Crawling back on my knees
So hey. Let's pretend I haven't been away for as long as I have, ok? I mean, yeah, I've been hanging out a lot with Facebook and my new friend Twitter, but come on, LJ, baby. You know I love you. I was thinking the other day that I've been with you longer than I was with Diaryland (ok, we won't talk about that phase of my life, that's cool).
So, what's been going on? Geez, where did I leave off. Looks like September 18th, so about two and a half months to catch up on. Grab a coffee, let's do this.
Arts
- I had the opportunity to get back together with my local estuarine affiliate society band folks for a tribute to our drummer who passed away during the summer. We played a memorial clambake. It was wonderful.
- I went into the recording studio with my MARS buddies to record some vocals on the title track of their album (out this week!) I can't wait to hear it. I went to see them play at Precinct a couple weeks ago and they said the track sounded really good, so that's nice to hear.
- I went to hear John Irving do a reading from his new novel and answer questions at the Coolidge, sponsored by Brookline Booksmith. He is just as fantastic as I imagined and loves Dickens and Hardy and dislikes Faulkner and Hemingway, which makes total sense. The book is pretty great too (I am savoring it and thus reading it much slower than I otherwise might.)
- I got back together with yet another scientist band, this time it was the one from the larger national estuarine scientist group, although a bunch of us were from MA (me) and RI (two others) anyway (a blurb about what we did in 2007.) We performed at the conference farewell event and it was unbelievably fun, and our setlist was Beatles-intensive with some Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, the Clash, etc.
- The Chants sang at a nursing home on the South Shore, which was kind of sweet and amusing all at once.
- Joe and I went to see the Pixies play Doolittle (plus a bunch of B-sides) at the Wang Theater (now really known as the Citi Performing Arts Center, but please. It will always be the Wang.) That was so cool. It felt automatically classy being in the theater instead of an arena or a club. Kind of a nice twist.
Science
- I went to Portland, OR for a conference, which was really cool. I presented a poster and saw a lot of great talks. I explored the city and went to some cool bars (Tugboat Brewing, Doug Fir and randomly ended up at The Roxy (DinerSense Activate!). I also sang in a band (see "Arts") and ran a 5K (see "Personal").
- I went out to survey culverts with some volunteers and we found a mink in a trap that was angry and starving to death. It was in there with a long-dead muskrat, but whether they both got caught or the muskrat was the bait, we weren't sure. We let it go (I think that it might have been illegal to do, but the trap was unlabeled and obviously hadn't been checked, which is more illegal.)
Personal
- In September Joe and I finally tackled our finished basement (the lowest level of our house has two separate basements, one finished, the other unfinished, never the twain shall meet.) We pulled up the carpet, scrubbed the glued foamy pieces off, and laid down a nice floating cork floor. That room is now our library! We moved the futon down there and got a big new couch for our family room (if you want to call it that - it's the room with the TV and gaming systems.)
- My buddy Liz, who was my roommate sophomore year and overall great friend otherwise, has moved to Massachusetts and now lives in the next town over. I've been going over to her house about once a week to hang out and visit her and her sons. Yay for friends moving back!
- Joe's dad and aunt came to visit us for Columbus Day weekend, which was fun. We got to do some touristy things and we made lobster for them, which went over pretty well. They left us with an abundance of Italian cookies, which went away pretty quickly.
- I had a bad day, where I thought I had something wrong with my eye(s). It may have been a migraine, but since I had never really had one and haven't had one since, I'm hoping it was just a fluke (the random thing, not the parasitic worm.)
- Halloween was kind of a bust, because we only had one trixortreator. That said, I did have the opportunity to dress up as a Great Blue Heron for the watershed association's annual meeting the night before, so that at least got it out of my system. I made my own mask and wore a blue dress that in retrospect may have been a little short (still looked good, but perhaps not work attire.)
- I ran a 5K at the conference I attended in Portland, OR. The course was a "there and back" thing along the Riverwalk, which was pretty cool except that at the end I had to run up a ton of ramps and then up a hill to the conference center. It turns out that the race was actually 3.25 miles, not 3.1, so while it took me 45 minutes, it was equivalent to a 42:55 race time. Still very slow, but hey! I ran over 3 miles! I ran for 45 minutes straight!
- I went to the Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade, which was great as usual. It made me proud of all sorts of things like living in Plymouth and being from Massachusetts, plus I got to see a lot of brass bands, and a Hawaii volcano float broke down right in front of me.
- Thanksgiving itself was great. Joe and I (really Joe) made the turkey and stuffing. The night beforehand we went to my sister's (L) house for a little party, then the day of went pretty smoothly. The day after my other sister (H) got sick, so we ended up playing cards and then going Cosmic Bowling at Harvard Lanes with her boyfriend. I also walked pretty much every day with my sister (L) which was good for dealing with food bloat.
