another candle on the cake

my birthday fell on a monday this year, so the only logical thing for me to do was to take my production day and give myself a 3 day weekend.

as i'm already in my 30s and have my 40s (!) to look forward to, i've been having some anxiety about turning another year older. i know that it's just the dread of staring down at the barrel of 40. i also know that when i hit my 40s, if i'm still fit and unbelievably young looking, (like by 10+ years or more?) i'll once again look forward to having birthdays.

i guess i'm enjoying being in my 30s and am sad at the thought of leaving a decade that has been pretty darn good to me.

so as i'm a bit subdued about my birthday but trying to handle it with grace, i wanted a mellow weekend.

lots of wonderful things that happened to make my weekend pretty effin' awesome.

1. massage to kick start the weekend


2. a yearly birthday tradition of eating sushi and japanese food at the eatery with peggy

3. getting my first dvd from rogers direct video in the mail (canada's equivalent to netflix, one of the most awesome things about the states)


4. cherry blossoms blooming in january instead of march/april, due to vancouver hardly having a winter. we are hosting the winter olympics this weekend, are we not?

5. birthday wishes, prezzies, a wonderfully handmade birday card from sean (love it, love the prezzie!) and a youtube birthday shout out from peggy.



peggy (monchichi216) left in the comments box, immortalized for all to see:

Happy Bday to my fav ling ling. lucky to have a great friend like you cuz i know youll always have my back as i do with u! may this year be full of all the good stuff!
luv ya! <3 Peg

i never had a youtube birthday serenade before. that was so full of neat. thanks peggy! luv ya back!

6. more bathtime shenanigans with jonesy. she had me in giggles with her newest skill: pulling the bath plug out.









7. holing up with sean and watching a triple pack of horror/sci-fi/thriller movies. yup, that did the trick to helping me forget about my impending birthday. girly rom-com for my birthday kinda gal, i'm not.





zombieland. omg, i've been wanting to watch this movie since it first came out in theatres. this movie is hilarious. especially columbus' zombie survival rules.



for a sick and twisted movie that will bring the tension, surveillance is pretty hard to top. it's stomach knotting in its unrepentant evilness. i thought jennifer lynch's first movie, boxing helena, was disturbing to watch, this one got it beat hands down. watch it at your peril. chip off the old block, jennifer lynch is way creepier than her dad, director david lynch.

after surveillance, anything we'd watch would be a walk in the park. and that was the 'meh' movie of pandorum.

sean was such a sport. i don't think he's ever seen or heard me scream, jump, yelp or cover my eyes as much as i did this weekend. for valentines day, we're going to have to lighten it up.

8. i took yesterday off from work to not only enjoy a 3 day weekend, but also in hopes of avoiding the birthday embarrassment all the staff goes through at the office. or as i like to call it, "excuse to have cake" day. but no dice. i got card, cake and sung to from my co-workers that turned me into a nice shade of rosé to go with 2 birthday cakes: mocha cheescake and pecan pie. luckily, the embarrassment level was kept to a minimum.

and that's a wrap for this year's birthday. and boy, did i instantly feel more carefree and chipper as i headed home. i always feel good the day after, once my birthday has passed. now i can go back to enjoying my everydays.

until next year, birthday anxiety be gone.

on this day

what do i have in common with these the original rebel, james dean, screen siren lana turner and journey to the centre of the earth's jules verne?

(a birthday).

i'm in pretty cool company, i must say.

my love to admire

you know that question about if you were ever stranded on a deserted island and could only take 10 cds with you to listen to? (granted, i don't know how you would be able to listen to them if your batteries run out, but i digress) well, interpol would take up 4 of those slots. (including paul banks aka julian plenti solo album)



my love for interpol has no bounds. they are the coolest band out there and i stand starstruck time and again everytime i see them in concert.



i still can't believe i scored a ticket to their "secret show" bowery ballroom gig in new york june 2007. this concert was for the fans only. only 500 people were allowed in. and me, standing the equivalent to second row, off centre.

incredible set list too:

pioneer to the falls
obstacle 1
narc
say hello to the angels
take you on a cruise
mammoth
slow hands
leif erikson
the heinrich maneuver
evil
not even jail
-
length of love
stella was a diver and she was always down
PDA

so on this particular february weekend, my choice of a sunday morning laze could only be that of interpol.


