The re-reports

It's been a busy few weeks. I feel like I should give my version of events as to the ballet, restaurant trip and Christmas concert that B2 has already reported on. Then I'll get to be first to report on Christmas festivities.

First, the ballet. I know it's a rather cruel thing to do to a boy, taking him to see ballet. In my defense, I have to say that I had never been to see a ballet production either, and needed someone to accompany me. Also, and the greatest mitigating factor, is that he owed me for watching Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 with him. No more need be said. I was entirely justified.
Anyway, we had a pretty good time being impressed by the performances, but mainly enjoying laughing at the poor men who had to wear fairy wings and have such tight tights. Why did only the male fairies have fairy wings? It did seem to rather enforce traditional stereotypes about male ballet dancers. Oh, well. It was quite entertaining, in a "thank goodness that's over and now I've experienced ballet" kind of way.

So, on to the restaurant trip. It was fun, although I have to admit that it is not a restaurant that I would recommend for vegetarians. Not that the vegie fare on offer wasn't good (it was very tasty indeed) or that the service wasn't up to scratch (it was very fast and friendly) but, as B2 has said, it wasn't all that fresh and it was quite expensive, or at least would have been without a gift voucher. The location was great though, and I guess what it comes down to is that it is primarily a seafood restaurant. Still, we had a very good night.

And the concert. Wow, yeah, the concert.
I suppose before I start talking about that I should mention the reason we were going to it, which was that my singing teacher, Nadia, had organised it. I'd heartily recommend the singing lessons to anyone living in the area, or even passing through. She creates a very comfortable atmosphere that makes it easy to learn. Even if you feel nervous about learning singing in a group environment; I was before I started these lessons. It's fun. You learn to blow really long raspberries, how to make good cow and duck noises, and yeah, how to improve your vocal technique as well.
Anyway, the concert. It was a charity concert to raise money for the "Musos Keeping It Real in the 'burbs Fund", which organises cross-cultural experiences for disadvanted groups (including opportunities to perform overseas, pretty neat). The music was brilliant, especially Masood's performance of a few traditional Persian works and Nadia's singing of "On Yoolis Night", an Old English Christian song, with Les' accompaniment on didgeridoo (or, as it should properly be called, yidaki) - an absolutely fantastic combination. If I get time, I'll write a full review up here, but in the meantime, keep an eye out for any further "Blue Gem amongst the Stars" productions.

Well, that wraps it up for the re-reporting. Since this blog post is already very, very long, I'd better write a new post for the Christmas festivities.