Two photos, separated by almost a year from my friends Lucia and Libby—both amazing, fearless climbers, one a scientist, one a nurse, both awesome. Both gonna save your life one day.
The other day a good friend said to me, “you magnify other people’s happiness.”
Despite the obvious inverse—which is something I’ve wondered about quite a bit—it’s one of the nicest things I think anyone’s ever said about me. I was kind of floored.
Walking to the Muni last night before the party, I tried to reconcile the evening’s plans with a nagging sense of post-30 bedroom DJs suffering from Peter Pan syndrome. Was I judging them or myself?
12 years ago a friend offered me a DJ gig at his bar in the lower east side. With no turntables of my own, it was trial by fire—I ended up learning how to spin right there. Practice before the bar opened, play my Sunday set, then spend the meager proceeds around the corner at the record store on more vinyl for next week. Every mistake, trainwreck and serendipitous mix was there for anyone who was listening.
Last night I relived some of that—learning on the fly how to DJ with Ableton Live in a very public way. Simultaneously frightening and thrilling, my train of thought was something like this: “Look, jump, if I fall I fall.”
In the end it worked out. There were no major screwups—that anyone noticed—and my friends came out to dance. <3 to everyone for their support yesterday!
Got asked to spin at a club on Wednesday. Been a while. Stoked.
Had lunch yesterday with Shawn + Jenny at Out The Door. Daikon rice cakes and duck congee are pretty much the best thing ever. So much so, I made some today at home. Not quite right, yet.
Reaping the benefits of the Boingo WiFi tax, battling back curmudgeonly instincts while the woman at the AA desk seeming less convinced as each successive assigned takeoff time expires under the boot of repairs on the lavatories.
I could have taken the subway to Manhattan by now, instead opting to decompress at a cafe before the gate, writing—and reading—the backlog of email, curate ~2000 photos from France, and kitting a plan for the weekend.
Speaking of which, looking forward to Jay’s birthday party + he and Jen’s housewarming, riding with Jenny Oh & co in Oakland on Friday before East Bay BBQing, a Tam loop on Saturday, followed by Wanted with Krissy and then We Are Scientists on Sunday. So much for lying low.
The subject of a few covers and remixes in its 18 months of life, Klaxons’ epic Golden Skans is one of my favorite songs of last year. Baking a mixtape a couple weeks ago, I spliced Mark Ronson’s soulful cover featuring Melbourne’s Daniel Merriwhether with XXXChange’s house remix of Juiceboxxx and Dre Skull’s party anthem Sweat (say that five times fast). It tasted good—so here it is, out of the kitchen:
I’m flattered. Will need to thank my neighbor—she hires designers for Apple.
Willo asks the hard questions:
