friends

Last weekend I went down to DC for one of my favorite meals of the year, Frank and Kristen's 13th Annual Pre-Thanksgiving. Luckily Baby Shipegan did not arrive early and interrupt the festivities. As usual, Frank made a delicious dinner: (left) chestnut soup, (center, clockwise from top) mac & cheese, brussel sprouts, spicy corn, mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and turkey and gravy, and (right) apple and pumpkin pie, Indian pudding, and homemade whipped cream!

Thanks Kristen and Frank for another wonderful weekend!

box of letters: 1992-1995, originally uploaded by zannect.

Back in the dark ages (early 1990s), I used to exchange letters with friends--school friends during the summers and camp friends during the school year. This weekend, Dave and I went up to visit my parents, and one of the things we did was clean out my closet. I found a few boxes of old letters and notes passed during classes, which provided a good hour of amusement for me once we were done with the cleaning. I was most amused, by the following excerpt from a letter from my friend Jason, dated July 7th, 1994:

"Oh one more thing. In the already yellowed paper (that's how long it's been since we last talked) of your letter, you asked me if I have Prodigy. I'm sorry to break the news but we have AOL (America On Line) instead. However I believe there is a way we can talk. I just haven't found it yet."

I about fell over laughing at that. Ah, the early days of internet.....at that time, pretty much everything I am using to create this post had barely been conceived of, didn't exist, or if it did exist, it was far out of the reach of the average consumer. However, I have to admit, as much as I love the internet we have now, going through old emails doesn't provide quite the same tactile pleasure or rush of nostalgia that opening these old letters did, each one distinctive in handwriting and address and style, with artwork adorning the envelopes and letters. Each letter reminded me vividly of people and events I haven't thought of in a decade or more. I'm so glad I saved them.

David and Debi's surprise wedding, originally uploaded by zannect.

Congratulations, David and Debi!!

Many wishes for a long, happy life together! What a beautiful wedding...

More pictures over on Flickr.

Yes, I am still alive, and no, I have not forgotten this site. I've been super busy the past couple of weeks. Several of the things I've done really merit their own posts, but here's a short list:

+ My parents came down for a visit. We celebrated my dad's birthday, went to a great event put on by the War Resisters League, and went to the Art Under the Bridge Festival in DUMBO.
+/- At the Arts Festival, we saw some really really bad art and some good art. Performance art is frequently very stupid, in my experience.
- I had to go down to Washington, DC, for a last-minute business trip.
+ But I got to eat another wonderful meal cooked by Frank, see Kristen and Frank's new house, and stay with Hilary, so it wasn't so bad.
- I went to a going-away party for Eric.
+ I went to a welcome-to-NYC-for-the-weekend party for Bahar and Satish.
+ Jenn and I hosted a very fun barbeque, and we ended up with twice as much beer as we started with.
+ My old friend Dave came to NYC and took me out for dinner at Daniel, an extremely fancypants restaurant, and we had a fantastic meal.
+ That meal was so good it deserves a second plus.
+ I took a yoga class and a pilates class at my gym.
- I had to take those classes because I seem to have injured my IT band again so I need to cut back on running.
+ I saw a fantastic show: M. Ward at Wall Street Rising (a free show downtown, outside!)
+ I saw another fantastic show: S PRCSS, Parts & Labor, and Les Savy Fav, at Bowery Ballroom. And that show was free too, because my brother won a pair of tickets and gave one to me.
+ Both those shows had female drummers (M. Ward and S PRCSS).
+ I ran the Liz Padilla 5k, therefore crossing one item off my to-do list.
+ I've read (The Namesake) and re-read (A Wrinkle in Time; A Wind in the Door; A Swiftly Tilting Planet; Many Waters) some really great books.

So, overall, it's been a pretty good few weeks. Pictures of M. Ward, the Bowery Ballroom show, and my parents' visit are all on Flickr.