All posts in: boston

17 Jun 2011

my life in pictures, pt 2

Photo #1: Damian Kulash

A few weeks ago, went down to the Esplanade to see a free OK Go concert in the band shell.

I really like OK Go. There was this one semester in college when my iPod mini ceased to hold a charge and wouldn’t tolerate my bad habit of skipping madly through random songs on shuffle. I had to pick an album and stick with it. For many, many workouts, I picked Oh No.

I also really like concerts that are free, short, and out-of-doors on a nice, sunny day.

We arrived shortly after the first song ended and found a nice spot to stand near the stage but not in any danger of accidentally entering a mosh pit. This is one of my biggest fears at concerts: mosh pits can just appear and before you can get out of the way, you’re getting pushed around and your toes are all stepped on.

Anyway, shortly after we settle in for the concert, the lead singer jumps off the stage and heads into the crowd. He likes to perform this one song where he can see the audience. So he enters the audience. And parks himself four feet in front of us.

Photo #2: Evan’s Way Park

It was a short concert, but a long walk.

We got tired on the way home. These displaced Midwestern boys I hang out with saw some grass – the same grass I’ve walked by a hundred times on my way to school and back – and decided it had been far too long since they laid upon some grass.

What weirdos.

Photo #3: My Sister Dorothy Plays the Oboe

She is also getting her driver’s license at the end of the summer. Blech. Let’s not think about that one.

Photo #4: My Cat Is Still A Strange Sleeper

boston

15 Jun 2011

my life in pictures

I feel weird writing something here without a picture to show you. I mean, I don’t mind READING stuff online that doesn’t have pictures, but I still feel like an entry is more substantial, more finished, if there is something interesting to look at.

This occasionally creates a problem. You see, I don’t like lugging my stupid camera around with me, and even if I did, I’m not all that great at wanting to use it. On vacations, I typically make Lance the designated photographer unless I chance upon something particularly scenic. Unlike me, Lance is constantly snapping pictures and has thousands of them to show for his efforts. All those Chihuly pics? His.

So if I must Blog With Pictures, then I only have my relatively small amount of images to pick from.

So I must Blog About Whatever It Is I Took a Picture Of.

So today, I get to tell you about how when Lance spotted his first 12 pack of Sam Summer at the liquor store a month or so ago, he grabbed the box and held it over his head and sang that little song from Zelda. You know the one when you get some really cool item?

Oh, it’s this song! Just watch the first 10 seconds.

Bonus points for being yet another awesome example of Nerdy Children On Youtube. I love all you little guys, I really do.

Anywho, so my Fully Grown boyfriend carried the box around over his head for awhile, then we paid and went home and got to drinking.

And then I memorialized the blessed event with the taking of a zillion photos of the First Pour and the First Sip and the First Tasting of the Sam Summer Season.

Lance is clearly not the only nerdy one in the household.

Also: give us a break! We had a long winter! It was probably still snowing out or something.

Well that story’s out of the way.

Additionally, I could tell you about my cat and her strange sleeping habits.

Actually, I could do a whole series of entries on that one.

Because it’s pretty much all I take pictures of.

MY BLOG IS ABOUT TO GET SO EXCITING!!!!

Two Random Addendums:

1) Would you scroll back up for a moment and check out my boyfriend’s fine beard? Daaaaamn. It is gone now. He was happy to see it go.

2) Would someone like to talk me out of re-reading all 7 Harry Potter books over the next 30 days? I think I am going to have enough reading on my hands, buuuuuuut…. it’s Harry Potter!!!

boston

13 Jun 2011

fine art

Last Saturday, my friends and I decided to take the afternoon and visit the latest exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts.

The MFA, if you will.

First stop, the Chihuly.

Oh, it was just exquisite.

If you get a free afternoon and you are in the area, you should really visit.

It was truly cultural.

But we quickly devolved.

We were hungry

Statue imitiations,

and facedowns.

And then we went to Qdoba.

