Sumpin' Witty

I've been working a lot lately. One might say, I've been getting my hustle on. Picking up any last odd job that I can, stashing up for winter like a little squirrel. And it's been great. A lot of my friends are off having summer vacations and enjoying the warm, lazy days of August, the last hurrah of summer. But I have been working. And in direct correlation to working a lot, I have been watching a lot of T.V.. Now, I don't actually have cable, and I don't watch current T.V., but after a long day's work, coming home and putting on Law and Order is about all my brain can handle. It's like as soon as I hear that theme song, Duh duh , my mind shuts down and I can start to unwind. I do not enjoy the fact that this has become my routine. African Sunset Piggy Bank For the past two school years, not calender years, I have worked at a middle school in Oakland. That job, drained me. As much as I enjoyed some of the kids I worked with, the Monday through Friday...

I just dropped my friend Kat off at Bart in West Oakland. Her flight from San Francisco to Rwanda leaves at 10:30am. I'm usually all for airport runs. Pick ups, drop offs, trips to get lost luggage. But this time, it just made sense for her to take Bart. The traffic on the way to the city during commute time would have added an extra hour or two to her whole travel day, which is long enough as is. I do love going to the airport though, even if I'm not flying. Almost more actually because I'm not a big fan of flying, I just like being in that travel vibe. I feel like I've had my fill of airplane hours. Hearing Kat run through her flight itineray, I went through a strange wave of emotions. Four hours from SFO to Chicago, eight hours to Brussles, another eight hours to Rwanda. A few hours for layovers, that's a lot of plane time. I do love that sleep deprived, semi-delirious, strung out feeling from all those hours in tiny seats, malnourished by airplane food, if you...

I realize I've been ranting and raving a little bit and stuck in a bit of a depressed place for the past few days. This is something I struggle with as I am always wanting to be somewhere else, traveling, experiencing something new, but financially, I am tied to my current situation. I know patience is a virtue and I am working on reminding myself that everything happens when it is meant to, not when we want it to. I think I've been a little testier than usual since I'm suffering from a bit of jealousy towards two of my friend's upcoming plans and adventures. My friend Joanna is going to Spain for six weeks to visit her dad. She goes to Spain about once a year and it's not a huge deal because she travels a lot, so I'm pretty used to saying goodbye and seeing her in a few months. She has already been in Colombia, Ecuador, and Ghana this year. She gets around. She was in the Peace Core in Ecuador and just finished her masters in Public Health at UC Berkeley so...

It's a funny thing, how tied up your identity can become with your job, your profession, the thing you do to get a pay check. Such a solid question, usually one of the first things you ask someone when first meeting them. You start by exchanging names, then ask, "Where you from?" followed usually by "What do you do?". Now, this question has always annoyed me. What do I do? I do a lot of things. What do I do to make money? Depends on the month. Once you've done something for long enough, that thing you do starts to be part of who you are. Your job is what takes up most of your time, most of your peers and friends come out of your work situation so even when you're not at work, you still end up talking about it or spending time with people associated with it. But then one day, you might quit your job, or get fired. Quitting, for a lot of people, signifies a life crisis of sorts. You wake up one day and you can't take it anymore, you've got to get o...

Well, it's summer break and I should be ecstatic. At least, that's the way I always remembered summer break as a kid. Back then I was on my local swim team, which meant I got up even earlier than when school was in session, but I didn't mind that at all. I had a great group of friends, that I predominantly only saw during the summer as they attended different middle and high schools than I did. But man, those were the days. This past year, I worked at a middle school so on June 15th when the kids were celebrating their freedom, I was doing the same. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying not working at the middle school. I feel like can hear all you people who are at work reading this right now groaning and telling me to appreciate my down time. Relish in it, make the most of it. I know, I know, I should be grateful to have a summer break as a 27 year old. But when you think about it, it's depressing as all hell. What this really means is I still have no idea w...

A few months ago, one of my best friends shared a quote with me. She couldn't remember where she had heard it, who said it, or exactly how it went but the gist of it was "Imagine the person you hope to be in five years, now start acting like her." It's a good quote. Simple, to the point, motivational and inspiring. It didn't seem to have too much of an impact on me at that time other than the fact that I liked it. As I said though, it was a few months ago that Kat relayed this quote to me and apparently it did have some impact because last night, as I lay in bed, I couldn't help but have this quote play on repeat for what seemed like hours. It got me thinking about who I really hope I will be in five years. Well, not who I will be, because no matter where you go or what you do, you're still the same old you. But it did get me thinking about what I hope to be doing in five years, where I hope to be doing it, and how to make that happen. Maybe it's bec...

There were two things I had hoped to avoid in my writings so early on in my blogging career, politics and  cynicism. After attempting to attend the 4th of July Parade in Alameda this morning, I realize there is no way to avoid either of these things. Let me be clear, my goal is not to offend anyone who enjoys parades, the 4th of July, or Alameda. I in fact enjoy all these things myself, but this morning, my misadventures in partaking in all three of these things at once proved somewhat comical to me and showed me that Alameda's 4th of July Parade is just too wholesome for me. I woke up at 9:30am this morning, hurting a bit from the previous night's all too patriotic event of drinking beer and bowling, and decided that despite my hangover and the fact that I was already late, as the parade started at 10am and the goal was to be positioned in full parade watching mode by 9:30am, that I would grab one of my dogs, two chairs, and an iced coffee and go join in the festivities. My ...