Douceur de vivre

I feel sad at airports. All these moving bodies, towards and away from people, places, and memories....

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:11:39 -0700

I feel sad at airports. All these moving bodies, towards and away from people, places, and memories. Everything is packaged so neatly for a single serving, as if to remind us that you are alone, alone, alone. A water for one, a sandwich for one, a bag of chips, single serving. As if it can’t remind us often enough that we are alone, alone, alone.

I read a quote of a person who wanted to be the model on billboards: beautiful, blank, and...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:33:00 -0700

I read a quote of a person who wanted to be the model on billboards: beautiful, blank, and completely dead inside. And I read about someone who thrives on running, the steady pounding on the road that uses the pain to remind him of how alive he is.

And I sit here, completely torn between wanting to feel things intensely and not feel things at all. All I hear is a question in mind, repeating quietly and full of static, like a vinyl record that skips its turn: what do you want, what do you want, what do you want?

Tashaki Miyaki - Best Friend Okay, best idea ever. I want to...

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:32:26 -0700

Tashaki Miyaki - Best Friend

Okay, best idea ever. I want to grab my car, Jackie, probably a loaf of bread because that’s what she likes, and a map.

"Love is not the answer. Get your twenties out of your system. Travel. Take risks. Move around. Quit..."

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:29:50 -0700

“Love is not the answer. Get your twenties out of your system. Travel. Take risks. Move around. Quit school. Go back to school. Change careers. Change religions. Change your name if you want to. Do everything you need or want to do that requires absolute freedom to act quickly and often. Travel often. Travel light. Let your dreams and aspirations be your destination, but let curiosity be your guide. Follow every side road that intrigues you. Explore. Exclaim. Don’t worry about finding your way back. The only constant is change. The only threat is baggage. The twenties are carry-on baggage days. Preferably tote bag and a toothbrush days. Love is checked baggage. Love is freight. If you fall in love too soon, and allow yourself to get in too deep, you have just tied yourself to a freight train track. This doesn’t mean love isn’t the best thing that will ever happen to you. Eventually it might be. But probably not in your twenties. Twenties love is what divorces and mid-life crises are made of. Here’s what this particular train wreck looks like: a spouse you once loved more than life, sucking the life out of you. Kids, if they’re unlucky enough to be born to this relationship, that you’ll never be able to love more than you love yourself. Kids deserve better. Spouses deserve better. You deserve better. So follow this next simple rule.”

- John Howell, 5 Things I Wish I’d Known in my 20s

"I felt a tremendous distance between me and everything real."

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:34:56 -0700

“I felt a tremendous distance between me and everything real.”

- Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary

"Frugality isn’t about cutting your spending on everything. That approach wouldn’t last two days...."

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:07:09 -0700

“Frugality isn’t about cutting your spending on everything. That approach wouldn’t last two days. Frugality, quite simply, is about choosing the things you love enough to spend extravagantly on—and then cutting costs mercilessly on the things you don’t love.”

- Ramit Sethi

I’d say the same about the time you spend with people.

"This is also for the people who wake early to watch flowers bloom; who notice the moon at noon on a..."

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:46:58 -0700

“This is also for the people who wake early to watch flowers bloom; who notice the moon at noon on a day when the world has slapped them in the face with its lack of light.”

- Andrea Gibson

Photo

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:38:07 -0700

“Maybe this is what the Mayans predicted. Not an asteroid or a solar flare, but the end of what we...

Mon, 06 May 2013 19:37:05 -0700

“Maybe this is what the Mayans predicted. Not an asteroid or a solar flare, but the end of what we are. We no longer cherish life, or the other people, or even the earth or the animals or the resources put on it. War. Genocide. Abuse. Senseless mass murder. Animal cruelty. Gluttony. Greed. Waste. And lust. Look around you, the end of the world is already here.”

Damn. And it’s only a Monday.

"For me, a woman who is absorbed in her work, who does not care about gaining one’s favour, strong..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:10:08 -0700

“For me, a woman who is absorbed in her work, who does not care about gaining one’s favour, strong yet subtle at the same time, is essentially more seductive. The more she hides and abandons her femininity, the more it emerges from the very heart of her existence.”

- Yohji Yamamoto

"God is so great that he works out a plan, a plan to work everything out for your good if you belong..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:53:15 -0700

“

God is so great that he works out a plan, a plan to work everything out for your good if you belong to him, and his glory, which takes into consideration your choices, and still works his plan out infallibly.

Jacob lied to his father, Isaac, and wanted his birthright. He cheated his older brother out of it. Because he cheated, because he lied, he had to flee from his family. Was he guilty? Yes. Did he experience pain in his life because of that choice? Yes. Was he punished for it? Yes. But because he sinned he went and found his wife, Rachel, through whom the Messiah came. Was it all right then that he sinned?

