mainly, because I haven't posted yet in June

[occultatio]

Brief life update, since I've been sort of incommunicado for those not in direct personal contact with me.

My work pushed my start date back two weeks to the beginning of July, so my parents flew me home to California for a week and a half. This is where I am now. It's really wonderful to see Mom and Dad again, and being here is reaffirming my belief that this is where I want to move back to... more specifically, that this is where I want to settle down. But that's still a few years off, since my plan is to stay in Boston for at least a couple of years. So it's not that I'm totally bored here, like one might expect. I'm actually enjoying myself just fine. But I really, really miss tiamat360, more than I usually do after only this long a separation. I think what it is is that a couple days ago I was looking through the pictures that Dad took at commencement, and suddenly came to one of her without warning -- it was a really good picture of her, and it sort of caught me by surprise. So I'm really looking forward to getting back to Cambridge on Thursday, even though it means giving up this increasingly nice house (they got the pool resurfaced this spring!) for a tiny little apartment.

Speaking of apartments... Mom and I have been spending a lot of time shopping (or just browsing) for apartment stuff. We picked out a bed and mattress, and actually went ahead and bought a classy-looking comforter and nice set of sheets today. I'll be getting a full bed when I move into my and dergnoam's apartment in August, and that's way more exciting to me than I can really justify. We've also been looking around at kitchen stuff, since we'll have a real, full kitchen, and I intend to make good use of it.

On which topic, I've been taking full advantage of Mom's gorgeous new kitchen during my time here, to test out a bunch of new recipes on her tab and with high-quality equipment. Thus far, I've made chicken teriyaki and chicken fried rice, and Rae and I collaborated tonight to make bread pudding. Upcoming projects include a second trial of pad thai (which weirdquark and I made right before I left Cambridge) and a quiche with carmelized onions (which I intend to learn to carmelize myself).

While home, I've also picked up my guitar again. If the hard-sided case we ordered online arrives in time, I'll be bringing back my acoustic to Cambridge with me, but for now I've been playing around with my electric, which is a hell of a lot of fun. I think that, the last time I really had access to it, I wasn't nearly as into the kind of music that's good to play on electric, but now, having played Guitar Hero halfway to death, I'm having a blast. And yes, I am trying to learn to play several GH songs for real, but it's a lot harder. My big project right now is the riff from "Heart Full of Black." Kickass song, but deceptively difficult -- there's a lot of really fast back-and-forth movement along the fretboard. Much easier is the riff (and indeed the chords) from "Bright Future in Sales," which is sort of my ironic totem song of the moment (as I do, in fact, have a new computer). With any luck, I'll be able to get my electric out east sometime not too far in the future, though it remains a question whether it's more economical to somehow get my amp out there too, or just buy a new one.

Aaaand... that's what's up with me. A lot of mundanity, but I manage to be excited about it anyway.

Comments

[timmypowg.livejournal.com]

If you want to play acoustic guitar in Cambridge, you can probably find a cheap one online for about the cost of your keyboard, or even try to buy one on Craigslist. Mine ran $60, including shipping; it's not a particularly good guitar (either the frets are a little off-tune or the strings are very nonlinear) but then again, it was dirt cheap. I've been to many guitar stores in Cambridge, though, and none sell anything less than $150 that I can remember.