whattaweekend

whew. i am exhausted. left on thurs night to drive to tahoe to visit marit, one of my best pals (sistah of leia, my best pal) from home. (see pic from oct - i forgot to take pics this time!! but there are new ones below) we had a fabulous time, skiied on friday, then i got a fabulous massage and we chilled that evening (watched "the russians are coming, the russians are coming" which is still hilarious after all these years - go rent it now).

on sat, i drove from north lake tahoe (where marit lives) to south lake, where my friend sara and her ksg gang, and her boyfriend aaron, and his friends, were all hanging for the weekend. the drive was a little treacherous. but i swear if there hadn't been flashing lights telling me to put chains on my car (er--i didn't), then i wouldn't have been nearly as freaked out as i was. i've driven in much worse conditions back home. for crying out loud, in high school the first thing i did on a snow day was go out for donuts!

skiied all day on sat with aaron and his pals (the ksg'ers couldn't take the windy/snowy conditions). i haven't had a full day of skiing since maybe i was 12 years old. we're talking 10am til the lifts closed at 4pm. it was a blast. three snowboarders, and aaron and myself were the only skiers. but we all stuck together - a great group of people - and somehow phil collins became the regrettable theme of the weekend. i still can't get "heaven" out of my head. grrrrr.

had a fun night chilling with new and newer friends (see the pic of stephanie trying to land a hacky sac on cramer's afro), and chilling in the hot tub on a snowy night. hooray!

then got up at 7:45am to drive back to sf and meet up with old pal erin sikorsky and her (yikes!) husband, jon. i LOVE these guys. they're just the best. we dined at the hang ah tea room in chinatown - an authentic sf dim sum meal. yum.



THEN i went to sabrina's wedding shower in oakland. where (like her thankgsiving gathering) i was accepted with open arms by her friends and family. wow. how cool is this? i never would have guessed that in 3 months i would be so happily situated. now, if only i could find a job..........(and not just any job, my DREAM job!)

Kids and Jazz

Today I went to a performance at Berkeley. Cal Performances is an org that brings peformers to Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley to perform for a subscribing audience - this year they'll have violinist Hillary Hahn, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Alvin Ailey, and John Cleese, just to name a few. They also do "schooltime" performances for classes of elementary school and middle school kids.

Today, I attended a schooltime performance with Kathy Henschel, who is on the board of Cal Performance, and has been really important in introducing me to lots of arts ed people in the area (after about 6 degrees of separation, I met Sabrina Klein and lots of arts ed people in SF through Kathy). Kathy is great - she spent all her life in corporate america, but mostly loved the teambuilding aspect of her work. Now she sits on various boards of arts organizations in the Bay Area, and enjoys cultivating the next generation of performers, audiences and donors - she invites young people to performances with her, she volunteers at Ailey Camp through Cal Performances in the summer, and she sits on the Young Audiences subcommittees of a number of boards in the area. she also says things like "it was a hoot and a half!" which i find kind of funny.

Today we saw a performance that introduced elementary and middle school students to the history of jazz in the US - cartoons of jazz greats like duke ellington and thelonius monk came on stage and answered questions about learning and loving music. a live jazz band based in nyc played their great hits, and a fabulous energetic performer and singer hosted the show, mediating among cartoon conversation, audience singing, and jazz band playing. the feeling in the hall was electric- students were screaming with joy. the host passed his microphone around for students to scat and sing with the band, and most of the kids jumped at the opportunity. he had the whole place hopping.

it was a really potent moment - one of those times when you see the direct impact of a program. kids in the audience were sparked today, and you knew that while not all of them would become professional musicians, most of them would grow to appreciate jazz and live performance. and starting that spark is the most important of all.

head.....ACHE!

i've been fighting a cold/flu/virus of some sort for the past several weeks, and it just isn't going away. my head feels like it weighs 100 pounds, and i can't stand to be around technology. but for some reason i have a million things to do (in the hopes that one of them will lead to a job, i've taken on a few volunteer projects (e.g., slave labor). bummer. forgive my lack of posts!

Soo, i went on a bike ride...

In my continuing effort to keep active without a job or a routine, i've joined the listserve of this cycling club for women - velogirls. they seem very, very cool, but i've had a tough time finding some beginners with whom to ride. well, finally that all changed!

I met up with some other beginners south of san francisco this morning for a lovely bike ride. in the rain. we were soaked to th bone, but we had a fun time, got some exercise, and i met some new people in the process, which is always great. hopefully, i'll do this a lot more in the future!

also: totally in love with this guy (no, mom, i don't actually *know* him)

perhaps the funniest nerd on earth, demetri martin is my new favorite person. he's been on the daily show a few times, and wrote for conan o'brien. he's a comedian based in nyc and if you haven't seen him live yet, then go, go! because i promise you'll have a good time. and if you don't, then we have no business being friends. i saw him in sf two weekends ago with some friends (a merging of friend groups! drew and marta - ksg friends - and amy and tristen - friends through a smithie friend - all came and now are making a cross-friend connection! this kind of thing just TICKLES me).

anyway, he's wicked funny 4-eva. go see him. or at least check out his website: www.demetrimartin.com . who else has a comedy routine that involves charts and graphs?! (AND plays guitar AND has a casio keyboard!?)

