11.04.2008, originally uploaded by hills,.

It didn’t take too long for me to move through the voting lines, maybe a half hour. There were a lot of people and the line for my district (4th) was a lot shorter than many of the other lines. I overheard some people saying that they’ve never seen it as crowded at past elections–usually there are just two or three people in front of them when they arrive. Everyone was helpful and respectful. Overall, a rather pleasant voting experience.

One complaint is that it was not very clear that there was an amendment up for vote. I didn’t learn about it until after and I was speaking with someone else who had just voted. Apparently, it’s to the right of the main voting board. I didn’t even see it–I was too focused on not screwing up my votes for offices.

Now it’s time to sit back and feel anxious. Alicia says I should clean the house. Maybe she’s right.

07.21.2008, originally uploaded by hills,.

i asked for an accordion for my birthday. that’s all i wanted. i got it. eileen (co-worker and accordion guru) introduced me to the best place for accordions (main squeeze in the lower east side) and that’s where i bought my “sunrise.”

it’s great! it has 72 bass so i can play “all the chords” and the physical condition is tip-top. it has a wonderful sound and allows for five different reed settings.

i’ve been working on learning how to play the buttons and it’s proving to be somewhat confusing though i’m learning quickly and will hopefully be able to accompany myself on standards soon. (let’s shoot for in a month or two, yeah?  i’m sure i’ll never meet that goal, but a boy can dream.) i’ve also been working on “breathing.” as most people know, you don’t need to take breaths in order to play the piano. you can just keep going and going and going. in case you don’t know, the accordion requires you to expand and contract the bellows in order to move air and produce a sound. you can only stretch the bellows so far before you have to push them back together making it somewhat like breathing. i need to figure out how much i can really play before i need to “breathe out” or “breathe in.”

all in good time though, all in good time.

okay… time to go to sleep, i mean… practice accordion. we’ll see how long it takes for the neighbors (or alicia) to hate/kill me.

7.16.2008, originally uploaded by hills,.

alicia made me this cake for my birthday. she had “happy 23rd birthday alex i love you” spelled out. she then left it out for a few hours and the icing melted. i kinda prefer the result… it’s sort of a deconstruction of one’s traditional cake. you know what they say, “you have to know the rules to break them.”