Author: steven

This morning we woke up to find that the electricity had gone out.  Not having too much in terms of food for breakfast, we decided to take a walk to a local breakfast cafe, only to realize that the electricity had gone out for a larger part of our neighborhood than we had realized, finding the cafe closed. 

We thought perhaps the Peet’s by us would be open, so we started on our way to hear a screech and a crash and sure enough at the intersection two cars had gotten into an accident.  It sounded quite rough but luckily the one truck had hit the other car in the rear driver-side door and no one was hurt. I started to think though how much does society depend on electricity, seeing how the one power outage had made running many businesses in the area not possible, as well as seeing how not having street lights on could lead to such dangers. 

When we arrived at Peet’s, we had found that they did not have any hot drinks such as coffee due to the electricity outage.  We had gotten some iced tea and some pastries and sat there enjoying them, a bit hungry.  I was amazed at how quiet it was without all the ambient sounds of machinery.  Also, no overhead lights were on so the room was wonderfully lit with just natural light.  At one point a worker who had gone to another store that did have power had come in with hot water in a thermal carafe, enough to make pressed coffee.  I really enjoyed how things were just fine there, operating with just the very basics.  (I was reminded of the coffee chain in Poland called Pozegnanie z Afryka, something about the light in the room, the coffee…)

Back at home, we purchased some matches on the way so that we could light the stove to do some cooking.  Sitting there, it was a joy to just relax in the silence and just think about things.  I was reminded of how working away from the computer for music has often yielded some of the most fruitful work. The car accident today made me realize that some uses of electricity are really quite essential, but there are a great deal many things I’m seeing now that just don’t feel like they’re necessary to have on.

Today, after such a beautiful wedding of our friends Tom and Corinne at Tilden Park and the lessons learned from this morning, I’m looking very forward to taking the next 6 days away from computers and cell phones and other technology to participate in our teacher’s Tai-Chi  camp at Walker Creek Ranch, disconnected from it all. 

We successfully moved this past Monday and Tuesday from South Berkeley to North Berkeley.  So far the new apartment has been pretty much everything I could have hoped for in addressing the issues of the previous apartment.  The general baseline quietness is wonderful, and having this kind of silence only underscores the amount of sound we were around in the old apartment. The apartment is much smaller but feels much cozier for it; when we lived in Warsaw we found we enjoyed the smaller apartment so much, and certainly again finding a small but well partitioned apartment is much more preferable than one with too much space…

The area is certainly much more affluent and therefore feels quite different than our previous neighborhood.  A less gritty place, the people seem to not have the same kind of worries as those in the previous neighborhood. Seems to be many more smiling faces and warmer characters here, which I am finding myself fond of…

One of the greatest joys of living in this apartment so far is how much more nature there is around.  We have lovely trees right outside our windows that are often frequented by birds and squirrels.  The animals in the area seem very friendly and not afraid of people, which I think says something about the kind of people who inhabit the area. Taking walks here, I found myself once looking around at the trees, the people, the buildings, and all around with a certain deep observation and curiosity that seems to have been missing for the last year…

Live Oak Park, only a very short 5 minute or so walk from here, is a really wonderful place.  Living closely to a park reminds me of the apartment we rented in Warsaw next to the Old Town and the Ogród Krasińskich.  It’s been great walking to and through the small park, and the Picnic Area 2 has been quite excellent for practicing tai-chi in: under the cover of beautiful trees, the ground a comfortable soft dirt, a small stream ahead bubbling away a beautiful sound.  A very peaceful space…

Yesterday, while on the train to the airport (Lisa is on her way to Warsaw for a three-week research trip), we looked at a video I had taken of the old apartment.  I had taken the video just as a reminder of what the old place was like for future reference. We were both amazed at how quickly we had lost any connection with the old apartment, as well as how quickly we had connected with our new apartment and neighborhood…

Already I feel rejuvenated being here.  The past few months in the old place were of such distress that I hardly did much personal work, but the peacefulness here has been excellent and I am now collecting my thoughts, reviewing where I was with all of my personal work, and slowly returning to these very meaningful endeavors…

When we first moved back to California and had moved to Berkeley, we had a few weeks of time to search for an apartment.  The apartment we found was above a restaurant and our initial impressions were good.  With only a few days left to find an apartment, we ended up going with the apartment we are in today.

