Oh sushi, how I Love you. It’s close to a perfect food when done well. The sushi place we frequent in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, PA has got to be one of my favourites in the country. Heather concurs.
U Pitt Greensburg is ALSO one of my favourites in the country. Heather concurs with that as well. She says “it’s like you’ve found your army. I’d have thought some of it would’ve been lost in the generation gap, but the nerdiness transcends the generation gap.”
Yes. Yes it does. As usual, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg feels like coming home. The people here seem to GET us like almost no other population does… and I feel like… well, I feel like we’re among friends and that this is the way it ought to be. Cal U sort of used to be like that, and maybe it’s ending at Greensburg because a number of the students we talked to tonight expressed sadness that they’d not be here when we come back (next Fall). Our generation of friends is slowly graduating and making their way out into the world.
I have a lot of sympathy for them. The country they’re going out to conquer is vastly different from the one I entered with my fancy piece of paper back in 98. I had a job waiting for me, one where I was desperately wanted. And the market was such that I felt confident in leaving that job shortly thereafter. The kids who graduate this winter and the coming spring will be all too grateful for a teaching position and will probably hang on to it tooth and nail even if it threatens to break them. Through necessity these boys and girls will be better men than I, perhaps…
The show was incredible. I was extra-special special. Heather was happy, Kristen was happy… the audience was very pleased to make Kristen’s acquaintance. I worry about what happens NEXT time if we don’t have her in tow. Will we be a let down? A disappointment? We have extra power with her and her cello on stage with us. We were extra fierce.
[huh, not sure what happened here… – rob 3/5/21]
altitude the forests around us grey and brown and die in preparation for winter.
By now that was last night and today is today and we’re 300 miles down the road, headed east and north through constant drizzle. Despite the beauty of the last couple of days, Pittsburgh wept at our departure and we haven’t seen the sun since. We’ve passed through the brilliant golds and burning reds of autumn and as we climb in latitude and altitude the forests around us grey and brown and die in preparation for winter.
I’m nervous about NERFA. It sounds like it’ll be similar to NACA in intensity, but other than that, constant jamming, watching, listening, buying, selling, trading… Not for the first time I wish I had a version of Google Latitude that traced my fellow road-warriors as we all converge on Kerhonkson, NY. I’d Love to just see the graphic. Of course, many folkies would no doubt bridle at that tracking – despite the fact that our phone numbers and email addresses are publicly distributed and we spend a quarter of our time desperately broadcasting our location, I’m sure only one or two would ever sign up for such a service – but I’d Love to watch our little thumbtack graphics chasing one another across the country.
Our ETA is earlier than I’d feared, later than I’d hoped. Our first showcase is at 9.36pm and we play for 10 minutes. I need to change my strings. And maybe take a nap.
Holy shit. Blue skies on the horizon!
