This Side of Lost

Yes.

I normally like to make comments about the changing weather and seasons in my blog, but I can't really do that anymore. Each day here is almost exactly like the one before it. Ooh, I wore a light jacket to work today. That's shocking, actually. But it is May, and the spring seems to be rushing by.

I don't have a whole lot to comment on. This happens when I take too long in between posts. All the things that have happened both in my life and in the broader world seem to mush together in importance, and I have trouble sifting through them and bringing the good ones to the top. So I guess I'll just segue into a bullet point list. So there.

• My audition for the Master Chorale was successful, I guess. I will be joining them as a "supplemental" singer, which apparently means I'll sing in the concerts where they need a larger group. As far as I can tell, that's not a lot of shows. At the very least, I'll be singing some Beethoven and Brahms in October, some 20th century a cappella stuff in May, and "great opera choruses" also in May. I will possibly also be needed for certain larger symphonic works with the LA Phil. Maybe more, too, but who knows? This isn't really working out how I thought it would. But I'll be sure to keep you updated.
• I already had a taste of what it's like to sing with the Master Chorale when I was asked (by virtue of my at-the-time in-progress audition) to join them for the Tristan Project. It was a fun experience -- getting my first look at Disney Hall from behind the scenes was a blast. But it kind of wreaked havoc with my schedule. If irregular rehearsal times and short snippets of singing are the norm, I might be thinking twice about joining these folks.
• Samantha has a couple more fencing tournaments coming up -- one tomorrow at UCLA, and one next weekend in Las Vegas. That's right -- we're taking our first trip to Sin City next weekend. It'll be a whirlwind trip (driving out early Saturday morning and driving back Sunday mid-morning), but I'm sure I'll get plenty of gambling, booze and strippers packed into the time, don't worry.
• Here's two places "over the hill" we've been told we need to go: Diddy Riese Cookies and Sprinkles. Yeah, okay, just as soon as we polish off the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge.
• I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series in preparation for the double dose of new Potter media this summer. It's only my second time through them (I was a late joiner) and it's been fun reading them with the foreknowledge of what happens next. Needless to say, we're pretty excited for the movie, having watched the trailer about five times already.
• Preparation for our summer journey draws on apace. We've booked rooms at hotels for both weddings and for a quick stop in New York City to see the Twins take on the Mets. Good thing we've got corporate sponsorship on this trip or we'd definitely go broke. Hee.
• The Twins escaped April with a 14-11 record -- not bad. They've had some studs and some stinkers out of the gate, but they've averaged out to be... well, average. The offense looks similar to last years' -- prone to streaks and needing the entire lineup to be firing on all cylinders to work. But April doesn't tell us a whole lot by itself. They've been fun to watch so far, which is better than I could say for last year.

We're planning on seeing Spidey, The Under Water Adventure Seeker: The Movie on Sunday, maybe. I'm not too jazzed about this one... I think the media blitz overdid it for me. We're looking forward to our outing with Lindsay tomorrow more. Happy weekend!

I intended to write this post about three months ago. So much for good intentions. Now we've been here for 3/4 of a year, so the only months we haven't experienced in California are the rest of May, June and July. I expect them to be hot, mostly.

When people learn that we've only just moved to southern California less than a year ago, they usually ask, "How do you like it?" or "What do you think so far?" My stock answer for this is "It's hit and miss. We like the weather." This usually gets a chuckle, and saves me from going into more detail.

In all honesty, we are mostly unimpressed with California so far. There are a lot of things that go into this, but here's the most important ones:

• Isolation, geographical. Things are so spread out here that it feels like just running errands is a major undertaking, not to be attempted without maps and three days rations. Forget trying to walk or bike to the library, the bookstore, downtown (what downtown?) -- no way. The only reason we are able to walk to work is because I carefully planned it that way, and we pay for it in that our housing location is less than desirable in many other ways.
• Isolation, social. Along with the geographic distances comes the social ones. It's hard to meet people here. Our friends from work and from choir are great, but there's only so many of them, and we usually feel like we're intruding on already-existing social groups. Plus, it's hard to meet up with them when they're also a 30 minute drive away at best.
• Weather. It's nice, yes. But too nice. Unnaturally nice. Always nice. I was raised in a temperate weather zone, and I am used to four distinct seasons. It is quietly unsettling to have it be "sunny and warm" every single day for months on end. In the summer, it changes from "sunny and warm" to "sunny and hellishly hot." Not my idea of fun. But at least it's not humid.
• Employment. Mine is fine, but Samantha's was supposed to be temporary. There's been no change, and not for her lack of trying (as her dozens of job applications can attest). There's just been no opportunities for her desired kind of position. This has put a crimp in our financial well-being as well -- not anything serious, but those credit card bills are getting paid off slower than I had hoped.

This is not to say that there aren't good things. My job was the primary reason we moved here and remains the primary reason we are sticking around for a while. I'm also a little more patient than all that, and quite willing to give our new home the benefit of the doubt for longer than a year. In addition, Samantha's fencing is on the up-and-up, with a good coach and plenty of opportunities for competitions. My singing opportunities continue to improve (including an exciting new development -- more news on this as events warrant). We are getting more of a chance to explore interesting areas and things to do outside the Valley. But these pros aren't outweighing the cons. Yet.

Moving here last August, we didn't picture southern California as a permanent home and place to start a family. Nine months in, that hasn't changed.

There are a small but not insignificant number of words that I never learned how to pronounce properly. I attribute this to being a fairly literate kid from early on, and thus learning a lot of my vocabulary from reading rather than conversation. My mother can amuse you with stories of some of the early ones (womb, iron) while the later ones have faded from my memory for the most part. But I found another one yesterday. I always figured that continuity was pronounced "kun-TIHN-yoo-ih-tee." Now, I haven't gotten this far in life without hearing the word "kahn-tuh-NOO-ih-tee" spoken. They just... never were the same word in my head. This is hard to explain, but perhaps Samantha can describe to you the look on my face as I realized this last night.

Oh, and here's some continuity-related True Internet Weirdness™ for you (I knew you were missing it): the longest and most impressive domino fall I've ever seen.

In other news, Spidey-Dude the Movie was interesting. A fun flick, but not as good as the first two. *shrug* I guess I'm glad I went. Let's hope that Other Franchise Sequel: Part Three is more satisfying.

We had a better time drinking with Lindsay at the Dresden Room. We met some of her cool friends and saw Marty and Elayne, who are apparently folk legends in these parts. Who knew? They just sounded like bad lounge singers to me. We tried to get them to sing some requests (including Neil Diamond and a song that Noah and I made up called Belugas in the Shade) to no avail.

We had occasion to return to The Huntington on Friday, attending a librarian nerd event that yours truly helped plan. The place is more beautiful in the spring than in the fall, and the novelty definitely doesn't diminish with repeated visits. The proximity to Mother's Day made us think that it would be a good place to bring one's mother should they ever come to visit.

Our quick trip to Las Vegas was a success, mostly. Samantha fenced well enough to satisfy her desire for tangible progress. We briefly patronized one particular den of iniquity on the Strip called the MGM Grand, where we had delicious sushi and fascinating people watching. I managed to leave my cell phone in the hotel room, but it is winging its way back to me soon. We will have to make a longer visit (with a larger budget) sometime in the distant future.

Netflixed recently:

• Girl with the Pearl Earring, an arty-artsy flick. Very well done and evocative. Also brings my Scarlett Johansson movie tally up to eight.
• Walk the Line, a biopic about Johnny Cash. You may have heard of it. Also very good.
• Rocky, from the AFI list. Sheesh, I need to catch up on my reviews.

What, you want more? Come back later.