My First Tattooing Experience...

...was my best friend Megan's fourth tattoo. Megan just finished her second year of medical school, and is rightly very proud of her achievement. To celebrate, she decided to get a swoosh of colorful stars bursting from her waist, down around her back and onto her "hiney." (That's how Megan and her med school buddy Shali kept referring to this region of her body, and so that must be the proper medical terminology.)

Look how excited Megan is (above right) before the tattoo dude pulled out any needles!!! I thought I was going to be really grossed out at the whole process, and possibly pass out on the floor. But actually it wasn't so bad. The tattooist was very professional and listened to all Megan's design requests, and told her when he was about to go over the most sensitive areas (the little bit over her rib cage seemed to be the worst part). Even during those parts, Megan didn't scream or cry. Instead, she repeated, "fire, fire, FIRE!, fiiiiii-yrrrrre!!!" Apparently some of the colored ink felt a little like burning.

Here's some proof that I was there and had fun watching, and totally didn't puke or pass out:
And here's (maybe the upper two-thirds of) the finished product!!! Megan loved the way it turned out. Each of Megan's tattoos tell a story about the time in her life that she had them done. The exuberant design of this one reflects her feelings of accomplishment at this stage of med school. I am so proud of her for all the work she did to arrive where she is today. In the next 2 years of her school, Megan does clinical rotations, where she gets to actually interact with patients and doctors and learn in a more hands-on way. She kicked ass at the book-learning part, but I'm excited that she's onto a part of the process that she will actually enjoy. GO MEGAN! You are so awesome (and now everyone who sees your hiney will know)!

A Step into a Russian Fairy Tale

Today, my brother Greg has invited all his friends to "step into a Russian fairy tale" at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. I really wish I could be there. My brother is a talented pianist, and he and two fellow musicians are putting on a program of music by Sergey Prokofiev. In Greg's words,

"The program will include the whimsical second sonata for piano and violin, the tenebrous opening movement of the fourth piano sonata, selected movements from the sonata for two violins, and a small handful of shorter works, including a selection from the ballet Cinderella arranged for violin and piano."

Prokofiev is Greg's favorite composer (and mine too, but I just take all my cues from big bro). "Proky," as we call him, lived from 1891-1953. His music bridges the end of the romantic era and the beginning of the contemporary era of music, really in such a badass way (example: the Allegro Marcato movement of Prokofiev's Badass Piano Sonata No. 2, played here by Yekaterina Ervy-Novitskaya) In addition to some piano pieces Greg has played, I am most familiar with Prokofiev's compositions for the ballets, Romeo and Juliet (which Greg took me to see at Lincoln Center for Xmas), and Cinderella (in which I once got to dance the title role!). (Here's a waltz from Cinderella, which may be included in the arrangement Greg is playing tonight-- St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.) In the former ballet, Greg always points out how the beautiful melodies are tinged by foreboding hints what's to come later in the story. Even the girlish, innocent themes when Juliet first enters the stage are laced with a haunting, dark feeling, a theme Greg tells me is typical of Russian fairytales. (Would love to link to some audio of that, but Greg stole that CD of mine!) Greg can explain how Prokofiev creates those kinds of effects musically in terms of the harmonies... and stuff.... but, that's about as good as I can recap.

My big brother analyzes music brilliantly and passionately. When we both lived in the same house, he would often sit me down by his side and turn on a recording of a piece, and we would follow the score along together as we listened. Greg would tell me interesting things about the structure of the pieces, and what he loved about them so much. One time, while teaching me about fugues, he made me raise my hand everytime I heard a variation of the theme come in. I consider myself lucky to have garnered a deep appreciation for classical music in this format. I am so proud of Greg for finding a way to share his passion with the rest of the world, too. If he sends me a recording of his concert tonight, I can't wait to post his music here, so even more people can hear it!

One of the two images in this post is a rendering of Sergey Prokofiev by Henri Matisse. The other is a photo of my genius brother. Guess which is which!

Results are in...

The results from taste-test described in previous post are in.

Syrups A and B were very different in color. Syrup A was a lighter, more golden color, while syrup B was darker. I preferred syrup A, which I thought had a more woodsy, smoky flavor to it
than B, even though B was richer. Coley disagreed and thought B was smokier and better, but he has a cold, and also admitted that he didn't think there was much of a difference at all between the syrups.

