Day 112: Shakespeare on the Common

The best part of today was all of it.

Day two of biking to work meant that I needed to bike all the way from Fresh Pond to Newbury St. in the evening for Calliope.  I thankfully left in plenty of time, not realizing that bike paths in Boston are actually full of pedestrians (well, mostly runners).  Who knew Boston was so athletic?

It was a fantastic day for the ride.  Biking on the Boston side of the river across from Cambridge turned out to be stunning, even if the path was pedestrian-ridden.  Thank you Dr. Paul Dudley White.

One of the coolest parts of the ride was biking past the hatch shell (see above), which was apparently hosting some crazy cardio exercise which only women were attending.

I had a few moments just before chorus to myself, so I plopped down under a tree (viewed the correct way as shown in the photo) and just breathed for a few minutes.

Rehearsal was a bit rough this evening, but afterward, we had the reprieve of some William S. in the park -- Coriolanus.  Only got there in time to see the last two acts (out of five) -- "I will be loved when I am lacked."

Beautiful day.

Day 105: Have you ever seen the rain? Or, The Importance of Living Above Toscanini's.

Someone told me long ago
There's a calm before the storm.
I know
It's been comin' for some time.


Today was Calliope's second chorus-only practice in a row (well, chorus and orchestra separate, that is) -- and it's always really nice to have Julia (our conductor) to ourselves. The orchestra is amazing, but when it's everyone together there is just so much going on.  Tonight we arranged in small semi-circles in order to hear one another better and get a good mix, and the altos in circle #1 (i.e., the circle I was in!) tore it up.  It was a great rehearsal -- the Bach that so intimidate us a few weeks back is now one of my favorite pieces to sing.


I had ridden my bike into Boston when the sky was only vaguely threatening to do much more than release a light mist, but by the time we were done rehearsing, a downpour had unleashed itself.  After a bike ride over the Harvard bridge, I went back home to dry myself off thinking I might go back out again.  But after a shower and a realization that I could grab ice cream without getting wet, I opted to stay in and play Rock Band with V., who is leaving for Japan on Thursday.

But back to the main point--I realized tonight that I can procure the most delicious saffron ice cream you ever did taste on a stormy Cambridge evening without getting wet.  How many people can say that?  I'd approximate about the 20 that live in my building, and that's it.  Honestly, even without the ice cream (which served as my dinner, mind you), I'd have been happy tonight.  I love summer rain.

Day 98: Biking the city

It was raining today, so after I drove home from work, I took the T to choir rather than biking.  Thank goodness it rained -- the heat just disappeared.  But like most summer rains, this rain was temperamental, and had ceded by the time we were done piping out our Bach [side note: singing Bach's Mass in F Gloria at the appropriate tempo is not easy, but it's a helluvalotta fun].

So after I got home via T, I grabbed my bike to head to Inman Square to meet up for a) Punjabi Dhaba and b) a board game night.  Fewer pleasures greater than biking in a post-rain evening around here (love the smell -- if I'm not going to get to enjoy the crispness of Cambridge's autumn I'll damn well enjoy the cool after the summer rain).  And if it's warm, not so bad biking in the rain either.

Get ready for some sappy posts.  Roomies leaving at the end of the week is hitting me hard.

Day 91: The Tab

Tuesday, Tuesday -- so good to me.

Tuesdays have always held a special place in my heart, ever since J. and I decided they were the best day of the school week when we were around 14 or 15 years old.  I don't remember what are criteria were, but I think we pretty much discounted Friday, since it's basically a day of the weekend in disguise.  On Thursday you're just getting desperate; Wednesday is hump day; and Mondays are clearly spent recovering from the week-end's freedom.  But Tuesdays you might just find yourself having a high work ethic or becoming numb enough to the grind of the week that you don't mind it as much (depending on whether you're an optimist or a pessimist).

Today's Tuesday was probably more like a typical week's Monday for me, except that it still involved Calliope, and therefore still counted as a highlight of my week.  Somehow I always manage to pick only the hottest days in Boston to bike to choir, but there was such a breeze tonight that it didn't seem to matter as much.  We worked exclusively on the Gloria and the Kyrie, which was nice because they are two of my favorites.  Ok, perhaps they're all my favorites (except for the Kedushah... can't wrap my head around that one yet -- but I'm sure I will grow to love it after a bit more practice).

