Leslie: A little soul for your SOUL!

As if we don't get enough suggestions for new music we should all listen to...I'm going to suggest a MUST...if you like old skool soul/blues, that is. This podcast out of Jersey City's WFMU, Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine, will absolutely blow your mind....every week! I'm not exaggerating. What I want to know is, how is all this amazing music unknown to most of the world? Good soul music is like a perfectly made, crunchy, velvety-melted grilled cheese on a cold day. Mmmmm. Tastes great to my ears. I implore you to look into subscribing to it via iTunes. It's free afterall! 

Andrea- All the World is Green

Hey guys,

I was just looking up a song called "San Fransisco Bay Blues" by Tom Rush (who if you haven't heard of him, check him out!) and I came across this video:  It rocks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXWLceA5TSA&p=094EB5C0653239F7&playnext=1&index=77

Who's in the mood for some Tom Waits?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GIAawSTisE

And of course I had to put some Bob Dylan in here... This song goes out to Alice who is "a thousand miles from her home".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSqypwGXw6g

I'll write an actual post soon when I have more time!

ps- how have you guys been putting the videos (not just the links) up here?

Leslie: The Bringer of Jollity

Currently listening to... Gustav Holst's The Planet's movement, Jupiter the Bringer of Jollity 
Feeling...perhaps due to caffeine intake, but me thinks not completely, swelling with a feeling of jollity
Weather...impending rain, slightly humid as per usual

The title of my post and subsequent mood are related to this most wondrous suite of the classical composer,Gustav Holst. This is probably the most famous movement within the suite and it is so commandingly beautiful that it gives me goosebumps everytime. I swear it's worth listening to/watching this YouTube video of an orchestra in Osaka, Japan performing . Wait'll you get a glimpse of the conductor! You have to respect him because he obviously put his whole soul into this performance! I love people that are passionate, don't you?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B49N46I39Y     (I cannot figure out how to embed youtube videos...)

Having read about the composer Gustav Holst a bit, I've dug up some interesting factoids for your reading pleasure...oh wondering minds....
He isn't German, but English and the interesting thing is that his name used to be Gustav VonHolst but due to anti-German sentiment in England he dropped the "Von"(...as if Gustav and Holst doesn't still sound German...?) in 1918. Admitedly according to wikipedia, Holst was enthusiastic about socialism, vegetarianism, Hindu mysticism, and ol' Walt Whitman poetry. What a guy! The Planets went on to become overwhelmingly his most famous orchestral suite and apparently he was annoyed with its popularity over his other works. ha. Well, Gustav, get over it, it rules!

****

Meanwhile, back in Nicaragua....

It seems I've been in this grand country of volcanoes, lakes, and beautiful people for a little over a month. Part of me feels like it's been so much longer. In the first weeks I was here I vacationed with my boyfriend, Travis, who was in the Peace Corps until.....as I half expected,he got sent home on August 30th for chronic gastrointestinal issues and needing surgery in his wrist. C'est La Vie on that one. Travis is without a doubt the love of my life and while it's been hard missing him,  I see the benefits of being here on my own. 

Some Agave sitting pretty while I look down from the summit of the highest volcano in Nicaragua, San Cristobal

Feeling cocky and about to summit this beast of a volcano...little did I know the misery that followed in the trek down...

Pretty much since he left I decided to change my plans here. I'm in Nicaragua for about 2 more weeks then I'm flying to Miami, couchsurfing there for the night, and then it's time for my grand Cross Country Train Adventure to Ann Arbor, Michigan to reunite with my boyfriend! Yeah its slightly more expensive than flying and takes two whole days, but I love trains, it's better for the environment, and it's path is beyond Interstates. It's going to be my very own Darjeeling Limited adventure minus the whole India thing and fucking Jason Schwartzman at 65 mph. Oh I also couldn't afford a sleeper car, but have no fear, the seats are big AND I plan on purchasing some sleeping pills or something like it at the local farmacia here in Leon just in case I lose my sanity after hour 24. Ah the joys of living in a country that doesn't regulate it's pharmaceutical sales. Anybody need any medicaciónes? jajaja. 

