I'm in My Twenties

The birthday weekend had a quiet surface this year, but it was marvelously satisfying; Sarah, just back from a European spring break, pampered me to the tune of cooking a breakfast (Quebecois-style crepes, with lemon juice and brown sugar) and a dinner (orechiette with sausage and broccoli rabe -- the San Francisco Chronicle's 2004 recipe of the year, and a deserving one) plus cake (banana cake with a creme brulee–like icing; It's What's For Breakfast!) and otherwise I lazed around (um, the three mimosas with aforementioned crepes inspired some of that) and wandered around campus to listen to the carillon and browse in one of the bookstores.

Nate and I chatted briefly, but he was in some or other Portland farmer's market at the time. I miss somewhat the days when he was on the East Coast and he could come up to New York for a weekend so we could pick some Shostakovich concert to splurge on. I think the last one of those was the Third and Fourth symphonies with Valery Gergiev and the Concertgebouw back in '06, although I might be forgetting one. Hearing the Third in concert was pretty unusual and Gergiev made it a solid piece; I admit that I can never keep the sound of the Fourth in my ears, as much sound as it throws at you.

I don't have any deep thoughts about being 29 instead of 28, but it's getting awfully close to 30 and I still don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing with myself.

There'd be a picture of me blowing out birthday candles attached to this post, except the library computers won't let you download pictures from your email account, which I grudgingly admit is a sensible policy.