MAY 15, 16 .. THE BALLET .. SCHEHEREZADE

It has turned out that this Post is about a lot more than the ballet. Bring your popcorn sports fans.

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What a name .. SCHEHEREZADE!

I had to make absolutely sure that I copied it down correctly.

Assumptions are so dangerous! I had to ASSUME that the staff of the opera house had spelled it correctly on the sign outside of the venue. Would I bet-my-life on the staff? Not for one second! But Wikipedia backed me up.Another assumption. I am assuming that you all have seen photos of the Ulaanbaatar Opera House because I have recently published so many of them. So I decided NOT to put any into this Post.

BUT I asked Patti about this.

Patti suggested that .. “Yes. Put up at least one photo of the exterior of the opera house.”
“Oh come on Dad! You have so many photos of me looking so much more beautiful than I did this past Thursday in our snow storm! You can do much better than this photo of me Dad! “

/  SIGN ME  / .. THE ULAANBAATAR OPERA HOUSE ..

“Wonderful Dad! A photo of my not-so-charming derrère !”“Am I supposed to be pleased with this photo of me Dad?”
“OK Dad! You asked-for-it! I have known НЭРГУИ (Nergui) a LOT LONGER than you Dad!”

“НЭРГУИ! Nergui my little honey sweetie pie this is your pretty lady friend the opera house.”
“Negrui daahling! I need you to have a little chat with our friend ХААНБААТАР (Captain Kanbaatar) about these photos.”

“Captain Kanbaatar! Show a much nicer photo or two or three of MY sweetie the opera house!”

“Nergui! You got it my main man. I do not want to mess with you Nergui!”

Mental Health!

On a somber note I will now digress and discuss the below serious life situation that I am dealing with.

At my age 80 I often find myself struggling with my own reality. Daily .. Maybe hourly .. I find myself looking and searching for something I only set down a moment or so ago that I have now apparently lost.

I find myself thinking almost constantly .. “I am losing it!”

When I went back into my photographic memory chips to put together the above sequence of photos I could NOT find the photos of the opera house that I was looking and searching for. Photos that I knew I had taken. Yes photos that I would practically have bet-my-life on that I had taken.

Into the forefront of my mind comes the committee within in my head.

“Captain you ARE LOSING IT.”

Then IT HIT me!

 A very calm voice .. A voice of reason .. Within my head spoke to me. Very quietly with great reassurance said to me ..

“Captain! You are NOT LOSING IT  here in this instance. The photos of the opera house that you are searching for were taken last October 2015. Do you recall the below event Captain?”

https://babakaps.net/?p=16446

Whew! For by this time sanity has returned Captain!

The photos that I DID take were on the memory chip in the camera that was stolen from me.

This now fully explains many other photos that I have recently gone looking-for and could NOT find. Doesn’t crime alter our lives drastically? To risk going-over-the-edge over something caused by the fact that I had forgotten what happened to me!

Digressing even further ..

All of us think we understand. Often this is simply not the case. Only another ‘manic mind’ truly understands what just happened to me above. Patti suggested that I post one .. just one .. photo of the opera house. With God-as-my-witness I set out to do just that. Put up one photo of the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Opera House.

Off down the railway tracks (see the above) me and my mind went racing at top speed.

From one photo that I could NOT find (now you all know why) to searching all of my photos that I actually do have came the decision to put a second .. a third .. a fourth ..

The Rest Of The Story ..

And that my Dear Patti is what I have been doing the past one hour plus as you sit waiting and waiting for me to call you back to proof read this Post with me!

The opera house and my recent history and association therewith have become a really important part of my life here. In my mind I am very happy to have shown the above photos of it. I have also given it it’s very own search-category. Opera House In Ulaanbaatar.

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Scheherezade was my fifth and final opera / ballet performance in Mongolia. This upcoming Thursday the 19th of May I am flying back to Hong Kong. Will I ever return? I think I will. I want to. Will I? ..

You come to me with the following question:

“Cap select only one: Madam Butterfly / Swan Lake / Carmen / Sleeping Beauty or Scheherezade. Which one will it be?”

“Hands down no debate whatsoever it is Scheherezade!”

Scheherezade just seemed to flow for me. The music was beautiful. We two just clicked.

I again sat in the balcony. Top row House Left seat 28 on the aisle thank you very much.

I snapped 17 photos. Of the 17 photos only 6 are even vaguely worth posting. Poor as the below 6 photos are they do give you some idea of the show.
It does not help that, because I am a little tense from being on-guard not to be caught in the glare of the RED LASER POINTER employed by the theater staff to discourage people like me from shooting photos, I do not hold the camera perfectly still.
I feel they are better-than-nothing.
I am amazed at the quality of the entire performance from the performers and their costumes to the orchestra to the stage ‘sets’ to the opera house itself.
In the below photo the performers were standing very still. But at 1/2-second shutter speed or slower with no tripod to support my camera, try as I may, I do not hold the camera perfectly still.

That-is-that for yours truly with regards to the opera / ballet. What a joy to have witnessed five extremely well-known performances.

Before the ballet I slept. After the ballet I went to the post office, mailed post cards and came straight home.

Smiles .. Cap

• ← MAY 12, 16 .. BEFORE AND AFTER SUNDAY’S BALLET .. SLEEPING BEAUTY
• MAY 17, 16 .. THE VIEW FROM MY APARTMENT →