Derrick & The Black Sea

James has been very busy these days, what with the normal classes and homework that come with being in law school along with a few freelance jobs, in addition to being on the board of a student group AND now the journal he's been working on for the past year, all while working on the ongoing litigation against our former landlords and being a present and active father and husband...so I am very happy to report that he has been able to find some time to focus on something that has always been a passion for him; his music!

James has been performing with our good friend Derrick Karg as part of his band Derrick & The Black Sea. Still a fledgling trio, James, Derrick and their musical partner Richard Ruggiero have a really awesome, unique style - the 'name' of which genre, I understand, is somewhat controversial; "hard folk" and "folk metal" have both been suggested, but Derrick insists that it is "dark country rock"...They perform mostly original work, so I guess the moral is that you'll have to go out and hear them, and then decide for yourself what to call it (and, I suppose, report your conclusions)!

I had the great fortune to actually attend one of their concerts recently (a rarity since they tend to play bars and clubs that are understandably inappropriate for the little ladies) and had a blast. I've posted one of their songs below, though it is one of the more traditional songs that they played early in the set...I totally recommend that you all come see them really rock out in person!

Happily, you'll have the opportunity to do just that TONIGHT!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

FREE

7pm at Spike Hill, located at 184 Bedford street in Brooklyn.

Go out, support some great musicians, and Enjoy!

Oh, and check out their facebook page, too! Just click here!

Below is a (terrible sound quality, sorry) video of Derrick & The Black Sea performing Colorado & Down at Sullivan Hall.

Crazy Week

...

I have no idea how to start this post! I wanted to keep up the momentum I've regained recently in terms of posting, so I thought I'd sit down and just do a brief description of this past week, but that is proving slightly harder to actually accomplish than I would like.

Not only has it been James' first full week of classes (the last two weeks were short weeks with things like "legislative mondays" in the mix) and the start of his duties as a journal editor, and not only did Cadence have her first week of school ever, meet all of her new classmates and take definite strides in terms of asserting her independence by kicking me out of her classroom before most kids would even consider letting their parents go; but it has also seen the first school-borne illness to hit our family (at this writing, Cadie is asleep but with a temp of 102.2, Hazel is finally resting after two days of goopy baby nose, and I'm trying to deny that my throat has a tell-tale tickle...)...and oh yeah, we had a break in about midway through it, too.

On Wednesday we left just before noon to walk Charlie, as always, before I brought Cadence to school. There, I got to witness her class' introduction to the 'picture clock'; their schedule for the day broken down into representative photographs to give them an idea of what to expect for their school-day routine. There was a picture of the courtyard for outdoor time, a picture of the rug they all sit on for 'circle time', a picture of her teacher's ukulele for their musical end-cap, and of course representative images of snack time and for free explorations and all the activities they'd get to encounter there. After they were done going over each item on the list, my little Cadie B called for the teachers attention and, very politely though quite firmly, expressed that this was all good, but that "I really want to do learning time." Of course, when I relayed this story to my mom later that night, she reminded me of my reaction to my very first day of kindergarten at the age of 4. I got off the bus and met her enthusiastic inquiries about how it had been with utter disappointment, declaring that "it's just a playing school." Apple? Tree? not too distant, evidently...

Anyway, she sent me on my way shortly after that, so I headed out to Clementine, a great little kids' consignment shop right next to the law school, to pay for a skirt I had (embarrassingly) accidentally shoplifted a couple days before (I know, I know! It's terrible...I tried it on Hazel, Cadence distracted me, Hazel zonked out on my chest while I was dealing with Cadie and I, forgetting that Hazel had the skirt on, absentmindedly just stuck her in the wrap out of habit, without looking, and didn't discover my error until much later).

Having made amends and had a longer-than-I-should-have-stayed conversation with the store's owner about life as the wife of an international lawyer, I hustled back to the blue school to fetch Cadence, and we met with James back at the law school for an OWLS event. OWLS, (Older Wiser Law Students) is a student organization aimed at students who are not fresh out of undergrad, and may have other priorities in life which can make the law school experience significantly different than it would be otherwise, for which James serves as a board member.

