Second Thoughts

The weather finally got cooler, and I'm amazed at my mood. I walked home and was genuinely happy, which has been hard to do when it's hot and I'm wearing a dress shirt. The novelty of wearing a tie has, by now, worn off.

I went to Bloomington, Indiana this past weekend to attend Lotus, the annual international music festival. Seu Jorge was the highlight, playing inventive and lively brazilian-inflected acoustic guitar music. You might recognize him from The Life Aquatic or City of God. He was also incredibly cool and spoke terrible English quite earnestly. At one point, he lodged his cigarette in the tuning pegs and played through an entire song.

There was a really excellent Trad Irish group called Teada, and a trio of Frenchman called Samarabalouf who played "gypsy jazz" with an upright bass, lead and rhythm guitars, and who played their intruments as if they were making love to them, in true Frenchman fashion. The bassist's human-sized instrument was especially accosted, and he ran his fingers and hands down the length of the strings while looking mischevious and creating really fascinating sounds. They also spoke English terribly and earnestly.

I have yet to unpack. My room is feeling quit small at the moment. On the bright side, I have to clean up a lot more often, i.e. I'm becoming a more fastidious person. Is this a bright side? For now, I'm reveling in the fact that I can open my window and it becomes cooler instead of hotter.