525,600 minutes! SO many things happen in a year, and our favorite time to examine those hundreds of thousands of minutes is now. I think this offers some cool perspective: 365 days of self-portraits.
I don't know this photographer. But I gather she is past college. I am in awe of these pictures and how much she is putting herself out there, for the whole internet to pass around as they please. She has to be sure of herself to be able to do this.
I was asked during my freshman year of college what qualities I'd love to possess but struggled with. At the time, I really wished I could be sure of myself. It's been around 828,000 minutes since my big day in May of '09, give or take a month of minutes :P and I have changed. I think I put myself out in the open more often, since I grew more confident in myself within the safety of college, kind friends, guidance from people I respected and trusted. I've also grown more confident with my knowledge within my field and sometimes I forget to go out and challenge myself.
My awesome friend Shenan has been doing so much of that recently. She just celebrated reading her thesis for her master's. She wrote about this and a few other exciting things that have been happening to her:
Overall though, it kind of blew me away that I did any of this at all. A few years ago, I would never have put myself out there in all the ways I have recently. I think grad school, work experiences, and growing up in general probably all contribute to this.
So, tonight, I want to celebrate exactly what Shenan wrote so beautifully. That we're always moving towards not only that which we can't predict in our lives, but also the things that we never could see ourselves even attempting to do. If that doesn't make you get excited to live life, I don't know what will. There are still so many future goals, still so many things that make our stomachs turn over, and so many fruits that we get to enjoy after we go out on a limb to grab them. That feels awesome. I hope you enjoy these things - and I hope more than anything, that this post gives me a kick in the pants to crawl out on that limb and reach for a piece of juicy fruit. If it's sour, I know there's just a forest full of trees for me to try out, and lots of people around me to encourage me that the only way you'll get what you've never gotten is to do what you've never done.
"Forget about good, love your experiments, go deep, drift, and don't be cool. Never be cool. Free yourself from limits of this sort." -Kate Figgins, a philosophical and moral touchstone that I'm blessed to have in my life. She is a ridiculously cool-cool girl BECAUSE she doesn't worry about being cool.
After college, there's this whole idea, that you've got to be a more grown-up version of yourself. While it's good to say, "This is the year I'm going to stop eating Taco Bell every weekend," or "--insert any other positive goal you want to do yourself for yourself (not for anyone else)--"; it's important to not keep yourself from doing what you want to do because you have to be a grown-up now. Life is hard enough on the other side of college, what with being financially responsible (planning a budget, saving, paying bills on time), and responsible to work. You have GOT to let loose and do what you want to do because that's what makes being responsible all worth it. My point is, you should be these people:
These people made the 12 hours I worked to produce this video (all in one overnight chunk!) so enjoyable. If you love Harry Potter, don't be too cool to go to the midnight showing and dress up. And please be willing to sing, and skip, and just be alive! That zest for fun, the bubbliness, that energy is so contagious. If you lose that, you lose the best part of you. Remember that no one is keeping score anymore of who is the coolest. You can surround yourself with people who love the same things you do - and you can celebrate that in some extraordinarily memorable ways. And a giddy USA TODAY employee might just document it.
This is my best friend Andrea. Isn't she just adorable? I know. She's also up in the picture behind the title of my blog.
So, this girl has the best personality (I think this picture shows it visually quite perfectly - the vibrant colors, the excitement over sitting on a hand in front of a yummy bakery). We've been best buds since I was a freshman in high school. We've pretty much been long-distance friends since then.
I know I've blogged about how I feel like my 9-5 routine has been a freeing experience for me, as opposed to the gut response that more people have as seeing it as restrictive. But one thing that has fallen by the wayside, is my ability to catch up with my girlfriends who live far away from me. Ange and I have often experienced how it can be really hard to find a time where we can both talk for enough time to really catch up on each other's lives. It seems rude, but it can be logistically difficult to find out when each of you can set aside the hour it requires, especially with all the other things we busy ourselves with after work.
So, Ange read an article about a woman who moves a lot and has a few dear long-distance friends. She and her best friend text each other what they ate for breakfast. Well, Ange had the brilliant idea for us to adapt that for ourselves! I was so ecstatic when she suggested that! I thought we could just pick one thing for the day that we could text each other about. So far (we started this on Saturday), we have covered: wine tours, egg burritos, baby showers, serendipitous metro meet-ups with friends, cleaning at home and finding old cards :), not hating mondays, and pumpkin ice cream. Awesome.