The girls were wonderful representatives of some of those outside priorities, and everyone seemed to have a quite enjoyable time. After some good food and schmoozing, I took Hazel home to prepare to receive the guests we were expecting that night, while Cadence and James stayed to see out the event. It had already been a thoroughly exhausting day by the time I got home around 7:00 in the evening, so I was perhaps less prepared for the shock that awaited me upon my return.

I arrived home that evening to discover that someone had broken into our apartment while we were away, and had stolen our computer, my engagement ring, the girls' family rings, and almost all of my jewelry including almost everything I had inherited from my late grandmother.

Thankfully though, no one was hurt. Only the kitties were home when it all went down, and they were all present and accounted for, and didn't seem to have been harmed (but were understandably a bit freaked). All in all we were quite lucky, and I am grateful that all that we lost were material possessions...the place wasn't even ransacked, and in fact they didn't seem to touch anything other than what they actually took...really, this could have been a much worse incident than it was; the way it all went down, it's almost nothing. (Though the feeling of violation and the decreased sense of security make that a big almost.)

Anyway, the rest of that night was a bit of a blur of guests arriving amidst police reports and phone calls, sorting through things and dealing with the shock. There was no sign of forced entry and the door had definitely been locked when we left the house, so the police (and the locksmith who replaced our locks and installed an additional deadbolt the next morning) think they must have had a key...

So, despite some lingering parental trauma, I think we'll be fine. And I really do believe that if someone had to go through all the trouble of breaking in to take it all, whether they were doing it to survive or to support some sort of bad habit...chances are they needed it all more than I do right now, since they are clearly in a worse state of crisis than I. So I sincerely wish them peace.

Anyway, we were all glad to greet the weekend today, though with sickness and some very troubling news within the family (which I won't divulge here out of deference to a loved one's privacy; suffice it to say we are sending oceans of love and worry to someone we all care deeply about), and trying to figure out how to recover our functionality without our main computer...well, we're all a mite exhausted.

First Day of School!

Any old friends recognize those socks? Surprised they're hangin' on, but hey I found a great place to wear them!

Taken at one of the parents' events earlier this week.

Today was a very big day around here, since it marked an occasion that has been actively anticipated for months: Cadie's First Day of School!!

Needs no caption.

It went splendidly...The Blue School has a new building now, right on Astor place (Sesame Street aficionados: In the 'word on the street' segment featuring the word "humongous," there is a brief shot of the Astor Cube ["HUMONGOUS!"]...the rather non-descript building in the background houses Cadence's new school. Exciting! For those of you of a NY persuasion but perhaps less current in your Sesame knowledge: it's the building that used to house the Starbucks across the street from...well, the other Starbucks.) .

HUMONGOUS!!!

They have a great program for easing kids into the idea of going to school without the company of mom or dad, which is really reassuring, but evidently unnecessary in Cadie's case. I'd have more to report about specifics except that she kinda kicked us out after the first few minutes.

Baba and Hazel are very excited for Cadence on her first day.

We were there as she played with sidewalk chalk in the courtyard (and started a trend, surprise surprise, getting most of her class to play, or at least draw, hopscotch 'courts'...) and changed her shoes, [No street shoes allowed in the building proper!] which was the first point at which she told us she wanted to play with just teachers and friends and wanted us to go...Katrina, one of her teachers, convinced her to let us come do the introductions and hello songs with her...so we all went through the glow hallway and up to the classroom. After the bathroom tour and a few minutes of play...she wanted her independence, so I ran some errands and waited in the "multi-purpose room" [where Hazel and I got bombarded with first graders on their way home, boisterous as ever after their first day...] and came back to fetch her at the end of the day to reports that she'd done very well, played with a girl named Oonagh (pronounced Oo-Nah) for quite a while, and had a great time overall.

Getting ready to go...

So much for my plans to stay for the whole first day to get to know the routine/kids/other parents...but who am I to stifle her independence when she is so clearly asking for it? And I am so proud of her confidence and grace...so I let expectations fall away and will take it all as it comes.

So Grown Up.

She was mad at me when I came back, though. She hadn't gotten enough. She warmed up a bit once I reassured her that she could come back tomorrow...so I have to think that the first day was a rioting success.

Cadie B and Baba walkin' from his school to hers!

