I'm looking forward to opening night tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect in terms of stage design and costumes. It'll be one big surprise since Shakespeare Santa Cruz has not published any photos of this years productions on the website yet. I just discovered a pretty nifty Virtual Tour of the Glen, though.
I did not exactly deliver a shining performance at Britannia Arms Trivia Night yesterday. I had expected to fare as well as I usually do with Jeopardy, but alas, there's a difference! I'm stronger in history, literature, and the arts, but Britannia Arms' Trivia Quiz seems to gravitate towards pop culture, sports, and science, which makes perfect sense considering the likely interests of your regular Brit pub patron. Which is not to say that the questions were easy, on the contrary! We were treated to questions like "which part of your body could be referred to as deciduous," for example, and asked to match moons Phobos, Io, Titan, Titania, Triton, and Hydra with their corresponding planets. What? What? Mercy! The trick is to create a well rounded team, i.e. recruit group members with complementing fields of expertise. All together, we actually did really well. We even won one round and received a gift certificate that we immediately put to good use. No Pilsener here, but the Scottish Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA turned out to be pretty tasty.
Of course it was silly to expect sun anywhere on the Monterey Peninsula yesterday, but isn't it great that all you need to do is turn inland! We had to venture as far as Garland Ranch to escape the fog, but it was worth it. The park is lovely, Rancho and Lupine Loops are perfect for a leisurely stroll. They're even equipped with benches should you feel like sitting & soaking up the sun.
If you're in the mood for music from Mali tomorrow:
Family & friends already know why I didn't post here for more than two months, but not everybody might be aware of the latest developments. If you were afraid to even ask you'd be happy to know that my Mom is fine, relatively speaking. Not healthy yet by any stretch of the imagination, but considering how long she had been in the ICU in very serious condition we're very excited about her progress. (Damn, we're freakin' ecsatic that she's still alive!). The resulting critical illness polyneuropathy is the big challenge now, but my sister tells me that Mom is highly motivated and in good spirits. She was transferred to the Neurologische Klinik Bad Neustadt, which seems an excellent place for rehab. Our hope is that she will fully recover, as 50 % of patients suffering from CIP do regain complete mobility, but for now we're happy about every step in the right direction, however small.
Alle Freunde und Verwandten wissen weshalb hier mehr als zwei Monate Funkstille herrschte, aber nicht alle sind über den letzten Stand der Dinge informiert. Wer nicht mehr zu fragen wagte: Der Mutter geht's gut, d.h. relativ gut in Anbetracht dessen wie lange sie in Lebensgefahr schwebte. Da sie noch eine Critical-Illness-Polyneuropathie zu meistern hat wird es zwar noch eine Weile dauern bis sie ganz gesund sein wird, aber sie ist munter! In der Zwischenzeit ist sie zur Reha in der Bayrischen Rhön, in der Neurologischen Klinik Bad Neustadt. Meine Schwester erzählt, dass es ihr dort sehr gut gefällt, und dass sie äusserst motiviert ist wieder zu Kräften zu kommen. Mann, sind wir froh! Ich kann es kaum erwarten, dass ihr Telefon und/oder Rechner zur Verfügung stehen, so dass ich wieder direkt mit ihr reden kann!
Die letzten Monate haben mir drastisch vor Augen geführt wie von Tragödien unbeleckt ich doch eigentlich bisher gewesen bin, wie lange ich so naiv vor mich hinsegeln durfte in weitgehender Ignoranz, dass der Tod auch in meiner Welt stattfinden könnte und würde. Ich bin kuriert, vom Schlimmsten aber weiterhin verschont. Auf Zeit. Die gezählt ist. Meine, und die der Menschen, die ich liebe. Soviel weiss ich jetzt doch.