No, but don’t you see because Jacob sinned, though God held him responsible for that choice, did that put him on an eternal plan B? Did he say, ‘I’ve ruined it from now on because of this sin. God will never give me the best?’ My friends, no. When he sinned he went into the best for him. God is far greater than your stupid choices.

”

- Tim Keller

I wish I knew how to quit.

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:32:00 -0700

Someone asked me what I wish I had known earlier in my college career. Now that I sit at the end of it, comfortably at the edge, feet dangling over the great unknown of what will come after college, I have to weigh this question for some time.

Do I wish I had better grades? Sure, I guess. But even now, I’m pretty satisfied with how I did and I’m not sure how much grades will matter to me. If my grades were better, I’m not sure how much more it would help me in the coming months.

Do I wish I tried harder for internships and professional experience? I had two solid internships under my belt, both amazing experiences with substantial lessons. Even with only two, I had a hard time juggling work and play so probably not.

Do I wish I spent more time on my social life? I had and have very solid relationships in my life. “Had” just refers to those people who moved in and out of my life, for one reason or another; not all great things are meant to last. Some of the best things are short-lived. “Have” are the handful of people in my life, some I’ve known for a long time and some for a few, short weeks. I’d say I’m okay with how this all turned out for me.

I did so many different things in college, so many different experiences. I designed for the Guardian for awhile; I was an officer at a business organization. I worked at the District Attorney’s office and volunteered at elementary schools. I fed the homeless. I went to church for the first time. I learned to surf, played soccer and football for the first time, bought my own longboard, and even joined the running club on campus for some time. I practiced yoga and started dance. I had been an economics major and then a political science major. I dabbled at the thought of going to law school.

Now, I’m coasting through my senior year, last quarter, having worked hard and learned (and really, I had to learn) to play hard. So what do I wish I had known earlier?

I wish I had known the value of quitting.

I know that there is a world of stigma associated with quitting. Our society isn’t built for quitters. We are supposed to presevere, overcome, and succeed despite all odds.

But I learned that the best opportunities and people have come into my life after I’ve cleared out the clutter, when I’ve quit things I haven’t enjoyed for a long time or when I’ve let go of toxic relationships. I wish I had known how to quit because it is no longer good for me, whatever “it” is. I wish I had known that I am better at some things over other things and that is okay because now, in this moment, I feel like my life is better because I have let go of all that I don’t need or want.

“Quitting is not giving up, it’s choosing to focus your attention on something more important. Quitting is not losing confidence, it’s realizing that there are more valuable ways you can spend your time. Quitting is not making excuses, it’s learning to be more productive, efficient and effective instead. Quitting is letting go of things (or people) that are sucking the life out of you so you can do more things that will bring you strength.”
― Osayi Osar-Emokpae, Impossible Is Stupid

"The day my ribcage became monkey bars for a girl hanging on my every word they said, “You are not..."

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:10:00 -0700

“

The day my ribcage became monkey bars
for a girl hanging on my every word
they said, “You are not allowed to love her.”
Tried to take me by the throat
to teach me, “You are not a boy.”

I had to unlearn their prison speak,
refusing to make wishes on the star
on the sheriff’s chest.

I started talking to the stars in the sky instead.
I said, “Tell me about the big bang.”
The stars said, “It hurts to become.”

I carry that hurt on the tip of my tongue
and whisper, “bless your heart”
every chance I get
so my family tree can be sure
I have not left.

”

- Andrea Gibson

"You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch..."

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:01:44 -0700

“You’ve got to sell your heart, your strongest reactions, not the little minor things that only touch you lightly, the little experiences that you might tell at dinner. This is especially true when you begin to write, when you have not yet developed the tricks of interesting people on paper, when you have none of the technique which it takes time to learn. When, in short, you have only your emotions to sell.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, Letters of Note: You’ve got to sell your heart (via strategos)

"I want to write a novel about Silence,” he said; “the things people don’t say."

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:55:55 -0700

“I want to write a novel about Silence,” he said; “the things people don’t say.”

- Virginia Woolf

This is ridiculously amazing.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:53:00 -0700

This is ridiculously amazing.

"You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy."

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:14:46 -0700

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy.”

- C. Joybell

"The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:30:12 -0700

“The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie.”

- Agnes de Mille

"I want to be blank like a model on a billboard. I want to be untouchable and beautiful and..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:42:44 -0700

“I want to be blank like a model on a billboard. I want to be untouchable and beautiful and completely dead inside.”

- Francesca Lia Block, Baby Be-Bop

"We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in..."

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:50:00 -0700

“We can’t jump off bridges anymore because our iPhones will get ruined. We can’t take skinny dips in the ocean, because there’s no service on the beach and adventures aren’t real unless they’re on Instagram. Technology has doomed the spontaneity of adventure and we’re helping destroy it every time we Google, check-in, and hashtag.”

- Jeremy Glass, We Can’t Get Lost Anymore