Thoughts on the Journey

From k_a_webb a meme that gives me an excuse to update. She gave me 27.

If you comment here with the words "I wanna play" I will assign you a number from 15-30 of facts about yourself to post about yourself in your journal.

1-I'm allergic to pretty much the entire bee and wasp family-the vespids.
2-I lived in New Zealand for three years.
3-I speak French and can read and write Latin and Ancient Greek.
4-I always have a book in my purse-current one Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older.
5-Country music is my comfort music.
6-The best way for me to finishing writing a fic is if I'm writing it as a gift for someone or as part of a fic exchange.
7-I didn't get my driver's license until I moved back from New Zealand in 2008.
8-My dream job would be as a youth librarian at a small public library or a middle school librarian.
9-I hate the texture of raw coconut.
10-My two favorite kinds of tea are English Breakfast and Earl Grey.
11-At the moment I live in a seaside town with a lot of retirees.
12-For every new book I'm reading, I'm always rereading an old favorite at the same time.
13-I love working as a fact-checker, its intense and interesting and has helped me feel far more confident in my research abilities.
14-Every day I wear my watch, two bracelets and always put on earrings and a necklace.
15-I discovered my first grey hair was I was in my sophomore year of high school and have a grey/silver streak hidden in my hair.
16-I'm part of a blended family, the youngest and the glue with two older brothers and an older sister.
17-I studied abroad in Athens in 2002 and whenever I read about Greece's troubles, I remember how beautiful the country is and how kind the people were.
18-I've been wearing glasses since fourth grade and contacts since my senior year of college.
19-I miss having a cat.
20-If I won the lottery, I would pay off friends' debts then travel to see everyone especially my new nephew.
21-I was raised as a Quaker and consider myself one.
22-I don't like the taste of coffee.
23-My favorite color is dark blue.
24-I know how to do stage makeup.
25-I get my best ideas when walking or driving.
26-My great-grandfather was a Congressman, a member of the House of Representatives.

Tomorrow afternoon, evening and part of Wednesday, I'm going to be spending at dodger_sister's. The plan is watching movies, talking mainly about writing, dinner and taking full advantage of the delicious AC in her place. I was feeling better today but my rather nice dinner ended up not staying where it should, I'm not happy. My sleep schedule's off again, last night I didn't get to sleep until six and the night before my coughing woke me up at six. Tonight I hope for a fairly solid night's sleep, though the fact the weather's gotten hotter again probably will make it trickier.

Good things have been happening, I figured out what I need to do for canceling various services before moving, I had a fantastic conversation with my family. My parents are babysitting my nieces and my sister is down there as well, that meant the phone conversation was full of everything. The nieces talked about Wonderstruck, my sister raved about her Mac, she's finally getting actually digitally connected, books with my father and just general health and planning with both parents. It's weird to think that they'll be here in about a week and by August I'll be out of Michigan. For context, my sister is in her older 40s and she's had email and access to computers but it never really stuck for her. This has worried me and my family as she's wanted to change jobs and it seemed like things were passing her by, but she sounded excited and asked for my help. I look forward to what I can do for her. A lot of things in her life have been moving forward and it makes me so happy to see it. Oh and I've been acquiring some good music of late, a Wallflowers' cd, Tori Amos' To Venus and Back, The Dark Knight soundtrack, that one's fully adiva_calandia and lienne's fault <33s and then one called Songs of the Civil War with a lot of good artists I know. I'm going to be enjoying a few of these on my drive tomorrow and at other points.

This coming week is going to be quite chaotic with Art Fair and many shifts, which is why I'm going for a break. I'll have my laptop and phone, so will definitely be doing some tagging, I just won't be on as much as I normally am.

If you'd like five topics just comment with five or something like that for me.

