Adam Tow came over a couple of days ago and looked through all of my bags in an attempt to help me find my travel earphones of choice, which I thought I had lost during my last trip (no, it wasn’t his only reason for visiting). When he found them, he inadvertently revitalized my daily BART rides to and from my contract job in San Francisco. For some reason, the BART is incredibly loud when it goes under the Bay; I cover my ears sometimes because I don’t want to damage them. The earphones are like squishy ear plugs with speakers in them — perfect for trains and planes!

The recordings I have been listening to over and over again lately are the recordings of the Haydn String Quartets, performed by Quatuor Mosaïques (recommended by Geoff). My enjoyment of the quartet repertoire has gone full circle, its grand endpoint coming to rest squarely upon its humble beginnings. Normal life takes on a hazy, abstracted quality when Haydn is playing, and when the earphones come off, life slides viscerally back in front of me with a jolt.