The end!

boston

02 Jun 2011

f is for flying… and failure

Good Gravy! All I wanted was to fly to and from Michigan with little or no difficulty! I wanted to spend yesterday tip-tapping at my laptop, writing up my monthly review of books I read, finish reading The Last American Man, and eventually end up in Boston.

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.

Despite consistent prayers to the Gods of Transportation, on my way out to Michigan I was delayed in the Baltimore airport for four extra hours. When they first delayed, I had been at the airport for three full hours on a layover, I was dropped off at the Boston airport for my first flight almost three hours before take-off.

I didn’t get to my parents’ house until after 10 p.m. that night. I was groggy, woke up groggy the next day and therefore let my hairdresser leave me practically bald!

Okay, that picture gives it away. I did make it home at the end of this story. But hold on. Rewind. I spent almost 8 hours at the Baltimore airport on Wednesday, May 25th. I revisited BWI yesterday at about 3:40. I boarded my connection at 4:25…

… and after weather, air traffic issues, a medical emergency, more weather, and something about how pilots aren’t supposed to work for more than 12 hours a day or whatever, we deplaned at 8:30 p.m. and my flight was cancelled.

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Ugh. I can’t tell this story anymore. If I did, it would contain the following plot points:

Rescheduled flights for 6:30 a.m.
Waiting an hour for a hotel shuttle to accommodate me.
Dropping 80 bucks on a hotel room that I inhabited for about 5 hours.
Sleeping for less than 4.
A hotel coupon that promised 24-hour on-demand shuttle to the airport… yeah…
Reserved 4 a.m. taxi cabs who didn’t take their deadlines very seriously.
Intensely long lines to check baggage and go through security.
Eating nothing but McDonalds and airline peanuts for nearly 24 hours.

and, yes, eventually landing in Boston this morning at 8 a.m. after a perfect flight, to be picked up by my boyfriend who was home on a “Tornado Day.”

I’m back. I survived. The Lord of the Flights has seriously got it out for me.

I will blog about books on the morrow.

Michigan was fun, but it feels good to be back with two feet on the ground.

boston

09 Mar 2011

a trivial pursuit

Back in late August, before the semester started its steamroll over my weekly schedule, my boyfriend, myself, and our friend Geoff decided to spend a Sunday night playing pub trivia at a random bar.

We came in second place. We were excited, but I wasn’t surprised. I have a good memory for facts. I read a lot of entertainment news and celebrity gossip. I am, perhaps, genetically inclined to do well at games of trivia – my mother is a notoriously good Trivial Pursuit player.

I’m even a reigning Claude S. Larzelere Trivia Challenge Champion.

I used to watch Jeopardy every day with my dad.

I’m a nerd.

The semester got in the way and I don’t think we made it out to trivia again until just before Christmas, when I was done with school. This time, we decided to stay local and hit up our neighborhood hole-in-the-wall on a Tuesday night.

We were cocky.

We got schooled.

Sometime between then and now, trivia has become a weekly ritual. We adjust our schedules around scouting out our favorite corner table, we set aside cash to procure a few weekly PBRs. Then we started getting to trivia so early we didn’t have time to eat dinner first, so we started packing a weekly picnic dinner. We started inviting all of our friends, subbing team members in and out. We started training, playing Scene It and memorizing Oscar winners and state capitals and adding all of those “Man, I really should have seen this movie already” to our Netflix queue. We brainstorm team names with funny, quiz-related puns.

But despite all of our efforts, we still suck.

We lose every week.

And then we start to get grumpy about our inability to perform as a team, and start fighting with each other.

There are a lot of reasons why I think we suck at trivia.

Reason #1: The bar we first visited was in Kenmore Square – an area more likely to be visited by bar-hopping undergraduates than our little hood in JP. The questions are a lot harder, the competition fierce. We’ve talked about switching bars, go back to being the big fish in a small pond… but dammit, the small pond is two blocks from our apartment!! And we can bring in food!! And we have a corner table!! And it’s two blocks from our apartment!!

