Owlspotting

As my departure date approaches, I have decided to chronicle my time in the US in pictures.
Below is the first of three installments illustrating the time I spent in America from August 2003 to March 2007. Obviously, each picture corresponds to one particular month, which is also when that picture was snapped.

August 2003: On the [...]

With my departure date less than three weeks away, I have started to count backwards.
Leaving America will probably trigger all types of regrets and bouts of nostalgia, but I’m determined to stay positive at least until I take my window seat on the plane out of Boston (There is a song by The Frames that [...]

Early-bird that I am, I was the first to enter the screening-room of Four Eyed Monsters at Boston’s Coolidge Corner last week. Boiled down to a love-story of the MySpace and YouTube age (when is this phrase going to be considered old?), the film is a stirring portrayal of a relationship, as well as an [...]

This is a picture from December. I now have about twice as more buttons pinned to my bag. Including one featuring an owl.

Boston is slushy tonight.
Snow, sleet and rain tore through the city earlier, turning it into the perfect humid wonderland for all couples graciously saving the economy tonight. But I’m not bitter—slush can be quite inspiring.
As I trudged home through puddles up to my ankles, my mind was busy playing the chorus of Dear Leader’s Father [...]

You know your favorite ex-indie label band (yes, of course I’m talking about the Decemberists) has made it big when, within the span of a couple of days, you hear a hit from their major label debut played in a bookstore (Barnes & Noble) and then a national coffee shop chain (Au Bon Pain).
The hit? [...]

At number five in his Zurau aphorisms, Franz Kafka puts offers this though:
From a certain point on, there is no more turning back. That is the point that must be reached.
For all I know, Kafka could have been talking about one’s whole life and that melancholy moment when you realize that the path in front [...]

Mix tapes are very consuming enterprises even for someone who makes plenty of playlists on a regular basis. I finally got around to putting together a bunch of songs to stand as my 40 American months mix, and I have to admit I’m pleased with this one (read about past ones here).
I went through the [...]

This story is about the randomness of life.
It began Tuesday night, when Martha McPhee’s heart-breaking book “L’America” reminded me of how our choices open us up to unforeseen events, which will—when the lights go off—define our life. Beth and Cesare met because their seemingly inconsequential decisions brought them to the coast of Greece at the [...]

I am currently reading a series of books on nostalgia for what I hope will be a news story. On my way to the news, I’m finding some great nuggets of wisdom in books like Svetlana Boym’s “Future of Nostalgia.” Here is one on how people from Eastern and Central Europe (who in the days [...]