OurStory

So, last night instead of doing my typical thing of watching a movie or hanging out at someone's house--I took the first step in the vow I had made that, on my return to America, I would try to engage myself in more artistic endeavors. Well, actually--maybe it was more my second step, if you consider my Takashi Murakami Seminar as something artistic. But, I was thinking more artistic in a musical appriciation manner. So, I went and saw UCSB's voice department perform Henry Purell's "Dido and Aeneas." The Opera itself was fairly short--perhaps about forty-five/fifty minutes in total. It was a tragic Opera, based loosely on the adventures of Aeneas. The singing itself I thought was pretty good considering it was a college production. And, the acting and story were definately entertaining. Although the Opera was in english, that was probably better considering it was my first "live Opera." Hopefully, this is a sign of more things yet to come. Today, wanting to get out of Santa Barbara--I followed my parents advice and drove about thirty minutes down the road to Ventura. I hung mostly around the downtown area checking at the various book stores, cutesy touristy stores, the beautiful architectural county court house, and the plethora of Thrift Stores! I swear, there must have been at least 5 on main street alone--not counting a lot of antique stores. It was quite amazing, actually--it seemed the entire town was out and about main street, in particular the thrift stores. I must say I prefered Ventera's downtown in comparrison to Santa Barbara's very very boring downtown. Now, maybe it was because it was a new location and therefore by default exciting. Yet, the amount of old book stores and thrift stores compeletely outnumbered here in Santa Barbara. I also made several delightful purchases: The Volland Mother Goose (the version of Mother Goose I had as a child), Pysche and Cupid, The English Patient, two shirts from GAP (via Thrift store), Harry Potter #4 for my roommate, and the Clueless Soundtrack. Most of my purchases were under two dollars....of which I was most pleased.This is a cactus and daisy arrangement outside the mission in Ventura. Overpriced place where I had lunch.Pillars at the Ventura Court HouseContrasting textures. Tree bark.Court House and statue of monk.