Summer Sweetness

Marilla treated me out to see This American Life: One Night Only at BAM.
Rachael treated me out to see Cabaret on Broadway (Alan Cumming, swoon).
Yacki treated me out to see Neutral Milk Hotel play at Prospect Park.

Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

I love acoustic sing-alongs, especially if it's with The National  and 5,000 other people on a summer night.

Being

I deactivated Facebook yesterday after 9 years of usage. I hope that breaking down this virtual wall will expand my mind after shedding in some real light. I am partially sad because for some of my faraway friends and family, this is our main way of communicating and keeping in touch. I plan to return to it once I am in a better place.

I turned 27 years old last week.

Coincidences #3

1. Within 4 hours, two different people told me of how their loved one had been in remission with lung cancer and how the tumor has recently grown back. One is my co-worker's sister, and the other is my neighbor's close friend.

2. This morning I chatted with my cousin, who lives in Taiwan. We were talking about being born in the wrong decade when I mentioned the movie Midnight in Paris. Her response was, "I rented that yesterday! What a coincidence."

3. I was telling my friend Celia how awkward it was when I ran into an old SVA girl from college. Then later that night, when Val (another friend) and I walked into a Korean restaurant, Val goes, "Hey! I know this place! [SVA girl's name] took me here years ago!" It's weird because these are the only two times I even thought about that girl since we graduated from school five years ago.

Coincidences #2

More encounters Thursday-Saturday.

1. Read up on J.M.Barrie's bio two days ago because Peter Pan randomly popped in my mind. Heard the radio discussing about him on NPR this morning in the car.

2. Saw John & Sinead Kerr perform live for a benefit show. They ice-skated to Adam Lambert's cover of Gary Jules' version of Mad World for Donnie Darko. After the show, I  went to the bar across the street and saw they had a cocktail called "Cellar Door." Another Donnie Darko reference.

3. Last coincidence bit more trifle but... watched latest episode of The Mindy Project. They brought up Love in the Time of Cholera which is  the book I'm currently reading now. AND they also mentioned avocados, which was what I was eating at that moment. Ooh.

Coincidences

What happened this past weekend, just for the record.

1. Kurt Cobain's suicide letter resurfaced on reddit on Saturday. While I was reading it, I thought to myself "Hm, I haven't written in my journal in a while. Going to do that now." I randomly flipped open my journal and the first words I see are "Courtney Love." Weird. (It was an entry about how I saw a girl who resembles Courtney while at Battery Park.)

2. Two mentions of "Bellagio" by two friends in two days.

3. Yesterday, my manager and I had two separate conversations: 1. About Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards on Comedians in Cars getting Coffee and 2. Tom's Diner being on 112th Street. Then apparantly, Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander were spotted eating at Tom's Diner this afternoon.

Waiting for Godot

Last night.
L to R: Shuler Hensley, Patrick Stewart, Billy Crudup and Ian McKellan

Songs of the Year

1. Mazzy Star - Common Burn

2. Willis Earl Beal (feat. Cat Power) - Coming Through

3. Devendra Banhart - Mi Negrita

4. Rhye - Open

5. Midlake - The Old and the Young

6. Valerie June - You Can't Be Told

7. Phoenix - Entertainment

8. Neko Case - Night Still Comes

9. The National - I Need My Girl

10. Au Revoir Simone - Crazy

11. Beck - I Won't Be Long

12. Lorde - Royals

13. Camera Obscura - New Years Resolution

14. Bill Callahan - Small Plane

15. Laura Mvula - Green Garden

Previous favorites: 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008

Thanksgiving '13

Twenty-thirteen is ending. How do I feel? It's 30°F outside and I'm in my room on a cold Saturday afternoon listening to Midlake. They came back with a new album last month and I saw them play at Mercury Lounge. Have been revisiting their "The Trials of Van Occupanther" album. A lot of great records came out around that time.

What I am thankful of.

1. For the golden memories in Taiwan. I got to spend Chinese New Year overseas with my family in Taichung and Taipei. I haven't been back since I was really young so the whole visit was surreal. My grandfather passed away almost 15 years ago but his home office is untouched. I took some of his business cards and dug into his drawers for 40-year old picture albums. I found a lot of photo gems that no-one in the family has seen in decades. I also took a box of clothes that my mom left in the closet before she married my dad. My favorite is a light-blue 70's dress with a white lacy collar and a pin in the shape of a ship's wheel. I visited my maternal grandparents and cried hysterically when I saw them. It was an emotional vacation.

2. Meeting Dennis and Cindy Sze. They are a married couple who both share a passion in creativity and helping others. Helping Dennis out with his company coincidentally united me with a long lost friend! I used to play with Eunice when she visited her aunt, who was a tenant in our house. It's been about 18 years and our friendship hasn't changed.

3. Weill Cornell/ Presbyterian Hospital, now a major part of my life.

4. For Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything" album that never fails whenever I am a wreck.

5. Friends and family for their constant love and support during troubling times. For the well-wishes, the care-packages, visits,  letters, and texts between hospital visits and chemotherapy. Laughter is truly the best medicine even when it hurts to crack up.

6. The "If We Were Dads" Film Club that I host with Marilla. We just celebrated our one-year anniversary this month! I'm always looking forward to a relaxing night in with friends who also share a love for movies.

7. Sarah! I randomly met her at a Crohn's and Colitis charity event and then my Summer of Sarah began. She was in New York on a grant working towards her PhD in geography. It's ridiculous how we have so much in common, specifically our love for Kate Bush and My Brightest Diamond!

8. Belle visiting me from Amsterdam/ Guillaume and Raed visiting from Montreal.

9. My favorite moment of the year- Enjoying "Beast of the Southern Wild" in Prospect Park with a live orchestra. I was already nostalgic before the night even began because of the company I was with. They all returned home shortly after (Switzerland, Italy, Montreal and Ottawa) but I'm glad to have spent that evening with magical people.

10. Quiet music venues.

11. For our mayor-elect, Bill deBlasio. Peace, Bloomberg.

12. Country getaways to retreat and appreciate nature.

13. HEALTH INSURANCE  for which I've always taken granted! This is the most massive I've dealt with hospital bills. Would have costed an arm, a leg, and a boob. 

Worn Out

This week I turned off all notifications to shut my phone up and went to bed at 9:30 every night.

Tonight was spent at home alone organizing paperwork, designing a bit, and watching Bob's Burgers until 2am. Wild night.