Joyful Noise

Alright, I am an official nerd. Instead of circulating amongst the young and hip, in hopes of establishing of a new social circle, I was singing with a bunch of folks my parents age and above. But you know what? I loved it! We're singing Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Our music teacher and adopted big brother Jeffie gave Jame a tape of the piece when I was in high school. It is beautiful and perfectly constructed, in keeping with Lenny's genius for making sadness so exquisite, joy so tangible.
As I got ready to go to rehearsal this evening, I mused on how few eligible bachelors were likely to be in attendance. It seems that none of the things I like to do are big with other people my age, especially guy people my age. Maybe eventually my nerd soul-mate will show up at the same lame event as me and we'll both have some company.

2006: The Tunes In Review

Last year at Christmastime, I made a compilation CD of the songs that I felt best described my year and gave it away the way one might give cranberry bread. I wrote liner notes and everything; it was so much fun!
This year, due to technological difficulties, I didn't make one. It feels wrong, so I'm going to attempt to put the world right by sharing the playlist here. I'm pretty sure all the songs can be found on iTunes, unless otherwise indicated. Not all songs may run to all tastes, but I feel sure there is something here for everyone!

Whatever It Is, Ben Lee (Awake Is the New Sleep)
- When I was driving across massive stretches of unpopulated land and living on granola bars, this song became like a mantra, a reminder that while I may not have known exactly what I was doing, just doing it was just right.
See The World, Gomez (How We Operate)
- Another favorite from the road.
Funny Little Frog, Belle and Sebastian (The Life Pursuit)
- I defy you not to bounce in your seat a little while listening to this one. I just love the cleverness of the lyrics.
Nothing I Can Do, Ben Taylor (Another Run Around the Sun)
- I listened to this one a few times before I realized how beautiful it was. To me it is an anthem of hope. (A note to my readers of a different generation: Ben Taylor is James Taylor and Carly Simon's son)
You're Aging Well, Dar Williams (The Honesty Room)
- A reminder that we are fine wine, not stale bread.
Love Love Love, Tristan Prettyman (Twentythree)
- Tristan is a North County native and one of my favorite concerts of '06. The whole album is good.
Love and Memories, O.A.R. (Stories of a Stranger)
- This is one of those songs I like to turn up so loud that the speakers crackle. Excellent running music too.
Jolene, Ray LaMontagne (Trouble)
- This is just a beautiful song telling a painful story. At times on the road I felt a little like a lonely coke-head looking for the one good thing in his life.
Crown of Love, The Arcade Fire (Funeral)
- I kick myself regularly for my Arcade Fire choice on last year's CD. It was not my favorite (though I like them all) and was offputting to some in my audience. This IS one of my fav's and is easy on the ears!
Through the Dark, KT Tunstall (Eye to the Telescope)
- This was the first album I bought on iTunes. It was hard to pick only one song, but I think this one sounds the most like me right now.
I'm Yours, Jason Mraz (unreleased)
- This song can be downloaded at www.mrazmerized.com/music/downloads.php?category=audio. I heard it live first and just couldn't get it out of my head. It's sweet and simple and I love it!
Extraordinary, Liz Phair (Liz Phair)
- Just after I sent out last year's CD, I thought I should have included this one. "I am extraordinary, if you ever get to know me" - I need that on a t-shirt.

Happy listening!

Om

Last Sunday I decided to finally do something I'd been having the urge to try since I arrived in southern California; I took a yoga class. I have looked down my nose at yoga in the past, but for some reason, here it feels right. Someone once told me that this area does not really belong to the North American land mass but is a long-lost piece of India; maybe that's why. Anyway, its free at my gym (O yeah, did I tell you I joined a gym?).
I entered the dark, warm room (a little late, of course) and unfurled my borrowed mat on the wooden floor. I could not understand a word the teacher was saying through his thick (I believe Australian) accent, so I just followed my neighbors. About 5 minutes in I was in love. There was soft, Indian music playing joined by the slow, intentional breathing of the class. The teacher came around a few times and helped me stretch into a pose; I love that! At the end the entire class chanted together in call and response. There is nothing I like more than a group of strangers singing together. When the class was over, I floated out of the gym in an ecstatic state.
In the morning I was conscious of every muscle in my body. I really wanted to go to another class that morning, so I tried out a downward dog on my bedroom floor and pronounced myself not too sore. This time I was there early. When the class began, the atmosphere was different, the music a little faster, the teacher's voice a little sharper. I felt hurried and in my effort to keep up with the rushing tide, I did something wrecked my back. The teacher never touched me, except a few angry prods in the arm during cool down (which I can only assume were medicinal).
Then I got a bad cold (which you read about), and between that and my back, I had to take a break.
Today I felt I was ready again. The first teacher was on the schedule for a class this afternoon, and I looked forward to it all day. When I arrived there was a substitute teacher and I was ready to be sad, but was instead delightfully surprised. She not only helped me stretch, but talked me through the pose and made me feel like I might have some special aptitude! Again I left in bliss.
I want to go to yoga every day! When I watch seasoned students and the control with which they move their bodies I am in awe and envy!

Breathing

At about 8:30 am, my room fills with sunlight! Most days I miss this moment, but today I am taking the first sick day I've taken all year. Of course I am rather uncomfortable with the tremendous congestion that is packed into my head, but I relish the unexpected day during which you are not allowed to run errands or do work. On a sick day you have the world's blessing to drift in and out of sleep, stay in you pajamas, read for fun, and eat strange meals like chicken broth and rice pudding. I am well stocked with Puffs and reading material, and even though the mystery of the non-working central heat has not yet been solved and every store in town is sold out of space heaters, my roommate found an old one in the garage and my room is both sunny and toasty!

Moving On

Apparently, great strides were made in laptop capabilities just after mine was born. I am seduced by the ability to watch dvd's or burn cd's. (Come on! How long ago did that technology surface! Who buys a computer that can't do that!)
It has been suggested that I could buy components that would do these things for me, but we run into confusing territory when trying to get new gadgets to speak to old ones. Computer generations seem to be the blink of an eye! And once you've paid for all those external things, would it not be more efficient to buy a new computer?
So I am looking at doing just that in the not so distant future. My predicament is that I could get a brand new one for relatively little cash, but it wouldn't be a mac. That would just about double the price. Tell me, what am I paying for besides status and aesthetics again?

Pathetic

My horoscope told me I should find a way to harness "creative rage". What is this, I wonder. I am, however, enraged that the internet connection at my house has been out for I think 2 weeks and now that the holiday visitor season is over and I would like to get back to blogging, I have to do it in a crowded cafe, which is sometimes nice, but today is too much for my fragile, detoxing self (I'm on a New-Year's-resolution leek detox, yum!).
However, I have just downloaded from itunes a couple of favorite tunes from my days in Europe that, as far as I know, never hit the states. So I'm feeling fragile but hip.