At first it was alright in the apartment, with most of our concerns simply just adjusting back to life in America, as well as sorting out all of our stuff from storage as well as setting up the apartment.  After quite a lot of cleaning and some furniture purchases, things were mostly alright.

Over time though, the restaurant downstairs would start to play their music louder and louder, longer and longer into the night.  During the day became the worst time to be around as they played their music easily five times louder than they would during the evening when the restaurant was open.  During that day time when the restaurant was not yet open and preparing food for the evening, the music would be loud enough that you could not only feel the bass through the floor, but one could feel it in the air itself.  The first few times happened here and there, over time becoming a regular occurrence, the only variable being whether it would be very loud or unbearably so.

The incessant pattern of the bass over hours and hours of exposure (I would have to endure quite a bit as I work from home), made us both quite exhausted. Feeling at times tired, at times angry and frustrated, our misery over the situation made for an environment impossible to be either focused or inspired in.  Besides the music, the family which owns the restaurant often argues amongst themselves (very loudly).  Just being around that kind of tension tiring and nearly impossible to do any

So a couple of months ago we decided to move.  At first we had been so distressed we were set to break our lease and simply find an apartment and move immediately.  After a couple of weeks of apartment searching, and applying for apartments, an apartment we found quite ideal and one we really wanted to get worked out!  We signed the lease a few weeks ago and in just a few more weeks we’ll be moving out from here and into a slightly smaller, cozier, and much quieter apartment in a very different part of town (moving from South Berkeley to North Berkeley, up by the Gourmet Ghetto). 

So each very loud day that passes by, I look more and more forward to moving.  So many days here where no music could be worked on, no peace of mind could be had.  I have accepted in my mind for the past couple of weeks that I would not be able to work on music but would only work on programming and other tasks that don’t require so much quietness.  I am looking forward to getting back to composing, reading quietly at home, and just enjoying life and peaceful quietness.

A few days ago, having the thought to take a last-minute trip somewhere for this weekend, Lisa and I decided to rent a car and find a place to go.  Luckily, being the Bay Area, there were a number of options to choose from.  We had originally thought to go visit Calistoga yesterday, but after doing some checking we found that we would really need to reserve a place to stay to do the things we thought we would go try to do.  We did drive around town to a few places we never managed to get to since we don’t own a car, but yesterday was largely a quiet day.  We did however make plans to go to Big Sur today, and the trip work out beautifully.

Waking up a little later than we had originally planned, we took showers, ate breakfast with some coffee, and managed to get on the road a little past 8:15 AM.  We started off the trip listening to Bjork’s Homogenic, an old favorite for both of us, driving down the highway, the sky a bit overcast and gray, excited to be on the road.  After a brief stop to pick up some coffee, we continued on our way listening to another favorite album, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s album Shahen-Shah.  The sheer ecstasy of the music was welcome, especially as we continued along and saw such beautiful landscapes that were always a couple hours away from us and that we never knew were right there.  (Listening to this album in particular reminded me of the long drives I had taken back in college to visit John in Wake Forest, as well as all the many times I used to listen to this album on Minidisc while walking around campus…)  It had been too long since I had listened to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and I had certainly made a note to spend more time with his music in the coming weeks.

We had missed a turn in our directions, but luckily Lisa had realized and we were able to catch another way to get to Highway 1 without losing much time at all.  When we got to Highway 1 and driven along for a few miles, we were surprised to suddenly see to our right the Pacific Ocean so close!  Beautiful… As we drove along, it all became only more and more incredible.  Stopping by the side of the road often, we took picture after picture of the many incredible views of the ocean, the rocks in the water, the formations of rock which the the highway wrapped around, and more. The sky was still a bit dark at this time, the wind strong and chilly, but beautiful nevertheless. Listening to Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon was wonderful accompaniment as we continued on, taking in the wonderful views before us.

Arriving in Big Sur at about 11:30 AM, we listened to John Adams’ The Dharma at Big Sur (though, I must say, much of which is difficult to hear while driving in Big Sur as the noise of the road often drowned out the music), and made our way to the Big Sur Tourist Center.  After asking for some information, we decided for our day two waterfalls mentioned on the list of things to do: Pfeiffer Falls and McWay Falls.

