Another Awesome Vienna Night with an Americana Twist
I am in a ridiculously good mood! And it isn't just because of one single awesome thing... but rather because of several awesome things! I try to stay positive as best I can and I hope that translates into this blog. Sure, I get the blues, I get sad and sometimes things happen that sucker punch me. I don't like to dwell on these things on the blog because I prefer to linger on them in my mind in my free time. Kind of an unhealthy session of avoidance and self-pitying once in a while. I try my best to be a good person, a good friend, a good mother, a good daughter (failed miserably at that), a less shouty wife and yet, I don't always meet other people's expectations and that hurts. A friend wrote me yesterday with this quote from her dad "People's perceptions are their realities." and it did hit home. I can't please everybody and no matter what I do, some people are always going to dislike me or hate me and I have to learn to live with that. I think the hard part is knowing that I don't really hate anybody and so I don't understand other people's vitriol towards me. Whatever, it sucks, but that is part of growing up - only I can change me. But I will still allow myself to dwell on it... because I am still human.
So moving on... onto awesome stuff and why I am in a great mood... first of all, the Kid is doing a lot better. One hilarious side effect of his Friday therapy is his now insane amount of eye contact recently. But he has taken it to the next level. I think he thinks that by staring deeply into my eyes, he thinks I can read his mind and ergo I will know what he wants and give it to him (4 out of 5 times he wants cake). I am literally being followed around by a 4 foot tall unblinking child and it is actually cracking me up because while some people would find it creepy, I find it adorable and kind of a huge leap for him in terms of development. Another amazing thing we are celebrating is the re-claiming of our bed. FINALLY!!!
As a lot of you know, the last time we tried sleep training, the Kid had a seizure... yes, yes, I know that that was not the cause of the seizure and it was just a coincidence but a small part of me thinks that he inherited my tendency for drama and was like "Sleep alone, lady? I'll show you what I can do." Kind of a weird Firewalk With Me situation, oder? Anyway, the last couple of weeks we have moved his bed time up to 7:30 and instead of waiting until he falls asleep and army crawling out of there every night, we now put him in his bed, sit for about 5 minutes with him and then give him a kiss and then walk out. He doesn't fall asleep right away but he stays in his room and it is total and utter bliss. So that has been working well but we have still been battling him coming to our bed every night around 11:30. We are usually passed out so we don't know that he is there until we get a kick in the kidney at 2 a.m. We finally had had enough and over the weekend we started bringing him back to his bed. The first couple of nights was like dealing with a combative hissing kitten. There were tears and spitting and I am sure his own version of swearing. But we stayed calm and now, we are down to 1 visit a night around 2:30 in the morning. Last night I took him back to his bed and he was defeated and quiet and he stayed there for the rest of the night. We broke his spirit! Parents: 1; Child: 0! Isn't that what parenting is all about? Winning? So I guess calm and steady wins the race with this kid. Good to know.
So after that incredibly long intro, onto last night's fun fun experience. Last week a friend of mine mentioned the Ig Nobel Prize. Now, I know of the Nobel Prize but Ig Nobel? Nope, brand new information. Apparently the creator of these awards was back in Wien and he was hosting an evening at the Natural History Museum. Little side note: the Ig Nobel Prize is pretty much this:
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.
I was a little worried that I would not be able to follow along, that somehow all of the scienci-ness of the evening would send me into a tailspin and I would end up in fetal position, crying about that time Taylor Armstrong said "I will go Oklahoma on your ass" Season 1, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Epic season. Cough. So I decided to invite an incredibly intelligent friend to join me so she could witness my discomfort. I do so love an audience. She works with all things science and ergo is a bazillion times smarter than I am. I am cool with uber intelligent people. I feel like the Odie to their Garlfield. It's cool man, cool. We met for drinks at Burgring 1 and had a couple of said drinks and chatted and then just before 6, headed to the Natural History Museum. We grabbed seats in the back because we had to dash at 7 because I made a last minute decision to take her second ticket to see Mosaique. The creator of the Ig Nobel prize, Marc Abrahams was there last night and he made a quick introduction. The place was packed and I was very relieved to see that everybody seemed ready to laugh. Within a couple of minutes, I realized I had pre-judged this event. THE WHOLE THING WAS HILARIOUS! I laughed out loud through out the hour and now I have a total crush on the whole thing. One winner was a zoologist who discovered that tortoises do not yawn contagiously. Amazing. There was such a lightness and accessibility to the night and I loved it! This was like Bill Nye the Science Guy met up with John Stewart and created an awesome and funny baby. This is the science I can relate to!
