Saturday morning I slept in a good deal, being tired from a busy week in the Navy. I don't remember details, but I know I managed to get my finances in order with the bank, get my laundry done, and I know I watched some Inspector Gadget (1983) from Netflix and heartily enjoyed the theme music and the character Amazon Annie in one of the episodes. (Speaking of those kind of things, I watched Wreck It Ralph for the first time the other day on board... and I loved it! So funny! Made me smile when I walked past the arcades last night at the theater. And Sunday on Duty, I watched Battleship on my laptop as well... and that was silly!)
But the main event Saturday was at Chrysler Hall downtown for a Symphony performance of Beethoven's Fifth... along with a concerto for the oboe by Mozart, and a very mundane piece called Apollon Musagete by Stravinsky. I was so tired, I dozed during Stravinsky... but the rest was so interesting and well done, I was wide awake. I had a lovely seat too... just a few rows back on the right hand side... a front-row seat to watch the cellos! It was solid fog when the concert got out... and since the housing people decided 11pm on a Saturday night was a good time to do maintenance on the power, they took it down again. I spent the night onboard instead of being driven crazy by the fire alarm beeping.
Monday afternoon, I slept for five straight hours once I got home. When I woke, I decided I wanted to finally go see the new Thor movie, so I went to the cinema cafe in Hampton, and enjoyed a late night showing. Got some things for the ship at the grocery store on the way home, then discovered a way to rip my DVDs to a computer format when I settled back in. My hours are all out of whack!
Tonight I went for a quick bike ride between making pies and watching The Mikado (1939) on Netflix. Also got to talk to lots of my family, and finalize everything I want on the ship for a while.
Jw
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
At the Opera
For the first time ever, I decided to go to the opera... the Virginia Opera, playing at the Harrison Opera House in downtown Norfolk, put on a production of The Magic Flute, by Mozart, and sung in English. I have never heard such wonderful voices in person before. The leading lady matched the quickness and highness of the sweetest violin you've ever heard. Goodness! It was wonderful. It wasn't until it was more than half over that I remembered it was symbolic of Freemasonry... but I tried to ignore most of that. It had important things to say about God and men that are true in general... but there are things in there about man perfecting himself, which is absolute bosh, of course. The message I came away with was that music is healing... and I agree with that. I really enjoyed the comedy of it, and especially the happy ending.
Jw
Jw
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Who Says it's Too Early for Christmas?
Well, when one is going to be gone for Thanksgiving... there's really no point in waiting. I put up my lights inside the house this time. Reindeer lights around the little side window... and the tree (now with colored lights) connected to that. I have two long strands of multi-colored lights on white strands, one along the edge of the stairs that continues, draping the closet door; the other outlines the frame around the sliding glass door.
It's very autumn-ish though... very chilly yesterday. I finally discovered the usefulness of the big street loop that is my community... it's perfect for biking! Did three laps, and it felt great!
This week from Netflix I got Coco Before Chanel (and even enjoyed it's very French-ness). Before that it was Faith of My Fathers (about John McCain's captivity) which I also enjoyed. Tonight I have the first five episodes of Inspector Gadget from 1983! We'll see!
Speaking about movies, yesterday evening I went out to the mall at Military Circle to watch something I found out about in the local paper that had come that day... 12 Years a Slave... a true story based off an 1854 autobiography of Solomon Northup... a free man who was kidnapped and enslaved in 1841. As Rotten Tomatoes acclaims it at 97%... it was fantastic. It was like nothing that has ever been done before... and it opened my eyes to the thing we talk of so lightly. It was an education. Yes, the Civil War was worth it; American slavery was just as evil as Nazism and needed to be uprooted and defeated the same way.
