Day 99: 5 Horses + 45 more days

A week of rehearsals this has turned out to be - Sunday/Wednesday/Thursday (tomorrow) for Rumors, and Tuesday for Calliope.  Lines are to be learned for Rumors by the coming Sunday -- I counted and Chris (my character) has something like 200+ of them, so it's been quite the work week in that sense.  Ah, the real job is also going ok.


To reward a job well done, E. and D. and I headed out for one drink after practice tonight, and ended up at a place unknown to me until today -- Five Horses in Davis Square, which contains multitudes (of outdoor seating).  Strange that Harvard/Central/Inman/Porter just don't, really.  Shay's and Charlie's in Harvard -- oh, and Daedalus --, the Field and (I guess we'll count) the Tavern in Central, nothing that I know of elsewhere really. Davis somehow seems homier and cozier than the other areas.  Especially during the winter, when the lights are out... I remember how surreal the first Cambridge snow that I experienced was, in December of 2008, and I have a strong association of it with Davis Square.  The snow was blanketing it as I went with classmates to see something at the Somerville Theater (ok, that part wasn't so magical -- it was the Slutcracker).  I believe we did snow angels - but we also had driven to the show for whatever reason, so we had the joyous experience of navigating through thick flurries.  That was also the night before I drove home to Indiana for winter break, of course, which ended up taking 19 instead of 15 hours due to the 8-10 inches covering the ground.  Somehow worth it, I think.  See Blue Yoshi (i.e., my blue Toyota Corolla) above, covered in snow. Not in Davis Square, but in front of my old place on Columbia St. near Central.

How did this post end up being about snow?  Anyway, the 5 Horses pub was great because we got to sit outside, we invited our waitresses to sing karaoke with us (and now I'm remembering they suggested we go to the Rosebud, maybe on Mondays?, for karaoke), and I got a little more Davis under my belt.  Oh, and today was the last day in the double-digits. Ahoy last six weeks of Cantabrigia.

Day 90: Hangin' in Davis Square.

Though most of today was spent in the middle of the country or in the air, I had a bit of QT with Massachusetts (and E.) this evening Davis Square, a compromise between E.'s location in Medford and mine at the redline-accessible airport when I landed.

Normally E. and I would probably have gone for a drink somewhere, but we opted to hang out in open air, as Davis "Square" is one of the few in the area which in any way resembles "an open place...formed at the meeting of two more streets" (thanks to m-w.com for helping me figure out how to define this type of "square"). And of course Davis Square, in true Somerville fashion, is of the "or more" of streets variety - six, to be precise.  So we got some decafs [I judge myself a bit for that part] from JP Lick's and chatted about our weekends at the confluence of Elm, Day, Dover, Holland, College, and Highland.  [Side note: JP Lick's is apparently the place to be at 11:30 on a Monday night -- there was some sort of crazy disco dance party going on with the staff that E. and I pseudo-joined for about 60 seconds.  Reminiscent of the 10-minute dance party that my former housemate held last year when her birthday fell on a Wednesday.]

One draw-back of going to D. Square so late is that the T stopped running half an hour before we thought--luckily Green Cabs are prevalent in Somerville and so the day was saved.

Day 65: Saloon

With the double-whammy of evening softball and choir on Tuesdays, Wednesdays are fast becoming my "catch-up" days at work.  Nonetheless, a girl can only work until so late, so tonight around 10p or so I headed out from my new cubicle [see artsy picture of my hardworking pen located in my cubicle, above] to meet some friends in Davis Square -- a very nearby neighborhood that I wish had been more on my radar for the last few years.  At first the plan was to go and see music, but my friends ended up at the closest thing to a speakeasy in the area, instead.

I had heard of Saloon before, but never manage to remember that it exists when I am out in Somerville. For one thing, in true "speakeasy" (2012-version) fashion, there is no sign on the street. Luckily I had the address. It's apparently owned by the same folks who run the Foundry, which has some tasty grub and a good vibe and is located just upstairs.  Saloon is located in the basement, but you'd never realize it once you're down there.  No windows, but high ceilings and a polished touch make you think you're in quite a fine establishment.

Even the bathroom only had a very subdued (and artfully drawn) arrow pointing to it.  Sneaky sneaky.