Another brilliant way we can still stay in touch with friends who live far away - without the hour long convos we had time for in between classes. I still think it's important to have those conversations every once in a while - and to make trips to see each other. That's the best way to keep a friendship alive.
Come to think of it, I'm very thankful that over this year I've been able to see so many of my amazing friends who live far away.
I got to see Taylor Dancer in her beautiful wedding in March.
I got to see one of my best friends since third grade over Memorial Day weekend and spend time with her betrothed - and I just saw them get married just a few short weeks ago! This is their exquisite halloween costume:
I got to see Reyna Nowaczyk on my BIRTHDAY in DC! I loved that. She is my love. Her bf got to be with us too!
And then my dear Meg, my cousin, my sister, my other half :) I watcher her graduate, and spent a week with her in in her element at Penn State - it was her birthday, too! It was SO FUN! We also had a cousins day on the beach together; I love my family so much. She is my best friend too. (DISCLAIMER: I did just get off the phone with her for an hour before writing this post. You know, most Mondays I have plans with my best friend who doesn't live far away - Calvin Bovee - but he is out of town on business. I really have planned out a weekday routine that is filled with things I love - and leaves me less time for callin').
Finally, it's been way awesome seeing my brother and sister-in-law so often this year. I love them lots. They are coming to stay with me this weekend - we are going to see Hair. We celebrated Easter together, visited Atlantic City, had fun at cousins day at their place near the Jersey shore (sigh wish it was summer again so I can overstay my welcome there...). My brother and I have become so close since I've moved to the east coast and since I shared this post-college life with him. Their awesome Halloween costume. There will never be a cuter Garth, right?
"Nothing's far when one wants to get there." -Queen Marie of Romania, taken from the book Reyna got me - The Girl's Book of Positive Quotations
I'm really blessed that even though the miles separate us, I've been able to see people I really really love - that I've added to my family pretty much - over this great year. I have a lot to celebrate for these holidays - a lot to be thankful for. And I have quite a bit of texts to send. ; )
So normally, in college, I wasn't sure with class, etc., whether I should spend the time to vote on voting day. I always voted on a mail-in ballot - which I gotta tell you is a little lackluster. You mail it in, and that's it, no sticker, no smiles from volunteers, no leaving work for a change of scene.
Well that changed this past Tuesday! It was especially exciting with what Facebook was doing - encouraging everyone to weigh in on voting with the "I voted" button - I loved it. I will always vote and now it gets to be one of those joys I have time for - everyone at work is asking if you voted, and telling you to make time for it. I wasn't gone more than an half hour because the lines were so short! I walked right up to a booth after they signed me in - went through a touch screen digital device, and it was all done so quickly! Then I got to proudly wear my "I voted" sticker.
Also, I really enjoyed seeing my baby cousin Kathleen (who is now 18 - my goodness!) weigh in about voting for the first time at the polls, too. I have never forgotten the lessons we learned about women's suffrage in grade school classes in Mount Laurel. A woman from the Alice Paul Society told us a lot about Alice Paul's life. What I remembered most was a story about her at the end of her life. She was living in a nursing home and struggling with the pain inflicted on her as a younger woman - she was force-fed in jail, a fate that chills me to the bone every time I think about it. They stuffed tubes down her throat against her will (pumping raw eggs into her stomach), so her throat and voice were never the same. She still fought for the movement. But even though it was difficult for her to speak at that late point in her life, she always asked every woman she met if she voted. I learned that in grade school and swore I'd always honor the women who fought for my right to vote. Thank goodness someone decided to stop at nothing - even horrible punishments inflicted by the very institution the suffragettes were trying to make better.
I probably could have had the same experience in college, but I always went an easier route. I really enjoyed going to the polls on Voting Day and probably will do it the same way next time!
Until Thursday. YEAH! Beat my record - was wanting to go for three miles, but I listened to my body and stopped at 2.5. You can't go for 2 miles until you run 1. Some people think going the same place every day for almost 8 hours sounds like hell. I feel like work IS often an escape into a story because of what I do while in my chair at that cubicle. My mind is so stimulated to try to properly tell some one's story. BUT my physical body - excepting my right index finger (CEO of mouse control) and my left thumb and index finger (each VP of Special Final Cut Keyboard Commands) - is very much at rest.
So, I decided to do something about that - join the wonderful gym at work. I've been going to yoga classes - and I almost never miss Boot Camp and Total Body Conditioning. I've also been running. It relieves so much stress and it's something I look forward to - pushing my body past the mental limits I set for it. It provides me with so much satisfaction and pride when I complete the goal I set.
