-- Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Friday, July 23, 2010
Inspiration from Emerson
"Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you."
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Love and Hate and Love
I'm supposed to be writing right now--but I'm so filled with joy that I can't focus on my story.
When you have those moments in your life when you realize that you are happy, and blessed, you have to seize them, and appreciate everything that life has given you before the moment passes.
I can say quite soberly that I am happy. I have a wonderful husband who loves me and who I love with all my heart. I have family that loves me and supports me and believes in my dreams and aspirations. I have a great job where I get to use my brain. I have my writing, which is progressing, little by little everyday and which is getting better with every attempt. I am rewarded for my hard work which makes me work harder.
There are those times in your life when you feel like there's no way out of the quagmire of difficulties and despair. But then there are moments like this, and these are the moments that bring that ray of hope in those hard times and make you believe, like Barack Obama--si se puede. Yes we can. Yes I can.
When you have those moments in your life when you realize that you are happy, and blessed, you have to seize them, and appreciate everything that life has given you before the moment passes.
I can say quite soberly that I am happy. I have a wonderful husband who loves me and who I love with all my heart. I have family that loves me and supports me and believes in my dreams and aspirations. I have a great job where I get to use my brain. I have my writing, which is progressing, little by little everyday and which is getting better with every attempt. I am rewarded for my hard work which makes me work harder.
There are those times in your life when you feel like there's no way out of the quagmire of difficulties and despair. But then there are moments like this, and these are the moments that bring that ray of hope in those hard times and make you believe, like Barack Obama--si se puede. Yes we can. Yes I can.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Updates and Song of the Day: All We Ask, Grizzly Bear
It's been quite a while, and a lot of things have happened.
We celebrated the Fourth of July.
Lots more fun experiences to come.
Nataliya, my sister-in-law, has been living with us since mid-June. We're a happy trio living in our small West L.A. apartment.
We visited my parents in Newport.
We visited my parents in Covina.
We visited my parents in Covina.
We went to the Getty.
We celebrated the Fourth of July.
We went to Vegas.
Lots more fun experiences to come.
It's been hard, cramped up in our small apartment to get anything productive done. But I have managed to read Outlander and Nation, and re-read Jane Eyre, the Thirteenth Tale, Catcher in the Rye and the Hunger Games. I even got 17 pages of writing done last night. It's been a great summer so far, I'm hoping to make it to San Diego, San Francisco and Yosemite before Nataliya leaves.
Until my next update I will leave you with a nice little live version one of my favorite songs of the moment. All We Ask by Grizzly Bear.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Weekend Update: An exciting time to be alive
I don't generally write about myself here. I don't know if it's because I think it's vain to blog about oneself, or because I feel uncomfortable, whatever the reason I haven't talked about anything really personal in quite a long time. So here is a mini-update of what's going on in my life.
Boyan and I had a busy weekend. On Saturday we went to my nephew Jacob's 5th birthday party at my soon-to-be Sister-in-law's house in Glendora. We played with musical instruments, ate cake, and watched him tear it up on his new Tony Hawk bike. I think the greatest part about having kids is that you get to relive the excitement of being a kid all over again. I can't wait until I get my chance.
The birthday boys
After we had lunch we drove over to the Golden Spur and had dinner for my Uncle Richard's birthday. I had bacon-wrapped filet mignon and a baked potato. That was after eating tons of food at my Nephew's house, and my stomach has been kind of a wreck ever since.
On Sunday, Boyan and I filled my car and his co-worker Jordan's truck to the hilt, and dropped the first batch of boxes off at our new apartment. It's weird to think that we are going to be moving again. I remember the feeling of loss I had when we left our apartment on Kelton. Thinking that I would never walk into those rooms again, or see the bright green walls I'd grown to love. I have fond memories of that apartment, and even if they are tainted by the nostalgia I'll always love that apartment because it was our first apartment together.
605 Kelton
When we moved to West Covina I knew we were leaving a lot behind, friends, and you know, civilization. We were jumping right into the deep end of a murky pool. Sure the money that my new job was offering made the move worth it, but after spending nine months at Newegg, and being rescued by my new job at Demand, I can't help but think that we jumped to quickly to move away from our life in Westwood.
