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So, I have a metric fucktonne of work to do this weekend. I have already been up for a few hours, doing stats and I have to design a dress and read and take a quiz and submit to two hours of stat software HELL in the lab tomorrow. I don't want to think about.
What I want to think about instead is how amazing last night was. By a stroke of good fortune and fantastic timing on my part, I called Ryan yesterday to ask if he wanted to go to the Balloon Glow with me. I left an awkward voice mail, as per usual, and didn't think anything would come of it. Only, about half an hour later, Ryan called back, telling me that he was coming by to pick me up in 20 minutes and that I was to dress up, because he had two (rather expensive) tickets to the COMPLETELY SOLD OUT Lord of the Rings Symphony and that I was going with him. I'm pretty sure I squealed like the thirteen year old girl I not-so-very-secretly. Miracle of miracles, despite both of us needing to shower and make ourselves look pretty, we actually made it there on time. And, after some seriously awkward conversation with some of Ryan's old colleagues, a sip of champagne, and a slice of cake, we settled in for nearly two hours of STUNNING music.
*sighs* I was utterly blown away! The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is amazing and the choir was pitch perfect. The soloist was lovely and the two little boys who sang Alec's part were ridiculously cute. You heard different parts of the music than you do when listening to the soundtrack, like the accordion and mandolin parts. They were charming! I was transported, brought back to the golden days of LoTR fandom, when we were all so ridiculously obsessed. I remembered the weight of the air and the warmth of the light and the way the fabric of my sleeping bag felt that night when I finally saw the film, sitting on Cynthia's floor. I remember being in love with Orlando Bloom (O, such halcyon days!) and I remember how it felt to apply prosthetic ears in the car on the way to Cynthia's before the RoTK premier. I was so very different back then, and yet so fundamentally the same.
I'm (clearly) still the same sentimental idiot I was at fourteen... I just feel that way about different things. For instance, as I was listening to the music, I realized I'd forgotten the smattering of elvish I used to know. I can't quote the books or the movies or the fics as accurately as I once could. I've even forgotten some of the minor characters' names. And for a moment I was very sad, I think Ryan must have noticed because he stroked my arm a bit, but then I realized that I've kept the bits that matter: the good feelings and the silly lines. I still recite the part of the VSDs about the Gap at Rohan and the Banana Republic when I walk by the two stores at the Coronado. I still tell people the ridiculous story about the finest weed in the South Valley. And, when I feel sad, I still imagine myself wandering the shimmering halls of Rivendell, wearing a magnificent gown. I do! And listening to the music last night brought me back there all over again.
So, what I'm trying to say, amidst all that rampant sentimentalism, is that I had a lovely time and am immensely grateful to Ryan for taking me. If the orchestra in your town decides to play this symphony, GO! It is brilliant and amazing and I sound like Orlando Bloom back when he was still a gushing fanboy, but... yeah, awesome. Pure awesome smothered in awesomesauce. You should totally go. [/incoherence]
What I want to think about instead is how amazing last night was. By a stroke of good fortune and fantastic timing on my part, I called Ryan yesterday to ask if he wanted to go to the Balloon Glow with me. I left an awkward voice mail, as per usual, and didn't think anything would come of it. Only, about half an hour later, Ryan called back, telling me that he was coming by to pick me up in 20 minutes and that I was to dress up, because he had two (rather expensive) tickets to the COMPLETELY SOLD OUT Lord of the Rings Symphony and that I was going with him. I'm pretty sure I squealed like the thirteen year old girl I not-so-very-secretly. Miracle of miracles, despite both of us needing to shower and make ourselves look pretty, we actually made it there on time. And, after some seriously awkward conversation with some of Ryan's old colleagues, a sip of champagne, and a slice of cake, we settled in for nearly two hours of STUNNING music.
*sighs* I was utterly blown away! The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is amazing and the choir was pitch perfect. The soloist was lovely and the two little boys who sang Alec's part were ridiculously cute. You heard different parts of the music than you do when listening to the soundtrack, like the accordion and mandolin parts. They were charming! I was transported, brought back to the golden days of LoTR fandom, when we were all so ridiculously obsessed. I remembered the weight of the air and the warmth of the light and the way the fabric of my sleeping bag felt that night when I finally saw the film, sitting on Cynthia's floor. I remember being in love with Orlando Bloom (O, such halcyon days!) and I remember how it felt to apply prosthetic ears in the car on the way to Cynthia's before the RoTK premier. I was so very different back then, and yet so fundamentally the same.
I'm (clearly) still the same sentimental idiot I was at fourteen... I just feel that way about different things. For instance, as I was listening to the music, I realized I'd forgotten the smattering of elvish I used to know. I can't quote the books or the movies or the fics as accurately as I once could. I've even forgotten some of the minor characters' names. And for a moment I was very sad, I think Ryan must have noticed because he stroked my arm a bit, but then I realized that I've kept the bits that matter: the good feelings and the silly lines. I still recite the part of the VSDs about the Gap at Rohan and the Banana Republic when I walk by the two stores at the Coronado. I still tell people the ridiculous story about the finest weed in the South Valley. And, when I feel sad, I still imagine myself wandering the shimmering halls of Rivendell, wearing a magnificent gown. I do! And listening to the music last night brought me back there all over again.
So, what I'm trying to say, amidst all that rampant sentimentalism, is that I had a lovely time and am immensely grateful to Ryan for taking me. If the orchestra in your town decides to play this symphony, GO! It is brilliant and amazing and I sound like Orlando Bloom back when he was still a gushing fanboy, but... yeah, awesome. Pure awesome smothered in awesomesauce. You should totally go. [/incoherence]
