Life and such...
Ok so.... I know you've had random updates on my life so far, but now it's time for the real thing.
Life here is almost magical.
I'll expand on that later, but first I think I need to clarify. Oswego and Fredonia are homes to me, places to go to be near people who I care about and miss a lot- so much that I've been calling a fair amount of people lately. It can get that lonely here. That being said, Oswego and Fredonia didn't have the things I needed. I needed something besides drinking to take up my time- bookstores to wander, lots of musical organizations to work for and listen to, history coming out the ears, a place where I didn't need to drive if I wanted to get somewhere (not that I hate driving, but I'd prefer to have everything within walking distance). I can get distracted from practicing easily if that's the only thing I've done for days on end, but here I don't think that'll be a problem. And that's partially from going to grad school- I'll have the time to have a job that may or may not be related, the stores stay open late and are easily accessible, I can read everywhere I go just by carrying a book in my back pocket.... and it makes sense to. I swear I've never seen so many people reading every day in my entire life. It would be like the entire population of Oswego taking up a love of reading and doing it on the T, in the park, on their front porch, everywhere.... and there are still people left over to do other things. Nightly basketball games occur are right across the street, I wake up to people playing tennis across the street, people are playing soccer or practicing. I swear this area makes me feel like a community should always be alive and vibrant and people seem excited to do things. There's participation everywhere. It seems like when you have more options and more opportunities to take up that option then you are more likely to go out and do it eventually.
Hence magical. Life here, though lonely, is new every day. There are some things that remain constant- my need to practice, my sense of exploration, reading, and listening to music. I tend to listen to my classical cds more than anything else (go figure that I've gotten addicted even more than I used to be) but that's because other types of music are so prevalent. If I want jazz I can go sit outside the park near Zaftigs and just listen and watch people go by. I haven't found a dive bar yet, but that's because my corner only has one bar- a sports bar. It's a nice bar, but I went there last night and it's definitely not as fun if you don't have someone with you.
I remember Dr. Holcomb talking about going to the Leipzig church every Sunday and listening to a new Bach Cantata every week. Well, the NEC does something similar at the Emmanuel Church every Sunday. I may just become a Church goes for that. At least I'm going to go tomorrow if I have anything to do about it. I want to at least hear a Bach Cantata live.
Ok so now on to a recommendation. I've currently been reading Clockwork Orange because I have heard that's it's supposed to be good. Well, a bit of a warning, I found the slang a little difficult to adopt into my life. For me, I needed fifty pages to start really getting into it and then the full presense of the language took me by storm. After you get used to the language it becomes funny, the way it was meant to be seen. It's a satire of the direction our society could move in if there's too much government control.
Anyway... I thought it was interesting that the main character is kind of the antithesis of cultured behaviour- he's a hooligan. But one of the things that we consider cultured is listening to classical music, and that is the one thing he loves more than his society does. He loves classical music for the unbridled passion, the magical organization, everything about it. But it doesn't calm him down, it moves him to do and feel and become more human. And by human I mean less of the automized product of our culture, and a person with his own thoughts. It's an interesting proposition.
Go read that book, fight with it, think about it, and try to see irony.
Beyond that stuff, I've been slowly adopting to my new living situation. It's the first time I moved into an apartment and didn't know the other people living there. They aren't here much at all, and I've been getting used to that. So long as I get used to the kitchen part of it, I think I'll be ok. Once school starts I'll be making one large meal a week, and they'll have to get used to that. It's the baking part that I don't know about yet, because I love to bake but I don't know if they do or if they like baked goods. So I'll probably test that out in the next few weeks.
So that's what life has been like here. A lot of exploring trying to find a place with good classical cds (so far I have the Border's at downtown crossing and I'm going to go to this place called In Your Ear Records near BU today. It's odd, none of the barnes and nobles I've been in have had any good cds in them.... or any cds at all- even at the one connected to BU which has a rather large music school attached to it) Trying to find a biography for Bernstein so that I can read it... cause I hear that there's a good and interesting one out there.
I wish I had brought my good cd player here.... the computer just doesn't anything justice. That'll be the thing I bring back from home next time. I miss that cd player, it had such good sound.
