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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Letting It All Hang Out at Blue Man Group

Hi all!

A couple people have asked about the audience participation at last night's show, wondering why Justin would feel inhibited with his mama being there with him. Fortunately, he already knew the premise of the show, having seen it before. The theme of the show is "How to be a Megastar", pretending to go through "steps" to become one. It's equal parts comedy and music-making, quite family-oriented. The 3 Blue Men are bald-headed, totally blue except for the eyes, which they use to express themselves, mostly like, "What is going on here?" expressions. As far as the band goes, they were fantastic, great percussion, my favorite!
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At points the audience is encouraged to act like we're at a rock concert (excuse me, we're already there!) and we are "taught" to clap, bob our heads, wave our arms in the air, hold our open cell phones up when prompted, and so on. The only thing I didn't do, and we are all glad about that, was the jumping up and down routine. I thought it best......
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It looked really cool when we did the cell phone thing, arms waving with the little glow of the phones---it looked like fireflies in the darkened arena. Justin participated as much as I expected he would have anyway, and I restrained myself from participating too much! (Make no mistake---it's heck to get old!!)

Again---What a Difference a Day Makes!

..."God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged.." Gen. 8:1
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God is doing it again today, a great wind is passing over the earth, at least our part of it here, and drying up the water. The river is behaving as though it doesn't know which way to flow--trying to come toward me, with the wind moving it away. On days like these, I am glad I'm not driving a semi!
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As my sister, Lynn, would say, "We got cows!" (from the movie, 'Twister'). Driving home from a meeting at church this a.m., I was dodging branches and garbage cans and plastic bags. The weather on the radio says the gusts are up to 45 mph, which, when you drive that speed, it's not so fast. But to just walk around in that high wind--well, it's hard to keep your dress from flying up over your head!!
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While writing I am enjoying some potato leek soup Jo-Ann left for me after dinner Thursday night. Oh, my, it was delicious and just as good the second time 'round. She does catering part-time and is an excellent, creative cook. Guess you can't be considered a chef unless you do it full time. Jo used to work in Pam's real estate office but now has a job downtown somewhere, which makes these monthly dinners that much more vital for keeping in touch.
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Justin and I had a marvelous time at the Blue Man Group, once we finally got there. It was dreadful driving to his place in the pouring rain, but he took the wheel for the ride downtown. He does alright, he does alright....glad he knew where he was going because I sure couldn't figure out where we were.
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We arrived at the Arena as the doors opened, so didn't have to stand in the rain. We got some sodas and went to find our seats. The Arena itself was empty!!! Where was everyone? Justin was thinking this Group would never come back to Jax again if we didn't have a better turn-out than this. Of course, at show time it was jam packed with people, so no worries about filling seats in Jacksonville.
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Our seats were four rows from the front, close to the stage but not floor level. Even though the place was nearly deserted, we still found two people in our row -----and knew them!!! Pete and Mary were there and what great fun to run into them at this social outing! Pete is a therapist who had tried to help me, but to no avail.......after one of our sessions, he said, "Why don't you come back when you need me?" He fired me!!!
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Justin and I see Mary regularly, and they've been to my home. One reason he fired me was so we could socialize freely. I also bought and subsequently killed his jet boat (actually Hurricane Jeanne killed the boat) back in 2004. You may have seen my license place which reads: N Nigma.....Pete used that word to describe me during one of our sessions way back when, and I loved it! Enigma: something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained. Pete Prange disagreed with the other Pete's assessment, however, as he was of the feeling that, with me, what you see is what you get. I'd like to think both Petes are correct---and now I'm totally confused!! Kim and the jet boat ( R. I. P. )
Mike, who was supposed to attend this concert with Justin, was actually there anyway, working his job as Security Guard at the Arena. While we were talking with them, Justin got a text message from Mike that said: "Your mom always find someone to talk to..". BIG BROTHER could see me standing there, talking to people!! Apparently he has to watch some monitors in his office in the rafters and could spot us. Busted again! Justin enjoys this couple and the catching up we all did. But, we were there for the concert, right? Not just to talk with people all the time!!