December 30, 2006
Foreign perspective ::
meta — tagged buffalo, family, meta and weblogs
5:24 pm
My parents have been hosting a foreign exchange student from Sweden for the past few months. Nils is his name. Nils has a weblog, on which he’s been posting various stories of stay in the United States. This means that there are stories about Buffalo, my family, and of course, me. I don’t speak Swedish, so I have no idea at all what he’s writing about. Further, I can scan at least one post about Christmas and see my name come up a few times. It makes me a little nervous, I guess, but my show-offishness wins out, so really I don’t mind. (I just want to know where the link to my site is!)
In any event, I guess I’ll have to get used to the reality that I’m no longer the sole Internet voice for what goes on in my family. Ultimately that’s probably a good thing.
December 24, 2006
Healing: A song list ::
music — tagged broken leg, buffalo, family, indie rock, music, personal and travel
12:13 pm
So I’m back in Buffalo for Christmas. The trip here was exhausting. After an eight hour car ride I tumbled from my dad’s car with a stiff leg feeling very, very cranky. My time here overall has been fun, and it’s been nice to show family members that, even though I’m still on crutches and have still-unhealed surgery scars, my condition has improved dramatically from the day I was discharged from the hospital. Also, it’s been fun to show off my x-rays and watch people squirm when I point out the fracture that starts from my hip and spirals around my femur.
So, with introductions aside, I put this mix together a couple of weeks ago while in the hospital, high on Percocet. I’m pretty happy with the sound of this one, much moreso than Winterish or the Fall mix. In part the outcome is the result of my immobility at the time, which allowed me the concentration and time it takes to make a good mix. But also, I think it’s an indication that drugs and rock and roll really do go together quite well.
Halloween by Matt Pond PA: Is it un-hip for an indie rock snob to actually like Matt Pond PA? No matter what the critics might say about the band’s artistic shortcomings, I fell for this song long before it would have otherwise been tainted by other’s opinions. And it’s dramatic lyrics, combined with the piano, acoustic guitar, and pedal steel make for a really seductive sound.
Pushover by The Long Winters: I first found this song over the summer, through a Music for Robots post. Since then the track has appeared and reappeared on a variety of playlists and mix CD’s I’ve put together. I finally picked up the CD at Amoeba Records when I was in SF in August.
Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby by The Islands: “Bones, bones, brittle little bones,” go the opening lyrics of this track. When I first added it to the list, I didn’t even think about how apropos to my condition the song actually was—I was thinking more about just how pretty the song is. But boy, does this one fit perfectly.
The End’s Not Near by Band of Horses: Band of Horses covering a song by The New Year for the OC Soundtrack. I really don’t know that much about The OC, but the track is really great—it’s an interesting reinterpretation of the original version of the song, in which the band makes the song their own.
Steps and Numbers by Appleseed Cast: They’re such a curious band, which moved from a straight ahead (and pretty annoying) Midwestern emo outfit to a post-rock band with a melodic, unique sound. So far, Low Level Owl has been the high point of their sound for me, but I also haven’t heard any of their most recent releases. But that’s on my to-do list, definitely.
Sukie in the Graveyard by Belle and Sebastian: I don’t love the album, but I do love this song. It does a great job of snapping the mix back into line after the more airy, nebulous sound of the previous track.
Hard Bargain by Ron Sexsmith: Ah, the underappreciated Ron Sexsmith. This is a great track that emotes a feeling of being beat up but willing to come back the next day for more.
Song for the Myla Goldberg by The Decemberists: This is the first song I heard by the Decemberists, and it’s the one that caused me to really fall for the band. But it’s never made it onto any of my mixes. So now’s as a good a time as any to finally add it to my song list. And the lyrics, especially the tongue-twister “I know New York, I need New York I know I need unique New York” always makes me smile, especially when I sing along and get it right.
This is the Way by Devendra Banhart: An interesting song in which Devendra sings about his physical self. One thing about this broken leg, as well as the healing process, is how aware of my physical self I have become during this time. With that in mind, the track works really well here.
Radio Campaign by M. Ward: Hey, I’ve been into M. Ward since August, and I think I’ve had one of his tracks on each of my mixes since then. So here’s another one. Here he pleads, “come back, come back my little peice of mind…” As I sit here, leg aching and knowing that I couldn’t get up to visit friends, get food, or go to the bathroom without a big production, I really know how he feels.
Paper Thin Walls by Modest Mouse: after the more intellectual, introspective stretch of tracks, I needed something to change the tone a bit. I found this song on a whim and thought it was perfect. Do you remember when the Moon and Antarctica came out in, what, 2000? And do you remember how new and exciting the track was? I sure do, now that I’ve heard this song. Now the album is back in my iTunes rotation.
A King And A Queen by Okkervil River: There’s an element of melodrama to all of Okkervil River’s music, and it provides me with a feeling of catharsis every time I hear it. This slow, acoustic number is a perfect example. Did I mention that my roommate went to high school with the lead singer? I’m totally serious!
