burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Heading into Davis T Station this morning, I head guitar and was trying to place why it was familiar. I thought, "Ani DiFranco?" but none of the usual buskers play that sort of music. Then the singing started and of course I recognized it :)

(And looking at her website, hey Allie, she's playing at Bloc 11 -- Wednesday, September 22 @ 8pm.)

Hai, 12 hours of sleep!  I went to bed at like 8:20pm.  I woke up at 6:13 (about when I normally get up during the week) and opted to not get up just yet.  My alarm was set for 8, and I ultimately got up a little before 8:30.

It was still flurrying out, and weather.com said 13F, feels like -3F (8:25am).  (Predicted high for today: 23F.)  That seemed a bit cold even for me.  My concessions to the cold were: a sweatshirt instead of a knit top, thick socks inside my boots, and gloves in the pockets.  I was expecting to feel underdressed, but I was actually mostly fine (I left my house around 10am).  I was a little dizzy leaving my house intitially because the snow on our porch/steps was mostly untouched, but my walk to Davis T is mostly past Tufts campus, so the sidewalks were mostly reasonably cleared, which, yay.

***

I called Terry when I got in to Norwood and said, "I'm at Norwood Central T Station and I would like you to come pick me up and take me to lunch.  Does that work for you?" and he said, "Uh, I'll be there in five minutes," in a tone which suggested it would not be a quick five minutes -- but after 15 minutes of walking in place and singing doxologies and "Abide With Me" and "Amazing Grace" to myself, I called him and said, "Should I just meet you at the restaurant?  Would that be easier for you?"  He said, "No, no, I'm almost there; I'm at the post office."  He was taken aback when he picked me up, asked "Is that all you're wearing?"  I said I was fine, that I had dressed appropriately for what I had expected, but that 15 minutes outside I was getting kinda cold and bored and I had to pee.  He thought the little building by the train station was still open to the public (it hasn't been for years).

We always go to lunch at the same place, and one of the staff members, José, knows Terry from when they both used to work at the Ground Round.  Last time we were there, when José came over to say hi to Terry, Terry introduced us.  Today when he came over to say hi, Terry introduced us and José was like, "We've already met," and I was like, "Yeah."  After José left, Terry said that the last time he was in here by himself, José had asked, "Where's your girlfriend?" and Terry said, "She's not my girlfriend," and José asked, "Are you sure?" and Terry said, "Yeah I'm sure."  He also told me that he had "fibbed" and told him that I was married.  To his credit, he immediately said something like, "Of course, I'm married..."  I was like, "Yeah..."

At one point, he asked what I was doing after lunch and I said I was gonna help my grandma wrap Christmas presents and he asked where she lives and I said the housing complex by Norwood Depot and he said, "Hill Street?" and I said yeah and he said, "I lived there [crashing with a friend for a few months] when I first moved to Norwood ... 23 years ago."  I said, "Wow, doing the math is weird; I was 2 then."  (He was 18.)  He looked horrified and told me to never say (things like) that again.

He said he could take extra time for lunch 'cause he got overtime for coming in early today to help clear the snow (they closed at 3:30 yesterday) except he couldn't today because it was still snowing (albeit only flurrying) so he was obliged to stay on-site and "keep an eye on the walkways."  I said I wanted to have lunch some time while I was off for winter break anyway (he's working days Christmas Eve through the day after New Year's) so we agreed that we'd make lunch plans for some day that it's not snowing :)

***

I wrapped Christmas presents for my grandma and listened to her talk incessantly and played three rounds of Upwords and did not die (nor kill).

I got the 5:07 (which was about ten minutes late, maybe more) train back into South Station.  I was a wimp and T-ed it to Govt. Ctr.  As I was walking through City Hall Plaza, a woman said my full name and I stopped and turned -- and didn't recognize her at all.  It was Alaina.  She said to tell my parents she says hi :)

***

The Back Bay Chorale's "An 18th-Century Christmas."

