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tori sings milwaukee The last time that I saw Tori Amos perform live was almost five years ago to the date at the Riverside Theater. So tonight when I saw her for a second time once again in the Riverside Theater, I had some time to think about what had changed in my life during that time besides closer seats in the concert. At both concerts the same person had accompanied me. However, five years ago she was just a female friend, now she and I will be married next March. That was not something that I could have predicted. Nor could I have predicted that I would ever have someone be that close to me. Perhaps in the back of my mind, I knew that some woman would come along that would have that effect on me, but it was not something that I actively thought about and or sought. Maybe I am fooling myself on that last part. I don't know. This time around Tori created some personas for her performance. Part of me can appreciate the creative aspect of this move, but at the same time it didnŐt add that much for me to the concert. I have always preferred the music element of a concert to the visual component. Yes, I suspect that that sounds odd to many people, but just being able to see the person perform live is enough for me. He or she does not need to jump around the stage amidst pyrotechnics and or a crazy light show. Another slight downside to this concert was that I had fallen behind on purchasing her albums so many of the songs were completely new to me. Her last three discs including the one being featured in this tour have yet to be added to my collection. I may get them someday, but that did not help me at the concert. Five years ago, I had not been to China or Japan. Now I have spent some time in both places and have fond memories of my time in each place. In fact I want to return to both places in the near future. Seeing parts of the East was a welcome contrast to my everyday life and confirmed some of what I believed about that part of the world. Since those societies are so much older than America, tradition is much more important and has a stronger effect on people at least that is what I saw when I was there. Five years ago, I had only been a homeowner for a little over a year. Now I own two properties and have a sizeable amount of equity. Despite some people arguing otherwise, I still prefer a condo to a house. I think that it suits my lifestyle better and makes a two-week absence less of a problem for me. There is no uncut lawn waiting for me upon my return and I have never been that fond of shoveling snow. With real estate being a recurring theme in my life of late, I have been gravitating towards various home improvement programs on cable television. Actually home improvement is probably not the correct word. This Old House on PBS would be Home Improvement, whereas these shows that I have been watching are somewhat more sinister in nature. For example, one show is about people buying a house only to "flip" it after they have made some cosmetic changes to it in the hopes that they will increase the value more than what the upgrades cost them. Personally I find the process somewhat distasteful, because the people who do this kind of thing seem to be just superficial as the changes that they make to property. Maybe I am oversimplifying the process, but that is how it strikes me and is not something that I would want to do. Plus I have relatives who have a habit of doing this kind of thing with the houses that they buy and from what I can tell they seem to enjoy it. Instead of watching another episode of "flipping" houses, late this morning before I fell asleep I caught a program where two experts tell homeowners what they need to do to sell their house. The advice that the two personalities give is mainly common sense mixed with some do it yourself improvements such as painting and moving furniture. Overall I found the program far less offensive, but what really caught my attention was the female host, Tanya Memme. She is one fine looking woman and I was more than willing to watch anything that she did. |