Tuesday, October 24, 2006

weekend

After many boring weeks and weekends of doing nothing special because of general lack of plans and/or bad weather, this past weekend was pretty full of things to do.

My mom was here for a quick one-night visit on Friday/Saturday. She was staying with family friends in PA for a visit, and was flying out of Baltimore, so she spent the night at my place. It was great to see her, and it was nice for her to meet Kirsten….I think that it’s hard for me sometimes to adjust to the reality of my life here, in some ways. I haven’t been back to WI since I moved out here, so while it is normal for me to be here every once in a while I think “I live in Maryland”. It’s like that when your mom is at your apartment…its like “This is weird…I don’t live with you anymore. I live on the other side of the country now…” Just something to get used to, I guess.

On Saturday after dropping my mom at the airport, Kirsten and I headed to Flugtag in the Inner Harbor. Let me say, it was great! If Red Bull ever sponsors a party…go. They played great music, it was a fun atmosphere, and the weather was beautiful. Plus, there is the added benefit of laughing at everyone jumping into the Inner Harbor. Let me tell you, though, I don’t think I would have ever voluntarily jumped into that water. Its so dirty, rumor had it they had chemical showers on site to hose everyone down after they jumped.

Anyway, after Flugtag a friend was hosting a party, so we headed there for awhile; and then Kirsten, Sarah, Ben and I went to see The Last King of Scotland at The Charles. The movie was actually very good, I was surprised. I wasn’t that jazzed to see it, but it turned out to be a good one to discuss. A Scottish doctor who goes to Uganda to escape his home and help those in need, and gets wrapped up in the power of the new President via-a coup. I would recommend it, but it has touches of uncomfortable violence so beware!

Monday, October 23, 2006

pointless nostalgic

As I wrote before, I bought a few Jamie Cullum CD’s after seeing him live in DC earlier this month. Below are the liner notes (which I love) from his album “Pointless Nostalgic” (which I ALSO love):

“I once met a man who, when asked why he never took photographs of his kids, simply tapped the side of his head and said “it’s all in here.” I admired that greatly, because I simply don’t have enough trust in my memory. I need reminders, markers that point the brain in the right direction amongst the most complex of mazes.

Why is it so hard to let go of that piece of paper scrawled on by someone once loved? These pointless artifacts are the proof of a moment lost in time, but they can never tell the full story.

Nostalgia takes hold, dishing out its rose-colored glasses to watch the show that is the past as you remember it. This is the show I love to watch, pointlessly, again and again.

Music has a far greater potency- it can make time more immediate whilst simultaneously placing you effortlessly back to a moment in your childhood, a particular summer or just last week. Song become a blueprint for your own personal mind map, who cares that “It Ain’t Necessarily So” was written in 1935, it has got all my own baggage attached to it now-not just the many and varied interpretations of it. There is always room for reinterpretation of a song because every radically different human being has his or her collective and emerging lifetime to impress upon it.

Music takes hold, and it is far more dangerous than nostalgia. Good times, bad times, and boring times can be returned to with startling clarity; but it is the moment that becomes most important, where life is meant to be, for there can be no lie in a sweet melody or an evil groove.

The perfect cure for my pointless nostalgia.”


This is true to my life. I can’t tell you how music takes me back to moments, feelings and smells in a way nothing else does.

Every time I listen to my Kelly Clarkson CD I remember the moment I slipped in into my CD player in India. It was a time when I was desperate to feel connected to my American culture and longed to escape to being my silly American self. I can smell the room I was sitting in the moment I first heard it, and remember how important it was for me to fall into a different world for an afternoon.

Its true of one of my Switchfoot CD’s too. Their album “Nothing is Sound” came out while I was living in Madison, and I had it in my stereo that fall and listened to it everywhere I went. Every time I hear that music I remember driving to and from coffeehouses late at night to study for the GRE’s, when the winter was just beginning and wisps of snow were falling. I remember the feelings of frustration and fear that were associated with those drives, me praying for God’s grace on my test and my future; that I would be able to achieve the dreams I held and that my life wouldn’t go to waste.

Even Jamie Cullum’s music reminds me of working at the coffee shop. The owner loved jazz and had his CD’s, and I would listen to them over and over while I worked, closed and cleaned the place. His song “Twentysomething” was particularly appropriate; it was all about figuring out what to do with your life after college and aligning what you learned in classes with what is really valuable in the world.

Anyway, I loved these notes and thought I should share.

Friday, October 20, 2006

busy-ness

I am sorry for my lack of writing lately. It was because of a number of things....work being really busy, my not wanting to talk/share about what has been happening, my not feeling like I have anything to talk about.

Anyway, things have calmed down a bit at work, in a matter of speaking, I suppose. It's still as wild as it usually is, but it is less crazy than it has been recently.

I saw Jamie Cullum in DC at the 9:30 earlier this month; he was awesome live....very cool. I actually don't OWN any of his albums, but I used to listen to them at the cafe' all the time while I served coffee/slaved/cleaned the place. Some of his earlier albums talked about trying to figure out what to do after you graduate from college...needless to say I related to it at the time. Anyway, the morning after the concert I went online and bought his music. I couldn't wait any longer!

AND next month I am going to see Madam Butterfly at the National Opera with Kirsten! It's at the Kennedy Center...I am way excited. Placido Domingo runs the National Opera, and according to the website he is directing the performance. I'm such a dork..but it's very exciting!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

compliment

In the past week someone told me they thought I lived the words of Micah 6:8. It's one of the biggest compliments I have ever recieved.

Monday, October 02, 2006

fortune cookie

A frivolous gift is a gift, nonetheless.