My last two evenings were spent enjoying live music--something which I don't get to do nearly often enough. The two very different concerts haven't left me with any deep or earth shattering thoughts but I just want to share the following:
Monday night I saw a show at the new Alice Tulley Hall at Lincoln Center. The concert itself was great (and featured some readings from James Earl Jones) and the new concert hall is beautiful in appearance as well as in sound quality. But perhaps even more enjoyable than the concert itself was the two hours I spent before hand sitting in the cafe in the lobby of the new hall. The space is spectacularly beautiful and acoustically impressive for a lobby. Everything had a muted quality that was very peaceful and sun was pouring in the south west facing glass facade. Definitely my favorite New York indoor space. I can't wait for an excuse to go back and just sit and drink a leisurely cup of coffee.
And tonight brought me to Bleecker Street for a show of two solo pianists playing works by Philip Glass. The music was spectacular and the piano-lounge-y space was pretty cool (truffle mac and cheese was also a treat). What made the evening even better was that I spent it with a new-ish friend from work. I love that I have people in the city to do things with and that I have new friends. I mentioned tonight that I felt bad that I'd been basically hibernating all winter but was encouraged by Mike's assurance that there is a lot more to do in the spring. I can't wait--I'm so excited about doing more new things with new people.
As positive as both of these experiences were, I can't stop myself from thinking that my time here is almost over. I've decided that a year in a new city is absolutely not enough. I'm starting to really really like my life and to come to love this city and even take it for granted. So although I'm excited about the next phase of my life and about the friends I'll be returning to and the new friends I'll make, I have a feeling I'll miss what I have now a lot more than I would have expected to.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Madness
I spent yesterday afternoon literally sitting on the edge of my seat. I was alone in the apartment, shouting at my tv, clapping like a maniac and hiding my face behind and screaming into a pillow. This is not normal behavior. Except in March. I literally have paid attention to no news in the past few days that wasn't related to basketball.
College basketball is almost certainly my favorite sport and I've been a Maryland fan forever. In the past few weeks I was almost totally overwhelmed with the huge decision I had to make. I wasn't consumed by trying to decide between Maryland and GW Medical but was consumed with who to put in my final four. Since I've been making a bracket, Maryland has either been really good and thus a clear choice for the overall winner, or they've been out of the tournament all together. A 10 seed, while unexpected and pretty awesome for this team, threw me for a loop. Ultimately I went with Maryland losing to Memphis after a first round upset of Cal. It was a really hard decision. Really hard. And I hope I'm not judged too harshly for it.
Louisville and Georgetown (my parent's alma maters) have always been my back up teams when Maryland didn't make the tournament. And this year, without gtown and with a fantastic Louisville team in the tournament, my Kentucky roots have me rooting for Louisville to go all the way. But it's not just about the Cards this year. Every single game yesterday was amazing. The great thing about March Madness is that really, any of these games could go either way so many games are edge-of-your-seat-yell-at-the-tv games. I know I might appear slightly insane to an uninterested bystander, but believe me, if they knew what they were missing, they'd be right there with me.
College basketball is almost certainly my favorite sport and I've been a Maryland fan forever. In the past few weeks I was almost totally overwhelmed with the huge decision I had to make. I wasn't consumed by trying to decide between Maryland and GW Medical but was consumed with who to put in my final four. Since I've been making a bracket, Maryland has either been really good and thus a clear choice for the overall winner, or they've been out of the tournament all together. A 10 seed, while unexpected and pretty awesome for this team, threw me for a loop. Ultimately I went with Maryland losing to Memphis after a first round upset of Cal. It was a really hard decision. Really hard. And I hope I'm not judged too harshly for it.
