Justin's Journey

It has been a busy March, both at work and at home. This weekend I finally feel that I can relax a little…

What’s happening? I went to a concert at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston. The theft at the museum was a big news for a long time. I went to the museum to check out the new concert hall. I have never been there after it was constructed. The concert hall is an interesting square tower with a beautiful red color. The classical concert was great, and the sound in the hall was actually excellent. I browsed around at the museum after the concert. It is one of the best museums I have visited. The courtyard at the museum is peaceful with well maintained and interesting plants floating in the courtyard. After the visit to the museum, I went to a restaurant near the museum, which is also close to the Boston RedSox Fenway park. Fried chicken and vegetables were a wonderful hearty meal on a snowy day!

I co-hosted a visit to the Museum of the Russian Icons and the Gallery of African Art for a Arts and Architecture social group based in Boston. These two locations are right in Clinton, the town next to my town Lancaster. It was an easy 5 minutes drive for me to the museum. Although it is not a big place, the museum is one of the most interesting museums to me. The collection of icons is fantastic and the building is well-thought out to show the icons as well as being a green building. The group was pleasantly surprised this hidden jewel in Clinton. The visit to the gallery was fun. Zach at the gallery shared some items and their stories. He also did a drumming demonstration with some group of people got to play with the African drums. It was a lot of fun. The founder of both the museum and the gallery Gordon Lankton not only chatted with the group at the museum, he also joined us visiting the gallery, which is just two blocks down the road. It was very nice of him sharing his stories with the group.

It has been a snowy winter. I think everyone is tired of snow and looking forward to the real spring weather. I did my share of shoveling and the snow plow guy had to bring his tractor to pill the snow a bit. Staying indoor, my friend Mark came to help me fix a leaking facet, boy, I learned a lot about how facet work. I fixed it by placing new seats in the facet. It made me feel like a responsible homeowner for once. 🙂 I don’t think I have green thumbs but the orchids have been doing well. Two of them are blooming now and one of the will join the party. Leaving them outdoor in the summer probably did the trick.

One big relief for me is finished a skating competition last weekend at my home rink. I decided to go one level up and compete with a group of people who are higher level than mine. I beat some skaters and was placed 3rd! I used the competition to get a taste of who I will be competing with next, and to educate myself with the International Judging System (IJS) which is different than the 6.0 scoring system. It was a good learning experience. I was really happy that I didn’t fall on the ice, with the music that I picked and the program mainly choreographed by myself. My coach thought is it a good learning process for me. I will keep practicing new tricks and put together a good program for the competition next year.

Happy Spring!