Day 84: All Asia

Thank goodness for Mariposa.  The best part of waking up... is waking up early enough to go have coffee and chill a bit before work.

Otherwise you're screwed.

Somehow, All Asia played in to my day two days in a row.  The first (as you'll know if you religiously read all my blog posts... which you should NOT) was yesterday, pre-fireworks.  The second was today, post-work, pre-live-band-karaoke.  One of the few times recently that E. and I have carved out some chatterbox one-on-one time that didn't involve riding in a car (for 12+ hours at a time).

It was, of course, again ruined by the music, but luckily better music was in our near future.  However, first, on the way to Asgard, in the same damn plaza as yesterday, we again run into my former dorm-mate from college!  This is getting uncanny, so it seemed like kismet that she should join us for karaoke at Asgard -- which (about an hour later) she did.  Excellent.

Asgard was dead tonight until it just wasn't -- nearly everyone showed at the same time.  D. showed with JRock about the same time as C. and party came in for her birthday.  Everyone was having a smashing time (on multiple levels), I sang some crazy-sappy tunes ("Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"), and the night was LBK as it should be.  The night ended with some falafel, some funny lines, and some funnier moments. All that was missing was ... you know what? I don't think anything was missing.

Day 81: Jill Brown-Rhone Park

The thingie in front of my house that I always refer to as Lafayette Square (which it is) contains a park, which, because Cambridge is not New York City, is _not_ reasonably called Lafayette Square Park (which would be cool, right?), but is rather called Jill Brown-Rhone park.  I've no idea who Jill Brown-Rhone is, but I am sure I approve of her because it is lovely to have a little park in front of my house (-ish; it even has some of those tables with chess boards painted right on them).

Ahem. After work, I met up with D. in said J B-R park to hand off the goods... you know what I'm talking about.  *wink wink*.  Ok, fine, I'm not that interesting, and it was some healthy chocolate stuff. Long story.  Point is, why don't _I_ ever think of just going outside and hanging out in the park in front of my house?  Seriously.  I adore Central, I adore Lafayette Square, why don't I go out and enjoy it?  So for about 30 minutes today, I did, and it was fantastic.  Sun was shining, people were oot 'n' aboot, maybe some birds were chirping?  Well, in my mind's reinterpretation of the event, there were some damn birds chirping.

Other lovely C. Square events of the day: DELIGHTFUL foods in the a.m. at Mariposa, a venture to some bluegrass nearby in the evening at Atwood's, and some nice downtime just after work, pre-park.  Maybe someone will read this blog, decide to give me an enormous sum of money for a book and movie contract a la Julie and Julia, and tell me never to go back to science but rather to frolic around and critique Neil Simon-esque plays for the rest of my life.  Eh? Eh?  Drat.

Day 30: Mariposa is a cozy coffee shop

Rarely do I go to Mariposa, one of the three coffee shops/cafes within a 20 foot (or so) radius of my house, but boy was I glad I did today.  I never thought of myself as very granola-loving, but I think I've just eaten too many greasy breakfast sandwiches recently because boy, was I craving fruit and health this morning.  Pricey though it may be, the granola and yogurt and fruit (with a whole banana!) concoction with a coffee while I studied for my final before work today really hit the spot.. and inspired me a bit.  Maybe I can go to granola-loving California and be happy after all.

The day sort of flew by, probably because I was just tired, but I was just so, so happy the moment I had finished the final that I brushed the tiredness off.  The evening was going to be a treat, I knew -- a *new* karaoke experience, and a new Jamaica Plain experience, all in one go!  E. and I went with mostly new friends to a place near our friend's house in JP, and it was quite the unique experience.  It was really one of those bars where it feels like everyone is hanging out together -- something I had only experienced via watching Cheers re-runs as a kid.  Costello's live-band karaoke on Wednesdays was way louder, rowdier, and sloppier than anything I have seen in Cambridge.  Thinking back to the previous post, I think this might be due in part to the fact that the "academics" of the area were mostly weeded out, the collar-poppers of Boston don't typically venture that far south, and the result was some awesome menagerie including a dude who brought his own fedora, fireman hat, and stuffed animals which he placed in inappropriate configurations that varied throughout the night.

Glory be to this weird, wonderful world we find ourselves in.  Another highlight of the evening was introducing E. to my favorite e.e. cummings poem:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)