Last night, my favorite marketing team and I went up to the City for a holiday treat. First we had a scrumptious dinner at Waterbar on Embarcadero. Upon entering, our coats were taken from us, and I thanked my lucky stars that I had decided to put on a shirt that morning after all. There were 20 different oysters available for the slurping, about 20 creative cocktails to choose from and huge fish tanks in the dining area creating a serene under the sea ambiance. The waiter was spot on with his recommendations, and my water glass was refilled before it ever reached halfway empty. But the biggest surprise of all was when I returned to the table after having visited the ladies room. The waiter had taken the time to re-fold my napkin that I had carefully crumpled into a small ball and replaced it on the table. Now that’s service.

Afterwards we went and saw Ovo, a new Cirque du Soleil show, and while it was thrilling and awe inspiring, I found myself thinking the whole time, I really ought to stretch more… and maybe do some more pushups.

It’s really amazing seeing what the actors could do with their bodies, and everytime they would do something that we could not, the audience would applaud. (I presume because it would be rude to shout “Way to go!” in the middle of their performance). In the beginning I was hesitant to join in on the clapping. I mean, here is a buffer-than-average woman/smaller man holding up her/his entire body on one hand on the tip of a very tall pole. You would think that would require lots of concentration.

I hope that the performance is not as stressful for the actors as it is for the audience because I know for a fact that it wasn’t just me holding my breath everytime an acrobat would swing through the air doing a double back flip while trying to time it perfectly so as to be able to grab hold of the hands of the other swinging acrobat hanging from his knees across the stage. But I suppose it is this stress that makes every juggled ball caught, every flying acrobat who correctly lands his jump and and every rope swinging couple who fly seamlessly through the air so… magical.