General Announcements
#1- New apartment -- pictures to come when I unpack enough to locate my camera. Am thankful for all of the previously mentioned things, and also that my roommates seem to have a fantastic array of books for me to borrow, and in general they seem really just pretty wonderful*.
There are many things, it seems, that are pretty wonderful.
* (It seems there may be an extremely strong correlation between people who read and people who I like a lot. I remain unsurprised.)
#2- I regret to announce that I was not chosen to drive the Wienermobile. It doesn't matter though, bacon, I will always love you.
While it would have been a really awesome experience, I am actually a little relieved for a few reasons:
First, I won't have to worry about being able to get the time off in July to go to Oxford to be Gwen's bridesmaid. I have elaborate, secret, and highly volatile plans about taking some sort of magnificent side-trip involving overnight trains, leatherbound notebooks, poetry, and glamour. (Details to come, of course.)
Second, I can't help being excited to spend the summer in New York City. Since I've always spent summers at camp in Wisconsin (and while I can't deny that I anticipate feeling a few pangs of campsickness), it's an entire season unexplored in this city. I can't wait for Shakespeare in the Park and sipping lemonade barefoot on my lunch breaks and going to the beach. I've never actually been to the beach in New York, which is nothing short of a travesty.
I can't shake this feeling that something big is about to happen.
#3- Gwen is visiting this weekend, and we're going to picnic in Central Park.
#4- I get way too excited to sleep sometimes. There's just too much going on in the world.
#5- Re: things that I've gotten excited about lately, I'm sort of thinking about getting an MFA. My top choice right now is the low-residency poetry program at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, which one of my college writing professors (who happens to teach for it) mentioned to me last spring. I forgot about it until I went to see her do a reading on the Lower East Side, and I met a few of her students from the program. It seems like they have a really tight-knit community, and one of them commented how strong the emphasis on critical work was compared to the programs of friends at other schools. When I first heard about the whole low-residency idea (two ten-day sessions in January and July each year, and the rest of work via correspondence), I wasn't sure that fit into my idea of what I wanted grad school to be like -- but the more I think about it, the more it sounds wonderful to have the freedom to go on adventures and not be tied down to any one place. It also makes a lot of sense money-wise. Anyway, first I would have to worry about getting in -- and they only accept about 8% of applicants, so there's that.
At least it's statistically easier to get into grad school than to get a gig driving a giant hot dog!
#6- Today was so beautiful, and on my break from work I took a t-shirted walk to one of the prettiest spots in Brooklyn to eat a delicious melty Nutella-and-peanut-butter sandwich. And while I make fun of (while simultaneously participating in) the "and today I ate a sandwich" aspect of keeping a blog (as in, sharing completely inane details of life), this sandwich was pretty important. Life-affirming, even.
#7 - I'm reading Boy by Roald Dahl and it's wonderful. Next is Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Reading and Writing Metrical Verse by Mary Oliver (recommended and lent to me by my roommate).
There are many things, it seems, that are pretty wonderful.
* (It seems there may be an extremely strong correlation between people who read and people who I like a lot. I remain unsurprised.)
#2- I regret to announce that I was not chosen to drive the Wienermobile. It doesn't matter though, bacon, I will always love you.
While it would have been a really awesome experience, I am actually a little relieved for a few reasons:
First, I won't have to worry about being able to get the time off in July to go to Oxford to be Gwen's bridesmaid. I have elaborate, secret, and highly volatile plans about taking some sort of magnificent side-trip involving overnight trains, leatherbound notebooks, poetry, and glamour. (Details to come, of course.)
Second, I can't help being excited to spend the summer in New York City. Since I've always spent summers at camp in Wisconsin (and while I can't deny that I anticipate feeling a few pangs of campsickness), it's an entire season unexplored in this city. I can't wait for Shakespeare in the Park and sipping lemonade barefoot on my lunch breaks and going to the beach. I've never actually been to the beach in New York, which is nothing short of a travesty.
I can't shake this feeling that something big is about to happen.
#3- Gwen is visiting this weekend, and we're going to picnic in Central Park.
#4- I get way too excited to sleep sometimes. There's just too much going on in the world.
#5- Re: things that I've gotten excited about lately, I'm sort of thinking about getting an MFA. My top choice right now is the low-residency poetry program at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, which one of my college writing professors (who happens to teach for it) mentioned to me last spring. I forgot about it until I went to see her do a reading on the Lower East Side, and I met a few of her students from the program. It seems like they have a really tight-knit community, and one of them commented how strong the emphasis on critical work was compared to the programs of friends at other schools. When I first heard about the whole low-residency idea (two ten-day sessions in January and July each year, and the rest of work via correspondence), I wasn't sure that fit into my idea of what I wanted grad school to be like -- but the more I think about it, the more it sounds wonderful to have the freedom to go on adventures and not be tied down to any one place. It also makes a lot of sense money-wise. Anyway, first I would have to worry about getting in -- and they only accept about 8% of applicants, so there's that.
At least it's statistically easier to get into grad school than to get a gig driving a giant hot dog!
#6- Today was so beautiful, and on my break from work I took a t-shirted walk to one of the prettiest spots in Brooklyn to eat a delicious melty Nutella-and-peanut-butter sandwich. And while I make fun of (while simultaneously participating in) the "and today I ate a sandwich" aspect of keeping a blog (as in, sharing completely inane details of life), this sandwich was pretty important. Life-affirming, even.
#7 - I'm reading Boy by Roald Dahl and it's wonderful. Next is Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Reading and Writing Metrical Verse by Mary Oliver (recommended and lent to me by my roommate).