I just looked up "midlife crisis" on Wikipedia to see if I'm having one or not. I don't seem to be. On the other hand, i am definitely getting older. Like Benjamin Button, but in reverse.
Blue Velvet played at the Plaza last night. L hadn't seen it so I took her along. A very good viewing overall, though the audience was a little rowdy for my taste.
Audiences tend to be at odds with the event they purport to support. I can think of three audiences I've been in which were in synch with their performance, not somehow struggling against it.
For example, last night's audience was oh-so hip and cynical, forever laughing at things which weren't intended to be funny. So busy being ironic they apparently forgot to experience the film.
On the 14th, after eating at the Crimson Moon Cafe, L and I stopped into a music shop in Dahlonega square. The owners of the shop, somehow in possession of the knowledge that it was my birthday, made me an offer I couldn't refuse. And so I purchased a cello bow, to use with the sitar.
Events which according to the internet have occurred on Flag Day:
* Anne Frank begins her diary.
* The Germans take Paris in 1940.
* The United States Army is founded.
* The Stars and Stripes is adopted as the official flag of the United States of America.
* The words "under God" are added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
* Sabitathica is born deep in the heart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, swathed in flax, placed in a basket, and sent sailing solemnly down a river, where after seven weeks he is discovered and raised by a Pharaoh. And also wolves. Fifty years later he will write a brief autobiographical synopsis of questionable accuracy.
* The Boston Strangler takes his first victim. Coincidence?
* Charles Babbage proposes what will later become the first automatic calculator.
* UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer becomes operational.
* Bambi released.
* The first non-stop transatlantic flight takes place in 1919.
* Player piano patented.
* Sabitathica turns fifty and almost goes hang gliding.
* The first execution of a witch in Massachusetts Colony occurs in 1648. Coincidence?
* Flag Day is the Feast Day of Saint Elisha.
* When you wake up on Flag Day, there are 200 days remaining in the year.
* The Bounty's mutiny survivors reach land after traveling 4,000 miles in an open boat.
* Sandpaper is patented and the Bunsen burner invented.
* The first compulsory education law in America is passed by Massachusetts, 1642.
* Sabitathica convinces the other three Beatles to fire Pete Best.
* Superman was born when Action Comics Number 1 was issued in 1938. Coincidence? Really?
* The Vatican abolishes its Index of Prohibited Books in 1966, in existence since 1557.
* First Breach-of-Promise lawsuit filed, 1623.
* Bourbon created. No coincidence.
Plus, some of Earth's greatest humans happen to have been born on Flag Day. In fact, it reads like a list of Humanity's Greatest Hits:
Che Guevara, revolutionary, vegetarian
Burl Ives, composer of compositions
Boy George, famous person
Sabitathica, friend of the downtrodden, fancier of ragdoll kittens
Donald Trump, misanthropic philanthropist
Or How to Have a Lazy, Winsome Summer (or Late Spring, Depending on Who You Believe) Birthday Weekend in the Mountains.
Step 1: Pack too much after you get out of music-prison on Friday.
Step 2: Drive rapidly to the cabin you reserved earlier today. But not too rapidly, because you already have one tail-light out and you should probably try to minimize your moving violations.
Step 3: Arrive and check in.
Overlisten to the proprietress yelling loudly into a phone at her son on the other end, telling him to return with the tiramisu he'd run off with earlier in the day.
Rent two DVDs and one VHS you will not have time to watch.
Step 4: Check out your new diggs.
The master bedroom:
L's bedroom:
The bath suite:
Step 5: Make the space your own. Which in this case meant turning L's bedroom into a music room.
Make sure you set up your sitar, flute, and recording equipment on the bed within easy reach.
Set up the Christmas lights you brought with you (refer to Step 1).
Pour some wine ...
et voila!
OMG, I got more flowers this afternoon. Plus a balloon. Will the beauty never end?
It was L, once again wishing me a happy fiftieth - I mean fortieth - birthday.
So beautiful.
Awesome.
In what is becoming a sweet, sweet tradition, wonder-receptionist Pam has made me cupcakes for my fiftieth - I mean fortieth - birthday!!
Delicious ...
Thank you Pam!
It looks like hang gliding is out.
At least for this weekend.
The forecast for the mountains on Saturday is calling for thunderstorms.
And I think Ben Franklin may have discovered electroshock therapy while hang gliding in a lightningstorm, so we're not going to risk it.
Postponed, not canceled.
When I got back from lunch today there were more flowers waiting for me in my office.
These flowers were also from L. She sure is gaining points with the women around my office ... they're all totally jealous.
This is probably the most flowerful birthday I've ever had.
omg.
Beautiful.
L got me a sitar for my birthday!
The headstock is carved in the form of a lion or serpent.
It came with a second tumba, or resonating gourd ...
which attaches to the neck near the headstock and allows for more amplification of the sympathetic strings.
Portrait of the artist as a sitar player:
Awesome.
