Spectacular! Spectacular!

Alright. Life here has been busy. Like really busy. Not like that pseudo-busy where you have a lot to do but not of it urgent. I've been busy. I spent the weekend in my room alone hunched over my computer like some drone working away at these giant tapestries for the set. But it's not easy as just designing a tapestry that I like. O-the difficulties, shall I count thee? Okay.

1) Steve, the director must also approve. Obvious enough and part of the job, but nonetheless requires time and meetings.
2) David, the guy who designed the thing must also approve. Only he's back in Cali and I must e-mail WiPs (works in progress) to him and wait for his responses.
3) The tapestries are as tall as the stage. Like 6 to 10 meters tall.
4) Metric is a bit alien to me and all measurements, including what the printer wants is metric.
5) Because the tapestries are so big and must be designed at a 1:1 ratio, the files are huge.
6) I'm on my laptop and large files are trouble. The average save took 10 minutes.
7) The photography session that was to generate the photos used for the tapestries was pushed back until Thursday, thereby limiting the time I had to create the tapestries by 1/3.
8) I'm going to stop now, less I give more of my life to those damn tapestries.

Regardless, my Monday morning 8am meeting with the printer became a 1pm meeting and then a Tuesday morning 8am meeting. However, in my defense, the tapestries were ready to print at 2:30pm on Monday. The final shift happened because the printer closed at 3. I promised they'd be done Monday and I did not lie. However! The portals were not done. Those must be complete by tomorrow morning at 8am!

So, Monday at 2:30 I finished the tapestries. Steve and I went out to nice dinner to celebrate. I had a Templar Knights steak that was amazing. It literally melted in my mouth. And the red wine they recommended was perfect. It was strange; this was one of those nice restaurants were they offer wine based on what bottle their connoisseur has opened for the night. I was I had written down the name. That night, I slept fast. Tuesday was going to be a long day--and my favorite day here so far.

Tuesday! I woke up in time to talk to Megan via AIM. The conversation took me right up until 8am when I had to meet my driver at the porta. The meeting was short. The designer look at the files and, satisfied with my layout, said that they would be easy to print. I was back in my room by 9:15am. I knew that afternoon I'd be joining Glowa, Franjo, Alma and Steve on a trip to Zagreb and would be seeing the three actors (and Hana) in a show there. I therefore did nothing for the next few hours. Well, nothing important. At 1:30 I met everyone in the coffee bar and we headed out.

The drive to Zagreb was slow and we were all tired. And the winter wonderland scenery was quite tranquil. Glowa slept. Alma, Franjo and Steve discussed rehearsals. I spent the majority of the trip between Steve and Ivan (our driver) thinking about how to visually represent the idea that time is non-linear, but on a microcosmic scale. I never figured out how to do it. Thankfully, however, it was a complicated enough problem that before I knew it we were in traffic entering the city. We dropped Steve off at his friend Roco's house (I think I spelled that correctly). Franjo was dropped with his wife and kids. And Alma, Glowa and I were dropped at the National Theatre building.

The National Theatre in Zagreb was a magnificient Baroque building surrounded by several schools and a full 260 degree garden. It was a king-building among its subjects. We got out of the little van-thing at the drama school across the street. Alma and Glowa accompanied me some distance before I was left to wander the city of bit on my own.

Within twenty minutes, I had found what I was looking for: my pipe. I walked in this little tobacco shop and asked the girl behind the counter if she spoke English. The look she gave me really was as if I had asked, "Can you count to three?." "Of course," she blurted with only a faint accent. I asked if they had any pipes and she said, "Only expensive ones. Like 6 or 700 kunas." This translated to roughly what a good pipe would cost anywhere. I asked to see them. She had a small selection, but I found one that was strangely fitting. There was a small pipe in a leather case that came with pipe cleaners and filters and the like. It was only 200 kuna (roughly $40 US) and I liked its shape better than the others. It was quite serendepteous. The birdseye wasn't in the right place, it had a nice shape and the kit was nice. I bought it and some whuskey-laced tobacco.