Anyway, after choir there was brief contemplation of a jump into a certain muddy river, but I had made plans to meet some people at the good ol' 'Tab for a friend-of-a-friend's b-day (said friend-of-friend was someone whom I'd hoped to meet for a while), so instead of jumping, there was tabbing, instead.  With a brief pause for some falafel.  Apparently falafel does not mean what I thought it meant -- who knew that falafel was not a generic term for all delicious things coming wrapped up with hummus and other delicious stuff?  Ok, maybe everyone else, but no matter, Falafel Palace has gotten much better since the last time I was there (saying something, given that the last time I was there was probably at like 3am after a bunch of beers).

The Cantab had live bluegrass music (as it does every Tuesday), and Julie (the birthday girl) apparently knew some of the regulars who knew members of the band, which was fun to hear about. Several other friends showed up and it was nice, low-key way to enter back into the Cambridge night scene (they run things differently in Indiana).

Day 78: Public Garden

Well.  The weather has finally returned to the beautiful Bostonian summer climate we all know and love.  Highs of 75, balmy evenings, sweet breezes. In the morning when I walk to my car I'm greeted by little petals falling from some of the trees, kids' laughter, and a stray chirper or two.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's a perfectly fine endeavour not to be on the "go" all the time, and just to enjoy these things.

During our break at Calliope rehearsal this evening, we seemed to hit that perfect moment of twilight, extended in the summer, where all the greens of the trees seem to be nearly glowing, and a friend had the brilliant idea of taking a short walk during the 15 minutes we had.  Though I had spent every Tuesday evening last summer in this same spot at rehearsal, it did not once cross my mind to walk the fifty paces to the public garden next door.  So tonight, we wandered over for a bit, with barely enough time to make it across the footbridge and back, and it's something I wish to repeat.  I always forget that next to Boston Common (which is nice, but not breathtaking), there is a nicely landscaped area around the pond in the public garden.  It's really quite different.  I think the first time I checked it out in earnest was when J. was visiting from Oregon a few years ago.  Why is it that so often it takes a visitor for us to be tourists in our own city?  I'll have to remember this advice to myself once I move to San Diego.

Day 74: Non-Rand Anthem

Tonight I had plans to hang out with a friend (K.) who worked at MIT while I was a student there.  One thing I love about hanging out with K. is that her version of Boston is so different from mine (which is super Cambridge-centric... fairly obviously).  She lives in Brookline but often hangs out near Newbury Street/Copley, near the seaport, at Drink, etc.  Adult places.  Tonight she asked if I might be up for meeting in Faneuil Hall, and I ended up joining her and a friend of hers at a place called Anthem.  I had to think about the word for a second when I heard it -- for some reason I find it to be a really striking word that is not used often.  Of course it calls to mind Ayn Rand [aside: I've somehow managed to get through the tomes that are Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead -- one of my favorite books of all time, but don't worry, it's for literary reasons -- but have never managed to read the much more reasonably-sized Anthem], but for me, it also brings to mind some sort of image.  Maybe it's from the cover, but I imagine a person, usually a very young person with a true heart, standing, looking up, shining with justice, and standing FOR SOMETHING.  Ok, sorry for the weird diversion.

Back to Anthem the bar.  This all goes to say that while I like the word, it also seems kind of a weird name for a bar, and it kind of bugged me, because although the bar was fine (and it's fun to be in that area once in a while), I didn't feel it lived up to its fairly patriotic name.  Unlike People's Republik, which most certainly does.

After Anthem, I parted ways to join my choir folk at a last-minute charity karaoke event.  The money raised was to go toward fighting cancer.  Really cool idea... did not win the raffle, but did enjoy a beer or two and belt out that awesome song by Megara from the movie Hercules.

Day 64: Close Encounters of the Veggie Kind

Truth be told, I have put great efforts into discovery of the best grilled cheese and the best cheeseburger in Cambridge, but not until recently did I come to believe that a similar quest for veggie burgers might be in order.  Mostly because I feel like veggie burgers are usually crumbly bundles of poorly cohered beans and tofu - not so appealing, right?  Well, I stand corrected.

