Saturday, November 25, 2006
Slept in. Patrick made my favorite breakfast. Showered. Today he had a surprise event for me. We went to Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley to see a performance by the Golden Dragon Acrobats. Beforehand we got pizza slices at Blondie's. These descriptions don't do the acts justice, but here they are (and I might not have the order correct near the beginning): cocktail glasses balanced on 4 limbs, umbrellas spun and balanced on feet, soccer balls spun and balanced on feet, metal bowls balanced on a pole held by teeth while standing on ladders, hats juggled and swapped and tossed in the air, men tumbling through hoops on a bench, dishes spun on long wires, a pair of men in poses balancing their weights against each other, giant wheels. Intermission. A man spins a woman suspended along a thin ropelike fabric, (I can't remember what this act was but it began with a metallic fabric stretched across the stage which was made to resemble water.), spools juggled along string held by two sticks, man does handstands repeatedly on a stack of chairs adding a chair each time until he reached the ceiling (this was Patrick's favorite), finale with a Chinese dragon walking across a pivoting plank while atop two large round balls, 10 (?) people riding a single bicycle, and more acrobatics. All the acts were fun and amazing to watch. My favorite was the bicycle, even though it didn't last very long. We sat in section C Orchestra in row D, seats 109 and 110, $42 each. Just before the show, we tried to send Jeanne her chocolate chip cookies, but the man at FedEx said it wasn't possible. The computer wouldn't permit a package containing food or cookies to be sent to Malawi. And even if it did, he said it would cost about $160 to ship overnight! We sadly took the cookies back and will try DHL next week. Dinner in Berkeley with Patrick: burritos. Home. Paid bills. Bought airline tickets for D and C's wedding. Wrote a thank you card. Bought gifts online. Took apart an old computer to prepare for getting rid of. Digital housekeeping.