After I visit my boyfriend for two weeks in Ann Arbor, I am Greyhounding it up to Indianapolis to meet up with my parents and favorite Aunts and Uncles for a weekend of eating at old haunts, uproarious laughter, and hugs near my parents alma mater, Purdue University. Then after that it's back home to Dallas until January when I go back to NYC to resume grad school. phew. Think I'm gonna "settle down" in Brooklyn for more than a year this time. Being a nomad is great but I'm tiring of it and miss my cat.

...I digress....comments on me, unintentionally by myself, here in Nicaragua....There are obvious benefits to being here sin mi novio such as not speaking as much English. The operative word(s) being "not as much". It being Leon, the second biggest city in Nicaragua, there are many people here, gringo and non-gringo that speak English; especially at the hostel where I work/live. My Spanish has improved but...Yo no soy bilingüe. But I have many actual friends here and I couldn't be happier with that. Right now I am sitting at this little open air cafe, La Rosita where all the baristas are my friends and Spanish teachers! I'm gonna miss this place for sure. Just this morning I wandered in the local market trying to buy ridiculous presents for my parents. Hence, Spanish practice time! Everyone here is so gracious and kind to me when I try to speak with them that my passable Spanish is often called "bastante" or enough by the locals. Sure. Thanks people...you're too kind. Here's a link to the hostel where I live/work in case you want to check it out. 
http://sonati.org/en/
I've got some adventures to write humorous vignettes about, but this long entry will do for now. 
As they say here, Que le Vaya Bien! 


Amor y Paz,
your ol' Les

Summer: Bunch of Hippies

Ah the wonders of procrastination!  Instead of comparing protein translation between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, I am going to join you lovelies for some share time!

This weekend I had a lovely reunion in Austin with, mainly my old housemates (Stav, Chris, Niell, and Jay), but I also got to see Fatima!  It was a bit of fresh air getting out of San Antonio and going back to Austin.  I feel more at home there; I told Stav that the past 7 weeks or so felt like a...dream in comparison to returning to Austin.  I felt like medical school was a distant thought and that Austin was my real life again.

To give you an idea of things taking place in Austin, I will recount the text messaging between me and one of my San Antonio med school friends.

Lilian: We miss you!  Hope you're having fun at one of ur favorite coffee shops lol

Me:  Hell Yeah! My friend [Stav] is playing guitar.  I had wine and tasty tofu (Jay actually made tofu...I ate potato salad wrapped in lettuce and tasty tasty chick patties!  but tofu was easier to say) and I am sitting on real wood floors =] group sing a long!

Lilian: Haha! Bunch of hippies, singing; oh god!

Such was my weekend.  Throw in the coffee shops and wonderful friends.  It was a very refreshing weekend.  And Stav burned me her September mix tape!

Stav, Jay, and I also went to a show--a Tent Revival!  Featuring Wino Vino, White Ghost Shivers, and the McMercy Family Band.

I will not comment too much because I can't do it justice the way Stav could--especially since it touches upon one of her favorite musical...genres.

So, here's a link.  I didn't post any youtubes because they all sucked.  This is their myspace.  This was a really fun band to dance to, but also because there were a lot of biblical songs...of course, there was also a lot of smack thrown around making fun of revivals.  McMercy Family Band

So...that was my quick deviation from work!

Love you all and definitely enjoy the videos!  Claire, I hope you feel better soon!

Claire: better than chicken noodle soup

Ah I think that this video is great on so many levels and it also serves as a bizarre escape from being stuck at home all day. 

Another great one, as many of you surely already know from Stav's epic summer mix... ahhh defies words


And does this song ever get old? No! Here's a live version that is slightly reminiscent of spontaneous dance partys at Pearl Street........


Ugh get off YouTube, Claire!
Goodbye! :-)

Wagon Wheel

Hey guys,

I know I'm overdue for a post but for now I just have time to post this song:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gX1EP6mG-E&ob=av

I hope everyone is well and I'll write more soon, I promise!

ps: Hi Chett!