Now for the last round of five topics, this time from innerbrat:

1. Children's literature.
I love children's literature from picture books to young adult stuff. It's amazing how much the concept of children's literature has changed since I was a girl in the 80s, 90s to now in terms of adding depth and quality. There are fantastic authors who are reaching out to connect with their readers, publishers doing the same and kids going YES back at them. I love seeing how my nieces have reading as a part of their life and I hope in my professional life to become someone kids know they can trust about books they like and want to read. When I was young, I read children's books and grown up books, everything I could find and I had librarians who helped me figure out my way. That's why I want to be a librarian, I also love getting to explore books as part of my life and the constantly growing world of children's literature.

2. Friendship
I consider myself a loyal friend and feel blessed for all my friends from those I've met to those I haven't. To me being a friend means doing what I can to support someone however I can, sometimes that means not doing anything. My oldest friend is someone who our mother's met while pregnant and our birthdays are both in June. Mine at the start, hers at the end and we've been close since elementary school. When we were younger, we always seemed like almost mirror images to me. She was the oldest in her family with two younger brothers and the house full of all the toys, cable and sweet snacks, I was the youngest with two older brothers and an older sister and parents who watched my television watching and had healthy food. Though I did get sneaky with the TV and they finally gave up trying to cut me off after I learned how to plug it in and they realized I read as much as I watched.

Now this friend and I have stayed in touch all over the world, she moved when we were both in high school but we're constantly visiting each other and calling and texting. I know that no matter what she's there. Then there's all the Milliways' friends and friends of friends who form my other network that I love and hope to get to see when I'm back on the East Coast. Life is short and friends make it sweet and rich.

3. Textures
Textures aren't something I'm constantly thinking about, but I'm always aware of. I play with my jewelery, touching my earrings, twisting my ring and bracelets, thinking about what's there. At the moment, I'm wearing a long silk skirt that feels light and cool and sandals that I can feel supporting my tired feet. My lips are cracked as I fiddle with them and my hair is feeling light and not heavy as I washed it yesterday.

4. Changeling
I don't recall which came first reading Charles de Lint or playing Changeling: the Dreaming, but both of them hold my idea of magic in the world. Magic where it's just out of the corner of your eyes, complicated and itself, you will be changed by it and it by you. The roleplaying games I've been proudest of running were Changeling ones. The LARP and tabletop that I ran at college, my players had their dramas but we had some great adventures. That was where I learned the great lesson of don't plan too much and trust the creativity of those around you, it's served me quite well so far.

Tiwa, piwakawaka my glorious fantail pooka is one of my favorite characters to play as she's a part of me. She's my creativity, my love of New Zealand and the teacher part of me all out there in the world and going, I want to know and explore and fly. The kind of stories I want to tell and write are those of magic just at the corner of your eye that gives you wings and shows you your possibility.

5. Faith
My faith is fairly simple. I was raised in the Swarthmore Monthly Meeting, which meets every Sunday in a lovely building with odd green cushions and paint on the edge of the Swarthmore campus. I spent my childhood going to First Day School, Quaker Sunday School, got marigolds on Easter, played in the pageant and after every meeting, spent time with wonderful people. One of the traditions of this meeting is after the Sunday meeting, there's brunch and everyone talks and laughs and you feel the community. That's the root of my faith, the joy of being with people, walking through lilacs and knowing that God is everywhere. I've addressed God with many names in my travels and felt his touch from Pennsylvania to jewel box churches in Greece to by the water in Wellington or with family. Faith to me means that we're all connected and have something rather strange inside us that says, yes, there is more.

I hope these answers make sense, I ended up being rather philosophical.

Today I spent two hours in the University of Michigan Museum of Art to help some fellow SI folks with a project but it ended up being just what I needed. Yesterday I sent off another job application and this morning woke to feeling afraid that perhaps I'm setting my goals too high. I decided when I went to the museum that I would keep myself open and hopeful as I've been falling too easily into spirals of doubting myself. I'm so glad I did go, because as with every museum, I found pieces I'd forgotten, saw new ones and remembered the power of beauty.

There's a quote I want to use for this entry from Rosanne Cash's Composed that I recently finished about how we need music and art, but I can't seem to find it. That's how I feel today, I feel like I stepped back to when I sat quietly in meeting and found a measure of peace. Today I walked through a museum and I opened myself to beauty and hope.

