Man on Wire

Last night I hung out with an old friend and some new friends, and we watched a Sundance film called Man on Wire. My friend Nate introduced it by saying it was "a documentary about a tightrope walker", and that it was "riveting". I had a hard time believing any documentary could be riveting, but we watched it nonetheless.

All I have to say is it was riveting, and that you must see this movie. It details the life of Phillipe Petit, who had an impossible dream to walk a highwire across the twin World Trade Centers in 1974. The story impacts you in a way that simultaneously makes you feel totally insignificant and unaccomplished, as well as completely in awe of the beauty of human inspiration.

The cinematography was superb, the soundtrack fantastic, and the storyline was told in a very capturing way. Wikipedia says "Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of the 150 reviews they have collected have been positive. It is currently the best reviewed movie on the website." It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. I highly recommend this movie!

Nobody

Recently I'm finding myself in the situation of having to say lots of goodbyes to good friends. I've had a lot to think about, and a lot of time to do it while driving to and from Baltimore. I listened to The Battle for Everything on the way back, which I haven't done in several years. I've always loved the beginning of this song.

Take off your shoes
Take off your self
Take off your rented mental health
Take off your raincoat, settle down
Take off your nightmare and your frown
There is a place for you to go
To see another ringer in a rock show
Take my pretense for a time
Cause I wanna say to you

I'm nobody
Without you, buddy
You, buddy
My long-lost friend

-Five for Fighting

Life Goes On No Matter What

I'm moving to an unfamiliar city in a few weeks, to be employed in an actual career-oriented employment, and am unabashedly anxious...

But I have the best friends and family in the world and will have them for the rest of my life!

In the Words of Jerry Seinfeld...

Sometimes things just even out...

I'M EMPLOYED!!!!!!

I got a job with Space Telescope Science Institute as a research and instrumentation analyst, and will be living in Baltimore! That's all I know, since I don't have time to coordinate anything else. Check back later :)

In the meantime, Mom and I are off to Italia- time to put this Italian minor to good use!!!!

The Sieve and the Sand

Seeing as my blog name pays homage to him, I thought I should share this sad but inevitable news that Ray Bradbury has died.

I am about to read his book Martian Chronicles.

Eek!

I just printed off a few copies of my resume to bring to my interview Wednesday. I've been sitting here nervously popping pistachios for the past 5 minutes, thinking about what I'll say. (Seriously, you'd be amazed how many pistachios you can eat in 5 minutes).

PS- I have several hours to kill while in Baltimore, so if you know of anywhere I should go (I'm thinking the harbor?) let me know :)  

Prime Mover

I know people say "No, really, I love [insert band]", but you don't get it, I really love Rush.

This is probably the greatest group of musicians that has ever picked up guitars and drum sticks. SERIOUSLY.

AZ Hankerin'

Arizona stole my heart.

It's not that I don't like Indiana- I do! (And I like green foliage and vegetation!) But I love having crazy outdoors adventures, exploring the beautiful outdoors and seeing the wonder that nature has to offer. In Arizona you are only a stone's throw from the Grand Canyon, mountains, deserts, cacti, canyons and more.

Flagstaff was such an ideal place to live that it seemed fake. I hope to visit sometime in the future :)

Being an astronomer, it is inevitable that I return (frequently) to my second state. Here's to a dry heat!

My Unjustified Lazy Day

Today, instead of going to work (which I'm not getting paid for yet, so have little incentive to actually work 8 hours a day), I drove 1.5 hours to the dentist, sat in a chair for an hour, drove 1.5 hours back to Bloomington, ate lunch, played with Moka, watched 4 episodes of Numb3rs (that's ~3 hours), made 3 friendship bracelets, and it's just now 6:30pm.

Hooray summer and semi-unemployment!

Isn't she moving it the wrong way??? We moved ours right to left!