I think I’ll move to Washington, D.C., become an intern, and mysteriously disappear. But seriously folks…
Check out Congressman Gary A. Condit’s official website. Make sure you click on Internship Opportunities, and maybe even fill out the application. As you could imagine, he’s looking.
After work earlier today (yesterday, actually), I headed into The City for the free New York Philharmonic concert and fireworks in Central Park. After a little bit of drizzle threatened to postpone the performance, the storm stayed far enough away for the whole night. The first half of the concert consisted of music by Leonard Bernstein, including stuff from West Side Story, Candide, and On The Town. Special guest performers included Joshua Bell and a forgettable female vocalist. The conductor, who was giving his Philharmonic premier, was pretty animated. He felt the need to give “woo-hoos” when acknowledging the soloists.
After a long intermission, the orchestra returned with a Prokofiev symphony, which didn’t seem to hold too many people’s interest. About two minutes of fireworks followed the concert. I was hoping for a bigger display. Maybe next year.
At the concert, I met up with Melissa. She attended Camp Ramah when I did, about twelve years ago. I hadn’t seen her since. She managed to find me online at a Moxy Fruvous community website, and we made plans to meet at the concert, with a group of friends (Darren, Stacey, Randi, Stacey G., Amy, Devon and Keith). We talked about people we remember from camp, and the usual “catching-up” kind of stuff.
All in all, it was a good night. I like New York City; I need to find excuses to go there more often. I was even able to park on the street, in the same exact parking space I used last year for the same event. Although it was a space with a one hour parking limit, my car was thankfully not ticketed or towed, just like it wasn’t last year. It’s a good thing it wasn’t towed, since I intended on driving Randi, Stacey G., and Amy back home afterward. Luckilly, it all worked out.
Okay, I’m getting a little excited about tomorrow’s Concert in the Park with the New York Philharmonic. The program is mostly Bernstein, with some Candide, West Side Story and On The Town, with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 thrown in for good measure. Then the whole night will be topped off by fireworks.
Friday night, I drove down to D.C. to meet up with some friends. We moved furniture (seems to be a theme lately), ate at the Cactus Cantina, played a good amount of You Don’t Know Jack on Gwen‘s PlayStation, and visited the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. I now feel it is safe to add “the D.C. area” to the list of places I would go if I were to leave New Jersey.
Considering it’s past midnight, I guess it’s too late for that. Ah well. This is the first Fourth of July where I did not see any fireworks. Granted, the past few years I’ve seen the fireworks at drum corps shows without any of my closer friends, and being with friends but without fireworks is better than seeing fireworks alone. Skipping most of the details involving New Hope, crazy ice cream, and Mexican food, I saw Cats & Dogs tonight. It was a little cute, and that’s all I really have to say about it. Cats were the bad guys and dogs were the good guys… not sure if I agree with that premise.
In no particular order:
The website is sporting a new design. I’ve been working on it bit by bit for a while, and I finally finished it on Sunday. Today Dreamhost upgraded my account which threw a whole bunch of things off, which I’ve just “frantically” gone through and fixed. So if you’ve had any problems posting comments, you shouldn’t now.
Also, I’ve made some additions to go along with the new design. I put up a new photograph collection from the day I attended the Princeton Fete. There’s a spiffy new About Me area including my infamous radio interview with Redbeard. And yes, that is Tyler (the Cat) on the front page.
Yesterday, I spent the day [DELETED]. Every year, my skin peels after the show, and I never seem to remember to do anything about it.
In the skies were threatening bad weather. About five minutes before the show, the sky finally opened and gave us a little bit of drizzle. The audience was well-prepared and whipped out their umbrellas. Thankfully, as the first corps came on the field, the rain subsided. We knew the night would be fine when a rainbow came out during their performance.
At intermission, we started to see lightning and even hear a little bit of approaching thunder. We were able to move the show along so that the storm didn’t arrive until after the show was over and most people had gone home. We were lucky to avoid the bad weather, and it ended up being a great show.
Some of the students who participated in [DELETED] were at the show, and they made their presence known by yelling out my name when I was down on the field. It feels good to have a fan club.
[DELETED]
At the show, I got word that Archie passed away yesterday. Bob “Archie” Irwin was a driver for the Crossmen, and had been with the corps since it was formed in the 70’s. He was an incredibly nice person, and always sincere and authentic. The corps dedicated their performance to him tonight. It must have been emotional for many people in the audience—this was the Crossmen’s home show, there were tons of friends, family and alumni of the Crossmen out to see the show, and he touched the lives of many people coming through that corps. It’s people like him that make me want even more to be more genuinely nice to others.
The second show for me is tomorrow in Clifton. Stop on by to say hi (and maybe to see the show).
I always thought that Twin Rivers (East Windsor Township, New Jersey) was a dump. Well it’s not normally that bad, I’m just exaggerating for effect.