Cirque of the Dead

So last Wednesday I got my affairs in order for an extended absence from Boulder and flew to Columbus, OH for the Rust Belt Rust conference. I stayed in a nice high-rise apartment via AirBnb. The conference was small but overall very good. Thursday happy hour was sponsored by Facebook. Saturday I grabbed breakfast then the strongly-recommended Jenni's Ice Cream before heading to the airport to fly to Boston.

I was in Boston (Somerville) visiting some friends. The trip from the airport was extended due to construction meaning I had to take a bus instead of the T for a portion of the trip. After dropping off bags I took a lyft to Cambridge, grabbed a rushed meal and headed to the Oberon theater to see the Boston Circus Guild's Cirque of the Dead Halloween show, featuring live music by Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band. I was joined by Liz and Phil my old friends from Burning Man '10 and '11. The show was fun and the audience had a few good costumes. We grabbed some drinks afterward.

On Sunday I went with Sara for rotisserie chicken lunch at Branch Line Arsenal. The food was good not great but we had fun. We ran an errand at Target then got fancy pastries. That evening I dined in a Cheers-esque local bistro crowded with loudly chatting Somervillians.

Monday was arduous travel to New York. I took a lyft to the T station but the driver misnavigated in an area full of huge merges where you can't fix a wrong turn in less than 20 minutes. So we both scrambled with our phones to find a solution, which ultimately ended up with her dropping me off 2 stations away while she was navigating back to 1 station away from my original destination. That's 2 Boston lyft drives where they were looking to me to help with navigation and I was like "I'm traveling through. I have zero knowledge. Good luck."

Once on the T I was able to lug my sax and bags and do my transfer and spit myself out at the N. Quincy Station stop. Here is where my Chinatown bus to NYC was to depart. The bus was unmarked but I did manage to get on the right one. Once we got into NYC proper traffic was terrible so we arrived about 90 minutes later than scheduled. From there it was subway into Carroll Gardens and an AirBnb there.

This week I've been primarily hunting for housing, which I believe I've just secured. If all stays as planned, I'll be renting a room in Park Slope with good Q train access to Recurse Center and a very short walk to Brooklyn Boulders for climbing. But I need a few more AirBnb nights than I initially planned so we'll see how those logistics go.