West Covina
Now that we're coming back to West L.A. I have those same feelings of loss, although our new apartment won't be as much of a shock. I really like the new place, and when I walk in (even though there are boxes piled from floor to ceiling), I can already imagine myself having coffee on the patio in the mornings, coming home for lunch in the afternoons, sitting and reading a book in our light yellow living room. I feel bad for poor Boyan who will now have to endure the commute I suffered through for the past nine months, and only hope that the winds of fate will change and he won't have to make his way east for long.
I can't say I'll miss the apartment in West Covina as much as our apartment in Westwood. I have a lot of memories in West Covina, but they are all from my childhood and in a different part of the city. I feel like our part of town is too industrial, too cold and too unfriendly for us to develop any nostalgia. I can't speak for Boyan, but I know that a big part of me can't wait to say goodbye to West Covina forever. But in the back of my mind, in the pit of my stomach, is the fear and anxiety that comes with change.
We should be completely moved in by April 25th, Boyan will probably stay behind for the last week of April as we had to pay our rent up until May 3rd. We'll re-paint the walls white with primer and clean the carpets in order to get as much of our deposit back as possible. But before that is Boyan's birthday as well as my brother Pat. They happen to have been born on the same day three years apart. I don't know what we'll do for that besides dinner with the family, but for those of you who are interested (and invited of course) we will probably have a Birthday/Housewarming party in May.
I have not had too much time to write with all this moving and packing tumult. It's frustrating not being able to devote my time to something I feel I so desperately need to do. It almost feels like I'm neglecting a crying baby; I want to hold it and comfort it, but I'm tied down by necessities of life. I hate it. I'm just going to have to sneak in time here and there. I know once we move I'll have a lot of time alone to write, as I'll be waiting for Boyan to come home from work; I just need to suck it up until then. I'm a third of the way through my first revision, and I'm finding a lot of places in the story where I need to add back story and even a couple more chapters. I think I've said this before but I want to say it again. Writing is the hardest thing I've ever done, and the most rewarding. Even if the things I write don't get published there is something to be said about creating something. Building something from the floor up that stands on it's own with you as the progenitor. It's an amazing feeling.
I see myself spending a lot of time at the library working on my book. I'm hoping that I'll get accepted to Bennington, or get the Tinhouse seminar scholarship (both would be amazing), so that I could have some help work shopping the book. Right now it feels like everything is floating around in my head and I need to get it all organized in a way that makes sense. I can honestly say I'll probably revise this book at least six times if not more. I want to get it done done by the end of the year so I can start looking for an agent. It might be hard as Boyan's sister Natalia is coming to live with us for three months, but I'll just have to make time. I'm hoping to buy a bike pretty soon, so if I need some alone time I can just hop on and ride down to the library or to Cacao which is just up the street from our new place.
I keep having these dreams that I open our mailbox to find the large Bennington folder. I've dreamt about it so much that when I do open our mailbox, I swear I hallucinate that the big thick white envelop is actually there. It's insane. I hate waiting to hear back, it's torture. I had a crazy dream last night that I got caught up in a tornado, and when the tornado hit me I floated and was weightless. I woke up a second after the tornado hit me in my dream, and I swear I woke up feeling like I was floating.
I looked up the meaning of tornadoes in dreams, and it says that it's a "loss of control dream." I sat there hoping the tornado would skip past me, helpless and when it came there was nothing I could do. In a world where everything is crazy and tumultuous, my writing is something I can control. It's something I actively do to better myself. I wonder if my inability to write because of our move has made me subconsciously feel out of control. Or if it's because I'm waiting to hear back from Bennington. I guess it's something to think about.
So, that's my update. A lot going on right now, a lot of unknown variables but that's okay. That's what life is all about right? If we knew what was going to happen it wouldn't be so exciting.
Until next time, this tornado loves you.
Boyan and I had a busy weekend. On Saturday we went to my nephew Jacob's 5th birthday party at my soon-to-be Sister-in-law's house in Glendora. We played with musical instruments, ate cake, and watched him tear it up on his new Tony Hawk bike. I think the greatest part about having kids is that you get to relive the excitement of being a kid all over again. I can't wait until I get my chance.
