Thursday, June 5, 2008

Thursday - Forgive Me Father/Mayor Bloomberg, For I Have Sinned!!

In recognition of the importance of full disclosure to all of my loyal readers out there, I have a confession to make about a major New York City transgression I intentionally committed last night. How could I have done it I am asking myself this morning?

What, you ask? What did I do that requires this public display of humility with an admission that I, Bill Norris, aka Billi Pod, may have character defects like the rest of you out there in cyberspace? OK, take a seat, take a deep breath, and ... here it is ...

Oh God, this is difficult - but ... as many of you know I have been a subscriber to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra concert series since 1999. For the past several years I have subscribed to 3 series, totaling 21 concerts. As a reward for being a subscriber, each series comes with a voucher for a free concert in the same seating location as your series. In my case, rear orchestra, house left. Excellent seating in Avery Fisher Hall.

I had selected Wednesday night’s concert, Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, a majestic work of epic proportions, running about 85 minutes. It was the only thing on the program for the 7:30 concert, meaning the program would be finished around 9:00pm.

During the day yesterday I did a lot of stuff, not the least of which was having my semiannual HIV test at a Doctor’s office on Central Park South. Following the test I walked back to the apartment, stopping along the way at the awesome Apple Store at 59th Street and 5th Avenue to buy a protective case for my iPhone (at last). When I got back to the apartment I called the Dr.’s office for the test result, which was NEGATIVE. Thank you Higher Power, Thank You.

I then did more things and stuff including grocery shopping and before I knew it - it was time to get ready for the concert, meaning I had to leave the apartment no later than 6:15 to make sure I would have plenty of time to be in my seat because no late seating is permitted. I planned to carry along my old but trusty Walkman so I could listen to the Yankee/Toronto game on the way back from the concert.

OK, here it comes - I, gasp, suddenly decided to skip the New York Philharmonic Concert so I could watch the Yankee game on TV. Oh my God, what I am saying is that I passed on seeing one of the premiere Orchestras in the World perform a classical music masterpiece in order to watch a fucking midseason baseball game on TV. Yes, that is exactly what I did. It began to lightly rain in the 2nd inning and I thought ... “how fitting it would be for the game to be rained out”... but it wasn’t and the Yankees won 5-1 in a very exciting game.

Now I know several of my readers out there are classical music affectionatos and are thusly having difficulty in understanding how I could make such a choice. To them and to you all - I ask for your patience and understanding that even someone like moi can have a character defect or two hidden under the aura of perfection.

So, Father/Mayor Bloomberg, this sinner is asking for your forgiveness. I would ask for your understanding but even I know that is too much to ask/expect.

Whew, I feel as if the burden of the World has been lifted from my aching shoulders.

Oh, I am going to this afternoon’s Yankees/Toronto game, so I have to post this and do the prep work. My seat is in the nosebleed section.

Where are the observations about my Japan/China Adventure you are also asking? Have patience, please, they cometh anon.

Anyway - Go Yankees!!

Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com

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