A night out, and a very strange play (for Greenville)

I had coffee on the porch this morning, and went on to the flea market, but it was nothing but junk. I did get some cheap jeans to make cut-offs out of after going through my shorts, but one pair was too small, and the other pair looked pretty good, so I decided just to wear them as jeans. I don't really have a "regular" pair of jeans that look good on me right now. The ones I have been wearing are baggy painter jeans, and you just can't wear those everywere. But I still don't have any cut-offs. At $6 a pair though, I'll just get some more cheap jeans the next time I'm over there.

Just as well I didn't buy any glass today. I got TWO CASES of it today in the mail from Terry E, my friend in Kentucky. I've been talking to him after meeting him online. He emailed me last week, and told me he was sending two boxes. Did he ever! One of them is huge. I still feel kind of like I'm taking advantage of him, but I haven't mentioned them to him since he said he was sending them. I called Justin, he's going to come over Tuesday night to open the boxes with me. He'll enjoy seeing what's in them as much as I do, so it will just be twice as fun.

I was worthless again today, and just read. I finished The Reunion, thank goodness. Maybe I'll get something done around here now.

***

I was running around the house tonight getting ready to go to dinner with Russ and Billy before the play, and locked myself out of the house again. I had no time to wait for a locksmith, and no phone to call one anyway, so I just kicked the door in and finished getting ready. Fortunately, I can still lock the house with the deadbolt until I can get someone over here to fix the sill. I am an idiot for not hiding a key outside after the last time this happened. Sigh. But I had to get going, so I made a decision. I did feel pretty butch. It worked just like it does in the movies too.

Dinner was delicious, if expensive. We went to a place downtown called Takosushi, an odd little Mexican/Japanese fusion restaurant. The food was very good, but very expensive. I had an entree, two cocktails, and an appetizer, and my check was $45 before tip. Not too bad for downtown, I guess, but not something I could do on a regular basis. And I can get excellent chiles rellenos for less than $17 a plate. Still, as I say, it was very good, at least. It really pisses me off to pay big bucks for a mediocre meal.

The play was called Cloud 9, and was a mimimalistic play about jingoism and the fall of the Victorian ideal of the British family. The first act was set in colonial Africa, shortly before the British troops were beaten and ousted in the Zulu Wars. The ultimate failure of the British colonial system was a parallel for the fall of the unrealistic ideals and stereotypical roles of Victorian social mores. A recurring theme was the use of social stereotypes of the time to hide homosexual tendencies. Additionally, many of the roles in the play were acted by people of the opposite gender of the role, and during intermission, the actors changed roles to play each other's characters during a later era. It was a very interesting concept, if a bit outre' for Greenville, I felt. But most of the audience stayed for the second act, surprisingly, after several male-on-male kisses in the first act, which a couple of people obviously felt were quite shocking.

It was interesting to me that members of the audience found two male characters kissing much more shocking than the husband and wife characters kissing, even though the wife (Betty) was played by a man in both acts. Proof of the the fact that the actors who played Betty in both acts did an excellent job of inhabiting the character fully enough to be accepted in the role, even though the actor in the first act had a beard. Additionally, the actor who played the quintessential Britich patriarch in the first act played a young girl in the second act, and was absolutely invested in the character, while playing on the innate comedy of this large man playing a little girl. It was a very unusual entertainment.

Afterwards, we went to Coffee Underground for coffee, and walked around downtown. By the time we got home, it was 12:30, and I went on home for bed. Russ and I are going to the Jockey Lot in the morning, and we both have Mother's Day duties to attend to as well.