Oh Spring, how I love you.
Yesterday (Saturday) and today brought absolutely gorgeous weather: 50-60F, calm and sunny. This was the first official day of Spring from any relevant practical metric.
Saturday morning I awoke at 11am, rolled over, saw the sun and recalled a vague forecast of warm weather, and texted my friend to bike over to Sofra near Belmont for some brunch. After some delicious turkish brunch consumed outside, we weren't sure what to do but decided just to bike around for a while. We headed towards the Charles river, then turned West to venture into new land that we had not seen before. We hopped across the river at the next bridge, where the signs pointed us towards Allston. Gladly, we headed in that direction, arriving at the Sunset Grille for an afternoon beer and some nachos.
By this time, it was clear that the day-long adventure was on.
So we subsequently biked all the way down Comm. Ave into Boston, taking advantage of the amazing new bike lanes -- even now through the underpass beneath Mass. Ave -- until we reached Boston Common. After lounging on the grass under the sun for 45 minutes among the throngs of fellow sunbathers, we biked up towards the North End, swung by the Garden, and crossed over a new pedestrian bridge that links the edge of Charlestown to northeast Cambridge near the Museum of Science. We pass by Lechmere and the Galleria and make one final stop at Atwood's Tavern.
We had decided that we would check to see if the patio was open, and if it were, we would get a beer. Upon arriving at the door, we're greeted by a big chalkboard sign that states "You'll come in and ask us if the patio is open. I'll tell you it's not, and then you'll stay for a beer anyways. Yes." Sooo hilarious and spot on. And so, naturally, we did.
All in all, 16.7 miles: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
We capped off the night with a stop at Back Bar later on for one final drink out with a close friend. It was a bit strange, in the sense that it felt like any other night out. Yet it shouldn't have; it should have signaled the end of an era in my life and my friend's too. Yet, perhaps because he will be back again in three weeks for a weekend, or perhaps because we've simply been in this era of our lives for more than 5 years now that it's just to be expected, it didn't. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but I don't like it -- I have no problem at all with change in life, but I do need closure and acceptance/acknowledgement/celebration of the end of one step and the start of a new one. Such real, specific, finite moments in time are important, at least for me mentally. I felt the same about how little fanfare there was for my roommate Alex's departure last week as well.
As for today, I went for a long run, helped clean the kitchen, cleaned and began refinishing the chair and bench on our back porch, cooked some delicious food, did some laundry, watched some basketball (with the most gruesome injury of all time for Louisville vs. Duke), watched 60 minutes, and just enjoyed life.
This was a wonderful weekend. Partly because it was the first one of the Spring, but also partly because it was the first one that I really let myself enjoy. It reminded me of how much life there is outside of work, and how many little tasks/events/things there are in life that I miss when I sit around being stressed out, or when I (over)plan every last second of my day and night and leave no room for the random, the whimsical, the unexpected.
I can't wait to not know what's next.
Yesterday (Saturday) and today brought absolutely gorgeous weather: 50-60F, calm and sunny. This was the first official day of Spring from any relevant practical metric.
Saturday morning I awoke at 11am, rolled over, saw the sun and recalled a vague forecast of warm weather, and texted my friend to bike over to Sofra near Belmont for some brunch. After some delicious turkish brunch consumed outside, we weren't sure what to do but decided just to bike around for a while. We headed towards the Charles river, then turned West to venture into new land that we had not seen before. We hopped across the river at the next bridge, where the signs pointed us towards Allston. Gladly, we headed in that direction, arriving at the Sunset Grille for an afternoon beer and some nachos.
By this time, it was clear that the day-long adventure was on.
So we subsequently biked all the way down Comm. Ave into Boston, taking advantage of the amazing new bike lanes -- even now through the underpass beneath Mass. Ave -- until we reached Boston Common. After lounging on the grass under the sun for 45 minutes among the throngs of fellow sunbathers, we biked up towards the North End, swung by the Garden, and crossed over a new pedestrian bridge that links the edge of Charlestown to northeast Cambridge near the Museum of Science. We pass by Lechmere and the Galleria and make one final stop at Atwood's Tavern.
We had decided that we would check to see if the patio was open, and if it were, we would get a beer. Upon arriving at the door, we're greeted by a big chalkboard sign that states "You'll come in and ask us if the patio is open. I'll tell you it's not, and then you'll stay for a beer anyways. Yes." Sooo hilarious and spot on. And so, naturally, we did.
All in all, 16.7 miles: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
We capped off the night with a stop at Back Bar later on for one final drink out with a close friend. It was a bit strange, in the sense that it felt like any other night out. Yet it shouldn't have; it should have signaled the end of an era in my life and my friend's too. Yet, perhaps because he will be back again in three weeks for a weekend, or perhaps because we've simply been in this era of our lives for more than 5 years now that it's just to be expected, it didn't. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but I don't like it -- I have no problem at all with change in life, but I do need closure and acceptance/acknowledgement/celebration of the end of one step and the start of a new one. Such real, specific, finite moments in time are important, at least for me mentally. I felt the same about how little fanfare there was for my roommate Alex's departure last week as well.
As for today, I went for a long run, helped clean the kitchen, cleaned and began refinishing the chair and bench on our back porch, cooked some delicious food, did some laundry, watched some basketball (with the most gruesome injury of all time for Louisville vs. Duke), watched 60 minutes, and just enjoyed life.
This was a wonderful weekend. Partly because it was the first one of the Spring, but also partly because it was the first one that I really let myself enjoy. It reminded me of how much life there is outside of work, and how many little tasks/events/things there are in life that I miss when I sit around being stressed out, or when I (over)plan every last second of my day and night and leave no room for the random, the whimsical, the unexpected.
I can't wait to not know what's next.
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