To go or not to go

RIGA - Though the ‘real’ winter hasn’t started yet, you know that it’s just around the corner from the freezing wind blowing in your face trashing your hairdo every time you leave the building.
Because of this we’re staying at home more often than usual and doing nothing but watch replays of past football matches on TV, which in turn makes us dull and uninteresting, so nobody wants to invite us to their party, so as a result we’re again forced to stay at home and become even duller.

This isn’t the way to spend our lives! We have to say “goodbye” to cable and Wi-Fi and get out. Sure, not everybody enjoys going to clubs and other noisy places, but on the other hand, you don’t necessarily have to…
There are cafes, restaurants, theaters and opera. With the colossal variety of choice any person with the most untraditional and perhaps even perverted taste can find a place where he feels at home, outside of where his actual home really is.
Moreover, thanks to the global economic recession, a.k.a. crisis, these places are affordable, too. Mostly…
We have to enjoy ourselves and have a ‘despite’ mindset, rather than ‘as a result,’ especially at a time when a lot of people are having so much trouble. We still have to maintain that positive attitude that has guided us through all the bad things that have happened over the past few years.

I know that it’s rather hard to stay upbeat when you know that roughly every fifth person living in Latvia is unemployed and that the road tax is going to double, but you have to.
In order to do that, you have to escape from your balance sheets and sales projections and have time in your life for someplace nice, somewhere you feel you belong.

This weekend (Dec. 11 – 12) two very famous nightclubs in Riga will celebrate their anniversaries. Godvil, which seems to have opened only recently, is already celebrating its First Birthday, and the club Essential, which is very popular among city visitors, is already six years old. I bet that management at these two clubs have put a lot of effort into making these anniversary parties stand out, and while the rules of a market economy still apply, competition will ensure that both parties are top-notch.
If you are a more composed personality and desire something more intelligent, a more sophisticated type of relaxation, I would recommend rushing a bit and getting tickets to tonight’s broadcast of “The Nutcracker” from the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, home of the Kirov Ballet Academy and The Nutcracker’s original stage. It will be shown at the cinema ‘Riga’ on Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.

For those who don’t like ballet and do not fancy going to a club, for those who think that a man should never dance, especially not wearing white tights, there is a special brutality treat this weekend. On Sunday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m., there is going to be a WFCA Cage Fight Championship in Reval Hotel Latvia.
And of course I should again remind you about the West End musical devoted to Michael Jackson, which is going to take place on stage at Arena Riga on Dec. 12, and again in Pramogu Arena in Vilnius on Dec. 13.
Christmas time is filled with all sorts of entertaining shows and programs that can satisfy the needs of everybody, so don’t miss an opportunity to see something unique and get what may be a ‘once in a life-time’ experience.