Woa woa woa!

Today I had my first encounter with a crazy driver in DC.  DC is full of crazies so I should not have been surprised. 

A colleague and I were walking back to our office through an alley after lunch.  A van was backing up so we tried to walk ahead and move out of his way.  The driver did not appreciate this idea. 

We tried to pass, but he accelerated.  We tried to pass again, but he accelerated.  Finally there was a standstill and we proceeded to walk through what became a foot and a half of passageway between the vehicle and a dumpster. 

It turns out the only reason we were allowed to pass was because the driver leaped from the vehicle to shout profanities at my colleague.  There was no fighting and my colleague stood his ground.  Amongst the profanities, the driver asked "Would you rather be late or get killed?" Huh?  Then the driver re-entered his vehicle.  My colleague and I gave him looks of utter astonishment as we walked on.  

In the future I will avoid walking in the alley by my office.  People are crazy. 

beck

I had no idea!

I read the Get Rich Slowly blog and found this article about buying local that linked this article about the evil Monsanto corporation.  In case you were not aware (I had no idea!) Monsanto = EVIL. 

More than anything, I want to live in a place where I can grow a garden and enjoy summer harvests and justify buying a canner.  Someday...

P.S. And I want a composter.  There was an awesome article about composting in our Express daily today. 

beck

Get Excited for Free

The Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be at the Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 25.  It is still a month away, but I'm excited.  You should be too.

The FreeFest presents M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem, Pavement, T.I., Ludacris, Joan Jett, Thievery Corporation, Matt & Kim, Jimmy Eat World, The Temper Trap, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Yeasayer, Chromeo, Sleigh Bells, Die Antwoord, Modeselektor, and Neon Indian.

Neat.
 
beck

Sharing Beauty

This week I was walking in Georgetown when a tourist-looking father with his family in tow, stopped me for directions.   

He asked, "Is there something beautiful to see over there?"[pointing in the direction they were headed]
If I could have made a sound and not appeared rude, I would have guffawed.   
He continued, "Some with fountains and where to watch boats?" (English was not his native language) 
I answered in the affirmative and directed him to the Georgetown Waterfront. 

They were looking for beauty and I showed them where they could find it.  How curious to ask for beauty so nonchalantly.  And how easily I could share it!

A week ago I took an impulsive day trip to NYC.  It ended up taking a little more planning than I had intended when I realized I could not easily get to the bus stop in time for my 6:15 am departure.  But alas, with the help of a friend, I made the trip. 

I deem the trip as impulsive and maybe a little reckless, because I had just gone to NYC the weekend before.  In fact, I had barely been home an hour after the previous trip when I went to my laptop and bought tickets to go back.  And it was not a cheap trip. 

Why did I do this? South Pacific.  I had to see that show again with Paulo Szot and Kelli O'Hara.  Was it worth it? Yes.  Is there anyone who can understand why I had to do this?  Maybe.  You tell me.  I can try to explain it. 

You see, I already knew it was a remarkable show because I had seen it twice before in the last four months--one of those times was the week before.  The only actress who was different on this day was Kelli O'Hara.  I had heard amazing things about her performances on stage and when I saw the show the week before, I only missed her return to the show by three days. 

South Pacific has been buzzing through my mind for the last year and a half.  The story, the themes and the music flow seamlessly throughout the show.  The depiction of love as well as conflicts of race, prejudice and war seem so pertinent to current events.  Most of all I love how amidst all the seeming chaos Nurse Nellie Forebush sings that she is "stuck like a dope with a thing called hope, and [she] can't get it out of [her] heart!" Knucklehead Nellie is the cock-eyed optimist who falls for the romantic Frenchman. 

Do you remember when I mentioned how we hope for something better? We hope for and seek out things like beauty, love, peace and understanding.  I often find it in the form of music.  In this instance, it was in a musical and the depiction of a rather miraculous story of love in conflict.  I have relished in it for almost two years now.  We are not all moved by the same things, but I am happy to share with others what is beautiful to me. 

Now on a more serious note, a little eye candy from the show:


Okay, just one more.  This one is Brian Stokes Mitchell and Reba in Carnegie Hall:



beck

Official and Unofficial State Songs

Someone brilliant at Paste Magazine came up with updated state songs and even included youtube videos in the article.

Do you like your 21st century state song? Sadly, DC is out of the running since it's not a state. 

beck

P.S. I think I found this article through We Love DC.

Come to the Edge

Before writing this blog post, I was sitting on my bed with a pounding headache and debating whether or not I should take some Advil before attempting to write something coherent.  I felt impressed during so many moments today that I felt I had to write at least one of those thoughts tonight.  Lucky for you I took some Advil.  And here you go:  

My mother emailed me several months ago the following poem from a meeting she attended.  But eeks! I didn't read the notes until a few days ago.  The timing was quite incredible because the poem couldn't be more poignant if I had read it any earlier.

"Come to the Edge" by Christopher Logue

Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It's too high!

Come to the edge.

And they came,

and we pushed,

And they flew.

Whenever I take a chance, go out on a limb, or make an act of faith, I hope and pray that my intuition or my promptings will be validated by bringing about something better.  I debate whether the inconvenience, discomfort or heartache will be worth the reward.  I think that I am completely justified in my hope for something better.  We can and should always hope for something better--as long as it is not a vain hope (I have many thoughts and maybe even a paper on this subject).  We should hope for something and then do all we can to achieve our desires.  In the simple poem, they hoped to not fall and yet they still came to the edge. 

A few weeks ago, I went to the edge.  Last week and this week I am flying.  Boom baby.  I am so blessed. 

My birthday is next week. I'm a little afraid that this week will be so great and then the start of my 25th year will not be as great.  I will hope for better things and we shall see what events unfold. 

beck

Body Paint aka Art on Bodies

I had a life-changing experience with body paint back in 2007 with my LLHN girls.  Love.  Ever since then, I get really excited when I see beautiful images painted on peoples' bodies. 

My heart jumped today when I saw this image on the free people blog.  Love.

I also really like this one. 

My faith does not condone the idea of getting tatoos.  Yet there's something appealing about the temporary embellishments we can add to our already beautiful bodies.

beck

The Goodbye Girl

I had an epiphany a few weeks ago.  I have those sometimes.  I was thinking about the movie The Goodbye Girl after watching it at Screen on the Green. Eliot Garfield (played by Richard Dreyfus) tells his lover that he hates all of her past lovers. He hates them because they're the ones who walked out on her and now he's the one who's getting all the blame. 

In this statement, Eliot introduces an idea that I think is a pattern of our entire lives. We are constantly repairing or fixing the problems that others have created. These problems may be emotional like in The Goodbye Girl or physical such as leaving a mess in the kitchen or dealing with the tons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.  And then if we take a huge jump from the menial everyday tasks and current events to the cosmic sphere, then I would say that this pattern rings true of our purpose on earth.  We are in a fallen state--though I have to clarify that it was our choice, as it always is, to get into this specific mess of life--and we are redeemed by someone who made the ultimate sacrifice for sins that were not his own.  We live in similitude. 

But life isn't all negative so I have to share something positive about this epiphany.  Similar to the story in The Goodbye Girl, we also find exceptions.  Their relationship worked out despite those other peoples' problems.  We are not only occasionally, but frequently blessed with beauty and we realize that it's worth it to suffer through our own as well as those other peoples' problems. 

And now a line from Guys and Dolls comes to mind: "If there's one thing Sergeant Sarah is good at, it's solving other peoples' problems."

On a closing note: I spent a wonderful long weekend in Fresno last week and I get to spend the day in New York this week.  Hooray for summer!

beck