Five years ago: Here’s a top tip for Eurovision: always try and watch it with an American who’s never seen it before, and there will be an extra layer of enjoyment simply in beholding the bewilderment.
Five years later: many Americans!
Last night was Eurovision night, and in preparation for hosting a North American outreach party I did far more Eurovision homework than I’d ever done before. In addition to watching both semi-finals with Randi to get a feel for the songs this year (and disagree strongly about the merits of Belarus), I also borrowed a bunch of European flags and put together my own hybrid team-based drinking game to introduce all of the Eurovision staples. And the investment paid off – the most fun at Eurovision I’ve ever had!
Only smiling because they don’t realise how long the voting is going to take
I did have one European ally, Emilie, who came dressed in the colours of the tricolore and brought a baguette and delicious French cheese. She also helped to explain to the crowd what on earth was going on during the voting, because it’s far too easy for a naive newcomer to assume that the best songs are about to get the most votes. Oh heavens no. (For the record, the room was mostly pro-Australia.)
The moment Poland’s entry inexplicably comes third in the public vote, and Europe is left with a Russia-Ukraine standoff
Of course, thanks to timezones and such, it wasn’t very late at all once Ukraine were eventually crowned the winner. But I’d already had some of the dangerous Moldovan vodka which Alex donated to the Eurovision cause, and so nothing else at all was accomplished that day.
If I were sorry, it would be a different story. But I’m not sorry.
OK, so it took me nearly two years to make it to a Cubs game. In my defence, I picked a good time to go see them. As Carolyn excitedly explained to me, the Cubs are on a bit of a roll right now, and indeed they beat the Nationals handily on Thursday night. Once the batting practice was over (because I don’t like a volley of baseballs heading in my general direction) it was lots of fun, and not just because of the adorable song bit in the seventh inning. (Since the Cubs won, there was a bonus adorable song at the end too.)
Not pictured below is ‘Grand Slam BBQ Twist’ (pulled pork together with mac and cheese) which I ate because I slavishly follow Todd’s lead in such things.
Baseball!
Pictured after batting practice had ended. Because we aren’t ducking.
Team Cubs
Sport done, back to theatre: Randi and I both really enjoyed Even Longer and Farther Away on Saturday night. The play takes place inside a (semi-magical) resort on the Appalachian mountain trail while the audience sits scattered among the tables on the set itself, which creates the highly immersive illusion that you just happened to be there one night to have a drink and eavesdrop on the storytelling. (And from a purely logistical standpoint, it certainly seems easier than actually hiking the Appalachian mountain trail.) Cheaper to drink at the theatre than a baseball game, too!
Some places defy expectations. Providence is not one of them. It is, as you might think, a comfortable corner of the world replete with beautiful brick buildings, a pretty river and lots and lots of students… at least in the immediate vicinity of the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown, where Randi and I were very kindly hosted by Rachel last weekend. (And some of the students are, y’know, those kind of students. I walked past one woman explaining to her friend how she’d ‘problematised’ something, which is still my most hated academic tic of all time. Please, please stop problematising things.)
So it was that we had a relaxing Rhode Island weekend in ‘mostly sunny’ Providence: eating lots of things with lobster inside, taking a boat tour up and down the river (on which we made up 50% of the tour’s audience) and celebrating Rachel’s completed thesis with sangria. Congrats!
Providence, Rhode Island. Categorically not an island, but at least there’s a river.
My arty bridge shot
My arty ‘need a haircut’ shot
Students!
Somewhat smug police cars
Randi & Rachel (plus sangria)
Oh, and we also saw Zootopia, which was… astonishing. Forget the trailer I’d seen beforehand, which is ludicrously unrepresentative, and marvel that Disney have sneaked out a full-throated social commentary on bias and prejudice… all while being legitimately funny the whole way through. I don’t know how to describe it without making it sound po-faced and terrible, actually, so ignore me and just go see it yourself. If nothing else, as I watched the credits roll it became hilariously clear what a giant cultural gulf divides the country: Zootopia‘s ‘Mammal Inclusion Initiative’ on the one side, Donald Trump on the other.
(Exhibit #2: outside Planned Parenthood in Providence stands one lonely protestor, silently holding aloft his ABORTION KILLS placard. I wonder what he’d make of it all.)
I really did want to end this blog with lavish, heartfelt praise for poor unloved Amtrak, because my train from Boston to Providence really was fast, comfortable and cheap. Unfortunately, my train on the way back was delayed, so with a heavy heart I ended up bailing on my return journey and taking a $60 Uber to ensure I didn’t miss my flight. Which is sad, because it yanked me prematurely out of my Northeastern fantasy of a railway-loving America. Maybe Disney could do trains next.
Do you want more ability for complex thought? Would it be nice to be able to express feelings through talking? How about a stronger sense of right and wrong?
If any of the above appeals to you, you might want to consider turning twelve, as this blog did yesterday. Happy birthday blog! And thank you to those who came to its low-key pizza-and-wine birthday party last night 😉
I don’t have a photo of my non-corporeal blog celebrating, so have my twelfth birthday instead
The future is not all plain sailing, however. Expect ‘more moodiness’, ‘less affection towards parents’ and even ‘sadness and depression’. So if you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning, you might want to sit out the next couple of years until it comes out the other side of adolescence.
When I first started working, our company was expanding so rapidly that we were constantly being reshuffled around the London office more quickly than they could knock down the many walls in the way. One day, during my team’s spell in a particularly featureless back room otherwise untroubled by fellow humans, a cheerful young man named Sam knocked on the door and introduced himself. He was a new starter in a different department, but he just thought it would be nice to say hello and meet us in person. So I always liked Sam, and was particularly excited when he finally visited Chicago last weekend. Our initial plan was for Chicago-style pizza, but Randi made a face, so we upgraded to the legendary burgers from Kuma’s instead, and everyone was very happy indeed.
Excited to eat
Spacey McSpaceface
Later in the week, Randi and I made a return trip to the Adler Planetarium’s ‘After Dark’ nights, and this time it was Beatles themed! (Indeed, at the end of the night I had to disappoint one drunken man that I was not, in fact, the drummer from the tribute Beatles band who played. Although I was somewhat flattered, since the drummer looked about 12.)
Together with James, our biggest achievement that night was the construction of Spacey McSpaceface: an inspirational craft capable of protecting the integrity of a marshmallow astronaut in the depths of a vacuum box. More or less. (Dear Mr. Kanj: I’m sorry that we had to ask the helpers whether we should be fearing explosion or implosion.)
(I got a little paranoid the flag was upside down, but it wasn’t)
Finally: Randi and I kicked off this weekend with delicious southern-style chicken (plus punch… punch is usually welcomed) with Saujanya and Nolan. Apparently this didn’t exhaust Nolan’s tolerance for us, because the next day he joined us at Todd and Carolyn’s to watch me watching Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for the very first time. For years I’ve been going around telling people I’d never seen Indiana Jones in the hope that they would show it to me, and Todd finally took the bait, for which I’m very grateful. Now, onto the next one soon…?
Helen on It’s (waiting) time.: “Fabulous news, congratulations to you both! X” Jun 8, 21:51
