Tuesday, November 23, 2010

how to be that annoying girl

I'm really good at it. In case you are too non-annoying, here is an idea. So it's 12:48 AM and you have this burning question. You pick up the phone and call this person who is not exactly a friend and whom, in fact, you are somewhat angry at (except that you don't have the ability to be mad for more than 10 minutes at anybody... a memory-related problem). Here is what you say to be pretty much as annoying as possible: "Yo, I was wondering... what exactly does Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz sound like?" The response might be, "You mean music?" And then, you can say, "Yeah, like can you describe it?"

To be extra annoying, after said person's description, respond, "Oh ok. I really didn't think you were going to be able to describe it! It's actually pretty impressive that you came up with something."

All in a day's work.

Monday, November 22, 2010

i feel like i'm just a source of amusement for you which i enjoy and am okay with, but...

text at 11:38 PM from rob: I'm walking my cat :)
text at 11:41 PM from jocelyn: Hahaha this is the sole reason we are friends despite the fact you keep telling me I am displaying symptoms of pregnancy.

Friday, November 19, 2010

personality test

Don't laugh. Yesterday, I took this Myers-Briggs personality test. And following a hunch, I made my brother take it. During October, it was one of my goals to engage better with the people around me. I found the difficulty to be nice to my brother rather alarming and throughout the past few weeks, I began to wonder whether there was a reason that I could absolutely not understand most of his motives and general way of going about life. It turns out that our personality types were quite the polar opposite.

I found out that my "personality type" is ENTJ- Extraverted, Intuition, Thinking, Judging. It's kind of interesting, and I will admit, oddly accurate.

According to the ENTJ Wikipedia Page:
"ENTJs focus on the most efficient and organized means of performing a task. This quality, along with their goal orientation, often makes ENTJs superior leaders, both realistic and visionary in implementing a long-term plan. ENTJs tend to be fiercely independent in their decision making, having a strong will that insulates them against external influence. Generally highly competent, ENTJs analyze and structure the world around them in a logical and rational way. Due to this straightforward way of thinking, ENTJs tend to have the greatest difficulty of all the types in applying subjective considerations and emotional values into the decision-making process."

My brother, on the other hand, was an ISTP Personality Type. For now, I'm just going to put it out there and think about the ramifications and ways that our personalities can be used to our advantages to achieve or connect/work with others.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

famous before she was notorious

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I recently realized that I don't spend enough time thinking about important things. Not things that involve school, science, work, what I'm going to eat for dinner, am I drinking enough water, how angry would my mom be if I got a cat, how much angrier my mom would be if I got a cat and then a tattoo, can I leave the country without my mom noticing, if I drink any more coffee than I am currently, will I explode, why did that group of guys tell me that I'm pretty and ask if I wanted to go smoke with them while I was waiting at the bus stop, etc.

But what about dreams? Somehow, the concept of dreaming has become so associated with being spacey and flaky, even cliche (Dream Big, blah, blah), but I'm beginning to wonder about the power of just big, insane ideas and really working them feasibly into my life. After all, insanity is a purely theoretical concept, I think. There was a point this summer when I was thinking of new ideas on a daily and weekly basis; I was surrounded by good-intentioned naysayers, but at the end of the day, those people wondering why you would want to do something or, more terrifying, telling you that you shouldn't will fade into the background and you remember. You remember yourself, somehow.

One of my favorite summer memories is from a concert when Glen Hasard of The Swell Season was talking about insane dreams and he dedicated the next song to the insane dreamers of the world. My friend Cherita looked at me and smiled. And one of my favorite quotes came from a book I read this summer, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder regarding the project to bring healthcare to Haiti, "They think we're unrealistic. They don't know we're crazy."

My main goal for the last few weeks of November is to give myself time to come up with big ideas. I just wanted to share this picture that I took last year in Taiwan. I love how the body of the fish curls. And the picture reminds me of beautiful memories abroad and that I need to begin planning more!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

on the edge of a moment, on a land that we love, in a time that our best has to be good enough

Photobucket[Lovely dreamcatchers here]

Okay, new plan (I need a new plan pretty much every week): Never avoid doing something just because you're scared. Because one day you won't be scared and you will have not done something that you really wanted to do. But first, identify why the fear is there; then ignore if necessary or feasible.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

an ode to the lovely downtown which may be growing on me again

I've seen this guy's paintings of other cities before, but I'm happy to see one of Chicago! I've been spending more time downtown these past few weeks and am starting to really love it again. So easy to fall out of lust with the tourist-esque elements of the city that you forget all the beautiful and historic parts of it too. The Loop is really beautiful this time of year.

Friday, November 12, 2010

fashions fade, style is eternal

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Pretty jewelry that has been capturing my attention=reasons to save money. BrillianceFound: I especially love the 9 Ring, but the arrow is fantastic too. The feather ring is interesting because it seems like it's just a feather that serendipitously dropped onto your hand.
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Laura Lombardi, a Chicago jewelry maker. These pieces are quite perfect.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

What Worked in October

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I dropped the ball on my November goals. As in, I didn't come up with any. I just didn't. October was good. I didn't accomplish all my goals, and in fact, I don't know that I accomplished most of them specifically, and I'm okay with that. Three awesome things happened in October:

1. I found a routine that will work for me. In this way, I could balance two jobs, studying, working out, and friends. I can make the routine even better so that I am studying more these next two months, and that will be the plan for November. Also, I think I need to find some alone time. I was talking with one of my co-workers in the kitchen who was upset that he didn't have enough time to himself- only 5 hours. Although I'm surprised that he needs five hours to himself, it made me realize that it probably is important to make time for such things as... yourself.

