nine days late

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

nine days late.

it's not like i'm famous and have an actual life, thus being too busy to write things on time. it's not that i'm lazy. it's not that i have better things to do, or is it?

when thinking about resolutions for the new year, one that crossed my mind was not to procrastinate. which means no more blog posts saying: "I'm too tired right now but in the near future i will blog about this this this this and this. oh and this too but in another blog because i'm busy and tired." But, when thinking about resolutions, what does one do when they discover that resolutions are a load of crap. The whole "THIS is the year I will lose (insert number here) pounds! and be nice to people! And be healthy and be kind and help others!" This is crap. Why, you may ask? I'll tell you....

you should be doing these things every single day of your life, that's why. Every day you should be nice to people, help others, be kind, stay healthy, spend time with those you love and those who love you. Get outside and see what this world has to offer, because folks, i'm not saying anything new here...we only have one life to live, so we got to make the most of it. Take time to enjoy the world, do things for others and remember to do things for yourself too.

Recently, Amanda Palmer twittered something that absolutely got the gears spinning in my head. It made so much sense and I have not been doing this. Especially in college. So all you college types that read this (if there are any) pay extra attention, because when I was in school I tried to do everything all at once and it resulted in me trying to rip all my hair out. literally and figuratively.

this is what she tweeted: you do not need to go so fast and you do not need to do everything. now go have your day.

Folks, ponder that and do with it what you will. Personally, I think it's a pretty sound piece of advice.

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What I did this New Years Eve/Day to celebrate:

I went to symphony hall in boston with heather on december 31st, 2009 to spend the last few hours of 2009 in STYLE!

Amanda palmer played with the boston pops and it was fabulous as usual. She filled all the rooms in the hall with random, yet extremely awesome musicians and art installations. It was genius. One of said openers was Mr. Sxip Shirey who is a real life circus composer and uses all kinds of homemade toys and odds and ends to create his music. Another was Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade, who kicks all kinds of ass. I first saw miss tess (sans bon ton parade) when I saw HUMANWINE for the first time in august of 2008 at club passim in harvard square in cambridge. I love Miss Tess so much. I must remember to go see her again when she plays in these parts. There was also an awesome beat boxer. And some cool art installations. And then the pops played an opening set complied from suggestions from amanda palmer fans, under the direction of keith lockhart. they totally played star wars and bjork (with a movie they commissioned from michael pope who also kicks all kinds of ass). And then statuesque, a short film that aired on Sky (in england) on christmas day was premiered in the US for the first time. It was written and directed by Mr. Neil Gaiman. And music was by sxip shirey. It was awesome.

Then Amanda took the stage with the might of the boston pops orchestra backing her up. She came in the hall during missed me, complete with Mr. Neil Gaiman playing the CHAINSAW on the stage of symphony hall. (as she says from her recent blog: " i convinced neil gaiman, who is actually quite a good musician but doesn’t tell anybody, to play the chainsaw on “missed me”.

he was fantastic. he was a right bastard about the tuning (he’d wanted a european chainsaw tuned to the key of G,
this was an american chainsaw tuned to the key of DESTROY)" ) she also played tchaikovsky with the pops and because she had trouble with parts, had someone call lance horne in the audience and they pretended that he was some random dude being really rude in symphony hall (he was in a disguise) and she dragged him up to the piano and they continued playing the song (4 hands one piano) right after she ripped off his disquise to reveal a tuxedo underneath. It was amazing.

Anyway after playing awesomeness, amanda talked about the sad things that happened in 2009 including the deaths of many close to her. to remember them she sang a cover of Hurt by NIN, with the pops backing her. It was beautiful. And the night was complete with a movie countdown into the new year (by michael pope) and the pops playing auld lang syne and ballons falling from the ceiling and then amanda and the pops played WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. and then at the end, amanda did a cover of lady gaga's pokerface. She did it with a twist...afp style. it was awesome. if you want to see, it's all over youtube. search for it. (i'm too lazy to put embeds and pics. so if you want to see them, find them. i took a few pics up on facebook in my winter album i think).

I also got a new years eve poster from the lovely beth and kayla at the merch table and when Amanda/neil signed it, i told her she did an awesome job playing tchaikovsky. because she did. and she said "OH GOD NO! We're not going to talk about that! :)" Even though she thinks she didn't do well, I think she was happy to hear that at least SOMEONE thought she did awesome. Because she did. She has had like hardly any classical training and cant really read music well, but she kicked ass and rocked it with a world class orchestra backing her up. I could not do that. And i've had 12 years of classical training. Following this, Heather and I listened to miss tess and the bonton parade some more, before the people kicked us out.

It was an awesome night. One that will live in my memory forever. I hope to attend another Amanda Palmer new years eve party again. That was fun. Maybe I'll make it a tradition. who knows.

on new years day i had the traditional japanese new years dinner cooked by my mom. heather came over too and enjoyed it with us. It was awesome!

And thus describes my new years activities.

now, go and have your day.

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