As I came out of the theater in tears... I decided I wanted to watch something else too, to relax. I tried for Thor, but that was only in 3D at the time, and I hate watching 3D... so I opted for Ender's Game... and I was very glad. I stopped in on an earlier showing of Thor on my way to Ender, and it seemed exactly the same as the last Thor... and Ender's Game was done very well. The author was involved directly, so that stands to reason. What did surprise me was that the University of Washington Electrical Engineering department was in the credits! Cool! My best friend in Husky Band was an EE major. Pictured below is the edition I read back in San Diego... it was on the Navy's reading list, and it was recommended to me by my roommate in Great Lakes:
Today, I've been working on digitizing my CDs, and I ended up buying a few things on iTunes... like every single thing The Piano Guys ever put out, a few Enya songs, and a few random favorites. And just in time, I took off for downtown Norfolk so I could walk on board the visiting tall ship from Norway, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. Even though I am partly Norwegian, there is no way I could even attempt to pronounce that correctly.
After that, I walked along the waterfront and headed over to the MacArthur Mall to look around. Spent a lot of time in the toys & games store, mostly looking at the thousands of 2014 calenders they had. I briefly considered getting this one for my Darling:
LOL. I can't look at it without laughing. I was tempted on a few myself, but I really don't need a calender next year... and I was able to resist.
What fun.
Jw
It's very autumn-ish though... very chilly yesterday. I finally discovered the usefulness of the big street loop that is my community... it's perfect for biking! Did three laps, and it felt great!
This week from Netflix I got Coco Before Chanel (and even enjoyed it's very French-ness). Before that it was Faith of My Fathers (about John McCain's captivity) which I also enjoyed. Tonight I have the first five episodes of Inspector Gadget from 1983! We'll see!
Speaking about movies, yesterday evening I went out to the mall at Military Circle to watch something I found out about in the local paper that had come that day... 12 Years a Slave... a true story based off an 1854 autobiography of Solomon Northup... a free man who was kidnapped and enslaved in 1841. As Rotten Tomatoes acclaims it at 97%... it was fantastic. It was like nothing that has ever been done before... and it opened my eyes to the thing we talk of so lightly. It was an education. Yes, the Civil War was worth it; American slavery was just as evil as Nazism and needed to be uprooted and defeated the same way.As I came out of the theater in tears... I decided I wanted to watch something else too, to relax. I tried for Thor, but that was only in 3D at the time, and I hate watching 3D... so I opted for Ender's Game... and I was very glad. I stopped in on an earlier showing of Thor on my way to Ender, and it seemed exactly the same as the last Thor... and Ender's Game was done very well. The author was involved directly, so that stands to reason. What did surprise me was that the University of Washington Electrical Engineering department was in the credits! Cool! My best friend in Husky Band was an EE major. Pictured below is the edition I read back in San Diego... it was on the Navy's reading list, and it was recommended to me by my roommate in Great Lakes:
Today, I've been working on digitizing my CDs, and I ended up buying a few things on iTunes... like every single thing The Piano Guys ever put out, a few Enya songs, and a few random favorites. And just in time, I took off for downtown Norfolk so I could walk on board the visiting tall ship from Norway, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. Even though I am partly Norwegian, there is no way I could even attempt to pronounce that correctly. After that, I walked along the waterfront and headed over to the MacArthur Mall to look around. Spent a lot of time in the toys & games store, mostly looking at the thousands of 2014 calenders they had. I briefly considered getting this one for my Darling:
LOL. I can't look at it without laughing. I was tempted on a few myself, but I really don't need a calender next year... and I was able to resist.
What fun.
Jw
Monday, November 4, 2013
A Rather Fine Weekend
Saturday I kept very busy, doing all the things I should. After baking another banana bread, eating breakfast and cleaning up all the dishes, I played my instruments then worked on my model ship for a while upstairs. Went swimming at the local pool, returned, cleaned up, then went and did all my laundry at the beach... where I did some shopping, snacking and reading while my clothes were getting done. They had Monk on the TVs while I was folding laundry! It was the episode about an actor trying to portray Monk in his famous case of the astronaut. Cleaned the house a bit before I wasted some time online, then watched a new episode of Foyle's War and enjoyed a fantastic seafood dinner along with it.
Sunday I was out and about the whole day... started off with getting some frames at Michael's, along with some Christmas decor (the seashell ornaments and star I found at the NEX a few days ago). Very happy to have my own set-up nativity:
From Michael's, I went across the street to Target to find some necessities, as well as a basketball for playing on the courts at my community. But as usual at Target, I also found a neat hat and some gloves... and an inexpensive dart board!