I think you are all up to speed now!
So, what's been going on? Geez, where did I leave off. Looks like September 18th, so about two and a half months to catch up on. Grab a coffee, let's do this.
Arts
- I had the opportunity to get back together with my local estuarine affiliate society band folks for a tribute to our drummer who passed away during the summer. We played a memorial clambake. It was wonderful.
- I went into the recording studio with my MARS buddies to record some vocals on the title track of their album (out this week!) I can't wait to hear it. I went to see them play at Precinct a couple weeks ago and they said the track sounded really good, so that's nice to hear.
- I went to hear John Irving do a reading from his new novel and answer questions at the Coolidge, sponsored by Brookline Booksmith. He is just as fantastic as I imagined and loves Dickens and Hardy and dislikes Faulkner and Hemingway, which makes total sense. The book is pretty great too (I am savoring it and thus reading it much slower than I otherwise might.)
- I got back together with yet another scientist band, this time it was the one from the larger national estuarine scientist group, although a bunch of us were from MA (me) and RI (two others) anyway (a blurb about what we did in 2007.) We performed at the conference farewell event and it was unbelievably fun, and our setlist was Beatles-intensive with some Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, the Clash, etc.
- The Chants sang at a nursing home on the South Shore, which was kind of sweet and amusing all at once.
- Joe and I went to see the Pixies play Doolittle (plus a bunch of B-sides) at the Wang Theater (now really known as the Citi Performing Arts Center, but please. It will always be the Wang.) That was so cool. It felt automatically classy being in the theater instead of an arena or a club. Kind of a nice twist.
Science
- I went to Portland, OR for a conference, which was really cool. I presented a poster and saw a lot of great talks. I explored the city and went to some cool bars (Tugboat Brewing, Doug Fir and randomly ended up at The Roxy (DinerSense Activate!). I also sang in a band (see "Arts") and ran a 5K (see "Personal").
- I went out to survey culverts with some volunteers and we found a mink in a trap that was angry and starving to death. It was in there with a long-dead muskrat, but whether they both got caught or the muskrat was the bait, we weren't sure. We let it go (I think that it might have been illegal to do, but the trap was unlabeled and obviously hadn't been checked, which is more illegal.)
Personal
- In September Joe and I finally tackled our finished basement (the lowest level of our house has two separate basements, one finished, the other unfinished, never the twain shall meet.) We pulled up the carpet, scrubbed the glued foamy pieces off, and laid down a nice floating cork floor. That room is now our library! We moved the futon down there and got a big new couch for our family room (if you want to call it that - it's the room with the TV and gaming systems.)
- My buddy Liz, who was my roommate sophomore year and overall great friend otherwise, has moved to Massachusetts and now lives in the next town over. I've been going over to her house about once a week to hang out and visit her and her sons. Yay for friends moving back!
- Joe's dad and aunt came to visit us for Columbus Day weekend, which was fun. We got to do some touristy things and we made lobster for them, which went over pretty well. They left us with an abundance of Italian cookies, which went away pretty quickly.
- I had a bad day, where I thought I had something wrong with my eye(s). It may have been a migraine, but since I had never really had one and haven't had one since, I'm hoping it was just a fluke (the random thing, not the parasitic worm.)
- Halloween was kind of a bust, because we only had one trixortreator. That said, I did have the opportunity to dress up as a Great Blue Heron for the watershed association's annual meeting the night before, so that at least got it out of my system. I made my own mask and wore a blue dress that in retrospect may have been a little short (still looked good, but perhaps not work attire.)
- I ran a 5K at the conference I attended in Portland, OR. The course was a "there and back" thing along the Riverwalk, which was pretty cool except that at the end I had to run up a ton of ramps and then up a hill to the conference center. It turns out that the race was actually 3.25 miles, not 3.1, so while it took me 45 minutes, it was equivalent to a 42:55 race time. Still very slow, but hey! I ran over 3 miles! I ran for 45 minutes straight!
- I went to the Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade, which was great as usual. It made me proud of all sorts of things like living in Plymouth and being from Massachusetts, plus I got to see a lot of brass bands, and a Hawaii volcano float broke down right in front of me.
- Thanksgiving itself was great. Joe and I (really Joe) made the turkey and stuffing. The night beforehand we went to my sister's (L) house for a little party, then the day of went pretty smoothly. The day after my other sister (H) got sick, so we ended up playing cards and then going Cosmic Bowling at Harvard Lanes with her boyfriend. I also walked pretty much every day with my sister (L) which was good for dealing with food bloat.
I think you are all up to speed now!