Kooza in the City

Amazing, heart stopping, sometimes bizarre. Those were the words I could think of while watching the Cirque du Soleil's new show Kooza inside the grand chapiteau. It was my and the Salvadoran's first Cirque show and we totally in awe. They come into town every year to perform through the holidays which I think is a nice treat.
These guys are amazing because the acrobatic acts were close to perfection as if they are already their second nature like walking down the stairs or typing on the keyboard or using chopsticks. My heart would skip a beat worrying the tightrope jumpers might miss their landing or the juggler would drop a ball. And the way the contortionists move and bend their bodies is so bizarre it is almost not human, at least to me. It was so unreal. How could they do those quick movements faster than the brain could cope with or execute those backbreaking moves in unison?
It is hard to decide which one is my favorite performance because they're all different and they're all without a flaw. The unicycle-duo could easily win at a salsa dancing competition with those graceful moves as if they are dancing on their feet. I also liked the fact that the clowns involve the audience in their pranks. If you don't like to be picked by the tricksters as an accomplice for a magic act, don't sit on the aisle.
Speaking of seats, we got a really great one considering it is a non-VIP ticket. The costumes are remarkable. Such an explotion of colors! I didn't know that the background music and songs are performed by a live band.
The only bad was that the popcorn was way too salty I thought I felt a surge in my blood pressure.
If I have another couple of hundred bucks to spare, I'd see them again.
I used to take pride that my job demands expertise and there's very little room for errors but I should think again. Maybe I'll take trapeze lessons next year? :)

~ral
(Taking pictures inside the Grand Chapiteau is prohibited so Cirque pictures for me. The photo above is the Holiday tree in San Francisco's Union Square)

Showing off in the city

The busboy's tshirt says Yo no soy feo. I wanted to showoff my broken Spanish to my friends who are in the town for a holiday so I playfully said No, no. La frase, no es cierta, referring to the words written across his black cotton tshirt. He gave me a smile while he cleaned up our table. Later, I realized that I had made a jerk out of myself because what I had said was not what I meant. Basically, his shirt says he is not ugly and I told him that is not true.

I've always had problems with double negative statements. I don't think it is a language thing because I also do it in my native language of Tagalog and Spanish is notorious when it comes to double negation. Even in computer programming languages where using negative conditions is considered a bad programming habit, I still have to sit down and draw a chart to clearly understand double negations when I encounter them.

As far as the busboy is concerned, he is far from being unfortunate looking, he could even be mistaken for an actor in a soap opera. I wanted to redeem myself that evening but that was the first and the last time I saw him. And the worst thing about this is, I was showing off to my friends!

I should go to therapy.

~ral

(The photo above is the hotel area in downtown San Francisco from the city's Mission district.)