Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Houseboating is the best thing in-between camping and hoteling. Basically it's got all the amenities you'd want -- beds, a kitchen, bathrooms, running water, and electricity -- but you feel like you're constantly outside. When camping, half the time you're wishing for a dip in the water anyway and since you're already drifting on a lake, you can just leap right in whenever. Houseboating is the future of vacations. Plus, Lake Berryessa was only about an hour outside of San Francisco. I'm pretty sure we're going to do it again because this experience was so great.

Things I learned from this trip: Never run out of beer. Especially when you are just starting to get into super serious flip cup. Don't let AMR hijack the dance party by putting in terrible DVDs and siphoning the crowd. Bring CDs in case the speakers don't allow you to jack in iPods. Bring extra speakers. Not all douchey looking guys in star spangled Speedos are actually douchey. Even if they board you like pirates, they will prove to be an interesting diversion. Floaties and noodles are very key for any swimming related activity. Smoking gloves double nicely as clean up gloves.

This last bit I knew already.

Also, I think the number one takeaway is that all group trips from now on can only be done twice. The first time nobody has any idea what to expect so the bar is set low and the resulting fun factor is invariably high. Post-inaugural trip there's all this talk of how fantastic it was and how you miss it already and can't wait to go again.

The following year's trip then gets bigger but then the comparisons set in. Sure it's still fun because it's another experience but there are some things that might have been more enjoyable with a smaller group. A nice size at our age is probably ten to twelve people. Any larger and people start to get claustrophobic. Or people-phobic. Personally I could still go twenty-plus but that just speaks to my continued immaturity. (I miss big groups sometimes.)

By the third trip, everything has collapsed and there's just way too many people and the activity has started to depreciate in fun value down to almost nil. What we need to do is prevent that by just not going a third time at all. Two and done! The only research I've conducted on this topic is analyzing the trajectory of our Tahoe trips circa 2009-11. To broaden our experience base, we'll just have to take more group trips to continue further testing.

I'd also like to somehow work this into my "any social group can only maintain its heyday for a maximum of two years" theory. Although I think we can pretty much close the book on that one, it's already a fact as far as I'm concerned.

Back in middle school, I went houseboating with my then best friend's family and it was one of the best vacations I'd ever had. We fished, jet skied, played white people Mahjong, all of it. It had been a dream of mine to repeat the experience. Our boat this time was bigger and better, and while there wasn't quite as much lazy star gazing as when I was younger, the experience itself was more fulfilling. Plus, it was nice being outdoors after six months cooped up in San Diego. I know, that sounds totally pathetic but it's true. I haven't spent three days in a row outside since last year?

A note of clarification: George and I didn't do the middle school houseboat trip together as most of our social lives back then were separate -- and not equal. It wasn't until post-college that we became one amorphous hangout unit. Yes, there was a time when we didn't have the same friends, enemies, and acquaintances. The other day I met one of her semi-new friends and was addressed as "Hey mystery twin!" I don't think we've had one of those moments in awhile. Although somehow George made an appearance in my friend's dream recently. I believe this friend has only met George once, yet George materialized in her subconscious.

"You [Jon] lived in a mansion with marble walls and granite floors. And George was mad because I was cartwheeling through the hall. And Ameer was taking a bath. And it leaked through the third floor ceiling. Ohhhh, and and and. You led this hundred person flash mob dance. I was like 'Oh he can dance?'"

Here's an interesting piece about auditioning for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Our godsister plays harp for them and there are message boards online that chronicled the competition she had to beat out to get the position. Symphony fans waited with bated breath at each stage of her audition, anxious to see who'd moved on. Apparently after a year at the BSO, you can get tenure for life. That blew my mind a little. This could be her job like forever.

My godsister was here for the Mainly Mozart Festival a few weeks ago and my friend and I were able to go watch her downtown. In a shocker, I semi-knew the piece she was playing: "Overture: The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492." Actually most people would probably recognize it too as it's pretty common. If you want to get really fancy though, try this classical music Sporcle quiz. You'll be like "Damn, what is that called?!"

Semi-related: I also found blogs dedicated to creating sheet music of pop songs for the flute. Tomorrow I'm gonna try out "Firework" and "We Are Young." Cover your ears.