In college, I never made time for this sort of thing. I definitely went to the gym and worked out a few times every couple months - but I could never do it consistently because of my schedule. I'm sure I could have fit it in if I cared about it more. It's a struggle for someone to go from not knowing what they'll be doing during their day throughout most of college (except the one fundamental: CLASS) to having a weekly and daily routine. It took me a while to get used to it - and to realize how much fun I can pack into my week - even with a 40-hour work week.
I think, for me, my routine has allowed me to become a person who is committed to fitness. I am three floors above the space where I recognize the moments when my body breaks its own records. In college, by virtue of the fact that I was juggling so many responsibilities (residents as an R.A., shooting video for school, workin' a side job to pay the bills), desires (coffee with a friend, quality time with Dusty, singing at the big bang piano bar - uh, well, that might be a need), and needs (laundry, grocery shopping) - I rarely did any of these things regularly. I had no set aside times to be at work, at play, (and at errand?).
This routine has actually given me a lot of order in my life - and everything else seems to fall into place - my responsibilities are met, my desires are satisfied, and my needs - mentally and physically - are provided for. It's much less intensive than juggling! I think my mind and body and yeah, maybe even soul, are benefitting from it. Take that, corporate haters :)
Is there anything good that you think has come out of your routine?
with the theme of this blog. Lovely life after college. Reading to my heart's content because I have more free time with my down time (what I mean by this is that I have no homework, club responsibilities, etc. keeping me from doing things for pleasure). Reading for pleasure brought me to the article I want to share with you here: Smart, Young, and Broke White-collar workers are China’s newest underclass.
Like I wrote in the title of this article, reading cracks open the world to me. It's a heartbreaking read, but a great one. As much as we complain about working 40 hours a week (or like this past week I worked about 50...), and having to work our way up the totem pole, and not having enough money for our must-buy items - in America, people who have a skill above physical labor are not "ants." Life after college is not without trial, but at least the hard work we put in for college is paid back to us. We can spend money and time on our friends' life-changing celebrations (like the bridal shower and bachelorette party I went to this weekend for my best friend since second grade!) The uncertainty, worry, and poor living conditions these young people are facing is just terrible. It is sheerly incredible to think of the variety of life experiences in the world we live in--and after I read the article, I thought that this would be a good thing to post to my blog, given my focus. As a reminder, but more than that as a powerful story about the people who belong to this community that I choose to blog about, and surely as a community of people I feel I belong to, even though they live halfway around the world, and I am sure I cannot properly understand their difficulties. Read and maybe you will feel what I feel to -- and that's what I love about reading and especially learning about real people - I feel so much closer to the world around me.
First day of classes at ASU is Thursday. I won't be going :)! One thing I remember about going to plays in college - if they were high-brow, I fell asleep. Operas (especially those in a different language), plays with dialogue I couldn't understand, etc. - I just flat out slept. And I had spent about only 7 dollars (you best believe I busted out the student ID) - and I wanted to consider myself cultured, so I went. Here is one I remember specifically mostly sleeping through - Ariadne auf Naxos I have to attest that this wasn't that the performances weren't worth my attention - it was just that I was too scatter-brained, busy, and overworked--and in the dark theatre, leaning back and fading out was a lot easier. I don't know if "thrilling" is really how you could describe the guy who wrote the play - here is the picture from the Wiki article: Which is another good reason to go to a play that the Washington Post gives 5 stars - which I did tonight. Also tonight, I am raising a Mike's Hard Lemonade to the fact that I watched Macbeth a few short hours ago (in a theater that I can walk to!) and was enthralled, moved - and best of all, understood it completely. Mike's Hard Lemonade must be consumed, because my darling boyfriend bought two 12-packs while in the Poconos this weekend from a distributor -- and the group we were with was too wiped from white water rafting earlier to actually drink them. I wasn't - because of my stitches I didn't go but had a wonderfully relaxing day doing pretty much nothing but watching two episodes of The Nanny, The Lion King (SO GOOD), and then playing Disney Trivia with the brother of my sister-in-law, Eric, who I just adore. We had a great weekend.
Okay, so, Macbeth. I know Shakespeare created many new words - does anyone know if he created cut-throat?
