Bertolt, Ernesto, Andre, and Bloomberg In Between
Now that I've got the title down, here are the threads associated with each member of the enumeration ( I've coded way more C code this week that I woud like to admit ):
Bertolt: Bertolt Brecht is a German playwright. Didn't know him until last Sunday. It was on that night that Josh and I watched Mother Courage, a play of his, in Central Park for free. It was a part of the Shakespeare in the Park program that Central Park puts on during summers in NYC. Go figure why we saw Bertolt instead of Shakespeare, but I'm certainly not complaining. Josh and I took turns standing in line on Sunday morning for the free tickets. One of the main motivations behind seeing this play was that we would get to see Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and other actors on stage right in front of us, in an open-air theatre.
I was going to write a whole LJ entry about the culture of waiting in line and the pins and needles that I was on that Sunday until the non-existent curtain rose, but I'll spare you for now. To make a long story short, the rain that fell consistently that day stopped about an hour before the show. That allowed the show to go on and we had a great time watching Meryl and company run around the stage. The play was very long and the musical numbers put me to sleep, but I loved it anyways.
Ernesto: Is Ernesto an illegal Mexican immigrant taking away multiple jobs from hard-working Americans or is Ernesto the storm that's slowly making it's way to NYC? Maybe Ernesto is both. Or better yet, maybe the National Hurricane Centre named this storm Ernesto so as to highlight the perils of illegal immigration! Either way, Ernesto is wreaking havoc with my weekend. My parents will be arriving within the hour to spend the long weekend here with me. We've got plans including another off-Broadway show, some sightseeing, and an evening at the US Open to watch some tennis. Hopefully, Ernesto will not wash everything out.
Andre: Andre refers to Andre Agassi. He's announced that the US Open will be the last tournament that he will participate in. Now, if you don't follow the sport all that closely, Agassi is now 36 and he's been taking cortisone injections for his back problems. Almost all tennis fans love him and are sad to see him go. So, any match that he plays now could be his last. So far he's gotten through two unbelievably tough games and he's in the 3rd round.
Last night, after having had a total of eight hours of sleep over the course of two days ( that's where Bloomberg fits in ), I was going to hit the hay at around 10:30. But then, I turned on the TV and Andre was playing this Cypriot tennis player who's ranked 8th in the world. Surprisingly, he was ahead and cruising to victory. So, I postponed my bedtime and started watching. The Cypriot turned things around and by then it was 11. I weighed my options: do I get much needed rest and miss Agassi's possibly last match or do I stay up and sacrifice my beauty sleep? I opted to stay up and I have to say that I think I saw the best match I've ever seen in my life. I was praying, jumping, yelling quietly because it was late, and pleading with Agassi not to make any career-ending mistakes. It all ended at 12:45, after 5 grueling sets, with Agassi on top and his 21 year-old opponent fighting cramps.
Now, I've got tickets for Sunday evening and so does Josh. Agassi is supposed to play on Saturday afternoon but Ernesto is slated to wash out all of Saturday. So, fingers crossed, Agassi might end up playing on Sunday under the lights.
And Finally Bloomberg: I've now completed 4 weeks of training. I'm half-way done! This past week, we had a project to complete and we were given two-and-a-half days. I ended up staying at the office until 10 on Tuesday and working from home until 3 in the morning. The next day, I was there again until 11, woke up at 5 in the morning, and rushed to get it done by the 12:30 deadline. Despite the stress and intensity, I'm enjoying it. I've made some friends and I'm enjoying the C coding I've done.
Today we watched from outside as the training class before us graduated. We were outsiders looking in. Four weeks from now, we'll also leave the basement where our training classes are for higher ground, literally and metaphorically.
Bertolt: Bertolt Brecht is a German playwright. Didn't know him until last Sunday. It was on that night that Josh and I watched Mother Courage, a play of his, in Central Park for free. It was a part of the Shakespeare in the Park program that Central Park puts on during summers in NYC. Go figure why we saw Bertolt instead of Shakespeare, but I'm certainly not complaining. Josh and I took turns standing in line on Sunday morning for the free tickets. One of the main motivations behind seeing this play was that we would get to see Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and other actors on stage right in front of us, in an open-air theatre.
I was going to write a whole LJ entry about the culture of waiting in line and the pins and needles that I was on that Sunday until the non-existent curtain rose, but I'll spare you for now. To make a long story short, the rain that fell consistently that day stopped about an hour before the show. That allowed the show to go on and we had a great time watching Meryl and company run around the stage. The play was very long and the musical numbers put me to sleep, but I loved it anyways.
Ernesto: Is Ernesto an illegal Mexican immigrant taking away multiple jobs from hard-working Americans or is Ernesto the storm that's slowly making it's way to NYC? Maybe Ernesto is both. Or better yet, maybe the National Hurricane Centre named this storm Ernesto so as to highlight the perils of illegal immigration! Either way, Ernesto is wreaking havoc with my weekend. My parents will be arriving within the hour to spend the long weekend here with me. We've got plans including another off-Broadway show, some sightseeing, and an evening at the US Open to watch some tennis. Hopefully, Ernesto will not wash everything out.
Andre: Andre refers to Andre Agassi. He's announced that the US Open will be the last tournament that he will participate in. Now, if you don't follow the sport all that closely, Agassi is now 36 and he's been taking cortisone injections for his back problems. Almost all tennis fans love him and are sad to see him go. So, any match that he plays now could be his last. So far he's gotten through two unbelievably tough games and he's in the 3rd round.
Last night, after having had a total of eight hours of sleep over the course of two days ( that's where Bloomberg fits in ), I was going to hit the hay at around 10:30. But then, I turned on the TV and Andre was playing this Cypriot tennis player who's ranked 8th in the world. Surprisingly, he was ahead and cruising to victory. So, I postponed my bedtime and started watching. The Cypriot turned things around and by then it was 11. I weighed my options: do I get much needed rest and miss Agassi's possibly last match or do I stay up and sacrifice my beauty sleep? I opted to stay up and I have to say that I think I saw the best match I've ever seen in my life. I was praying, jumping, yelling quietly because it was late, and pleading with Agassi not to make any career-ending mistakes. It all ended at 12:45, after 5 grueling sets, with Agassi on top and his 21 year-old opponent fighting cramps.
Now, I've got tickets for Sunday evening and so does Josh. Agassi is supposed to play on Saturday afternoon but Ernesto is slated to wash out all of Saturday. So, fingers crossed, Agassi might end up playing on Sunday under the lights.
And Finally Bloomberg: I've now completed 4 weeks of training. I'm half-way done! This past week, we had a project to complete and we were given two-and-a-half days. I ended up staying at the office until 10 on Tuesday and working from home until 3 in the morning. The next day, I was there again until 11, woke up at 5 in the morning, and rushed to get it done by the 12:30 deadline. Despite the stress and intensity, I'm enjoying it. I've made some friends and I'm enjoying the C coding I've done.
Today we watched from outside as the training class before us graduated. We were outsiders looking in. Four weeks from now, we'll also leave the basement where our training classes are for higher ground, literally and metaphorically.