almost, but not quite

Strange weekend.

We were able to catch Zack Stern's show, The Great Puppet Musical, on Friday. It was an absolute treat, and even more so since it had a full and happy house. Audience energy is such a huge part of live performance, and everyone who was there was amped up and ready for a good time. But then again, who would go to an improvised musical puppet show and not be amped up?

I found out, however, that we would not be able to get in to see First Person Shooter at the SF Playhouse the next night as they were sold out. Shows were available for the matinee, but I already knew that I'd be engaged in a rare instance of doing my day job on a Saturday afternoon due to a Monday morning project deadline.

While I worked away on WestEd work, Mayu went off to watch 28 Weeks Later, which I had deemed to scary for my tastes. Sadly, Fandango.com had given us the wrong show time, so she didn't get her zombie fix and went for pirates instead. I was a bit annoyed that she saw the Pirates without me, but by all accounts I didn't miss much.

Unable to see First Person Shooter, we decided to try and catch Diana Brown in Eavesdropped at the Off Market Theatre, but arrived to a sold out show, which was startling for an opening weekend. Denied for both of our 8pm shows, it was too late to consider a third show option. We pondered our non-theatrical options and decided to get something for the X-Box that would allow us to shoot things for the evening. Off to EB Games, which was closed. Not to be deterred, it was off to CompUSA, which was closed. Finally we ended up browsing around the Virgin Superstore (since we weren't doing anything else) and I found a copy of Gears of War, which Mayu had been talking about for the last month or so. Electronic mayhem in hand, we headed home and engaged in gratituous virtual violence.

Despite getting to bed at a fairly early hour, we managed to *not* make it to class/workout in the morning.

We did, however, make it out to Kurt and Michelle Larson's for their son's 1st birthday gathering. This mostly involved techies standing around a playground talking shop and trading war stories. Techies have the *best* war stories.

Radiostar went exceptionally well, with one of the most enjoyable and solid improv sets we've had in weeks. It would have been the perfect end to the evening if I hadn't left my bag (and my laptop) at the restaurant/bar after the recording session. I didn't realize it until we got back to Oakland. Mayu, bless her, didn't miss a beat and we were back on the road in seconds. I called the restaurant and they hadn't seen the bag, which sent me into a sweating panic. By the time we arrived, however, they had located it and placed it behind the bar.

I am going to advocate for going back there after every Radiostar and buying lots of food and drinks out of gratitude for not having to commit ritual suicide over the loss of that bag (and laptop!)