Teenagers = crazy/annoying

Caitlin has a million friends over today (it's a 1/2 day at school, due to finals). They're all in the living room playing video games, and I am the "supervising adult." Which is great - i'm more than happy to do anything for tracy, especially after all she's done for me.

i just never realized how CRAZY 13 year olds can be. they are CRAZY. among the really loud chatter and videogame music, i caught a couple of conversations:

"you do too flirt with elizabeth."
"no i don't"
"whatever you danced with her on saturday."
"she ASKED me to dance."
"she's a bad flirt."
"yeah, she's a totally bad flirt, and you totally flirt with her."

"i want to do drama next year!"
"you like drama?"
"oh my god woodshop is the worst thing ever. most of the time i just sit there by myself..."
"they never have enough sandpaper."
"oh my god that is so funny."
"are you in woodshop?"
"yup, but you never talk to me."
"i do talk to you, but if i don't it's because i'm busy in my woodshop ways."

the girls are all beautiful, and look way older than the boys, who look like *boys*. i mean, 4 feet tall, skinny, awkward, all front teeth - boys. little boys. amazing how different they are at this age. was i like this? no, never. (well. probably. and probably way more irritating.)

they are so loud. my ears are bleeding. (but they immediately posed for the picture. all i had to do was yell "hey guys, SMILE!!" and they all posed - most of them without knowing who the hell i was. suckers.)

Pictures from home (well, vermont)

here are some pics i took at my swinging birthday party (which included me, my mom, and my dad. totally swinging).




as you can tell, it was a little chilly (mom's bundled up on the couch), but a good time was had by all. especially by that 12 year old boy who looks like he's going skiiing. oh, wait. that's me.

fitness and flowers

yesterday tracy came home all excited. "i just love the change in the seasons," she said, "tomorrow i'm going to go out and buy a whole bunch of daffodils and tulips."

i was kind of confused for a second. "...wait. is it spring?" i said tentatively.

it's spring. january 10 and it's spring in california. i'm not sure i'll ever get used to this! sitting around, chained to my job hunt and my computer, i'm feeling a real need to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather (it really is beautiful). i need exercise. i'm sedentary and i really hate it. soccer? i could join a league. bike? i live pretty far from most bikeable destinations....and i really just need to buckle down and break the seal. once i bike somewhere, then i'll be ok biking everywhere. running? maybe if i was all alone in the early mornings, i could run around lake merritt.

i considered a gym membership. i just loved my gym in boston - something i never thought i'd say. it was close to work, comfortable, and had a steam room. no meatmarket and no pressure. but it was expensive. and i can't really reconcile myself with signing a gym membership without an income. and all the gyms i like are a little pricey.

the more i think about it, the more i miss the cold weather. i don't prefer it, but i miss it. there's something solitary about winter that i really like. something insular - in a good way. you can be secreted away with your own thoughts and feelings, and really evaulate them while everyone else is hibernating. you can go to your gym and don't have to talk to anyone. everyone is insular, so they don't notice you while you're working out. i miss that seasonal self-absorption. it's what got me focused on my own health last february, when i joined the gym. i guess it's the new englander in me. (people in other parts of the country call it "unfriendliness")

things on the job front are going slow but steady. i might be working on a conference this summer. i'm applying to jobs, and getting tips on jobs from some of the people i've been volunteering with, so that's good. it's just slow. and i'm so, so ready to land - with my own home, gym, and routine.

there and back again. (a mele's tale)

well, i returned at 3pm on wednesday morning to california. it was (predictably) warm and humid.

after two weeks at home, i have learned many things:
1. i really kind of like cold weather.
2. my friends are awesome.
3. sometimes you have to go back to go forward.
4. sometimes going back makes you really homesick whilst you go forward.
5. transcontinental overnight flights suck.
6. crab rangoons *must* be introduced to the west coast.

actually, it was a great visit home. i saw a million friends, who are all beautiful, warm and so, so generous. i saw my family - my awesome, awesome family. i aged one year (note: i am now 27. 27 = old, as i was told by a 23 year old at a party last week).

most of all, i saw snow. and my childhood home in wrentham. and i skiied.

one person i didn't get to see was my beloved dog boomer. my parents had to put him to sleep a few weeks after thanksgiving, which was very sad. i kept thinking i heard his feet on the wood floors, or his jingling collar in the halls. but most of all, i had to pick up after myself, and realize how lazy having a dog had made us all. because we had to pick up our own dropped food.

so, i'm missing my scarf and layer weather here in sunny (yes, sunny) california. they keep telling me this is the rainy season. they even said it rained while i was gone. but it's freaking beautiful and warm again and i'm not sure if it's me or what, but i'd really like to see my breath when i walk outside. it's january, darnit!