Tomorrow

Don't know why, but lately I've had the urge to get on here  when I should be going to bed. I have nothing particularly meaningful to share... just to-do's for myself for the coming day. Writing them down seems to help me hold myself accountable; writing them here, all the more so... something about declaring my intentions "publicly" makes me stick to them a little better. (I use quotations because "publicly" probably only means a few other eyes will ever read them) :)

Anyway, on tomorrow's agenda:
- lunch with a new friend
- starting a new book
- watering my freshly planted herbs (yay!)
and, since I have the day off from work, because it is long overdue, and for numerous other more obvious reasons,
- figuring out my life... or the next 5 years of it anyway.

This should be exciting... I hope.

If you pray, please ask God to send me some help in accomplishing that last one. Lord knows I need it, but still, ask him just the same.
Thanks.

Buenas noches a todos :)

I should have been reading...

but instead, I wasted an hour or two messing around with html code to perfect this here blog. I say 'waste' because I was changing things that probably no one else would even notice. Need to stop getting sucked in this way...

To Do's for tomorrow (because perhaps listing them for the world to see will spur me on to accomplish them):

• fold laundry (exciting)
• plant herbs (actually exciting)
• finish The Hobbit (which I should have done tonight)
• start the second job search (living in Spain will be easier with $$, or should I say €€)
• read Chapter 2 of my GRE prep book

and then, go to work. 

Until tomorrow, good night.

10 More Random Ramblings...

... to revive a blog that's been neglected for over half a year.

1. I opened my KINDLE today!!! I haven't yet explored or taken advantage of all its capabilities, but saying that I'm excited would be quite an understatement. Two of my favorite words when next to each other: Public domain. Looks like I will be catching up on the classics as I travel across Europe... which leads me to...

2. I AM GOING TO SPAIN! This September, I will be leaving for an as-of-now-unknown city in the La Rioja autonomous region of Spain. I will be helping teach Spanish kids of some age how to speak English 12-16 hours a week. The rest of the time is mine. My plan for this extravagant free time: 1) become a highly successful private English tutor; 2) experience as much of Europe as possible; 3) learn a third language (français? deutsch?); and 4) apparently catch up on the classics.

3. Speaking of classic literature, I am rereading The Hobbit. I was going to simply move on to The Lord of the Rings, but since it's been... around 9 years (wow) since I've read the prequel, I figured it best to start from the very beginning. J.R.R. Tolkien, I appreciate you much more now than I did in the 8th grade.

4. The fact that I can easily remember things from a decade ago makes me feel old. Another realization: I am almost halfway toward my 10 year high school reunion. Wow.

5. Have you ever had a song that you've listened to for years and then all of a sudden, you listen to it for the ump-teenth time and you finally hear it? That happened to me today. Regina Spektor's "Ghost of Corporate Future." I suppose I owe the revelation to my current status as a recent graduate averse to getting sucked into the cubicle starting block of the 'real world' rat race. Perhaps that's a cynical way to put it... I could be excited about a cubicle if I was excited about the work I was doing in the cubicle... what that might be, I still don't know.

6. My cubicle would be the coolest cubicle on the block. :P

7. I'd really rather not have a cubicle, awesome as mine would be. A non-traditional work-place would suit me much better, I think... again, if only I knew what that meant.

8. I need to write more. Here, in my journal, and just in general. Letters. Yes, I need to write more of those as well.

9. I remember a William Blake quote that I actually first heard in a movie ("P.S. I Love You"): "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create." I've always wanted to identify with that...


10. I will write again tomorrow.


Good night, blog.


Bonus rambling:
11. Perhaps my blog should have a name. I just named my Kindle 'Lewis' after a favorite author (C.S., not Carroll). Perhaps tomorrow.

More Lincoln

 This isn't inherently inspiring, but for some reason it struck me. Italics were not imposed by me. From Team of Rivals:

He understood, he told Speed later, that in times of anxiety it is critical to "avoid being idle," that "business and conversation of friends: were necessary to give the mind "rest from that intensity of thought, which will some times wear the sweetest idea threadbare and turn it to the bitterness of death" (Goodwin 100).

Lincoln, Power, and Library Cards.

About a week ago, I started reading Team of Rivals, a non-fiction book that biographically relates the "political genius" of Abraham Lincoln during his presidency as well as his rise to power. The book also gives back-stories on Lincoln's adversaries bidding for the Republican nomination in the Election of 1860: William Henry Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates... all brought up with ready access to superior educations, afforded them by their relatively well-off circumstances. On the other hand, Lincoln was the son of an illiterate father and could only afford any kind of formal schooling for a few years, after which he had to work to help support his family. From then on, he was completely self-taught through an incredible and insatiable love of reading. From those humble beginnings, he grew to become one of the greatest and most memorable leaders this country (and dare I say, the world) has ever known.

I am only about 100 pages into this very weighty book, but already I've been inspired by Lincoln's lesser-known past. Books are filled with knowledge, and as they say, knowledge is power... so, as evidenced by Lincoln and by logic, it would follow that reading is the greatest way to gain access to the power that any given person has brewing inside of them-- makes me think about Teach For America and how important their mission is.

TFA tangent aside (perhaps saved for another time), I have decided to tap into my potential with reading as my guide. A few days ago, I renewed my public library card... and today being a glorious (and free) day-off from work, I headed to that great building of books to take the first step toward improving my mind. I had to restrain myself from checking out every interesting spine that I saw! I am now the proud borrower of:

• a set of Berlitz Beginning French audio cassettes (to be used in conjunction with my saved French I textbook and flashcards) Parlais-vous français? :)
• 3 books on coffee-- I want to turn my current occupation as a barista into the optimal learning opportunity
• 2 soundtrack CDs: Slumdog Millionaire and Juno (so excited!!)
• and finally, a novel by an author recommended by a good friend (the best kind of novel in my book): A Pale View of the Hills

Again, this was me compromising with myself (and trying to be realistic about the number of books I can actually read in a certain time-frame). 

Now, I am sitting in a (different) Starbucks, bumming free wireless off the bagel shop next door, already two chapters into the very interesting Coffee: The Epic of a Commodity by German H.E. Jacob. Suggestible person that I am, I imbibed a deliciously caffeinated (and cheap!) Soy Cappuccino as I read... 

Goodness! I have missed reading. So glad college is done so I can learn on my own terms...

Back to the books for me. :)

Look out world...

I'm now officially Taste Spotting!

I just registered this afternoon. My Username: daffodilicioso :) I'm kind of proud of that one.

This comes as a result of a pretty substantial stint in the kitchen last night that kicked off what I hope will be a summer full of cooking adventures. I made this very simple and yummyBruschetta with Peppers and Gorgonzola out of my Barefoot Contessa cookbook, followed by a meal of Balsamic Chicken with Orange and Oregano Relish (delish), parsley and butter egg noodles, and roasted vegetables. Yum:

I am SO looking forward to the deliciousness in my future.