Claire: rotz rotz rotz

hello once again,

i'm still out with a cold (or maybe a sinus infection?). now that i'm at home for a while it's high time to share a little more about my experiences in deutschland!

oh nein! some blond guy just rang the doorbell and i don't have a bloody clue what he just asked me. this kind of one-sided dialogue is a daily occurance. many people here in dresden and the saxony area, like this bloke at the door, speak with a pretty heavy dialect called sächsisch. to me, it's like another foreign language in this already foreign language. 

it's mind-boggling to think that germany, this rather small country that's probably half the size of texas, has so many dialects of german. although we have dialects in the u.s. too , i don't think they deviate from standard english all that much. it's not too hard to understand someone from, say, boston or alabama. german dialects are a big jump from standard "high german", so much so that even native german speakers struggle to understand dialects! i'd say that the gap between standard german and sächsisch is as wide as the gap between standard american english and scottish.

on that note, i've been frustrated with german because i thought it'd be better at it by this point. i've been avoiding german as much as possible this week, which doesn't exactly help. learning a foreign language is like riding a roller coaster with big ups and downs. fortunately i remember feeling the same way in argentina, so i know that this will pass eventually...

i want to elaborate more on this german face thing... there's more to it. one of the most fascinating things about germans is discovering what's beyond those serious faces.  too often i have met someone and i thought to myself, "bah hambug, what a cold, uptight person!" ... only to be proven so, so utterly wrong. behind these serious expressions are warm, generous people with a great sense of humor. the thing is that germans don't think they owe anything to strangers, so that's why they seem cold in public settings. thus, you can forget about smiling at the passer-by (let alone making eye contact), small talk, customer service, or even saying "excuse me" if you get in someone's way on the street. but once you start to get to know german people (it's not too hard), you earn their trust and eventually this intense sense of loyalty. you can also look forward to lots of interesting conversations. i adore the germans for their curiousity and love of engaging conversation (no small talk please). another admirable trait of ze germans is their sincerity. they will never ask "how are you?", invite you to somewhere, or offer you something unless they positively mean it. you can always count on their word. in a nutshell: there's less fluff, you know?

welp, that's enough for today!

i miss you guys a lot.  

cross your fingers that i'll get better soon.

xoxo, claire

ps: below is a picture of dresden that i found 

pss: rotz is the beautiful german word for snot, which is the main feature of my existence right now

Klär: my German face

Exhibit A: I'm posting this picture for a few reasons...

1) You can see my kitchen at my new apartment.

2) Tall boots and a trench coat? But it's only September 18th!

3) However the main reason I took this was to show you a unique phenomenon which I call the "German face." This is the preferred expression of many Germans in public settings, like when walking around the city or waiting for the train. You have to look like you're contemplating your mortality or something. No smiling.

Exhibit B: another girl on my program took this concept to new heights. I can't look at this without erupting into laughter. 

I've been living in Dresden for about 10 days and I LOVE IT! More to come soon. For now I will rest because I caught a cold today. Tschüß!

PS: Another hilarious factoid is that I hear "It's Raining Men" on the radio at least once a day!

By popular demand, and I'm not anyone's sister, all right. This is short, but its late and I have to sleeeeepp. Summer, In answer to your questions, I am working at Half Price Books, and I don't really get sick anymore, at least not often.

Also, per your request, my first movie review will be for the film, BIO-DOME. Sometimes I will write something about a movie, but I'm just going to rate this one: A+. This scene really takes me back and is reminiscent of the dynamic we had at the co-op: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SeVpY8Pxx4

I don't know what all of these link fields mean in this thing, so the link is everywhere.

Hope you're all doing well,

Chett

Stav: Moon River-ing

Hello all,

The past couple of weeks have felt really crazy/emotional/full/hectic but really, I haven't been doing that much. I'm in a wistful mood the majority of the time and it gets in the way of my living my life. Blerg. I find myself humming this song constantly. While doing dishes, reading, walking to the bus stop. Although there are many versions of Moon River, I think that Audrey Hepburn's version of it from Breakfast at Tiffany's is the most beautiful:



Hmmm. I hate feeling sad, so I won't expand on my current mood.

Funny/interesting things that have happened to me in or around the bus lately:

Yesterday while I was waiting for the bus, an older gentleman was standing in front of me in line waiting to get on, but a little off to the side. As the bus approached, I waited for him to get on, you know, out of respect... He saw that I wasn't getting on and then yelled at me "GET ON ALREADY". It was horrible. As I recounted this story to my housemate, he replied "That man must hate kindness." Ha!

