The holidays have not, in fact, killed me
Last time I posted was from New Jersey, visiting my father for Thanksgiving. It's been so long that prior to today I'd not even seen the new LJ Update page that some of my friends have been bitching about. Contrary to what my silence since then may have implied, I have not died, nor have I been hiding under a rock. I have been really crazy busy.
New Jersey was quite nice. I always enjoy spending time with my father. We got to see his office at Drew University, and he showed us around the campus. He also used his mad administrative contactz to get me in to their new music performance hall. He knows the gentleman who maintains and arbitrates access to the hall -- a fascinating music teacher at the University -- and the gentleman (whose name I've sadly lost in the intervening months) kindly let us in and told us about all of the careful design that went into its shape, materials, and technology. The pictures are fine, but they really don't do justice to this breathtaking hall. At the end of the hall tour, he even left me get up on stage and sing, just to hear the room. The hall is not only beautiful and technologically impressive, it really has wonderful acoustics, too. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
We visited radiantbaby's family in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving dinner, and we visited with her aunt and uncle that night. Their friendly hospitality was quite pleasant, and I'm happy to be able to put faces to names.
As last time we visited my father, though, there was far too little time available for spending in Manhattan. I really do enjoy that place. I don't know that I can even explain why: there's just so much of it, and so much life there. I get excited to go in even for a short visit. This trip we made it in to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As it was, we spent most of our time in its huge collection of Greek and Roman art, though I could easily spend another day in that collection alone. I can't even begin to type out all of the wonderful details, and unfortunately most of our pictures were far too blurry to be interesting. I simply must buy a good camera and learn to use it well. If any of my Hellenic friends have actually read this far, I suggest you find a way to go at some point in your life. It really is worth it.
We also got to make a short stop at The Strand Bookstore. That's another place I could easily spend many hours. Possibly days. I could spend my entire life looking for used books in there, and by the time I got through it, I'd have to go back to find the new ones. A very dangerous place for a Ben. I must go back sometime.
And we also got to see calliopeo for an hour or two. She happened to be in Manhattan on one of the days that we were in, so we arranged to grab a snack and a warm drink at a small cafe near museum mile. I was happy to get the opportunity to see her again: I hadn't since February or so, and my father hadn't seen her in probably a decade.
The trip back was longverylong, but largely uninteresting.
A couple of weekends later -- on the 9th of December -- was the IBM/ISS holiday party. It was a nice hang-out evening with radiantbaby, wheezinggirl, oneandonlymatt, and surprisingly nyssimi and leraje. Much fun, and a bit of alcohol, and a fun time.
The following weekend was going to be quiet (after a very nice special date with riff_77), but instead I masterminded an impromptu viewing of Casino Royale with friends. On less than a day's notice, radiantbaby, shaddragon, walkingbear, strega42, gaeasson, blyssmouse, eisenhund, that_sakka_girl, the_wyz, and the LJ-less grown son of the last. I really enjoy arranging last-minute get-togethers for some reason. Lots of fun. And the movie was quite impressive.
Nearer Christmas, I happily convinced a friend to have a birthday party where he thought he wouldn't. Life's been ganging up on him a bit lately, and I'm happy to have helped remind him about the people who really do care about him. It was a cuddly, enjoyable evening, and I was quite happy to see a smile on my friend's face.
radiantbaby and I had a small private ritual and opened presents on Christmas Eve. We don't really celebrate the birth of Jesus: he's not really my guy. I don't celebrate solstice because I don't feel a strong connection to the passing of the seasons in my life. Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are right out. (Does anyone really honestly celebrate Kwanzaa? I've never met anyone.) Hellenic polytheism doesn't really have a widespread, large-scale festival around the solstice. Some of us celebrate the Rural Dionysia, but it doesn't really click with me, so I don't. But I have some happy memories from my youth at this time of year that I don't want to forget, and I'd like to be able to celebrate the time with my friends, so we decided to start our own tradition.
radiantbaby and I did some thinking and talking about what we want to celebrate at this time of year. We decided that an important part of the holiday season for us is friends and family coming together to share a sense of community. Recognizing that and being thankful for it was the theme or our small ritual. We're thinking of developing it and including friends next year; it'll be interesting to see what comes of that.
radiantbaby and I spent a nice, quiet New Year's Eve with nhudris_embrace and jescot and kiddo D'mitri. It was a fun, relaxing geekly evening, and I hope to see more of them again soon.
Of course, that's just the highlights. There's tons more, but I'm running out of my daily bit quotient. I spent a couple of evenings at small random parties with friends. I spent a good bit of time relaxing watching TV with radiantbaby. I spent time on wonderful dates with my sweeties radiantbaby and riff_77. I spent time at choir practice. I spent time working on a new built-from-scratch webserver for sehellenes.org. I spent time reading, and I spent time keeping up with email. I even managed to read LJ, even though I wasn't posting.
And as busy as I've been, I'm really looking forward excitedly to more of the same for next year. My time lately has been gradually turning away from things I have to do (or feel unfairly that I have to) and toward things I really enjoy doing. One of those things I've decided to start into in the next year is running a game of 7th Sea, which I haven't played in far too long.
