Tales from my living room

[chanaleh]

Last night I went to see Apocalyptica at the Paradise. For the uninitiated, they are a five-piece heavy metal cover band consisting of a drummer... and four cellos. (Played, as it turns out, by hot young Finnish men.) Awww yeah. As I said to kalessin, I clearly lack some of the vocabulary to appreciate the fine points (there was approximately one song of which I actually knew the original version), but it was still great. I only found out about the show on Wednesday; sadly, it never occurred to me to tell mrmorse (who is the reason I even know the band) about it until I was actually at the Paradise; and if he made it there I didn't see him (other than in my mind's eye, but that's another story).

And I had been all pleased about not having to go to work the next day... but when I got home sometime after midnight, there was a message that there would be a shiva minyan -- on behalf of one of my very favorite people at the shul -- this morning. At 7am. In Arlington. Well, of course I got up and went. :-} I suppose I can always take a nap this afternoon if I happen to feel like it. That's a sufficiently rare and beautiful thing.

Other things I've done on my interstitial week off:

• Worked an additional 6+ hours at MIT trying to finish all the things I had wanted to get cleared up (it took until this past Wednesday).
  
• Cleaned out my desk at home. (I can now see portions of the desk and the floor that I haven't seen in months, possibly years.)
  
• Made buttons. Lots and lots of buttons. I am hoping to vend at arisia next January.
  
• Bought groceries and did dishes.
  
• Did a bunch of other random shopping, including finding a dress to wear to S&L's wedding. :-)
  
• Had lunch with a variety of people I've been meaning to see for months.
  
• Watched most of the first episode of Firefly chez ablock. Yes, I am now psyched to see the rest.
  
• Rehearsed for my high holiday choir gig.
  
• Attended a rehearsal for Merry Wives, of which I was actually needed for about three seconds, but which was a treat to watch (it was the first full run of Act I, and was it ever impressive). Also, watching dpolicar gave me the amusing sensation of "My, he reminds me of someone I married in a previous life." :-)
  
• Rehearsed for Theatre@First's Broadway Night cabaret-show fundraiser a week from Saturday (9/24, 7pm at First Church, admission a whopping $5 that includes dessert, gilana and I are singing a duet, you should all come).
  
• Baked brownies to send to the shiva house (for the minyan I had to miss earlier yesterday evening, due to that last-mentioned rehearsal).
  
• Saw my boyfriend for approximately 2 hours total, due to a looming paper deadline that happened to coincide with my vacation week. :-P We're supposed to have a whole day together tomorrow, anyway... even though the paper deadline has now been extended to this coming Wednesday... :-PPP

It took until about Tuesday for me to feel that the week was going to be far too short. But, y'know. (Also, I've been online considerably less than normal, which is a refreshing feeling.)

I still have a bunch of housely things I intend to do today (cook, clean, maybe get my hair trimmed, mail something to jessruth *ahem*...). And then it's Shabbat, and then I'll go see Sweeney Todd, and then I'll see my boy, and Sunday if it's stopped raining we'll go canoeing.

Comments

Doh!!!!!

[sandhawke.livejournal.com]

Arg, I knew about this show months ago, and then .... somehow lost track of it. Is it September already? :-(

[underwatercolor.livejournal.com]

Mmm.. Apocalyptica... :)

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

Their version of "Nothing Else Matters" is one of my favorite cello pieces

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Yep, and that was the one I knew! :-)

[dpolicar]

Re: hot young Finnish men... I spent a while trying to work up a bit of innuendo about finishing hot young men but I just couldn't get it ready for release in time, so I figured I'd just allude to it.

Re: the cabaret... hell and damnation, is that really next Saturday already? Wow. Yeah, looking forward to it.

Re: sweeney -- I keep meaning to see that, but apparently it's not going to happen. Enjoy it for me. Yell "set shop!" at the appropriate place.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Yell "set shop!" at the appropriate place.

Now that I've seen it (for the first time since 1984): Er... what point was that?

[dpolicar]

There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit
and the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren’t worth what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of...

I guess that was just me, huh?

[bluepapercup]

thanks for the postcard, wonderful :)

Glad your week is going so well!

Hey, wanna have a girls hottubbing trip to Urban Oasis sometime soon?

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I saw that place had finally opened... yeah, I'm totally in!

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Wait, is this a hot tub place that is open and somewhere in striking distance of Boston? Tell me more!

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Now open in Inman Square!
http://www.urbanoasiscambridge.com/
I've seen the sign up, but I haven't yet gotten any closer than driving by.

Are you gonna be medically cleared for tubbing anytime soon?

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Oooo. Lovely dresses. Which one's yours? (I'm getting a new dress too, but will probably have to get something on the dull side so that it is sedate enough to wear for Vox concerts...)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find mine on the site (it was in the sale bin), but you'll see it sometime. I'm likely to end up wearing it for Rosh Hashanah, too, at least.

The funny thing was their sizing -- I had to try on every style in about 5 different sizes because they ALL fit totally differently. The dress I eventually bought? Labeled as a size 6. In REAL clothes, I wear a 12 or 14. :-P Not that I'm complaining, mind you!

[melopoeia.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about your friend. I've heard Apocalyptica several years ago at my college radio station - a sent in on requireds list.

needless to say, it grew on me.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I am happy to report that my friend (who is sitting shiva for his father) and his family seemed basically in good spirits this morning, and in fact were quite enthusiastic about the brownies.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

They were playing in Boston? And I missed them? Aiee!

(not that you had any way of knowing I'd even heard of them)

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

I knew about the concert because a friend of mine from New York mentioned it. How he knew, I don't know. Sadly, I had rehearsal and so was unable to make it. The drummer is a new addition since the last I heard of them.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh good, I feel better then. :-} I did know they were playing in NYC since dr_memory posted about going, and I was moderately bummed about missing out -- without it even occurring to me that they might ALSO be playing Boston. Until mangosteen got tickets.

They didn't actually go on until a bit after 10; I thought it was possible you'd have tried to get over there. The drummer added a lot -- maybe tipping the scales from art-rock to an actual (if unconventional) metal sound. I was amazed at how much headbanging the cellists managed to do (at least the two of them with long hair).

[c1.livejournal.com]

Drat- they're someone I would have gone to see, even in my cashflow negative state.
Ah well... next time.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

When's the High Holiday gig? I've been meaning to hear your choir perform and to learn more about Jewish culture.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

It's basically a backup choir for the cantor during the actual High Holiday synagogue services, at Temple Israel in Swampscott. (Hence, to answer your question: the first night and both mornings of Rosh Hashanah, which falls Oct. 3-5 this year, and the night and morning of Yom Kippur, Oct. 12-13.)

This is altogether a different choir from my a cappella group -- which does give public concerts a couple times a year, and I'll try to publicize the next one!

how have I not heard of these people

[(Anonymous)]

Rock music on 4 cellos. I'm now officially sad that I didn't make it to the concert of a group I'd never heard of. :-( --jweiss