Hi all,
Oops, I dropped the ball on the peace portion of my Yogi Advent; hopefully I will revisit
this topic sometime soon. I can’t believe it is already February, and I have
completely neglected to update you all since December.
So far 2012 brims with friends, explorations of DC, travels,
and interesting consulting work. I
spent New Years in Chicago with my former roommates from U of M.
I didn’t have to wait long for another roomie-reunion because
Mary, my former housemate who now lives in Boston, and Emily, my former
roommate who travels to DC during the week for her current consulting project,
both stayed in DC for the weekend of Martin Luther King day. The three of us walked miles across the
District finding quirky used bookstores and hipster coffee shops to hang
out. We also wandered the Hirshorn
Museum of modern and contemporary art and the National Portrait Gallery.
Tangent about the Portrait Gallery: I never realized that
portraits could be so interesting.
Although the first floor of the gallery contained many traditional
historical portraits, the second floor displayed a temporary exhibit called The
Black List, which featured photo-portraits
of prominent black figures in our society. I enjoyed reading about the actresses, writers, politicians,
athletes, artists, scientists, business leaders, and religious figures—some of
whom I knew and some I learned about.
The third floor contained many familiar faces as well because it had
portraits of prominent twentieth and twenty-first century members of
society. Here’s a fun question: how
would you want to be portrayed in a portrait?
My nostalgia for U of M was further quenched at the end of
January. I took advantage of the
annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival as an excuse to visit my alma mater. My visit was perfect. I don’t think I could have better fit
more delightful people, meals, or Ann Arbor favorites into my weekend. I will try to keep my recounts brief:
- Friday morning Dan and I woke up before 5:30 AM and helped serve RoosRoast coffee, veggie frittatas, pulled pork with peach barbeque sauce, and strawberry bread pudding at SELMA. What a delight to see so many familiar faces around Jeff and Lisa’s kitchen and dinning room tables.
- Friday night we saw five hours of fantastic folk music! Two of my favorites were Elephant Revival and Devotchka, you should check them out—I loved the satin-gloved washboard percussionist and barefoot mandolin player in Elephant Revival, and Devotchka’s Little Miss Sunshine sound that is both cheerful, mournful, and makes you want to unearth and examine the roots of how you define yourself (it’s deep stuff…).
- I visited my old yoga studio for a couple of classes. It felt so good to have the primary colored mats under my toes and the rafter-draped ropes in my hands again. I miss practicing and teaching Russa and drinking home made chai in the studio with my fellow yogis!
- I also shared meals and updates with friends from my dorm community and from the School of Natural Resources (SNRE), who are all still students in Ann Arbor.
Needless to say, it was a delightful visit.
In addition to my travels and adventures, work has picked up
at ICF. I have helped research the
toxicity of chemicals (specifically melamine, isobutanol, and chloroacetic acid
if you’re interested), which leech into our environment through textiles,
pesticides, and food additives. My
newest project involves researching South Africa’s, India’s, and the
Philippine’s regulations regarding nickel. Lately, I feel like I am beginning to create my own niche at
ICF. There are several managers that I really enjoy working with, and they seem
to respect and appreciate my work as well. It’s definitely nicer to be busy than bored at the office
(although it has contributed to my tardiness in blogging).
This post is evidence of the many high notes throughout my
first month and a half of 2012.
However I have some very literal high notes resounding in my new year as
well. As of January, I joined the
Metropolitan Chorus in Arlington, VA.
Our director, Barry, welcomed me into the choir but—get this—to sing Soprano
1!
My first concert is already coming up this weekend. We are performing Mozart’s Requiem with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, which gives
me the opportunity to experience lots of beautiful high notes. ;-)
Sending my love,
C#