The birthday boysAfter we had lunch we drove over to the Golden Spur and had dinner for my Uncle Richard's birthday. I had bacon-wrapped filet mignon and a baked potato. That was after eating tons of food at my Nephew's house, and my stomach has been kind of a wreck ever since.
On Sunday, Boyan and I filled my car and his co-worker Jordan's truck to the hilt, and dropped the first batch of boxes off at our new apartment. It's weird to think that we are going to be moving again. I remember the feeling of loss I had when we left our apartment on Kelton. Thinking that I would never walk into those rooms again, or see the bright green walls I'd grown to love. I have fond memories of that apartment, and even if they are tainted by the nostalgia I'll always love that apartment because it was our first apartment together.
605 KeltonWhen we moved to West Covina I knew we were leaving a lot behind, friends, and you know, civilization. We were jumping right into the deep end of a murky pool. Sure the money that my new job was offering made the move worth it, but after spending nine months at Newegg, and being rescued by my new job at Demand, I can't help but think that we jumped to quickly to move away from our life in Westwood.
West CovinaNow that we're coming back to West L.A. I have those same feelings of loss, although our new apartment won't be as much of a shock. I really like the new place, and when I walk in (even though there are boxes piled from floor to ceiling), I can already imagine myself having coffee on the patio in the mornings, coming home for lunch in the afternoons, sitting and reading a book in our light yellow living room. I feel bad for poor Boyan who will now have to endure the commute I suffered through for the past nine months, and only hope that the winds of fate will change and he won't have to make his way east for long.
I can't say I'll miss the apartment in West Covina as much as our apartment in Westwood. I have a lot of memories in West Covina, but they are all from my childhood and in a different part of the city. I feel like our part of town is too industrial, too cold and too unfriendly for us to develop any nostalgia. I can't speak for Boyan, but I know that a big part of me can't wait to say goodbye to West Covina forever. But in the back of my mind, in the pit of my stomach, is the fear and anxiety that comes with change.
We should be completely moved in by April 25th, Boyan will probably stay behind for the last week of April as we had to pay our rent up until May 3rd. We'll re-paint the walls white with primer and clean the carpets in order to get as much of our deposit back as possible. But before that is Boyan's birthday as well as my brother Pat. They happen to have been born on the same day three years apart. I don't know what we'll do for that besides dinner with the family, but for those of you who are interested (and invited of course) we will probably have a Birthday/Housewarming party in May.
I have not had too much time to write with all this moving and packing tumult. It's frustrating not being able to devote my time to something I feel I so desperately need to do. It almost feels like I'm neglecting a crying baby; I want to hold it and comfort it, but I'm tied down by necessities of life. I hate it. I'm just going to have to sneak in time here and there. I know once we move I'll have a lot of time alone to write, as I'll be waiting for Boyan to come home from work; I just need to suck it up until then. I'm a third of the way through my first revision, and I'm finding a lot of places in the story where I need to add back story and even a couple more chapters. I think I've said this before but I want to say it again. Writing is the hardest thing I've ever done, and the most rewarding. Even if the things I write don't get published there is something to be said about creating something. Building something from the floor up that stands on it's own with you as the progenitor. It's an amazing feeling.
I see myself spending a lot of time at the library working on my book. I'm hoping that I'll get accepted to Bennington, or get the Tinhouse seminar scholarship (both would be amazing), so that I could have some help work shopping the book. Right now it feels like everything is floating around in my head and I need to get it all organized in a way that makes sense. I can honestly say I'll probably revise this book at least six times if not more. I want to get it done done by the end of the year so I can start looking for an agent. It might be hard as Boyan's sister Natalia is coming to live with us for three months, but I'll just have to make time. I'm hoping to buy a bike pretty soon, so if I need some alone time I can just hop on and ride down to the library or to Cacao which is just up the street from our new place.
I keep having these dreams that I open our mailbox to find the large Bennington folder. I've dreamt about it so much that when I do open our mailbox, I swear I hallucinate that the big thick white envelop is actually there. It's insane. I hate waiting to hear back, it's torture. I had a crazy dream last night that I got caught up in a tornado, and when the tornado hit me I floated and was weightless. I woke up a second after the tornado hit me in my dream, and I swear I woke up feeling like I was floating.
