One More Thing

Got out of the study a bit early, so before I head off to tour the Key Club, I'm adding one more small thing that makes me happy: this little San Franciscan native :)

Flying Time

So it's been a few days since I've been able to write. I've actually got a full schedule today as well, so this won't be a full entry. Patience is a virtue, my friends.

Currently, I'm sitting in the Behavioral Lab of the Accounting Building waiting for an experiment to begin. For my business class this semester, I need to participate in two research studies to fulfill one of the course requirements. This is my first one. I'm not exactly sure what we'll be doing... probably something to do with OB. I'm not sure what else they need an undergraduate lab rat for :P

Something small that makes me happy: Making a list of things to do, and crossing things off that list when I do them. I had 16 things on my list yesterday, and by midnight I had only 1 left. Such a satisfying feeling :)

Take-Out and Venice

When I think about someone eating take-out by themselves, I generally imagine something sad and depressing. I might have to edit that image, though, because right now I'm sitting on my bed finishing off some delicious Yellow Curry from Thai Corner Food Express (weird name, I know, but they're actually quite tasty and thus are currently my favorite Thai place in the area), and I'm probably the most relaxed/content I've been this whole weekend. In this moment, eating rice straight out of that funny little paper box American Asian restaurants like to use isn't depressing at all. It's actually rather fantastic :)

This has been a good weekend. Highlights include seeing Annie Selick at Steamers, kicking ass at Scrabble, going to Wood Spoon and eating delicious Brazilian appetizers, and savoring Salty Chocolate and Almond Date flavored Scoops (although Guiness Chocolate is still my favorite Scoops flavor). I also filled out nine (yes, nine) postcards to send to people around the world, which I'm excited about because that means in a few weeks, I will be getting lots of postcards to add to my collection!

Right now I'm in the process of uploading some pictures to Facebook. Everytime I upload pictures, I'm amazed at how many albums I have. 80 something last I checked. 90 maybe? I don't know. In any case, I'm always surprised because I actually don't think I take pictures that often. It's just that when I do, I take a TON of pictures at once. I just keep snapping pictures until my (two) camera batteries run out... and by that time, even with my shitty batteries, I've often taken 20, 50, 100 pictures (depending on where I am and who I'm with). In any case, the ones I'm putting up now are from Venice Beach. I've posted a couple of my favorites above.

I'm looking forward to my night in. I'll be munching on leftover Thai food for the rest of the night, I'm sure, while (hopefully) working on some school work. If I finish in time, maybe I'll read a bit more of This Is Cuba... although I'd prefer to not stay up too late - early class tomorrow!

Busy Weekend

It's 3:24am. I am exhausted. So far, this has been a very long weekend. Even though it's been both fun and productive, I feel no more relaxed than I did two days ago. Which isn't the best of feelings, but hey. At least it's been fun and productive.

One of the productive things I did was call up Time Warner Cable and coerce them to send out a maintence worker to fix my internet and TV, which, although neither has been working properly since around December, finally decided to go completely out on me (and my roommates) a few days ago. After two days of surprisingly helpful service, I have internet again. Fickle internet, but it's working well enough for me to use so I'll deal for the moment.

That picture up there is a collage of indie style wedding/engagement pictures by Feather Love. I found the link on Oh, Joy! and, even though I don't have an extreme interest in weddings/engagements, I'm posting it because I love dogs, and the one in this picture made me smile.

Postcard Distractions

I am definitely looking forward to summer. I think today could be efficiently described as a day long mini-break down. I still need to acknowledge the people worried about me because I was M.I.A. for so long... but I don't feel quite like becoming un-M.I.A. just yet, so I will do that later. Sorry guys.

I was looking at one of my bedroom walls today, and found myself re-examining my many postcards that I've put up. I've received postcards both from friends traveling abroad, as well as Postcrossing, and both are meaningful to me in their own way. Some of the stories behind the Postcrossing ones are pretty neat, actually, so I thought I'd share a few.

This first one is from Finland, and is a picture of Mama Moomin. Apparently the Moomins are an "essential part of [the] (children) culture" in Finland. Besides that, the sender of the postcard included this little story, which I found to be quite interesting: "I found [the card] inside a Library book. The best thing is, it's of Mama Moomin - my favorite! :D AND I'm sending this card from a special Moomin Museum! Check out the stamps!" I love to know the stories behind things, and I really enjoyed reading this particular card.

