Exploding into being

Thursday, June 13th, 2013 05:16 pm
chanaleh: EVERYTHING WILL BE AMAZING (amazing)
(getting this posted while on the hurry-up-and-wait front here in the office)

So, a few weeks ago I had started to write up some freeform musings to post about my life and what I was going to do with it, since, as [livejournal.com profile] justom and I are giving up on the idea of our relationship as primary, it opens up a sort of vast panorama of how to shape the next steps or phase of my life.

Interestingly, though, I find that a bunch of the ideas that I started knocking around have already sort of resolved themselves in the meantime.

life logistics: moving )

personal enrichment: Russian )

personal enrichment: music )
I don't know who my mischievous angel in the Brandeis Alumni office is, but they clearly looked down, saw us living 2 miles apart and said, "You know what would be a kick in the head? Let's send Erica to Ridgewood B, suite 440."

There are more topics to ponder on the life-expansion front (e.g., work thoughts, possible travel plans, other underdeveloped areas for fun and personal growth), but I feel like this is enough richness to be going on with.

The bad news is, I do NOT think I can plan to come to Boston the weekend of the 22nd/23rd. Sorry, gang. Too much complexity, and I feel we're likely to need that time to view apartments.

I did, however, sign up definitely for the G&S Sing-Out in Rockville, MD, over Labor Day. :-)

Fun things

Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 12:34 am
chanaleh: (breathe)
I started my Russian class tonight! It's just a 6-week mini-course, but should be enough to wrap my brain around some stuff. Tonight was all about learning to decode the alphabet. That will provide plenty of fodder for practice (the instructor suggested half an hour every day if we want to make good progress). I left with that delightful "my brain is full" feeling.

This coming weekend is my Brandeis reunion. I am going in with medium-low expectations, which I think should mean that it's a good and low-key time. (Worst case, I can hang out by myself and read/write/explore/chill, all of which are fine things, and maybe call some folks in for auxiliary socializing as needed.) I also signed up to read Torah for egalitarian Shabbat morning services, which it finally occurred to me to find amusing (because when I was there, literally half my lifetime ago, I couldn't even begin to imagine being able to read). I'm actually a little out of practice, with how little leyning I've done in the last year and a half; I'll be cramming on the bus.

Since I'm not going with [livejournal.com profile] justom to Santa Fe the following weekend, I am going after all to Newport with the Blue Hill Troupe. It's their "Out-of-Town Show" (one reprise performance only of this spring's Mikado production), but it sounds like it is basically a Troupe retreat, complete with beach party (oh yeah, and set build and strike), which I think is going to be smashing fun. I'm riding up with my friend Michael, who is driving, and then returning Sunday afternoon in time for the matinee of My Name is Asher Lev.

There's a G&S "Sing-Out" marathon in Rockville, MD, over Labor Day weekend. My buddy Sam is encouraging me to sign up. It sounds fun -- especially remembering what an awesome time I had at the marathon at Brown that Adorable David took me to a few years back -- but I have this nagging feeling like I might need or want to be somewhere else over Labor Day. (I need to sign up in the next 2 weeks if I want to apply for any principal roles.) Anyone have alternative suggestions? Or should I go for it?

June 2013 calendaring

Thursday, May 30th, 2013 09:59 am
chanaleh: (breathe)
Lots has been going on, and I ought to write a little more of the state-of-the-chanaleh, but since people have started asking about early June, I figured I'll go ahead and post this now, and write the rest in a day or two. Which is why it's a good thing there's not a lot on the agenda this weekend.

Also, I am trying out a new convention of graying out things that I am not personally attending but wish to remember are happening. Other events listed in parentheses are thus possible-but-not-super-likely, or at least not-yet-confirmed.

Busting out all over )

Musical guest...

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 08:41 am
chanaleh: (college)
Dude. Brandeis is giving Paul Simon an honorary degree this year.

Think he'll come?

Also, what would it take for them to give one to Billy Joel? ;-)
chanaleh: (lunacon)
Well, first, some shameless promotion of others: two cool things I'm going to. This Thursday night, Jews in Science Fiction, brought to you by The Future Rabbi Josh Breindel ). And Saturday afternoon is the closing matinee of MITG&SP's Pirates of Penzance. )

Now the self-promotion:

This Saturday night, December 13th, my first official vocal recording will be released: Honorable Menschen's debut album, By the River. I sing solos on 2 of the 12 tracks. Plus I designed the cover and all the associated graphics. Thus, if you are a fan of me, you should own this album. ;-) Also, there's a concert. The concert is free. FREE! With FREE REFRESHMENTS! Come on down to [livejournal.com profile] tremontstshul [directions here] between 8pm and 10pm! And if you pre-order a CD and come to the concert to pick it up, you can save a couple bucks over buying it in cash that evening. -- Or if you simply can't make the concert, but expect to be in Boston anytime in the next 6 weeks, you can still pre-order it "for pickup" and I'll hand-deliver it to you, saving you the shipping, because I love you. (Or else you can feel free to wait and buy it on iTunes later. Yes, really. I'll post the link to that when it's up.)

