something to live by.

For 2010 shall be a year of greatness. And behind that greatness will be a better person. Here's my idea of the way I'd like to live my life in 2010 and beyond...

Desiderata
by Max Ehrmann, c 1920

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

it's that time...

of year again. decorations, how i adore thee.

(corn street/city center)

(corn street/city center)

(college green)

(park street)

best. poem. ever.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

a joni mitchell kind of day

today, as the pitter-pattering of rain and responsibility woke me, i laid in bed smiling at the gray sky.

(the view from my window)

i put on one of my joni mitchell favorites, 'come in from the cold.'

"when i thought life had some meaning
when i thought i had some choice,
and i made some value judgments in a self-important voice.

but then absurdity came over me
and i longed to lose control.

oh all i ever wanted
was just to come in from the cold."
-joni mitchell

i'm a lover of rain and a lover of sunshine. i do not discriminate. it seems that england does though, and sunshine is rarely allowed to show it's face around here. i'm ok with that, as i've become more and more accustomed to the gray hearts, bears, faces and shapes looming over me as i explore my new city.

but sometimes, when you wake up on a sunday and all you can think about are bagels and tea, mother nature tells you to treat yourself kindly. to come in (or stay in, rather) from the cold. your glasses become foggy as a you read and drink a fresh cup of earl grey. you wear your pj's until sunset. you eat cookies while vacuuming. you treat yourself kindly.

that's a joni mitchell kind of day.

rain & peace on park street.

today was chilly, rainy and gloomy (apropos for england in november i suppose). despite my overwhelming feelings of 'i-dont-want-to-leave-my-house-or-do-anything', i forged the rain and went on a stroll to the market....then to a cafe to study. it was nice to sit inside and drink my tea watching the world, the wind and the rain go by outside.

(saturday in caffe nero)

on the way home (after it had cleared up a little bit) i happened upon this little old lady who had also forged the rain, but she was doing it for a cause. i wonder if she had felt the same way that i had this morning, not wanting to leave her (seemingly adorable) little flat, not wanting to do anything, but deciding instead to do something. and i wonder if she'll do it again tomorrow.

(peace on park street)

(re)inspired and (re)educated.

life, as it will, has a way of sneaking up on you. waves of inspiration come and go, priorities ebb and flow, and the seasons come without fail.

thanks to hilarys post, i am now (also) feeling an urge to dust off this blog of mine. and i'm looking foward to it.

my life seems to have taken an interesting turn since my last post. i speak as though i had nothing to do with it, and sometimes i almost feel as if that's true. nonetheless, i am living in bristol, england studying my masters in TESOL (teaching english to speakers of other languages), with the focus being on applied linguistics.

(the streets of bristol, england)

to the question: "so, you want to teach?" my answer is: "i have no idea."

i never knew i would enjoy something so much...the english language especially. but, i have found my passion. and now that i've found it, the hard part is knowing what to do with it.

either way, it feels nice to be back in europe...or, in the uk rather. delicious cheese, earl grey tea and magner's cider are becoming staples in this little british life i'm creating.

i've got one year in bristol and then who knows what's next. but, i'm welcoming it one step at a time. it's going to be a good year.

round ireland with a fridge.

i recently finished reading a book by tony hawks (not the professional skateboarder, a comic englishman) called Round Ireland with a Fridge. i love ireland and i love fridges and i loved this book.

it's a nonfictional account about a drunken bet, hitchhiking (so, traveling), stepping outside of the "norm" mentally and physically and not giving a damn. it's set in the late 90s, just at the brink of the internet and mobile phone takeover. but they hadn't yet taken over (remember those days?) jack kerouac didn't have any of those fancy things and he did just fine. and so did tony hawks.

i recommend the book. i also recommend taking a day-off from the internet and the mobile phone.

if's on a cloudy day.

