Posts from — February 2010

It’s the dry season down here in Miami. That didn’t stop the rain from barging in on my usually pleasant morning walks to Lit class. I’ve fashioned my schedule beautifully on Mondays and Wednesdays: only one class, from 10 to 11.

The rest of the day is all mine.
And today, I decided to take a rainy day.

These sorts of days are usually reserved for the drizzly September-November months, but since I’ve been missing snow days (unlike the rest of the US) I’ll take what I can get right now.

Rainy days are great days for hanging out and spending time with yourself. Being in the good company of your own company.

Man, I used to suck at spending time with myself. I remember my early teen years, growing up in the just-blossoming era of instantly available social connections, thanks to things like Myspace and instant messengers. I often felt like I was missing something— conversation and companionship was always available, and if I disconnected, it wasn’t long before I felt left out.

Luckily, I escaped the teenagey gossip track we know as “high school” with my sanity.

Sort of.

I got to put on the Older & Wiser hat. I learned to sit with myself, and just be. This is a big thing for me. I feel all grown-uppy.

In my relaxed, sweatpants-governed afternoon, I took my first indoor Polaroids with honest to goodness 600 film in my sx-70. The photograph above features my well-loved woolen weave scarf. It once draped over my dorm room rocking chair, but has since then worn in a bit. The frayed middle let in a beautiful light when I held it up against the blinds. I spent the day inside, hanging out in my dorm room, and thoroughly enjoyed my own company. I even ate a Cadbury creme egg.

Sitting in my usual corner of the campus Starbucks, sipping a chamomile tea, I wonder where in the world my weekend has gone.

It’s all happened so quickly. Late Thursday night I got the news: my elementary school burnt down in a fire caused by a freak boiler-room explosion. Thankfully, this happened in the middle of the night, during a vacation week. Nobody was hurt, but a lot was lost in the fire. Two of the three wings of the building were burnt to the ground, and the remaining wing suffered from irreparable smoke damage.

My aunt is a teacher at South Bay Elementary, and called me the next morning. I realized the teachers lost all their books, and the library has been completely eradicated. It took a few minutes, but I called back with the only thing I knew I could manage from 3,000 miles away: online book drive!

And so: http://booksforsouthbay.com

We’ve gotten so much speedy support from the community. The drive officially begins tomorrow at 9am, and we’re hoping to collect as many books and school supplies as possible, so the teachers have what they need to go on teaching. There’s been phone calls, emails and tons of questions on our facebook page, and Sunday still isn’t over yet.

Big deep breath!

And release.

I think a movie night might be in order, just to salvage the remainder of my weekend a bit. Shutter Island, here I come!

me & my love

It was impossible to top last year’s Valentines Day. I knew that going in.

Last February 14th, Pete was in Miami. We rented a big old boxy car, and drove to Key Biscayne for a late night picnic on the beach. With the lights of downtown Miami to the right, and the black expanse of the night ocean to our left, we sat atop a blanket on the sand. Festive Latin American music played off the distance, where families took part in some evening fishing off the bridge. We munched on fresh bakery bread and hummus. We watched the black-inked storm clouds retreat to the sea.

It was complete and total magic.

This Valentines Day, Pete couldn’t be with me. We spent a gorgeous three weeks together over Christmas and New Years, and now he’s a busy bee, finishing up his degree in England and working hard on his dissertation. I’m down in Miami finishing up what might be my last semester down at this university, and so I’m in Miami without my valentine.

But don’t worry, there was still chocolate.

Lots of chocolate.

The wonderful thing about our current geographical challenge  is, what I like to call, the CEP. The Chocolate Exchange Perk. I post him his beloved York peppermint patties and Godiva chocolates, and he supplies me with bundles of Cadbury: Buttons, Fudge, Caramel, Bournville Dark, and the classic Milk chocolate bars. The Valentines Day care packages are loaded with chocolate.

And of course there was brunch with friends. I had me some delectable eggs benedict. Oh, and a lovely video date with my love. And then there was the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Followed by a perfectly-chosen 500 Days of Summer to round out the evening.

Did I mention how much this Valentines Day rocked too? When I decided to be my own valentine?

Sure, my English Hunk and I are a bit geographically challenged at the moment, but it didn’t mean my V-day was spent wallowing. It was markedly un-wallowful. It’s okay to be your own valentine, and have a crap load of fun with yourself and your friends.

via sssbf

Happy weekend! My Saturday’s been filled with a sleepy-laundry morning, and a chamomile tea afternoon at the campus starbucks. It’s a shame they close at 5 on Saturdays, I’d have liked to relax in there for an extra hour or two. My goal this weekend: make space in my dorm. The last couple of weeks have been so go go go! There’s lots of things that don’t belong on desks or beds or in closets.