The Great Hall at Fanueil Hall is small enough that I don't think there are really particularly bad seats, and I didn't really need to have sprung for Premium seats, but whatever -- my gift to the arts or whatever.  (I think the chairs are uncomfortable, though.)

The conductor (Scott Allen Jarrett) said, "If you know of any Baroque Christmas music that we're not doing, let me know and I'll be sure to include it in a future program."

In the "Rejoice greatly" [Messiah], the Soprano sings a like 10-measure "Rejoice" (twice).  Wow!  (There's a long "Jauchzet" in Bach's "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen," too, but the "Rejoice" was far more impressive to me.)  I actually wish that that section ended with the "He shall speak peace" where the orchestra fades out and the soprano sings the word "peace" unaccompanied.

Before the last piece of the first segment, the conductor said, "And as the angels said... we will end the first portion of our program with 'Dona nobis pacem' from Bach's Mass in B Minor, one of the greatest pieces ever written."  I was like, "Wow, way to set a high bar for your performers."

After the sing-along (for which we all stood) was the closing piece, the "Hallelujah" from Messiah, and I was expecting to stay standing (yes, I've been to the Handel and Haydn Society's performance of Messiah for what, three years in a row?), but it seemed like everyone was sitting down, so I did, but some people stayed standing, so I stood back up.

[Addendum: I neglected to mention that the sing-along included three verses of "O Come, All Ye Faithful," and when we hit the refrain the second time, I was really struck by the "O come let us adore him" -- in part because of the shift to softer and sort of more intimate from more energetic, and also because it's this really evocative idea, this deep desire to adore/worship.]

( full program list )

***

Walking back from Fanueil Hall, there was a guy playing trumpet really pretty.  I had no bills smaller than a twenty, so I just gave him all the change I had (which unfortunately was like 57 cents).

When I was walking home past Powder House Park a little before 10:30, people were sledding.

My housemate renewed her Hollywood Video membership (and added my name -- yay) today and rented Ocean's Eleven and Goodfellas -- "Now I wanna go to Vegas and shoot people," she said.

This morning I walked down the stairs at Davis and saw the singer/guitarist from Saturday. When I was there on Saturday there weren't very many people, so she was making eye contact with everybody (not quite flirtatious, though damn she's pretty). Still, I didn't expect her to remember/recognize me. I nodded in recognition and she said, "Fancy meeting you here." Awesome.

This weekend I regretted my decision to not buy a CD, but I liked the song she sang today ("Gone") less than I did the one I heard on Saturday ("One More Autumn") so I just gave her a dollar again.

"See you again soon," she said when I gave her money as my train came. "Yeah, if you're gonna be around," I said, smiling. She said she was.

Oh the temptation to ask a pretty girl out for coffee. Poking around her website, next Monday she's gonna be at "Grrl Rush" at All Asia Cafe (334 Massachusetts Ave. -- near Central Square).

This is apparently also on the QA list --
Every Monday at ALL ASIA BAR
334 Mass Ave in Cambridge
7:00pm / $5 cover / 19-plus

I'm listening to clips from cdbaby and I like "A Rainy Night" a lot. I'm not super-impressed by any of it, but it's enjoyable -- and I do remember that lots of singers I really like took some time to grow on me.

[Speaking of the QA list, do I wanna go to this tonight?]

On the commute this morning I was reading hth_the_first's "Daughters of Jerusalem" (via the Remix, which I haven't read yet). One of those fics where every line you wanna point and say "That's amazing." The Mal voice is spot-on, and all the details ... I didn't quite finish reading it, but it's one of those fics I just wanna live in.

Walked down to the Red Line, saw a young woman playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on violin. She reminded me of people I'd gone to college with -- about my age, stocky, self-spiking short hair. Dressed in pseudo-concert apparrel (black shirt, grey pants, nice flat shoes). There was a train in the station when I got down the stairs, but I stayed to listen and give her a dollar (plus it was super-packed, so it probably wouldn't have been worth the effort anyway). She was on her third piece when the next train came. Almost everyone gave her a dollar, which made me happy.

