hide your kids, hide your wife!
I sat down tonight and went over the collective little scraps of paper that have accumulated over the years since I began college. I slowly read over each side of each little item, putting aside ones that were worth saving. Tickets from concerts, movie stubs, birthday cards, the rare piece of snail-mail, the even more rare photograph. Things that will have no meaning to anyone but me, but which together collectively built a mental mosaic of memories. Organizing gives me incredible piece of mind and clarity. Order and compartmentalization matter to me. Even if it means just taking papers out of several places and putting them into one or two, it's become more important to me to take stock of what exists and where it exists.
I'm sitting at my desk now, rewarding myself with tea and sweets, listening to Fleetwood Mac and burning a candle. It's an excellent candle -- it burns into lotion, not wax, and it smells like Paradise, which is the scent name. The candle comes from this company, one I encountered last month at the Renaissance Faire in upstate NY. That day was sweet and warm and perfect, spent with good friends. We watched jousting and an insanely talented act called Cast in Bronze which was like a combination of Quasimodo and The Phantom. I quite thoroughly impressed myself by driving there on highways, in the Bronx, and in New Jersey without too terrible a mishap, although at some point that day we circled around an IKEA thinking in all earnestness that it led to a highway entrance. :)
I realize it's been an incredibly long time since my last post. I spent summer working and saving money and reading delightful books and volunteering at a hospital. The moments I would steal for myself at the hospital, sitting in a corner sipping coffee and simply watching human traffic and reading the snapshots of people's lives, gave me some of the strongest moments of calm all summer. I realize I never really said anything about starting a new job - one that easily snapped up most of my time - but in that respect I'm trying to live in the moment. My job at Apple has definite ups and downs, but at this point I can safely say that I utterly adore my coworkers and that every time that I have to deal with a particularly prickly customer, it pleases me to smother them with kindness to the best of my ability. The summer was easily a time of talking to people and creating a comfortable method of communicating with people that I don't know. I had to do this in extremes -- talking to someone in a hospital bed in the Oncology ward, explaining some element of technology to someone, or even getting to know a new coworker -- and I'm not sorry I spent less time than I'd have liked doing certain other things. I can afford to be methodical in my life right now, or I at least keep telling myself this.
At present, I'm still working at Apple, and I still volunteer with Medical Oncology, but as of this week that just passed, have added the following to my week's schedule: Another volunteering shift, now in in Child Life Services (I'm going to be with ickle children! Squee!), a tutoring job helping athletes with their writing/biology labs, a class I'm taking as a non-matriculating graduate student (it's called Darwinian Medicine and it's pretty fun, though we'll see how fun I find it after a few midterms), an English course I'm auditing about the fantastic as a place, and another prep course in hopes to retake the MCAT. Also, I'm Batman. Just kidding.
That all sounds like a ridiculous amount of stuff going on. I suppose it is, but the trick to it is to time things well and to keep them in small bursts. My volunteer shifts, for example, are only three hours in length. The only thing I have to make sure I can control is how often/much I study. I've been doing well while it's just the Bio class I have to deal with, but the MCAT isn't a laughing matter any more, and shouldn't be treated thusly.
I'll get through it, though.
In terms of other notable things I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, knowing full well that I'm about to forget things that deserve listing:
-I met someone from the internet and didn't die! I hung out with stormydown the week before her classes started and it was an amazing day of smiles and laughs and omlettes and homeless men yelling about lesbians in Union Square. I hope with my heart of hearts it won't be the last of our adventures, especially if visiting that second hand bookshop again is a possibility :).
-I bought some outrageous lipstick (among other things) from the new MAC collection that just came out featuring Disney Villains. And I finally bought a new watch! It is a lustrous rose-gold color and shines brilliantly, even though it's already been scratched due to my ~insane lifestyle~. I mention these things only because I tend to be very frugal when it comes to myself and having a job makes it easier to convince myself that I deserve nice things. I'm one of those people who tends to think she doesn't deserve nice things, which hinders me sometimes. It's surprising how much the simple act of rewarding oneself can help.
-I blog every Wednesday for Side B magazine. I mostly showcase illustrators, whether alive or dead. If you would like to be a part of our magazine or donate money, I'd appreciate it immensely!
-Jenny came to stay with me for a few days again in the tail-end of August. I adore that girl. Her honors college thesis is going to be Iliad-inspired poetry! I have raised her well. AND she's working with Dr. Manning, who we all know to be one of my favorites.
-I went to the Bodies exhibit with my friend Joe from Australia who was visiting NY for a week. It was magnificent. We stayed for hours, just staring at tissue and bone and lovingly crafted displays. It amplified my respect and admiration for humans and their bodies. Going to that exhibit was a long time coming (I'd wanted to go since 2007). I'm going to go back to Australia in February, but that's a post for another day.
-My friends are getting promotions and interesting jobs and internships all over the place! cellowraith is moving libraries to work at the one that's in walking distance to my house. Can you guess who I'll be stalking soon?
- I caught dinner with alyza last night, after she drove all the way from Staten Island and through piss-poor weather to see me. I am hopefully going to visit her as soon as I get the chance!
- This weekend is New York Comic Con. I'm going, and I took the entire weekend off, but it's remained so smack-dab in the back of my mind that I have no idea what I'm excited to see besides a huge screening of BBC's new Sherlock.
-Am, as always, reading. Most notably, I absolutely loved the ending of Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Y'all know how much I've grown to adore GGK over the past year; In other news, water is wet. I read The City & The City for the class I'm auditing, and it was breathtaking as well. I'm sure you won't be surprised to know I keep the most up-to-date record of my activities when it comes to cataloging the books I've read. I also have a twitter, in case anyone out there is so inclined as to follow me.
