Out on the Town - Leah Style
I wouldn’t call my evening out at the opera sophisticated. Instead the night embodied a crazier than usual version of my normally harried existence with a three-hour opera added in. I should have known I am incapable of having a refined evening. No dinner out or limo (let alone taxi) ride for me.
Early yesterday morning I took a dress to the cleaners. I got off work around 4:45, walked home, fixed hair, packed up big bag of crap so that I could change at Christian’s house and then went to pick up his new bike. For some reason the bike shop had not put the lock/light on the bike yet (even though they knew I would be coming by to get it), and only begin working on it around 5:45 when I get there. Half an hour later it is finally ready. Of course this throws off my “never an extra second” schedule. I was supposed to pick up a black sweater from Nicki at her place before heading to the dry cleaners, then to Christian's work, then his place to change and finally to the opera: all by 7:30. I now have a little over an hour to accomplish all of that. Nicki starts calling me warning, "you are going to be late!"I am increasingly aware of this on my own, but the tense voice on her end of the line subconsciously informs me she doesn't want me to disrespect the opera. She meets me downstairs outside her apartment with the sweater, and I fly off to the dry cleaners. It is now approaching 6:30 and I get a call from Nicki that the bridge is wall to wall traffic and that Mindy has been on it for an hour. Yikes!!! She redirects me to BART, and I now have three minutes to park, get this massive bike off the rack of my car, collect all of my belongings in my big bag, try not to wrinkle my dress and buy a Bart ticket. I have never moved so fast in my life. Miraculously I made it on time only to discover I had lost my phone. Now there is no way for Christian to contact me. We had decided to meet at his place since I was running about an hour behind schedule, and so as I got off BART I was about to climb on his (way too big for me) bike and ride off when I hear my name. I guess he called me a few less than 50 times to tell me he would meet me at BART. When I saw him he informed me we were getting right back on BART towards Civic Center because by now it was 7:10 and the opera does not seat late. If late we would be standing for over an hour until the first intermission. I desperately wanted to change into my dress. I pouted, he reasoned...at least I already had a skirt on from work. On BART we realized those Mike's Bikes folks had forgotten to give us the keys to the bike lock!!! Christian had a cord lock with him, but that is certainly not enough to keep bike thieves away in Berkeley. I suggested valet parking. Luckily, the BART station was well lit and the BART monitor person was right next to the bike area. But I thought he was taking a HUGE risk locking up a brand new bike. Here’s where the night gets really glamorous. We ran from the station to the opera house, me carrying a purse, large tweed coat and big bag which now contains a useless and heavy bike lock. Of course I was excited to have a chance to wear the discounted Manolos I found at Jeremy's but I didn't intend to run a mile in them. However, I can now report after my brisk run through the city, that they are built quite sturdily. We arrived at the Opera House "perspiring" in the most refined way of course, with about three minutes to spare! When I returned to my car at Rockeridge BART at the end of the night, my phone was right where I left it, on the roof of my car!!!! I guess we just aren't ready for a sophisticated night on the town just yet...give us another decade and we'll be taking a limo.
Early yesterday morning I took a dress to the cleaners. I got off work around 4:45, walked home, fixed hair, packed up big bag of crap so that I could change at Christian’s house and then went to pick up his new bike. For some reason the bike shop had not put the lock/light on the bike yet (even though they knew I would be coming by to get it), and only begin working on it around 5:45 when I get there. Half an hour later it is finally ready. Of course this throws off my “never an extra second” schedule. I was supposed to pick up a black sweater from Nicki at her place before heading to the dry cleaners, then to Christian's work, then his place to change and finally to the opera: all by 7:30. I now have a little over an hour to accomplish all of that. Nicki starts calling me warning, "you are going to be late!"I am increasingly aware of this on my own, but the tense voice on her end of the line subconsciously informs me she doesn't want me to disrespect the opera. She meets me downstairs outside her apartment with the sweater, and I fly off to the dry cleaners. It is now approaching 6:30 and I get a call from Nicki that the bridge is wall to wall traffic and that Mindy has been on it for an hour. Yikes!!! She redirects me to BART, and I now have three minutes to park, get this massive bike off the rack of my car, collect all of my belongings in my big bag, try not to wrinkle my dress and buy a Bart ticket. I have never moved so fast in my life. Miraculously I made it on time only to discover I had lost my phone. Now there is no way for Christian to contact me. We had decided to meet at his place since I was running about an hour behind schedule, and so as I got off BART I was about to climb on his (way too big for me) bike and ride off when I hear my name. I guess he called me a few less than 50 times to tell me he would meet me at BART. When I saw him he informed me we were getting right back on BART towards Civic Center because by now it was 7:10 and the opera does not seat late. If late we would be standing for over an hour until the first intermission. I desperately wanted to change into my dress. I pouted, he reasoned...at least I already had a skirt on from work. On BART we realized those Mike's Bikes folks had forgotten to give us the keys to the bike lock!!! Christian had a cord lock with him, but that is certainly not enough to keep bike thieves away in Berkeley. I suggested valet parking. Luckily, the BART station was well lit and the BART monitor person was right next to the bike area. But I thought he was taking a HUGE risk locking up a brand new bike. Here’s where the night gets really glamorous. We ran from the station to the opera house, me carrying a purse, large tweed coat and big bag which now contains a useless and heavy bike lock. Of course I was excited to have a chance to wear the discounted Manolos I found at Jeremy's but I didn't intend to run a mile in them. However, I can now report after my brisk run through the city, that they are built quite sturdily. We arrived at the Opera House "perspiring" in the most refined way of course, with about three minutes to spare! When I returned to my car at Rockeridge BART at the end of the night, my phone was right where I left it, on the roof of my car!!!! I guess we just aren't ready for a sophisticated night on the town just yet...give us another decade and we'll be taking a limo.
posted by LeahT at 2:47 PM
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