I was happy; I had my pipe. I wandered Zagreb for about an hour and a half more before meeting with Lada. I visted the cathedral, the square, a few little streets. The part of the city I was in was very beautiful and very old Europe. And the women here--I've never seen a higher concentration of beautiful women. Ever. The city is saturated with them.

That said, I met Lada by the big horse/general statue in the square and we went to dinner with plans for Steve to meet us. We discussed her career and Steve and David's relationship to Croatian theatre and the city a bit. We arrived at the restaurant--a favorite of her and Steve. It was a large joint. "Very communist," Lada said. The restaurant had several private rooms reserved for VIPs. A lot of the old communists business men and politicians still frequent them, I was told. We sat and and Lada ordered for me. Apparantly veal cooked "a peka" is a specialty in these parts. And I ordered a glass of red wine for myself. I asked for a merlot the waiter recommended, but he corrected me by saying, "You can get merlot anywhere. Try our..." I forget what he said which is a tragedy because it may have been the best red wine of my life.

We discussed Lada's plays and our love of the Greek plays while waiting for Steve. She's going to try and get me a copy in English of a few of her works. Steve arrived and ordered Ćevapčići, a Bosnian specialty. It looked like sausages served with onion which was to be eaten together. The results was an erotic dance of flavor in my mouth. Between that and my fantastic veal "a peka," I was stuffed.

Lada walked us (belabored by our delicious meal) to the theatre. I felt tacky with my backpack, but there wasn't much I could do. From walking in the door, it was one big reunion for Steve. We were given center theatre boxes with the option of second row center as well. We took the theatre box, which really was the perfect seat for the spectacle that was this show. I still do not know its name, but Glowa called it "Horses." How do I describe this maddness? It was a musical, but it used rock and pop songs from the US (the only English in the show). Some of the performers were incredible (or so I thought based on the acting of their bodies). Others were not. The staging was terrible-lots of unmotivated movements. I was excited to hear Queen's "The Show Must Go On," but more excited to hear Europe's "The Final Countdown." The show ended without an intermission. Steve and I missed a good deal of the plot points, but got the overall. Several of the performers (including Alma, Franjo (who was used far too little), Hana and Glowa) really stole the show. Of an ensemble cast of 47, it must've been hard to stand out. I can see why Steve cast those that he did; they really are the best. And Alma got a huge ovation, despite her small part.

With the show ended, Steve and I headed backstage. Roco, who is the stage manager for the Zagreb National, met us on our way. Steve pawned me onto him so I could see the Royal box, where to Kings and Presidents sit during shows. The box was huge, with its own bathroom and guest room. I was quite impressed. Roco then took me onstage and demonstrated the revolve for me. Which reminds me: this show used ever technical element avaliable--it really was the "All Singing, All Dancing, All Technical" spectacle. It had a prop-firing gun, a revolve, mirrors, music, dance--it even had a disco ball! Anyway, standing on that stage looking out into that house was really something neat. You could really feel the history.

I met Steve and the others in the coffee bar in the basement (a trend, I'm noticing). He was surrounded by people he had worked with before. These people were quite excite to see him. I was introduced, but can't remember any names. Glowa suggeted we head home rather quickly and we obliged.

The car ride home was filled with questions. Steve and I wanted clarification on plot points. Alma, Glowa and Franjo politely explained everything. And, of course, we got a little insider information on the troubles of that show. The ride went fast. We arrived at the hotel in Varazdin that Franjo and Alma were staying in. They insisted that we stay for drinks and food.

We had the basement restaurant all to ourselves. We sat and talked and ate and drank and I broke in my pipe. Franjo come over and stood behind me and tasted the smoke. He really like the smell, he said. We talked for hours. It was 2am quickly. I wish I had the time and memory to recall the entire conversation, but all I can say is that these are really special people. Steve and I were tired by this time and excused ourselves to the protests of the others. I slept well

Yesterday and today were a blur. I worked on the portals and enjoyed the snow. I sit now in the coffee bar, procastinating working out the files for the printer. I think I'm about done now. I know there are things I missed here, but my mind is a little dulled.

Cheers!