Usually when I ride the bus I get a lot of homeless/homeless-seeming men trying to make small talk with me. It used to make me uncomfortable, but not really any more. The other week, a very cute hip hipster guy started making small talk with me on the bus. Not a big deal, but a nice change from older, foul smelling men.

Today at the bus stop near my house, in an attempt to stay away from the sun (BTW, I really feel like its just gonna stay hot in Austin forever. The temperature just won't go below 85 until next spring...) I stood on this grassy shaded area. Little did I know I was standing in an ant pile.

Jeez, thanks for letting me blow off some steam blog-friends. I really do love you.

Take care,
Stav.

Summer: Word Vomit

Leslie requested that I procrastinate, so procrastinate I must!  (Thanks so much for the request because otherwise I would have been stuck studying protein synthesis. BOO!)

So, my dear friends!  I have finished my first set of excruciating exams and I am in a new module--so, another 4 weeks and then crazy exam time…again!  I haven't much to write in the sense of "day in my life."  As Andrea and Claire already know, all I do is study.  It's actually a little depressing.  Therefore, I think I will write about how I miss everyone and the things I miss.  And this ties back into Leslie's post about what makes your soul sing.

Friends and Family:  It took my a while to learn that I'm actually a people person.  In high school, when I first thought about medicine as a career, I thought of it from the perspective of, "If I'm a surgeon, I hardly have to deal with people at all."  This sounds horrible, but it was at a time where…I thought I was 99.9% introverted.  But now, people and specifically, "you people" are my favorite things in the world.  So, number one on the list--my people.

On music, I will agree with Leslie.  As stated above, I suck at finding it by myself, so I depend on my "#1 soul singing" friends.  When I am sad, I often play the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack because I think it's so beautiful.  I am not a very good auditory person, so lyrics are not a strength of mine.  But music moves!  And with this, goes dancing!  With my friends, because I'm not very good at dancing by myself.  (Unless I'm concentrating hard on the Samba--then I dance by myself in corners.)

Nature--Leslie again!  Austin, oh Austin my soul yearns for you!  And for all the national parks and forests and wildflowers and foreign countries with foreign plants and animals--natural beauty.

An aside that just keeps butting in my head and clearly wants to be out:  I am having a hard time not being cynical right now--I've erased many sentences because I don't want to sound depressed, because I'm not.  But when I think about my friends, and the wonderful places you're in, and the wonderful moments I've had with all of you--I remember what all I don't have anymore--at least not close at hand.  I am in a new place with new faces and new challenges.  And I have yet to find something as peaceful and comforting as the greenbelt after a rain, or as joyous as a marching band playing in the waters of Barton Springs, or as freeing as yelling off the Pearl St. balcony with my friends, to my friends, or as exhausting as dancing the night away.  I am incredibly nostalgic whenever I remember that I had a life before this study craze.  And most of all, yes, I miss all of you--because there's no one, so far, that fits quite so well into my life.

Sheesh, I sound like a sob story!  So, moving on with this soul-singing list!

MOVIES!  Especially with a glass of wine…surely just a glass and NOT a whole bottle of St. Genevieve's!  Haha--Fast Times with Ridgemont High!  I also just watched "It's Complicated" with my parents--I thought it was HILARIOUS!  Gotta love Alec Baldwin's cheeky, oddly slick words and, the always-distinguished Meryl Streep.

Back to Nature--getting to Nature.  I hate driving in the city--really, I hate driving in lots of traffic.  Give me a highway or farm-to-market late at night, role down those windows and bellow out some tunes--preferably a burned mix from one of your lovely friends.  EPIC!  I feel so much better if I have a good drive.  And there's something nice about a long road trip on your way to something spectacular.

Swimming--there is no other physical activity that gives me as much…innocent…pleasure.  Even playing soccer does not amount to this.  Swirling and splashing!  The excitement of warm weather arriving.  And sometimes just floating, and hearing your heartbeat slow in the water.  And not only the swimming, but all the places you can go swimming--and I am NOT talking about an overly-cholinated azure blue gym pool.  I'm talking hot springs! lakes! rivers! glaciers! (haha, not) and salt-water pools!

