Rather Good

Amidst the (admittedly self-induced; no one held a gun to my head saying "Teach at Bead and Button or DIE!") craziness of packing kits and preparing instructions just one more time, not to mention for the class I said I'd teach less than a week before the show, I second-guessed myself in one of the colour-ways already packed and spoken for (by students) and came up with an alternative (the beads behave better).

 It may seem unnecessary now, but I felt compelled. I think I might be not so much behind that I actually get almost everything done that I think I ought to.

I also managed my two-hour birthday massage on Friday. It really wasn't even slightly awful.

I had just about the best meal I can ever remember having in St Louis (three words: Pork. Belly. Croutons). Given that it was a birthday dinner: even better.

I took a plane ride and later that night in my hotel I finished off the clasp on this:

 Excuse the picture. I had my snapshot camera, not my beading camera with me. That's a Peri bead.

We went to brunch at Founding Farmers and I had something called Red Flannel Hash (I think) which had all sorts of deliciousness like beets and goat cheese. These are Good Things.

 We went here (it's the Kennedy Center in DC):

 To see them:

And they were absolutely incredible.

There's a reason the Bolshoi have maintained their reputation for two hundred years because even aside from the fact that I always feel starved for Classical ballet and am therefore inclined to love even before viewing, they were incredibly good.

The men were strong without the graceless and often over-muscled athleticism that I see so often. The corps was impressively well-synchronised: not a foot pointing before or after the others, not a hand at its own angle when all others were so; so perfectly, beautifully, heart-stoppingly as one. The acting (of course there's acting in a Classical ballet: this is after all essentially pantomime in tights and tutus and en pointe) was suitable over-dramatic. The sets and costumes were absolutely stunning - in short, the only way in which it could have been even a hair better would have been if it were Swan Lake instead of Giselle, and if I still had the performance to look forward to instead of remember.

It's been an excellent birthday weekend!