Opera in the Bowl

Two Tuesdays ago (December 8th), Estee and I met up at Melbourne Central in the midst of the heavy rain. The downpour was an unpleasant setback as I was already getting sick, but I donned my waterproof jacket anyway (which proved to be only half-useful, as my trousers were soaked through) and walked to Flagstaff Station before hitching the free City Circle tram.

Don Don was still closed at the time (before 10am), so we ended up at Melbourne Central’s food court where I had mixed rice (with 3 dishes) for AUD$7.50. We quickly took the train to Studio 9 in Richmond to attend as a studio audience for a game show called Millionaire: Hot Seat, a modified version of the popular Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Thanks to a CouchSurfer, Krystel, who works there, I got ourselves two tickets and it was quite an experience considering that I’ve never been to a television studio before—not even in Malaysia.

Security’s rather strict: we had to leave our cameraphones, camera equipment, large umbrellas, etc with the security to be locked up away safely, plus we had to sign a contract stating things like, we’re not to divulge information pertaining to the show, etc. >_>

We were ushered in, and Krystel who was doubling up as an usher brought us to our seats at the back row (and promised to shift us to the front later). Turns out there was a funnyman who kept us entertained throughout with his outrageous, loud jokes, constantly poking fun at a few audiences, before the host, Eddie McGuire, appeared. The funnyman had also drilled into us to be excited and clapped loudly at some signals given by him, and apparently, there’d be some clap track inserted anyway—we just have to look as if we were clapping really loudly.

Most hilariously, when a contestant answered incorrectly, we all had to go, “Awwwwwww” collectively hahahaha.

And as they were recording 5 different episodes that day, we had to sit through 5 hours (an episode only lasts about 26 minutes actually) with some short intervals and breaks in between; we were also given candies, a bun, and a bottle of water too. We were shuffled around every episode so it would appear as if the audience was different as the camera angles were pretty much fixed.

In fact, it was quite cool for this opportunity to take a glimpse at how television programmes actually work—there were prompters for the host at two different angles, some cues for the host to say stuff like “we’ll be back after the break” or “we’ll be back after these national news”. We were also told to not look at each other or shout out answers if we knew the answers lol, and I pretty much don’t know how to answer any of them—even the $100,000 question that I thought I knew: “In 2001: A Space Odyssey, which spaceship does the computer HAL 3000 control?”. I shouldn’t have gotten this wrong as I’ve just watched it a few months ago and I thought it was Voyager, but turns out that the answer is Discovery, and the dude in his 30s walked away with AUD$100,000. Goddamn I’m envious.

Someone else won $50,000 but pretty much after the 3rd episode it went down the hill as people get booted out. It has a different format: there would be 5 people initially with $1,000,000 on the table, but as people get booted out, the money offered would diminish as well.

I was quite exhausted at the end of it all—either it was because I was falling sick, or watching 5 episodes of a game show in a row and clapping a lot, took a toll on me.

Either way, I did fall sick with a flu and a sore throat.

The following day, Estee came over to my place in the evening we discussed briefly our Great Ocean Road trip together, after which I brought her to the Suzuki Night Market (after noticing my newly bald Mauritius neighbour, who was incredibly talkative and bitched about not being able to get a job here as “they’re racist” lmao). The both of us eventually settled on some Persian food—the decision was made quickly as there were far too many people there.

A side look.

In the end the both of us went back to my place to eat in the kitchen, where I had the Jooje Kebab for $10—it was pretty tasty, but the portion wasn’t filling enough for me.

And subsequently the following day on Thursday (10th December), I went out to the post office as I received a card yesterday indicating that I have to collect my parcel (apparently they were here, but I didn’t hear the doorbell at all—it was silly cos I can’t hear the bell ringing from my room at all). And so I did, expecting the 8GB thumbdrive I had ordered nearly a month ago, but then the lady at the counter produced this:

My Christmas present that arrived early. =D In it contained a note that said: “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DEC 25 (no cheating, EST). <3 Although I knew what was inside as it was clearly declared by the post office workers on it lmao.

Also went to NAB at QV to make my new bank accounts there and closed my Westpac accounts—in Australia, most bank accounts charge a fee for a transaction account if you don’t deposit a minimum sum every month wtf. Thankfully NAB has the sense to break away from this incredulously stupid fee (from 22nd January 2010 onwards anyway), and so they’ve gotten themselves one new happy customer (and plenty more I’d imagine). I thought it made sense to keep a bank account there, as the interest rates here are quite high (at least 3% p.a. for savings, compared to 0.5% p.a. currently in Malaysia; and 6% for term deposit if you deposit AUD$5,000 for 12 months, compared to 3% p.a. in Malaysia -_-).

