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Do I have to do this all over again...
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31 March 2002
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Do I have to do this all over again?
Didn't I do it right the first time?
Do I have to do this all over again?
How many times do I have to make this right?
(The Monkees, "Do I have To Do This All Over Again")
What a wonderful weekend! Three colleague friends and I went to see the production of Riverdance in Costa Mesa. It was spectacular.
We started out the day by leaving a bit early and checking into our hotel rooms. Because we have left so early, we had a few hours before we had to be at the Outback Steakhouse to meet with P’s son and his girlfriend, who would be joining us at Riverdance. We went shopping. Yuck. I hate shopping. Can you believe that I am a woman and I hate shopping? Well, I did the best that I could with the veteran shoppers with whom I was shopping, and walked around oo’ing and ah’ing at all the right times.
Our first stop was IKEA. Now, I have to admit that they had some pretty cool stuff, and for a non-shopper, I could probably spend a lot of money there. Of course, I need furniture, so that could be the reason for the temporary relief of my aversion to shopping. I did end up buying a set of storage bowls/lids and some thingies to freeze and put in my lunch bag. What are those called? Hmmm… We spend a whole lotta time there, though. Just as I thought I would be hyperventilating from my short-lived spurt of shopoholism, we decided to leave. Whew! Checkout time.
It was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for Riverdance. I got dressed in some black knit pants and a red short-sleeved sweater, dressed it up a bit with some black and gold jewelry, curled my hair and put on a little bit of makeup. Then I saw what everyone else was wearing. I think I growled. I was told that “we going to dress nice, but we aren’t going to ‘dress up’” Yeah, right! They were all in skirts/dresses and heels! Hello! Oh well, I am who I am; I don’t dress up much.
We left the hotel and drove to Outback Steakhouse. I had never eaten at an Outback before, but I had heard very good things about it. The ‘bloomin’ onion’ didn’t impress me because I don’t like onions, but the steak did! I was in the mood for steak. Mmmmmmmmmmm. They didn’t have filet mignon, though. That was weird. I had a tenderloin instead, and it was very good. It was very, very good. Then the six of us shared two desserts; we set them in the middle of the table and we all dug into the sweet, tasty creations of delight.
As we were leaving the restaurant, P looked at her son and asked if he had his tickets. He didn’t! Heheh. He had to drive all the way back to Long Beach to get them, and slipped into the show just as it was about to start.
The show was absolutely spectacular. I was expecting it to be, but in a different way. I thought the whole thing was really just dancing as a group, with a male and female lead. It was really a story, and sometimes it had a few dancers, and sometimes it had the whole group. I also thought that it would be all Irish dancing, but it wasn’t. It had several different ethnic dancing routines – Russian, Spanish (flamenco), and tap dancing (American style). It had another one, too, but I didn’t know what it was. My favorite part was the tap and Irish dance-off. Three Irish dancers and three (African American) tap dancers kind of “faced off” with their types of tap, then ended up combining the two. It was amazing and entertaining at the same time. Very good stuff.
The flamenco dancer was incredible, as well. She was from Spain and had studied her homeland’s traditional dances from a very young age. The Russian dancers were from Moscow. I thought it was great that not only did they have the dances, but they also had the ethnic dancers. It was not all Irish! The things those Russians did. Wow! I think they call the spinning and stuff ‘dervishes’. I’m not sure of the spelling, though. One of the dancers spun his partner who was crouched before him as fast as his little arm would go. It was amazing! A spectacular show all around. It’s one that I’d definitely like to see again.
The next day was a nightmare come alive for me. The other three decided that they’d love to walk around the big ol’ shopping center that is in Costa Mesa. It was huge. We couldn’t just shop at one end either; we had to walk from end to end – a couple of times. The mall was in two sections; one was across the street and one has to cross a skywalk to get there. Yikes! Although I am not an avid shopper, I do have enough common sense and forethought to act as a wonderful shopping advisor for my friends. While they spent their hundreds of dollars, I spewed forth wondrous pieces of advice and ideas. Little did they know that it was all a plot to get out of that place all the more quickly; that will remain my little secret. ;-)
After all the shopping appeared to be done, and thoughts of stopping by Cabazon Outlet Mall on the way home were thwarted by me (it’s Saturday, Easter specials, crowds – you don’t *really* want to do that, do you?), I suggested that we eat lunch. My suggestion was to eat at Ruby’s, which was inside the part of the mall that we had to return to in order to return items that were bought that day. I won’t even get into *that* little scenario! Ack! After eating lunch, we were finally headed home. Yay!
I truly enjoy traveling, but I do so enjoy the feeling that I get when I drive into the city of my home, knowing that I will soon be in the comfort of my own house. I knew that Lucky would be happy to see me return home, too. As we were delayed by hours and hours due to shopping, I knew that the pet sitter wouldn’t have been by since the morning, and it was definitely getting to be the time for him to go outside to tinkle! His wiggly little butt was a pleasure to see. ;-)
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