I looked up the meaning of tornadoes in dreams, and it says that it's a "loss of control dream." I sat there hoping the tornado would skip past me, helpless and when it came there was nothing I could do. In a world where everything is crazy and tumultuous, my writing is something I can control. It's something I actively do to better myself. I wonder if my inability to write because of our move has made me subconsciously feel out of control. Or if it's because I'm waiting to hear back from Bennington. I guess it's something to think about.
So, that's my update. A lot going on right now, a lot of unknown variables but that's okay. That's what life is all about right? If we knew what was going to happen it wouldn't be so exciting.
Until next time, this tornado loves you.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
The year that was...
Well there it is. 2008 is gone and we're welcoming 2009 with open arms and the promise of change. But before we get too ahead of ourselves let us look back on what was promised to be an historic year.
January
It seems like it was only yesterday that Mariana came to visit. January was an up and down month. A month filled with family, fun, and heartbreak. Or maybe just...car break. My car was broken into on New Years Day, not a great start to 2008.
February
2008 was the much-anticipated election year, and February was when the election debates really started to heat up. I stirred up some controversy with friends and family by supporting Ron Paul, but other than that February was a relatively quiet month. Boyan started working at Newegg at the beginning of the month, and we enjoyed each other's company at lunch.
March
March was the month we said goodbye to Bill Dotta. I can't say again how loved this man was. He is missed by many and forgotten by none.
We also said goodbye to Stephanie. She moved cross-country to tackle the Big Apple.
I made owesome cupcakes and read...a lot.
Oh, and I found this amazing animated food fight.
April
April slugged by. Boyan celebrated his 25th birthday on the 18th. We had a bunch of Elysee people over and it was a lot of fun.
May
In May a bunch of us girls traveled down to Temecula for a weekend of drinking and spa-ing for Ruth's Bachelorette Party!
June
June was a very happy month. On June 8th Boyan and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and at the end of the month I left the god-forsaken offices of Newegg for the bright and shiny offices of Demand Media by the sea. It would mark the beginning of a daily 80 mile commute, but it was well worth it to get far away from the People's Republic of NE. Boyan and I invested in a little scooter, so Boyan could get to and from work without me and we looked towards July as a month that would start a new chapter in our lives.
July
July went by quickly and painlessly. Boyan and I adjusted to our new schedules and we wished a Happy Birthday to Mom, George and Grandma. I prepared for my trip to Chicago in August and decided that I would cut off all my hair!
August
I had a blast visiting Chicago for the short amount of time I was there. Ruth was a beautiful bride, and it was fun having all us girls together!
August was the month that I begun reading Twilight. Enough said.
August was also the month that I had to bid goodbye to my dear friend and fellow bibliophile Emily. It was a very very sad time indeed.
September
In September was I blessed enough to stumble upon Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. My appetite for books was as voracious as ever and I continued my spree by reading a total of six books in September alone.
October
The month began in Las Vegas. Or rather, I began my month in Las Vegas for Stephanie's Bachelorette Party. We did what people do in Vegas, and generally had a good time.
I slipped into my 24th year of living rather quietly without fuss or frenzy. The friends that matter called me to wish me a happy one, those who forgot quite simply forgot and that's fine.
I decided to take some initiative with my writing and started taking a class at UCLA extension.
And finally I said goodbye to the rest of my hair. Dawning a new shorter do a la Michelle Williams.
Boyan and I went to New York to visit my dear friend Janea and her boyfriend Jon and we had a wonderful time despite New York being "filthy" as Boyan would call it. We walked more than six miles not including miles tracked inside museums, shops and the like in one day, but we had a blast.
October was also the month that Stephanie got married!
November
I went to Louisiana to visit Emily and it was owesome!
We ate Benoits, and didn't care when we got powdered sugar all over everything.
We saw the Twilight Movie. Then bitched for the rest of the weekend about how god-awful it was.
We went to a plantation and desecrated the Slaves quarters.
I rang a really old bell...I don't think I was supposed to...EMILY MADE ME I SWEAR!
