Weekend of Wonders, Elbow of Limitation

So, this weekend was pretty rockin,’ overall. Friday was a death march at work, as we had to call zero activity accounts and attempt to entice them with yet another bloody promo. Needless to say, that with near 30 of us doing our thing, this push only generated one sale. Nice, right? And we have to do it again tomorrow. It’ll be horrifyingly painful, but hey, no pain no gain. Anyway, after work, I was demoralized and dejected. I figured I’d just pass out, which didn’t happen, and then figured that Orpheus and I would just bicker all night about what we had planned… Fortunately, this didn’t happen either. The only real negative was that we had to eat at McDonalds on the way to the movies, as we didn’t have enough time for real food. Once we got to Star Cinemas, however, we saw…

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT. And it was hot. White-hot, even. Folks really weren’t lying when they said it was a tour-de-force performance by Heath Ledger. Hell, if said disturbed hottie had survived his suicide attempt, everybody would still be excited by this performance… He’d still be on the short list for the Oscar. Heath took all the best things about Jack Nicholson’s Joker, made them his own, then expanded the role, tilting it crazier, more chaotic. Then there was the dirty and menacing, dangerously unstable angle. This joker wasn’t a kingpin. He was a visionary dabbler, a sadistic plotter of one-offs cleverly crafted to cause maximal chaos.

Poor Christian Bale got to do all the character development he’d ever be allowed in the last movie, and is now locked in the role of every legend of members of the gentry who want to help despite the social order… Zorro, Robin Hood, etc… These guys have wicked cases of Noblese Oblige, a lot of money and even some influence, but not enough of any of it to make a difference without a mask. They are strong, tortured albeit boring figures. Ledger’s Joker, on the other hand, didn’t grow up with money or parents responsible enough to teach him the Dog/God dichotomy… Therefore, the role had so much possibility. Oh, well. Bale’s been the bride before, so he’ll just have to play matron of honor stiff-lipped this time. Hopefully, they will figure out a way to give him more options in the next movie. The only thing that disappointed me was the Two-Face story line. I honestly think it sucked.

On Saturday, while Orpheus worked, I cooked with Bulgaria in preparation for Opera in the Park, a big promo that the Madison Opera does each year as a seasonal preview. They bring in a passel of principals from the upcoming shows, who each do three or so numbers and a couple big group sings with some annoying Three-Tenors type pop-crap for “flavor.” Either way, there are always some great favorites sung, and the small show this year is Cosi Fan Tutti, so we got to hear the initial female duet from the opera executed beautifully by a stunning Mezzo with earth-shattering control and rich, smoky tone, and a marginal blonde diva. It was a good picnic, and it was nice to cook with Bulgaria. It’s been awhile since we’d seen one another external to roleplaying, which we also discussed at length in the kitchen. B. is headed home at the beginning of September, so time is short. O. and I collapsed in a heap on my bed and just slept. It was nice, but sexually frustrating.

Sunday morning was rushed, with a quick fuck fitted in sensibly yet somewhat unexcitingly before a hasty breakfast of underdone eggs. We had to rush, pick up BakedAlaska and Bulgaria, drop off O., and get to ROLEPLAYING for the final installation of our two year campaign!!! We defeated Kyuss the Wormgod fairly easily upon his emergence from the monolith in which he’d been imprisoned, but only because Patrick, our lynchpin character, sacrificed himself to consume the god’s essence. Otherwise, Kyuss would’ve played with us until we were all dead. He’d already killed one of our number, and was well on the way to getting another. From there, it was a short trip to all of us littering the ground (or, worse yet, rising up off of it as undead), and consumption of the multiverse. Anyway, DungeonMaster was kind enough to tell us what transpired over the next fifty years of our lives. Cunegonde apparently went back to the mountain freehold of her clan, and founded a great center of higher learning. Eventually, she left to fight primitive, powerful evils throughout the mult-iverse at the behest of Bahamat, one of the five progenitor gods. After the game, we gathered at The Great Dane to say goodbye to Bulgaria and Leo, both of whom are moving soon. Leo is starting grad school in San Diego next year, and will be moving in two weeks. A good time was had by all.

Unfortunately, both Orpheus and I were too tired for more satisfying sex last night, which means I have to wait until he’s done working at 11 tonight for more of him, warm and sleepy next to me in bed. Sleepy being the operative, I’d imagine. More sex, less sleeping. This shall be the order of the evening!!! Hopefully, Chemie will also get back to me, as I emailed her earlier asking if O. would like tickets to the only performance in WI of She & Him on the 8th of August for his 24th birthday, along with his High School Musical collectors dolls (which are being bought as a half-joke… He really likes the movies, and yet turns his nose up at early Andrew Lloyd Webber… Hmmm). I’m also still planning the dinner. Perhaps Trout Meunierre Amandine, or somesuch. Also, I want to find out where all of his friends are hiding so I can invite them to dinner. Dumb fuckers are all out of town. O. is starting to get really depressed, because everyone he knows is gone. We’ll just have to find him more friends, I guess.