Reason #2: We have some noticeable trivia-deficiencies. Anything involving sports, history, or TV/movies beyond our generation? We falter.

Reason #3: There’s a bit of strategy involved in pub trivia – you have to wager different point values for each question – and we continuously miss the mark on our guesses. We bet our high values on answers we are certain are right (they aren’t), or save them up until the end and end up guessing right on our 1 and 3 point questions and then bombing the last two. This boils down to our group’s inability to communicate effectively. Somebody is always muttering the right answer and nobody listens, or somebody is dead certain on something that should have been doubted. We are maybe just not a good team.

It’s starting to wear on me. I, for one, am starting to enjoy having a little Tuesday night routine. I like feeling like I live in a sitcom, and I have a neighborhood joint where I can kick back on a weeknight and play a game while I have a few beers and eat a few slices of homemade pizza with the cheese stuck to the inside of a freezer bag we carried over from the apartment. But as the game rolls on, we are always just on the edge of winning or losing, my friends and I get edgy, and then, we lose. We lose, we lose, we lose. Everyone starts griping and snapping at each other and we are just big fat losers.

So maybe it’s just a losing game, trying to become Trivia Champions Of The World.

Or maybe we just need to go beat up on some little undergrads in Kenmore for awhile.

boston

07 Mar 2011

Whose foods?

So a few months ago, the news broke that the quirky Hispanic grocery store in my neighborhood was closing, and a Whole Foods was moving on in.

This announcement created quite a stir in the community and in Boston in general. Google “Whole Foods” and “Jamaica Plain,” and check out the maelstrom of articles on the topic. Basically, the announcement and the closing was quick, the history of the Hi-Lo was rich, and everybody’s getting livid. There have been town meetings, protests, interviews, and activism galore.

Being that this is all happening literally around the corner from my apartment, my friends and I have been talking about how we feel about the situation, and I don’t even know where to begin.

The crux of the debate is this: the area I live in is somewhat low-income friendly and home to a large percentage of Hispanic residents. The Hi-Lo was a full-service type grocery store that was well-known for being well-stocked with out-of-country brands and obscure produce, and for being pretty cheap. So not only is the “takeover” offensive to the local-business-friendly JP residents, it’s offensive to those who think that these Hispanic residents are valuable members of the community and should be able to feed themselves and their families in an affordable manner. Jamaica Plain has been “gentrifying” over the years, I suppose, but the people that live here care about maintaining a diverse community, and want to make sure people aren’t booted out of town just because JP is getting too trendy, or whatever.

I totally agree with all of that.

Which is why I feel so conflicted about liking the idea of a Whole Foods moving in next door.

It’s making me think a lot about business and capitalism and all of that jazz, which is not really my expertise or anything, but here are my thoughts about the whole mess:

I’m wondering about what it means to be a valuable voice in your community. When people ask me how I feel about the whole debate, my first instinct is “I have no idea, I shouldn’t really say anything because my opinion doesn’t matter because I’ve only lived here for a year and a half. I love living in JP, but I’m a grad student. My permanent address is still in Michigan, for crying out loud, and staying here and growing roots isn’t in the plans right now.” Just because I feel transient, does that mean I have to act transient? I have a feeling that it would take me years and years and years to feel at home ANYWHERE…. and it doesn’t seem right to feel like I have to shut up until then if I have something to say, or to wish that my community would advocate for the needs of people like myself as well as the needs of residents who have lived here longer.

Not that I do have something to say, it just made me think about what authority I even have in this situation.