I'll update as time allows. It's turning into a rollercoaster. A really amazing, fun, wonderful, friend-filled, love-filled rollercoaster.
(LJ Spellchecker Genius of the Day: Dionisia -> Doings)
New Jersey was quite nice. I always enjoy spending time with my father. We got to see his office at Drew University, and he showed us around the campus. He also used his mad administrative contactz to get me in to their new music performance hall. He knows the gentleman who maintains and arbitrates access to the hall -- a fascinating music teacher at the University -- and the gentleman (whose name I've sadly lost in the intervening months) kindly let us in and told us about all of the careful design that went into its shape, materials, and technology. The pictures are fine, but they really don't do justice to this breathtaking hall. At the end of the hall tour, he even left me get up on stage and sing, just to hear the room. The hall is not only beautiful and technologically impressive, it really has wonderful acoustics, too. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
We visited radiantbaby's family in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving dinner, and we visited with her aunt and uncle that night. Their friendly hospitality was quite pleasant, and I'm happy to be able to put faces to names.
As last time we visited my father, though, there was far too little time available for spending in Manhattan. I really do enjoy that place. I don't know that I can even explain why: there's just so much of it, and so much life there. I get excited to go in even for a short visit. This trip we made it in to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As it was, we spent most of our time in its huge collection of Greek and Roman art, though I could easily spend another day in that collection alone. I can't even begin to type out all of the wonderful details, and unfortunately most of our pictures were far too blurry to be interesting. I simply must buy a good camera and learn to use it well. If any of my Hellenic friends have actually read this far, I suggest you find a way to go at some point in your life. It really is worth it.
We also got to make a short stop at The Strand Bookstore. That's another place I could easily spend many hours. Possibly days. I could spend my entire life looking for used books in there, and by the time I got through it, I'd have to go back to find the new ones. A very dangerous place for a Ben. I must go back sometime.
And we also got to see calliopeo for an hour or two. She happened to be in Manhattan on one of the days that we were in, so we arranged to grab a snack and a warm drink at a small cafe near museum mile. I was happy to get the opportunity to see her again: I hadn't since February or so, and my father hadn't seen her in probably a decade.
The trip back was longverylong, but largely uninteresting.
A couple of weekends later -- on the 9th of December -- was the IBM/ISS holiday party. It was a nice hang-out evening with radiantbaby, wheezinggirl, oneandonlymatt, and surprisingly nyssimi and leraje. Much fun, and a bit of alcohol, and a fun time.
The following weekend was going to be quiet (after a very nice special date with riff_77), but instead I masterminded an impromptu viewing of Casino Royale with friends. On less than a day's notice, radiantbaby, shaddragon, walkingbear, strega42, gaeasson, blyssmouse, eisenhund, that_sakka_girl, the_wyz, and the LJ-less grown son of the last. I really enjoy arranging last-minute get-togethers for some reason. Lots of fun. And the movie was quite impressive.
Nearer Christmas, I happily convinced a friend to have a birthday party where he thought he wouldn't. Life's been ganging up on him a bit lately, and I'm happy to have helped remind him about the people who really do care about him. It was a cuddly, enjoyable evening, and I was quite happy to see a smile on my friend's face.
radiantbaby and I had a small private ritual and opened presents on Christmas Eve. We don't really celebrate the birth of Jesus: he's not really my guy. I don't celebrate solstice because I don't feel a strong connection to the passing of the seasons in my life. Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are right out. (Does anyone really honestly celebrate Kwanzaa? I've never met anyone.) Hellenic polytheism doesn't really have a widespread, large-scale festival around the solstice. Some of us celebrate the Rural Dionysia, but it doesn't really click with me, so I don't. But I have some happy memories from my youth at this time of year that I don't want to forget, and I'd like to be able to celebrate the time with my friends, so we decided to start our own tradition.
radiantbaby and I did some thinking and talking about what we want to celebrate at this time of year. We decided that an important part of the holiday season for us is friends and family coming together to share a sense of community. Recognizing that and being thankful for it was the theme or our small ritual. We're thinking of developing it and including friends next year; it'll be interesting to see what comes of that.
radiantbaby and I spent a nice, quiet New Year's Eve with nhudris_embrace and jescot and kiddo D'mitri. It was a fun, relaxing geekly evening, and I hope to see more of them again soon.
Of course, that's just the highlights. There's tons more, but I'm running out of my daily bit quotient. I spent a couple of evenings at small random parties with friends. I spent a good bit of time relaxing watching TV with radiantbaby. I spent time on wonderful dates with my sweeties radiantbaby and riff_77. I spent time at choir practice. I spent time working on a new built-from-scratch webserver for sehellenes.org. I spent time reading, and I spent time keeping up with email. I even managed to read LJ, even though I wasn't posting.
And as busy as I've been, I'm really looking forward excitedly to more of the same for next year. My time lately has been gradually turning away from things I have to do (or feel unfairly that I have to) and toward things I really enjoy doing. One of those things I've decided to start into in the next year is running a game of 7th Sea, which I haven't played in far too long.
I'll update as time allows. It's turning into a rollercoaster. A really amazing, fun, wonderful, friend-filled, love-filled rollercoaster.
(LJ Spellchecker Genius of the Day: Dionisia -> Doings)