Uncategorized

I had this tape (Vangelis: Chariots of Fire) when I was younger, and I remember listening to it constantly. I thought it was pretty great. Once I asked my Latin teacher in middle school what Vangelis meant, thinking it was perhaps Latin. She looked a little uneasy and asked me where I heard it. I said it was a band. (Now I know it’s not really a band.) Uncomfortably she asked me if they had anything to do with sex, and I responded that they didn’t, as far as I know.

Apparently, Vangelis has come out with new music to commemorate NASA’s launching of a mission to Mars. Only if you want to hear it, you will have to go to the Temple of Zeus (archaeological site) in Athens. Very Pink-Floydian.

It was July 21, 1988. I had an enquiring mind, and my mother had an e-mail account (mind!shari@princeton.edu — a “bang” e-mail address). I wrote the following message to a “Space” listserver:

Is it possible that if you travel faster than the speed of light in space, and come back to earth, you would be able to see yourself in the past?

I think it is possible because when you approach the speed of light, time slows down, and if you travel the speed of light, time stops. But, if you return to earth, after traveling in space faster than the speed of light, would you be able to see yourself before you left?

I was pretty naive when I was 12. My only response came from Dave Hinson, Time Lord at Large (HINSOND%UNCG.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu), who said:

This is a very intriguing question but I’m afraid the answer is disappointingly simple: If time travel were possible, wouldn’t someone have told us by now? Think about it..

How disappointing for my first internet research project.

It’s a shame no one keeps archives of Usenet posts that old, I wonder what great things I came up with on the newsgroups.

Workaholics Arise, Now Get Back to Work.

What is your take on this, and what is your point of reference?

This past weekend, I helped Alissa move into her new apartment, closer to Chestnut Hill College, where she will be going for grad school. It poured a lot, but we managed to keep the furniture pretty much dry although we were quite wet. Gwen, Hef, Angie, Shauna, and Scott are all very cool and I wish I could see them more often.

This coming weekend I will be working at drum corps shows in Philadelphia and North Jersey. Stop on by and say hi.

I haven’t looked at these for a while—maybe it’s time to start again…

You might be experiencing some strong emotions. Be gentle on yourself, because you could be processing powerful feelings. If you have a strong response to something, just let those emotions come out. You need to release some pent-up frustrations right now. Find a positive outlet for all of that energy. You might find it helpful to go to the gym and to do a long workout. Sweat out some of those toxins.

I think it’s just saying I need to start playing more tennis. Or maybe take up jogging.

This sounds like fun.

The French launched into their favorite tunes on Thursday for the 20th “Fete de la Musique,” the annual festival that fills cities with free concerts and brings amateurs out to sing in bistros and on street corners.

From the article, I get the impression that there is a rich positive multicultural attitude in France… Even rap (an “American” “art-form”) is included in the festival—and I thought they disliked American culture.

I woke up last night around 3:00 AM with my head pounding. After several minutes of trying to ignore it, I reluctantly got up out of bed and staggered to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I opened the bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol (not the generic kind), got a cup of water from the bathroom sink (yummy) and took two pills. I staggered back to bed, hoping my headache would miraculously disappear. Unfortunately my karma level was not high enough, so I lay in bed, tossing and turning, until at least 4:00 AM.

A few hours later, a little bit after I arrived at work this morning, I received a package from UPS, reminding me that there are always things to smile about.

Speaking of smiling, the weather was pretty hot today, but windy as I was driving home. On the turnpike there were various items being tossed about: papers, small pieces of wood, and apparently bras. At least something that looked like a bra floated by my windshield. It all happened too quickly to make it out definitely, but I’m pretty sure it was a bra. Possibly a 32C.

My new Handspring Visor Edge arrived today. It’s an attractive piece of technology. Maybe I’ll actually be able to organize myself now…

Here’s a little bit more about my experience of Moulin Rouge. The only things about it that I can say bugged me were all the jump cuts. They make you dizzy after a while. Now, for the positive stuff:

There was a lot more music than I would have guessed. Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (if that was her voice) just pass as singers, but the “show” made up for any weakness in their voices. It was truly a Spectacular Spectacular. The way the modern music was worked into the turn-of-the-20th-century Paris impressed me; it was done much differently than the way similar music was used in A Knight’s Tale. There seems to be a trend lately with creative anachronisms in otherwise “period” films.

I also discovered that Baz Luhrmann, the director of Moulin Rouge as well as the “MTV” Romeo and Juliet that came out a few years ago (with Leonardo DiCaprio… ugh), created that “graduation speech” song. You know the one I’m talking about—it’s a little bit of background music with someone giving “advice.” The song is called Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).

Tonight I had dinner at Anna’s house with my father, Anna, and her two sons. It was a good Father’s Day dinner, with filet mignon, pesto pasta and chicken, with some chocolate cake and cherries for dessert.

Late last night, I found myself at the Sea Bright (correction: Seaside Heights) boardwalk with Darren, Denise, and Alissa. We walked up and down the strip, played some Skee-Ball, looked up in wonderment at the insanely dangerous carnival rides, most notably the Sling Shot, and took in the “sights.” If it’s late, the boardwalk is definitely the place to go… if you are a high school drop-out and have at least one kid to tag along.

Prior to the trip to the shore, Stacey was in town with her roommate, so we had a nice diiner out. Before the movie I finally saw Moulin Rouge (more about that later).

Earlier on Saturday, I went to the Princeton Fete. I wasn’t completely impressed with the event, but there was some sort of interpretive dance troupe. I might have taken some decent pictures of them. Once I find the cables for my camera hidden in the boxes of junk I brought over from my apartment, I’ll get those photographs online.

After the Fete but before dinner, Alissa and I went to Stults Farm in Cranbury to pick strawberries. We picked a couple of pounds worth before it started pouring and we decided to leave. Freshly-picked strawberries taste much better than the ones you buy in the supermarket.