I will quit rambling--because this was not a very well thought out post.  I think I just word-vomited.  Writing this, I find that I have a lot of feelings about starting med school and just how hard it is--not the work, but the change in my life style.  Even though I love people a lot, I find myself getting very tired of always having to meet new people and fit in to a new crowd.  I already have friends that are wonderful, that's enough--I just want a few good friends and I think I already found them for life.

Thanks for listening to me purge and I'm sorry it's not very elegant.  I will strive to write more frequently.  I am forever grateful for all of you writing and tuning in!

Summer

Leslie: Mmm-you-SICK!

You like the title of this blog entry? Does it intrigue you? Three elements of awesomeness in one word, Music. And I'm just being silly.

Mmmmm=Because music is tasty to my soul
You= It's all about "you" when listening isn't it? Your own experience? Me thinks so.
SICK=Not as in gross, but as in the "cool" form of SICK! As in, "Damn this music mix is sick!"

I suppose this post was motivated with Stav in mind, but I know all of you love music. My boyfriend and I are obsessed with making mixes for each other as a way to stay close. Perhaps you share this love? Then have I got the website for you.....
8tracks.com
  You can make your own mixes and listen to other peoples. They're theme,mood, and genre oriented to please many tastes. You just make a profile and *wahlah* This site is also good for people that, like me, love music but sometimes get into ruts and need new inspiration.
Anyhow, check it out.

I love all you girls and I request more posts! Come on....procrastinate whatever it is you're doing and post!

Leslie: Ground Zero Deemed Great Place to Show Off Shiny, New, Grown-Up Version of USA

This vast country is home to so many people who come to it believing it to be a place "United", but instead find it divided. Is the name "United States" more of a dream, an unattainable lofty aspiration? When will ignorance and intolerance stop rearing its ugly head?
Ah..I digress...so the aforementioned shit storm has its origins at "ground zero" in Manhattan-Lower Manhattan to be exact; home to Wall Street, the Staten Island Ferry, and a growing sense of fear deeper than the chasm left by the late Twin Towers. I've been loosely following the New York Times's coverage of a Muslim groups' attempt to contruct a center near "ground zero" for a month now and find myself fondly recalling my initial positive inner-ponderings,
  "Oh how nice."
*sigh*
"New Yorkers have seized this opportunity to show the world that we are above petty bigotry and narrow mindedness. This mosque will be a sign of maturity within the American public. UTOPIA HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!"
Oh how wrong I quickly figured out I was. What a lovely half a second of dreaming...
People do not want this mosque built. Sure I empathise with the reasons those opposed to the construction of this center have. They perceive  a Muslim center in the shadows of the Twin Towers to be a slap in the face of the victims of murderous so-called "Jihadist Muslims". Like pouring salt in the wounds of post-9/11 America, this center would be a daily reminder of ....what...that those opposed believe all Muslims to be extreme and thirsy for American blood? Oh wait. Am I missing something here? Now I know...All White Anglo-Saxon Protestants are the same too! I get it. All WASP's wish to put burning crosses in the yards of African-Americans whilst wearing white bedsheets. All WASP's must now be plotting how to out-do Timothy McVeigh. Hmmm...a new city...how about we bomb some buildings in downtown Chattanooga, TN? I'm a WASP, sounds like a plan! I'm sorry, but this is what people opposed to the construction of this center near "ground zero" are saying. This kind of mentality in the UNITED States of America is embarrasing particularly because the home base of this controvery resides in New York City.
I'd expect this sort of backward thinking from a southern city, not grand New York City. A city with a population of approx 9 million people, built with the sweat of  immigrants, a shining beacon of how we CAN all get along. For crying out loud, everyday in this amazing city people of all races, creeds, and economic status share the same subway commute. According to wikipedia, 36% of NYC is foreign born and no single country or region of origin dominate this immense population. Amazing.
But no, apparently it is not possible for us in 2010 to build a bridge and get over it. Can we not come together and see this as an opportunity to rise above something so American, fear? For the time being, it seems that we cannot. For many Muslims, America is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable place to live. Across the country, mosques have been vandalized and several taxi drivers in NYC attacked. This is the result of harboring and encouraging an irrational fear not only within the hearts of individual Americans but the heart of American society. Well I say we must demand better.
Dear America,
Grow up. That is all.

All the love in my heart,
                                   Leslie