Swan Lake

I am n my way to the office listening to NPR back in April, and I hear a 'sponsored message' regarding a ballet performance coming up in May. The Orlando Ballet is teaming up with the Orlando Philharmonic and performing Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake!

I've always had an interest in ballet, but a friend of mine from SD Cali really got me intrigued and fascinated by it. I would query her on all forms of the art, from technique, learning curves, terminology, etc. She always had an answer, and sometimes a demonstration! While scouring around for more questions, I came across a YouTube clip, the fouetté en tournant. Totally awesome!

The next step was finding someone to go with. Luckily, my co-worker / employer has a girlfriend that dances (and sings opera) professionally! I asked her if she wanted to go, she seemed surprised and a little flattered, even stating, "Will [her boyfriend] used to fall asleep at my shows." I got a good laugh, and she agreed to go.

Later on that night, all of us where eating dinner and Will asked, "So give me some inside information." He was looking for some gossip, so I told him I was taking his girlfriend to a ballet. That was a funny face, I think he got a little jealous (heehee). Later on, he wanted to go along and third wheel my date, but its cool.

On to the ballet, the story is about a princess named Odette who gets turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer by the name of Rothbart. During the day she's a swan, but at night she returns to feminine form. The only way to break the curse is to find true love.

There's also a prince named Siegfried who is coming of age and needs to find a bride. At his birthday party, his mother gives him a silver crossbow, signifying his manhood. The party goes on long into the night, but is unable to claim a wife, because he feels nothing for the noble women there. At the conclusion of the party, he sees a flock of swans and heads into the woods.

When he arrives at the lake, lo and behold are a bunch of dancing women around! He mets Odette, and learns of Rothbart's curse. They dance a while, and of course, fall in love. This really pisses Rothbart off, so he starts scheming up a plan.

The next night, there is an other noble gathering at the castle, but this time Rothbart disguises himself as a baron. But his real trick is making his daughter Odelle appear like Odette. Siegfried professes his love for the wrong girl, and Odette is now damned to eternal swanhood. Realizing he just screwed up, he rushes back to lake.

Rothbart and Siegfreid violently clash for quite some time, and a giant thunderstorm is conjured up. Don't expect this to be a happy ending, it is a German story. Odette is coming to a realization that she will be a swan forever, and casts herself into the lake. Siegfreid follows suite, and they both drown. The curse has been corrupted, and Rothbart dies due to lack of control.

All in all, it was a really cool experience. I will definately be attending future shows when they start up again in September. Thanks Lo for carving some culture into me, ballerinas rock!

Florida Burning

"There are fires burning in 52 of Florida’s 67 counties," stated last week by Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. The rain hasn't fallen around here for more than a minute in a looong time. Usually if there is even enough clouds in the sky to generate rain, all they do is spark lightning (making more fires) and then fizzling within 15-20 minutes. I knew there where some pretty big ones located throughout the state, and assumed there where some others, but had no idea so many other incidents where ocurring. Here's a map of the fires from the 9^th at 1600.

The drought index caused by this severe lack of precipitation is quite high, all the counties are in pretty bad shape with the exception of Monroe & Dade. Here’s a chart illustrating each counties draught index.

During my commute to and from Orlando, I wake up to a mixture of fog and smoke that has settled low to the Earth. This is because the air is much more dense in the early morning (that’s why birds always are singing, their voice travels further). One morning the smoke covered an area from Orange City to Orlando and then out to Ocoee (that’s about 180² miles, most likely it was much more).

On my way back home, I managed to snap this impressive pyrocumulus while dealing with rush hour.

Here’s a composite I made real quick of the drought index vs. the amount of fires.