Day 11 - Marriage of Figaro

Yikes! Getting distracted by Facebook. I suppose you could call it Facecrack, but that's too much like ass crack and then I think, "linin em up like ass cracks ladies ponies at the track its my chocolate attack" and that's a feel good song (literally, Feel Good, Inc by Gorillaz) and that's basically off topic, so never mind.

Ahem....Jack's Bar & Lounge.

Walked in to Jack's after work today, looking exceedingly handsome in my thick coat and wool beanie, with manly beard in full effect; all earth tones and ruggedness. My one-shoulder blue backpack did detract from my otherwise fetching outfit, but that can't be helped. Perhaps a switch to a domo-kun beanie would help offset things?

You're right, it wouldn't.

Aimee was tending bar, Dean was controlling the entire internet from his wee little smart phone and Christian was conversing with a fellow I've not seen before at Jack's.

I took a seat at the far end and promptly forgot to count how many people were at the bar. There were no ladies in attendance besides Aimee, so that's probably why I didn't do a head count.

Aimee greeted me with a hearty hello, I said hi to Dean and was promptly served up a pint of PBR (that's 16 oz. of beer for you ignorant Americans out there). $2 for a pint is pretty damn good, if you ask me. Christian left man-I-do-not-know and came over to chat.

My brain was already half asleep so I don't remember what we talked about. I do remember consuming lots of goldfish, though.

Some indeterminate time later, Christian and I stepped outside. Me: for fresh air. Christian: for a smoke. Those things are not as contradictory as you might think.

While there I met a man named Doug who is a facilities manager for Opera San Jose. Doug does the all-in-one handyman type work for the five buildings owned by the Opera (two apartment complexes, two industrial type buildings and one über-old house).

Doug can with practiced ease unclog opera toilets while fielding 2 a.m. phone calls from performers who've managed to lock themselves out of their car or their Opera San Jose supplied apartment, but can't huff or puff or blow the door down to get in (they've got to save their voice for the show, after all).

More seriously, Opera San Jose is, according to Doug, a "teaching outfit" and a one of a kind deal for performers, who can sign on to one year contracts with a shot at up to three yearly extensions. Each contract supplies the performer with housing and a chance to take on major roles in up to four shows.

A performer (ahem, "resident artist") who gets contract extensions can beef up their "I've been in this show and that show and these shows" parts of their resume rather easily. Per Doug, there's no other opera (Do I capitalize it? I dunno...) outfit like this in the United States.

I thanked Doug for good naturedly answering mine and man-I-do-not-know's many questions about his job (he was totally OK with me comparing him to an au pair). The night chill was setting in so we went back inside, but not before Doug encouraged me to attend the upcoming performance of Marriage of Figaro by Mozart.

Figaro, Figaro, Fiiiigarooo. Yeah, that one.

Much time had passed so I finished my beer, said goodnight to the cool humans inside Jack's and took the 61 bus home.

See you tomorrow at Jack's!