Category Archives: community

community, conversations, travel

Overheard conversations

I love listening to other people talk to each other. There’s a guy and a girl in the back corner of the coffee shop that I’m sitting in to supposedly do homework, and I totally got distracted by their conversation. They started by talking about music and they sound so pretentious. Like they’re so brilliant and they hold all the secrets to society. Then they moved onto phrases they’d picked up from shows and movies. He’s kinda dopey looking, with light brown hair that is short and rests flat on his head and in a black t-shirt, I think from a band or a movie. I can’t really see her without staring, but she has brown hair with the dyed red tint, a brownish suede looking jacket and is wearing jeans. The tone of their voices just sounds so ridiculously like the thoughtful tone acquired by those in movies who are poets or artists and work to make people think about their lives because they are so ‘thoughtful’. I know that I’m being quite judgmental, but I can’t help it. They sound like they should be wearing yuppie thrift-store clothes and sitting in a coffee shop in a movie debating the what the biggest downfall of society as we know it is. They should be in a movie from Kevin Smith. Apparently they’re 20 because they were just talking about how they want to be 21 because 20 is nothing and 21 they can go to Vegas and play the slot machines. They’ll find out soon enough that 21 and slot machines aren’t really that cool either and they’ll come back and sit in another coffee shop on another day discussing the faults of our society that their 21 and so much wiser selves will have found still exist and by the time they’re 25 they’ll be jaded and continue on their pretentious rants about the faults and shortcomings of the world we live in.

           

It’s funny, but they make me hopeful for tomorrow, because there will always be those who sit around in coffee shops and think that they, and they alone can see the world for the crappy place that it is and that by discussing its faults in coffee shops they’ll be that much better for it. I love how as we all grow we see that as much as everything changes, there’s still so much that’s consistent. Everything may change in the 21st century and maybe we have to be ready for it, but there will still be those things that are consistent. Because we all share some very common characteristics. It is these shared traits that make me hopeful for humanity in the long run, even the bad ones, because in these lie what guides us and provides the entry points for hope and salvation. As annoying as people can be, they are fantastic.

community, travel

do I know you?

          So I thought I was sitting next to someone who I’ve only ever read about. Not in celebrity magazines or online, but someone from a friend’s story. I picked the seat simply because it was the closest one on the aisle, which I love to sit on in planes, and I didn’t realize it until we were in the midst of takeoff.

            I’d just read through my friend’s story about his brother. It was well written, and I felt like I could see him in the story, but when it comes to picking someone out of a crowd based on the written description of them I’m terrible. If I could only have seen him interact with someone in the way that I saw him in the story, I would have known for sure. But I simply had a description of him as not suffering from male-pattern baldness but still shaving his head, intimidating, raspy voice, somewhere in the neighborhood of 37 now, and not having baby-blue eyes. The tattoo that would clench it is on his chest above his heart, and since this guy’s wearing a white thermal, I have no idea if he has a tattoo or not.

            I almost asked him several times if he was the one that the story was based on. I wouldn’t have phrased it that way, mostly because I don’t know if he knows he’s the subject of his brother’s story, but I nearly talked to him just to find out if he even had a brother. That’s saying something since I don’t so much like to talk to people who I don’t know.

            But then I wondered how many times we do things like this – sit next to people we’ve heard stories about without meeting and never know that the person from the story is a hand’s breadth away? How many people do I know their secrets without knowing their face? And what if all they needed was to know that there was someone out there who knows them? How many people’s days would be made with the simple act of finding out that they are talked about? What a weird, interesting idea. Maybe there should be a story. I love traveling.

 

community, reading, self-reflection

How I’ve spent my time…

So I decided today that what I needed today was to hang out with people that I like and that I hardly ever see, and it was a brilliant idea. I finished a paper that I didn’t really want to do, and I was inspired to write again.

So here I am writing. I’ve had quite a lot going on that’s kept me from working on any of my stories and more that I have to do before I’ll get a chance to really work on any of them. It makes me sad that I have so much to do that I can’t write stories. It’s also quite frustrating that I want to write, but cannot.

On the plus side I’ve gotten two very daunting elements of my MA program done. The first is that I’ve completed my M.A. exam. It’s basically a comprehensive examination that tests if I can write an essay in 2 and a half hours. I had to write 2 essays on 1 Sat. It was kinda brutal, but I survived.

The second part is a project or thesis. This again goes in stages, but I am so much more excited about it. The first stage is to write a proposal that basically states, in 5 pages, what I want to write 50 – 70 pages about. My proposal was accepted so now I get to study some of Marianne Moore’s letters and I get to look at Cory Doctorow’s blogs/podcasts/website and talk about how the technological changes from Moore to Doctorow pose potential difficulties for textual scholars. And I’m a big enough nerd that I’m so excited that I just want to start working on my project now. I’m really excited to start looking and see what I’ll find.  I wish the semester was over so I had time to work on my project as well as write stories. I’m so happy it was accepted.

So that’s what I’ve been up to recently. And why it’s important for me to take this time to spend with people that I like but never get to see. And I’m explaining why the story is still unfinished. I apparently am feeling guilty about how I’m spending my time since I’m justifying myself on my blog…

community

An airport that’s not terrifying

3 Comments

So I’ve just found my new favorite airport. The Long Beach Airport in California totally rocks. It’s tiny and doesn’t have too many flights, but it has the feel of when flying was really fun. Even the TSA agents are nice. I was very flustered coming to this airport because I had no idea what I was doing and I kept forgetting to do all the things that I know I need to – like take off my flip-flops, take off my belt, take off my sweatshirt – and rather than snap at me like I’ve had in other airports, they were very kind and said it was fine. Maybe it’s because the line for security can’t be very long since there just isn’t the room for it, maybe it’s because coming to this airport is like traveling to a happier time, or maybe Long Beach is just lucky. Whatever the reason I have found a new place that makes me happy.

community, fun sites, helping

Cool things that I’ve learned about online that help others

So one of the things that I love is easy ways to help others. Here are a few links that I’ve come across through the lovely internet. The first is Kiva.org which is a website that creates opportunities for people to provide micro loans for others around the world. I think this is fantastic since numerous people only need what many consider a small amount of money to fund their business ideas. The other is Freerice.com which lets people play word games to donate rice to people around the world. There’s no signing up, there’s no financial commitment, you just have to click on the definition of the word that’s provided. And that’s probably the best thing ever. It’s a more productive way to waste those extra few minutes. Just wanted to share these because that’s what I like to do. Sharing is caring.