First Murderer
My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
MACBETH
Thou art the best o' the cut-throats
I remember having to read Shakespeare in high school and hating it -- Everyone who is forced to read Shakespeare should get the pleasure of seeing it as it was meant to be seen--because it truly FINALLY makes sense. The characters the "immortal bard" wrote about sounded just like his nickname - haughty, pretentious, self-important--even cheesy--when I simply read the words they spoke. But tonight, I saw people perform them with a vast array of emotions exploding out of them on the stage - fear, anger, tearfulness, depression, malice, lust. The best was when I realized later that what was being said rhymed. What they were saying seemed so natural! The performance distracted me from the cheesiness of rhyme that I was so blatantly aware of when I read it. The actor tonight who said the words below was so creepy, I didn't catch the rhyme until later:
First Apparition
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.
The actor who said those words was shirtless, skinny, yet extremely muscular. Watching him twist his muscles as he struggled to speak his prophecy was so compelling!
Shakespeare has occasional stage directions, but not many. It keeps things so open for every acting company who performs it. I loved this version by the Push/Pull Theater Company. They used capoeira for all the fighting scenes which are so much more engaging and truly physical than all other stage fighting I've ever seen. It made it look so much less fake (!) and way more theatrical - and you know as a gleek that I love theatricality. One such stage direction that could have helped me while reading would be a simple (TO MACBETH) direction when Lady Macbeth is asking Macbeth to, frankly, keep his $*#% together after killing the king and ordering a servant to kill his friend. It looks like she is talking to the guests only - but in the performance I just watched - she has such disgust, vileness, and hatred when she spits out the last part in his face, away from the table - Are you a man?! Such a 180 from the way she is placating and reassuring the guests! You just can't read that sort of passion - which is why I would hope more high school students get the experience of seeing just how radically opposite of "haughty, cheesy, and self-important" these characters get. Lady Macbeth showed her true evil colors all over the place!
ROSS
Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well.
LADY MACBETH
Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well: if much you note him, You shall offend him and extend his passion: Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?
I also loved the way the cast was dressed - everyone barefoot, with modern hairstyles, and simple clothing. I liked that the production was largely bereft of props and over-the-top costumes. I loved the witches' costumes - the closest thing to theatricality beyond the performers' actions - their extended black arms that had sweeping long black fabric worked wonderfully for their characters. - Here you can see Lady Macbeth's hateful and fearful looks at her husband, the Weird Sisters and their cool costumes, the simple clothing the cast wore, and at least one capoiera move immediately before a dagger is plunged deep into Macbeth's heart.
So, speaking of the Wierd Sisters, I love how I caught a few things in the play that took me straight to my most favorite of stories - Harry Potter. Obviously, the fantastic "Something Wicked This Way Comes" track that is easily my favorite song in the films. I can't lie - I got a little giddy when they said it - referencing the murderous maniac Macbeth. Nice alliteration, eh, Shakespeare?
I also couldn't help but connect the Wierd Sisters with these rockers:
My final thoughts on this fun performance are another nod to the idea that people should really see the performance if they're going to read the play - especially high school students. Take these next few lines, which I consider the best of the whole play:
Macbeth: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
This is said after he learns of Lady Macbeth's death. When reading it, I took the emotion to be detachment, carelessness, a way of showing that he is superior to the common, living people -- and I really hated him for it! In this play, tonight, I grew attached to Macbeth from the beginning -- and stayed with him throughout the play. David Winkler is fantastic, (he plays Macbeth) and I am THRILLED to learn that he is a founding artistic associate of the theater that is only a half mile from where I live! And as a blog that celebrates life soon after graduation, Winkler recently graduated from Northwestern University (at least that's what it says in his bio). In this play, the way he lets the three "tomorrow"s be pulled out of his mouth and fall to the floor--each with a deep thud is just magic. He is so anguished - and my favorite part of this moment is the way Winkler says the last word, "nothing." It came out of him with a guttural rage!
Shakespeare always lacked context to me when I read it and had me flipping open a Sparksnotes book (or more often reading the explanation online). The amazing thing about the play tonight was that the players' actions were the context. That, I think, is acting at it's best - when something is nearly in a foreign language but the touches, gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions and pure emotion--I was shocked at one moment to see Lady Macbeth, listening to her enemies in the corner, have tears all over her face--provide all the clues the audience would need. I wish all students of Shakespeare could have what I have tonight.
I also want to say again how wonderful it was to not be so overworked that I could actually immerse myself in a cultural event that had me concentrating on each moment of the artists' expression--largely trying to catch the Harry Potter references, words made up by Shakespeare, and ways I could further piss off my high school English teachers. The event was deeply satisfying and was another thing I had to blog about because there are many joys about life on the other side of graduation.
