Back to life, back to reality

But only for a little while.

I returned to STL yesterday afternoon, on a plane that seemed much too small for the length of the trip. It was non-stop, Boston to St. Louis, and the plane was one of those little puddle hoppers that you'd use to go parachuting or something. It's one of those deals where the flight attendant says, "Well, now is when we'd normally be serving your choice of refreshments and a snack, but all we have room for on this plane is my bottled water and a pack of gum. Any takers?" But despite this, the flight was nice. I fell asleep to Yo La Tengo. Whether this was because of their music or my fatigue is, at this point, unclear. But for future reference: YLT = good music to go to sleep to.

Unclear plans for New Year's at this point. I'm pretty sure this year will once again reaffirm my belief that New Year's Eve is one of the more over-hyped holidays. I've found that unless you're at a big event (e.g., concert) or out and about among other people making asses of themselves, it sort of falls short.

I'm not going to unpack too much, since Kia and I leave again on Wednesday for Rochester to see her family (and mine) and do some more wedding planning. The six-month countdown has begun...

Happy anniversary to my parents! 28 years today.

The rundown

In the past few days, I have:

-seen "The Squid and the Whale"
-witnessed Johnny Damon's wretched first Yankees press conference
-stayed indoors for nearly 48 hours straight
-acquired some good music (My Morning Jacket, Yo La Tengo, Beck, Death Cab to be exact)
-begun reading a book my sister loaned to me, which is by the guy who wrote Everything is Illuminated.
-come in a disappointing 7th place in one of my fantasy football leagues
-gone to a soup party
-seen various family friends and people I've known for many years

On that last point, I find it really interesting to see people year after year and see how I interact with them differently. It's these people who I've known for as long as I can remember, and sometimes I don't realize how much I've changed or how differently I see things until I have this sort of barometer to measure it against.

Let's find a coffeeshop and play some folk rock

Here's Kia with the present I got her for Christmas: an acoustic. That's what you call an acoustic guitar if you're in "the biz". That's what you call the music business if you're all that. So I'm hoping to hear "Smelly Cat" or something similar sometime in the near future.

So she's having fun with that. I plan to play it too. Altogether, we're gonna be rock stars. Could this gift have been influenced at all by my seeing Iron and Wine with Calexico last week? Hard to tell. Incredible show, though. I'm glad I was there. I'm glad I showed up early, too. It sold out. You've definitely got to see it if you get the chance, preferably in a pretty quiet venue. It's sort of "listen to this as you drink some tea and go to bed" music. And Sam talks softly.

Oh, and don't ask me about Johnny Damon. All I'll say is this: I heard an interview with him today, and he's already got the Yankee-speak going.....talking about getting "this great organization another championship" and "just trying to contribute to a solid lineup". And ESPN has already altered his head shot to put him in a Yankees cap and get rid of his beard and Jesus hair. I'm intrigued to see what the Fenway faithful will do his first game back.

I'm off to Boston tomorrow. Happy holidays to all!

Irish culture!

Thanks to our friend Kelly, who works for Dance St. Louis, Kia and I took in a performance of Riverdance on Wednesday night. Kia was a little ambivalent, but I said, "Hey, free tickets, why not?" Hmmm, possibly re-thinking that decision.

I'm just a little wary of shows, plays, performances that try to sell the cultural aspect too much. I felt like Riverdance did that. It's a bit of a jolt to come in off the street and have someone with an Irish accent try to sell you a program. Maybe it was fake, maybe it was real. Who knows. But that was my first indication that maybe this one going to be one of those shows.

I guess I had some idea of what the show would be like coming in. And it sort of lived up. But at other times it just didn't. I think my problem with it was that it tried to be more than it was. Rather than just having a lot of fancy dancing (perfectly fine with me), it attempted to have a plot, bumpily pushed along by an over dramatic unseen narrator. At its best, it was uneven but entertaining. At its worst, it was muddled and felt like an elementary school talent show, where they would just push kids out on the stage and say, "Do something! Everyone has a talent." In one scene they would trot out the Russian dancers, in another scene we would see the Irish step dancers, in another there would be a guy singing by himself. It felt very disjointed, and this was made worse by the fact that they TRIED to make it a cohesive story. Just show me the dancing, make it light, make it fun, and everyone goes home happy.

Manic Monday

On Monday, Kia and I both turned in some major stuff. Kia stayed up all night Sunday working on designing a kitchen. She was actually just going to sleep as I was getting up at 7 Monday morning. That was an odd feeling. Later that day, I dropped my big NRSA grant that I had been working on for months on into the FedEx box. That was a very good feeling.

So clearly we had to celebrate in some way. Coincidentally, I had gotten an email coupon for a free entree at a restaurant earlier that day. Taking this as a sign, we headed off. There's something nice about celebrating on a Monday, like it's sort of illicit or something. After some awesome food (awesome cuz it was free...I got the most expensive thing on the menu...steak and shrimp...I believe this is what is referred to as "Surf n' Turf"?), we ventured into the mall, where we came upon and explored Urban Outfitters. It's funny, I think I came upon something or other for most of the people I know. Lots of Napoleon trinkets and doodads, a book of 600 useful facts, a beer fridge, a dreidel that expands when you drop it in water...this place had everything. I think I could live in there the rest of my life and not get bored.

Birthdays

My birthday is not too far off (ahem, long-lost relatives....send money), so it started me thinking of who shares my birthday with me. Or, to be exact, whose birthday I share. I knew about Bob Barker and Frank Sinatra. Those are the ones I'm able to spout out when the subject comes up. But I looked into it, and there are others.

Dionne Warwick, queen of late night infomercials.

Jennifer Connelly, talented actress.

And the crowning achievement, Mayim Bialik. That's right, Blossom and I share our date of birth.

As Joey from Blossom would say - "Whoa!"

Peace in the Middle East

I decided to peruse the website for the Middle East, a bar/restaurant/music club in Cambridge, MA, where I spent many happy, sweaty, eardrum-destroying hours in my teens. A great venue, small enough to be close to the stage, but big enough to attract some good bands.

I decided to share with you some of the more intruguing acts coming up at the Middle East. If you're in the area, I'd recommend you go, if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity:

-Beatallica ("Beatles meet Metallica"): Yeah, I'm pretty sure those are two things that shouldn't ever meet, or communicate in any way. And yet, it might be GREAT.

-Lez Zeppellin ("All girls, all Zep"): Sounds almost as good as Mandonna.

-Wheatus: just cuz they did that awesomely bad "Teenage Dirtbag" song, and they just did a great remake of "Hit me with your best shot". What's not to love?

-Dinosaur Jr.: just cuz they're STILL AROUND

I pity the fool who uses Mapquest!

I wonder what kind of backseat driver Mr. T would be.