That being said, I am worried about rents rising. I can barely afford my apartment as it is, and after navigating the Boston realty scene for the last two years, I can totally see a Whole Foods within walking distance leading to 100-200 dollar/month raises in rents. And I guess this is a big part of the opposition to the store – if there was a virtually-identical, Whole-Foods wannabe store that moved into the space, especially one that was independently/locally owned, it wouldn’t show up on the realty radar, and I think the community would have embraced it. Instead, this Big Name store is moving in – rents for apartments and the other businesses around the area will go up and in this economy, maybe people will have to leave. That’s sad and does seem pretty unnecessary.
I’m not really convinced, however, that Whole Foods deserves to be villainized here. The owners of the store decided to sell – I doubt Whole Foods came in with guns to their heads and demanded a lease-transfer. They probably had reasons to sell. I’ve read that the store management was past-retirement age and their kids wanted nothing to do with running the store, so maybe they were looking for a way out already. It’s possible that whatever money Whole Foods offered the owners far surpassed any profits the Hi-Lo would ever bring in for the owners and managers, but there was still a choice made, and one that wasn’t malicious, just economic.

Maybe it’s my Michigan roots showing, but I posted this story on my Facebook awhile ago and one my pals replied with something like “Um. People are getting up in arms because a store closed and another store moved in? They need to take a trip to Detroit and quit whining.”

Do the people who are now getting up in arms about the loss of the Hi-Lo even shop at the Hi-Lo themselves? I ask this question because although I feel affectionate toward my local grocer, I never did any of my major shopping there. To me, the Hi-Lo was always heavy on junk-food type packaged-goods, produce that I don’t know how to cook or eat, and meat (I’m a sort-of vegetarian). The Hi-Lo was reserved for individual items that fell off the grocery list; and for things like sugar, butter, and mozzarella cheese, I was always surprised at how high the prices were.

I know that I’m not the only, or the predominant voice here, and that many, many people did rely on the Hi-Lo for their weekly shopping needs. But I also wonder about the other people who live in my neighborhood – should we have all gone to the Hi-Lo even though we would rather shop elsewhere, just for solidarity? Or is this a case of capitalist, supply and demand, where we simply demanded something that we couldn’t find at the Hi-Lo?

So I’m conflicted. But at the end of the day, I do truck it out to the Brighton Whole Foods every week to do my grocery shopping. I am a poor graduate student who should probably not be spending so much money at the grocery store, but that’s the choice my boyfriend and I made. We used to shop at Stop & Shop, but I found the prices similar, the selection limited, and the quality of meat/vegetables/baked goods lacking. According to this suggested spending chart written by the USDA that assumes the USDA’s suggested level of nutrition, Lance and I fall between the Low and Moderate Plans, and manage to spend much of that at Whole Foods.

It’s possible, though, that I’m selfish enough not to care about all the hubub just because when I forget to buy cat food and it’s after nine p.m. and Lance isn’t around to drive me across town….

yeah, that will be nice.

boston

14 Feb 2011

lifted

Last semester was such a mess, it’s not surprising that I’m feeling comparatively chipper lately.

But I’m still not sure why.

Still working 30 hours a week.

Still taking 2 classes.

Still sticking to the same routines.

Maybe it’s because I’m finally feeling social and mobile, dancing around Boston, visiting friends, spending too much money, staying out late and being thoroughly 25 (or 21?).

Maybe that’s why I’m feeling so peppy?

Or maybe it’s because my boyfriend is growing a beard.

Mmmm…. yeah. Gotta be the beard.

boston

01 Jan 2011

2010 Retrospective

In January, I spent two weeks in Michigan, a weekend darting in and out of ALA Midwinter, and started my second semester of grad school with a great deal of vigor and energy. Or at least I think I had a great deal of vigor and energy. If I didn’t, I certainly should have.

In February, I wrote 50 two-page papers about 50 picturebooks.

That was about it.

I also stopped eating meat for the foreseeable future. That required considerably less energy than the first task.

In March, I became a Theater-Girlfriend, and spent a lot of nights and spring breaks alone with my kitty while Lance prepared for his directorial debut: an all 4th and 5th grade version of Seussical Jr. We entertained Lance’s mother during a massive Nor’easter – sightseeing = umbrellas, restaurants, and woohoo, a The Giant Whole Foods in Dedham! I also bit the bullet and replaced my cell phone. Woohoo, texting!