One day I hope to go to the actual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard because if what I saw last night was just a small example of the actual ceremony... it will be incredible. There is nothing better, in my opinion, than when people can let loose and make fun of themselves. And this is a prime example of incredibly intelligent people, for lack of better term, taking the piss. Loved IT! I totally recommend checking out the stuff on Youtube. That's my plan for tonight.
Unfortunately we had to bounce and leave but we were onto another event because we are fabulous. We grabbed a taxi and made our way to Fuenfgasse 5 in the Fuenfzehnte Bezirk. Yeah, that was fun saying that to the taxi driver. We arrived at this awesome lofty place and walked through the cobbled courtyard. It was my first time going and I am kicking myself for not having gone sooner. My friend generously donated two tickets to Mosaique in the spring for the autism fundraiser! Mosaique is a collection of incredible singers, performers and musicians who put together a show once a month. I was a little apprehensive to go because I have seen the line up in the past and since I hadn't heard of a lot of the composers I assumed I would once again end up in the corner in fetal position crying "Prostitution Whore!" Teresa Giudice Season 1, Real Housewives of New Jersey.
But it was Americana night and the music was by: Copland, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gershwin etc. The first act was a collection of folk songs and songs by Samuel Barber. It was lovely and the energy was fantastic; vocals by soprano Julia Koci and baritone David Corcoran and pianists Deirdre Brenner and Chanda VanderHart. There was also the band Vienna Symphony Jazz Project, composed of 11 musicians (my friend and I were definitely a little deaf at the end) . Twas a very big band. Since it was Americana night, they also had an apple pie competition (the struedel won because of course) and hot dogs and popcorn. During the intermission, we ordered sekt and had hot dogs because that is absolutely awesome and I am so pairing the two more in the future. Mosaique was founded by Deirdre Brenner and Chanda VanderHart in 2013 as an idea to provide a stage for international artists to perform. I was incredibly impressed and while that might not be quite a feat considering my love for all Taylor Swift songs, I do have to say it is a fabulous concept. The tickets are affordable and the location is pretty neat. Totally going to have a party there! So check them out on Facebook - their next show is on November 17th and it will be a totally different theme.
To celebrate the start of their third season, after the show, the audience was invited onto the terrace, given sparklers and sekt and there was something very surreal and amazing about this and a perfect way to end a very fun and different night. As I said on Facebook "THIS IS GOING IN THE BLOG!" My friend and I also kept saying it was kind of a New York night and as I sat in the taxi heading home, I felt a bit like (chubby) Carrie Bradshaw after another fabulous night out. I am lucky.
So moving on... onto awesome stuff and why I am in a great mood... first of all, the Kid is doing a lot better. One hilarious side effect of his Friday therapy is his now insane amount of eye contact recently. But he has taken it to the next level. I think he thinks that by staring deeply into my eyes, he thinks I can read his mind and ergo I will know what he wants and give it to him (4 out of 5 times he wants cake). I am literally being followed around by a 4 foot tall unblinking child and it is actually cracking me up because while some people would find it creepy, I find it adorable and kind of a huge leap for him in terms of development. Another amazing thing we are celebrating is the re-claiming of our bed. FINALLY!!!
As a lot of you know, the last time we tried sleep training, the Kid had a seizure... yes, yes, I know that that was not the cause of the seizure and it was just a coincidence but a small part of me thinks that he inherited my tendency for drama and was like "Sleep alone, lady? I'll show you what I can do." Kind of a weird Firewalk With Me situation, oder? Anyway, the last couple of weeks we have moved his bed time up to 7:30 and instead of waiting until he falls asleep and army crawling out of there every night, we now put him in his bed, sit for about 5 minutes with him and then give him a kiss and then walk out. He doesn't fall asleep right away but he stays in his room and it is total and utter bliss. So that has been working well but we have still been battling him coming to our bed every night around 11:30. We are usually passed out so we don't know that he is there until we get a kick in the kidney at 2 a.m. We finally had had enough and over the weekend we started bringing him back to his bed. The first couple of nights was like dealing with a combative hissing kitten. There were tears and spitting and I am sure his own version of swearing. But we stayed calm and now, we are down to 1 visit a night around 2:30 in the morning. Last night I took him back to his bed and he was defeated and quiet and he stayed there for the rest of the night. We broke his spirit! Parents: 1; Child: 0! Isn't that what parenting is all about? Winning? So I guess calm and steady wins the race with this kid. Good to know.