The next day on Friday (11th December), I was feeling rather sick the moment I woke up (prolly aided by yesterday’s rain, I managed to find myself in it again fml) and didn’t feel like going to the free opera that night. But when Estee rang me up to ask if I was really going for sure as she was gonna book my seat (she had already arrived at the venue at 4.30pm), I resolved to go. I got ready and was about to go out when I did a fairly uncharacteristic thing—I turned on my camera to make sure it was working, when I saw the message “NO CARD” wtf.

Long story short, I panicked and lost all desire to go, googled for solutions, rang up Canon Australia who didn’t offer any concrete solution except send it to them for repair at a very high cost (less than $200 wtf), then found a camera shop in the city called Michaels at Elizabeth St that many people online were recommending. They did a check with their own memory card and it worked—this is immensely strange as I changed 3 different memory cards, yet the same error appeared. I finally used my Lumix’s memory card for my Canon EOS 450D, and it worked, oddly…

I picked up an mX newspaper on the way there, then walked to the Sidney Myer Bowl, where the free Opera in the Bowl was to be held.

The venue.

Many people sitting on the field.

Apparently you can get in since 4pm (the opening act only starts at 6.30pm), and Estee (and her sister and some friends of theirs) arrived early at 4.30pm, so we did manage to sit on actual seats. =D

The opening act.

Very powerful voices, these two have.

And the pianist. (Dammit wish I had a longer zoom.)

During a short break, snapped around a bit; this is of a woman with a star on her head lmao.

To my left. There were plenty of people sipping wine like the cultured society that I’m in. (Oh, we also had like two or three empty seats that Estee and co booked for nothing lol—some of their friends couldn’t make it in the end.)

A glass of wine.

The setting sun.

The performance of La bohème, completely in Italian. (I was afraid of taking photos in fear of being ticked off as my DSLR’s shutter sound can be loud and inconspicuous.)

An act that supposedly takes place in a restaurant and some clothing shop.

The dude in yellow was breakdancing in the middle of the opera wtf.

The stage, during an interlude.

If you’re wondering how we could understand the Italian opera, this picture shows how: the surtitles (it was the first time I’ve heard of the word too). In fact, one of Estee’s friends only realised there were surtitles some 60% into the opera LOL.

Melodrama.

The death of Mimì wtf. Apparently Puscini’s operas always end in deaths.

The main cast. I’m quite impressed at how they manage to sing at their high pitches for so long for the entire length of the opera.

The first half was a little bland as it was a bit too romantic for my tastes (the poetry in the songs sung were interesting, nevertheless), but the second half picks up when conflicts arose, Mimì fell sicker than ever, etc.

It was my first time watching an opera, and it was quite fascinating. I don’t think I’d actually seek out operas in the future as a form of entertainment, but the experience was worthwhile.

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So it’s Christmas Day now. Esther arrived yesterday, and I made two phone calls to her, and I’m looking forward to meeting her either today or tomorrow (she didn’t manage to get out from her uncle’s place in Lilydale to meet me on Christmas Eve). Listening to David Archuleta’s Christmas album (which I managed to download yesterday) while typing this amplified this sense of.. loneliness? I don’t quite know—a company would’ve been great, and I don’t think I’ve actually had a proper conversation with someone in days now. Ivan’s off to Canberra, and this house seems silent and dead to be honest.

The rain prevented me from getting out yesterday (on Christmas Eve) to the State Library, but then again I wouldn’t have went out anyway—been busy trying to get HS’ new forum to work, plus I only got up at 12pm.

Joy to the World was stuck in my head since two days ago, and while showering yesterday, after getting off on the phone with Esther, a brush of excitement filled me and these lyrics came to me:

Joy to the world,
Esther has come,
Let Clem receive his Queen.
Let every heart prepare her room,
And Esther and Clement sing,
And Esther and Clement sing,
And Esther, and Esther, and Clement sing.

Almost childish I know, but I thought it was hilarious.

So in less than 4 hours from now, I’m getting up early to go on a solo daytrip to Geelong on my own—the trains here are generously providing free rides on Christmas, so I’m going to take full advantage of that. On my own. But having survived New Zealand on my own, this would be a clincher and probably some much-needed real alone time.