Sleeping In by The Postal Service: One thing I like about the Postal Service is the sense of calm the songs seem to bring in the face of apocalyptically bad news. This song is a perfect example: here the singer dreams that global warming was simply a reward for humans being so good to each other. “No we can swim every day in November,” the verse concludes. It’s definitely not something I’d want to maintain in my entire life, but while I’m healing it makes me feel just a little bit better.
Throwing Things (Acoustic) by Superchunk: I pulled this track off of Superchunk’s Incidental Music, a compilation of the band’s singles and b-sides from the early 1990’s. This is a wonderful acoustic rendition of the electric original, and can make me weep if I hear it at the right time.
Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans: this is probably John Samson at his most melodic and fun. This great sing-along tune can help me see the bright side of just about any dismal situation.
The Ballad of Daykitty by Lou Barlow: Lou Barlow is so strange—his music can range from exploring the deepest, darkest emotions to just having fun. This track, which closes out Barlow’s Emoh release, is an example of his later line of songs, in which he sings of a cat who, after much flirtation, decides to come and live with him.
November 30, 2006
Last post/first post ::
personal — tagged buffalo, family, thanksgiving and travel
11:59 pm
As I’m writing this post, we seem to be closing in on Midnight. So, depending on when I finish this up, it could wind up being the last post of November or the first post of December. We’ll see what happens—you’ll be able to tell how inspired I was as I wrote this based at least in part on the end date.
So the trip out to Buffalo went pretty well. I noticed that it was the first Thanksgiving I’d spent with my family in four years, which is strange. It’s not like Thanksgiving is a particularly huge event with my family, but it is a fairly substantial American holiday, and you’d think I would have made some effort at some point to get out to see them. But alas, no. My excuse? Law school and being involved in a long term relationship.
Anyway, now I’m back in Vermont, where it was 60 degrees and sunny today. Totally creepy. But the job is keeping me busy, and I’m still able to bike like crazy. Josh can back me up on this—he saw me on one of my sprints through Barre the other morning. So I don’t have much time to think about the probability that these unseasonably warm temperatures signify a more significant climate change brought on by global warming. On the bright(er) side, they’re predicting snow by this weekend, so things could be quite different by Monday.
Update: Check out the time on that post!
November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving ::
personal — tagged buffalo, family, holidays, sick, thanksgiving and travel
11:51 am
I’ve been sick for the last week or so. It’s nothing serious—mostly a post-nasal drip thing that has kept me from sleeping all that well. So other than having a perpetual sore throat and felling a little groggy during the day, I mostly feel just fine.
Oh, and with it being Thanksgiving and all, I am once again in Buffalo hanging out with the family. This is the fourth time I’ve made it here in 2006, and it’s the first Thanksgiving with my parents since they moved here. With that in mind, I don’t necessarily feel like this trip is heavy with meaning, but it also isn’t entirely meaningless, either. There should be some photos and possibly a more lengthy narrative posted here once I’ve been here a while and have had some time to let something happen.
August 11, 2006
Summer, continued ::
personal — tagged buffalo, new york, travel and vermont
9:24 am
So, I finally found a place to stay, starting September 1. It’s a shared house in Montpelier, with two other people. The house is north of the city on Elm Street, and is right on the Onion River. It has a nice little back yard with lots of trees, a garden space, and a little lawn furniture set. I look forward to spending the warmer part of September in the back yard, reading. I’d also like to set up a bird feeder, but we’ll see what my housemates think about it.
I’m particularly looking forward to this because I’ve been semi-homeless since I took the bar exam back in July. I have kept my stuff in storage over at Rick and Sarah’s place, and have kept only a minimal amount of clothes, hygiene supplies, and tech equipment (and of course my bike!) with me. I’ve been staying with friends in South Royalton and have been travelling a lot (e.g., my Pitchfork/Milwaukee trip last week) which has made it seem that my life is more like it’s temporarily transitory than totally up in the air. Now that I have a definite end date of September 1, I’m more comfortable with my life, and feel that I can just enjoy my time rather than get stressed out about getting my life in order. Now if I could just find a job.
The weather has been really beautiful here, too. Last week it was hot and humid, weather akin to, as David Foster Wallace has said, living in someone’s armpit. But after a series of wet days the weather finally broke and we’ve had really cool nights (it got down to the 40’s last night) and dry, warm days in which the temperature doesn’t get much above 70. It’s been perfect for bike riding, and I’ve been taking advantage of it, going on 30-35 mile excursions over mountains and through towns I would have never imagined biking to just a year ago. So it’s a great summer, and I will be sad to see it go.
And yesterday I helped a friend move down to New Haven so she can attend Vermont Law’s joint degree program with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She paid and fed me, and even reimbursed me for mileage on my car. And the best part? She was actually packed before we got there, and we got the van packed in less than an hour. The drive down to New Haven was really no problem either, and we got her stuff moved into her place in even less time than it took to get it all into the van (fewer stairs involved in the unpacking phase). It was a fun trip, and it was nice to make a little money. But even better was making new friends, which I’ve tried (with a fair amount of success) to make a recurring theme in my life this summer.