This Sunday, December 14th, there is a Chanukah Art & Craft Fair where I will be selling MuffinButtons as well as my Judaic graphic artwork (and, yes, Honorable Menschen CDs, and I might have Falling August CDs to give away if you ask in advance). And [livejournal.com profile] mizarchivist and [livejournal.com profile] anotherjen and [livejournal.com profile] chaiya [in absentia] and [livejournal.com profile] red_queen and many other cool people will all be displaying and selling their cool stuff. Admission is free. FREE! With FREE REFRESHMENTS! Come on down to [livejournal.com profile] tremontstshul [directions here] between 10:30am and 1:30pm!

Lastly, for you northwest suburbanites, the Menschen are also performing next Friday night 12/19 at Temple Emanuel in Andover. 6:30pm! We're probably performing in Chelsea the morning of Sunday 12/21, as well -- ping me if you want details on that.
chanaleh: (college)
For the uninitiated: Falling August was this band at Brandeis in the late '80s and early '90s. I maintain their only known fan page. This year, after some nudging from me, they also finally put up their own page at www.fallingaugust.com with -- joy of joys! -- free MP3s of every recorded song off their three albums. The site went down for several weeks shortly after it went up, then it was back (and right now it seems to be gone again, ugh!). But anyway, my page is still the top Google hit, and every so often (in fact, rather more often than you might believe), random people email me regarding the band.

While we were away last month, I got no fewer than 3 such emails. Two from fans -- and one from their audio engineer, Rob Lehmann (incidentally, also chair of Audio Media & Technology at the New England Institute of Art). Hey, he said, I found your page, Steve just had me remaster all the old albums to CD, I'd be happy to send you one since you're such a big fan, would you like a copy? Would I like a copy???

The CD came end of last week. I was so excited when I brought the mail in, J was like, "What *is* that?" :-) We were heading out on some errands shortly thereafter, so as soon as we got into the car, I popped the disc in and cranked it up.

It was -- like finding part of my heart that I had forgotten was missing. It sounds great.

P.S. It's Jewish music! Okay, it's stealth Jewish music. )

I've already made one copy for [livejournal.com profile] tapuz, who was just as "bounce! bounce!" as I was. Anyone else? (Ping me with your mailing address at chanaleh@lj if there's no obvious time to hand it off in the next month or so. Worst case, I suspect I'll bring a few to Arisia, where I am likely to see many of you. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.
chanaleh: (breathe)
It's still Shavuot, technically, so I might be considered to be jumping the gun, but whatever. I'm home hanging out in the A/C-by-proxy computer room (next to the bedroom where Tiger Boy put in the window unit on Sunday, not a moment too soon), eating a large bowl of blueberries for dinner. Procrastinating on shul work (updating the web calendar and laying out the overdue June newsletter), but technically I shouldn't touch those until 9pm, so hey, here I am.

Sunday night, we went to the [beginning of the] Community Tikun Leil Shavuot organized by the Charles River Beit Midrash. It was a cool thing, as last year, and I was also pleasantly surprised to run into [livejournal.com profile] debka_notion there. :-) Monday there was shul, including the cool and trippy "wheels within wheels" haftarah; today there was more shul, including the Book of Ruth, and special bonus outdoor picnic with cheesecake.

So, earlier in the weekend, I took Tiger Boy to my 15th (!) Brandeis reunion, and it was kinda fun, kinda disappointing. )

My dad's back home in Indiana after spending about 2 months down in Florida dealing with fiscal matters on behalf of my ailing grandfather. I finally reached him today and we had a good chat. My stepmother has also apparently resumed the role of Person Who Does Not Hate My Guts, for now, so that takes some psychic weight off.

And, for those of you who have been dying to know, here is some wedding nattering behind the cut. ) Gah! How is "overwhelmed" not a choice of mood icon?
chanaleh: (2005)
*experiences more Brandeis/LJ worldshrink* *waves to [livejournal.com profile] danceboy*

Now, on with the memage.

I seriously doubt I can come up with 10 things I have done that none of you have, unless I throw in all sorts of unfair geographical qualifiers ("Cruised Wabash St. in Terre Haute, Indiana... on foot", "Saw The Merchant of Venice with [livejournal.com profile] navrins last night" [I liked it, btw]).

However, I can easily come up with 10 things I have now done that would have amazed the pants off my younger self -- say, 20 years ago. This is the sort of thing I was thinking about when the Rabbit Hole Day entries were going around: I could write an entry about my actual life now that would once have sounded like a rabbit-hole entry of my wildest dreams.

