We learned something new last night at the Met. (The Metropolitan Opera, that is, not Museum.) The Met has these amazing crystal starbust chandeliers that hang from the ceiling and can be lowered at least halfway to the floor, maybe further. They look like overgrown versions of something that wouldn't have been out of place in a swingin' space-age bachelor pad -- but far cooler than that makes them sound.

Every time we'd seen a show, the chandeliers were down while the audience filed in, then would rise to the ceiling just before curtain. Last night, though, the chandeliers were already at ceiling level when we entered. "I want to know why," said Laura. "I'm going to go ask someone."

So she did. She's good at things like that.

She came back, having questioned one of the program-hander-outers, and reported that the positioning of the chandeliers is left to the preference of the director of whatever production is being mounted. "This director apparently wanted them up," Laura said. "Also, there are three curtains, a red, a gold, and a black, which I knew, and the director gets to pick which of those gets used, which I didn't. I guess this director liked the black."

So there. We learned something new. We're not too old after all.