I will be going back to Hawaii on April 29.
I should say, that “we” will be going back, as Alanah will be going as well. She will be there for a long weekend, and returning to AZ, while I will be staying until July 24!
While Kilauea continues to erupt and subside, then erupt again, I am participating in other diversions besides golfing.
One of my favorite, is “contributing to the delinquency of minors” by going out to bars with my grandkids.
I met two of my teenaged grandkids at a bar in Tempe to watch the Arizona Wildcats play Duke in the NCAA semifinals.
The sports bar has multiple large screen televisions showing a variety of sporting events. The two closest televisions have the Arizona/Duke basketball game and the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game!
While the Diamondbacks did beat the Cubs, unfortunately, the Wildcats lost to Duke.
A few days later, I went to the Diamondbacks game at the stadium instead of watching it at home or at a bar.
Today, the 11th, I decided I needed more diversions while I waited to return to Hawaii. So, I replaced the battery in my truck. $226.00
Then I repaired the weatherstripping in the car around the driver’s side window. It had come loose and was hanging down, so I went to the dollar store and got a tiny tube of super glue. After squeezing the super glue between the rubber weatherstripping and the metal door frame, I used a piece of rope to hold the weatherstripping in place until the glue dries. $1.25.
I hope that I can get the rope off after the glue dries, and more importantly, I hope the door will open after I shut it! I might need some super glue remover!
Then I replaced the brake pads on the front of the truck. $39.99
As a further diversion, we went to the Opera.
I can’t help but feel that we were scammed . . . again . . . by Arizona Opera.
A while ago, we went to see the Opera “Frankenstein” – it was a modern rendition of the story, all in American English, set in the modern era. The singing was nothing more than common conversation with a rhythm and a slight up lilt at the end of each setence. To say that their version did not translate to Americanism well would be an understatement. I wondered if any of the Italians had these same feelings about the early operas done in Italian – their native language!
Next, we went to Romeo and Juliet in Tucson at the Linda Rondstat Theater, and I fully expected Linda to appear in the middle of the performanc and demand that they take her name off the building!
This too was a modern rendition set in Los Angeles in the 1960’s. It appeared to be an elementary school, third grade drama performance of West Side Story! The scene where Juliet found that Romeo had drunk all the poison leaving none for her was truly comical, and her death scene was hilarious!
Tonight’s performance was called Aida.
Again, a modern opera about an Ethiopian slave in the service of the Princess of Egypt as Ethiopia attacked Egypt. The General leading the attack was the slave’s father, and the king of Ethiopia. The general leading the Egyptians was in love with the slave girl while the Princess of Egypt was in love with him. – On the surface, a typical Operatic confusion.
The stage was occupied by a chorus of over a hundred singers sitting on a tiered dias. When they stood to participate, they did not do it together, but in a staggered method, and it reminded me of doing the wave in the stadium while watching the Diamondbacks!
There was no scenery, but there was a combination of computer generated action scenes and still photos of what was supposedly modern day Ethiopia projected on a screen behind the stage while the opera singers did no acting, but only sang. I think that Harkins Movie Theater could have done a better job! Many of the Opera singers were fabulous, and it was an insult to their talent for there to be no director support from Arizona Opera!
Being a modern version, they had images of the tall, high tech windmills and solar panels producing electricity, but the princess used a rotary dialed telephone!
The first two acts were difficult to follow, and It wasn’t until the third act when there was some interaction between the actors that helped reinforce the plot being portrayed by the close captioned words at the top of the screen! But these attempts fell short due to the fact that there were no costumes and no scenary! I could not help but feel that nobody would get the same emotional uplift that Julia Robert’s character received in Pretty Woman when she saw her first opera!
I wonder if they are trying to disuade me from ever attending another opera!
And for now, Kilauea is quiet!
Excerpt from the daily update on April 15, 2025:
The ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption is paused; episode 17 ended at 9:45 a.m. HST on April 9 when low fountaining at the south vent stopped. Last night both the north and south vents were glowing strongly as seen in webcam images. Both vents continue to degas. If the eruptive activity reverts to pre-episode 17 behavior, data indicate that episode 18 is most likely to start today or tomorrow.
I have decided to seek another diversion of a different kind to occupy my time until I return to Hawaii. Perhaps, I will write about this at another time!
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 