| March 23, 1990 | Issue 4 | Aloha, Oregon |
In this issue:
Opera in the Amazon
“After 81 years of operatic silence, the rainforest came alive again. The Teatro Amazonas, in Manaus reopened after extensive remodeling. First opened in 1896, at the height of the rubber boom that made Manaus one of the hemisphere’s richest cities, the Teatro Amazonas has suffered the same sorry decline as the city – until its recent rebirth as a free-trade zone. No opera company has performed here since 1909, and the theater has been used only sparingly for theater and musical performances.” (The Wall Street Journal. March 12, 1990 page A6).
While in Brazil, Milt Cathy and I all visited the opera house and went on a tour amid scaffoldings and paint strippers to see what the place had once been. The visitors no longer need hard hats, for the renovation is complete and the first performance in years opened just last Saturday.
Loving Harmony
The BYU Philharmonic played last night, and I was one of the privileged few who couldn’t get tickets to go see The Nylons concert in-stead. Though I suppose that it turned out alright since the difference in ticket prices let me buy dinner for my date and still spend less money. The orchestra played Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, which made Beethoven’s Triple Concerto seem kind of bland in comparison. The only piece I was very familiar with was Till Eulenspiegel, by Richard Strauss. Ah, there’s nothing like live music. One of my missionary companions played violin for the orchestra.
After the concert, my date Molly (poor girl–she gets the Molly Mormon bit all the time) and I went to La Dolce Vita for some gnocci. Que del�cia
Getting My Kicks
Last week in my karate class, we had some people come over from the UVCC karate club to spar with us. I’m in the highest belt rank our school has to this point – yellow, but these guys were black and brown belts. So this was mostly for our experience, and they kind of went easy on us. I was complimented greatly on my fighting, though, and got some good shots in on the black belts. I must admit that I got a little pounded myself.
Tonight we have promotions, so if all goes well, I’ll be an orange belt. I’m starting to feel that I could actually use some of my skills in a real situation if I needed to. I guess the real test would be if someone were to try to hit me. I would be perfectly content without the real test.
Repeatables
“A not not is not a not squared because that would be a Boy Scout activity. No, a not not is not a not at all”
–Me, explaining what my CS 152 teacher just said.
Inquisitive Blonde: “Hey, how ya doin’?”
Testing Center-blasted Man: “I don’t know”
Blonde: “Where ya coming from?”
Blasted Man: “Uh, I don’t remember.”
–Student Review, Eavesdropper (supposedly real dialogue)
“Wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence brings about wealth and all other public and private blessings for men.”
–Socrates.
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
–Derek Blok
Smithy Dataline
Any comments, correspondence, suggestions, submissions, rumors, philosophy, etc. can now be uploaded onto the Smithy Dataline. Just give me a call at 801-373-4327 and I’ll set things up. Then call the same number using a modem and you’ll be online. I’ll give you a password when you call ‘voice’. Sounds like fun.
Until next time,
Tchau!
Love,
Eric James Smith, Ed.
Copyright � Eric Smith, 1989-1998, All rights reserved.