To The MFA

Today was one of those freak days in winter when it is 60˚F after being really cold. It was also overcast and a little moist - just gorgeous! ha. Anyway, with the snow all melted away and nothing else to do, I decided the time was right for me to go visit the Museum of Fine Arts.

I walked up Columbus, which has gone upscale, to Mass Ave and then over and up through the Victory Gardens, one of my favorite places in Boston. Of course since it is winter, everything is brown and no one is weeding or sitting on their little garden bench chatting with friends, but the Victory Gardens are still beautiful. I saw Bluejays and Cardinals - I have not seen these birds for a few years. They are still pretty.

The MFA is now 17 dollars to get in. Jeez. It made me feel a little old. As a college student, I went there all the time because I didn't have to pay anything, and they a a great collection. I also used to use their library for research when I had to write a paper. It used to be an escape for me, going there, looking at the Homers and Hoppers and Buddahs. And it was quiet. Today was a Sunday, after Christmas, so it was busy. Noisy and full of kids running around. I was annoyed but then I thought, well, art is meant to be enjoyed, right? It doesn't have to be a somber experience.

I went to my favorite places - the American painting from the 17th and 18th centuries, the Flemish Hall and the Medieval painting and sculpture. I also went back to that nice Spanish Chapel space. They also have some great Edward Hopper paintings. But they also had a great exhibit of photographs by Yousef Karsh, portraits of Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, and other famous people. They were just fantastic.

After the MFA I walked back to my hotel room. Later I had dinner with my friend Dot. We had fondue. I really liked it but we ate too much and now I don't feel so good.

so sweet

I went to college with the woman on the left. Though the time was brief, she left an impression. She does fantastic pieces on her own personal blog as well as a few others. I think she and her girlfriend are pretty darn cute.

It's Good He Ain't Here Today

I don't think my husband would like to be in Boston today. It started out chilly with snow, then it got warmer and the snow got wetter and heavier, then it was a mixture of snow and rain, and now it is colder and feels a bit like freezing rain, or hail, with a strong wind. I was running around in it and it doesn't feel good. And there is Christmas music EVERYWHERE! AHHHHHHHHH!!!

It All Happened So Fast

I am in Boston now, for an uncertain amount of time - probably until the end of February.

It happened a week ago Tuesday. I applied for a job in Boston, they contacted me, asked me to come ASAP, and 6 days later I was on my way. I arrived here Tuesday afternoon, started work Wednesday morning, and I hope by the end of the weekend I will be adjusted to the time zone.

So far it's been great, and even if it goes down hill from here, that's okay - the experience so far makes it all worth while.

For one thing, it has been COLD. The temps have been in the 20's (-7˚C and up), and then yesterday and today it was snowing. For me, it's fantastic! In Brisbane it had been in the 90's (30˚C and up) with 100% humidity. I HATE that weather. I hate it in a city, anyway.

Since I am here, it is also an opportunity to visit my family. I didn't know if I would be able to afford it otherwise in any near future.

It is really nice to be in Boston, I must say. I left here 14 years ago. It has changed but then again it hasn't in more ways. Walking up and down the streets, going the same routes I used to go, seeing a few trusty shops and restaurants, and seeing the Public Library, and Christian Science Headquarters and various old churches and snooty hotels - these things feel almost like friends, reliable and faithful, always there as you walk by. But I don't feel like I am in a timewarp, sucked into the past and regressing into my 20's. I feel good. I have a job! I am not totally broke! I am staying in a nice hotel, courtesy of my job! I am not an angry young woman anymore. And even though I am not the young hottie I once was, I feel a lot better about myself now. And I am married, though we don't seem to be able see each other much because of this work/live thing.

I am having some interesting observations being back in the US. For one thing, people are really polite here - it was arresting at first. The exception, however, is Trader Joe's. The people who work in the shop on Boylston I found to be a little less than friendly. It is a sharp contrast to the people who work at TJ's in Los Angeles. Those people are on happy juice - they made grocery shopping one of my favorite things to do.

Another thing, we have a lot of stuff, and it is cheap. I know I have arrived at Christmastime during a recession, but we really have a lot of shit for sale and everything around us encourages us to buy it at all costs. We are also given a lot to eat when we order something.

There are also a lot of homeless people in Boston; I forgot how many. I guess winter is not the best season for a lot of people.

But it is very nice to be around all these friendly people who think it's cool that I live in Australia and are positive. I feel like I can relax a little, like I am not being judged. Maybe I am being judged, but no one is saying anything.

I wish my husband was here with me. I would love to show him the beauty of this city covered in snow, and watch people marvel at his accent and ask him all kinds of funny questions about Australia.

Last night was the company Christmas party, and I was amazed that after 2 days I felt comfortable hanging out and chatting with my co-workers. There are quite a few people here my age and older, but the women are all younger. There is a really cool chick here who is young, she is from Finland and she is here because her husband is getting his PhD at MIT. She said to me that she was so impressed when I came on board, it gave her hope to see a woman, "really doing it, you know, really working in the business." I wanted to tell her that it was a hard business, and I find it discouraging that after all these years I still see the same amount of women working int his industry, and that it hasn't been all rosy. But she was happy, and I was enjoying myself. The fire was going, outside it was snowing, and they had Bing Crosby playing. Everyone was dressed in their hipster/grunge/winter sensible gear, and drinking good microbrew. I could smell the wood and laugh at all the good humored people around me, and felt that the chance to come home for awhile was a great gift.

good old brissy

It's stinking sweaty head foggy hot. The economy is not what it once was, and I don't have any work on the way as of yet. Darcy and I are hanging around the house, and he is tying up loose ends and doing what work he can before everyone shuts down for Chrissy.