Driving back North a short half-mile, we entered into the park, parked the car, and then walked over to the trail.  A mile or so of fairly easy hiking through a beautiful forest filled with Redwoods, we made our way up the path to see the small waterfall at the end, enjoying the fresh air and taking in the beauty around us. Walking back, we took a small pause to simply sit on a bench and to just take it all in.  I sat there savoring the sounds of the trees, the leaves rustling in the wind and creating such a soft but strong sound.  The sound reminded me much of a wave of water, how it seems to move slowly but with carrying such volume of water as to be a very large force…  Ten or so minutes later, we proceeded back the way we came and stopped by the lodge there at the beginning of the path to have a small bite to eat. Afterwards we got back in the car and drove on to the next stop. 

By this time, the gray sky was beginning to lighten up and the sky and water begin to better define themselves.  We drove 10 miles or so South to the next park, parked our car, then took the short walking path to McWay Falls.  The scene was absolutely gorgeous! We could not walk too far along the path due to some renovation work they were doing, but from where we could walk to, we could see the falls from a distance pouring into the ocean and waves of water from the ocean coming in and out of the little cove.  The sky was brightening and the water–a dark, murky color when we first saw it in the day–had turned a beautiful blue.  Standing there we took many photos, talked quite a bit about what we were seeing, listened to the waves, soaked in the sun, and generally just marveled at it all. 

We walked back to our car and drove back North to our final stop of the day at the Henry Miller Library. A quirky but very charming place, we enjoyed a cup of coffee and tea there, perused the books on sale, and enjoyed looking around the library.  Close to 4PM and needing to get back to Berkeley, we got back in the car and started our way back.

Driving back along the same roads, it was amazing to see the views once again in such brilliant light.  It really felt as if we had gotten to see two completely different landscapes and was really just delighted at how well the timing of the trip had worked out.  My original worries from the morning that the trip would be dark and even rainy ended up turning into the opportunity to see such a beautiful view in two completely different lights. 

The drive back was met with some traffic, but overall was not bad at all.  The 3 hour drive back felt like it went by fairly quickly as we enjoyed listening to the CD’s we had brought once again and listening to NPR on the radio, as well as simply chatting about everything we had seen and enjoying each other’s company.  The trip worked out excellently and was really rejuvenating and inspiring.  Our first time there has proved to be a wonderful experience, and I think we’ll both be looking forward to another trip to further explore all that is there.

Yesterday after our Saturday morning Tai Chi classes and usual brunch routine, Lisa and I walked over to Downtown Berkeley to to watch a movie. I hadn’t been following movies at all lately so at the theater we had to take some time to decide which movie to watch.  After some coin tosses and discussion, we ended up choosing Persepolis, a movie which Lisa had heard good things about and which the ticket person had also heard good things too. 

What a fantastic movie!

I was unfamiliar with the story as well as the historical context of the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the wars with Iraq, and found the story of the person growing up there and abroad quite touching. I was also grateful never having to have grown up under such difficult social and political conditions.  I though the movie illustrated the challenges of life there and growing up in general very well.

Beyond the story itself, I found the animation quite stylized and expressive as well as just completely effective in supporting the story. I could imagine such a style easily overpowering a lesser movie, but here I felt it very strongly worked to accentuate and bring out aspects of the story that could only be done with animation. 

A beautiful movie with such a touching story, I would heartily recommend it to anyone I know.

Yesterday Lisa and I went to Kabuki Spa in San Francisco. We had gone for the first time just a day or two before we left San Francisco to go to Warsaw, and since moving back to California last year we have gone twice now. The trip from Berkeley to the spa is little long but not too bad, and if anything it is completely worth the time spent to get there. What a wonderful place! We’ve only gone to the communal baths where there is a dry sauna, a steam room, a cold plunge, and a hot pool.  I love that the baths are very quiet and peaceful, sometimes with quiet ambient, new age like music that was on at a very low volume, but more often than not just silence.  We drank ample supplies of water flavored with cucumber or lemon or hot tea between sessions in the dry sauna and the steam room, and used the salt as a gentle scrub while in the steam room.

I think it’s quite a luxury to be able to go to a spa like Kabuki Spa, but it is such a enriching experience that I feel that going there is well worth the time and money spent. I really felt quite relaxed and appreciated the opportunity to rest in such a quiet and peaceful environment.  I am looking forward to the next time we can go to Kabuki Spa and hope to make it a more regular event in our lives.  In the future, wherever we may go, I hope that these kinds of peaceful baths will be something we can find and continue to enjoy.