Last summer sometime, my friend Amy called and invited me and Mom to go along with her and her mom to go see Straight No Chaser at the Centre in December. Well, back in the summer, that sounded good. When December rolled around and it was the night of the show, I would have done anything up to, and possibly including, selling my soul, to just stay at home in my warm fuzzy new pjs under a blankie and a cat. Sigh. But I had committed, so we went. First we met Amy, her mom, and my formerly foreign fan Heather at Applebee's for dinner. A fine time was had by all, including Rose – I never said that I wouldn't enjoy myself, I just like to stay at home under a blankie and a cat after I work all day. I really think I missed my calling because I could be a good hermit.
The show was very good. We had great seats near the front of the upper tier and had a very good view. And best yet, we were in the middle, so we didn't have all these pesky people having to traipse past us to get to their seats. WE were those pesky people! I, of course, had heard the group's rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas on the radio, but that was really my only exposure to them. I knew they were an accapella group from IU, but not much more. I expected only Christmas music, as this was their "Christmas" show, but no. They performed Madonna and Lady Gaga as well. And they were funny. If you have a chance to see them, go for it. Several thumbs up… let's see, there were 5 of us, and most all of us have 2 thumbs.. 10 thumbs!
The next week, the Tran-Siberian Orchestra was going to perform at the new Ford Center in Evansville. I have to take a moment to remind my regular viewers that a little over a year or so ago, I was upgraded to what I lovingly refer to as the "big boy" parking lot and I love parking there despite the fact that I'm in the "bird poop" spot, mostly because I do not have to walk across the street to get to my car. Not that across the street is bad, but keep in mind that I used to weigh over 300 pounds, and plus, when there was snow and (more importantly) ice, it was downed-right treacherous to walk to my car because during the winter months, the sun NEVER shines on the alley beside the parking garage and even the relatively safe snow turns quickly to ice overnight. I'm a klutz – having fallen and twisted both ankles multiple times in my misspent youth, and I even walked into a Stop sign once while at DePauw, and I hadn't even been drinking! I guess my point is that both laziness-wise and safety-wise, the big boy lot was a good move for Rose.
So what does this have to do with the Tran-Siberian Orchestra? I'm glad you asked. About the same time I graduated to the big boy lot, the PTB (powers that be) in Evansville decided to build the new stadium in Evansville directly across the street from our parking lot. So Rose has great parking for any of the shows which come to the new Ford Center. I mean. I am probably literally less than 100 feet from the door. And if my seat happens to be in a section close to that particular door, even better! People will be trudging through snow, rain, heat, past our parking lot while I'm in my car driving off already! The landlord does have some poor soul out there charging $5 for people to park there, but since I'm already there, as long as I don't leave, I park for free!
Anyway, back to TSO. I got tickets for Mom and me to celebrate her birthday which was the following week. In order not to risk me losing my parking spot, Duncan dropped mom off at my office before going to his class that evening. It was a very cold evening and we had a couple of hours to kill before the show. We had dinner at the Main Gate, a sports bar across the street from my office and the Ford Center. Mom thoroughly enjoyed her food. I got a grilled chicken breast sandwich, hold the sandwich. And frankly my boob was overdone. But I got a lot of pickles, which helped make up for it, they were my veggie for that particular meal. I've been back there since and had very good food, so I'm not holding my tough old boob against them. Hahahahaha!
The performance was fabulous!! I asked mom afterwards what she thought of it and her response was that it was "LOUD." But then the next day, after her ears returned to normal, she said she enjoyed it a lot and felt the vocalists were great. Actually, we have the CD of the "story" they performed and I listened to it the next day and frankly, thought the vocalists at the show were better than the ones on the CD! Although I'm also not 100% that my soon to be 11 year old CD player/speakers in my car may not be getting old. (I apologize if there are double negatives in there, I'm too tired to reread that sentence.)
I didn't really know what to expect, although I had heard on the radio about how last spring, when they came to town to perform in a much smaller venue, they came in 5 semi trucks and for the December performance at the arena they would come in 35 semi trucks!
The month of December went pretty quickly. One Saturday, Aunt Marilee and Uncle Doug, and Aunt Chris and her hubs were to come to the 'do for a Christmas lunch/get together. Chris's hubs couldn't come, so she brought her son and grand-daughter instead. Pardon me, Chris, for saying that I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of having a 4 year old terrorizing my cats for the afternoon, but she was a very good girl and didn't torture anyone! Although Sophie did choose to spend the entire afternoon under the couch, but it wasn't because she had any real reason to do so.
Another Saturday, Mom's Sunday School class had a Christmas brunch at the church. I made my world famous sausage gravy and biscuits for them and attended as the official photographer. I used to go to that class, so I know pretty much everyone who is in it, so my natural reticence to being social with strangers never really came into play.
One Sunday, MY Sunday school class served a lasagna dinner to the college students before they went home after finals. (Note that we didn't have a party for ourselves, NO we had a party for other people!!) We miscalculated and ran out of everything (AND we didn't even get any food at out of it!), but at least all of the kids got one serving. We just had to turn their sad faces away when they came back for seconds (Mwa-ha-ha-ha!) While I was in the kitchen helping with things, Ronda, my SS teacher's wife and general pal, somehow talked me into going to the Christmas party/December meeting of the Harvest Women's Missionary group the following Monday evening. Not that I have a problem with any of the people in the group, or the purpose of the group. I'm just not a joiner and, as I mentioned previously, after working all day, I just want to go home and get in my pjs and climb under a blankie and a cat.
But despite having a really rough day that Monday, almost killed the boss man that day, I did go. Mostly because Amy offered to pick me up and take me. I had directions to get there, but I can't say that I might not have conveniently gotten lost if left to my own devices. I'm glad I went. (Note a trend… I NEVER want to go to things, but generally ALWAYS have a good time… the story of my life… remember, I should have been a hermit.)
Well, that's that for about the first half of December. I'll stop here and leave you wanting more. J
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