Favorite Live Shows, in no particular order:
The National/Okkervil River
Built to Spill
Black Mountain (they opened for Black Angels, and though I liked the Black Angels, have seen them before, Black Mountain blew them to smithereens, in my book.)
Yeasayer
Bonnie "Prince" Billy and the Cairo Gang
Favorite Albums that I can think of at this moment; there were a lot of good ones...:
Teen Dream, Beach House
Odd Blood, Yeasayer
Gorilla Manor, Local Natives
Total Life Forever, Foals
Lisbon, The Walkmen
High Violet, The National (this one really grew on me the more and more I listened. I mean, I liked it but now i love it.)
The Monitor, Titus Andronicus
The Archandroid, Janelle Monae (O MY GOSH! Sooooooooooo good.)
Broken Bells, Broken Bells.
The Suburbs, Arcade Fire
Wow. I'm pretty sure I could add some more to this list but I think I'll leave it at that, for now.
Proud Accomplishments:
I graduated from grad school!!!
I started dating.
I can pay all of my bills and still afford yoga every month.
Weekend Silent Yoga retreat. (Mostly mediation and light yoga. I loved not having to talk to people. I didn't necessarily love having to deal with my own head, but it wasn't bad.)
What Kept Me Up at Night, Stressed Me Out, Ruined my Appetite and Gave Me the Blues or Sent Me into a General Malaise:
I graduated from grad school.
I started dating.
Weird Struggles
Reading an entire book--heck, even starting a book was hard.
Kinda still is, but getting better. The first book I finished after graduating was The Women, by T. C. Boyle. It took me about two months to read. Two. Months. Then I just stuck to my newspaper and tidbits from The New Yorker. It wasn't even like I was surfing the web, or playing boggle online or even playing the XBox. I don't know what I was doing. Listening to music and staring off into the distance, I guess.
Watching a movie.
Somehow, committing to a full length feature film was really, really hard. I wonder(ed) if it had more to do with being reminded that after Shawn moved to La La Land I watched a lot of movies just for something to do. Once school was done, and I didn't have papers and studying as a distraction, there it was. The break up of Linnet and Shawn. For real. And the weather was so awful. And I was just blue. Watching a movie somehow magnified all of the grey and loneliness and my state of lost. I should have cancelled my Netflix, but I found that I could digest television programs, because they were short, 45 minutes, tops. I took advantage of the streaming and watched both seasons of Dead Like Me and the really horrible two hour movie special made a couple of years after the show ended. Also, lots of 30 Rock. Truly one of the most exceptional comedies.
The Weather
This is the first year that I can honestly say the Seattle grey/wet got to me. (See above for clues why this might have been.) Spring was cold, damp, grey. Summer, with the exception of a few weeks that were hot, sunny and even fun, was similar to spring. Fall stank, too. I have high hopes for winter. High hopes.
Super Cool Stuff:
I went to Florida, last January, to visit with Holly and her family. Got to spend time with two great nephews, my sister and her husband. In Florida. Where it was mostly sunny and definitely warmer than Seattle.
Blumenthal family reunion, 2010. Lots and lots of nieces and nephews. Siblings. Food. Dishes. Love. The Blumenthals of Delware were sorely missed.
I'm employed. Work too much between two jobs, certainly, but better than not working enough. (See "I can afford yoga every month" accomplishment.)
My mother came to visit me in October. I was very happy to have her here.
No comments:
Post a Comment