New Year’s Day Traditions

January 2, 2013 3:48 am \ Leave a Comment \

I feel so clean! A whole new year, free of mistakes and full of adventures, little and big.

There are a few things I like to do on the first day of the new year, which of course has been appropriately rung in with spirits, noise, and lights. I always try to have worn a new dress on NYE, but sometimes I just wear a new piece of jewelry or scarf. This signifies “abundance” to me, a hope that the year will be one of plenty.

And I gotta be clean. Shampooed, conditioned, shaved, lathered, and lotioned. Ready to greet the new year.

January 1st. I don’t like to rush. I feel a little giddy. I take stock of myself. I look over my resolutions, of course.

I write a little bit.

I start my thank you cards, to remind me to be grateful.

Small beginnings for each resolution: some stretches for flexibility, a smaller portion of leftovers from the party, a little prayer when inspired, an extra hug for brother, and a hundred emails deleted. Get the ball rolling for the next day and the next.

Then I relax. I use a little of the “expensive” coffee and sip slow. I start playing a game.

This year it’s Civilization 5.

Posted in: Memories

Theme for 2013: Focus

December 11, 2012 5:31 am \ Leave a Comment \

As a young professional new to the workforce, I finally had to face the truth: I tend to overload myself and then underperform.

I really enjoy my job. I have a deep desire to really do my best. I’ve managed well so far, but tomorrow I hear some formal feedback as part of a six-month review. This has put me in that “what can I do better?” frame of mind.

learning addictions

My “failed” (in other words, never attended) Coursera Courses.

There will always be a part of me that wants to try everything. I have tried to learn piano, clarinet, guitar, flute, saxophone, and violin, with mixed results. I’ve always wanted to be able to write, draw, sew, cook, and design with equal skill – improbable. Just six months ago, I walked out of college with this transcript: two majors, science and arts; two minors, health promotion and bioethics; and three cognates in anthropology, natural science, and business.

It didn’t end there, of course.

I signed up and paid for a blogging club, a video tutorial site, concealed weapons training, and  a course on e-trading since then. I take on side projects like it’s my job, and I have a job.

I… need to… slow… down. Being busy doesn’t mean being productive. It is better to focus on mastering one thing at a time.

I admire my dad very much because he is always learning new things. It’s a never-ending dedication to improve. I’m like him, but a little too hungry all at once. I blame the gene pool. My mom went ahead and added a little too much artsy-fartsy to my blood, so I have twice as many interests and a quarter of his focus.

But I’m just as stubborn.

So 2013, here me firmly state while wearing my pajamas, that my New Year’s Resolution will dictate that I can’t focus on more than one instrument, technical skill, creative skill, class, or related project at once.

Pajama proclamations are pretty much as powerful as the Ring. This will be as easy as saving the Shire.

Posted in: Progress

Just. . . write.

October 3, 2012 4:51 am \ Leave a Comment \

I did not know that writing could become so important to me.

I did not know when I was little –and maybe this is true for you, too — that I would grow up to care so much about words. But it all started so early: reading books non-stop (even in the dentist’s chair during cavity fillings!); taking a calligraphy workshop at summer camp; creating surveys about dress codes and class songs; and carving out whiny, self-indulgent, and wonderful websites in HTML 1.0.

I did not know I would want to actually study writing in a formal-ish setting. I say -ish. I mean, come on, Professional Writing majors are hardly ever even decent, let alone formal. How else would we learn?

We are funny, us humans.

We document everything. We all talk! We chat, text, tweet. We email. Notebooks filled with love letters, lists, observations. Diaries, private online journals, blogs. Downloading fanfic, listening to podcasts. Lyrics, scripts, plays, poetry. How we live [communicate: use: define: control: learn: treat: etc] language is just so. got-damn. brilliant.

Linguists know. Language is living, and we’re spending our lives in an intimate relationship with the dame. (I’m calling her a dame.)

Not everyone cares to the same degree, though. Some people make their living because of their unique interest and connection to words. Others simply treat it like air–precious, necessary, but mostly out-of-mind. I believe the dame is okay with that.

She’ll get the last word.

This is a declaration. I care about writing. Writing is my personal helper, always finding new ways to make me happy. I have just enough ability to keep learning about ‘er. When I’m very, very lucky. . . I get to use writing to share an idea or a goal. Even get paid for it sometimes.

But I’m going to admit that I’m not in love with blogging.

Blogging is an amazing platform. It is saturated for good reason. For me: it is kinda… hard to do. There are a lot of supposed-to’s and excuses and confusion. I don’t want a blog just to have one. If it’s not a medium I can enjoy writing right now, then it’s time to move on. 

….Not yet. Still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. I’m just saying that I often don’t feel satisfied when I write blog posts. It could be the topics I’m choosing or the expectations I set or the whiny voice in my head saying, “I’d rather be watching Doctor Who.”

Guess I’ll just. . . keep writing.

Question for ya: How does blogging inform (shit, sorry, academic word) or shape your writing? Or is it the other way around? And is it just me or does the word “blog” suck just a little bit?

 

Posted in: Writing + Creating