Day 44: The Burren

Unfortunately, making it a priority to go to Davis Square [see left] is something I have not done enough of over the past four years. At some point over the last few months, E. suggested we go to the Burren, which often has live Irish music in the front room (I only learned today that there also exists a back room!).  So when L. invited some people for a comedy show there, I made a happy return.

L. knew someone involved with the show, but apparently he wasn't performing -- introducing the performers, rather. It was supposed to be an amateur competition, but not everyone participating was an amateur (the professionals weren't competing, so there ended up being only two contenders, neither of whom performed while I was in the room).  The first guy I saw when I arrived was really young, but apparently often performs in NYC, for a living.  The second guy was (so they said) quite famous, performing at the Wilbur in NYC the next night -- his name was Gary Gulman. As he was being introduced, I was of course texting to coordinate with E. about his arriving and so, given that I was at a comedy show, I was quite easy prey for the guy doing the introductions, who called me out on it immediately. L. of course had the courtesy to let me know, and I laughed it off.

However, when GG himself came on, he made the same joke -- now, either he just really adores being mean or wasn't paying attention before. I was willing to be it was the latter (now I think he might just not be that smart and really does adore being mean), and so he called me out on it -- again (with much more vim and vigor).  Wanting to stand up for myself I said, "Oh come on, the other guy already made that joke" and was met with lots of hushing from the audience. 

So he went on.

About how entitled I was, about how I sure was effing entitled, and shame on me, and shame on my parents for being the kind of terrible people who would raise a child that way.

Alright, fine.  He was being mean. It's cool.  And it was so pulled from nowhere that of course it wasn't actually offensive to me (and my parents would probably both have the common sense to ward off such offenders by paying attention at a comedy club).

However, I wasn't his only target -- in fact, at the end of the show, when he was counting his targets, he got to two - and excluded me.  That's right buddy.  Pick your battles :).  But more interestingly, the second girl he pissed off was actually defending him -- someone had tried to hush some people who were talking, and GG thanked her.  Then this second girl remarked, "I'm glad you praised that girl over there just now for doing that -- I thought you were pretentious, at first."

Not the right thing to say if you don't want to become a target.  He immediately started saying that she could call him arrogant, an asshole, a jerk, whatever -- but she had no grounds to call him pretentious, and was probably jealous. "What shitty safety school did you go to? I'm guessing you weren't at Tufts?" he asked her.  A quick google search told us he had gone to BU -- not exactly a "shitty safety school", but not exactly Harvard (or even Tufts), either.  She left the room and didn't come back until he was gone, after he had apologized, saying, "This would be at least the fourth girl I've made cry at the Burren."

I left happy with the Burren but unconvinced that comedy shows of this nature were for me.

Day 12: Calliope

This morning started out with a brisk bike ride on a beautiful day in to the Back Bay area, where I was meeting with the director of my choral/orchestral ensemble, Calliope to help out a bit with auditions. The morning ended up being extremely pleasant (although only 2/5 women who were auditioning actually showed!) as I chatted with the director and two of the other women in the chorus.

I was quite lucky to stumble upon Calliope just by searching for a choral group to join last summer. The most interesting part about Calliope is that the chorus both performs *and* practices with an orchestra, and it's a really great group of guys and dolls. I always wished I had taken up an orchestra instrument -- the closest I came was oboe in the fifth grade, and I didn't get all too far with that :). So it's a great experience to be able to practice with an orchestra each week, and getting back into singing with a group has been so uplifting.

Anywho, enough of my goings-on about that. After auditions, I biked up to the Armory in Somerville from Boston to meet a friend at the winter farmers' market there - who turned out already to be gone by the time I got there (turns out, I am a bit slower at biking 5 miles, much of it uphill, than I would like!). But that was fine (and the market was really well-organized, I definitely want to go back!), and I headed to my next destination, Starbucks in Davis Square, which usually has outdoor seating. Turns out they haven't put out their tables yet, but the restaurant next door had, so I had a salad while waiting for a friend to join. He checked out my flashy green bike for a bit and I studied some for my biology exam (this post is being written during an *ahem* extended break). Soon I'll bike back home because it's my roommate's birthday tonight and we are hosting the first "real" party chez nous! (At least the first one I will be in attendance at.)

Happy spring to all!