Reviews and stuff

Progress is being made, slowly but surely!  Thursday night I went to see Of Monsters and Men perform (#3).  It was an outdoor concert, and the forecast was calling for rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful evening!  The opening act was a group called Half Moon Run.  They are from Canada, and I really enjoyed their music.  So much so that I even ended up buying their CD which hasn't even been released in the US yet.  I listened to it the other night while I was doing stuff around the house and liked it a lot.  Of Monsters and Men were great!  They played all the songs off their CD plus a few new ones and one cover, and it was all great.  Everyone stood through the whole concert and danced around and clapped a lot.  The members in the group really seemed like they enjoyed performing and interacting with the audience which made it all the better.

I had thought I might feel self-conscious being there by myself, but I actually found myself feeling freer than if I had been with other people.  It helped that I got there early to get a good seat (it was open lawn seating) and read for a while.  And I ended up bonding with two women next to me over the rudeness of two other women and their children who came in late and plopped their chairs right in front of me, forcing me to move into these other women's space a little bit.  But it was just a relaxing, enjoyable evening with some really great music.  I had never been to this particular concert venue before, but they do offer a whole summer concert series, and I think I will probably be going back for more!

Last night I saw The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis over at Clowes (#95).  I had gotten an e-mail earlier in the week offering discounted tickets (I've had a lot of that "perfect timing" stuff going on lately), so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see another new show.  It was very different, since it's essentially a one-man show plus this other demon character who makes a lot of noise but never actually speaks.  The premise is that this character, Screwtape, is a demon who is corresponding with his nephew who is a demon trying to influence a man on earth so that when the man dies, his soul will go to hell.  It was less in the spectrum of entertaining like a regular play, but more toward the side of interesting and thought-provoking.  They were going to have a discussion afterward that I would have liked to attend, but it was late and I had to be at work this morning, so I didn't stay.  I think this show would go in the category of "recommended with reservations".

I do want to mention quickly that I did buy a bicycle (#42)!  It's blue and shiny and pretty with a basket that goes in the front and a bell that I can ding-ding to let people know I'm coming!  Alas, it arrived with some assembly required, so it is spread out all over my living room and I haven't actually been able to ride it yet.  It's mostly just attaching the handle bars and the seat, and I found a video by the company I ordered it from that shows how to put it all together, but I want to make sure I am alert and feeling mechanical when I sit down to do that!

Also, I am only two days away from finishing my first month of brushing my teeth both morning and night (#57).  I think I only missed one night when I fell asleep downstairs, and then dragged myself up to bed and fell right back to sleep.  This has actually been much easier than I anticipated, and I didn't even have to write myself a reminder note like I did when I started taking the multivitamins.  Since I have to do this for two months (and it's a habit I should continue anyway), I'm planning on going straight on in to the second month.

And most surprisingly, I am almost through my first week of watching only one hour of TV per day (#14)!  This is going much, much better than I ever expected.  I am aware of the fact that I watch too much TV, and often as I watch, I am thinking "I should get up and do something".  But I don't.  So it's like this challenge is just the little push I needed to break the habit.  Of course it helps that there's not a whole lot on right now, so I definitely made it easier on myself choosing to do it now (although it was a very snap decision... I decided one night that I would start it the next day).  I did cover over all the TVs with towels so I couldn't flop down and turn them on without thinking, so my house looks a little like I'm sitting shiva or something.  I also decided that I could watch the news for a few minutes in the mornings if I need to catch the weather report without having that count against my time.  Also, I decided that I would not allow any unused time to roll over to the next day, so no saving up time for some big TV-watching marathon.  Actually, this hasn't been an issue so far, because there have only been two days that I actually used my whole hour, and there was one day that I didn't watch any TV at all!  Can you believe that?!?  The only real quandry is that some nights when I really, really can't sleep, I will go watch TV for 30 minutes or an hour and then go back to bed.  Thankfully, this has only happened once, so all my time for that day was pretty much gone before the day even started.  Oh well.  I hope the rest of the month goes as smoothly.  I was dreading this task so much, and I am going to be very proud of myself when I cross this one off!

I should be able to cross a few more things off pretty soon, because I am working on several other items or have things set up to do them soon.  I mentioned earlier in the post that good timing has been popping up a lot lately (some people might say this has something to do with the laws of attraction), and some of it has had to do with my bedroom (#16).  I had a designer come out from Pottery Barn to my house for a free consultation, primarily for my bedroom and the living room.  And now, less than a month later, the bed I have been lusting for for over a year is on sale!!  And it never very rarely goes on sale!  Then two weekends ago I picked up some paint chips, and last weekend I narrowed down the choices to three and picked up some sample jars this past week.  Friday I got an e-mail that the paint brand I was looking at is on sale!  And there is a rebate available on top of that from the company!!  It's all coming together...