I’m also looking to tidy up as a little task before receiving two very important and totally exciting items in the post:

1. a twin pack of Polaroids
2. my new (used) Yashica FX-3, my second 35mm film camera, complete with 50mm lens.

My camera collection seems to be growing by the day, and I can only see things getting worse as the months draw on. After having spoken to the english hunk today about it, there’s been a unanimous confirmation— I am addicted to cameras. This situation is not at all helped by unanimous confirmation #2— I am a poor student.

my little camera roster, pending the arrival of my Yashica:

—Nikon D40 DSLR

—Nikon FM10 35mm film SLR

—Canon Powershot  p&s

—Polaroid SX-70 SLR

—Fujifilm Instax 200

—Yashica FX-3  35mm SLR

I definitely need to work on a camera porn photoset on flickr. I think I feel a Sunday afternoon project coming on. Tonight will be spent sorting through my photography bin, picking out some fresh rolls of b&w kodak film for when the Yashica arrives, and desperately trying to design an area to fit my growing camera battalion.

Weekends are for photographs.

But also for kickass music:

have a great one, folks.

It’s a funny thing, living in the space between where you are and where you can’t wait to be.

It’s a giant void of in-between.

For a few months, I’ve been wrestling with the concept of being where I am. Simply being. Living the now. Big changes are soon to come, changes I so honestly need in my life, that it gets to be a hassle finding ways to twiddle my thumbs in the mean time. In a few weeks, I hear back from a university back home in NY regarding my transfer application. An acceptance to this transfer program would mean moving back home to the beautiful/magical Long Island for my last year of university. Living in my own room, my room that feels so much bigger and brighter than when I left it for Miami three years ago, is something I’ve been kicking around in my head for months. When I completed my application, I felt a huge release. A giant, collective sigh of relief coursed through my body— and I knew, so organically, this was the best thing for me.

And now, I wait.

I wait for May 11th to arrive. My 21st birthday, fittingly. The day I make my homecoming. It feels so great to say that.

I have great big plans for 2010. My big thing & I will be in the company of my family and closest friends, and I’ll have all the support in the world to work through each day and bring my big dream to life.

And, to top it all off, I’ll be close to my birds— the birds of the northeast, and the adventures that come with birding in New York.

I just can’t wait to come home to my front yard family of cardinals, wrens, chickadees, and sparrows.  As they say, it’s the little things that give you joy. My little things have wings and tons of personality. And then there are the owls. A bit bigger than wrens and sparrows, of course. Finding an owl calling in the dark is a thoroughly magical experience.

Waiting for a life full of these adventures is a tricky thing. The big in-between is a place where I sit and dream of mornings in the reeds of Jones Beach, afternoons strolling through Gardiner Park, and evenings cooking up simple & delicious dinners for the family. I dream of late July, when Pete comes to stay with me for a couple of blissful months. We will make our way around Long Island with our binoculars and cameras, and (naturally) a steady supply of chocolate.

I can already feel the sunshine & milk glow of my months to come. They are so warm, so full of life, and I ache for them. For now, I’m stuck in the in-between. I’m over where I am, and reaching for where I will be. All I can do in the mean time is plan & prepare.

I guess that’s what this spring is for.

Look at her. Just look at her. What a gorgeous piece of equipment. And she is all mine!

It took one pack of five years expired 600 film and a full pack of Artistic TZ film to learn her ways, and now I’m happy to say I can produce a properly exposed polaroid. She folds up into an incognito book shape, and pops up at a moment’s notice for some serious polaroid action.

I’ll be busy adding to that growing pile of polas you see surrounding the SX-70 in the next couple of weeks, and finding a decent scanner to post them up on my flickr. Something tells me I’m gonna need more film. SOON.

I’m all moved in. It feels nice and comfy around here.

Look, there’s snow buntings in the masthead!

Painting the walls and rolling out the shag carpeting only took up my entire Sunday. Which was originally St. Homework’s Day. This is where my addiction to website renovation becomes an issue. Oh, not for me. Just for the professors who think I’m paying attention during their lectures on population development ratio formulas. I’m really good at gazing occasionally at the powerpoint slide, nodding my head, and half-smiling in agreement. I even throw in a well-timed “hmm…” once or twice to feign slight enthusiasm in the topic at hand.

What I’m really doing is committing hex codes to memory.

The color codes.

Colors have codes.

Whatever. Your mom’s a nerd too.