Times change, and so do we.

I am at the Gloriette overlooking Schoenbrunn Palace and the entirety of Vienna.
I am sitting on petrified wood, legs dangling over the edge of one of Theodore Roosevelt National Park's dusty buttes.
I am at the tip of the Washington Monument.

Regardless of place and time, I feel I have reached a summit.

Since October, there have been many changes/decisions to make:

-I graduated with honors in December. "What do you do with a BA in English???"
-Turned 23 and am no longer an applicable target for Taylor Swift's "22" (THANK JEEBUS)
-Obtained a temp job with an insurance agency. Pros: slowly mastering office life, have an income. Cons: Office Ass, too much energy to be contain on a chair in front of a computer, still don't know what I want out of life.
-Finalized plans to return to NoDak for a second round of seasonal alcoholism and a higher position with a really shitty pay increase.
-Quit smoking
-REGISTERED FOR MY FIRST HALF MARATHON

I have been an athlete since I was 3. I participated in dance, baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, and cheerleading. I only became a runner when I was 17 and about to become a high school senior. I played on a girls' soccer team as a junior and was out of shape and slower than I'd like to have been. I couldn't keep up with other players and I hated it. One day something changed in me and I woke up feeling empowered, determined and energized. During the summer I trained myself to run hard and run often. I began making healthier eating choices. When school started again, I signed up for a gym membership, which I still have today, 5 years later. I ran the fastest mile of my entire travel soccer team, which I also joined that summer and played with in the fall. Then spring arrived, and I was twice the player I had been the previous year. It felt so good. I was a starting player and was also voted to be one of the team captains.

I'm still not sure how or why these moments of abrupt change manifest themselves in my life.
And I am so happy they do. I have to work hard to stay in shape and maintain my figure. And I love running. I've wanted to run a race like this since I started running. My high school didn't have a track team, so I never had the opportunity to train. However, I have run 6 separate 5k races in the last 5 years, so I'm somewhat familiar with the atmosphere of distance running.

This half marathon will be an enitrely different experience, most certainly. 13.1 miles. I can't wait. I felt registering before I leave for NoDak will keep me focused and motivated all summer, and running in the bad lands is a truly unique experience.

I am writing this post to savor the feelings I am experiencing, to organize a time line of sorts of my progress, to pat myself on the back and to have something to look to for motivation. While I am often unable to commit to many things or people, I feel I am committed to running. That's one thing, more than nothing!

Class Blogging...again

Farrington's “Kissing”

The structure of this piece could have been chosen to allow for endless expansion at the hands of the reader. The number of external excerpts suit the piece in that they allow for a variety of creative inputs to expand on what the writer may have wanted to say or what was unable to fit within the piece. Many of the excerpts convey a shallower, more distanced insight into kissing, while Farrington's personal revelations offer a more emotional, layered perspective. The way he separates and scrambles time and incidences of kissing keeps the reader interested, as do the italicized excerpts.

Crafting the Personal Essay – Memoir Prompt

Body image is one of the most weighted things that, for so many people I know, is tainted with a negativity that controls their lives. When I was a child, I was “too skinny”. I think a lot of parents were jealous because my body remained lanky until I was 13, while their children became plump once they turned 8 or 9. Then, until sophomore year of high school, it was all about boobs. Whose were bigger? Who didn't have any? Who was hottest in the boys' eyes? People always complimented my legs. But I never liked my chest in high school. I also hated that my stomach was never flat or smooth. It was just naturally lumpy. Every bad thing that entered my body went there, like it was a reserve. To this day I struggle to keep my stomach small and tight to my ribs. I'm so meticulous about this that I work out no less than four days a week. [I also love endorphins, but the underlying motivation is my need to stay as small as possible...which, right now, isn't even that small.]

So My Class Requires Me To Blog...

...And I refuse to create another. So, temporarily, I'll pick up with activities and shit for Creative Non-Fiction. LOL.


9/9 CPE Ch. 3,4

"Memoir is not about "look at me, look at me," at least not when done well. Instead it is about trying to understand vexing mysteries of human existence."

I found this quote appealing for what are likely self-centered reasons. I went through a period during which I only read memoirs and autobiographical writings, and I enjoyed them so much because found them to reveal so many truths about life.

"...metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space..."

Aha, this has summarized even the basic importance of a metaphor. This is so true, and emphasizes that metaphors should not be under-estimated. I have always appreciated a good metaphor, and some people get them right every time.

p. 18 exercise -> gesture

I always knew when he was upset, always before he knew how obvious it was. The creases in his 28-year-old skin instantly sunk deeper into his pale, reddening face as his nerves began to race. He never looked at me, but instead, always at something between my feet. Occasionally his eyes would flicker and try to look at mine, but they never stayed fixed there for more than a second. Between blades of blonde hair, his forehead rolled together as he parted his lips, perhaps half an inch, as if the two parts were connected.  And god was he fidgety. He'd cross his legs and bounce his right foot, causing the whole of his long, skinny body to undulate rapidly with it.

It's been a long, long year.

Life really is as simple as simple can be. 

Regardless of people, places, time, emotions, age, change, life and death, at the end of the day you don't how the next day will dawn any more than your neighbor does.

You can have expectations and preconceived notions, but your roll of the dice is as good as mine. The odds are infinite within their respective limitations. 

And these realizations are what brought me to this moment- from the color of my hair to the food digesting within my intestines to the people I think of most to the exact location from which I am typing this [which, honestly, marks the first time I have written anything in months]. 

The last time I posted in this blog, I was sitting comfortably on an internship, a nearly completed college career, a seemingly solid romantic relationship, and an image I hoped might become The Rest Of My Life.

