Sunday, February 08, 2009

New York City

I splurged early in 2009 and I made a weekend trip to New York City to see friends and concerts. Luckily the concerts and lodging were all free! I met up with my high school friend Ben, who now lives in Manhattan, and we saw the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic being conducted by Keith Lockhart. We heard Mahler Symphony No. 1, also known as one of the few pieces Mahler wrote that's not about hellfire, the depths of despair, or the deaths of children.
Ben has beautiful dishware including triangular plates!New York is full of exciting architecture. This building has a lovely Helvetica (or almost Helvetica, the 'e' looks a little funny, no?) sign on it letting me know that the building's sole job is to suck air.
Then Ben and I met my friend Nicole for brunch and had multiple orange juices (I got two accidentally not knowing my food already came with some.)
I went to the Guggenheim Museum for the first time! The exhibit inside was good, but the outside had a little installation of its own made with shadows from the buildings around it. Also, the Guggenheim has only single-occupancy bathrooms. They're on every floor, but only one tiny door lets you know it's there. It makes it seem as if people in the 1940's didn't have to pee as much.
As if the weekend wasn't busy enough, I then travelled by train up to Poughkeepsie and saw a performance of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians with my friend Kelly, and the composer was in attendance. He's the composer-in-residence at this year's Modfest at Vassar, and I got to meet him! I couldn't get a picture, but the performance was amazing, and I now know that you can use more than 18 musicians for the piece, 'cause some of them may need a break.

Now that I'm back in Pittsburgh, I had a bunch of rehearsals and music events yesterday, and seeing how it was unseasonably warm I decided to walk most everywhere. Then B and I went dancing in Lawrenceville, and walked most of the way there and all the way back. I clocked my mileage this morning and I walked 9.82 miles yesterday. My thighs hurt.

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