This was sent from Evanston, Illinois (which is kind of cool because it's the only city I've been to in Illinois - I went to visit Northwestern a few years back). This might be my favorite that I've received so far. The sender wrote "I've had this postcard for 27 years and finally decided to part with it. The super-realist paintings of Richard Estes are amazing! See some of his actual work if you can." He also included a Bob Dylan quote... but I love more the fact that the card is 27 years old and he chose to, for some reason, send it to me. I also love the painting on the front. A time past. I love stuff like that.

The third is from Hamburg. The postcard itself is actually a vintage card that was originally sent in 1936 I believe, written in old German. My sender explained the significance of Plön (the town pictured on the front of the postcard) to him: it was the town his mother was born in. He also mentioned that he tends to send old vintage cards, which I personally think is REALLY cool. I wonder what the story was for the first sender in 1936?

In any case, I've received many other interesting postcards (with some bland postcards thrown into the mix), but not recently. Postcrossing is a very good anonymous postcard sending system - send a card to a random person, and another random person will send you one (once the first is received). I've been so busy this semester, though, that I haven't really gotten the chance to sit down, choose a postcard, write a message (I like to write a note, although it isn't required), and mail it out. So no new postcards for me.

I'm thinking of starting it back up again, though. It really is nice to open your mailbox and find something other than an advertisement or a bill :)

Reorganizing the New and the Old

It's been a while since I've consistently written in a blog; I'm not entirely sure where to start. (The last time I consistently wrote in a blog was while I was in high school. My blog was kindly hosted by a friend on his website, and it lasted a few years. When he graduated, however, the website came down and with it my blog. Since then, I've only made a few futile attempts to write consistently - all of which failed miserably - and quite honestly, I miss it. I enjoy writing...). In any case, I mentioned in my first post that I would write about some "current thoughts" so I might as well go from there.

Currently, I'm thinking about what's in front of me: my new Steno Pad. I've used steno pads for years as a way of organizing my life: writing out lists and schedules, mainly. Taking notes occasionally. I recently lost my steno pad (which was rather unfortunate, actually, as I had used it to take notes on more than one occasion for my classes. Goodbye much needed notes..!), but hesitated to start a new one in the hopes that it (my original, half-filled steno pad) would show up again. Months passed, however, and it never showed... so today I decided it was time to stop dwelling and start anew! And so it is. New steno pad, new lists, new schedules, new life. I'm optimistic today :)

I'm also inspired by Oh, Joy!, designer Joy Deangdeelert Cho's blog. I love the minimal design, and the clean organization of the layout. Plus, her posts are so interesting, and the pictures she includes so captivating, that I can't help but read through all of them at once (which I actually haven't done, because there are many, but I'm certainly tempted to). You may notice also that many of the Links I Like are artist and designer's blogs. I find these to be some of the most interesting to read because of the combination of life stories (interesting) and art (also interesting). Plus they just LOOK good. Thank you those who have a keen eye for the appealing :) This is a pretty recent interest of mine, though (thanks to Oh, Joy!), so we'll see how long those links last as Links I Like.

Finally, that picture up there is actually an old one. It's of the greenbelt by my childhood home, nearing sunset. I took it with my first 35mm camera, actually, some time before 2004. Or 2003? I can't remember when, exactly (bad memory, as I said). I do know, though, that it was one of the pictures on the very first roll of film I developed for that camera. It was my favorite at the time, and I'm happy that, all these years later, I still like it. In any case, I chose to put it in because I'd like to have a picture in every post, and I didn't want to put up a picture of a steno book.

So there you have it. My first full length post. It's a bit long. I'll work on that...

Welcome

Today, I've decided to start writing in my blog (which I actually created a while ago, but never found the need to write in). I will be including two posts: the first, as an explanation as to why I'm starting this blog. The second will be some current thoughts.

So. Who am I? In a nutshell, I am a music student with interests in business, psychology, art, reading, adventures, and experiences. I'm blogging because I've entered a point in my life where I feel like I need to refocus who I am. Therefore, I will be blogging about the many things that interest me, as well as the little things that make me smile. I will also be writing about what I find fun and interesting in my own life, simply because I have a bad memory and it will be both nice and convenient to have a place where I can look back on my experiences. Feel free to leave feedback by way of comments. I hope you enjoy reading :)