Cleveland’s Nonexistent Nightlife

My parents took the family out for a treat last night, but it turned out badly. First, we went out for Chinese food, but I wasn't in the mood for Chinese food (except, perhaps, for the spicy kind) and since we were eating family style, I couldn't order anything spicy. I did get Hot and Sour Soup, which would have been good, except for the fact that it was neither hot nor sour.

Then we were going to a play, but unfortunately, the play was the Great Lakes Theater Festival's rendition of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Now, I have nothing but respect for the GLTF's actors, but I don't like the way their directors do Shakespeare. It's as if they feel the play's aren't good enough, because every time they put on a Shakespeare play, they have to do some crazy modern interpretation of it. Doing this some of the time would be okay, if they did something meaningful instead of just "weird for the sake of weird" with it (which they don't), but all the time is just insulting to the original works. In fact, the only play I have ever left in the middle of was a GLTF rendition of "Romeo and Juliet."

The interpretation of the play (with crazy scenery and '50s style dress) was just as strange as I expected it to be, and I much would have preferred a traditional rendition of the play. That said, the acting was fantastic, so I did have an okay time. However, after we got out of the theater, Melissa was very upset, insisting that the play was evil. This made me feel guilty about enjoying it at all, so I felt very bad by the time I got home.

At that point, I really wanted to go out and get something to eat, but I couldn't think of anything that was open, except for IHOP, and that was too far away for me to walk (my parents wouldn't let me borrow the car). So I took a walk around Shaker Square. I had thought everything would be closed, but I had forgotten about Michael's Diner. I stopped for a soda and some cheese fries, which made me feel much better. I then returned home and played DDR until 1:40 AM. (My little brother was awake when I got home (a little after midnight), so he played as well. This annoyed my parents, however, as it resulted in him staying up until 1:30 AM.)

So, I sort of wish I had stayed home (and maybe hung out with Zak (socraticmachine)), but things turned out all right in the end.

Today has been pretty calm, and it looks like there might be a DnD session in the evening (Rene's campaign). I'll write about that later, if it happens.