We went to Pat O's in New Orleans and got way drunk off of one Hurricane.
When I got back, I followed Britta's lead and cast my life as a movie.
December
December was a great month. My short story, "The Second Time" was published in The Broadkill Review! I couldn't be happier. I finished my class and got ready for the holidays. Britta was up from San Diego so she accompanied me to my Holiday Party.
And finally the year came full circle on December 30th, when my car was broken into again. Instead of stealing my iPod, they stole my CD's and attempted to steal my stereo but failed. I'm grateful that they didn't break my windows again, but I'm starting to wonder if these thieves really like my taste in music or are just incredibly stupid. Either way, Boyan and I aren't going to stick around to find out.
2008 was a good year as I predicted it would be. Ups and downs and small achievements here and there. I lost about 25 pounds since the beginning of the year, got a new job, got published! And, not to brag but just for my own personal satisfaction, here is a list of all the books I read from January to December:
A Wrinkle in Time (re-read) Madeleine L'Engle
The Secret Garden (re-read) Frances Hodgson Burnett
I Wanted to Write Kenneth Roberts
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much Donna Andrews
Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice
Old Man's War John Scalzi
Murder Melts in Your Mouth Nancy Martin
The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice
The Ghost Brigades John Scalzi
The Queen of the Damned Anne Rice
Xenocide Orson Scott Card
Children of the Mind Orson Scott Card
The Last Colony John Scalzi
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein
Middlemarch George Eliot
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Lauren Willig
Twilight (x3) Stephenie Meyer
Marked (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Betrayed (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Chosen (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
New Moon (x2) Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse (x2) Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn (x2) Stephenie Meyer
The Gunslinger Stephen King
The Drawing of the Three Stephen King
The Host: A Novel Stephenie Meyer
Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
Battle Royale Koushun Takami
Untamed Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Uglies Scott Westerfeld
Pretties Scott Westerfeld
Specials Scott Westerfeld
Extras Scott Westerfeld
Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
On Writing Stephen King
That's a whopping 35 for those of you keeping count. And thats not including the books I read more than once (which would bring it up to 40, an average of 3.5 books every month. That's about a book a week!).
2008 was a very successful year. I only hope 2009 is bigger and brighter.
Oh! And one last note. I just want to say...Happy Birthday Joanish! Happy 25th! And congrats on Law School, I'll be seeing you soon in San Diego. Love you.
January
It seems like it was only yesterday that Mariana came to visit. January was an up and down month. A month filled with family, fun, and heartbreak. Or maybe just...car break. My car was broken into on New Years Day, not a great start to 2008.
February
2008 was the much-anticipated election year, and February was when the election debates really started to heat up. I stirred up some controversy with friends and family by supporting Ron Paul, but other than that February was a relatively quiet month. Boyan started working at Newegg at the beginning of the month, and we enjoyed each other's company at lunch.
March
March was the month we said goodbye to Bill Dotta. I can't say again how loved this man was. He is missed by many and forgotten by none.
We also said goodbye to Stephanie. She moved cross-country to tackle the Big Apple.
I made owesome cupcakes and read...a lot.
Oh, and I found this amazing animated food fight.
April
April slugged by. Boyan celebrated his 25th birthday on the 18th. We had a bunch of Elysee people over and it was a lot of fun.
May
In May a bunch of us girls traveled down to Temecula for a weekend of drinking and spa-ing for Ruth's Bachelorette Party!
June
June was a very happy month. On June 8th Boyan and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and at the end of the month I left the god-forsaken offices of Newegg for the bright and shiny offices of Demand Media by the sea. It would mark the beginning of a daily 80 mile commute, but it was well worth it to get far away from the People's Republic of NE. Boyan and I invested in a little scooter, so Boyan could get to and from work without me and we looked towards July as a month that would start a new chapter in our lives.
July
July went by quickly and painlessly. Boyan and I adjusted to our new schedules and we wished a Happy Birthday to Mom, George and Grandma. I prepared for my trip to Chicago in August and decided that I would cut off all my hair!
August
I had a blast visiting Chicago for the short amount of time I was there. Ruth was a beautiful bride, and it was fun having all us girls together!
August was the month that I begun reading Twilight. Enough said.