Congratulations, Cadie B! Here's to a great year! We are all SO proud of you, sweetheart, and we're so excited to be taking on this adventure with you, even if it is by supporting your decision to take it on solo for the time being. Parents are invited into the classroom later in the year, and we look forward to coming in as welcome guests at that point. We love you, honeybug! Onward!

Our Little Cadence Ann, at school. (!!)

Welcome to the Blue School

There is big news this week, which we are proud to share with you all:

Congratulations to Cadence on being accepted into the Blue School!

This is wonderful news, and we are so proud of our little lady. She was chosen from a pool of (I believe) 300+ applicants this year, all competing for somewhere between 20 - 40 spots. This is big, since it means that Cadie's school career will begin this coming fall, as she joins the 3s class, and she will have the option of continuing on with the same group of peers through at least the fifth grade, possibly even the eighth...

I can't stress enough what an amazing break this is, for all of us. I have ranted about it before, but the climate surrounding admission to kindergarten here in NYC is absolutely ridiculous (a friend of mine is about to release a film he made on the process, inspired by his own experience of trying to find the right place for his son, entitled The Kindergarten Shuffle...check it out! ) Basically getting into kindergarten in this city is on par with getting into an ivy league college...and kids need to have about as many credentials. There is, then, runoff into preschool competition and even pre-preschool expectations...some of the places I looked at require resumes, school reports with grades and multiple teacher recommendations FOR TWO YEAR OLDS!! I was utterly astounded. It is recommended that families who have never been a part of this rat race before apply to between 8 -10 different schools (if you have an older sibling already in attendance, families need only apply to between 6-8). Public schools are mostly done by lottery, private schools each have their own admissions process and criteria...and sadly, there is not enough supply to meet the demand, so many families are still unable to secure anything and are left to homeschool, or just wait to be tossed into first grade - the first level required by law. There are a lot of political and social implications to this that I won't get into here, suffice it to say that the ripple effect from this 'kindergarten culture' can be felt through elementary, middle, even high school, and almost perversely becomes a defining moment in the ultimate outcomes of many kids' educational careers.

Anyway, the year we spent in Kentucky, where the climate is much less fierce, left us 'behind' upon our return to NYC. Long story involving lots of exhaustive research short, we made the bold decision that the only place that fit our family well enough to be worth the stress and effort of applying this year was the Blue School. We figured that getting into a place that really fit us to a T was worth trying for, and if we didn't get in, we would spend the year trying to make up for lost time and building our credentials so that, come next season's application process, we'd be in a much more competitive position.

Honestly, I'd been very worried about going through - and dragging Cadence through - everything that being involved in the process would entail - especially given how ERB testing and various other rigors have become commonplace, even necessary, in securing a place in any kindergarten...and with our acceptance letter, it all, magically, disappeared. Once you're in at the Blue School, at any level, you're in for as long as you want to be...and she's in! She won't need to be subjected to tests, to countless interviews and maybes and dealing with the here and there and stressed out parents trying to make it all happen...and this could even save Baby Yu #2 from that race, as siblings are given priority, and though they don't guarantee admission, it's more likely than not that they would not leave out a family member, when so much of their philosophy centers on family involvement.

It's expensive, but I think it's truly worth it. This school is amazing and wonderful and I encourage all of you to check it out, even if you don't have kids...their approach to the idea of education is at the forefront, and having a new generation growing up under its influence can only be a benefit to society as a whole.

So...GO CADENCE!! You are certainly an exceptional little lady. :-) We can't wait to start this new adventure with you!

Too Much!

Today is the first day that Cadie and I are home by ourselves while James is taking his first steps towards fulfilling his dream. It is an exciting day for everyone, and Cadence and I wish him all the best. :-) We Love You, Baba!!! HAVE FUN!!

And as if that wasn't enough, within 10 minutes of waking up this morning, Cadence turned to me and said "Mama, don't call me a baby, 'cause I'm just a person." and also "Wow, Mama, that curtain feels fascinating."

What happened? Everyone grew up and moved on to the next level during the night! Aia!

Law School Updates: Oh right....

I had almost forgotten, but I received a letter from University of Chicago yesterday! To make a long story short, I've been placed on the waitlist. And I just sent an email withdrawing. Only loose end left is Columbia.

