Sound Tigers - Lose!

My ticket-this is how ugly all the tickets look, not just Comp seats.

Last night, we (Lynn, Richard, and me) went to see the AHL Sound Tigers battle the Wolf Pack. Out first game of the AHL season. Our tickets were courtesy of a friend of Lynn's (who has "connections"). However, we did not sit our assigned seats. Rather we sat in the middle, opposite the benches (to the left of the penalty boxes).  The Sound Tigers lost 5-3.

Shot during warm-ups.

We arrived early in order to watch warm-ups. I like to sit behind the goal and watch the pucks come right at me. I did get a puck that squeezed over the glass and through the netting. Richard gave it to a little kid (we have a ton of warm-up pucks from over the years).

Not too many people attended (officially 1857 but probably actually less) because tonight was the 6th game of the World Series in Boston (and the Red Sox ended up winning the game and the Series). However, we did run into Richard's old roller hockey coach (Dean) and a woman that Lynn knew from high school days.

Food was fair. I bought chicken tenders and fries for $8.  Had to go to the other side of the XL Center to find it. Richard took only a few bites because he wanted BBQ sauce. Unfortunately, the XL Center  doesn't have sauce packages (like BPort); instead you have to squeeze out into an open tiny cup from a bulk container. Hard to carry that back to your seat. A 20 ounce bottle of Aquafina was $4. Parking in the garage at the Center was $10.

One exciting moment came during the 2nd intermission when Richard was selected to go on the ice for a contest. They wanted a Sound Tigers fan to compete against a Wolf Pack fan.  Being close to Halloween, they shot little plastic skulls into a hockey net.  Richard got 2 of 3 goals during the first round but so did his competitor. Richard was not so lucky in the 2nd round and lost but he did get a (Wolf Pack) T-shirt out of the deal.

During the first intermission, they had a "Howl-o-Ween" costume parade around the ice. Lots of kids plus a few parents plus some scary adults dressed up like medieval warriors or something. We saw them walking around the concourse before the start of the game. They were dressed in black with black executioner masks and carrying very real looking axes. Don't know how Security let them in - we found it rather unnerving. I wish I had taken a picture. When I wrote this up, I found a short blurb that seemed to indicate they might have been actors from a local amusement park's "Haunted Graveyard." Pretty spooky.

Links:
http://www.soundtigers.com/
http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1011223

Revd W11/6/13 for Howl-o-Ween parade notes.

Hedda Gabler

Richard's first play in college was this past week. They had rehearsals last week and performances this week. This made for long days and late nights for Richard.  He was getting home around 11:30 p.m. during rehearsals and 10:30 p.m. when the show was on. Most of the time, Lynn was driving him to school in the morning for classes, picking him up in the afternoon so he could be home for a couple hours, then taking him back to school ~ 6 p.m. and picking him up at the end of rehearsal or play. I took over a few times in order to give her a break.

Richard is credited in the program as "Light Board Operator." He was involved with installing the various lights, focusing, and setting up the light cues. He said that this show had more cues (over 100) than any show he's been involved with. During the performance run, he had to arrive early and check to make sure all the lights and lighting equipment was working properly; if not, it had to be reported and resolved prior to the start of the show.

The play was an adaptation of Hedda Gabler (A Dream Play),  the classic Henrik Ibsen play: a psychological study of a cultivated woman, recently returned from her honeymoon, whose boredom and dissatisfaction in a stifling environment lead her to destroy others — and herself. Steve Ginsburg, the co-Artistic Director of HartBeat Ensemble was guest director. Steve conceived this production as a dream, which underscores the central character’s desperation as well as its early feminist themes.

Lynn and I went to the Saturday evening performance. We like attending the last show. I have to confess that although I had a vague concept of what the play was about, I really had a difficult time following the story. I kept waiting for the feminist part but I just didn't catch it. All I saw was play about a neurotic woman. Perhaps that is what today's feminism has morphed into. I hope not.

Ironically, one of the biggest sensations of the evening had nothing to do with radical feminism but rather a newborn baby.  After the show, the director was walking around with his newborn baby (less than 2 weeks old) carried in one of those sling pouches at his chest. Of course, everyone had to have an admiring look. So tiny and fragile. For all of Hedda Gabler's feminist ranting about wanting "the power to mold a human destiny", becoming a parent is such an awesome and creative act.

Richard got comp tickets for us. We were a little nervous because the tickets were printed for Thursday rather than Saturday. But there was no question and we picked out our seats per Richard's suggestion. The theater is a black box theater. This type of theater is a very intimate setting.  The show was about 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission.  Richard did a good job with the lighting-it all looked good to me.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedda_Gabler
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/theater/18ishe.html?pagewanted=all
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box_theater

Updated T10/29/2013 for director's baby and NYT article.

Back from Africa (Uganda)

"This picture is of a quilt that 1 of the Nurses here made for me, using the pictures I bro't back from Africa."

Received another letter from Fr. Hattie. Actually, it arrived in Thursday's mail in a small envelope with a homemade DVD (see below) documenting his return visit to Uganda in August. He is now back in Michigan at the Columbiere Center.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My dear Rick: Peace of Christ!

     As if by schedule, your lovely & generous Gift of $XX.00 rolled in like clockwork. Thanks for being so kind. I think I had told you that I had written, after my trip to Africa, to the 110 donors who had stopped giving Gifts after my return to the USA. Well, the effort is paying off, for I received Gifts from 15 of them along with theirs. Pray that it keeps up. They had probably thought that I no longer had any connection with orphanage. But, in my letter, I assured them that I definitely HAD & was the only fundraiser.

    On my trip to Africa, I gave the Sisters 2 large Charitable Foundations & told them that they would have to learn to take over since I was NOT going to live to be 120 in spite of what they might think. They'll find it hard & time-consuming in the beginning, but if one is appointed to beg for their entire Congregation, they'd be better off.

     We buried 1 Father last Monday. I was shocked because I had eaten dinner with him the previous night & he seemed to be in good form. Another is on his way 'out', so I've been sitting with him for hours since he is terrified of being alone & tries to get up. It gives me a good opportunity to make a meditation on death..how all the trivial things that bothered us in life, seem nothing then.

     Be sure that you have your special place in my daily Mass & prayers & please don't forget my 5 wonderful Sisters, my 1000 kids & myself in yours. Meanwhile, keep smiling & spreading His & Her love, peace & joy all over W. Hartford.

      Tons of love & gratitude.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A DVD containing highlights of his visit to the Nsumba Orphanage in August was included.

Mark your calendars for the 60th anniversary of Father's ordination; he was ordained November 21, 1953.

Send your cards & letters to Fr. Hattie at:

Fr. Gene Hattie, SJ
Columbiere Center
9075 Big Lake Road
Clarkston, MI 48346

or email to: EHattie@Ymail.com

Send donations for orphanage to:

IHMR Convent
c/o Sr. Christine Nantaba
5802 Evanston Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220

Include a note on your check that donation is for Fr. Hattie's Nsumba orphans.

Finally, you may recall that this connection with Fr. Hattie and the orphans is via my late Grandma Marie P and her Circle 7 mission group. As a rosary was part of their gathering and this is October, the month of the Rosary, praying a special rosary for Fr. Hattie would be very appropriate.

PEACE!

Links:
http://www.colombierejesuits.com/about_history.html