Disasters

It’s crazy what can happen while we sleep. It seems unfair that a place can be devastated by two natural disasters in the span of a few hours. I went to bed at two thirty and had just logged off of Twitter. I saw the news about the earthquake. I woke up and heard tsunami news out of Japan and thought it was wrong.
I don’t know if it’s because I am more news savvy/tech savvy nowadays or if the world is just having more disasters recently. How many devastating earthquakes happened last year? I have never been on board with the 2012 hype but I have to say, I’m getting ready to start keeping an emergency pack ala Sheldon Cooper.


Sheldon judges you for not having an emergency pack.

When everyone was afraid of the bird flu here while I was in high school my dad started hoarding water and canned goods. My whole family teased him about it. We had giant water bottles in our basement for months. Even though bird flu never really took off here (get it? Took off?...sorry) he had wanted to make sure that we would be prepared if it did.
Natural disasters continue to baffle, amaze, and terrify me. I can never seem to wrap my head around them. Sometimes these disasters are made worse by shoddy building codes or out of date engineering. One of the posts going through my Twitter is that the real story is the fact that if Japan hadn’t had such strict building codes this could have been a thousand times worse.
I can honestly say that until very recently I had very little interest in traveling to Japan. My desire to go there grew slowly and was fueled by travel shows, movies and pictures. I think the thing that did it for me was a combination of watching Lost in Translation and seeing Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episode about Japan.


Beautiful movie poster



The neon, the nightlife, the interesting food…all things that I look for in a hypothetical future destination. I also spend a summer working at a hibatchi grill restaurant. One of the guys who worked there was more talkative than the others. He was always going to karaoke after work. I thought that this was hilarious. He was so shy and his voice was quiet. He told me right before he moved to New York that he was some sort of national champion karaoke singer in Japan.
My thoughts are with Japan today. If anyone happens to be looking for a chairity then please check out Shelter Box or even YA author Maureen Johnson's site (she is hosting a contest for those who donate).

http://www.shelterbox.org/

or

http://www.maureenjohnsonbooks.com/2011/03/11/shelterbox-in-japan/

Back From the Dead

Hey what's this? I have a blog? Oh...I remember now.

Anyway, I will be trying to blog more often from now on. Also, I will try to use my Twitter for good and not just for forwarding funny demotivational posters.



I can officially say that I know someone who has been arrested. And get this, its for A GOOD CAUSE. My friend from work, Jesse, along with several other protesters were arrested outside of Ohio Senator and Speaker of the House John Boehner's office. Mr. Boehner makes a very big fuss about his "open door"policy. Jesse and his friends went into Boehner's office with a petition about repealing the use of tax payer dollars on the "Defense of Marriage" act (a bill to keep marriage between a man and woman). Mr. Boehner locked the doors and refused to look at the petition. Jesse and his friends continued to talk to him about the petition through the closed door until the cops came to arrest them. I have never been so proud of someone I know. Follow the link to the story and maybe leave some supportive comments!

http://www.wlwt.com/politics/27138743/detail.html

I have a goal and that goal is to post every day up to my birthday (march 26th). I will try and bring fun things to you up to then, including a review of Sucker Punch!

Nostalgia

Maybe it's because I'm back in school or maybe because the snow just keeps coming but I am thinking a lot about New Orleans today. Not really about living there as much as my favorite time spent there. Have you ever remembered something and been able to recall a feeling with it? Like your gut is remembering it along with your brain?

I'm thinking about volunteering there two summers after Katrina. About how we worked ate our GoPicnic's sitting on the ground next to the swamp, covered head to toe in mud. About working on the groundskeeper's house in the boys school where Louis Armstrong first played and how the giant tree's shaded everyone as we sat on the porch talking about the places we had been. The sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing an obstacle (like a really thick old wall), being given the proper tools (like a sledgehammer) and not stopping until you've succeeded. I think that's a fantastic metaphor for life. We can almost always identify what is standing in our way. All we need from that point is the right tools and persistence. This semester I need to keep that feeling with me. The feeling I had when the last piece of that wall came down. I was tired and sore and sweaty but I'm not sure that I have ever felt better about myself.

Sitting on the giant old porch with Sarah, brandon, and Quanice was the first time I ever viewed volunteering as a way to see the world. Sarah had been everywhere, as had our roommate Bassima (who is now in the Peace Core and stationed in Mongolia). The connection that you have with the people in an area through volunteering is unlike anything else. That was the first time I KNEW I would live there.

I'm watching the snow cover everything outside but I can't stop remembering the feel of the breeze while Sarah told me stories of her travels and the world seemed accessible to me for the first time.