A lot of things have happened this past month. But I have been too hot to spend a lot of time on the computer, and for about 10 days we had no internet so this entry will try to make up for a bit of time.

It was weird not to have the internet. In addition to it being the main way Darcy and I communicate with people for work, I realized it has also become our main tool for distraction throughout the day, reading BBC and NYTimes and blogs and VFX stuff, as well as window shopping. Without it, I felt lost the first few days. But then it was good. I read more, and was more productive. I listened to the radio. I have found a station that plays oldies, but from the 60's and 70's. I can sing along, and spend all day in some sort of weird time warp, re-living little events throughout my childhood in Manchester NH while Crosby Stills Nash and Young or Fleetwood Mac plays in the background. I can't listen to it all day; first it's fun but then it gets too weird.

We went to the Cricket. Australia vs. New Zealand. It was my second time attending a Cricket match. The first time was last year, when India was here playing Australia. That was a heated time, with India's star player accused of making racial remarks towards a black Australian player. Australia wanted him to be dismissed, India threatened to leave and cut the season short, and as a result the final match was tense and full of angry crowds.

I can't remember the rules exactly; they are different depending on whether the game is a one day match or a 5 day match. In either case the game starts at 10 and ends at 5 or 6pm; there is a tea break mid morning and an hour lunch break and then another tea break in the afternoon.

Contrary to baseball, tickets on the ground level are the cheapest, and the crowd is rowdy. People will spend the whole day at the cricket, and many drink beer from the time they arrive until they leave. As a result, by about 2pm, the crowd turns a little ugly and aggressive from all the drinking, and inevitably fights break out, and people streak across the field. In the game against India, The crowds were divided along racial lines, and we sat surrounded by Aussies on either side and behind, and a group of Indian people about 5 rows in front. One of the girls was waving an Indian flag. It obscured the view of a lot of people, and by the evening those people were not happy. They started yelling at the girl to put the flag down, which made her angry and more determined to wave it. Then a man in front of us reached over and tried to pull her flag down. It almost started a fight. Then, later on, when an Australian batter got out, a big fat white Aussie turned to the Indian crowd with big wild eyes and screamed "YOU'RE A BUNCH OF FUCKING CHEATERS!" and threw beer on them. When they turned around to yell at him, he got up and started that whole "you wanna go?" kind of thing. The police are everywhere at cricket matches, and by the late afternoon they are throwing people out.

This last time we went, it was Day 2 of the match, and New Zealand wasn't even at bat the whole day (that is not good). Australia are the better team, so it is not much to watch, unless you just want to see Australia win regardless of the competition. Darcy had a good time. He really likes Cricket. I think I don't mind it in a live setting, before the crowd gets drunk.

We've had mad storms. 2 weeks back, they were so fierce that they blew people's roofs off, destroyed people's homes, and even killed some people. We were very lucky here on the south side of the city - all that stuff happened on the north side. I was sitting alone in the house when the first one struck. No one in the news said it was going to be so bad. It came in and rained pretty hard. Then the wind started whipping through. The thunder and lightning felt like it was circling me, ready to go in for the kill. The whole house started shaking. I had to lock down all the windows and doors and then I couldn't see out the window from all the rain. It went on like this for an hour, then tapered off. It happened again the next day and then the next and then the next. Now we are back to the standard afternoon thunderstorm to break the heat. But the people who have lost their homes - I really feel for them. That is no quick recovery.

I left this post too long. I can't remember anything.

hmmm...

I've been walking around the river. The river is one of the big selling features of Brisbane, which is funny because it is brown and murky and full of bull sharks. You can't swim in it and at low tide if you are near its mangroves it smells a little. But people who have a home on the river are millionaires at least. Everyone wants to be near the river. To be honest, if I had a million dollars to spend on a home, I can think of a few other places I would rather have a house. But it's not as simple as that, I guess. You have to be somewhere you can work, maybe you grew up here and want to be near family, maybe you love muddy river life and would rather be here than on the beach somewhere. If I had a million bucks I think I'd buy a home somewhere else though.

But the river is still good. People rock climb its cliffs, boat around it if they have a boat. Some people live on boats in the river. One day I took some photos so you could have some sense of the city via the river:

here is the muddy water.

here are boats that people live on.

here I am crossing from south side to north side on the pedestrian bridge.

here I am crossing at the other end of the CBD back to the south side, in the late afternoon.

On the north side of the pedestrian bridge there is the Brisbane Botanical Gardens. I say "is" and not "are" because despite the fact that there are gardens it is just one park. It's a nice park, full of pretty trees and some flowers. When we first moved here, it was all green and great. Now there is a brown patch in it though, because Darcy and a bunch of other guys play soccer on it:He has fun.

Last Tuesday I said "AHHH! It is too hot! Let's rent a van and go up to the beach!" We rented a van, put our tent and surfboard in it and got on the road. Then it started to rain. Then the radio said severe storms were on the way. The the rain was so heavy it was hard to see. So we decided to turn around and go home. We stopped at a grocery store to buy some groceries. We got back to the van, and Darcy had accidentally left the lights on, so the battery was dead. We had to call someone to come and start us up, because no one around us in the parking lot had jumper cables. It cost us 90 dollars. We finally got home, and by 10pm were sitting on the couch, tired and hot, watching tv. I guess for now we just have to deal with it.