Louisville and Georgetown (my parent's alma maters) have always been my back up teams when Maryland didn't make the tournament. And this year, without gtown and with a fantastic Louisville team in the tournament, my Kentucky roots have me rooting for Louisville to go all the way. But it's not just about the Cards this year. Every single game yesterday was amazing. The great thing about March Madness is that really, any of these games could go either way so many games are edge-of-your-seat-yell-at-the-tv games. I know I might appear slightly insane to an uninterested bystander, but believe me, if they knew what they were missing, they'd be right there with me.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Spalding Gray on "Leaving"
In his essay in Celebrating the Life of Spalding Gray, Roger Rosenblat writes that Gray used to say, "You can't be present in the place you're in until you've left and want to go back."
I don't want to say too much more than this because I think this quote really speaks for itself and seems to define a lot of what I've been feeling lately. From missing my childhood to missing college and, as I look forward, to the expectation I have of missing the house I grew up in.
I was home this weekend to begin the process of saying good bye to the house where I was raised and to say hello to the new house my parents are building on the Eastern Shore. The old house officially went on the market this weekend and although I know that once it sells and once it is gone I'm going to have some very strong feelings, right now I can't seem to make it feel real. The closest I got was when I saw the "virtual tour" of the house on a real estate website.
Right now I haven't quite left and that house is still home. As soon as it is gone for good and when I know I can never go back, I expect the sadness to come and expect I'll agree with Spalding one hundred percent.
I don't want to say too much more than this because I think this quote really speaks for itself and seems to define a lot of what I've been feeling lately. From missing my childhood to missing college and, as I look forward, to the expectation I have of missing the house I grew up in.
I was home this weekend to begin the process of saying good bye to the house where I was raised and to say hello to the new house my parents are building on the Eastern Shore. The old house officially went on the market this weekend and although I know that once it sells and once it is gone I'm going to have some very strong feelings, right now I can't seem to make it feel real. The closest I got was when I saw the "virtual tour" of the house on a real estate website.
Right now I haven't quite left and that house is still home. As soon as it is gone for good and when I know I can never go back, I expect the sadness to come and expect I'll agree with Spalding one hundred percent.
Friday, March 6, 2009
NPR
In the last few weeks a number of things (including a friend's NPR blog post) have reminded me of how much I miss listening to NPR. Not listening to my favorite shows on a regular basis, and at this point, really not listening to them at all, is something I'm not happy about. Morning Edition, The World, All Things Considered, This American Life, Wait Wait, etc. used to be integral parts of my life. Not only did they keep me well informed about current events, but the stories were (and I assume still are) always educational, intelligent, memorable, moving or some combination of those things. They made me more aware of the world and gave me interesting things to think and talk about.
My very first memories of NPR are of sitting in the back of the minivan driving home from somewhere and listening in as my parents listened to NPR. I used to love falling asleep to the sound of the radio men's voices--they always seemed so peaceful. I distinctly remember the first story that I actually listened to actively on one of these rides with my parents. It was a story about road rage in New Delhi. It made me feel so adult to listen to and pay attention to talk radio the way that my parents did. I remember when I fell in love with A Prairie Home Companion and if we started an episode in the car and didn't have time to finish it before we got home, I would make my parents turn on the radio in the TV room so we could listen to the rest of the show. I started listening to NPR regularly in high school. I would listen to it in the car on the way to school or work during the summer. I have had many driveway moments. And every day after school, I would spend an hour listening to The World while I did my math homework making the claim that since math doesn't require reading, I could easily concentrate on calculus and news events at the same time (I pulled this off surprisingly well). In college my daily NPR intake went down, but I usually made time each weekend for This American Life and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Every chance I had to borrow the car, I would tune the radio immediately to 88.5. I even remember driving home from College Park one morning and being so engrossed in an episode of This American Life that I deliberately missed a turn on the way home so I'd have an extra 30 minutes in the car.
