Room to Think

Hey-o! This is my first post of the new year and I'm attempting to get used to a "working person's" schedule. [read: getting up at zombie hours of the morning, rushing through the beautification process, skipping breakfast, scraping the frost off my car, stressing out while I wait for it to heat up, and waiting in an hour of traffic just to get to work on time. After work, I wait in traffic to get home, enjoy what little free time I have between all the activities we have going on, and go to bed at grandma hours of the evening, just to do it all over again...all for unpaid experience and a shot at a really fun job.  >.<  I'm a sucker, yet again.] It's 11:30pm on the first Friday of 2013.  (yeah, I typed 2012 first.  I hate getting used to new dates!) and there's a strong possibility I'll be getting up early (read: 5am...that's BEFORE zombie hours!) to attend one of FIRST Robotics' Kickoff sessions. I've never been to one, and cu...

This lovely lady's name is Jane McGonigal. She's a game designer who has spoken at TED conferences before, but recently had a pretty bad experience with brain trauma.  I like her particularly because she starts off her talk letting us know that she plays her life as a game. She's a gamer I relate particularly well to. She likes goals. She likes secret missions and side objectives (the side objectives are my favorite. I often play those before I even get to the main storyline). And she treats this talk the same way. Her goal is to extend our lifespan by 7.6 minutes. The only downside of this goal is its measurability...but it's a nice way to begin a talk.   For now, I'm just going to post the talk...seeing as it's 1am already. I'll do a follow-up either tomorrow or the next day(eek! double post on Friday!), but this week has really been a busy one. So, I'm treating it like a game, and hitting as many objectives as I can without skipping a...

So...this post is about awesome friends. Mostly because I got the content from this post from an awesome, awesome friend of mine, who also happens to enjoy daydreaming about Italy. Except that he wants to go back to live there...I think I only want an extended stay. He sent me this link the other day. 100 Things to Know if You're Going to Italy click on it. It's gigantic for a reason. You know you want to. I haven't gotten through the whole list yet, but #84 has pretty much established that I'm not going to be marrying an Italian man. I'm also probably not going to get married in Italy. "#84: Purple being the color of Lent, it is considered a color that brings bad luck. Avoid the darker purple hues for evenings at the theatre, and it's definitely a forbidden color at weddings!" Evidently, I need to brush up on my Catholic "What Not To Wear". A few of my awesome friends over here would be stunned  if I didn't have purple ...

Fun Fact: The ancient Greeks used to have spoken word poetry a sport in their Olympic games. As an English major, I never took the chance to really study spoken word poetry...sometimes known as slam poetry, or performance poetry. But even that's not quite right. Spoken word poetry really means that you're breathing life into the words on a page. I always appreciated spoken word--I loved watching poetry slams. But since I never considered myself "good at poetry", I tended to steer away from the classes I had a hunch I wouldn't do well in. That means I missed out on some pretty badass classes. Those poets know how to express themselves. They know how to connect.  They know how to make their listeners feel. "If I should have a daughter, instead of "Mom", she's gonna call me "Point B." Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I'm going to paint the solar system on...

I've been busy updating resumes for the last week, trying to find a job that I feel qualified for, here in the states...hopefully this is the job that'll pay for Italy. Hopefully. So far, my efforts have been focused more on the tech businesses (ehem...Microsoft). I still dream of working at Google Seattle...but I combed  through their jobs pages and could not find anything I could even remotely hope of getting an interview for (they need a lot of engineers, and a lot of business people). I think it's just a matter of timing my entry right. Also, I'm not hoping for my dream job now. Just one that I find intellectually challenging (and thus, fun). So as I'm completing my resumes, I begin to wonder 1) What the heck I'm going to write for today's Florence Friday, and 2) what on earth would I put on a resume in Italy? So a quick google search leads me to this page , which I copied and pasted to my Italy tumblr so I could find it again.  Nevermind that ...

It's midnight. Here's the video. It's about the benefits of listening first.   About why the locals might just have a better idea of their situation than you do.  About how respect one way usually comes back.  And about why following passion is the fastest path to growth. Also, this man says "Forget about it!" in exactly the same way that my favorite volleyball coach used to. (That's you, Aio.) I had a lot of mind-wander connections to share with you tonight--about the million other things this talk could apply to-- but I'm wondering if I should just shut up first and ask you what you think? =) Happy TEDtalk Tuesday!

For those of you who are following, I got caught up watching talk after talk tonight and never got around to writing anything. Now it's after midnight, I'm at risk of being sick for the third time in a month and a half, and I'm exhausted. So, I leave you with these fine gems until I can get back to them. Their lessons? Listen to beautiful music, allow yourself to be awe-inspired, and don't be afraid to let your mind wander. You'll be happier** for it.  Enjoy.  =) **update below. 10pm UPDATE: Okay, I really hope you enjoyed the music by the Earth Harp lady (it's so soulful and wonderful, how could you not enjoy it?), because clearly I didn't watch that mind wandering TEDtalk before I posted it. In it, the guy pretty much suggests that letting your mind wander may, in fact, actually be responsible for your unhappiness...and therefore probably does not make you happier. You caught me. I am a slacker. But I will remedy that now. "That guy...