Finally tore myself away from that place and continued on to Mt. Trashmore, not far from there. Walked the 1.5 mile circuit around the lake, as well as climbed the large hill covering the old landfill... and sent my head spinning by rolling down the gentle slope.
Little bit of fall color along the circuit around the lake.
From there I continued on to a gun range, shot 65 rounds at different intervals, got a couple more boxes for another day, then poked around Family Dollar for a couple things I really needed. Then I stopped off at Carrabba's for an outstanding late lunch (couldn't pass up the opportunity since I was there), then stopped across the street to poke around the mall for a bit. That was my downfall. I found classic Yahtzee at B&N, and splurged big time on a Seahawks jersey that I wore for the rest of the day (it was game day, after all).
Across from the NFL store was something called "Cool Eclectic"... and I found some neat vintage prints of Ocean View from the '20s and '30s.
When I had finally decided on the prints (there were a lot of them there), I kept exploring a bit and found the Disney store where I picked up that adorable Nemo mug! On my way home (finally!), I stopped off at Michael's again for frames for these last pics... then I decided to stop by that sports bar I found the other day when I was getting my car fixed. The staff recognized me without my uniform... and I had a Crown Royal on the rocks while watching the Seahawks come back from a huge deficit to win the game in overtime! So fun! Things usually don't go that well when I plan them out. I'd have to say the day was blessed by the Lord. However, I think I shall take a break from spending money. :)
Tonight after work I continued putting things away from last night, went out to the courts to shoot a little basketball, had some chicken noodle soup and sourdough bread, went to the local half-price bookstore I first visited this week to pick up a book I found then... and wasted time looking at biographies of Maureen O'Hara and Errol Flynn. Only leaving when they closed (at 7) I came home, talked with Mom & Dad, and had a steak dinner while watching Jeeves & Wooster (LOL).
Jw
Sunday I was out and about the whole day... started off with getting some frames at Michael's, along with some Christmas decor (the seashell ornaments and star I found at the NEX a few days ago). Very happy to have my own set-up nativity:
From Michael's, I went across the street to Target to find some necessities, as well as a basketball for playing on the courts at my community. But as usual at Target, I also found a neat hat and some gloves... and an inexpensive dart board!
Finally tore myself away from that place and continued on to Mt. Trashmore, not far from there. Walked the 1.5 mile circuit around the lake, as well as climbed the large hill covering the old landfill... and sent my head spinning by rolling down the gentle slope.
Little bit of fall color along the circuit around the lake.
From there I continued on to a gun range, shot 65 rounds at different intervals, got a couple more boxes for another day, then poked around Family Dollar for a couple things I really needed. Then I stopped off at Carrabba's for an outstanding late lunch (couldn't pass up the opportunity since I was there), then stopped across the street to poke around the mall for a bit. That was my downfall. I found classic Yahtzee at B&N, and splurged big time on a Seahawks jersey that I wore for the rest of the day (it was game day, after all).
Across from the NFL store was something called "Cool Eclectic"... and I found some neat vintage prints of Ocean View from the '20s and '30s.
When I had finally decided on the prints (there were a lot of them there), I kept exploring a bit and found the Disney store where I picked up that adorable Nemo mug! On my way home (finally!), I stopped off at Michael's again for frames for these last pics... then I decided to stop by that sports bar I found the other day when I was getting my car fixed. The staff recognized me without my uniform... and I had a Crown Royal on the rocks while watching the Seahawks come back from a huge deficit to win the game in overtime! So fun! Things usually don't go that well when I plan them out. I'd have to say the day was blessed by the Lord. However, I think I shall take a break from spending money. :)
Tonight after work I continued putting things away from last night, went out to the courts to shoot a little basketball, had some chicken noodle soup and sourdough bread, went to the local half-price bookstore I first visited this week to pick up a book I found then... and wasted time looking at biographies of Maureen O'Hara and Errol Flynn. Only leaving when they closed (at 7) I came home, talked with Mom & Dad, and had a steak dinner while watching Jeeves & Wooster (LOL).
Jw
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