What's been on my mind lately? Read on...
Shadrach had a great weekend near Portland playing at Logjam. We played really well as a team (especially since it was the first tourney of the year), had a lot of fun at the party, and actually did quite well.
Life continues to be busy, so I continue not to update this blog too often, somewhat to my disappointment. C’est la vie, literally.
Well, my being “busy for at least another week or two” turned in to three or four, and I’m still scheduled to the gills. What’s surprising is that I’ve gotten pretty used to it. In the past, I’d get sick (from too much stress and lack of sleep) or just get fed up enough that I’d cancel plans or drop one or two regularly scheduled activities. But so far, I’ve been sustaining a nearly full schedule for a couple months. Of course I’d prefer a little more free time, but who wouldn’t?
So what have I been up to? Among other things, some volunteer work, frisbee team captaining, a little bit of square dancing, eating, more eating, watching performance art, and some bleach stenciling:
Drew recently moved to Capitol Hill (welcome to the ‘hood!), but his old place (“The Hedge”) in Wallingford served as a great hangout and social hub for the past year. To commemorate the temporary dispersal of Hedgers (two of his roommates are moving to NYC for grad school), we made sweatshirts. Not bad, eh?
I’m still really busy, mostly with frisbee, at least for another week or two. So here are some sites that actually get updated with reasonable frequency:
And, for those keeping the ice cream score at home, I’ve been to Molly Moon’s three times in the past week. Sweet.
It’s been way longer than I wanted it to be since I last posted. In part, I’m settling in to the new job, and it’s not really appropriate to write from work, but I suppose the gap is mostly due to sheer business.
I’m working hard at setting up Shadrach (the frisbee team I played for last year) for the coming season. Drew and I are simultaneously recruiting, managing administravia (renting fields, etc.), holding tryouts, and making sure everyone involved is having fun and feeling like their opinions are heard. I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a thankless task, but it’s still lots of work.
I also signed up to be on the board of my condo association, and I’m close to declaring that a thankless task. The system is set up in a way that rewards the squeaky wheel, even at the expense of the greater good, and that’s too bad. I’m trying to fix it, but I have limited time and, to be honest, limited motivation. Between work & frisbee, I’ve got enough system-fixing and people-managing to do already.
I was down in San Francisco this weekend for a bar mitzvah (only the second or third I’ve ever been to) and caught up with some friends on Saturday night for roller disco! It’s really pretty amazing that the rink is even still open. I think they must have bought the building years ago, or have some wealthy benefactor, because the place was empty. There were maybe 30 people in the huge rink, but that didn’t stop us from dressing up and gettin’ down. Check it out:
On Sunday, after a lovely brunch on Mother’s Day with the whole fam at Bistro Vida in Menlo Park, Matt and I made our way up towards the city. We took in the sights for a couple hours, grabbed some great ice cream, hung out in Mission Dolores Park, and ate some delicious burritos before hopping planes back to our respective homes. Good times.
But I saved the biggest news for last. After 3 years (and that’s only the time I’ve lived here and waited), Seattle finally has a homemade ice cream shop that I can be proud of. Molly Moon’s in Wallingford had their grand opening on Saturday. I missed it (being in SF), but went by last night for some excellent salted caramel and very tasty “scout” mint (mint flavor with grasshopper cookie chunks) ice cream. It reminds me a lot of the Toscanini’s that was in Harvard Square – there’s a chalkboard behind the counter with flavors written out, and it’s similarly appointed with simple wood counters and a few stools in the window. It feels like home.
Those who know me at all (and even some who don’t) have heard me rant about Seattle’s lack of ice cream. Those who read this blog know whenever I travel to other cities, I head straight for the ice cream, and know that I was desperate enough to buy an ice cream maker on eBay so I could make my own. I’ve even entertained fantasies of opening my own shop. But now the wait is over – see you at Molly Moon’s!
If you’re in Seattle in the next week, you really owe it to yourself to see Planey B-Boy, a great documentary about an international breakdancing competition (it’s playing at the Varsity). Not only is the dancing unbelievable, but it’s a very-well put together movie – not too much sappiness, but still retains some humanity, and it has some excellent characters. Keep an eye out for the breakdancing grandma! (And it looks like the film is playing in other cities, too – definitely worth a viewing.)
The breakdancing grandma reminds me of a story from college. I had called my grandmother to say ‘hi’, and we were chatting about what she’d been up to lately. Mind you, at this point she was an eighty-something year-old, 5 foot tall woman living on her own in Manhattan. She said she’d been to the movies, and really like a film with “this man, and his dancing.” She said “it was a little violent for my taste, but really funny.” After a bunch more questions, I finally figured out that she’d gone (all alone) to see Rumble in the Bronx – way to go, grandma!