Life, etc.

Hello loved ones,

Sincerest apologies for my unintended hiatus. Life has been moving along, as it has a way of doing, and despite my best intentions of keeping my little corner of the internet updated with words to delight you (that is the aim… I do hope it has its intended effect) have fallen flat. I do hope to change this.

So, since I have last posted anything about my life, some exciting things have happened!

I returned from Asia, and moved into a house in Tempe, thanks to a listing I found on Craigslist. I live less than half a mile from my boyfriend, Michael. We survived our separation, and our relationship is stronger for it. He is a wonderful man and I am very blessed to have such a strong, compassionate individual as my significant other. We are well, and our relationship is flourishing.

I found a job, as was finally the goal, after a couple years of enjoying a less structured life. I now work for US Airways as an International Pricing Analyst. I have been working there for a little over a month now, and I enjoy my job tremendously. Although I have finished my training, and now have daily responsibilities, I am learning new things everyday. I see great leaps in my understanding within the course of a week, which is a wonderful feeling. I like my coworkers very much and am very pleased with where I find myself.

I must be honest; the first few weeks were especially strange because the circumstances I found myself in were so unlike any I’d been in before. I sat at my desk in my cube, looking at my computer, and my phone, and then my outfit, and could not help but feel like an imposter; this feeling has since subsided… for the most part.

Lucky for me, working for an airline has some serious perks… of the flight variety. That being the case, I will be traveling a great deal on the weekends. I have some trips planned in the near future, so expect updates about those!

I think that’s the extent of the news I have to report. I hope you are all well. xx

 

My new role model

What an adventurous spirit this woman has! 101-Year Old Woman Paraglides

Isn’t that just fantastic?

“Schools kill creativity”

Here is a superb video that is really worth watching. If you’ve got twenty minutes to spare, I highly recommend it. Or save it for a day when you do have the time. Robinson makes some very interesting and valid points.

“Our education system is predicated on the idea of academic ability. And there’s a reason. The whole system was invented — around the world, there were no public systems of education, really, before the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. So, the hierarchy is rooted on two ideas. Number one, that the most useful subjects for work are at the top. So you were probably steered benignly away from things at school when you were a kid, things you liked, on the grounds you would never get a job doing that. Is that right? Don’t do music, you’re not going to be a musician; don’t do art, you won’t be an artist. Benign advice — now, profoundly mistaken. The whole world is engulfed in a revolution.

And the second is, academic ability, which has really come to dominate our view of intelligence, because the universities designed the system in their image. If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people, think they’re not, because the thing they were good at at school wasn’t valued, or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can’t afford to go on that way.”

I can’t get it to embed properly, so here’s the link.

I hope you watch. If you do, leave me you thoughts about the video and let’s discuss!

Moonrise Kingdom

Ugh, is May 25th yet???

I will forever have the biggest crush on Wes Anderson. I cannot wait for this to come out!

A Lot of Good in the World

11 Things to Know at 25(ish)

“This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find … themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. … they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.

Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.

Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? … Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe … life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.”

-An excerpt from “11 Things to Know at 25(ish)”

I think the article is superb, and will definitely putting some of its advice into practice (except for the churchy stuff). It’s always nice to read something that reinforces the notion that I’m doing this life thing just right.