One painting that I kept coming back to was of Abraham Lincoln as a young boy reading by a fire, it reminded me of what I wish to do. I want to find those children who aren't sure about reading and get them excited, I want to open doors to other worlds.

Below the cut I'm going to put an image of the painting as it connected with me and I want to share it.

( Boyhood of Lincoln by Eastman Johnson )

This phrase has been going through my head all week, my mother first told me it and its an important Quaker idea. I find it powerful and seems to fit where I am at this moment in time. I've decided that I'm going to take a class during the summer and graduate in August, because my semester is busy already and is just going to get more so.

Since I've made this choice, I keep finding reminders that this will make my life work better. First off, I can look for a job during the summer when I'm only dealing with one class and fewer hours at my jobs, which should make it less stressful.

Then when I told my boss at my second job about this, her answer made me grin as she said, good we can find things for you to do. Its nice to know that I'm making a difference there and that they do want me.

Another nice benefit is that by the time my brother's wedding in Northern California rolls around at the end of August, it can be an extra celebration for my graduating.

I still have a few things to get in order like calling the registrar to let her know I won't be graduating in April. Friday kind of got away from me so I didn't do it then, but I've told my landlord and now just need to let my other boss know.

I can't believe that February's almost over and today is my Milliversary so after this is up, I'm going to put a post in the back room.

Today and yesterday have felt like I've finally made it to break, when I wake up, I'm a little more relaxed and its wonderful.

I have some books to write about and pictures to post but I think those will be in other posts. For now, Spring is in the air and I feel blessed.

I think I have defeated whatever cold was trying to get me. I slept nice and late after waking up at 8 am as my body went, but I thought there was class. Now I feel pretty much healthy and so I'm going to do this meme that's floating around. Last seen over on mmexlibris.

( 27 Questions )

I love this meme so much, because whenever it goes around, new things come up. Also I'm prompted to think about all sorts of parts of my life.

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

This round of questions comes from wanderlustlover.

1. Write your memoir in six words.

born, learn, travel, love, learn more

2. What would you change about your undergrad?

I think I would have pursued the theater more. I loved my experience and all the friends I made. Just now that I'm in graduate school, I'm more aware of how lucky I was in finding the people I did in undergrad. The connections and one of them was that, one of my roommates was in the theater program. So I helped out with director's workshops and just loved it. I wish I had that kind of entrance into the theater program here.

3. How do you view your own personal spirituality?

I was raised as a Quaker and even though I haven't been to meeting in far too long that's still how I think about myself. I've always believed that there's something or someone greater that connects us all. I try to always look for the best in people since the Quaker idea of a part of God in everyone really speaks to me. This is still something that I'm figuring out, because I don't feel like I know really who I am.

4. What is your favorite comfort food?

This is a hard one, because I have a lot of things. I think one of the top ones is toast, cinnamon toast and nutella toast in particular.

5. What is one thing that scares you, that you think you should do?

I think I should go on a blind date. There's a part of me that's always been shy and since I've been in Michigan, I've kind of been more. I need to push myself out there and see what happens.

Way will open is a Quaker phrase that's connected to how sometimes if you just trust in the world, the right thing will find you. I just had that experience today. I've been looking for something to do for the summer and things keep popping up in my school email, one of them was asking for a volunteer to help with organizing a tutoring collection of books.

I was curious and responded and met with them today along with creating a plan. Basically I would start by doing a needs assessment with interviews, surveys and also researching the best online cataloguing system for them to use and then possibly writing a grant and starting to implement it. This feels so right, its amazing.

Yesterday, I found out about a possible Fall internship helping at a Depression Research Center but this one is so completely right.

Its to do with organizing childrens' books, activities and helping this center have the best access to their materials. I've contacted the SI career lady to see if there's a way to get credit for this and in the meantime I have plans and a connection and a place to go I can walk to. I'd say that life is pretty incredible, I'll do more updates as things happen.