August was also the month that I had to bid goodbye to my dear friend and fellow bibliophile Emily. It was a very very sad time indeed.
September
In September was I blessed enough to stumble upon Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. My appetite for books was as voracious as ever and I continued my spree by reading a total of six books in September alone.
October
The month began in Las Vegas. Or rather, I began my month in Las Vegas for Stephanie's Bachelorette Party. We did what people do in Vegas, and generally had a good time.
I slipped into my 24th year of living rather quietly without fuss or frenzy. The friends that matter called me to wish me a happy one, those who forgot quite simply forgot and that's fine.
I decided to take some initiative with my writing and started taking a class at UCLA extension.
And finally I said goodbye to the rest of my hair. Dawning a new shorter do a la Michelle Williams.
Boyan and I went to New York to visit my dear friend Janea and her boyfriend Jon and we had a wonderful time despite New York being "filthy" as Boyan would call it. We walked more than six miles not including miles tracked inside museums, shops and the like in one day, but we had a blast.
October was also the month that Stephanie got married!
November
I went to Louisiana to visit Emily and it was owesome!
We ate Benoits, and didn't care when we got powdered sugar all over everything.
We saw the Twilight Movie. Then bitched for the rest of the weekend about how god-awful it was.
We went to a plantation and desecrated the Slaves quarters.
I rang a really old bell...I don't think I was supposed to...EMILY MADE ME I SWEAR!
We went to Pat O's in New Orleans and got way drunk off of one Hurricane.
When I got back, I followed Britta's lead and cast my life as a movie.
December
December was a great month. My short story, "The Second Time" was published in The Broadkill Review! I couldn't be happier. I finished my class and got ready for the holidays. Britta was up from San Diego so she accompanied me to my Holiday Party.
And finally the year came full circle on December 30th, when my car was broken into again. Instead of stealing my iPod, they stole my CD's and attempted to steal my stereo but failed. I'm grateful that they didn't break my windows again, but I'm starting to wonder if these thieves really like my taste in music or are just incredibly stupid. Either way, Boyan and I aren't going to stick around to find out.
2008 was a good year as I predicted it would be. Ups and downs and small achievements here and there. I lost about 25 pounds since the beginning of the year, got a new job, got published! And, not to brag but just for my own personal satisfaction, here is a list of all the books I read from January to December:
A Wrinkle in Time (re-read) Madeleine L'Engle
The Secret Garden (re-read) Frances Hodgson Burnett
I Wanted to Write Kenneth Roberts
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much Donna Andrews
Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice
Old Man's War John Scalzi
Murder Melts in Your Mouth Nancy Martin
The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice
The Ghost Brigades John Scalzi
The Queen of the Damned Anne Rice
Xenocide Orson Scott Card
Children of the Mind Orson Scott Card
The Last Colony John Scalzi
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein
Middlemarch George Eliot
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Lauren Willig
Twilight (x3) Stephenie Meyer
Marked (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Betrayed (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Chosen (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
New Moon (x2) Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse (x2) Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn (x2) Stephenie Meyer
The Gunslinger Stephen King
The Drawing of the Three Stephen King
The Host: A Novel Stephenie Meyer
Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
Battle Royale Koushun Takami
Untamed Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Uglies Scott Westerfeld
Pretties Scott Westerfeld
Specials Scott Westerfeld
Extras Scott Westerfeld
Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
On Writing Stephen King
That's a whopping 35 for those of you keeping count. And thats not including the books I read more than once (which would bring it up to 40, an average of 3.5 books every month. That's about a book a week!).
2008 was a very successful year. I only hope 2009 is bigger and brighter.
Oh! And one last note. I just want to say...Happy Birthday Joanish! Happy 25th! And congrats on Law School, I'll be seeing you soon in San Diego. Love you.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Where have I been all your life?
Not blogging, that's for sure. But I'm an equal opportunity slacker, I haven't even been blogging at work, which is technically (okay maybe not *technically but practically) what I get paid to do.
I don't know what it is, maybe the lack of comments on previous posts (that's right, I'm blaming YOU!) or maybe because I gave up gossip for lent and haven't been prowling the internet as much as before but I haven't been inspired to blog. But here is what I have been doing since my last post on February 15th.
