30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #23 – Visit the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum

2014 06-23 deCordova Guide and PostcardThis was the first day of my “staycation” and with this morning’s visit to the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum I’ve done six things on my list and I’ve got two or three more coming this week so get ready!

If you’ve read this blog at all over the past four years, you’re well aware that I love art. What you might not be aware of is that sculpture is one of my favorite art forms. I’m not sure How I first heard about this park, but when I did I knew I wanted to get out to see it and it was such a neat day trip, I will definitely go back out in the near future. I took advantage of my local library’s museum passes and only had to pay $5 instead of $14!

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30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #26 – Spend a weekend in NYC w/ Tara

2014 06-13 Oh Hey Chrysler BuildingAfter a long and exhausting, but fantastically wonderful weekend in New York City with Tara I am now done with 20% of my list! I did so much that this is only going to be a basic overview of what we did with a few amazing pictures and then when I do my Culture Corner post for this month you’ll get the rest of it!

Tara and I have known each other since second year of undergrad, where she knew me as chlorine boy (I came directly from swim instructor training) and I knew her as one of the other two sophomores in an upper level random history class! She’s been in New York for almost four years and I haven’t been down to see her yet even though she’s been up to Boston twice to see me. So when I started making my 30 x 30 list I knew NYC and a Tara visit would be included, especially as she is moving to Portland, OR at the end of the summer.

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30x30

30 x 30: #21 – Eat at a real sushi restaurant

2014 05-24 Even Tried SashimiYup. That’s me smiling as I try a big piece of sashimi. If the piece would’ve been half the size it wouldn’t have been so bad, but in general I enjoyed the sushi and will eat it again in the future. With lunch yesterday I’ve completed FIVE of my 30 x 30 list and I really hope I can keep up the momentum as I head into June.

What was most funny about #21: Eat at a real sushi restaurant, was that EVERYONE wanted to do this one. Most of my friends who checked out the list at some point or another volunteered to do this one. It worked out to be my sister and I, which was perfect as this weekend is her birthday weekend and what better way to celebrate than by eating raw fish. Ha!

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30 x 30: #20 – See a comedian/comedy show live

2014 05-18 Road To OddballTonight I saw The Road 2 Oddball tour featuring Adam Cayton-Holland, Howard Kremer and Brody Stevens, right, in that order. Seeing comedy live is one of those things I enjoy when I do it and think “oh I should do that more often,” but then don’t. I think the last time I saw comedy live was in 2006 when I was visiting the great Helen Blowers in Newcastle and we went to a show which was epic.

I knew I would go to tonight’s show if given the opportunity as Howard Kremer is one of my top five podcasters and I’m obsessed with Who Charted. His odd sense of humor mixed with Kulap’s hilarity and the ever interesting engineers make it a great show, so I wanted to see his stand-up. Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed. I felt bad for my friend who went with me, when we left he was like “uh, not really my thing, but I got a couple of laughs out of it.” 🙁 To be completely fair there were some pretty big hits and misses from all three of the headliners, and the local who opened the show (Samaria Johnson) was pretty good.

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30x30, Personal Project

30 x 30: #8 – One day Star Wars I-VI movie marathon

Star Wars DVDsI’m now 1/10th of the way through my 30 x 30 list, and have made plans for two more already (see a comedian and visit Tara in NYC). If you don’t follow me on Twitter, you missed a treat as I crazily tweeted the six Star Wars films for May the Fourth (be with you) yesterday. Towards the end of the night when I was starting to lose it I created the hashtag #SassyYoda and we discussed the idea of #SassWars, a parody and/or YouTube channel which dubs sassy commentary (a la drag queens or teenage girls) over some of the epic shade throwing scenes throughout the series. Yeah, it was a rough last hour, but I made it.

What I found most challenging about the day was how exhausting and uncomfortable it was to sit through and pay attention to six full length movies. I somehow managed to (mostly) time myself while in front of the TV and it came in at just over 12.25 hours, but with breaks it was closer to 14 hours. I seriously wonder if I listed this one in the wrong place. It’s listed under relaxing, but after yesterday, I’m thinking it should’ve been classified as physical, because by the end of the day I was physically sore and mentally exhausted.

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