Que beleza, Uh! Monobloco!
Last Saturday night we went to see a samba group called Monobloco. They were adorable. They reminded me, more than anything else, of a marching band. The good qualities of a band, I mean. There were twenty of them, mostly percussion, and they seemed to be having more fun up there than any other group I've seen in concert. They had four lead singers milling around the stage and playing off each other. The band kept throwing in little synchronized moves, and like a marching band, you could tell it wasn't so much for the audience but because they got a kick out of doing it. The audience bopped around singing along with every word, so it was easy to get vicariously excited. Loved it.
What else did we do last weekend? Lots of lying around. Didn't go to the beach since the whole weekend was a torrential downpour. I'm going to use some of my free time in the next two weeks to transcribe Coventry Carol and Scarborough Fair, since obviously I have no time whatsoever for such activities during the school year. Hopefully working with Scarborough Fair will not curse me (third time's a charm?).
I will have two weeks before classes start. I have a lot to pack into that time.
Goals for Boston: finalize abstract and sign up for research day, see everyone I want to see in three days (HA), watch a lot of crap on the internet with Preeti, alter skirt I bought on clearance from H&M last winter and probably bring sewing machine back to school, strategize for my eventual trip to IKEA by procuring the paint cards for the colors in my room, cook my family a delicious Brazilian dinner. Figure out how to cook a vegetarian feijoada that retains the chunky spirit of the original. Buy some items in Somerville (piles of macaxeira) that I will be unlikely to find in Iowa City. Figure out how to prepare macaxeira, since it looks intimidating.
Goals for my convoluted drive back to school: maybe stop and see Minh on Thursday night en route to Baltimore, see Elisabeth Friday-Sunday, see DJ Sunday night, arrive in Iowa City mid-afternoon on Monday.
Goals for week in Iowa City: work on the house (get my presidential bearings), finish my room (no small undertaking), finalize my poster presentation (day job), and hopefully assemble an herb garden out of empty soda bottles that will feed us all year (pipe dream).
To finish my room:
Re-do other half of floor, put second coat on first half.
Install cheap door in empty doorframe
Paint ugly brick-red trim white
Replace missing pieces of window frames
Caulk around the perimeter to seal out horrible millipedes
Find a dresser somewhere in the house
Put up shelves, pictures, hang up yarn
Get excited.
I'm applying for a geriatrics fellowship. It involves meetings all year with health students in other fields, then two national conferences. It sounds amazing and a little like NYLI. I hope I get it.
What else did we do last weekend? Lots of lying around. Didn't go to the beach since the whole weekend was a torrential downpour. I'm going to use some of my free time in the next two weeks to transcribe Coventry Carol and Scarborough Fair, since obviously I have no time whatsoever for such activities during the school year. Hopefully working with Scarborough Fair will not curse me (third time's a charm?).
I will have two weeks before classes start. I have a lot to pack into that time.
Goals for Boston: finalize abstract and sign up for research day, see everyone I want to see in three days (HA), watch a lot of crap on the internet with Preeti, alter skirt I bought on clearance from H&M last winter and probably bring sewing machine back to school, strategize for my eventual trip to IKEA by procuring the paint cards for the colors in my room, cook my family a delicious Brazilian dinner. Figure out how to cook a vegetarian feijoada that retains the chunky spirit of the original. Buy some items in Somerville (piles of macaxeira) that I will be unlikely to find in Iowa City. Figure out how to prepare macaxeira, since it looks intimidating.
Goals for my convoluted drive back to school: maybe stop and see Minh on Thursday night en route to Baltimore, see Elisabeth Friday-Sunday, see DJ Sunday night, arrive in Iowa City mid-afternoon on Monday.
Goals for week in Iowa City: work on the house (get my presidential bearings), finish my room (no small undertaking), finalize my poster presentation (day job), and hopefully assemble an herb garden out of empty soda bottles that will feed us all year (pipe dream).
To finish my room:
Re-do other half of floor, put second coat on first half.
Install cheap door in empty doorframe
Paint ugly brick-red trim white
Replace missing pieces of window frames
Caulk around the perimeter to seal out horrible millipedes
Find a dresser somewhere in the house
Put up shelves, pictures, hang up yarn
Get excited.
I'm applying for a geriatrics fellowship. It involves meetings all year with health students in other fields, then two national conferences. It sounds amazing and a little like NYLI. I hope I get it.