love and be loved

Missy and I met up with our friends Kara and Todd at the Watertown apartment around 10:30 or 11:00am. Kara learned a new card game that can be played with multiple players called "Eqyptian Rat Screw." I heard her wrong and thought the game was "Egyptian Rat Squirrel," which I like the sound of better anyway. Usually I am just turned-off to having to get instructed in learning new games, but it was actually really fun! We all got into it and it is very fast and competitive! Afterward, we all went out to lunch (Indian, of course) at Punjab Palace in Allston, MA. The food there was phenominal and, unknown to us until we saw our meals, you get at least 2 times the amount of food than other places for the same price. I have been a big fan of House of India in Pittsfield, but I have to say that this place tops the cake. Not only was the food delicious and inexpensive, but the wait staff and host were so kind and funny! And an Indian soap opera was playing in the background which also set a fun and friendly mood. It was Todd's (23rd) birthday today, so we all chipped in to cover his meal and had a great time!

Woke up and went kayaking with my olderst sister, Lindsay, on Onota Lake in Pittsfield. She has spotted bald eagles (2 adults and 2 young) there on many occasions so we thought we would scope it out. The lake's surface was as smooth as glass today.We set off and paddled down and out of the cove and were kayaking down the middle length of the lake. Suddenly, we saw an adult bald eagle soaring in circles nearer and nearer to the lake's surface. With our front row seats, we watched it scoop the water to catch a fish. It was so amazing to be in that spot at that exact moment. That's when I started thinking about my day and how if we had left a minute earlier or a minute later, we would have missed this. The adult eagle flew behind us to what my sister called its favorite tree, because she always sees it perched there. Next, one of the baby eagles mimmicked the adult by circling the lake's surface but did not scoop and flew over with its parent in the tree. We think it was teaching the young how to catch fish. We turned and paddled over to the tree and were able to get extremely close. We stayed there for quite a while watching and taking pictures of the two eagles. The baby was very talkative and  and did a lot of calling, to which we could hear an eagle calling back from the opposite width of the lake. We decided to kayak over to the other side of the lake to check it out, because that is where the nest is known to be. The nest was giant and actually sits high in a tree in yard of a lakefront house. It must be so cool to be those homeowners - I'm sure they have fabulous pictures! There, we sighted the 2nd baby, who was still calling across the lake to its sibling. It was getting extremely hot out on the lake, so after all the sightseeing, we paddled around and under tree limbs for fun and shade. We kayaked for an hour (not including the stopping and picture taking)!

Today, Benn came over around 5pm and we went to a performance at Jacob's Pillow in Becket, MA (about 40 minutes from my house). Jacob's Pillow puts on a series of dance performances at 6:30pm on their Inside/Out Stage. The stage is outdoors and is just lovely to look at alone, as its backdrop is the breathtaking Berkshire Hills. The audience can sit on wooden benches, a hammock, picnic tables, folding chairs, or several large rocks that skirt the perimeter of the seating area. There was quite a big audience when we arrived, so we sat on one of the tall rocks. The temperature was perfect- not too hot because of a rain storm that had just gone through and yielded a beautiful, calm sky with not too much worry of mosquitoes. 

We saw three dances which, together, lasted around 45 minutes in total with a Q&A segment afterward. The type of dances, called Bharatanatyam, were performed by Dr. Janaki Rangarajan. She had begun studying the dance style, which used to be exclusively performed by female Indian temple dancers, since she was 4 years old. She has trained during several apprenticeships and has also been an instructor herself. Now, the dance form has opened up to include male dancers as well. Pupils of this discipline train very hard and typically also have to train in voice work/singing (I forget the name of it, though).

Superficially, I looooved the way Janaki looked, with her long dark braided hair, accessories, and complete Indian garb. I liked her bell-clad anklets that she was trained to make chime to the beat of the music. More profoundly, I was fascinated by the information provided in her introduction and answers to audience questions. Dr. Janaki Rangaranjan choreographs many of her own performances and I had a blast watching them! Her movements are almost constant, as nothing- not even her hands- stays in the same position for more than 10 seconds or so. In Bharatanatyam, even the muscles in the face are used extensively - the mouth, the eyes, forehead, etc. These instances were one of my favorites throughout the performances, which Benn and I dubbed "face dancing!" I thought it was interesting when Janaki explained and demonstrated how all of her movements have different meanings or significances-- each dance tells a story.

We both had a bunch of fun and oh yeah! Benn's blog will probably tell about the two kids we encountered- it was so cool and weird!!!

After Jacob's Pillow, Benn and I drove to my new office (which was on the way) so that I could drop stuff off and pick stuff up! I got to show Benn where I will be working so that he knows where to find me. I also got 4 recycling bins for the floor so I can take care of that, because nobody really recycled last semester. On Fridays, I used to sift through the little trash bins with a plastic bag and collect paper and cans/bottles/plastic/glass. I know it sounds gross but it wasn't bad like REAL garbage- it was just office and student trash like papers and drink containers. In the office, we played music while Benn helped me hang my calendar and pictures. That turned out being kind of fun, too :)

Benn asked me to go to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail with him today for a run. It is sunny and hot and humid and I was kind of in an "eh" mood. But I actually had fun, even though we both sweat buckets! (Ok, so I sweat a cup and Benn sweat a bucket! Hehehe) We ran 3 miles with 2 small breaks for stretches. Then ran 3 miles back to the car. During our run, we saw tons of bikers and 1 or 2 runners.

Animals spotted: Just geese & ducks today.

Finally got a reply email this morning from my boss, as I had sent his several questions regarding the new position & scheduling. Unfortunately, he was not able to answer ANY of my questions but did send me 3 powerpoints (around 25 slides each) and told me to read through them and try to get a grasp on the material, as I am to present them and have an open Q & A discussion about then at the Center's Staff Training days. YIKES!!!!!!!! This on top of all the other stuff I have yet to do is really stressing me out! (Might I add that it is really not helping my complexion, either, which is more to fuel the fire!) Oye.....

Decided i needed to get a run in today. Did 4.1 miles of interval training at 6.0/6.2mph & 7.0mph, which warm up and cool down at 5.0-5.5mph.