A Comonplace Book

My dear husband gave me fountains for our anniversary. Specifically, the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. We stayed in a room with a magnificent view of the fountains, which showed us rainbows by day and glorious splendor by night. We also dined at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, and watched the fountains from that side (excellent restaurant, by the way - one of the best meals we've ever had). One of my favorite shows begins with a circle of mist and random flashes of light reminiscent of a lightning storm. We saw that from the Eiffel Tower. Never did figure out which music went to it, as the music can't be heard in the restaurant.

I'm fascinated by this city, which has a lot of motivations and qualities that I definitely dislike. What I do like about it is that it is a center of creativity. Many artists make their living here, not to mention designers, world class chefs, and so on.

In a city centered around money, the fountains at Bellagio are free for all to enjoy. I think that's wonderful, and also brilliant. The overall beauty of Bellagio raises it above the average in Las Vegas. In my opinion, Bellagio raised the bar and is still the standard of excellence in this ever-changing town.

I'm very fond of Cirque du Soleil and we saw my two favorite shows on this visit - Mystere, and O. Both wonderful. Mystere especially is magical. It's interesting to observe the progression from Mystere, which still has a "circus" atmosphere, to O, which is more sophisticated and complicated, to Ká, in which the technology almost outshines the performers.

Creativity has been on my mind lately because I'm reading The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. Lots of resonance here. Florida posits that creativity is now the driving force in our culture and economy. As a person who works in the arts, I naturally find this appealing.

Points in The Race:

22 for stories
32 for novels (Dean said I should take the points back until the books go into production)

54 total

2 pages written