Life is returning to normal, which may or may not be a good thing; I haven't decided yet. This past weekend was one of the most fun AND funniest (the two don't always go together) I've had in ages. My sister came to see the last weekend of my opera and we all stayed in a hotel in Albuquerque. My aunt also came to join in the frivolity, which was great, since we hardly ever get to see her, and she had to come a really long way.


Friday night, I got to go out to dinner with my mom and aunt and some friends from my town, who drove all the way to Albuquerque to come see my show, which was very sweet of them. They got to see my particular brand of bizarre pre-show behaviors, which include: asking for room-temperature tap water (which I got the first time, but the refill was cold water which had just had the ice removed from it, so I had to wait until it warmed up to drink it...argh), and ordering something with no onions or garlic (which is harder than I thought it would be at that particular restaurant), and then having to leave way before everyone else because I had to get to the theater early so I could get into my costume not in front of other people, because, come on, no one wants to see that. Doesn't sound that bizarre, I guess, but when you couple it with the weird noises I make all the way to the theater and the amount of water I drink the morning of a performance, so I have to pee every five minutes, it makes for an interesting experience.


So the opera was on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, leaving all day Saturday free for activities. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm singing, I can't laugh too much because it makes my throat swell a bit, almost like having an asthma attack would. I don't know if that's weird or not, as I've never thought to ask anyone else about it. So if I'll be spending the whole day with my sister, if I have to sing that night I have to be very careful. We kind of laugh a lot, because other people are hilarious. We, however, are completely normal. I swear.


However, since I didn't sing Saturday night, I didn't have to worry about laughing too much, which turned out to be a good thing. We spent the whole day going around to thrift/antique stores, looking for puppets and purses and plates (well, my mom was looking for plates and my sister was looking for purses, and we were all looking for puppets). It's an incredibly fun way to spend a day, especially because some people sell some pretty ridiculous crap, and it's also free unless you happen to see something you want to buy. We also went to Wendy's and got a Frosty, which is pretty much the best thing man has ever invented, if you don't include cheese. There was a homeless guy who came in and dug through the trash cans and left with an empty cup, which was a little confusing, but I guess he just really needed a Wendy's cup.


I also got a gift from my sister, which consisted of two record albums, one of which is an unopened Muppets/John Denver Christmas album, which is going to be in heavy rotation at my house, a German DVD of a pretty bizarre movie, and the funniest book I've ever read. It's a book of postcards entitled, "Why Is Daddy in a Dress?" Yep. It's as hilarious as it sounds. I highly recommend it.


After our day of thrifting, we spent the evening playing Oh Hell, which is a card game children in our family are taught to play pretty much within ten minutes of being born. It's kind of like Spades but with no partners. Sounds like it would be pretty tame, but my mom got tired about an hour into it and went to bed, and the rest of us stayed up and played another game of it, and the conversation degenerated to a level that I won't even discuss. Let's just say that we were all pretty slap-happy, and I laughed so hard I couldn't stop crying. There were several moments where we all laughed that kind of silent laughing where it hurts your stomach but you can't stop, and then you hear everyone else's silent laughing, which makes it even funnier, and it just keeps getting more and more humorous until everyone's heads explode. It was beautiful.


Sunday morning was a usual hectic pre-show morning. With the show being a matinee, I had to chug massive amounts of water (I live in NM...it's dry here) first thing when I woke up, which involved me pretty much living in the bathroom all morning, and the hotel maid coming to our room while I was in the shower warming up (I think she's in love with me now, because I was making weird cow-like noises at the time, and they're pretty super), and then we had our show (which was amazing, by the way), and then a quick stop at the cast party before we had to head home, since we both had to get back to work this morning.


I hope I get to sing with some of those people again. There was some funny stuff going on backstage, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I will miss that cast. I also wish my sister lived closer, but then I'd probably throw up a lot more, what with the laughing and all. 


This weekend was so funny, I want to bottle it. Oh, wait, they have that in a bottle already. It's called beer.