Since more-than-a-few folks asked, for his birthday, I got Z tickets to the Seattle Opera's opening night performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. I figured it was more-than-coincidence that opening night fell on his birthday... and sold my soul to get us droolably-good seats. Actually, not really. Our seats did indeed rock, but I only got them because, as I rang the ticket office, I guess a subscription rich couple had just walked out of the ticket office after switching their performance from opening night to another. As Fate would have it, I was the first person to call and ask for "kick ass" tickets for my boyfriend's birthday.
I also got him a Hutch hoodie. Yeah, we both have an unnatural obsession with hoodies. For me, the debate wasn't whether or not to get him a hoodie, but what KIND.
Anyway, for me, the beauty wasn't in what I got him, but how I presented it to him. I'd also bought a score of candy and other naughty food items, and proceeded to hide the gifts around my house and car, with notes attached. Basically, I turned it into the scavenger hunt from hell. It started out with a note in my mailbox with instructions to go to my car... and from there it unfolded into twenty minutes of suspense for Z as he went from one hidden location to the next. I believe, for him, the biggest point of frustration came when he found my mobile hidden at one locale, and he had to navigate his way through my phone's overly-complicated touchpad to check my voicemail and receive his next clue. Anyway, the hunt-from-hell ended with the opera tickets hidden in one of my coat pockets. During the whole hunt, I was taking the Longest Shower of my Life (extra incentive to make him think harder regarding some of the more difficult clues... since he knew I'd be unavailable to help). As I walked from the bathroom back to my room, I started thinking, "What if he doesn't like the tickets?... What the hell am I going to do?... We haven't actually discussed Rigoletto in months..."
But when I walked in my room, he tackled me. He loved it - I thought he might pee his pants with glee. Plus, the opera was awesome.
Posted by James at October 25, 2004 07:57 AM