Euphoric revelations sometimes hold water

Today, Eric, Jason and I went to see Avatar. Jason and I for our second viewing, Eric for his first. The red line wasn't running from Harvard to Davis, unfortunately, so I had to take a shuttle bus from Porter to Davis to grab Eric, take the shuttle bus back from Davis to Harvard to get on the train, and we finally made it to the theater (Boston Common) half way through the preview for Despicable Me. (Which is fine, cause I've seen it what feels like a million times now.)

After the movie, Jason peeled off and went home, Eric and I went to Park St. station, and went our separate ways. Hopefully, by the time I write this, he's back home in New York. After the movie I went to Harvard Sq. and tried to find a place to sit and read.

Dado was completely full of people, so I regretfully left. Crema Cafe was also packed, so I wandered out, still having never purchased anything there. Following that, I tried Algiers and found it to be only about half full, and delightful. I had some falafel, fries, and a small-ish salad for a late lunch, and then a cappuccino. That place is nice - it has a quiet, cozy atmosphere. I haven't been upstairs yet, but I imagine it's not half bad either.

After I left Algiers, I decided to walk home from Harvard Square, rather than take the shuttle bus to Porter. It was a beautiful night, and while I started to take a quick way home up Concord St., I instead decided to take Mass Ave. and Walden St. home, just to extend the walk a bit.

On the way home I thought about what I'd like to do with life. I think I was somewhat euphoric after the cappuccino, which strikes me as an interesting reaction. Something about caffeine after 4:00 PM.

I thought about what we can do, as humans, to create an impact on the race. I thought about collective memory, oral history, and the telling of stories. I thought about the Wheel Of Time novels, and the world Robert Jordan created in their pages. I thought about James Cameron and Avatar, and how he created a world and a people that we as modern people would feel good and proper to be a part of. I thought about the appreciability of a good story, and how it can leave an impression on us when we hear it. How stories can teach us morals, can change the way we think, can give us an appreciation for the world around us, can bring us together, can shed light on things we would rather, but shouldn't, forget.

I thought about how I spend a great deal of time these days learning things about music, which is both familiar and very foreign to me. I used to spend a good chunk of my spare time writing, which, in a sense, I am trying to return to with this log. I thought about how my love for , and skill (such as it is) in writing are a part of my life that I've neglected for quite some time, despite the fact that, at times, I have been very good at it.

Music is new and unfamiliar, and I can't say with certainty that I am particularly good at it. I would love to qualify that with "yet," but having no concept of my capacity for improvement, will dispense with the qualifier. Perhaps I'm studying the wrong thing?

Maybe I've hit upon something that I'm uniquely qualified to do in life, given my history, passions, and skill set. It seems like a good idea. I want to help people tell stories.

I need to let that sink in a bit, and see how it holds up.

Upon arriving home, I spent a bit of time paying some bills and cleaning here and there. Eric suggested we watch There Will Be Blood, which we eventually did around 7:00 or 8:00 PM. It was an intense, spectacular movie. Definitely worth watching.

And here I am.

Tomorrow I head back to work, and also, I think, class. Yes, indeed, Jazz Theory.

It's been a strange couple of weeks. One would think being "lazy" would be relaxing, but that's not really the case. Lazy tends to equate to neglect, which is, in general, not a good feeling. I think I'm ready to be done with laziness for now.

She's got a chicken to ride

Today was particularly social.

After last night's lovely evening over at the Wagner residence, I woke up at around 8:30 AM so that I could get out to Sudbury for brunch with the subset of the usual crew that was able to drag themselves to Stephen Anthony's by 10:30 AM or so. This included Jason, Daved, Dave FR, his sister, and Jamie, Graham, and Tracy and Joe. Not a bad crew.

I feasted on blueberry pancakes, an egg (over easy), coffee, and orange juice. The usual. Post-brunch, we descended on Dave FR's house for an afternoon of board gaming. We played Ticket To Ride and some detective game (I won the first - woohoo!), and then I proceeded to sit around and play Dave's sister's guitar for a while during what appeared to be a rousing game of Manhattan.

We all left Dave's around 5:30 or so, and I went back to Cambridge to pick up Eric at Mike and Ria's. Eric and I drove back to my place, I parked the car, and we took the T from Porter to Harvard and had dinner at Le's. Curry tofu and fresh summer rolls. Stuffed with veggies. I had a "33", which is apparently a Vietnamese beer. Delicious. We decided, prior to leaving my place, that we wanted to go watch Avatar at Boston Common. Eric hadn't seen it, and I'd be glad to see it again. There was a showing every hour or so for the remainder of the night, so we just winged it and decided to show up when we showed up.

Bad idea.

Apparently, after all this time, Avatar is still selling out shows. The 8:15 PM show was completely sold out, and we decided that 9:15 PM was going to be a bit too late, given that it's like a three hour movie. Following that, we walked from Loew's Boston Common down to Boylston, checked out the Starbucks near the Arlington T stop, and then got back on the Green/Red line and went home.

A few hours later, after returning Eric into Ria's custody, here I am. I think I need to learn some more songs that we can all sing along to. Currently, my repertoire is just sorta... limited. It would make these sit-around-and-play sessions much more fun.