The score:
5 acceptances, 2 waitlistings, 2 rejections, and 1 "on reserve"

Law School Updates: Inevitability

Hey folks. No turning back now, time to save up for that security deposit, get a moving truck and pick between Manhattan or the boroughs. That's right, Harvard just emailed me, and we will not be moving to Boston. NYU or Columbia, we'll be moving back in a few months.

Law School Visits: NYC, part deux

It took me a few days longer to get to this than I had wanted to, but it's time to finish up the whole NY trip thing. The whole reason we decided to go to New York was to attend NYU's admitted student days, and that's what this is all about.

NYU Law school is situated on the southwest corner of Washington Square Park; it actually consists of two buildings: Vanderbilt Hall (the red brick building above) and Furman Hall, just across the street.

So, on Thursday afternoon, after meeting up with Dan and Poonam, we headed across the park to the law school to check in. We were a little worried, given our familiarity with NYU's penchant for security/bureaucracy, that Cadence and Kate might not gain entrance easily. Luckily our fears were quite overblown, and we received a very lovely welcome for admissions who even gave Cadence her own nametag! Unfortunately Cadence was far too wiggly when wearing it for us to get a good picture. Here's our girl on the second floor of Vanderbilt.




First thing I did was sit in on a criminal law class already in session. I appreciated that NYU offered a wide range of 1L professors to choose from, as opposed to Duke who didn't offer any real classes, and Vandy which only offered one. It felt less like there was anything to hide. I chose the right room, I guess, because I ran into a friend of mine from college, who was a 1L there. Small world. He offered me a lot of helpful advice and insights into the school, and introduced me to a student/mother in his section who told me a bit about going to NYU Law with children.

I left a little early, so Kate and I could meet with a financial aid officer. I came out to she and Cadence and a small cupcake a student fundraiser had given them. Kate greeted me by saying, "I think I'm falling in love with this place" and Cadence seemed quite pleased. Turns out there's a lactation room and a locked refrigerater for nursing mothers. Plus lots of friendly students offering to baby-sit. Evidently law students can get a little baby-starved.


Throughout our visit, we had a lot of people telling us about how baby friendly the school was, both from students and faculty. The financial aid officer was also really helpful, and we left reassured that we should be able to get by over the next three years, without having to resort to private loans or living in cardboard boxes. Plus LRAP! Hooray LRAP. I've been leaning strongly towards some sort of public interest work, over working for a big law firm, and NYU is perhaps the best school for public interest work. In large part because their LRAP (Loan Repayment Assistance Program) can potentially repay the full value of your loans over the course of 10 years (if you stay in public interest the whole time). Otherwise, benefits still kick in if you work in public interest for 3. Way better than any other school (admittedly, I'm fuzzy on Harvard's program, but I'll worry about that if I get in).

We took a tour of one of the law student dorms, but on-campus housing is pet-unfriendly, and above market rate, so we didn't worry ourselves too much about it. There was free pizza for dinner and an "interesting" performance by the law school revue. That is to say, there were some of the songs were fun, others were a little bit much, but all in all not a bad time.

On Friday, NYU really made its pitch with the continental breakfast, welcome from the dean, panels, etc. A lot of it was similar to what we'd seen in other schools, although I will say that everything offered a lot more specifics than other schools. Like the Dean Ricky said, they were here to give us specifics about why they were a good school, not just broad generalizations. Oh, and he complimented Cadence on three or four occasions about how well-behaved she was. Way to go, sweetie-bee.

Half-way through the day, we were feeling pretty positive on the school in general, and opted to skip a couple of events and meet up with my friend Laura, from high school. She's currently a 2L and we ended up spending the next few hours talking with her in her dorm room. Cadence took a nap on her bed, and we had a really nice, relaxing time talking. We also got another valuable perspective on law schools, and NYU specifically - time very well spent. Thanks again, Laura!

So here's the deal: Yale rejected me while we were flying to New York, last week. So they're out of the running. I have yet to hear from Harvard who are still reviewing my application, and Columbia has put me on reserve. University of Chicago appears not to have even begun reviewing my application, University of Minnesota has waitlisted me - and I've removed myself from the waitlist. I've declined offers from Duke, Northwestern and UCLA.