Reading, a lot
Just this week I read three books. It's really kind of silly. Since February 15th I have read:
I Wanted to Write by Kenneth Roberts: The Autobiography of the man who wrote Northwest Passage and Arundel among many other novels.
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews: A fun murder mystery that Boyan gave me for Christmas
Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
Old Man's War by John Scalzi: A sci-fi book I read online for free as a new member of Tor.com
Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast: The third in this mother-daughter writing team's "House of Night" series.
And I am finishing up The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice right now.
It's all light and fun reading but it has been a nice mental break.
I've also been trying to discover new artists, which brings me to my new musical obsession Neko Case.
You could describe her music as country, but it transcends genre. It's honest and authentic and soulful and it reminds me of my childhood.
A childhood spent in Apple Valley riding horses and singing to old western songs like, "Jambalaya" sung by Hank Williams and "Don't Fence me in," sang by Roy Rogers.
Which brings me to my most recent sad news. A very close family friend Bill Dotta passed away this week. He was a force of a human being, a legend in his own right.
Many of my youthful days were spent at his house with my family and his listening to his stories of being in the Navy during World War II, of his brothers and growing up in Oklahoma. I'd listen to him call my best friend Bando a "Son of a bitch" and my mother "Squaw." Which from him were terms of endearment.
I've never dealt well with death, I tend to go into denial and pretend like it never happened. I don't know if it's my own belief that death isn't something to be afraid of (and I know how easy it is to feel that way when death seems so far off for myself) or my inability to believe that I'll never talk to that person again, or hug them, but I just can't bring myself to think about it. I don't know what to say to people who grieve, how do I comfort someone who is grief stricken when I can't allow myself to accept the reality of death and grieve myself.
Either way, Bill Dotta was beloved by all those who knew him. He was a beautiful, rough and tough human being. I will miss him, but I know he won't be forgotten by me or anyone who knew him. Tales of his tenacity will be told to generations far past my own.
I don't know what it is, maybe the lack of comments on previous posts (that's right, I'm blaming YOU!) or maybe because I gave up gossip for lent and haven't been prowling the internet as much as before but I haven't been inspired to blog. But here is what I have been doing since my last post on February 15th.
Reading, a lot
Just this week I read three books. It's really kind of silly. Since February 15th I have read:
I Wanted to Write by Kenneth Roberts: The Autobiography of the man who wrote Northwest Passage and Arundel among many other novels.
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews: A fun murder mystery that Boyan gave me for Christmas
Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
Old Man's War by John Scalzi: A sci-fi book I read online for free as a new member of Tor.com
Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast: The third in this mother-daughter writing team's "House of Night" series.
And I am finishing up The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice right now.
It's all light and fun reading but it has been a nice mental break.
I've also been trying to discover new artists, which brings me to my new musical obsession Neko Case.
You could describe her music as country, but it transcends genre. It's honest and authentic and soulful and it reminds me of my childhood.A childhood spent in Apple Valley riding horses and singing to old western songs like, "Jambalaya" sung by Hank Williams and "Don't Fence me in," sang by Roy Rogers.
Which brings me to my most recent sad news. A very close family friend Bill Dotta passed away this week. He was a force of a human being, a legend in his own right.
Many of my youthful days were spent at his house with my family and his listening to his stories of being in the Navy during World War II, of his brothers and growing up in Oklahoma. I'd listen to him call my best friend Bando a "Son of a bitch" and my mother "Squaw." Which from him were terms of endearment.
I've never dealt well with death, I tend to go into denial and pretend like it never happened. I don't know if it's my own belief that death isn't something to be afraid of (and I know how easy it is to feel that way when death seems so far off for myself) or my inability to believe that I'll never talk to that person again, or hug them, but I just can't bring myself to think about it. I don't know what to say to people who grieve, how do I comfort someone who is grief stricken when I can't allow myself to accept the reality of death and grieve myself.
Either way, Bill Dotta was beloved by all those who knew him. He was a beautiful, rough and tough human being. I will miss him, but I know he won't be forgotten by me or anyone who knew him. Tales of his tenacity will be told to generations far past my own.
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