Fledgist's Journal, 01 February 2012

I'm sure your physician will be pleased with your progress..only a little more than 3 and I mean a little more..to go..awesome...:O) 

I think she'll definitely be impressed.  

Anyone would be impressed....wow so close to goal. How are you going to celebrate? 

Yvonne, if I had a cricket bat I'd practice hitting sixes... Actually, Gail and I are going to see [i]Götterdammerung[/i] in a week and a half. I don't know if I'll have hit my goal by then, but 5 hours of Wagner is something of a celebration. Oh, the cricket line reminds me... Some years back, I was teaching an American government class at a community college and one of my students said to me 'I was on the Indian under-19 national cricket team'. 'Oh,' says I, 'then you must know my second form maths teacher.' 'Who was your second form maths teacher?' 'Steve Bucknor', I said. Slowly, he raised his index finger into the air. (A few years back, I was attending a conference in Trinidad; as I got into the taxi I could hear cricket commentary coming out of the radio. The commentator referred to one umpire as 'BuckNORRR'; 'The man's name isn't "BuckNORRRRR" it's "Bucknor"' I growled. The driver said 'He's a Bajan, he doesn't know any better!') 

LOL you would hit them out of the park. I asked my hubby who is a big cricket fan do you know Steve Bucknor is, he just said he was a great Umpire then asked (how do you know about him?) I said it is here on FS he didn't believe me had to read it and was very impressed that he was your maths teacher. I love the Opera I don't go as much now as I used to when I lived in the UK. I have never seen [i]Götterdammerung[/i] My favourite is Scheherazade crazy about all the costumes as well, such a spectacular show. Oh and don't you love accents it really grates, when it's just wrong...LOL  

Oh I was brought up on Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov etc as a child as my Mother is a huge fan.....one of my brothers plays violin beautifully, not that he could be in an orchestra though, just loves to play. 

Yvonne, the Metropolitan Opera does live in HD broadcasts of a number of performances. That's what we're going to see. Götterdammerung is the next one. You can get info at wwww.metopera.org. There may be a broadcast available at a cinema near you. I've never seen Sheherezade. My older son plays the violin (or played, he hasn't touched the instrument in a while).