Good List Week 9
Memorial Day
For Memorial Day, I co-organized a hike and barbeque with friends: about twenty people showed up, the grill was manned, food was shared, wiffle ball was played (as team captain I drafted to win, my competitive spirit got the best of my sportsmanship). With the weather uncertain, we were able to grab multiple tables and a grill without competition; we returned to Watchung Reservation for the second year.
Blood Drive
I invited a new friend to meet for coffee, and he mentioned that we'd have to plan around a blood drive he was participating in. Undeterred, I suggested I join him for the blood drive; it's been years since I donated blood. It felt good to be of service, I was thinking of the phrase, "to feel esteem, do esteemable acts." I did end up almost fainting, having forgotten that I get shaky with the blood loss; the kind attendants resurrected me and I left with a whole box of girl scout cookies (samoas!).
Pickle Ball
One symptom of my progress with the Artist's Way is trying new activities. My friend had been trying to plan a pickleball match with a larger group, so I suggested we get some cheap paddles and play ourselves in the meantime. A trip to Target and $20 later, I was in possession of a set of paddles. As we arrived at the court, the group playing walked off, serendipitous indeed. We ended up playing with another pair that showed up, and got our butts kicked - all in good fun, considering we had twenty minutes of experience prior to our first match!
Woodstock, NY
As I've been experimenting (playing?) with music and instruments, I've talked about getting some basic drums, either a drum pad or bongo drums. My girlfriend suggested we take a day trip to Woodstock, NY (not to be confused with the festival, though you wouldn't know by visiting the town), where there's a drum circle on Sunday evenings from 4-6pm. The town is really cute, there were so many clever store names in the area (e.g. Candlestock). We ate at the Garden Cafe, an all vegan restaurant, which was just delectable.
Finally, we joined the drum circle, they provide all the instruments and chairs, and I'd guess the crowd was about thirty or forty people total, all drumming along together. I liked it, but I realized that I struggled to really sink into the music, as the drum circle was more chaotic than ordered: there was no one beat that everyone played to, so it was more a joining of many different rhythms to form one song. In contrast, I feel I can sink into a single, steady rhythm that all are tuned to.
Side note: the Good List Visualizer has been updated to include these new entries.