Happy

I wanted to redesign before I posted my first post for the year. But, oh well. I guess this will have to do until I get the time to pick out a new splash picture and color theme (Maybe yellow?).

Christmas and New Year's was great. My friend Mario came over from Rhode Island to spend the New Year's Eve week-end with me. With Christmas shopping and everything, I didn't get to make a trip itinerary for him, but he reassured me that there was no reason to get stressed, that we'd just go wherever we felt like going.

On holiday Monday, we found ourselves with tickets to Bingo, an off Broadway show. We had no idea what it was about, but it was one of five shows left on TKTS' roster. It's a small show, with only about seven characters, and the blurb is ho-hum, but Mario and I enjoyed it immensely. Too bad the girl who plays the daughter is leaving for Broadway show Ring of Fire, because she had the most amazing voice. The show is held in St. Luke's Church, which was a more intimate setting and a great place for a musical.

Before the show, we went into Colony, a sheet music and karaoke store on 49th and Broadway. I got sheet music for Avenue Q and Ben Folds' Rockin' the Suburbs, and was agonizing over having to return Piano Stylings of the Great Standards because I was spending too much money, when Mario snuck up behind me at the register and said he was going to buy it for me for Christmas. I think this is my favorite Christmas gift. It has sweeping arrangements of All the Things You Are, As Time Goes By, Blue Moon and others, you know, for when I finally achieve my childhood dream of being a lounge pianist.

Also, besides being a great friend, Mario is going to be the hero of tropical diseases. He's at Brown to study schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease carried by snails found in the waters of Central Visayas in the Philippines. The disease is being propagated in a vicious cycle in poor rural communities because the main source of water is contaminated and the residents can't afford to get water elsewhere. Japan got rid of the disease by economic development - wetlands were drained and reclaimed, river bottoms were dredged - but the Philippines can't afford to do that. Schisto doesn't get as much publicity, because the symptoms aren't immediately visible and aren't as dramatic as other diseases. But a few scientists are trying to look for a cure as an alternative to massive engineering projects that would require a lot of money.