I & O

I was fortunate not to have to work this weekend, which cleared my schedule to allow me to accompany for the Heritage Theatre Festival Kick-Off Event last night.  It had been a while since I've had to sight-read 15 songs in one day, and the old saying "Use It or Lose It" certainly proved true.  But, I somehow managed to finagle my way through all of the songs (except for A Little Priest from the musical Sweeney Todd, which luckily one of the cast members already knew how to play, letting me off the hook).  In the end, I had a lot of fun, and I managed to make some much-needed money.

Obviously I immediately squandered all of that money today.  I had brunch with Kathryn at La Taza, during which she regaled to me tales of the recent Southeby's auction, The Collection of Patricia Kluge, which sold 933 items for $15,158,201.  How someone acquires 933 items in their lifetime is, truly, beyond me.  You can check out a video introducing the Albemarle House estate and some of its many treasures here.

Then, Neil coerced me into seeing Splice at the movie theater.  Neil, I will never forgive you for wasting $7.50 and 104 minutes of my life.  In spite of garnering a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was absolutely one of the most absurd and poorly executed films I've ever seen in my entire life.  Seriously, if you're still considering watching the movie, at least wait for it to come out on DVD.

Finally, Bassem and I took Pete out for a farewell dinner at Christian's Pizza.  I know, we're almost too classy.  Pete, my roommate of two years, is moving to the state of Washington tomorrow.  I wish him all the best, and his presence on Valley Road will be greatly missed.