Friday, April 01, 2005

Spring

Three! Yes, three 60 degree days in a row! Life is good.
Spring started off amazingly well. I went to the
Emerson
concert on Monday. They are so amazing! They started with
Beethoven op 18, which I wasn't really that excited about.
But thank goodness they didn't do anything more "serious",
because Shostakovich A major was next. My God that was
awesome. The violist was unbelievable, and they had really
good communication, esp the cellist. He was always looking
around smiling and nodding. It was great. Brahms f minor
piano quintet was last with
Jeffrey Kahane
, who was fantastic!
Such a wonderful musician and pianist! It
was the best performance of that I've ever heard. I heard
Fleisher do it at NEC, which was great given the
circumstances, but this performance was transcendent.
(Nothing against Fleisher. His recordings are forever
hanging in my Hall of Genius).


I've been really lazy lately. I don't know what's wrong.
I was probably depressed it was taking so long to install
DB2. I don't know how systems people do it. Staring at seg
faults and *!#&ing backtraces make me want to puke. Now
that it works, though, it's pretty fun and I have energy to
work again. I ported my prototype from ML to Prolog which
was fun. Now I just need to write a Prolog-SQL compiler and
I'm set.


I ran into Sara at the yoga studio last
night. I love
practicing over there, and it was so fun to chat and laugh with
her. We're so wonderfully similar. I'm so lucky to have
found a teacher and friend like her. Thanks Sara!


I held my recitation outside yesterday. (Day 1 of the
three day 60 streak!) It was great! I ran to the art store
to buy some newsprint and wrote with big markers. We had
the first "class discussion" ever, which was fantastic.
Someone asked a question to which I didn't know the answer.
I told them as much, but I knew there were basically only
two ways to think about it, and everyone
started discussing which it should be amongst themselves.
The setup outside was different, as we were in a circle
instead of the stupid row setup. Maybe I'll set up class
like that from now on. Hmmm... might be weird in a
classroom.


On the way home on Monday, I ran into Allie for the first
time since we broke up. It was nice to talk to her again.
Kind of weird... It wasn't as tumultuous as I thought it
would be, but it still left my head spinning a bit. Still
processing...


We learned about Natassa's PAX data placement algorithm in
class on Monday. Astonishingly, she decided not to patent
it. In her words
"I really believe that education implies free dissemination
of ideas, and the very concept of a patent opposes that. I
would feel hypocritical to choose to become faculty and at
the same time patent PAX. It was not an easy decision given
how much money were involved, but I sure am proud of
sticking to my principles :)."
I am so inspired by her decision! My good fortune seems
boundless these days.


All this stuff in 3 days!


"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening, that is
translated through you into action. And because there is
only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and
if you block it, it will never exist through any other
medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It
is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how
valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions.
It is your business to keep it yours. Clearly and directly,
to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe
in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware
directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel
open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction
whatever, at any time. There is only a queer divine
dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest, that keeps us marching
and makes us more alive than others."
-- Martha Graham


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