Valentine's Day

I should be studying right now, but I really wanted to get this post up while it is still February. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

On the actual Valentine's Day, I spent the evening listening to a guest speaker for my Entrepreneurial Finance class...how romantic! On the Saturday before Valentine's Day though, Kyler had quite the evening planned for us.

We started out going to Chapman's to eat. They were featuring a special Valentine's Day menu, and after a little deciphering, we both ordered a nice New York Strip Steak with a side of haricot verts. Oh yeah, haricot verts = green beans. Of course, you probably knew that, but I did not. So I inquired about the har-e-cot-verts. And the waiter responded, "Oh, the hairy-co-vares?" Oh yes, right.

Well after a delicious meal and dessert, which was creme brulee without the sugary crust on top, we headed to our next destination.

Everyone knows I love music and theater, and Kyler got us tickets to a local production called Kissing Frogs. It was about a girl getting ready to get married when one of her old boyfriends reappears, and she questions whether or not she's really dated enough to know who is really the one for her. It was being shown at Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Kirkwood.

Kyler wanted to make sure to get there early. Though our show didn't start until 8 PM, the doors opened a half hour early, and since seating was first-come-first-serve, he wanted to make sure we got good seats. So we waited outside and scored second row seats in the middle section.

Now, when we walked in, the air was a bit hazy. Think walking into a smokey bar but without the smokey smell. It was definitely different that I had expected.

Then, as we sat there, I looked up at the stage and it was covered COVERED with instruments. Drums. Keyboards. Guitars. Oh the guitars. I bet there were probably 15 guitars on that stage. Before we had gotten there, Kyler had said that he wasn't positive if this was a musical (apparently it was), and that it was a very contemporary play (possibly explaining the electric guitars).

So we sat, waiting for the show to begin. While waiting, there was some background music playing. Not your typical elevator music, but Led Zepplin. Woah, how contemporary was this play going to be?

After we got settled, I began looking around to see if I recognized anyone. I then realized that we were rare in this setting. Most of the audience was made up of people over 50. There were some younger kids, but mostly kids with their parents. And then I realized that we were mostly surrounded by men...in tie-dye shirts...in ripped up jeans...with rings around their heads from wearing hats all day. I began getting worried that maybe this play wasn't exactly what Kyler had anticipated, or maybe he didn't explain the WHOLE plot to me.

About ten minutes before the show started, I asked Kyler if he was sure we were in the right place. I had been pointing out all these strange sites and sounds as I noticed them. I all but begged him to please go check to see if there were maybe two theaters in the building. To finally convince him, I pointed out that a man in front of us was wearing a Pink Floyd tee. When we had been standing outside waiting for the doors to open, I had read on the marquee that a tribute band, Pink Droid, would come to the theater soon.

So Kyler went to ask the lady who took our tickets about our show. Meanwhile, I was positive that we were in the wrong place, so I was putting on my coat and kept checking back up the aisle to see if Kyler was coming. Sure enough, here came, following two old guys double-fisting beers.

We were definitely in the wrong place! Apparently there was a smaller theater a couple of blocks away putting on the production. The tickets to the two theaters were identical, shared a box office located in this theater, and the people tearing off our stubs weren't checking the title of the show. So we quickly made our way down the street and got next-to-back-row seats in this theater. Luckily, it was a very small theater, maybe 15 rows, so back row wasn't too bad.

All in all, the night was a blast! We loved the play: very funny. VERY contemporary, and very entertaining. We laughed and laughed on our way back to the car about what we would've done if we had stayed at the other theater. I would've DIED if we had sat through that show, waiting for the bride-to-be to show up, when in reality all we would've seen were old men jamming out on guitars.

I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend my last Valentine's Day as a single lady.