Perks for the poor

I don't make a lot of money, but I love my job and its assorted perks. I finally got to sit in prime seats after several times in the nosebleed section.

An evening with the Man

Last Friday, I went to Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall for the first time, to see the New York Philharmonic (for the first time), conducted by none other than JOHN WILLIAMS! (Last year, I wished I was in Boston because Williams conducted the Boston Pops in a program chock full of his work.)

I was so excited about this concert, which was half Williams' work, and half music from Stanley Donen movies. I got to hear music from Harry Potter, Memoirs from a Geisha, Hook, and Jane Eyre. From the Donen portion, a huge projection screen hung over the orchestra. Donen, the special guest host, discussed the upcoming clip (such as Royal Wedding and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) with Williams, and then they'd start the clip with original sound, and fade out the sound while the orchestra took up where it left off. It was absolutely magical.

The last item on the program was a Lucasfilms/Spielberg tribute, with matching film clips. It started with Jaws, segued right into Star Wars (cue thunderous applause), into Indiana Jones, and ended on E.T.. My hands hurt from clapping so hard that night.

The audience gave four standing ovations, and the orchestra played three Williams-composed encore pieces. The concert was supposed to last two hours, but turned out to be two and a half hours in the end. The first was the theme from Sugarland Express, second was Olympic Spirit, which was super exciting for me because I played it in marching band my sophomore year in high school, and third was The Mission (a.k.a. the theme from NBC News).

It was the best concert I've ever been to, and definitely worth every penny. If another opportunity to see Williams presents itself, I will go again, and this time Josh will go.

How's Eli?

I hate you and antibiotics.

Eli has finished his prescriptions and is still peeing, although of smaller amounts than he used to. He fought the liquid antibiotics a lot more than the last time he had to take them. I didn't think giving him a pill would be easier, but it was. He was a good little guy. I just tossed it into the back of his mouth and he would swallow it himself without my having to resort to holding his mouth shut and rubbing his throat. The liquid antibiotics though, were another story. He was spitting it back out with each dose and made a huge mess. Eli's still on the Hill's S/D formula, but he doesn't like it as much as the Wellness turkey canned food that Morty's eating. And Morty wants to eat Eli's food!

We took him to the vet yesterday for his follow-up appointment and routine vaccinations. The vet had to take a urine sample, and I thought they were going to squeeze it out of Eli, but it turns out they did it by cystocentesis (via a needle through the abdomen). One of the vaccines was administered through liquid nose drops and he was so good for the whole exam. The vet said that she'd never had such a good patient for that vaccine. Now I'm just waiting for the results of the urinalysis to confirm that the pH of Eli's urine is ideal for eliminating crystals.