Well, I've never been very certain about anything, but as mentioned, I was comfortable, and comfort is a very deceiving anchor.

Since last summer I have added an academic minor, signed two different housing leases [one of which I have handed over to someone else], failed a college class [first ever, due not to my lack of intelligence but rather distance], lost two friends to fatal accidents, lost a cat due to a failed relationship, lost a best friend and boyfriend, moved 1600 miles west, became a seasonal employee and alcoholic, supported myself financially and stopped predicting any aspect of my life.

Not that I've handed over responsibility or the reigns. 

I've just realized that anchors can and will move and there should be no limitations on youth, let alone any human existence.

So, here I am, in the "small ranching town of Medora, North Dakota" where Theodore Roosevelt spent much of his time prior to his presidency.

How did I land myself a home in the middle of the Badlands?

Rachel, my longtime friend and college housemate, met a girl named Kayla who lives in the next town east of Medora. They were both studying in France over a year ago and bonded over music and their love of the French culture. Last summer, Rachel drove by herself to visit Kayla and fell in love with North Dakota and the midwest. Prior to our college graduation in May, Rachel decided she would return to the area to work for the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, a non-profit organization that was founded to preserve the history and beauty of the town of Medora. The foundation hires seasonal employees to help maintain the tourism industry of Medora during the summer. There is a wide variety of jobs available- housekeeping, hospitality, food preparation and serving, groundskeeping, horse stables, gift shops, etc. 

I had intended to spend my summer working at home in Lebanon, where I had a well-paying summer job waiting for me. Two weeks into the summer, I felt restless and decided to uproot and try something new. I applied for a position with the foundation later than most people, but three days later I had a job waiting for me. And here I am.

I bought a Greyhound ticket and boarded in Maryland without looking back.

I am two days away from being here for two months. I work six days a week at the Family Fun Center, where families can come to ride the world's largest inflatable water slide, a bungee trampoline and a rock wall.

My time spent in Medora has been the most fun I've had my entire life. 

Perhaps I'll detail this more later. 

Southwestern Perspective

Now that it's been a good year since I've logged into Blogger, it shouldn't be surprising that I've forgotten my password. But I'm once again situated, and it's good to be back.
When it comes to the internet, I feel like I have a summer home, a winter home, a city and a countryside hideaway. Or basically that I have no writing limits because I have homes on most of these social networking/blogging websites. Xanga, MySpace, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter...I even have a LiveJournal somewhere. Name dropping, not really necessary. But it is interesting how each of these domains possesses its own set of unspoken conduct codes. Overstep one and everyone will talk about it (if only in their heads). For example, if you spell out your day-to-day boyfriend/girlfriend trials, you're probably not looking too popular, unless your friends are also exactly like you. Not that people view these websites as popularity contests. Not that people are aware of their appearance to others. But in actuality, having a foot in each of these doors is fun (and painful) for various reasons.

Now, it takes something swift and strong to urge me to return to something I had abandoned over a year ago.
This summer's motivation: my internship.

I was inspired and encouraged to revive this little side-project, which saved me from myself the first summer I traveled abroad, also the first major trip I'd made by myself.

Her advice was to become a blogger for the sake of my professional and creative careers. The best part about this is that I'm already a blog enthusiast. I have maintained a personal Xanga since I was 13, and it's helped me develop writing, communication and technical skills.

Though I haven't decided exactly what I should write about, I declare this to be a first step in that direction.

I'm plugged in!

UPDATE

Mein Essen! Sauerkraut mit Brot und Knoedeln!


I've been slacking on keeping this blog up to date with everything my class has been doing in Vienna.
We've been all over the U-Bahn, as well as the city itself. Last week we went on a three-hour-long walking tour of the Secession, visiting various architectural structures, learning about and identifying works of Jugendstil (Youthful Style).
Last night we experienced our first Viennese opera- "Silome"-in the beautiful, regal Staatsoper.
We've visited Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele exhibits, studied numerous pieces of Fin-de-Siecle Vienna art.
And we've had free time to explore the city as young adults.

Here's a photo recap of some of the highlights of my trip as of...today.


In the gardens of Schloss Schoenbrunn, prior to a terrific downpour as well as a visit to the Imperial Zoo at Schoenbrunn.

Egon Schiele, an unfinished work.
Schiele interests me because he painted humans with very distinct features.
Also, he died at the age of 28. I assumed suicide to be the cause (all great artists seem to have some sort of psychological issue present); in reality, this man contracted the Spanish Influenza and died, as did his pregnant wife.

Art above a statue of...Mozart? I believe... In the Stadtpark.

University of Vienna. Students attend University here for free...but this is apparently supposed to change. Students may, in the future, have to pay around 4oo Euros to attend. What outrage! If only I were so lucky!

A view overlooking Schoenbrunn and Vienna, from a bridge in the Imperial Zoo.



GUINEA PIGS. They have their own exhibit at the Imperial Zoo.

Gustav Klimt's "Death and Life"


Hopefully I'll be better at consistantly updating....

Donnerstag

Today marks our second full day in Vienna!

We arrived safely in London early Tuesday morning (in Eastern European time...approx. 7 AM) and transferred flights, entering Vienna after 1 PM (Vienna time).

I slept maybe one hour total throughout the entire plane ride, so I had to catch up on my sleep Tuesday night.

I have had little down time to take my computer down to the lounge in the hostel (where we have internet access) so I haven't been able to give anyone an update (sorry parents!!!)

I'll try to do a detailed entry in here tonight of the activities of the past two days. We don't have a required event this evening, so I should have time.

Bis spaeter!