Text 14648, 117 rader
Skriven 2007-04-26 08:48:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 422
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Sunday.

Next day it was time for me to brave the elements and do the
preliminary (taped) judging of our own little scholarship
contest. So I got Rosemary (the hostess) to drive me to
Providence, where I got the train to Boston. The choices
were to take one that would get me in town 3 minutes after
the session started (and then there would be 10 more to walk
from the train station to the Community Music Center) or one
that would get me there 2 hours early, and then I might
negotiate with the guard at the center to stay there and
work for awhile. I took the early one (snoozed through it)
and arrived at a windswept and wet Back Bay Station at half
past 11. After a shortish but brutal walk through the cold
rain, I found that the center was closed for a week:
presumably, the director, who is a member of our committee,
would eventually show up to let us in, but then what to do
in the meantime. Two ideas came to immediate mind: Drink.
Eat. I'd had plenty to drink the previous two days, so the
choice was made in deference to my liver. This is a
renaissancing neighborhod, with such food pornerias such as
Hamersley's Bistro, B&G Oysters, and The Butcher Shop, but
the choice, after scanning the double digit appetizers
lists, was made in deference to my wallet: Addis Red Sea,
one of the classic cheap eats joints from way back. By this
time it was pouring buckets. I asked for a table near an
electric outlet, so I could get a tad work done while I
waited for my lunch; this request was cheerfully
accommodated, but the outlet didn't work. Oh, well, I didn't
want to work that much anyhow.

I ordered a Hakim Ethiopian stout, which was very uncreamy,
with lots of little bubbles like a cheap wine, and a strong
but not unpleasant caramelly-molassesy taste; and dulet,
represented on the menu as tripe, liver, and red meat in
ginger and garlic. I guess not many people order this, as it
didn't come out for nearly half an hour. Was it worth the
wait? Maybe. The tripe was little indistinguishable bits,
notable only for a chewy texture; the liver was more
liverlike. Tastes were fine, somewhat mild despite my asking
for the food very spicy. Injera was very bland (I prefer a
more sour bread) and a little cold (the kitchen is down
basement, and the restaurant was by no means overheated). On
the whole, an okay meal for $18; if I'd gone down the block
and spent two or three times that, I surely could have had
better.

When I returned, just before meeting time, the chairwoman
and the director were there, greeting me like a long-lost
drowned rat. Soon the rest of the audition committee
trickled in.

The meeting itself was lengthy and amicable, but with Marcus
and me cutting up as though we were Badura-Skoda or
something.

This was a round of 22 contestants to choose six finalists
who would play live before us April 26 (when I should be at
the Freddie awards in Crystal City but won't) and three cash
winners.

The chair had been the director of a certain music school,
and every so often we'd hear a certain out-of-tune piano,
and we would laugh, and she would say, "I know where that
piano is, it's at the [rival] music school." After we looked
at the bios (we weren't allowed this information
beforehand), we found out that she had been right. Of the
six finalists, three I think were Asians - two pianists and
a mezzo. The other finalists were two more pianists and a
cellist.

Got a ride to the subway, thank goodness (as the Nor'easter
had started), which though it didn't come for the longest
time, went fairly smoothly, and an hour later I was at my
doorstep, soaked from the 2-block walk from the T stop.

Dinner, not strictly needed, was pasta with many-weeks-old
leftover spaghetti sauce, cashews from Trader Joe's, and
snacks (pretzels, almonds, Jelly Bellys) kiped from the
airplane.

The wind and rain were starting to intensify, and so my plan
to go to the grocery were scotched; I hunkered down for the
night as there was nothing else to do.

Monday

In the night, a bunch of water managed to get around or
through the rubber gaskets of the windows, and I was wakened
by the feeling of water on my face. It was 3. I decided to
get up and surf the web for a couple hours and then get a
bit of work done. I did so. The weather was really horrid -
30-mph winds gusting to 50+, horizontal rain, that sort of
thing, so I just stayed glued to the desk all day. Luckily,
we never lost power.

Next thing I knew, it was 20 hours later, and my paperwork
for the next week was done, yippee. During this period I
dined twice on leftover spaghetti sauce, cashews from Trader
Joe's, and snacks (pretzels, almonds, Jelly Bellys) kiped
from the airplane.

Tuesday

Winds were less intense, but it was still kind of miserable
out, so I just stayed put, just going out once to the
management office to pick up the proofs of a book about
beginning reading that I'm supposed to index in my spare
time.

There was nothing to eat but leftover spaghetti sauce,
cashews from Trader Joe's, and snacks (pretzels, almonds,
Jelly Bellys) kiped from the airplane.

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