TheRealTamara

Wabi-Sabi

Perfect in its imperfection!

I have been searching for this word, and today, it popped up in the NYT Mini Puzzle!

I first learned of this idea in a pottery class.

An intentional dent or ding was the suggestion forwarded by my instructor.

I never did carch the name of the philosophy until now.

This concept isn’t just a construct for aesthetics and the arts.

It is how we should embrace life.

Perfect in its imperfections.

It is a balance. Perfect because of its imperfection.

It is an intentional contradiction.

Is Forrest Gump just looking for El Dorado?

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

We’ve seen Candide at least a couple of times. If by “seen,” you count the back rows of the Theatre, which is still occupied by Wicked for these dozen plus years. The stage is away aways from the topt’o the house there.

We saw Grand Hotel with Cyd Charisse uptop, too. Even from that height, she had spectacular legs.

I digress a bit, but yes, everyone should be aware of Ms. Charisse’s beauty in her Bway debut at age 70 and the steep incline that defines the Gershwin Theatre’s seating capacity.

Candide was led by Jim Dale and a newly minted Jason Daniely and featured Arte Johnson. Its music is by Leonard Bernstein with some additional Sondheim songs.

Like Forrest, Candide falls into a series of adventures [well mis- adventures].

His naïveté, [well their naïveté] creates the disconnect between how unsettling things are and their happy-go-lucky reactions.

“The best of all possible worlds” offers many upsets to the hero [well heroes] of these picaresques

In Gump’s best world, “life is like a box of chocolates.”

Two views, two famous lines. Two innocents abroad.

Quibbles bangles and bright shiny things

My imagined dialog with Julia Louis Dreyfus over my quibble about the name of her [except for its name, maybe?] impeccable podcast goes like this:

Tamara: Why “Wiser than Me,” Julia, when it should be “than I”?

Julia: Because.. I don’t want to sound prissy?

Tamara: You don’t want to sound grammatically correct, Julia.

[And she aka I, Tamara goes on:] We, none of us do. We throw aints around as if we were born to them.

Now, I will pivot back to the original programming here. I developed this doubt. Than Me/I? He or She vs. Him or Her? Wiser than him? Nah, it’s Wiser than He with the is that would follow implied or unspoken.

So, running back to the quibble that brought me to this diatribe, there is an “am” to end “Wiser than I”. By the way, Julia, great work.

“Wade in the water”

If anyone or anything can convert me towards religion, it would be a snippet from Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. Yes, it is a masterpiece. Yes, it has stunned audiences all over the globe since its creation in 1960.

This audience included. Tonight, I caught a glimmer from archives of this rich inclusive robust dance work on a PBS American Masters show. It sent shivers. Just as it had when I first met it on a stage in the ’60s and every encounter since.

There’s a purity to Alvin Ailey’s choreography that gives his dances grandeur.

M.C.N.Y.

Sing it to the tune of .. yeah you guessed it.

When you tell people you plan a visit to the Museum of the City of New York, they usually have a positive response.

My friend M said something to the effect of , “I love that place.” You get the drift.

I loved the Manny Vega exhibit. That especially, but there was a lot to like in every gallery.

So, a chance to enjoy tea [and crumpets?] with a curator just seemed like a perfect lunchtime activity.

One such event passed us by on the 2nd (with Sarah Henry), and The Curator’s Cup: Afternoon Tea with Sarah Seidman is on Oct 22nd, aka this Tuesday.

I am intending on attending the November 19th. I look forward to The Curator’s Cup: Afternoon Tea with Lilly Tuttle.

New York Teams

Just as we spent our time at the Garden [and one crucial year at Radio City Music Hall] watching the Lady Liberty play hoops, we also rode the 7-line to see the Mets.

The year hubby got us Saturdays season tickets was also the year that 2 New York teams competed in the World Series. We went to all the final series, including several World Series games.

Right now, I am watching my husband’s team battle the LA Dodgers for the National League Championship.

Will they, like the Liberty that tied up their contest last night, come out 1-1 today?

It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon in California, and, at this early point, the New Yorkers have tagged Ryan Brasier for a 6 to nothing lead.

My husband grew up going to Ebbets Field with his dad. Since he was a Giants fan, he never mourned the Brooklyn Dodgers when they left for the West Coast. He and I never discussed his feelings about the NY Giants leaving the Polo Grounds for San Francisco.

By the time he started teaching me the fine points of baseball [and there are so many fine points to this game], he was a solid fan of the Queens team. Despite my ignorance about the sport, I was in the Yankees camp.

To be honest, I tend not to be your traditional fan. I like a good game and root for interesting play rather than for my team. I mean, now that I understand what’s in play.

This attitude tends to rankle dieharders, but I like it.

Sports partisanship is limiting, but tonight, I want to see our NY guys win. Another Subway World Series would be exciting I think

Go, METS! Go, Yankees! GO Liberty!

Speaking of New York teams, each borough but one has hosted a baseball arena.

The very expansive Staten Island only has a Triple A field near the ferry terminals. It could build a ballpark and (Field of Dreams) “they would come.” Major League baseball fans delivered by ferry or spilling over bridges would love another National League team. [Yeah, I don’t like the DH thing.] The S.I. Ferriers might be a big draw. Don’t you think?

Lush

It’s because of this long over drawn summer that plantings along the Avenue are overgrown.

NEW YORK LIBERTY!

For years, many years ago, my husband would get us tickets for New York Liberty games. I like basketball and although he didn’t we went to see the Knicks play as well.

For a woman like me – who enjoys basketball and roots for women, the WNBA was a must-see. Burt got tickets.

In all those years, the ladies of the Liberty never made it to a championship

We had shirts because that was a frequent giveaway before each game. Until recently, when it fell apart, we had a 25th anniversary WNBA tee.

I contend that if they win their first championship, the New York Liberty owe us a couple of t-shirts this year.

Look at ’em now!

Leisure time

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Pasttimes are crucial to keeping us involved. Hobbies often augment and eventually replace work in our lives.

Leisure activities become the “what we do” when we retire from our jobs.

For some of us, the bowling league runs parallel to our paycheck activity. It might be karaoke Tuesday that makes your week even while you’re still going to a 9-to-5.

Some of us are serious about physical endeavors, like preparing for a marathon or biking new trails.

I enjoy my classes at the gym alongside long chats with friends over lunch or coffee. Or just like that- even if we communicate by that new-fangled texting thing.

I consider writing my actual occupation now. I feel as if this is what I have grown into and prepared for in all my years past.

I have landed on a true pasttime to pass my time.

It’s past time

There is a point in life when we realize that there is more behind us than ahead.

We have come to the juncture when we won’t squander our time or reconfigure who we plan on being.

This may sound grim to those of you who still can experiment on your life’s path. Know that it is not.

It is a different kind of luxury.

For me, it’s a reflection-point. I am grateful for getting this far.

It is an unimaginable age; aka one I never thought of as being old because I was sure that 30 or 50 were old.

I have grown into my own true self. And I can still learn more about who that self is.

Here I am with less time and lots of time on my hands. All the time in the world.