So after that incredibly long intro, onto last night's fun fun experience. Last week a friend of mine mentioned the Ig Nobel Prize. Now, I know of the Nobel Prize but Ig Nobel? Nope, brand new information. Apparently the creator of these awards was back in Wien and he was hosting an evening at the Natural History Museum. Little side note: the Ig Nobel Prize is pretty much this:
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology.
I was a little worried that I would not be able to follow along, that somehow all of the scienci-ness of the evening would send me into a tailspin and I would end up in fetal position, crying about that time Taylor Armstrong said "I will go Oklahoma on your ass" Season 1, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Epic season. Cough. So I decided to invite an incredibly intelligent friend to join me so she could witness my discomfort. I do so love an audience. She works with all things science and ergo is a bazillion times smarter than I am. I am cool with uber intelligent people. I feel like the Odie to their Garlfield. It's cool man, cool. We met for drinks at Burgring 1 and had a couple of said drinks and chatted and then just before 6, headed to the Natural History Museum. We grabbed seats in the back because we had to dash at 7 because I made a last minute decision to take her second ticket to see Mosaique. The creator of the Ig Nobel prize, Marc Abrahams was there last night and he made a quick introduction. The place was packed and I was very relieved to see that everybody seemed ready to laugh. Within a couple of minutes, I realized I had pre-judged this event. THE WHOLE THING WAS HILARIOUS! I laughed out loud through out the hour and now I have a total crush on the whole thing. One winner was a zoologist who discovered that tortoises do not yawn contagiously. Amazing. There was such a lightness and accessibility to the night and I loved it! This was like Bill Nye the Science Guy met up with John Stewart and created an awesome and funny baby. This is the science I can relate to!
One day I hope to go to the actual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard because if what I saw last night was just a small example of the actual ceremony... it will be incredible. There is nothing better, in my opinion, than when people can let loose and make fun of themselves. And this is a prime example of incredibly intelligent people, for lack of better term, taking the piss. Loved IT! I totally recommend checking out the stuff on Youtube. That's my plan for tonight.
Unfortunately we had to bounce and leave but we were onto another event because we are fabulous. We grabbed a taxi and made our way to Fuenfgasse 5 in the Fuenfzehnte Bezirk. Yeah, that was fun saying that to the taxi driver. We arrived at this awesome lofty place and walked through the cobbled courtyard. It was my first time going and I am kicking myself for not having gone sooner. My friend generously donated two tickets to Mosaique in the spring for the autism fundraiser! Mosaique is a collection of incredible singers, performers and musicians who put together a show once a month. I was a little apprehensive to go because I have seen the line up in the past and since I hadn't heard of a lot of the composers I assumed I would once again end up in the corner in fetal position crying "Prostitution Whore!" Teresa Giudice Season 1, Real Housewives of New Jersey.
But it was Americana night and the music was by: Copland, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gershwin etc. The first act was a collection of folk songs and songs by Samuel Barber. It was lovely and the energy was fantastic; vocals by soprano Julia Koci and baritone David Corcoran and pianists Deirdre Brenner and Chanda VanderHart. There was also the band Vienna Symphony Jazz Project, composed of 11 musicians (my friend and I were definitely a little deaf at the end) . Twas a very big band. Since it was Americana night, they also had an apple pie competition (the struedel won because of course) and hot dogs and popcorn. During the intermission, we ordered sekt and had hot dogs because that is absolutely awesome and I am so pairing the two more in the future. Mosaique was founded by Deirdre Brenner and Chanda VanderHart in 2013 as an idea to provide a stage for international artists to perform. I was incredibly impressed and while that might not be quite a feat considering my love for all Taylor Swift songs, I do have to say it is a fabulous concept. The tickets are affordable and the location is pretty neat. Totally going to have a party there! So check them out on Facebook - their next show is on November 17th and it will be a totally different theme.
To celebrate the start of their third season, after the show, the audience was invited onto the terrace, given sparklers and sekt and there was something very surreal and amazing about this and a perfect way to end a very fun and different night. As I said on Facebook "THIS IS GOING IN THE BLOG!" My friend and I also kept saying it was kind of a New York night and as I sat in the taxi heading home, I felt a bit like (chubby) Carrie Bradshaw after another fabulous night out. I am lucky.
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