It's Business Time
I just turned 31.
I want to be a guy who can take pride in not being obsessed with his birthday. Unfortunately, at times I think my fixation on avoiding such an obsession has at times been an obsession in and of itself. One in which I've tried to be so nonchalant about a birthday celebration that I find myself preoccupied by who has and has not contacted me to do any birthday well-wishing. This of course has not gone unnoticed by those nearest to me.
This year, I think I finally reached that Nirvana of apathy.
One of my best friends, Neal, came to stay with us for 12 days to celebrate. I haven't seen him in over 3 years, so it was a long overdue reconnection. Because he was here for a week before my birthday, and several days after, it felt as though half the month was an elaborate birthday extravaganza!
The list of activities included:
I'm sure Kim is going to blog about a few of these events individually, but I wanted to at least touch on a few of the highlights:
Animal Collective was SO cool. I really didn't know what to expect because I have never listened to this type of music, but I really enjoyed it. I guess what they do is a sort of experimental techno sounding indie pop. As strange as it may sound, I think I enjoyed it on the same level that I liked the opera I went to a few weeks earlier. In the opera, simple phrases were often recited and repeated over and over in varying musical arrangements and speeds. Animal Collective did something similar with a techno sound, undeniably manipulating the mood of the crowd as there were several moments when everyone in the audience seemed to be feeling the same impulse to jump and scream in unison during some of the more thrilling moments. I was also really taken with the way the bass sound vibrated my rib cage, and realizing that every person in the audience was experiencing it simultaneously. I've been to very few live concerts.
Skydiving did not scare me nearly as much as I thought it would. I had been worried all week that the weather wouldn't be good enough to jump, which is what happened last year when I tried to do it. Our luck held out. Neal and I jumped from 14,000 feet, did a free fall for a little over a minute. I was so high up that I realized I couldn't even see the ground rushing up at me. I really did feel like I was floating. I also had time to reflect on all the Looney Tunes cartoons I had watched as a kid. As Kim put it, when Neal was trying to conjugate Skydiving into the past tense ('I sky dove? I sky dived?"), "You Sky Lived."
A Business of Ferrets is the actual name for a group of 3 or more ferrets. You know, just like a gaggle of geese, a pack of wolves, or a pod of wales. We wanted to get one more ferret so that Amelie would have a friend to play with. When we arrived the two ferrets from which we were choosing were sisters that had been together since birth. Not wanting to split them up, we took them both and named them after the twin witches from "Spirited Away:" Zaniba and Yubaba.
Here's a short video of them playing together.
--Ender
I want to be a guy who can take pride in not being obsessed with his birthday. Unfortunately, at times I think my fixation on avoiding such an obsession has at times been an obsession in and of itself. One in which I've tried to be so nonchalant about a birthday celebration that I find myself preoccupied by who has and has not contacted me to do any birthday well-wishing. This of course has not gone unnoticed by those nearest to me.
This year, I think I finally reached that Nirvana of apathy.
One of my best friends, Neal, came to stay with us for 12 days to celebrate. I haven't seen him in over 3 years, so it was a long overdue reconnection. Because he was here for a week before my birthday, and several days after, it felt as though half the month was an elaborate birthday extravaganza!
The list of activities included:
- Roof Top Party in the Financial District
- Animal Collective Concert in Prospect Park
- Prospect Park Drum Circle
- Played in a broken Fire Hydrant
- Conservatory Garden in Central Park
- Off Broadway Cabaret near Lincoln Center
- Staten Island Ferry, and White Castle
- Dinner with Cote
- Rumikub with Francesco and Evelyn
- Skydiving over Long Island!!
- Driving a Mini Cooper to Yonkers to adopt 2 more Ferrets
- Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity
- The epic meeting of my friends: Neal & Cote
- Strand Bookstore (18 Miles of Books!)
- Visiting the Bethesda Fountain and the Alice and Wonderland Statue
- Stand up Comedy and Dancing with Neal, Cote & Sameet
- Junior's World Famous Cheesecake
I'm sure Kim is going to blog about a few of these events individually, but I wanted to at least touch on a few of the highlights:
Animal Collective was SO cool. I really didn't know what to expect because I have never listened to this type of music, but I really enjoyed it. I guess what they do is a sort of experimental techno sounding indie pop. As strange as it may sound, I think I enjoyed it on the same level that I liked the opera I went to a few weeks earlier. In the opera, simple phrases were often recited and repeated over and over in varying musical arrangements and speeds. Animal Collective did something similar with a techno sound, undeniably manipulating the mood of the crowd as there were several moments when everyone in the audience seemed to be feeling the same impulse to jump and scream in unison during some of the more thrilling moments. I was also really taken with the way the bass sound vibrated my rib cage, and realizing that every person in the audience was experiencing it simultaneously. I've been to very few live concerts.Skydiving did not scare me nearly as much as I thought it would. I had been worried all week that the weather wouldn't be good enough to jump, which is what happened last year when I tried to do it. Our luck held out. Neal and I jumped from 14,000 feet, did a free fall for a little over a minute. I was so high up that I realized I couldn't even see the ground rushing up at me. I really did feel like I was floating. I also had time to reflect on all the Looney Tunes cartoons I had watched as a kid. As Kim put it, when Neal was trying to conjugate Skydiving into the past tense ('I sky dove? I sky dived?"), "You Sky Lived."A Business of Ferrets is the actual name for a group of 3 or more ferrets. You know, just like a gaggle of geese, a pack of wolves, or a pod of wales. We wanted to get one more ferret so that Amelie would have a friend to play with. When we arrived the two ferrets from which we were choosing were sisters that had been together since birth. Not wanting to split them up, we took them both and named them after the twin witches from "Spirited Away:" Zaniba and Yubaba.
Here's a short video of them playing together.
--Ender
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