Coming in to work I saw they were putting down rectangles of grass on the lawn of my building. So bizarre. They'd cleared the lawn to dirt yesterday, but I just assumed they were gonna superseed it.

Wednesday

The $50thou Millionaire question I had no clue about (The Model T originally sold for . . . ( answer is )) and usually when you switch the question the new one they give you is nigh impossible, but this one was "which gemstone, whose name comes from from the Greek meaning against intoxication, was supposed to protect one from the effects of drunkenness?" and I knew the answer even before they listed them (only because it was in something I'd read recently but can't recall -- possibly "Golden City Far" by Gene Wolfe in Flights: extreme visions of fantasy ed. Al Sarrantonio, but that feels wrong; probably some Cicada short story) ( and the options are )  I should have known the $100thou ("Exit, pursued by a bear") but didn't ( and the answer to that one is ).

Afterward we watched the beginning of the DS9 ep "Trials and Tribble-ations."

O'Brien: chroniton particles...
me: "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

O'Brien: There's a ship directly in front of us.
Mary Alice: It's the Enterprise!
Viewscreen: [shows the Enterprise]
Mary Alice and I: [surprised and impressed at Mary Alice's random guess being right]

Odo: "She called it a Tribble!"
Worf: Grr! and fear.
me: I was wondering if anyone remembered.  So he [Kirk] has the biggest file on record; something like this should stick out.

We dispersed back to work not long after, and I Googled to get the gist of the remainder of the episode.

Isabel:  I get out of class at about 5:30, so we can meet for dinner whenever you get out from work (any suggestions about where to go?).
Me: [suggests Veggie Planet]
Isabel: YES! Finally someone who'll go to Veggie Panet with me. I've been wanting to try it, but I'm friends with carnivores opposed to green and grainy things.

One of these days I'll order something other than the same thing I always order there, but this was not that night.  We saw Crash [lj entry here] and because I had plenty of time before I needed to leave to get my train home we hung out in TeaLuxe for a while afterward.

Overheard in Harvard Square: "my LiveJournal post."

Oh, I forgot to mention.  When I was at the library, Saturday before last, some girls (age 12 maybe?) were printing stuff out and I totally saw the fanfiction.net logo on top.  I restrained myself from enquiring as to the fandom.

Proof that I am not all about Teh Gay, Isabel was telling me I needed to see Capote, and what sold me was her talk about a connection between In Cold Blood and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Thursday

Really tired again this morning, natch.  (Home ~11:30 the previous night.)  Was really tempted to ride the Red Line out to Alewife and then back to Harvard so I could get more nap time in, but I didn't.

I was strangely awake all day, though.  Which was good, as I didn't really want a repeat of the previous day when I was ready to fall asleep at my desk around four o'clock.

According to the 2004 Census, the median age of first-time brides in the U.S. is: ( have a guess? your options are . . . ).  They also asked asked the real name of the horse who played Mr. Ed -- ( options are )

I learned that Laura lives in Braintree.  It thus stuns me that she drives in to work.  I mean Braintree is at one end of the Red Line.  Though I don't know what HBS's employee discount for parking is, so maybe it actually is cheaper to drive in to work than to park at Braintree and drive in.  (I didn't ask 'cause we were talking after work and I really had to be heading to the Square -- as it was I ran hardcore.)

Watched Fantastic Four with my mom [lj entry here]

Friday

As previously mentioned, this was a very slow day.

I'd brought a coat in preparation for the evening but didn't wear it at all in the morning and was surprised at just how cold it had gotten when I left work.  I walked to the Square with Alyssa, and we parted ways where the galleria thing is

I was a couple minutes later getting to the T Station than I sometimes am, but there were a lot of people already waiting, so clearly a train hadn't come too recently.