Just a Quickie

So I am running on limited time as I invited the boy over for homemade nachos and Supernatural watching before I have to leave for work. I clearly over estimated my "wake up and go" drive.

This week I am querying my favorite lit agent, Barry Goldblatt. I haven't been this nervous since High School. What if he doesn't like me? What if he turns me down? What if he laughs about my silly little plot with his friends in the Literary locker room later?
I stumbled upon a term, "Exclusive" and perhaps. like with boyfriends, this is the term one uses to snag a literary agent. An exclusive basically means I am giving him first dibs. He will know that I picked his agency to be the first agency to ever see my book. (lesson from HS: guys LOVE knowing they are the first to see what you're showing them).

So please, wish me luck. I am off to go shop for some nacho supplies.

On (Halloween and) Writing

Well, my favorite holiday is done and I am left with an empty place in my heart (stomach) where the halloween spirit (candy) used to be. I went to Covington Ky. and saw some mighty interesting costumes. There was a nun having Satan's baby, a California raisin, and a VERY convincing Allen from the Hangover complete with full beard and front baby carrier. There was also Zombie Marilyn Monroe, a martian, bert and Ernie, and Slash.

There was Sarah, who was "a shitty lion tamer" (note: she has no legs and only one arm IRL)


and me and Branden, a voodoo doll and a voodoo doctor

Our Halloween Miracle happened after the first bar. We were all trying to be conservative with our money this year and had a drink budget. Leaving the first bar Sarah found a $20 bill on her wheelchair. Someone had dropped it and it fell right in for our broke asses to find.

Now that Halloween is over, it is NaNoWriMo. This year I am actually editing the novel I did for last year's NaNo and writing one that has been in my head, rolling around for years now. I'm pretty excited about it.

Halloween has started

Since last year I was sure that I was going to be Sherlock Holmes for Halloween. Last week I changed my mind. I was worried that it would be hard to decipher what I was and that the need for specific costume elements would convince me to pay more money for them. As I was thinking this over I flipped on The Skeleton Key and it made me realize two things. One, once I move I am NEVER going into the rural areas and Two, I should be a voodoo doll. So thats that. In my head it will be the cheapest (for sure as I am known for spending cringe worthy amounts on costumes) and the most creative (since my mom used to hand make my costumes anyway.) Even better, Branden has been talked into going as a voodoo priest/witch doctor guy.


like Dr, Facilier from The Princess and The Frog

Last night I went to my first Halloween event. Me and Branden plus his married friends, Joey and Chrissy went as nerds.

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Nerd-tastic!


We all had kick me signs which resulted in Branden and Joey getting kicked by a little kid in the gas station.



It was so much fun and it makes me even more excited for my next costume.

Morning in Michigan

I seriously think that I am finally getting back into this writing game. Even though I haven't edited too much recently I think about my story a lot and the direction that I want it to go in. I have also found a part time job for Patch.com where I would review different businesses in the area. It is meant to become a hyper-local publication that has a listing and review for every business in an area. The best part is that I can do it for as long as I want. There aren't any reviewer's in Ohio or Louisiana at all yet. I spoke with one of the head people for my phone interview and we talked about my desire to be a travel writer. He said that after a few towns under my belt I should talk to my local editor about having my own travel column. So not only does it pay remarkably well for freelance but it is also an awesome stepping stone for me.

At work today Branden was telling me about how his aunt drives cars to different states for dealerships and such. He said that he was going with her while she retrieved a car from Michigan tomorrow morning. My first thought was that I have never been to Michigan. I checked and after I realized that I don't work until five tomorrow I asked if I could ride along, offering up my eclectic iPod and conversation skills. So, now I am leaving for Michigan at five in the morning.

A lot of people are starting to take a Gap Year. Canada, along with many European countries, are encouraging students to take a year off between graduating High School and starting College. The Gap Year is supposed to give students a taste of "the real world", or time for travel and prioritizing. After becoming more and more frustrated with my education the longer I was in school the more I started to seriously consider the Gap Year. If I had taken one before starting school I think that my whole experience would have been different. I think that I would have applied to more places and I would not have went to the college I chose. I never wanted to go there but listened to too many people tell me that my High School grades were too poor to get in where I wanted. In all honestly, they were but my SAT score was pretty damn good. I would have at least stood a chance. I also probably would not have majored in Writing. I don't think that writing is something that can be taught in class. I don't think that taking three creative writing classes and ten thousand literature classes is going to help me in the long run.

Taking all of this into consideration I think (think being the operative word) that my "new" plan is to graduate from UNO and take graduate classes at Loyola. I always wanted the "college experience" and let other people talk me out of it. I don't know if I will ever forgive myself for that but if it encourages me into grad school...maybe it was for the best.