One Night On Campus

As we got on the freeway, One Night in Bangkok started playing on the radio. I asked Mom to change it.

That's not how this day's story actually began, I just really wanted to open this blog entry with it.

Mom and I took a mini-roadtrip yesterday to see a play. Nikki has been working her butt off preparing for her school's production of Dead Man Walking. Last night was the final performance, so I thought I'd surprise her and make the trip down.

The hour and a half drive was a long, but enjoyably scenic one. The hills and valleys mixed with the clouds and setting sun were an impressive sight. I wish I had my camera handy.
The ride was broken up by a series of odd discussions with Mom, including the pros and cons of various utterances when those ever-present bad drivers make themselves known on the road.

MapQuest is great for getting you near your destination, but we've realized that actually finding the place you're going isn't always that simple. We spent a while navigating aimlessly on the roads of the campus before finally finding the Arts & Humanities building. We hustled through the cold and got our tickets. With a few minutes to spare, I found myself in an odd, funny, but unbloggable (to protect the innocent, of course) situation in the restroom.
That was immediately followed by Mom and I frantically trying to figure out how to silence or shut off my new phone as showtime approached. It would've been somewhat awkward to get to Matthew Poncelet's execution scene and suddenly have John Williams' Superman theme blare from my pocket. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to notice the button with the power symbol on it.

We were led to our seats and within moments, the lights dimmed and the show started. I'm not much of a theatre guy, I don't think I've actually seen a play since probably the 5th grade, but I have to admit I really enjoyed myself. Not being very used to the stage approach of storytelling, it took me a couple minutes to settle into it, but once I did, I liked it. A lot of work went into this and it showed.

The protest scene was especially beautiful and haunting.

Parts of the play were filmed beforehand and projected onto screens on and around the stage during the show. I thought it was a cool and interesting mixture of media.
The cast was excellent and did a great job. Acting seems daunting enough in front of a camera, but I imagine it's a lot more intimidating doing it in front of a live audience.

It was really cool to see Nikki in her element and doing what she loves. She really impressed me.

Afterwards, we headed out to the lobby, where the cast was gathered, and said hello to Nikki and congratulate her on a great show. It was just a brief chat before we exited the lobby, hoping finding our way to the freeway would be easier than finding the theatre was.

A few minutes later, we were on a long, dark, skinny road in the middle of the boonies.

It took some backtracking and a lot of reassuring talk to the nervous driver I call Mom, but we found our on-ramp. Around 10:30, we were on our way home. As we got on the freeway, One Night in Bangkok started playing on the radio. I asked Mom to change it.

The long ride home was smooth, despite accidentally taking an exit ramp in some unknown town. I was reminded as we drove just how bad the radio is on Saturday night.

We got home just after midnight, tired and hungry, but the good kind. It was a nice little detour from the norm, taking a break from creativity to absorb creativity.

Now, back to space.