By the way, what did you guys think about Memoirs of the House of the Dead? Me, I thought it was pretty good. It was interesting seeing Dostoyevsky's view on Siberian prisons, which seem quite different from our prisons. For one thing, they have to wear shackles and they get to have all sorts of anemities such as alcohol and pipes, or they at least get away with it easily. And to think we think of cigarettes as such a hot commodity in prisons, since so many of the prisoners in House of the Dead seem to have pipes. And they get to have a dog too? And put on plays? I'm surprised none of the prisoners said something like "It's so cold!" since I've heard Siberia's is very cold. That's probably the first thing I would think of.

So what did you guys think? Anything stand out? Excited or upset that you get/have to see the opera?