Cherry Blossoms

"If I try to be like him, who will be like me? "- Yiddish proverb

I have been keeping busy lately and am ready for my 3 day Easter weekend. It is always nice to take time to relax and catch up on things at home. Instead of going to the Valley to visit for Easter, my parents are coming up to visit my brother and me here in Austin. Hopefully I'll think of some enjoyable ideas for things to do with them while they are here.

Let's see, I'll start by going back to last Thursday night. Cornell played Kentucky in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament and Christina, Oscar, Clarita and I went to the Tavern to watch the game with the Cornell Club of Austin. The place was packed with Cornell Alumni and there was so much school pride it was inspiring. I didn't know there were so many alums in Austin. We may have lost the game, but I had a good time having a drink with my friends. I even saw a guy I knew from college on TV in the stands. It was a good run and I enjoyed the hope, energy and excitement. I'm still enjoying the rest of the NCAA tournament. Too bad Cornell also lost in the Hockey NCAA tournament last week as well.

Saturday night, I went downtown with Oscar and Clarita. It is always refreshing to see two people get along so well and they are always fun to hang out with. We met up with Danny and his friends and ventured to West 6th street. The UFC fight was on that the bar we were at. I had a fun time and met some new and interesting characters. I've been doing really well remembering people's names recently, but the problem is that it is harder once many weeks have past and you run into them again. I hadn't seen Danny or Bernie in a while and it was cool catching up with how they were doing.

This Wednesday night I went to see the Phantom of the Opera with a friend. I was very underwhelmed. I don't think it was the all the hype I've had growing inside me from as far back as when my 6th grade teacher used to play the soundtrack for us in drama class, but instead that something was either wrong with the sound or my ears. I could not tell what the words were for 60% of it. I've never had this problem before, but then again I'm not great at hearing lyrics in radio song either. Visually it was stunning, but I felt a real disconnect from the plot due to not fully understanding the storyline. I feel almost embarrassed to admit this since I had very high hopes and wish I could just be sharing praise. I think I also have CATS on my list for musicals I'd like to see. Oh, I got great orchestra seats, which did add to the awesome. I also just learned there is a sequel to Phantom coming out in November 2010. I wonder how that will work out.

I did not make the stand up comedy list for today, probably because I have been absent lately. There is always next week and it gives me more time to work on my latest set. I feel like I write and scrap so many ideas that in the end I'm left with very little. The 3rd time I read something, it doesn't feel as funny as the first time so I tend to let it go. I'll probably go by and hang out anyway and see if I can get any pointers from the people performing.

This is cherry blossom season in DC. I very much miss the cherry blossoms, even though it was always a visual reminder that my allergies were about to get bad. There was one time when I was living in Miami and I traveled to DC back to visit and I remember being at the airport and seeing the cherry blossoms in bloom. It was such a kind and comforting sight. It felt like a sign that made it ok to move back to DC the following year. According to the National Cherry Blossom Festival's bloom watch, the average peak bloom dates are April 1 and 2, with the blooming period from March 27 through April 8. I hope everyone is enjoying it.

I recently got photochromic lenses (transitions) put into on my old glasses frames. I read this great article that explains them. This was the best part: "Here's a riddle: How do you wear a pair of photochromic glasses without looking like a hopeless dork? Trick question! This cannot be done. The mere act of putting on a pair of photosensitive specs means you've officially crossed the line into point-of-no-return nerddom. " I think that about sums it up. I don't know when I'd ever use them, but I do know that my prescription sunglasses never got used. It is just easier to wear contacts and sunglasses. I still think the idea that they get dark due to the sun is cool. Too bad they don't work while driving, which is the main time I need sunglasses.

I will admit that there are times as of late that I have a bit impulsive, but I like to characterize it as being bold and spontaneous. Sometimes you just get to the point where you feel you haven't taken enough risks or truly put yourself out there. Doing more things out of character also inevitably results in sometimes ending up on your face, but it is those moments when it all pays off that you wonder what was holding you back before. Sometimes living a more inconvenient lifestyle is the best thing you can do for yourself. For example, each time I come up with a bold idea at work and it gets shot down, after giving it a fair defense, I try to return with another big idea so that I won't become more timid. This has helped me come up with some great ideas. Of course, success breads more success, so it is also a great way to be great-- and isn't that what we all want, to be great.

I'm a big fan of Google. I use it for everything. I had never heard the story on where the name came from until recently. I just learned that: "They decided on a tentative name, "Googol", which refers to the number 10¹⁰⁰, or a 1 followed by a hundred zeros, which is more than the number of atoms in the universe, to symbolize the massive amounts of data that they were setting out to crawl and organize." Later, "When they met SUN founder Andy Bechtolsheim for an angel investment, he loved the idea and signed them a check on the spot, but wrote it out to "Google." To be able to cash it, they incorporated the company as "Google, Inc."" That is a pretty random, but awesome story.

I have been following the show How to Make it in America on HBO. It is interesting, but it is a bit hard to connect with NYC hipsters, if you can even call them that. I read this great summary about a current episode. How to Make It in America Lesson of the Week: It's Never Over with Your Ex - There was some writing in the article that I thought was creative: "All of your exes are not people from your past, but little souls that you drag around with you. They are the guests at your spiritual funeral, perpetually mourning the past versions of yourself and spooking you constantly with their threats to return with the famine of uncorrected wrongs or the feast of revisited sexual favors." - Not very inspiring, but great descriptive writing. Maybe I just connected with the idea of "past versions of yourself."

the similarities were disturbing, but illusory