Ups and downs

Last week had its share of ups and downs.

I.

First, let’s get the downs out of the way. While I thought the Tori Amos concert itself was good, there were a couple of circumstances surrounding it that were not so good. The security people were cracking down on cameras, and they made Thom check-in his cameraphone (to be claimed upon leaving the theater). Not a good start. And later on, just minutes after we noted how, umm, interesting (and potentially dangerous) it was that they allow you to bring drinks to your seat, the guy in the row above and behind us spilled his drink on us, completely drenching my back with beer. Ugh. He apologized (a little too) profusely, and later he went out to the lobby bar and brought drinks for Thom and me, which at least was a nice gesture.

The next day, driving home from the Metro, we got into a fender bender. We’re both fine, but Thom’s Prius, not so much. There’s some damage to the hood and bumper, and the car is currently in the shop. Thom brought it there this morning, and according to him the whole process (dealing with the insurance, dealership, body shop, and rental car people) was fortunately pretty speedy, and the car may be ready by the end of the week.

On Saturday, Thom and I got into a bit of a… I don’t know what to call it. Not a fight or an argument, really. More like a moment of crisis. Oh, that makes it sound even worse, but I think we both did feel on the verge there. Thankfully, we’re good again. Ah, I love my guy. I know I’ve told myself to be more communicative, but I need to keep working on it. I need to keep reminding myself: COMMUNICATE.

II.

Whew. Okay, now on to the ups! As I briefly mentioned last week: around lunchtime on the day of the Tori concert, Tina and I went to a small event sponsored by radio station Z104, where Tori performed a few songs. She sang “Sleeps with Butterflies,” “Leather,” and “Sweet the Sting.” Then she answered a few questions from the audience, and took photos with us. I have to admit that I haven’t been much of a Tori fan, just haven’t listened to her music much, but being in the presence of her talent and energy and charm, I see how easy it is to fall under her spell. When I met her, I asked for a hug, and she was like, “Sure!” The Z104 folks took photos of us with her and e-mailed them to us, which was pretty sweet. Tina and I are there on the far right, with other random fans thrown in. Also each of us got a signed poster of the new album. Awesome. (There are photos of the event on the Z104 website. Tina and I are in one of the audience shots; she’s just right of center in a reddish shirt, and that’s me next to her, both of us in a state of rapture.)

Food notes: before the concert, Thom and I had dinner with Cornelia and Kat at Chef Geoff, across the street from the theater. The food was all right, but we agreed desserts were their strong suit. And last night we ate at Levante’s in Dupont, with Adam and his friend Ann, who was visiting from New York. Good Middle Eastern fare.

Okay, I think we’re basically all caught up. This coming week is almost just as busy (theater- and museum-going, weekend getaway prep, etc.), so I’ll leave that for other entries. Good night.