A friend sent me the following via email ... it's very amusing.

A little Zen for you

Accept misfortune as a blessing. Do not wish for perfect health or a life without problems. What would you talk about?

Let go of pride, ego, and opinions. Admit your errors and forgive those of others. Relinquishment will lead to calm and healing in your relationships. If that doesn't work, try small-claims court.

The Torah says, "Love thy neighbour as thyself." The Buddha says there is no "self." So maybe you're off the hook.

There is no escaping karma. In a previous life, you never called, you never wrote, you never visited. And whose fault was that?

Though only your skin, sinews, and bones remain, though your blood and flesh dry up and wither away, yet shall you meditate and not stir until you have attained full Enlightenment. But first, a little nosh.

Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?

If there is no self, whose arthritis is this?

Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.

-- A wise person once said "what good is a smart bomb if you have a dumb president?" -

Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certain.
-Leo Buscaglia, author, speaker and professor (1924-1998)

Performance List for Opera in the Gardens, May 25, 2003, Operatic Selections from the upcoming productions by current artists of San Francisco Opera with the SF Opera Orchestra, Kay Stern concertmaster, Ian Robertson Conductor

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Rossini
Overture - Orchestra
Il vecchiotta cerca moglie - Catherine Cook (mezzo-soprano)

Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) by Mozart
Dies' Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon - Harold Gray Meers (tenor)
Papagena! Papageno! - Saundra DeAthos (soprano) and Brad Alexander (baritone)

La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust) by Berlioz
D'amour l'ardente flamme - Katherine Rohrer (mezzo-soprano)

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Rossini
Ah, quell colpa inaspettato... Zitti, zitti - Greta Feeney (soprano), Harold Gray Meers, and Brad Alexander

Il Trovatore by Verdi
Tacea la notte placida ...Di tale amor - Angela Brown (an emerging famous Verdi soprano who won the 2001 Altamure/Enrio Caruso International Voice competition)

La Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini
Nacqui all'affano...Non piu mesta by Mariatheresa Magisano (canandian opera singer and mezzo-soprano)

La Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini
Miei rampolli femminini - Bojan Knezevic (baritone)
Come un ape ne'giornie d'aprile - Brad Alexander with Saundra DeAthos, Catherine Cook, Harold Gray Meers and Bojan Knezevic

La Boheme by Puccini
Quando me'n vo' by Greta Feeney

Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
Stridono lassu ("Ballatella") by Elizabeth Caballero (soprano)
Nedda! Silvio...A quest'ora? by Karen Slack (soprano) and Brad Alexander

Il Trovatore by Verdi
Mira, d'acerbe lagrime...Vivra! Contende il giubilo - Angela Brown and Haijing Fu (baritone)

Die Fledermaus by Strauss
Champagne Couplets - by all the singers

The free Opera in the Gardens concert was really great yesterday. Now my only dilemma is which opera to see.

1. Rossini's "La Cenerentola" - operatic Cinderella
2. Verdi's "Il Trovatore"
3. Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust".

I think I shall have to see Faust, if I had to just pick one to see. It's a great story, and I don't think the company has done it before. They always do Cinderella, so I can always see that another year. Il Trovatore is an opera classic, but they'll probably do it again in a few years. I'm still bummed I missed the operatic St. Francis of Assisi, because they won't be doing that opera for awhile. Everyone who saw it said it was terrific.

Definitely have to see Faust.