Old-fashioned Fun

I have obtained a new obsession. I have an obsessive personality (I dare you to ask any of my family members about anything related to me and the Beatles, specifically John Lennon). Well, my latest obsession is SUDOKU. I simply cannot get enough of this game. Mom – who is staying with me for a few weeks – had brought a little book of sudoku puzzles with her on the airplane and one evening at home showed me the basics of the game. Of course I had seen people play them on the train before, and of course I know I am quite behind the times for obsessing over this, but man, this game has me hooked. After mom showed me some basic principles I was hooked. We keep drawing the same puzzle on two different sets of paper and racing each other to complete them. She was whooping my butt in the beginning but I’ve had some victories lately and I am unstoppable baby!

Another current obsession of mine is Johnny Cash. Again, I don’t claim to be cutting edge or anything. Don’t come to this website if you’re looking for something NEW, something UNIQUE to enjoy. But I guess I’m all about old fashioned fun. And “A Boy Named Sue” is some old fashioned fun!! My sister sent me two Cash albums for my birthday and they’ve been playing nonstop. “Folsom Prison Blues” plays while my mom and I are furiously erasing different number combinations from our respective puzzles-in-progress. In the mornings, when we wake up bleary-eyed and ready for a cup of coffee, I survey the wreckage of the night before: those little pencil eraser filings everywhere, sheets and sheets of paper with completed puzzles strewn all about the room, and the CD player still whispering “Ring of Fire” to itself. I tell ya, mom and I know how to party!

No, seriously, we don’t only play Sudoku together. My mom is an avid theatre goer. Actually, I would consider myself one as well, but my mom really gets me going. She picks something out practically every night, and the additional bonus is that tickets in Amsterdam are so cheap that even if the performance ends up being awful you couldn’t possibly regret it, since you only spent 5 euro on it in the first place.

I’ll give you a rundown of some of the things we’ve seen in the past week. We saw an amazing Beethoven symphony performed at the Concertgebouw with my uncle; it was sweeping and lovely.

We saw an extremely strange play called “Madame de Sade”, about the wife of the inventor of sadism. Yes, what you’re thinking is true: put Amsterdam and sadism and theatre together and you’ve got yourself a recipe for nudity. What IS it with the Dutch and nudity? They’ll pop it in anywhere, if it doesn’t fit with the story line they will MAKE it fit. In this particular play, there was a moment were a completely naked drag queen stepped onto the stage, with blood all over his lipsticked lips, his chest, and dripping down his penis. He proceeded to have a ten minute monologue. The play was interesting, we concluded, but not necessarily to be recommended to others.

Last night we went to go listen to a “master story teller”. How cool and old-fashioned is that? He told us two detailed stories about ancient Egypt, and prefaced it by saying that story telling is an about-to-be-lost art form. The purpose is to draw the audience completely into the present and have them forget about time and anything else around them. He certainly accomplished this – he had me enthralled for about three hours. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at ENDING the story. The endings were so abrupt that I felt rudely pushed back into reality. His first story was better than the second – I think we were all tired by the end of the evening.

Tonight we went to go see a dance performance at the MuziekTheater (Stopera). It was modern Chinese choreography, but with a lot of classic element from ancient Chinese puppet theatre in it. I loved the venue, and the costumes and makeup. I dug some of the choreography, but the music was too jarring to really enjoy.

So there you go. This is what mom and I do when we’re let loose in Amsterdam. Not the kind of wild fun most college kids would think of when they think of Amsterdam, but we love it.

On another happy note: in about 8 hours Anuj will be landing at Schiphol airport, in order to LIVE IN AMSTERDAM PERMANENTLY. After seven months of long distance relationship holding, we finally get to live together again and be a couple. I’m not sure I will get much sleep tonight…

Comments

[Jess]

Uh oh, more similarities! I, too, am crazy about Sudoku, and I, too, am behind the times - I only discovered it this past Christmas. Since we don't have much public transport here (damn it) I can't play it on trains, so I just whip out my little book whenever I get a spare minute (zelfs af en toe op de wc - ja, zo erg is het wél!)

And the long-distance relationship thing? Oh boy, don't even get me started. Been there, done that - across the Atlantic - *twice*! (één keer raden naar hun nationaliteit... ;)) Anyway, mine both fell through, but I'm glad you two are finally getting to be together. Keep us 'posted' (pun intended)!

[Lauren]

How wonderful! Both your mom and Anuj with you? God, you must be excited for the wedding, too! Are you about to explode?

[Tom]

Which Beethoven symphony? Wait...we should have a guessing game. "Sweeping and lovely," eh? I say the sixth.

Very happy for you and the Boy Named Nuj. Give my regards to your mom too!

Tom

[Katie K.]

Have you been to http://www.websudoku.com ?? It is a free unlimited sudoku site that tracks your time and compares it to the world. I'm determined to be the fastest “easy” player ever and then move up to medium! You know my 13 year old niece who is autistic? She is amazing at these puzzles and gets frustrated watching me as she thinks I'm too slow!

Glad you and your mom had fun. We missed you and miss you here ...

[Jennifer]

I was going to enlighten you to www.websodoku.com, but someone beat me to it. Then you don't actually have to erase!

I totally understand about the addictive personality. I have actually forbidden myself to play sodoku, because I know how it would turn out after my little problem with Snood in college.

Thanks for posting the Shakira video! I love her. I guess she didn't see this picture when she was auditioning for that video. Or maybe she did, and thought I was just a little too obsessed.

http://www.jrschutzy.typepad.com/weblog/2006/02/i_love_caffiene.html

[Stacey]

Yay! Updated posting! (Just kidding.) Thanks for the comment on my blog; I too am an avid theatre-goer (and participant!). Congrats on you and your fiancee finally living together; that's very exciting news!
Mind if I link you off my blog, by the way?

[Pepius]

CONGRATS!!!