I've also declined Vanderbilt. In other words, we're planning on going to NYU and the check is in the mail. We're really excited by the school and the opportunities, excited to be closer to be friends again, and to be back in the city. We're also a little terrified by going back - back to renting and small apartments, not having a yard, having to find Cadence new friends, having to go to laundromats (apartment with a washer/dryer???), the stress and noise and pollution... the costs, and any number of other factors. But we're certain we're making the best choice of the options available. If I get into Columbia, I may choose to go there, but I'm leaning strongly towards NYU regardless. If Harvard accepts me, I'll probably go there, but I like NYU well enough that it wouldn't be a 100% done deal. In other words, we're most likely going to be in NYC soon.

Law School Visits: NYC, part 1

As I imagine a fair number of you know, we were just in New York City. Yep, as I mentioned earlier after visiting Vandy last week, Kate and I felt we had to visit NYU in person before we could make a real, informed decision.


As an added bonus - or, more accurately, as a key component of New York's appeal - our trip also gave us a chance to see lots of friends and family, who we haven't seen since November. All-in-all the trip was a big success, and we were able to make a decision we believe in, and see more people and do more than we had expected. So much so that I've made the decision to write TWO posts... this one - which will concentrate on everything about the trip excluding the law school - and a second actually talking about the school and our decision. Oh, and just as a warning - we took a lot of pictures, and this post is very long.

We left on Wednesday morning, and got to the airport without too much trouble... then our flight was delayed by an hour. (In keeping with our record of having at least one flight delayed during every trip we've taken in the last couple of years.) On the bright side, the terminal had been renovated a bit, and there was a little shopping mall-ish area, including a kid's store with a fort!


Cadence spent some time playing with a couple of other kids in the fort and around the tv, which was playing Barnyard. Speaking of which, is anyone bothered by the fact that the male cows (aka bulls) have udders? Evidently the director chose to do that, because he thought it would be funny, but seriously? There were people I met in college who honestly thought that bulls and cows were different species. I'm uncomfortable with a children's movie encouraging such basic misconceptions. On the bright side, there was an episode of Sesame Street on the next day that helped to clear up the difference.

Anyway, we got back to the gate and the plane was already boarding, so we got in. Cadence thought it was really "cool!" and had lots of fun counting the planes "Oh! Plane! Two!!!!!" as we taxied. Then we were off and climbing, and pretty soon Cadence (and I) were asleep.


Also, the blue thing around Cadence's head is her new "cute arf" - a handy neck pillow in the shape of a dog! The flight went quickly, I woke up, pulled out the computer, and Kate and I got some work done. We tried to rouse Cadence when we started our descent, so she could watch us land but she ended up ignoring us until we were actually getting off the plane. Thus, continuing Cadence's streak of being a most excellent traveler.

We grabbed the M60 and then an A train downtown, which prompted Cadence to say "oh wow!" She wasn't intimidated in the least by the subway, and actually fit in rather nicely.


In not too long, we were at Audrey's apartment! Kate and I were exhausted,


but after a brief warm-up period, Cadie was good to go. My mom, brother Andrew, and cousin Jean all came to visit for dinner and Cadence had a lot of fun getting to see family again.


Cadence drank a smoothie (she called it "i-creem!") with her Nai-nai,



and was super shy around uncle Andrew,


and on top of it all, she got a couple of RED ENVELOPES!!!


Cadence also checked out Audrey's phone,


met a couple of Ling's (Audrey's roommate) gorillas,


and then it was time for bed, so she got up on the couch, pulled up the blanket and went to "sleep".


Oh, but must remember to kiss the baby!


And then there was some more playing and running, and... "oy, how are we going to get this little girl to sleep", and finally actual sleep. The next morning, we got up, and got ready to go. Here's our daughter dressed and ready for the day.


We had breakfast with Lena at Velselka


where we got Cadence-"wow"-worthy fried pierogies, blintzes and potato pancakes. And Cadence had a sip of Lena's coffee.


Then, we were off to yet another dining/friend visiting experience, hopping over to Yummy House for takeout, which we took out to Washington Square Park with Dan and Poonam!


We situated ourselves on a park bench, from which Cadence quickly noticed... swings! But, by the time I got over there with the camera, Cadence had overcome her distaste for gritty sand.


After a while playing with the sand, there was a vacancy on the swings and Cadence was off!


