May 1, 2007
happy mailman day

image from bodhitree.com.

May 3, 2007
this is the one week in boston where the weather is nice

-- cnn

i wonder why this headline didn't use the words "women" or merely "people."

May 7, 2007
before there was firefox...

this weekend i stopped by nuggets looking for one of two Pierre Boulez / Cleveland Orchestra recordings on vinyl of the rite of spring that i had just bought from newbury comics. instead, i bought this for $4:

it turns out that unlike the rite recordings, i have performed both pieces on this record at one point or another.

i played the firebird in some weird orchestra in dc that i had done some terrible audition tape for. they must have been really short on percussionists. all in all, it was a pretty awful trip. it was over a weekend, with maybe like two days practicing with the group before our concert at the kennedy center.

my parents couldn't go, so i had to make the trip alone. this may be my earliest memory of having trouble with airport security: the non-english speaking trainee working the x-ray machine was not quite sure what to do with a bag full of aluminum tubes and other percussion-playing equipment. apparently i made it out ok.

i did know one of the oboists from chautauqua the summer prior (which would make it sophomore year of high school), but was still pretty paralyzed the whole time; i was pretty shy back then (ok, i still am). i think i went the first day or two without eating? and then it turned out i forgot my shoes, so i had to borrow someone else's, which were too big for me. terribly embarassing.

there wasn't much else that was memorable from this trip, except i thought i left a t-shirt there which i think i later found.

i believe i've performed romeo and juliet twice; the first time very well may have been in 6th grade, in orchestra before normal classes started on thursdays, where we got donuts. i don't remember where the other place i played it was... probably with the school orchestra again in high school?

but the kind of creepy thing about all of this, is that on the back of the record's sleeve, they mention another bernstein recording with the new york phil of the age of anxiety. who happens to be playing piano on that recording? none other than lukas foss, whom i am almost completely certain was the conductor of that youth orchestra i played the firebird with. we played some awful piece of his which had a terrible percussion orchestration. it is important to note that there's nothing that makes playing a terrible piece worse than being conducted by the guy who wrote it.

oh, hmm. hockey's on.

May 8, 2007
i still hate them

how does ticketmaster know that i don't like wilco enough to go see them, oh, i dunno, that is unless it offers me second row seats? i am such a sucker.

May 8, 2007
change for the... well, yeah.

times here are tough all over, what with $4 gas prices and all, so today i finally did what i've been threatening ever since i moved into my current apartment: hit up the coinstar machine at the star market.

what they don't really tell you, when you're waiting for it to finish up, is that it may not have accepted all of your change, and you should check the change drawer below.

well, it's finally time to order that new $3500 tv i've been eyeing...

May 10, 2007
good news for people who are me

metric has some things going on:

1. they are (re)issuing their debut, pre-old world underground album
2. emily is releasing a new solo EP
3. their new album might be out this year
4. which all means
5. they might be touring again soon

excitement on a web page. i hope my friend brette is done with school so she can go to the show(s?!) with me.

May 26, 2007
end of the line

for a while now, i've been meaning to ride to the end of all the subway lines here in boston. i've been to quite a few, but had never been past reservoir on the D line. last night, to kill some time, i rode out to riverside. sadly i didn't take my camera.

while i was there, i noticed a little display for the museum of science community solar system, which was something i had wanted to do for a while, but hadn't quite gotten around to doing.

i ended up visiting 6 planets today (two are temporarily(?) unavailable, and the other was in a library that had already closed for the day). it was quite strange, i have to say, to go looking for these in places i've been quite a few times over the years, such as the galleria and south station. but i think it makes for a fun day of riding the T, and maybe showing around a newcomer to the area.

here are some tips, in case you're interested:

1. You do not have to pay for museum entrance

it turns out you can get the passport forms near the planetarium which is not in the for-pay part of the museum. i didn't know this until too late, but fortunately it's free museum month for bank of america customers, so it didn't end up costing me a month and a half of overdrawn fees.

2. Bring a pencil

you don't want to buy one at the museum.

3. Venus is hot

it's up at the top of a glass-enclosed stairwell, and in the summer it is excrutiatingly hot up there.

4. Walk to Earth

it's right around the corner from the museum parking garage; no need to take the train to lechemere.

5. Bring a camera to Riverside

they have a bunch of the recently retired boeing lrvs and they love being photographed:

it's too bad that neptune is closed; i was really looking forward to taking the bus to saugus. maybe i will anyway, just for fun.

May 28, 2007
let down

hdnet was showing a bunch of concerts this weekend, and i told tivo to record the v festival from last summer since radiohead was playing. they were playing a bunch of songs from their upcoming album, which would have been great to see (again). but of course they only showed songs that are over a decade old: the bends, no surprises, and creep. i mean honestly.

i was looking to see if i wrote anything about the shows i saw last year, and ran into this entry. i had just finally got invisible touch out of my head. it's going to be a long week.