I spent my first lunch break in two months sitting at the Kaladi Brothers downtown cafe eating soup, sipping coffee, and attempting to do some homework while being distracted by a early-20s female loudly going on and on and on about all of the world's problems and why no one sees the obvious solutions.
I texted Steve the best parts of her ranting, how seeing a swastika makes her feel angsty and how Alaska is basically a socialist state just like Montreal and how she has very specific preferences on which news magazines to read but she can't afford them so she just reads the headlines while in the grocery checkout line. And it just went on and on, hardly leaving any space for her early-40s male companion to ask quiet questions.
After about a half hour she said that she needed to get going to someplace or another and they left in opposite directions.
I looked up from my books and my soup and my furious texting to catch the eye of a guy wearing earphones and sitting behind a laptop. We exchanged a half smile and shook our heads, grateful that she had gone.
07 FEB
2010
I called my mother last week to catch up on some things and she told me how she couldn't believe I was about to turn 30. I insisted that I was, in fact, only going to be 29.
I would have teased her more about the memory slip, but considering that she has to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries for 5 other children and 3 grand children, not to mention gobs of extended family, I cut her some slack while pulling out some cold hard MATH to prove just how wrong she was.
Although 29 is just a number, I already anticipate this year is going to rock mightily. Let me back up that assertion with three words: Electric Blue Pumps. I KNOW, right?
The last two years I've set out some goals for the year. Similar to resolutions, but attainable goals that I won't forget about after four weeks. I've also been seeing this 30 Before 30 fad around a lot lately which, despite its fad-ness, appeals to the list-maker within me. Plus, it'll be free blogging material! Win-win!
It is hella hard to come up with a 30-item year to-do list. Like, seriously hard. Especially if you don't want to steal things from other lists or fill it with cliche stuff like "run a 5k" and "get married and have baybeez" and "lose 30 pounds OMG". But I managed and then realized I have three basic categories: photography related, things that scare me, and nice things for myself.
- Start a business
- Sell a photo online
- Finish photographing 100 strangers
- Take 2 photography workshops
- Photograph 10 models
- Curate/edit an Anchorage photo book
- Show my work at a First Friday opening
- Take a dance lesson
- Go to the movie theater all alone
- Ask for help
- Find a new gynocologist
- Update my makeup routine
- Reconnect with a lost friend
- Wander aimlessly
- Have sex in public
- Get a professional massage
- Spend a day/afternoon on a ski slope
- Host a dinner party
- Read 15 books
- Climb Flattop 5 times
- Redesign/repurpose rhapsodic.org
- Nap on a sandy beach
- Complete an emergency fund
- Have coffee/lunch dates with 15 friends
- Get a facial
- Spend less time online
- Cook an elaborate new meal
- Have a new experience every week
- Throw a big 30th birthday party
- Not complete the whole list
I'm looking forward to a few of these and am horrified that I left others on the list. Skiing? Seeing a movie all alone? I pretty much have a death wish, apparently.
01 FEB
2010