In addition to providing an edgy yet very Cantabrigian environment (complete with the fixture of a periodic table of burgers and other foods chalked onto its back wall and serving as the menu), the Miracle of Science also serves up a damn good veggie burger.  Saved by the grace of not being a vegan burger, some magical creamy sauce saves the day, and it's delicious.  I stopped by with a friend after our choir practice in the Back Bay, and at first we thought we could get away with splitting one... which turned quickly into two (and I'm pretty convinced he could have gone further if we'd have let him).

After a long day of work, softball (we came thisclose to not losing...), and singing some masterful pieces from a piecemeal mass (more on that later), Miracle was the perfect end to the day.

Day 57: The 'Snake

Tuesdays are serious days this summer.  In addition to Calliope (choir), which has always been on Tuesdays, the Straw Dogs softball games are also on Tuesdays this summer, meaning that I dash from the Fresh Pond area down to MIT around 4:30 and don't get home until 10p at the earliest, after Calliope.  Today was the first of such days, so I suppose I shouldn't be speaking in generics quite yet. However, I have a fairly certain feeling that getting home at 10pm on Tuesdays is not going to be the norm, due to the presence of a nice little place we like to affectionately call the 'Snake (the Rattlesnake, located on Boylston St. in Back Bay; pic above taken around the corner on Newbury St.).

It's just around the block from where the choir practices (at Emmanuel Episcopalian, a really pretty church which is beautiful on the inside... the kind of place I used to fantasize about as a kid who wished she went to boarding school; yes, weird).  And it's got some tasty stuff.  D., who just joined the choir after I pestered for a while, was fairly disgusted by my zest for the macaroni and cheese, which, in addition to being basically the antithesis of all things vegan, includes (along! with bacon) Taza chocolate.  Sound gross?  Maybe, but I find it almost as delicious as the peanut butter burgers at both Bukowski's.

Yay softball!  Yay choir!  And yay for adding more chocolate and peanut butter to the world. :-/?

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!

Day 11: Charles Playhouse

This was one of those fabled fortnights in which karaoke happened multiple times each week. Last night's LBK at Asgard was, as always, epic in its own right, but there is something special about going out to karaoke with members of your choir (more on that another time; perhaps tomorrow).

I hung out with several of them at Charles Playhouse located in the theatre district. As a matter of fact, it is also located in the same building which has hosted both the Blue-Man Group (Boston-based, baby!) and the slapstick comedy Shear Madness (murder mystery style) for years (the former I've never seen; the latter, my mom and I attended the summer before I moved out here, and it was ridiculous, in a good way).

In fact, I arrived second to the karaoke venue, preceded by a non-Callioper (who is however a karaoke fiend and aficionado), and we were eventually also joined by a second non-Callioper, a friend of mine who is auditioning for the group this weekend (!). We did a duet (new to me) at the end of the night -- "Picture" by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock (probably the only Kid Rock song that I can tolerate, and I actually like it very much... "I just called to say I miss you -- come back hooooome.").

Usually at Charles Playhouse, the singers are really great -- apart from the group I was with and a few other outliers, the level of the performance was, ahh, well, slightly sub-par. Ok, actually it was just awful. But still fun! The end of the night was also an experience, as the theatre district is also where all of Boston's serious "clubs" (and hence, skirts shorter than my underwear) are located. All-in-all, a great Charles Playhouse experience.

Day 6: Trinity

Happy Easter! Or as my mom would say, "Happy Easter bonnet hat." Like last year, I attended the noon Easter service at Trinity Episcopal in Boston. A friend of mine was singing in the chorus, which was lovely. Episcopalians have open communion, which I am a fan of, and the funniest/cutest part of the service was when I went up to communion with a friend of mine, who was being served before me. He hadn't taken communion since his first communion at a Catholic church in Puerto Rico as a child, and when it came time for him to have the wine, the woman serving him said, "Just dip, and then a little 'amen,' and then you're done."

After church we met up with my friend who had been singing (in all three services - 8am, 10am, and noon -- mind you) and went across the street to the Globe for a snack and a well-deserved (for her, anyhow) drink. Now we are in Medford at my friend's house to color Easter eggs to bring to his 1-year-old nephew's house. Lovely, lovely Easter.