Syrup A had the sticker on the bottom. :)

Taste Test

I sometimes worry about my advisor Mike. Like myself, he grew up in Massachusetts. But Mike's wife Anu is a native of Minnesota, and so Mike now claims Minnesota maple syrup is superior to New England maple syrup. I mean, just because my boyfriend is from Philadelphia, you don't see me wolfing down cheesesteaks.
Mike still roots for the Red Sox, so I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. The only way to determine the degree to which he has sold out is a blind taste-test. So this morning I am making pancakes, with two pitchers of syrup. The one with Vermont maple syrup has a little sticker on the bottom, but I've swapped them around a lot, so I forget which contains the Minnesota swill. I will report the verdict at the end of the pancake eating.

Vote for Obillara?

2008 marks the first year I will vote in a Democratic primary election.

I am going to vote for either Hillary or Obama. But which?On the one hand, I really like Obama's website better than Hillary's. He gives much more extensive explanations of where he stands on what issues, and what his plans are to address them. And I have to agree his is a more rousing speaker. Hillary got sort of defensive and petty in the New Hampshire debates. Blaaarg.

But I also agree with those who argue that there something to be said for Hillary's more extensive experience. I found this article by Gloria Steinem incredibly compelling, which opens by asking readers whether a female with Obama's social and racial profile, and his limited political experience, would ever really stand a chance getting elected as president. Hillary's preparedness in debate and list of accomplishments impress me. When people criticize her for lacking a human touch, it reminds me of how schoolkids hate the smartest, most prepared kid in the class. That kid was certainly annoying, but I also hope the person running my country was that kid. I am sure Hillary would be far more than competent as president.

Also in Hillary's favor, as far as I'm concerned: SHE IS A WOMAN. That's right, I said it. I would be truly moved by seeing a woman in the role of Commander in Chief of the leader of the free world. That would be a huge deal to me. I was surprised by this article, which suggests that feminist pride is a more relevant factor for women my mother's age than mine. Female friends and readers, what do you think? If I am being honest with myself, I have to admit that her gender is a huge push for me to vote her way.

So who will I vote for? I am still undecided. As an Arizona voter, I have until February 5th to hem and haw, watch more debates on YouTube, and come to a decision.

Brewing Update!

While I was visiting my family in Massachusetts for the holidays, and Coley was back at home in Tucson, he bottled our beer! Here it is the the closet, with our cleaning supplies and recycling.

Then last night, we popped on in the fridge. In preparation for the Patriots' game, we made fake BBQ chicken sandwiches and tried our first bit of our Alaskan amber.....

It was WICKED AWESOME!!!!!! Totally delicious and deserving of this pint glass. Even our playah-hatin' brewer friend Andy said, "yeah, this is good beer." Score! Only thing is it could use a little more fizz. But the beer gurus tell us that it will only get more delicious as it ages in the closet, and maybe a little fizzier too. Wahooo!

A Homebrewin' Xmas To Us!

Last year, Coley and I made an anti-consumerist pact to never buy unwanted, expensive crap for eachother for Xmas. Last year, we simply took eachother out to nice dinners. This year we really upped the ante. We gave ourselves the gift of homebrew!

We sampled a bunch of yummy darker brews last weekend to try to decide what to make for our first batch. My advanced brewing friend Andy recommended darker beers as "easier not to f*!$ up on your first try." We settled on an Alaskan Amber. Then yesterday, Andy accompanied Coley and I to Brew Your Own Brew to help us pick out our equipment. (More like, to dictate exactly what to put in our pile. When the employees saw us with Andy, a regular at the store, they totally backed off and went back to their internet porn searches.)

On this lazy-pajama Sunday, we started the actual brewing process. So far, so good. So far, so FUN! You start by just boiling a giant pot of water on your stove, with your chosen grains bobbling around in there in a net. It looks like you're steeping tea for a giant. After it's steeped enough, you add in the yummy, yummy malt powder (tastes just like the malt sugar in Whoppers). Then you bring it to a boil. Andy started to warn me on the phone about the pot boiling over when I added the hops. But then he just said, "well, you'll see," like it was just inevitable the first time anyway. Inevitable indeed. After cleaning off the stove-top and boiling some more, the next step is to pour it into a big fermenter (glorified plastic bucket) and add some water, and then wait for it to cool before adding yeast. We just did that, and put it in a dark closet now for a few days. I think all that's left is transferring it at some point to another bucket, and then waiting a few more weeks, and then bottling it, and then waiting some more. And then the drinking part!!! I can't wait to taste our home-made beer.