Last Friday, Mer and I went down to Actors’ Summit Theater and saw their production Romantic Fools. The play is a set of loosely tied together scenes – if I remember correctly, there were eleven scenes in all. It is a two-person show of one man and one woman, and the whole play is tied together by exploring the theme of the differences in men and women, and the relationship issues that come of it. It is a comedy, and is meant for adult audiences because it deals with some (not explicitly shown) sex issues. I found it quite funny and enjoyed it quite a lot. My burst-out-laughing moment was when the man told us, “Women make me feel……and that’s the problem.” On the whole, Meredith thought I laughed too much.
I was impressed at the show – in my opinion it did not take cheap shots at each gender – or at least, in the places it did, it took cheap shots at both. There were scenes of a woman dating a literal caveman, a man dating an obsessed woman, a man looking for “boring sex,” a engagement dinner that goes slightly wrong, a bar scene where a simple offer of a drink leads to a long reason of why they would never work out as a couple, and more. The play was well acted by two actors I admire a lot, although it was hard to see an actress who I think is sweet and cute drop the f-bomb a few times. The set was very simple – the backdrop was of an apartment kitchen with doors on both sides, and the living space (and bar in some scenes) was set up toward the front of the stage. It was a very entertaining evening, and had the good timing to be right between Meredith’s birthday (January 18th) and mine (January 24th), so it was a mini birthday celebration as well.
Saturday, Mer was game enough to join me in helping out a former colleague named Brittian. Brittian is building a house, mostly by himself (with Nate’s help), and he had gotten to the point where he was ready to paint inside the house. He saw me in the hallway at CVCA, and asked if I could help out. Brittian has always been kind to me and lent me his roofing equipment when I needed to re-roof my house, so I was delighted to get a chance to pay him back, after a fashion. Mer and I got to the house at around 8:30, and Brittian gave us the tour. It is a very cool house; lots of thought went into how Brittian and his family want to live. So, the space on the main floor is large and open, so the family will want to spend time there together. The bedrooms are smaller than normal by today’s standards, but that is the point – the family wants to be together and so put the house spaces toward that goal. Mer and I painted for about two hours, and it was a nice time getting caught up with Brittian. We had previously made plans to see our first CVCA hockey game, so we had to leave at 11:00.
CVCA has a hockey program, and I have two of my Connections students and one of my Fools on the team. Mer has a student on the team as well, so we wanted to see a game. The games are held at Kent State University’s ice rink, and we got there at around 11:30, after having a little trouble finding it. We still were there in time to see the start of the game. Our guys have recently (in the last couple of years) gotten really good, and they were playing a really good team, so it seemed as if it should be a good game. It was, too – all tied up at 1-1 after two periods, but then the other team scored a freak goal (it went all the way around the back of the goal because it was spinning, and then went in), and that broke the game open – we lost 5-2. Still, I had a good time watching the game.
The social aspect was fun too – one of my Connections guys is a huge hockey fan and goes to every game, so I hung out with him. Jim Gaul showed up right before the game started, and Mer was able to happily spend the game chatting with our colleague Amy. I also was able to get a really good cup of hot chocolate and a bunch of mozzarella sticks.
After the game, Mer and I were hungry, so we decided to try the burger chain Five Guys Burgers and Fries. It turned out that Amy and her husband and a friend were all there, so we got to visit more. Five Guys really only makes burgers and fries (except for two items that I do not remember), but they do them really well. I’m sure we will be back.
After the late lunch, we headed home. We finished the evening later by watching the movie The Brothers Grimm, which came out a few years ago. While not a tremendously deep movie, it was entertaining, well shot with good special effects, and had some interesting twists, and it was fun to catch all the references to various folk tales.
You would think that would make for a full weekend, but on Sunday, after church, we went over to the Churchills’ house to watch the football since it was the playoffs. I love spending time with the Churchills, and I was able to bring over my homemade pizza, brownies, and a quart of Handel’s “Spouse like a House” ice cream. Londa had also made her chocolate chip cookies, which are probably the best cookies on the planet. It was a very good eating night! The games were also entertaining, and we got to visit with Zach and Londa, who were kind enough to help set Mer up with her own grading station of desk and lamp.
Not a bad little birthday weekend.