2. I can't really remember the second awesome thing, which is somewhat horrifying.

3. I quit men. Casual dating is fun, but also makes you a little crazier (and pressed for time) than you really need to be. I also considered going on a coffee sabbatical, but really, how many things that you love can you just give up like that?

So now, What Worked in October. In general, I do think that my goal to engage with my surroundings was successful. My goals were to:

1. Enjoy Chicago. I actually could not find events at the Pritzker Pavillion, which was weird. But I definitely could have gone to the Chicago Cultural Center, which I did not do. I enjoyed Chicago in other ways (i.e., bars and clubs haha); unfortunately (or fortunately), I have never been good at being a tourist.

2. Fall traditions. I made pumpkin pie, went apple picking, watched football at sports bars, and drank a lot of coffee. Although coffee is more of an all-seasonal/life tradition, it counts. I still have to make apple pie with the apples that are now probably rotten at this point. And I have more pumpkins that need to be made into more pumpkin pie.

3. Focus on friends (and brother). I'm happy with this. I got to see some of my friends that don't live in Chicago and I've really been staying connected on the phone. Making new friends, blah blah, etc.

4. Disconnect with the computer and phone. I did okay at this. I really was able to step away from Facebook, which was my main goal. I talked about how technology is problematic in some ways, but I do also think that there is a lot of inspiration out there and I'm not opposed to that.

5. Sign up for classes I have been thinking about. Executive life decision that I should not be signing up for more classes at the time being but come February, I will.

6. Work on a collaborative project. In the works, kind of.

7. Join an interest group. This didn't work out because on Thursday nights, I usually end up doing something else, which goes in direct conflict with the whole group thing. I may try again in November, but thus far, this Thursday and the one in the past are not working out for me.

8. Read in my spare time. Ok, but need to read more. I've been reading On the Road possibly for the entire month, I am not sure.

Monday, November 8, 2010

easy pimpin

Today, I was proposed to in a bar, down on one knee and everything sort of affair, because I declared that I like football more than I like men. And also, proved that my hands are more steady than someone who claims he's an orthodontist, but actually looks like a sales associate at Best Buy.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

a question, followed by an answer

One of the questions that I get the most about this blog is: Why are you not talking about relationships and men?

And to give you an idea of the frequency that this question is asked of me, I will explain. It is asked by one person. Every time I call her from the Blue Line stop at 9:30 PM. Which was last week. And tonight. And also maybe the week before. (It turns out that my blog does not lend itself to much questioning, which I find puzzling, considering the high quality of all its contents that cannot help but arouse stimulating questions). Her name is Eileen and I believe her exact wording is, "I don't care about fashion or your other thoughts... I just want to hear about who you are dating!"

So here's the plan. I will never post about relationships here. Simply, I recognize it's a bad idea. And I can rarely recognize bad ideas before they come to fruition and destroy my entire life (exaggeration). So I figure, if I can see now that I should not post about this, then I probably shouldn't. And I know that just because my Internet search skills can be described as lackluster at best, most people are much more talented.

And plus, then how could we pave the way for a relationship blog collaborative project?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

elicited birdlike phrases and architectural Miles Davis logics

Love this.

And this following video may or may not be the story of my life. I love the lines:
"Why is he suturing his own face?"
"To turn me on."



Things I am pondering:
1. Trying really hard to figure out how a situation could be interpreted as "socialist" so that I don't have to think that someone is dumb and doesn't understand the concept of socialism. Because I really don't want to have to go around thinking people are dumb. I'm not down with that.

2. Wondering if I sprained my ankle falling off a curb in broad daylight while looking for a bus to go to work. Wondering if it was okay that I decided to just keep walking on it.

3. Neal Cassady/Dean Moriarty in On the Road. I'm almost done with it. Uncanny coincidences (are coincidences inherently uncanny?).

And that's it. I'm thinking about three things. Only. (Right.)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

faces

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Love these stunning photos of beautiful faces by Alessandro Villa.

no rules, just live life

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Middle picture from here.

There are no pictures from this weekend, as most weekends go. Although I do wish I had a smaller camera to take around, I also can recognize that most of the time, it's a good thing for things to live on in memory, or pieced together with the combined memory of another friend. I ended up really running out of time to put together a costume, so although I was going for the top picture, it ended up being more like the bottom one (aka dressed pretty much as myself).

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So much fun with some of my best friends three separate nights spaced in between working. There was sexy casual night, band night (amazing watching the friend who has serenaded you to sleep on the couch with his guitar play on a bigger stage), and picking up the bartenders afternoon. Too many stories. The way it should be, no?

these smiling eyes are just a mirror for the sun.

These are the things I loved from last week.

1. Baby Blanket from The Purl Bee that I am totally going to make as a "Damn, my apartment is really cold" blanket for the winter. Love the cool graphic-looking color schemes.

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2. Typographic Map. You know how I love my typography and Chicago maps.Photobucket

3. Another really cool Squishy Log Cabin Blanket from The Purl Bee.

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4. This cool photo by Garry.
Lunar Eclipse

5. Cute rooms:
living roominspirations, by my desk, and baskets of work.
bitsandbobbins
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recovering lazyholic
Love books in general, but really love travel books.

6. When done right, tattoos can be so beautiful.
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7. This poncho. I'm still into oversized things, and I'm getting into ponchos. Why am I weird?
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8.
Broken sky mirror,
blue-shadowed snow,

June is far now,

hold while you can; show
bare of branch
stark of stalk:

ache us to know.

- Winter Vocative by William Bronk

9. These images, some of my Flickr favorites. Click on photo to be taken to the photographer's Flickr.Trees in the Morning Fog

10. Gray nailpolish. I fell in love. I'm keeping it forever.
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My friend lent this OPI "You Don't Know Jacques" It's sort of like subdued black.