Quote of the Day

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist."
  -- Jack London

Goal #43

Goal #43: fill the Goodwill box.

I have been working on cleaning out my closet and just trying to be a bit less sentimental (and/or more ruthless, depending on how you want to look at it).  I need to get rid of stuff.

Recap of goal #42:
- Card lost...?  Really not sure what happened to it.  Gift still undelivered. Thumbs down.
- Card mailed.  Thumbs up.
- Both ice creams made.  Soup made and mostly eaten.  Thumbs up.
- Have not visited.  Thumbs down.

What I'm Reading Now -- At Home: A Short History of Private Life

Every now and then, I'm in the mood for some Bill Bryson.  This time, it's At Home: A Short History of Private Life, in which he examines his own home, a presumably lovely former rectory in rural England.  Since his next book just came out (One Summer: America, 1927), I figured I probably shouldn't get too much farther behind.

Bill Bryson made a name for himself with his humorous travel writing, but his stint of writing travel books was both preceded and followed by his writings in popular history.  At Home is his investigation into how we live in the place we live, and how that place came to be.

Random Links

A conversation in #hashtags.

The 9 types of physics seminars (also note the blog subtitle).

More old photos, colorized.

Terrible news for relationships.

The formatting is messed up and I think a lot is lost, but the story is still fascinating.

How did they get there?

The Road You Traveled

It's interesting to look back at your life and wonder how the heck you go from there to here, yet the same time know that all roads inevitably led to where you are.

You think about the person that you were and wonder what happened to her, how she became you. But you also undeniably know that that person you were could not have become anyone other than the person that you are.

Evita

Just a couple of days after my last trip to the symphony, I was lucky enough to be taken by P to go see Evita at the Fox.

The musical was basically a live version of the movie, which was fine by me.  I hadn't seen the movie in ages, but I remembered that there were a lot of songs I liked in it.  I was a little disappointed to discover how few of the words I remembered, but it has been a while and I don't have the soundtrack.

All the fun stuff I remembered was still there, as was the depressing.  Frankly, I thought the woman who played Evita was rather strained, especially in the higher registers.  Colonel Peron and the narrator had lovely, full voices, but I found Eva's to be a bit thin and screechy.

But I always enjoy a musical, and am looking forward to the next time I get to go!

Goal #42

Goal #42: write two cards, deliver a gift, make food to share, pay a visit.

So many things!  Here's the breakdown:
- I have a card and a gift that are overdue for mailing and delivery, so I really need to take care of those.
- There's another card which needs to be written in order to be timely.
- I went grocery shopping tonight and got goodies to make mocha and salted caramel ice cream.  I forgot to add "pasta" to my list, so I am one key ingredient short for the chicken noodle soup I was also hoping to make.
- I finally talked to an old friend last week, after far too long.  She said "stop by anytime, I'd love to see you."  I hope that's true, because I'm planning to stop by!

Recap of goal #41: T is moved!  There is another project ahead, as he is also planning on moving all of his possessions which are stored elsewhere to his new apartment also (it's big).  But that's for another day.

And in addition to that, I spent much of today working on my own apartment.  While there is still a long way to go, there is visible progress towards cleanliness!

Gershwin and Adams

A couple of weeks ago, T and I had occasion to pay another visit to the St. Louis Symphony.  The show opened with Gershwin's Cuban Overture, which was a rollicking good time.

The next two pieces were contemporary works composed by John Adams, one of them specifically for Timothy McAllister on the saxophone.  McAllister is a saxophone professor at Northwestern University as well as a frequent performer with various orchestras.  Neither T nor I were big fans of the John Adams pieces - not our type of music - but I did really enjoy watching McAllister on stage with his sax.  It was like he was dancing with it.

The final piece was Gershwin's Concerto in F, with Jon Kimura Parker on the piano.  Lovely, more melodic, which I like.  I have a hard time following scatty, instrumental jazz.  Mostly it just makes my head hurt.  I was happy for the return to Gershwin, and we even got a bonus Joplin piece for the encore!

And I learned something about saxophones too.  They're generally not included in orchestral compositions because they weren't actually invented until the middle of the 19th century, and most of the classic works had already been written by then.

Where Is My Miracle?

I ordered a copy of a client file from the firm that previously represented her.  It came in this box:

I expected a miracle to fly out when I opened the box.  Sadly, it did not.  Disappointment.

My intern hopefully offered that "maybe it's at the bottom."  Could be.  I haven't gotten there yet.  I'll let you know if I find anything.

A Shout-Out to our Hometown Boys

From an article on the Grantland website:

"St. Louis is a city that lifts its team every October, and together they hit greater heights than anyone thought possible. "This is why I signed back here," Adam "Ace" Wainwright explained last week. "There's no amount of money worth what this city and this team means to me. I'm honored, I'm privileged, I don't deserve any of this."

Wow.

A guy who's actually grateful for his fans. A guy who'd play for free. Ace Wainwright understands that playing professional baseball isn't a birthright. It's a privilege.

That's how this entire Cardinals team operates. While hotshots like Puig live in the fast lane, the Cardinals are the type of guys who bike to work.

Together, as a team, all just spokes in the wheel.



Sometimes in this world we say the games we watch are bigger than sports. But for now, for today, it's just about baseball.

Because this game was built on the crack of the bat, the smell of the grass, the poetry of the local nine charging out of the dugout to raucous cheers. The simple stuff that takes us all to a better place for a few hours. That's baseball.

Teams like the Cardinals are what this silly game is all about. Guys like Ace Wainwright and David Freese and Carlos Beltran. Guys who celebrate and have fun, but do it the right way. Less Mickey Mouse, more Mickey Mantle."

(For the rest of the article, click here.)