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

FAIL.

if you're ever feeling blue, going to this website will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face. here's just a taste of it...


see more pwn and owned pictures


see more pwn and owned pictures


see more pwn and owned pictures

inspiration.

any time i can get my hand on amazing new music i am jumping up and down. i'm digging this indie band little dragon from sweden. this video makes my knees weak.

labor day.

though i am currently unemployed, i'm celebrating our day of labor today. i'm back in the states, weary but optimistic.

so far (in the last 4 weeks, since my arrival back to florida) i've celebrated my 25th birthday, had my tarot read, tried pilates for the first time, lived through hurricane fay (or, the most boring 4 days of imprisonment), won 5th place at trivia and watched the most amazingly inspirational democratic national convention.

and, might i add, florida beaches still take my breath away. this was taken a few weeks ago at my uncle's 60th birthday party in ponte vedra beach.

though i may not be laboring today, i hope to soon be laboring and getting back into the economical cycle of this country. america's not so bad. go obama!

the most beautiful place on earth [prague].

i think i could live here. the pictures don't quite capture the dreamy aura that prague emits, but lets be honest, capturing aura has got to be near impossible.

hello's.

i've become quite fond of learning different languages. i can speak english, spanish and very minimal czech. so, just in case you're traveling somewhere new and want to know how to start conversation....here's how to say hello in different languages.

i still haven't found what i'm looking for.

when did i become so cheesy? and when did U2 lyrics become so awesome? oh, bono, you and your ingenuity and spunk.

i use the song "i still haven't found what i'm looking for" to teach my intermediate students the present perfect. i've taught it so many times that i almost feel like it's a part of learning English. [how else will they know the time line that the perfect tense runs...other than playing "never have i ever"...]

but as many times as i hear it, or read it, or print it, i still get it. i don't know if it's everyones aspiration in life; to find what they're looking for. but for some reason i feel like i am one of the lucky few who are delighted with a curious spirit. [meaning, i'm too introspective]

i recently read a book titled "what should i do with my life?" by po bronson. i'm one who falls in love with books quickly, and this one was no exception. it's a non-fictional account of about 50-ish people and their stories [i.e.: what they do with their lives, and how they got there.] it helped me to put things into perspective. and it made me smile. i am not lost. i am only lost-ish.

on that note. i kind of hate blogs. i hate how "introspective" and "self-involved" they are. i wonder why we feel like someone out there would want to read about our cares and journeys and dreams. [well, i guess i do, and i assume 1 or 2 of my friends haha.] but i guess we'd all agree that at this weird point in our lives....this quarter-life-something time....we're all searching for something. and i'm putting it out there...that i still haven't found whatever the hell it is that i'm looking for. and on that note, i am damn well happy nonetheless!

paris please, with a side of cheese.

4 women. 3 americans. 2 leos. 2 cancers. 1 chilean.

last weekend 3 of my best barcelona buds and i set sail to paris, france. ["ohh la la" is right!] monday was a holiday [welcome to spain], so we took advantage of the long weekend. why not blow a couple hundred euros that we don't have in one of the most beautiful cities in the world? exactly.

we stayed in a hostel that was more like an american fast food restaurant - consumerism lining the walls - in a shady neighborhood ["one of the worst, definitely" said a native] - by a shady retention pond. they claimed that locals hang out at the bar downstairs, a bar dubbed "belushie's" [yes, there was that Animal House poster of him wearing the "college" shirt]. why do i doubt that statement? point is, it wasn't that french cottage along the seine that i was envisioning, but it was nice nonetheless. it was clean, they had free tours and they let us crash on the couches for free the last night because we had no where to stay [and i'm usually an obsessive compulsive planner, but thought i'd be spontaneous.]

the first morning we took advantage of 1 of the free tours which started in the latin quarter, along with fellow americans [well, most of them were canadians, but they sound like us, so it's all the same.] our precious [but gregarious] tour guide was telling us his autobiography when all of a sudden we hear this horrible, loud bang. we all turn to see a man laying lifeless in the street. he'd been hit and run over by a bus. it was frightening. we all stood shell-shocked; transfixed. luckily the man started moving a little bit...but i don't know what became of his fate. our tour guide [which i quickly lost respect for] clapped his hands and said "well, that puts a damper on the beginning of the tour." we abandoned the tour shortly after.

that first day we wandered the streets, walking until our bodies started shutting down...haha...literally. we went to the notre dame, louvre, champs-elysées, the arc de triumph, and many'a cute little french store. that night we hit the town and ate the most amazing fondue [...lets talk about how amazing the cheese is here!], escargo and chocolate mousse at an authentic [aka: touristy] french restaurant. it was de-freaking-lish. it ended with a little kitty sitting next to us cleaning itself. i don't know if the kitty lived in the restaurant or was a nomad who'd somehow found its home in our quaint, dimlit hole-in-the-wall space. french kitties are smart.

