Andersen Silva
Showing posts with label Fort Lauderdale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Lauderdale. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Florida

First things first: lots of new Serious Pilgrim and Florida vacation pics in the Gallery... of Death!




The smell of suntan lotion and the beach from my opened suitcase at home Sunday afternoon transported me back to Fort Lauderdale. As nice as it was to be able to open my windows and get some fresh air in the apartment, Lyndhurst's 57 degrees had nothing on south Florida's 85 or so. My cousins Helen and Bill, and Bill’s wife Maci, picked me up at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, and I had such a great time with my family for four days! From enjoying some beers and the laid-back vibe of Due South Brewery with the three of them, to a big barbecue with even more family at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, to mimosas on the Intracoastal Waterway with Helen, to jamming a little with Bill, to admiring nature at Gumbo Limbo and Loxahatchee and Wakodahatchee and Morikami, to breakfast with Helen and my aunt and uncle, to chilling on the couch watching ”Pulp Fiction" or downing some potstickers and plum wine… I loved getting to see and spend time with my cousins and their spouses and my aunt and uncle.

On Wednesday, phase 1 of the vacation came to an end as Helen dropped me off at the Sea Club Resort, and phase 2 began as I met Joycelynn, Sue, and Melanie by the pool. My fellow Talented And Gifted Students from a long time ago had a blast during our four days together, too! We shot some pool and did some people-watching over tasty tacos; three of us jumped into a fountain on the way back to the hotel one night; we enjoyed the sun and sand and water at an artificial island off Miami and imagined spending the rest of our days in a tropical paradise; and of course there was serious drankin’ done (and someone may have licked alcohol off someone else's arm). Somehow, Sue and I never got our gelato, but by the time we headed for the airport early Sunday morning, the four of us could say that we’d had great fun!

I’m still not completely down from that vacation high, what with the sun and the heat and the love between family and friends (though I never did get to see Brett and Susan and the Leveene clan; sorry, guys!). Today is Earth Day (happy Earth Day to you, happy Earth Day to you...), and tonight I'm going to see Ex Hex play at Monty Hall in Jersey City. Should be a lot of fun, too! I haven't preordered an Apple Watch yet, but I still plan to get one soonish. No, not the Edition... I have yet to register (today or tomorrow!), but I'm planning on running the Rock the River 5K in Fort Lee on Sunday the 3rd. Still working on the Web site overhaul as well, which should be done by the time May peers around the corner. Hope your spring is going well, too!

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

I need a vacation.

I really, really need a vacation. Fortunately, I'll soon be taking something for that: a vacation. This Saturday, I'm flying to Fort Lauderdale, and spending half a week with my cousins and half a week with my friends. It will be great to see them all, and it will be wonderful to feel Florida weather. I think I'll be dragging the Traveler guitar along, too.

Not that I haven't been keeping busy as the New Jersey winter lingered on and on this March... I saw Tania Stavreva and some of her piano students play at Steinway Hall; enjoyed Stephanie's last performance with the Dessoff Choirs at Symphony Space; laughed and reminisced as Serious Pilgrim's Martin Rivas, Pete Bavaro, and Tom McGivney performed together in public for the first time in nearly two decades at Rockwood Music Hall; watched the off-Broadway show "Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe" with Laryssa; and did a bit of birdwatching in the Meadowlands with Barbara.

I've also been working on some music. While Greta's Unmentionables has yet to get to Hellhound Studios this year, Jon and I did start piecing together a new Not An Exit song, "No Looking Back," and I've recorded about half of my own tune, "I'll Live," written in 2006 but only just coming to life now.

I've been preparing to overhaul the Web site, too. The last major renovation to AndersenSilva.com left it only slightly clunky, but also partially broken, and there was some content (like all the old Vitriol columns and the Frequently Asked Questions) that was left by the wayside; I plan to restore that. I'm bringing back a cleaner, simpler interface, trimming some fat, adding a few old short stories and poems I've recently rediscovered, and slowly but surely getting thousands more pictures added (though that process won't be done anytime soon).

I've also found two stories I'd started writing years ago, that I would like to complete, and then there's my unfinished NaNoWriMo novels, and ideas for a new short story and a new poem I came up with last month... A light bulb went off over my head this morning. I'd thought the left bulb above the medicine cabinet had burned out two weeks ago, and I just haven't gotten around to replacing it, but it seems to be OK again now.

Hopefully, the new site will be up by the end of the month, but for now you can get a taste at http://www.andersensilva.com/music.html; only the Gallery... of Death! menu links are live for the moment. Please let me know what you think, and I'll see you after I've absorbed some Florida sun! That reminds me, I need to start packing...