I am in Pittsburgh.

I have been one foot in, one foot out, since I arrived.

I choose, now, to be here. While I am here, I will be here. 4 months ago

... it was lovely. I plan to repeat it. 15 months ago

Hurrah!
I got a special deal on a yearlong family membership to one of my city’s landmarks. And it happens to be a place that I have been wanting to explore, as well!

I have already invited my friend who had me as her guest to one of the city’s museums and also to the symphony to be my first guest there. We are going in January 2012.

I can’t wait! Exploring this city is so much fun. It really does have so much to offer, it’s amazing.

It is also very nice to do it at a leisurely pace. I love how I just put this goal into my mind, and then all of these opportunities have appeared for me, one at a time. Had I been in a hurry, it would not have been nearly as fun. And it would have cost a lot more!

Cheers. 17 months ago

but must have taken it off when I started reorgainizing goals. Shucks.

Anyhow… I know I had put on here that I have gone to TWO of the city’s great museums. Both of those visits were AMAZING! One visit was by invitation from my friend who has a membership and wanted company… it ended up being 3 of us who went, and we saw an exhibit of Picasso’s work. I still think about that show sometimes. I also love that building. As it happens, I was here when it first opened, and got to attend the opening celebration extravaganza. It was an extraordinary 3 day long party, with the building open 24 hours a day the whole time, music, dancing, performances, etc etc etc. Really wonderful.

Then I also got to go to another of the city’s great museums when my parents visited. They really wanted to see an exhibit of the Stein’s collection… lots of paintings by Cezanne, some by Toulouse-Lautrec, some by Picasso, etc… plus the story of the family, and their relationship to all of these artists. It was a fantastic show once again, and again in a building that I love, where I used to go quite often just to wander and look at the both the building and the permanent collection back when I was a graduate student and had a membership there (cheap for a membership, when you are a student.)

My latest excursion was a very last-minute invitation from a friend who had an extra ticket to the symphony! So yes! I went. It was really breathtaking… I had no idea what I was in for before I arrived, I just went to hear whatever was being performed. As it turned out, I could not have been luckier. The feature piece was Brahms’s German Requiem. Well, I happen to love requiems, as a general rule. I also generally like Brahms. For this, we got the whole symphony, in addition to the symphony choir, a feature soprano, and a feature tenor. The instruments and choir really just swept you away… the whole audience was stunned by it. In addition to that, I have been in a period where I have been contemplating impermanence. A requiem to go along with it could not be more perfect. So, it was a wonderful experience.

I know where I’d like to go next in my explorations, but then again, I am open… I did not expect an invitation to the symphony! So we shall see. 18 months ago

I love living in Austin. I’ve explored a little bit but I know I’m still missing a lot. There’s always something new here. 20 months ago