There was a guy playing accordion, and he didn't look so great but the music was quite good so I gave him money.
little girl: "What are you doing?"
guy: "I'm trying to make my rent; that's what I'm doing."

The travel experience was downhill from there.  The little kids weren't that bad -- the "I hate trains" little boy shut up after a couple stops -- but the mom made me seethe.  As the train got more crowded she jokingly yelled "I can't breathe!" and I was willing to let that go 'cause she'd had a long day or whatever, ditto her scolding her daughter like three times for hugging a stranger (as far as I could tell, the girl did it once, but the mom scolded her repeatedly).  One of the kids was calling someone else a vampire and I wasn't sure if it was another kid or a passenger -- by this point there were multiple people in the aisle between us.  Then the mom was griping to her friend about feeling faint (I guess) and how she might fall into some guy, and her friend commented, "make sure it's not an ugly guy" and she responded that it would probably be a lesbian (in this "that would be even worse" tone) and I was kinda seething at this.  Were it not for the fact that there were a lot of people in between us and (and really this was the primary reason) the fact that she was getting off one stop before me and I didn't wanna hold up this ride any more than it already was I like to think I would in fact have lectured her.  After she got out one woman actually vocalized "I'm glad she's gone" (she had been loudly complaining the entire duration between Park and Downtown about how she was gonna have to turn this stroller around and people needed to get out of her way, and I imagine a lot of us were thinking, "Well there's no space to move until the doors open, and what were you thinking at rush hour Friday before a 3-day weekend anyway?").  Park St. was the start of the stupid people standing on the yellow line as if there would magically be more space in the car, and when I got out at South Station I ran almost all the way up and got there at five-forty-one.  My train leaves at five-forty.  I was pissed.

My dad mentioned on Thursday that NHS was doing Doctor Faustus as their competition play.  I'd been meaning to read that (as well as Geothe's Faust) for ages.  Getting in to Norwood Depot ~6:13 would give me plenty of time to walk up to the Savage Center old Junior High North, but 6:45?  Cutting it much closer.  The train got in more like 6:50, and uphill in the wind?  Ow, my legs.  I actually wondered if I should just go home and go to bed.  I only got there a few minutes late, though.  I really like the way they did Mephistophilis and don't really have any other comments, in part because I did doze off at the end, due to the aforementioned tiredness.  It felt like all the events of the play happened way too fast, so I got the play out from the library so I can better critique Marlowe (and also compare Goethe; yay Harvard Classics putting them both in a single volume).

I was gonna go to bed early but got sucked into watching bits of the Olympics with my mom.  I learned that ice dancing is teh boring.  Watching the slalom I told my mom about the Ani lyric -- unable to save ourselves from the quaint tragedies we invent and undo, from the stupid circumstances we slalom through.

So yes, I saw Lindsey Jacobellis.  ( Read more... )

Saturday

I was the Great and Amazing Sloth, which didn't entirely make sense to me as I wasn't that tired during the day on Friday and though I stayed up a few hours later than I would have preferred it wasn't that late; and I'm mostly over my cold.  So yeah, my Saturday was far less productive than I had previously intended.

I went to the library (as mentioned above) and weather.com said it was 24F feels like 9F.  I actually felt less cold coming back when it was supposedly 22F feels like 7F.  Shrug.  I was pleased by the cold both times, natch.

Oh, and my dad made stir fry tonight and he made stir fry tofu for me and I appreciated the protein but . . . flavor. My dad said he thought when I said I didn't like food with flavor I was just joking. Now okay I have had food that I find unpleasantly tasteless, but clearly he hasn't been paying attention. :) [Course, we so rarely have food at my house, how would one even know ;) ]

I got off the Red Line this morning and heard cello and walked down to the Inbound and put a dollar in his case. A train was just pulling out, so I stood and watched/listened until the next train came. He was really good. Mmm, watching musicians when one actually has some technical knowledge of art . . . . Okay, I may babble more later, but now it's time for work. Just wanted to share the morning joy.