Mortaine’s Blog

Oh, yeah– I went to a birthday party last weekend and took pictures. Some of them came out very nice– some are just blurs as the birthday girl whirl-winded her way through her presents.

This is one of my favorites:

[And yes, I will be emailing these to her parents-- just as soon as I get more than 15 minutes at home, okay?]

John and I saw Les Miserables last night. It was Opening Night, which was wonderful. John wore his tux, and I wore a skirt and top with a satin shawl. This just served to show us how incredibly casual and, well, sloppy, our compatriots in the Silicon Valley are. I mean, c’mon! It’s opening night, for crying out loud! Can’t you be bothered to put on something nice? And I do mean nicer than your IT uniform of tan Dockers and a dark blue shirt.

I had this problem with Joe Millionaire, too. Did anyone notice that, by about Episode 3, Evan had forgotten how to wear clothes? I swear– he looked like a total slob through the entire season. These women were knocking themselves out to look beautiful for him, and as appreciative as he was, he couldn’t be bothered to wear a nice shirt or pants.

And you know he had to feel out of place in Paris, where even the construction workers dress in what we would call “business casual.” When your taxi driver is wearing a tie, you know it’s time to go shopping, dude! I swear– as endearing as Evan was, I really wish Paul had continued to dress him after the first episode.

Ah, well. This wasn’t supposed to be a rant about the decline of fashion, honestly. I reallly just wanted to talk about what a wonderful time we had. Great dinner beforehand, a magnificent performance (marred only slightly by a technical glitch in the first two scenes). Sets, cast– everything was fabulous. Eponine was a complete shining star. Gavroche….. said his lines a little too fast in his death scene, but otherwise was charming (of course). In fact, there were several places where a line or two seemed off– and there were a few places where a chorus was missing or added in, or a line was taken out of a song (this really confused me in “Lovely Ladies”!) But whatever– the show’s been running for 14 years– it’s allowed to change over time, add variety to the performances.

I noticed something this time I hadn’t before. In “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” there are twelve “ghosts” on stage, plus Marius. If we assume that Enjolras is a Christ-figure (not a real stretch, here, folks, given the set direction used in every production of Les Mis), then does that not make Marius the only surviving of his Apostles? Something to ponder, albeit not too hard.
I’m having a bit of tummy trouble today, probably due in part to tight clothing (bras! girdles! garter belts! aaah!) and rich food last night. Not sure what I’ll do for lunch today– I brought a skein of yarn to work on Lizzie’s bonnet at lunch.

The winning group of words for the sestina word poll is:
poker, soda, yellow, socks, bunny, comic with 6 votes!!!

And thank you all for voting for words that I can actually use without making a comedic sestina! I must admit I was worried when the “Polysemous” group got two votes– I don’t even know what most of those words mean! Thanks again for voting, and for coming up with some truly inspiring (and in some cases outright bizarre) suggestions. “Asshat” has to be the best invitation to write silly poetry I’ve ever received.

Anyway, I’ll be working on my sestina over the next week or so and will post drafts as I get them together. My deadline for completion is the same as for my poetry contest– March 31!