the next/last day we went to montmarte....by far my favorite spot in beloved paris. the streets are lined with charm and avant garde-ness. we made ourselves at home in every little shop...responding with a smile and a "gracias." [why can i not speak in any other language than spanish these days? barcelona has gotten inside my head just won't leave.] we spoke more spanish there than ever....even met some mexican and spanish travelers. after our rendez-vouz in montmarte we went to the eiffel tower to see what all the hype was about. the sun was setting, and there was a'glow of the sunset on the tower. mmm, nice combination. with 2 bottles of wine in hand we set up shop below the tower and soaked it in.

i have no question why they call paris the city of love. i loved it. i loved the cheese, the beer, the chocolate, the arcitecture, the river, the flow-y dresses adorning the natives, even the pout of the snotty french women...and so on.

and so....my life continues. as long as i have a little getaway every once in a while i will keep my sanity. wandering is not so bad. i kind of dig it.

if there's one thing i know...

it's that i love yoga.
other than that i'm clueless.

kurt vonnegut, jr.

i'm a huge vonnegut fan. he's raw, he's neurotic, he tells it like it is....[the boy version of me? no, i shant be that ostentatious.] he died a little less than a year ago [11 April 2007.] but not without leaving a few masterpieces behind.

the first vonnegut book i read was "cat's cradle". as i finished the book of bokonon, [so it was], i was hooked. i haven't read every one of his books, but i've been crossing them off my list ever since. i read "cat's cradle" in 2004. the beginning of 2004. last weekend i decided to re-explore the book that enchanted me so. so, i reread it. hmm. it was ok. no, it was better than ok, but it wasn't the same. ohhh why oh why wasn't it the same?

is this an analogy of real life? maybe. or maybe, unlike a fine wine, some books peak the first time you read them. anyway, i don't give a damn if "cat's cradle" wasn't as good the second time around. i plan on giving it another shot in 2012. [letting it age on the shelf for 4 more years sounds like a good idea.] also, on that note, i plan on re-exploring 2 other of my favorite vonnegut books this week ["galapogos" and "the sirens of titan".] i want them to be just as good as they were the first time [another analogy of real life?], but i'm not keeping my hopes up.

when the sun goes down in gracia.

a collection of photos.

nice [france] was nice.

i recently celebrated my 1 year anniversary with barcelona. as far as i'm concerned barcelona and i have a great relationship...i am madly in love, i admit it. who knew i could love a city so much. who knew that a city could love you back? who knew that you could become dependent on the smell of panaderías [bakeries], the feel of city bustle, the taste of tortilla bocadillos [omelette sandwiches], or the sight of small dogs and smoke rings following you everywhere you go. i am getting all mushy.

one of my dear friends, kate [a londoner by birth, a wanderer by choice], made a quick move to niza [nice], france a few weeks ago. i tend to do things in haste, so as i drank a bottle of vino tinto i bought tickets to visit her for the weekend [last weekend]. i was accompanied by a few friends: brie, michelle and terri. [listing things in alphabetical order is the only way to list things]

nice was niiiiiiice. the french riveria. just saying "the french riveria" sounds sexy, and oh my did it live up to my expectations. we wined and dined and spent the weekend as old friends do. that's what life here does to you, to me, to everyone...you feel older, wiser, stronger, smarter, closer, and more open to new people and new things. [in this case alphabetical order was unnecessary] and, who knew, it was carnival that weekend as well.

here are a few snapshots...








and, since we were so close, we took a day trip to monaco...

[above: the monte carlo casino]

hello 2008

i went back to florida for a few weeks for christmas & new years. it was so nice to be back in the motherland. the weather was divine...and the air, like an old friend, welcomed me as i exited the airport. i love florida air, i love southern air. i just like the fact that we have blessed laws that prohibit us from smoking in restaurants. being back in barca i can already feel the black lung kicking in.

i really enjoyed my time with my friends & family...but i was excited to get back to spain...back to my freedom, back to my who's its & what's its, back to the land of small coffee's & large beers.

it's 2008 and i almost feel like i have nothing to show for it. i have a bachelor's in journalism, a job in journalism, a job in event planning, and a job teaching english. [geez, only an american would sum up their life in terms of how accredited their resume appears.] i wish i had a gold medal from some olympic event, or a hit song, or a nice piece of property.

2008 seems like a year from the science-fiction-version of the future. why aren't we wearing space suits & reading each other's minds? i swear if we get a 6th sense it will be telepathy, and if not i'll be pissed.

i'm looking forward to 2008...i don't know what the hell i'm doing or where i'm going, but hopefully it'll lead me somewhere nice.