I have:
1. Moved to Boston (woo-hoo!)
2. Established a career in book publishing -- including going on 6+ years at a prominent university press
3. Attended the Hugo Awards
4. Learned to shoot a rifle
5. Walked 30+ blocks in Manhattan by myself of a beautiful spring afternoon
6. Been recruited for lead roles in two different non-musical community theater productions within 6 months
7. Sung with an a cappella group at Harvard for a year (Mizmor Shir, to be precise)
8. Dated men from Yale, [Dartmouth,] MIT, and, later, Princeton (trading up, of course ;-)
9. Made Phi Beta Kappa
10. Converted to Judaism
10'. Learned to read Torah and lead services (practically) every week
10''. Served as synagogue vice-president
10'''. Become the principal organizer of young adult Jewish programming in the city of Cambridge. (Seriously, this is the one that amazes me the most sometimes. Me, in the role of social outreach leader?)

Okay, a couple of things that probably *are* unique to me:
1. Sent a stalkery series of anonymous love notes to one of my college professors, including a sonnet with his name as the acrostic. (Mercifully, he seems to have forgiven me by now.)
2. Dated the president of the [livejournal.com profile] bscf for two consecutive years -- that is to say, two different consecutive presidents.
3. Got into a bar in Edinburgh at the age of 14.
4. Memorized Shelley's "Mont Blanc" in its entirety, for credit. (Geez, it's only 144 lines? It seemed so insurmountable at the time.)
5. Sung the sheva brachot for a friend's wedding ceremony.

Sexual exploits will be listed under separate cover. (Um, just kidding, Mom.)
chanaleh: (Default)
Brandeis-wise: welcome, [livejournal.com profile] mitchellf!

Assimilated against his will (but hey, he supplied the feed): Now that he's started posting semi-regularly again, I have at last syndicated [livejournal.com profile] jonathanjo. This blog -- like the man himself -- comes recommended to all fans of folk music, liberal politics, South Carolina, VW campers, travel, philosophy, outdoorsmanship, and general zest for life. As usual, though, the first pass has vacuumed up all the foregoing entries, so if you want to protect your friends page, wait until tomorrow.

[livejournal.com profile] navrins still has no voice, so there's no point in our rehearsing tonight to fine-tune the Eleanor/Henry scenes... so I am off rehearsal until 7/12. I'm happy to have some free time -- but actually sad to have a whole week and a half away from Christmas court at Chinon. Well, I'll be studying up on my own, anyway.

Have found people to go to the Esplanade with on Sunday evening. (Rather, that is, the MIT side of the river. Puh-leaze.) Meeting at Kendall at 3:30pm to go stake out a spot. Anyone else who wants to tag along, please do! ...Oh, and the featured guest performer for the Pops concert? David Lee Roth, dudes!

Must see All in the Timing next weekend; I think the 6pm show on Saturday 7/10. Anyone?

Also, the Dresden Dolls at the Paradise, Friday 7/9. After shul, of course.

Also, Spider-Man 2...

Lots going on

Thursday, May 20th, 2004 07:33 pm
chanaleh: (Default)
Frances's pix from our BBQ! (Um, link deleted 'cause webshots.com tried to give [livejournal.com profile] navrins a virus-infected file. Phooey.)

Another Brandeisian gets on: Welcome, [livejournal.com profile] eesti. I knew we'd get you before much longer. ;-)

It has occurred to me in the past few days exactly how much I have committed to in the next 2 months!

Ordered the color laser proof for [livejournal.com profile] msmidge's ketubah, will have it tomorrow! (When I pick it up, they'll show me all the other available paper options, supposedly they have lots.) Two new ketubah (handwork) commissions for the summer, both referred by Rabbi Rim. One is to do Right Now -- for, shall we say, a double-bride wedding, yay! They only want me to do a single paragraph of the Hebrew, and the wedding is June 6, and they're FedExing me the document today so I'll probably do this Sunday morning (in-between singing engagements). The other is for the end of August, for my friend from shul.

Tonight: finish signage for concert, stop by shul to photocopy programs for concert, take a walk to the grocery store for (among other things) refreshments for the concert... make the very last corrections on the shul newsletter and deliver a final PDF for that... maybe vacuum... make some more headway on the Torah reading. And catch a breather with some pleasure reading, if I am lucky (or, perhaps, wise). But I doubt I will be.

Somewhere in here, I am supposed to be designing the event programs for Noreascon 4 (four documents for the four big events of Thursday through Sunday: the First Night festivity schedule, and playbills for the Retro Hugos, the actual Hugos, and the Masquerade). I should really start drafting something, but it will help to have content to play with. There's a general meeting Saturday afternoon so maybe I'll get something in place from that. I keep thinking I'd like to bring some kind of preliminary design draft to a meeting like this, but I have given up on that ambition for this week.

And I should start learning my lines, eh? I'll be taking my Lion in Winter script to Atlanta, that's for sure.

Okay, I'm leaving the office now. Really.

December 2024

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