Thursday, July 19, 2007

Summer Nights

Summer in NYC is magical, really. There are approx. 900,000 fun things to do, and every year when Time Out arrives with its listing of summer events, I load up my calendar with everything I could possibly want to go to and then at the beginning of the week make some tough decisions. Recent juggling to accomodate many top priority events included buying Manu Chao tickets for Tuesday's show even though I already had them for Wednesday's show because Jillian with a J was playing her first show on Wednesday, and I just couldn't miss that. (Tuesday night training was lost in that shuffle, and Mander happily purchased Wednesday night's Manu Chao tix.)

Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing Ani DiFranco play in Prospect Park. In addition to her music being wonderful, as usual, I am always struck by how much she seems to be enjoying herself on stage. It's almost like she still can't believe that she gets to do this for a living. It makes me giggle to see someone doing something she so clearly loves and feels lucky to be doing.

Watching Ani tonight inspired me. How great would it be to have so much awesome in your life that that sometimes, maybe even often, the happiness bubbles up and makes you laugh out loud? And that the happy makes you grateful and the grateful makes you happy and it's just one big circle of creativity and contentment and, well, awesome?

Everyone clicked through and read the lulu manifesto the other day, right? And you saw this part?

Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top. Be creative. Do one thing a day that scares you.
Let yourself be inspired. Inspire others. Choose the awesome.

8 comments:

Miss A said...

I thought mediocre was.. well.. um 'average'?

Choose the awesome. I will :-)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you got to see Ani DiFranco play in prospect park! That must have been so great. I just bought Dar Williams' My Better Self because it includes a cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" with Ani DiFranco.

Lisa said...

come on I was excepting a full data chart of %attendees wearing birks=70, %attendees wearing plaid=45, %female attendees with shaved heads=60, %probably lesbian=95

ALSO that happiness level is EXACTLY WHAT I WAS FEELING THIS MORNING, NO? I love my life! And I love you! And I love lfar.ca! And I love EVERYTHING.

Gillian said...

Lisa: HA HA! The thing I was actually pondering was how many girls in attendence had their, uh, girl-parts pierced? And I'm not talking about nipples here.

Lisa said...

sorry G? explain further.

Gillian said...

Also Candace - I texted you from the concert but I fear that you are not hanging out with enough teenagers to have embraced that technology. Get on that, will you?

Anonymous said...

this isn't the first time i've thought this but it's the first time i'm sharing the thought: you'd make a seriously amazing life coach. i know "life coach" sounds relatively gay wad-ish but you've got *that thing* that makes people want to spring to action. which, in my humble estimation, is a good thing. just my two cents.

Michael said...

There is no other artist out there who inspires me more. When I am priviledged enough to see her live, I walk away humbled, inspired, contemplatively quiet yet somehow ready to stand on the street corner and bellow every thought that races through my brain to anyone who will listen. I admire her ability (and yours) to help people who are trying to figure "it" out.

AND, like you, I have also pondered how many fallopian tubes are pierced while at her shows. Thats what you are talking about right?

Wish I could have been there.