My neighbor at the end of the hall not only cleaned off his pickup truck, he also shoveled a path to the stairs down to the back door to the lobby. Yesterday, that door could not be opened due to the snow. Today it was passable. There are 2 apartments down there (plus our mailboxes).

Our "caring" property manager finally called and spoke to one of my neighbors at 1 p.m. and she passed the news to as many of us as she could find. The regular snow plow wasn't able to clear the snow because it is too high. So he contracted a front loader but the earliest it will be here is later tonight (but probably not until tomorrow).

The roof has not been cleared and freezing rain and sleet is forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday. Hope we make it (I live on the top floor).

The roller hockey rink was closed yesterday but opened today. Richard had a game this morning but there was no way for us to get there since our vehicles are snowed in (and the roads are not that great yet). Based on the score posted at the rink's website, it appears that Richard's team won by forfeit.

By late afternoon, the town reported that nearly all the roads are clear. However, school has been cancelled for tomorrow (Monday) since none of the sidewalks are clear and they don't want the kids walking in the roads (plus, I think the buses are snowed in too).