Life here is almost magical.
I'll expand on that later, but first I think I need to clarify. Oswego and Fredonia are homes to me, places to go to be near people who I care about and miss a lot- so much that I've been calling a fair amount of people lately. It can get that lonely here. That being said, Oswego and Fredonia didn't have the things I needed. I needed something besides drinking to take up my time- bookstores to wander, lots of musical organizations to work for and listen to, history coming out the ears, a place where I didn't need to drive if I wanted to get somewhere (not that I hate driving, but I'd prefer to have everything within walking distance). I can get distracted from practicing easily if that's the only thing I've done for days on end, but here I don't think that'll be a problem. And that's partially from going to grad school- I'll have the time to have a job that may or may not be related, the stores stay open late and are easily accessible, I can read everywhere I go just by carrying a book in my back pocket.... and it makes sense to. I swear I've never seen so many people reading every day in my entire life. It would be like the entire population of Oswego taking up a love of reading and doing it on the T, in the park, on their front porch, everywhere.... and there are still people left over to do other things. Nightly basketball games occur are right across the street, I wake up to people playing tennis across the street, people are playing soccer or practicing. I swear this area makes me feel like a community should always be alive and vibrant and people seem excited to do things. There's participation everywhere. It seems like when you have more options and more opportunities to take up that option then you are more likely to go out and do it eventually.
Hence magical. Life here, though lonely, is new every day. There are some things that remain constant- my need to practice, my sense of exploration, reading, and listening to music. I tend to listen to my classical cds more than anything else (go figure that I've gotten addicted even more than I used to be) but that's because other types of music are so prevalent. If I want jazz I can go sit outside the park near Zaftigs and just listen and watch people go by. I haven't found a dive bar yet, but that's because my corner only has one bar- a sports bar. It's a nice bar, but I went there last night and it's definitely not as fun if you don't have someone with you.
I remember Dr. Holcomb talking about going to the Leipzig church every Sunday and listening to a new Bach Cantata every week. Well, the NEC does something similar at the Emmanuel Church every Sunday. I may just become a Church goes for that. At least I'm going to go tomorrow if I have anything to do about it. I want to at least hear a Bach Cantata live.
Ok so now on to a recommendation. I've currently been reading Clockwork Orange because I have heard that's it's supposed to be good. Well, a bit of a warning, I found the slang a little difficult to adopt into my life. For me, I needed fifty pages to start really getting into it and then the full presense of the language took me by storm. After you get used to the language it becomes funny, the way it was meant to be seen. It's a satire of the direction our society could move in if there's too much government control.
Anyway... I thought it was interesting that the main character is kind of the antithesis of cultured behaviour- he's a hooligan. But one of the things that we consider cultured is listening to classical music, and that is the one thing he loves more than his society does. He loves classical music for the unbridled passion, the magical organization, everything about it. But it doesn't calm him down, it moves him to do and feel and become more human. And by human I mean less of the automized product of our culture, and a person with his own thoughts. It's an interesting proposition.
Go read that book, fight with it, think about it, and try to see irony.
Beyond that stuff, I've been slowly adopting to my new living situation. It's the first time I moved into an apartment and didn't know the other people living there. They aren't here much at all, and I've been getting used to that. So long as I get used to the kitchen part of it, I think I'll be ok. Once school starts I'll be making one large meal a week, and they'll have to get used to that. It's the baking part that I don't know about yet, because I love to bake but I don't know if they do or if they like baked goods. So I'll probably test that out in the next few weeks.
So that's what life has been like here. A lot of exploring trying to find a place with good classical cds (so far I have the Border's at downtown crossing and I'm going to go to this place called In Your Ear Records near BU today. It's odd, none of the barnes and nobles I've been in have had any good cds in them.... or any cds at all- even at the one connected to BU which has a rather large music school attached to it) Trying to find a biography for Bernstein so that I can read it... cause I hear that there's a good and interesting one out there.
I wish I had brought my good cd player here.... the computer just doesn't anything justice. That'll be the thing I bring back from home next time. I miss that cd player, it had such good sound.