At this point, it was coming up on 2pm, and it was time to check in at NYU, so we said our goodbye's and headed over to the opposite corner of the park.

Later, we had some downtime, and decided to visit Kate's old stomping grounds on the second floor of Tisch. We saw Nanc and Rosemary, of ETW - and then we spent a while in Brimmer's stage combat class, where Cadence ran around being cute and coy and sweet.


Then, back to NYU, before we went out to Yummy House yet again for dinner with Lelia and Ryan. Here's me and Ryan wearing suspiciously similar hooded sweatshirts.


And, after dinner, a nice walk back to Audrey's.


Where Cadence put on one of my t-shirts - which she insisted was hers -


and Ling lent her an awesome, gold belt.


Somehow, we stayed up past midnight, so Cadence had some trouble waking up in the morning. We ended up getting her up with the help of Sesame Street, and Tommy, a letter 'T' from Tennessee.


We spent the better part of the day at various NYU events, before we left a little early, to visit friends at O&G, my old law firm. Cadence remembered Olivia, that's for sure.



We followed that up with Danial's birthday party, where we saw Dan and Poonam again. And Cadence demonstrated the proper way to blow out a candle.


Plus she saw a whole bunch of other friends!




We had a great time, getting to see everyone again. Cadence had a blast. She danced.


And danced.


And got others to dance.



She also found the time to take a bunch of awesome pictures.




Ah, yes. There was a lot of cute!


So cute!!!



As well as hugs,



followed by some leftover chicken fried rice back at Audrey's. Yum!



We went off to bed, and in the morning Cadence did some drawing.



Vadim and Keisha came over, and we all headed over to the Waverly Place Diner for breakfast.


Cadence tried to eat from her napkin...


It didn't work out so well... Hungry.


Cadence then got her very first glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.



I think she liked it...


she drank



and drank



took a break...


Full disclosure, Kate and I both took a sip, but otherwise, it was all her drinking that OJ



trying to get those last drops.


Hmm... all gone.


Luckily, our food came. Very tasty. Cadence worked really hard to get jelly on her toast.


And then we were all done!


After brekkist we hopped across the street,


and back up to Audrey's.


Where Cadence began collecting (blue) crayons



Finally, we had to go. Audrey came with us as we stopped one last time at the law school,


and then headed uptown for a little last minute shopping trip.



And then we had to say goodbye. Cadence did not want Audrey to go, and she cried a little bit. But we got going, and she got caught up in the excitement of traveling again. Before we left Audrey's apartment, we estimated how much time we'd have to do everything we needed to and get to the airport on time. Surprisingly, we were spot on with our planning... we just left about 15 minutes later than we'd planned to.

Consequently, we got to the airport, 15 minutes later than we'd planned, and (surprise, surprise) the plane was actually on time. We ended up waiting at least 5 minutes, though it felt more like ten as 3 people ahead of us seemingly had an issue with every step of the check-in process. But we finally got Cadie added to the boarding pass, and we were off dashing to security where - seasoned travelers that we are - we got through no problem.

Except that I kept setting off the metal detector. I knew I didn't have any metal on me, and I patted myself down two or three times, but each time I went through I'd get beeped at. They eventually wanded me, and my knee set off the beeping. Oh! I was wearing my brace, which I'd gotten after working at Home Depot for a while (standing on concrete for hours on end makes my knee angry, evidently). I pulled it off, and it went through the x-ray machine. After that, the guard gave me a pat-down (no cavity searches, though!) and we were off to the gate!

We got there and onto the plane no trouble. Whew! Cadence had fallen asleep on the bus ride to the airport, and stayed fast asleep this whole time, but she woke up just as the plane was getting ready to take off. There were some empty seats, so we managed to get ourselves transferred to the bulkhead, and Cadence had a seat to sit in, once we were in the air and it was safe for her to sit on her own.



All in all, it was a rather pleasant flight and we got in half an hour early.


And Cadence once again proved that she makes a wonderful traveling companion.


Kate's mom picked us up, and took us out to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was busy, so we had to wait about an hour before we were seated, so we wandered around the mall. We window shopped and Cadence played with a giant thread and needle statue.


After dinner we headed home. We were greeted by a very upset dog, and many kitties, along with Papa Scott and Kelly... and Cadence got to eat chocolate and play piano.


The end.