In April, things started getting more fun. I visited David Macaulay’s studio in Vermont, which was equal part childrens-lit-nerdgasm and funky-crazy-roadtrip. And then… AND THEN!! MY FAMILY CAME TO VISIT ME IN BOSTON!! Later, I celebrated 7 years of blogging, got hired for my second job, survived a week in Boston without Lance, and memorized all 151 first-generation Pokemon.

It’s like I KNEW I was boring for the first 3 months of 2010.

May began with signing the lease on a new apartment for September and conquering yet another harrowing finals week. Earlier in the year, I thought finals would bring me unemployment and a brief respite from schoolwork. However, my boss scrounged up some summer work to occupy my time, I landed a swank publishing internship for the summer, and then class! Glorious, class!

The weather also became quite nice – I started running after work with Lance, and walking to and from most places.

June was just a mess of early morning Starbucks trips, 9 to 5’s, and CSA vegetables. Literally.

So in July, we hit the road. Boston to DC. ALA Annual Conference. DC to Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach to DC. Pick up passengers. DC to Boston. When I returned, there was some entertaining (Whale watching and fireworks and heat wave OH MY!), and then back to the internship/part-time job grindstone.

Lance began his first teacher’s summer vacation, and quickly took up a part-time job scouring Craigslist for free and cheap goods. When he brought home a window air conditioning unit, I cried tears of joy.

In August, there was work, packing, a weekend in Maine. A trip back to Michigan, packing, and an extended “I’m moving to Boston and I’m crashing on your couch until I find a place” houseguest.

In September, we moved.

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I am so going to have to move again in September 2011 and it makes me sick to just think about.

Anyone I know want to move into my roommate’s bedroom so we don’t have to move?

Seriously.

In October, I went out on Halloween, under duress and in costume.

November was pretty crappy.

I tried to write a novel.

I tried to not have any nervous breakdowns.

I didn’t try hard enough.

Whatevvverrr…

I did get to go to two Thanksgivings, visit my aunt and uncle and cousins, ran three times a week (before daylight savings hit…) and I’m sure some other redeeming stuff that I’ve forgotten.

And now, December has ended. This month, I wrote two 10 page papers, read 17 books, and made it home for Christmas.

Hello, 2011.

How are you?

Are you going suck a little less than 2010?

boston

25 Oct 2010

keep your lamps

I’m starting to miss Regular Life. Life without schoolwork. Life without homework. Life without reading lists and syllabi and part-time jobs. I’m sure this is no surprise to anyone who’s met me in the past year, but this whole Moving Across the Country Away From My Friends And Family, Living With A Boyfriend For The First Time, Managing My Own Finances, and Starting A Quite Rigorous Graduate Program? Yeah, it’s really hard. My days are generally spoken for, and even when they aren’t, my mind is occupied with what’s coming up, what’s next.

I think a lot of people – especially academics – thrive in this state, when everything melts away except for your work. I think I could go places in academia if I could live that way. But I can’t. I am acutely aware of what I’m giving up, living like this, and it makes me miserable, even if the work is objectively enjoyable, the subject matter amazing. I can’t focus. I can’t surrender.

Oh, there are moments of joy, that’s for sure, and moments of giddy exhilaration about what I’m doing here, the life I’m preparing for, the opportunities I have. It’s all very thrilling, but it’s also very stressful and exhausting.

If I were better suited to this kind of work, I think, I would look at this unhappiness and think about how to change my work, how to challenge myself. Instead, I find myself trying to inject my School Life with Real Life whenever I can.

Yes, I will drive 16 hours to spend 3 days with my family over the holidays.

Yes, I will wake up an hour early everyday so I can just SIT and BE for awhile.

And on Saturday, we went to the Jamaica Plain Lantern Parade.

I’m not really sure why I wanted to go.

All you do is walk around a pond, holding a soda bottle lantern with a candle in it.

I had homework to do.

And the boys I dragged with me were under-impressed.

But it was within walking distance of my apartment. An it’s going to be winter soon so I should enjoy the outside. And there were a number of adorable little kid costumes to be seen. And yes, we bought a cool Pac-Man lantern.

And it seemed like Real Life.