In my current life, I have pretty much no time for NPR. Mornings are out since I wake up and usually only have about 20 minutes before I have to be out of the apartment. And even if I'm up on time, I have a sleeping roommate with no walls between us. I don't drive to work and can't listen to the radio on the train. I've considered downloading podcasts for the commute but as it stands I already am feeling bad about how little reading I'm getting done these days and I'm not sure I want to sacrifice reading for NPR. But before my bus ride down to DC this evening, I downloaded a bunch of podcasts (This I Believe, Story of the Day, This American Life, Wait Wait and Driveway Moments) and spent the 4 hour ride listening to NPR. It was wonderful. I literally laughed and cried. The episode of This American Life was all about the banking crisis and I learned so much! And a few of the This I Believe stories seem to be exactly what I believe.
Listening to the familiar anchor voices and remembering listening to these shows made me realize that I miss NPR not just because of it's educational value and the interest it added to my day to day life. I miss listening to NPR because I miss the times when I had time to listen to NPR. Thinking back to laying on my bed listening to The World with a page of calculus problems sitting before me and a cool spring breeze pouring through my open window makes me ache with nostalgia. It's because it was the room I grew up in and so remembering that happy time spent there leads into memories of other things. Remembering listening to NPR reminds me of feeling adult for the first time, reminds me of the freedom of learning how to drive, reminds me of commuting to summer jobs, reminds me of summer, reminds me of a time when I could just spend an hour in my room listening to the radio.
My very first memories of NPR are of sitting in the back of the minivan driving home from somewhere and listening in as my parents listened to NPR. I used to love falling asleep to the sound of the radio men's voices--they always seemed so peaceful. I distinctly remember the first story that I actually listened to actively on one of these rides with my parents. It was a story about road rage in New Delhi. It made me feel so adult to listen to and pay attention to talk radio the way that my parents did. I remember when I fell in love with A Prairie Home Companion and if we started an episode in the car and didn't have time to finish it before we got home, I would make my parents turn on the radio in the TV room so we could listen to the rest of the show. I started listening to NPR regularly in high school. I would listen to it in the car on the way to school or work during the summer. I have had many driveway moments. And every day after school, I would spend an hour listening to The World while I did my math homework making the claim that since math doesn't require reading, I could easily concentrate on calculus and news events at the same time (I pulled this off surprisingly well). In college my daily NPR intake went down, but I usually made time each weekend for This American Life and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Every chance I had to borrow the car, I would tune the radio immediately to 88.5. I even remember driving home from College Park one morning and being so engrossed in an episode of This American Life that I deliberately missed a turn on the way home so I'd have an extra 30 minutes in the car.
In my current life, I have pretty much no time for NPR. Mornings are out since I wake up and usually only have about 20 minutes before I have to be out of the apartment. And even if I'm up on time, I have a sleeping roommate with no walls between us. I don't drive to work and can't listen to the radio on the train. I've considered downloading podcasts for the commute but as it stands I already am feeling bad about how little reading I'm getting done these days and I'm not sure I want to sacrifice reading for NPR. But before my bus ride down to DC this evening, I downloaded a bunch of podcasts (This I Believe, Story of the Day, This American Life, Wait Wait and Driveway Moments) and spent the 4 hour ride listening to NPR. It was wonderful. I literally laughed and cried. The episode of This American Life was all about the banking crisis and I learned so much! And a few of the This I Believe stories seem to be exactly what I believe.
Listening to the familiar anchor voices and remembering listening to these shows made me realize that I miss NPR not just because of it's educational value and the interest it added to my day to day life. I miss listening to NPR because I miss the times when I had time to listen to NPR. Thinking back to laying on my bed listening to The World with a page of calculus problems sitting before me and a cool spring breeze pouring through my open window makes me ache with nostalgia. It's because it was the room I grew up in and so remembering that happy time spent there leads into memories of other things. Remembering listening to NPR reminds me of feeling adult for the first time, reminds me of the freedom of learning how to drive, reminds me of commuting to summer jobs, reminds me of summer, reminds me of a time when I could just spend an hour in my room listening to the radio.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)