Favorites of 2014

Three great albums: Beck's Morning Phase, The War on Drugs' Lost in the Dream, and Master Remix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell (tribute album).

1. The War on Drugs - Red Eyes
2. Beck - Turn Away
3. Mimicking Birds - Bloodlines
4. Strand of Oaks - Goshen '97
5. TV on the Radio - Quartz
6. Wye Oak - Logic of Color
7. Jesse Winchester - All That We Have is Now
8. Rodrigo Amarante - Irene
9. St. Vincent - Birth in Reverse
10. Hamilton Leithauser - 5am

Rest in peace, Jesse Winchester.

Shout out: Sufjan Stevens-  A Little Lost (Arthur Russell cover)

Previous faves: 2013 / 2012 / 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008

Off the Grid

I feel a great lightness of being. It's fun wandering off without the nuisance of social media and tagged photos involuntarily documenting after you. Reverting to pre-internet outings makes me feel inexistent, without shadows nor footsteps. Sometimes I feel like a breeze in the wind and all of the sudden life is easy again. I need to remind myself this.

2014 had its beautiful moments. Too many to count.

Gregory Alan Isakov

Current mood:

Summer Travels

Summer officially ended. Some photo highlights from my travels.

Visiting Rachel and Matthew's farm in Newberg, Oregon.

Farm marketing with Guillaume in Ballard, Washington

Lateral menu in Madrid, Spain

Row boating on the Grand Canal in Versailles, France

Commuting with Ted all over Amsterdam, Netherlands

Picnic atop Mount Rigi in Lucerne, Switzerland

Seattle Sunset

With wonderful company at Discovery Park

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.