Product Reviews
What I'm Listening to Now
  • To the 5 Boroughs
    To the 5 Boroughs
    by Beastie Boys
  • Dig Me Out
    Dig Me Out
    by Sleater-Kinney

    This is such an excellent album. I will miss the ladies of s-k, I wish them well....Thanks for all the wonderful music over the years.

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Monday
27Jul2009

Dad

Sometimes he says very little.

Sometimes he'll strike up a conversation with a total stranger in line at the checkout at ACO Hardware.

He'll always give you money, even when you don't ask.

He'll hug you when your first boyfriend dumps you and breaks your heart.

He'll comfort you when your maternal grandma dies.

He'll sit in the room with the family's cat, Samantha, at the vet's when she gets put to sleep because you and your mom can't.

He cried when Samantha, his buddy, was gone.

He always has suggestions for shelving or organizing or renovations in your apartment.

He'll build you a wine rack.

He has an appreciation for and will talk endlessly about glass and collecting glass.

He appreciates a good joke.

He taught high school for 42 years.

When you were a kid you would sit in silence in the basement with him while he worked on his stained glass while listening to classical music.

He doesn't see eye to eye with you on politics and you've learned to not discuss such topics.

He loves jazz music.

If you ask him about Oscar Peterson, he will burn you all his OP cds.

He makes really good guacamole.

He taught you how to field and throw a softball.

You realize that you and he have similar traits...and that's not such a bad thing.

You love him, because he'll always be your dad.

Saturday
25Jul2009

Being Present...

So...
I've been running without music for a few weeks now....and I love it.

I'm finding that I'm more in tune with myself and my environment without the (gasp, dare I say it?) distraction of music. I hear *everything*, including the silence of my neighborhood, my feet clomping on the ground, my breathing, the birds, the squirrels scampering, etc. etc. This awareness is...a benefit of running. Not listening to music reminds me of why I'm outside in the first place: to run.

Music became annoying to me and something that I wasn't enjoying any longer. I was listening to the same songs...every day and they just washed over me. If you know me, you know that music is very important to me and has been since, well, I was a teenager. Someone I know said that he "doesn't listen to music to pass the time," and that's what I had been doing. Once I recognized this behavior in myself, I stopped. I didn't listen to music on my run, my commute, or walking in the city. But rather, I tuned into my surroundings.

I could, for the first time in a long time....hear.

By taking this break from having a soundtrack to my life, I appreciated running AND music even more. My running was not distracted by music and when I wasn't running, music sounded better to me. I was reminded why I love both activities.

The end result? I feel more present, in tune....aware.

Thursday
23Jul2009

Food Politics..Educate Yourself

Thursday
23Jul2009

F*ck Cancer

Seriously.

 

Sending love and positive energy out to MCA....heal soon, my brother.

http://beastieboys.com/

Monday
13Jul2009

My 15 Minutes...

...of being almost famous.

 

Check out p. 2 of today' Metro paper and my review from Yelp.com of Abilene Bar in Carroll Gardens.

 

Weeeee!

 

I'd better get a date for this.

Snort.