Interpol - "No I in Threesome"

bringing home the magic

VO's director of production, terry harper, is an international man of mystery this weekend. terry will be jet-setting to philadelphia on sunday to watch the set load-in of tea, which vancouver opera will be producing in 2013. (we're letting the cat out of the bag on that one!)

from there, terry, who had worked for years with magician david copperfield on his shows before coming to VO, will fly to richmond, virginia. he'll then head over to the blankenship company where our nixon in china set is being built. he will spend a couple of days there to confirm that construction is going smoothly, schedules are being met, answer any questions the crew might have and to "make sure i'm all jiggy with it."

the nixon in china set will be packed into one 52 foot tractor trailer on march 1. it'll then make its way across the country and arrive in vancouver on march 6.

here's a sneak peek at what we're working on.


nixon in china backdrop


one of the six 21 ft columns of "the big 6" (kissinger, pat nixon, richard nixon, chairman mao, madame mao, chou en-lai)


hand-painted dragon statue


hand-painted wood statues


nose of the plane


plane engine with wooded slats

very exciting! more pictures to come. stay tuned!

the tower of terror

could the message BE any louder?

our elevator at work has been sketchy all week. not only does it jerk up and down before jarring to a complete halt on the floor you want, it makes creaky, nails on chalkboard elevator sounds as it travels. we only have 3 floors at the VO office. and if the elevator were to plummet, a la keanu reeves' speed movie, there are safety features to save all our collective asses. and if all else fails, there's a shock absorber at the bottom of the shaft which would cushion the impact should the cables snap.

and free-falling 3 floors is completely survivable, i'm told.

i risk sounding like a total princess, but walking up and down, up and down 3 flights of stairs all week long has been such a drag.

it's only today that the elevator folks officially put it out of commission. first with the overly dramatic caution tape. and an hour later, just a piece of paper that said, please do not use elevator.

it's all in the presentation, i suppose. no need to make the staff feel our safety was at risk every single time we walk past the defunct elevator.

still, warning tape such as this is like telling a child not to touch that hot stove. it's a good thing they replaced the tape with a bland piece of paper. me thinks i would've shimmied between the tape and rode the elevator down.

music to soothe the savage beast

if you ride the bus to and from work during rush hour, you can't miss the profusion of riders listening to their iPods or mp3 players. often, as i sit facing the row across from me and see 4 riders sitting side by side, listening to their ipods, i can't help but imagine what they must be listening to. are they listening to metal first thing in the morning? some electronica to go with their coffee buzz? or some easy-going "dentist chair" music to stop themselves from going crazy on a jammed packed bus?

i, myself, recently added 40 of the world's best opera arias onto my iPod to go with to what i normally listen to. an experiment to see if it'd help bring the "aggro" down while being crammed like sardines on public transportation, with its jerky stop and go motions and heat blasting to unbearable temperatures.

you know what? it's working for me. listening to the sounds an orchestra makes or a chorus singing in unison makes for a less frustrated me when i roll into work.

so whenever an opera aria comes on (my iPod is on shuffle), i'd imagine that everyone around me is plugged into the same operatic track. i also picture them dressed to the nines in ballgowns and tuxedos.

it's what helps me pass the time on the bus.

inspired by my daily commute to and from work, today's lunchtime poll asks: what was the last opera aria / classic music piece you listened to?

from our twitter friends:

@davidscoville - ceasar in egypt "la giustizia ha gia sull'arco" - handel

@trishussey - looks like suite for solo cello No. 1 by J.S. bach played by yo-yo ma

@kattlea - le cri de merlin - r. murray schafer - the last piece of classical music i listened to. it's brilliant!

@dannyweis - swan lake


from our facebook friends:

sean veley - bartok's string quartet No. 1, played live by the tokyo string quartet (all on stradivarious instruments) in sechelt, BC this past sunday. awesome!

chen li - lilium by kumiko noma.... incredible piece.

and for those curious, the last opera track i listened to this morning was rusulka, Op.114 B. 203 act 1: "song to the moon" by dvorak

chinatown history hunt: clues galore!

time to put on your thinking caps! the clues to the chinatown history hunt are here!

using the clues below, figure out the landmarks, go there, get all snap-happy with your camera and send your pictures to lchan@vancouveropera.ca.

you'll then be entered to win an awesome opera package including: 2 tickets to nixon in china, $150 gift certificate to floata seafood restaurant and admission for 2 to dr. sun yat sen chinese gardens. doesn't that make you want to get up and go to chinatown right now?

here are the super-fantastic clues:

clue #1: it’s the skinniest building in the world – and the place to go if you need a marriage license.

clue #2: it’s the first full-size chinese garden built outside of china and is named in honour of the first president of china.

clue #3: the 3 ½ storey neon rice bowl may be gone, you can still get some mean sticky rice with chicken here!

clue #4: this "assocation" is so "benevolent" it needs two locations! (but you only have to find one for the history hunt).

clue #5: visit this "centre"’s museum & archives to get some "culture"!

contest ends friday, february 12!

so make a day of it. double, triple, quadruple your chances of winning by bringing your pals out with you to participate in our history hunt. just make sure that you each submit your own set of photos.

then everyone, go have a spot of dim sum!

thanks to selina rajani, communications manager for coming up with the clues!