a weekend in contrasts

Yesterday, Magnum and I got out for a bit of culture:  an afternoon at the Thee-a-tah (trying to say "theater" in a snobby way).  It was the high school drama department's production of "Emma!" a pop musical.  

They did a nice job, it was very entertaining, and some of those kids are very talented young thespians and singers.  It's not really typical for us to go to the school plays, but like last spring,  Meego participated as one of the nine musicians, so that's how we ended up there.

The musicians all had a good time of it, sounded great, and Meego said that it was some of the most challenging music he's ever played, so - growth!

The cast presented each musician with a rose after the final showing, along with a thank-you note signed by each member of the cast.  All the notes had some silly pun to refer to each musician's instrument.



For example, Meego's said "Your bass-ically the best!" *snort*.  However, the trumpet player's note just said, "Sorry, all the trumpet puns are too dirty".

This bit of fine arts culture was in stark contrast to my outing on Friday.  I went up to Boulder to visit my oldest brother, Hagrid.  Y'all remember Hagrid?  The secret government agent scientist man?  Yeah, him.

As might be inferred, Hagrid works at an interesting place.  Yet, I'd never been there before, even though I'd lived in Boulder for four years. Sure, I'd driven or bicycled passed the place many times, but getting inside is such a chore and would involve having Hagrid escort me, blah, blah, blah... There are no photos of our visit.  Hopefully these will suffice:

Hagrid

Where Hagrid works

 With Hagrid's impending retirement however, the whole blah, blah, blah didn't seem so limiting anymore.  Really, it was Chaco who lit the fire.  His work bares some similarities to what Hagrid does, and so Chaco has been wanting to go visit for a while, look around, and talk some shop with Hagrid.  The three of us made arrangements for Friday.

As expected, I was pretty clueless once the two of them got to discussing nits and grits.  The conversation was like foreign language with some English words peppered in a la:
*gibberish* *gibberish* *gibberish* *gibberish* system *gibberish* *gibberish* *gibberish* data *gibberish* *gibberish* effects *gibberish* *gibberish* *gibberish* *gibberish* signal...

Nonetheless, it was fun spending a few hours in the secret places of the secret place with Hagrid and Chaco.  Also, Hagrid's 14-year-old stepdaughter joined us, so I had someone at my intellectual level to hang out with.  😊

Plus, it was fun to just get outta town for a day.  I lived in Boulder over twenty years ago, so it was fun taking in the sights and memories.  Its relative compactness is a nice contrast to the sprawl of Colorado Springs - which is becoming increasingly annoying to me...

All in all, a nice end to a nice week.  Science and music - aren't I so darned well rounded!

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