Opera

Friday night Chris and I went to the Houston Grand Opera to see Billy Bud composed by Benjamin Britten.  Little do you all know what it took for Chris and I to actually get there.  It was quite an adventure.  We got off work at 3 so we could leave straight away for Houston, with a small stop at our house to pick up a bike for one of my friends.  Everything was going nicely until we got to north Houston.  At which point we started getting people coming along side our truck and signaling that our tire was flat.  I told Chris and he pulled over to the shoulder (mind you this was on a bridge).  We took a look at the tire and it was absolutely shredded.  So Chris called AAA for a tow, and then we also arranged for a rental car to be dropped off for us.  The tow people never did call and Chris ended up calling them back a couple times.  He told them that we couldn’t wait too long since we were trying to get to the opera on time.  So they suggested that he leave his truck there by the side of the road.  At this point I told him about how Houston has the Safe Clear program that will tow your car if you leave it.  Sure enough, a tow truck from that program showed up and demanded him to move or he would be towed.  He did also offer to block off the on ramp so that Chris could limp his truck off the highway.  So I get in the rental car and take off to the exit, and Chris was able to limp his truck over to a Golden Corral parking lot near by.  I met up with him and then our next challenge was before us: getting my bike into a compact car.  This was NOT an easy feat to accomplish.  Chris and I struggled, and we even had a very nice african-american fellow who offered his assistance try to get the bike into the trunk.  Finally after wrestling with it in the heat, we managed to get it into the trunk.  At this point we were 50 minutes from the opera start time.  We rushed to downtown Houston, in the hopes that we might have time to drop off the bike.  Unfortunately no such luck.  By the time we got there the time was too close for us to drop off the bike.  I felt very terrible that I could not follow through with my offer to Paris (my friend).  Any how, we went to the opera, which was polytonal (very neat) and even got our seats upgraded from section J to section B (which was located in the orchestra section)!  Chris enjoyed it, even though it wasn’t your classic opera.  We finally got out at 10:30 and made it back to the truck by 11 or so.  We then called for a tow truck again and then went home.  Needless to say we did not get back home till a little after 2am.  Minus the truck having issues and the lack of sleep for the weekend…it was a decent day.  If you like slightly experimental opera, I do suggest Billy Budd.