Twilight Crossings

Polar Bear Plunge, 2010

2010-01-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

As 1/1/2010 approached, Adam and Matt managed to goad me into doing the Polar Bear Plunge at Matthews Beach Park on Lake Washington.

The experience taught me a few things:

Either I am much more reckless than I used to be, or I am much more susceptible to peer pressure than I was before.
The whole "gang mentality" thing definitely helps when you're doing something that doesn't make any sense.
Letting out a primal roar and running in at full speed seems to yield the best results.
"Feels like 30 degrees" really means exactly that. (see picture above)
Numbness and muscle fatigue sets in very quickly when you are swimming in cold water. It puts a whole new perspective on the sinking of the Titanic.
While it is extremely cold in the water, your body overreacts by generating a lot of extra heat -- thus, you don't feel cold once you've gotten out of the water. Once you're in the water, the worst is over!

As for distances -- I made it to an old pier support that was probably 40 feet out. Matt got a little bit further than me, and Adam made it to a different pier support that was probably a good 80 feet out from the shore, proving that he is indeed a freak of nature.

Overall, it was a great time! Check that one off of the bucket list, I guess.

Arm(rest)-Wrestling

2007-10-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

I was browsing some random LifeHacker links today when I noticed an old Wired article describing Tactics for Armrest Domination on Airplanes. According to the article, it's all about winning the leverage battle. I guess that's true, as long as you're not sitting next to someone that looks like Mr. T.

Backup! Send backup!

2007-09-08T01:33:00.000-07:00

(First of all, my apologies for the "Matrix" reference. I just watched the original movie again recently, and the quote in the title was the first thing that came to mind when I started writing this entry.)

The Bumbershoot festival took place this past weekend in Seattle, as it does every Labor Day weekend. Tons of artists ranging from stand-up comics to rock bands pack the stages at the Seattle Center to perform for huge crowds of people from all over the Pacific Northwest. On Monday afternoon -- the last day of the festival -- Rachel and I managed to grab a fantastic vantage point for a couple of shows on the main stage: Joss Stone and John Legend.

Both of these artists, as you might expect, performed very well. In fact, I think Joss Stone's show was the best of the weekend. What really set it apart for me, though, was a bit of a surprise. I had expected her to be good; she was spectacular. I had expected her band to be solid; they were. What I didn't expect was for the her three background vocalists to be solid at both blending in the "blues background" style (which requires both robust voices and solid tuning) and at singing short solo licks throughout the show. The entire show had an energy and consistency that extended through the music and into the vocals, and the crowd really ate it up.

The very next show, John Legend, was fairly similar in quality. John himself was in good voice and sang very well in his own style. His band was solid (in fact, his drummer seemed noticeably better than Stone's drummer). The problem I had with his show was that his background vocalists were pretty dreadful. They did not blend well, and when they did solo licks toward the end of the show, they seemed to be pushing their voices well outside of their usable ranges. I left the show feeling disappointed, even though I was quite happy with John Legend's individual performance.

(I should also mention that Rachel and I were lucky enough to see Stevie Wonder perform last Friday, and he was truly awesome to watch. His band and his background vocalists were also top-notch.)

After seeing these two shows back-to-back, I have a newfound respect for the background vocalists (whether they be members of the band or background vocals for a well-known solo act). They can truly make or break a show!

Now, hopefully, I can take this freshly (re-)learned lesson and apply it in the days to come.