-Last, maybe? I spent a lot of late August/early September indulging in creativity. I was so busy working on top of it that I didn't realize how much I'd accomplished. My projects included a massive illustration that I may discuss in a private post later, and learning the wonders of my new camera. I updated with new photographs on my photo blog!
Now, to update my playlist and blog for myself. Goals, goals, goals...
I'm sitting at my desk now, rewarding myself with tea and sweets, listening to Fleetwood Mac and burning a candle. It's an excellent candle -- it burns into lotion, not wax, and it smells like Paradise, which is the scent name. The candle comes from this company, one I encountered last month at the Renaissance Faire in upstate NY. That day was sweet and warm and perfect, spent with good friends. We watched jousting and an insanely talented act called Cast in Bronze which was like a combination of Quasimodo and The Phantom. I quite thoroughly impressed myself by driving there on highways, in the Bronx, and in New Jersey without too terrible a mishap, although at some point that day we circled around an IKEA thinking in all earnestness that it led to a highway entrance. :)
I realize it's been an incredibly long time since my last post. I spent summer working and saving money and reading delightful books and volunteering at a hospital. The moments I would steal for myself at the hospital, sitting in a corner sipping coffee and simply watching human traffic and reading the snapshots of people's lives, gave me some of the strongest moments of calm all summer. I realize I never really said anything about starting a new job - one that easily snapped up most of my time - but in that respect I'm trying to live in the moment. My job at Apple has definite ups and downs, but at this point I can safely say that I utterly adore my coworkers and that every time that I have to deal with a particularly prickly customer, it pleases me to smother them with kindness to the best of my ability. The summer was easily a time of talking to people and creating a comfortable method of communicating with people that I don't know. I had to do this in extremes -- talking to someone in a hospital bed in the Oncology ward, explaining some element of technology to someone, or even getting to know a new coworker -- and I'm not sorry I spent less time than I'd have liked doing certain other things. I can afford to be methodical in my life right now, or I at least keep telling myself this.
At present, I'm still working at Apple, and I still volunteer with Medical Oncology, but as of this week that just passed, have added the following to my week's schedule: Another volunteering shift, now in in Child Life Services (I'm going to be with ickle children! Squee!), a tutoring job helping athletes with their writing/biology labs, a class I'm taking as a non-matriculating graduate student (it's called Darwinian Medicine and it's pretty fun, though we'll see how fun I find it after a few midterms), an English course I'm auditing about the fantastic as a place, and another prep course in hopes to retake the MCAT. Also, I'm Batman. Just kidding.
That all sounds like a ridiculous amount of stuff going on. I suppose it is, but the trick to it is to time things well and to keep them in small bursts. My volunteer shifts, for example, are only three hours in length. The only thing I have to make sure I can control is how often/much I study. I've been doing well while it's just the Bio class I have to deal with, but the MCAT isn't a laughing matter any more, and shouldn't be treated thusly.
I'll get through it, though.
In terms of other notable things I'd be remiss if I didn't mention, knowing full well that I'm about to forget things that deserve listing:
-I met someone from the internet and didn't die! I hung out with stormydown the week before her classes started and it was an amazing day of smiles and laughs and omlettes and homeless men yelling about lesbians in Union Square. I hope with my heart of hearts it won't be the last of our adventures, especially if visiting that second hand bookshop again is a possibility :).
-I bought some outrageous lipstick (among other things) from the new MAC collection that just came out featuring Disney Villains. And I finally bought a new watch! It is a lustrous rose-gold color and shines brilliantly, even though it's already been scratched due to my ~insane lifestyle~. I mention these things only because I tend to be very frugal when it comes to myself and having a job makes it easier to convince myself that I deserve nice things. I'm one of those people who tends to think she doesn't deserve nice things, which hinders me sometimes. It's surprising how much the simple act of rewarding oneself can help.
-I blog every Wednesday for Side B magazine. I mostly showcase illustrators, whether alive or dead. If you would like to be a part of our magazine or donate money, I'd appreciate it immensely!
-Jenny came to stay with me for a few days again in the tail-end of August. I adore that girl. Her honors college thesis is going to be Iliad-inspired poetry! I have raised her well. AND she's working with Dr. Manning, who we all know to be one of my favorites.
-I went to the Bodies exhibit with my friend Joe from Australia who was visiting NY for a week. It was magnificent. We stayed for hours, just staring at tissue and bone and lovingly crafted displays. It amplified my respect and admiration for humans and their bodies. Going to that exhibit was a long time coming (I'd wanted to go since 2007). I'm going to go back to Australia in February, but that's a post for another day.
-My friends are getting promotions and interesting jobs and internships all over the place! cellowraith is moving libraries to work at the one that's in walking distance to my house. Can you guess who I'll be stalking soon?
- I caught dinner with alyza last night, after she drove all the way from Staten Island and through piss-poor weather to see me. I am hopefully going to visit her as soon as I get the chance!
- This weekend is New York Comic Con. I'm going, and I took the entire weekend off, but it's remained so smack-dab in the back of my mind that I have no idea what I'm excited to see besides a huge screening of BBC's new Sherlock.
-Am, as always, reading. Most notably, I absolutely loved the ending of Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. Y'all know how much I've grown to adore GGK over the past year; In other news, water is wet. I read The City & The City for the class I'm auditing, and it was breathtaking as well. I'm sure you won't be surprised to know I keep the most up-to-date record of my activities when it comes to cataloging the books I've read. I also have a twitter, in case anyone out there is so inclined as to follow me.
-Last, maybe? I spent a lot of late August/early September indulging in creativity. I was so busy working on top of it that I didn't realize how much I'd accomplished. My projects included a massive illustration that I may discuss in a private post later, and learning the wonders of my new camera. I updated with new photographs on my photo blog!
Now, to update my playlist and blog for myself. Goals, goals, goals...