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modestmuse
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Name: modestmuse
Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Female
Interests: traveling, books, music (preferably live), photography, creating things by hand, the color pink, good design, apple products and scrabble
Expertise: being creative and making things by hand, laughing and making others laugh, spoiling my nephews
Occupation: Student
Industry: Art
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/19/2004
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| with any luck, this should be my last post here at xanga.
i think i've finally figured out the whole blog thing without having to pay for posting (and posting photos).
it's been a great run here. thanks for following me all over.
you can find my new blog at http://sightofstars.blogspot.com/.
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| hi everyone.
ever since i got my new camera i've been thinking about switching to
another blog site so i can post photos for free... i think here on
xanga you can post photos in albums, but i want to be able to insert
them into the body of my posts.
i've had this blog for over a year now, and i think it's time to move
on to something different... something cleaner, neater, a little more
sophisticated perhaps.
i'm doing a 30-day trial here: http://www.sightofstars.typepad.com.
tell me what you think.
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| at work and bored so i thought i'd post. i was inspired by a recent post of nicole's...
a few things about me:
10 years ago: i was a freshman at Southwestern University, trying to
adjust to my new surroundings and roommate and living away from home
for the First Time Ever.
5 years ago: living in austin, temping after being let go from the
now-defunct Janus austin location, rooming with one of my best friends
and dog cosmo.
1 year ago: adjusting to living, working, and going to school in san
francisco, being demoralized by the public transit commute, lack of
money and studying something i wasn't quite sure i wanted to do
(interior design).
yesterday: having major transportation issues (MUNI and Yellow Cab
both), arriving to class more than an HOUR late, having a late lunch at
Specialty's afterward (chicken pesto sandwich on focaccia) and shopping
with my roomie in the early evening. ordering sushi from our usual
place and watching Coupling from our Netflix queue.
5 snacks i enjoy: veggie chips (snyder's makes a really good,
satisfyingly crunchy one that can be heard for miles), cheese puffs
(barbara's or the new natural ones from cheetos), trail mix from
wal-mart, specifically (cashews, almonds, raisins, m&ms), anything
chocolate, coke zero (is that a snack?).
5 songs i know all the words to: hmm, gonna have to think about that one and get back to you.
5 places i would run away to: greece, italy, spain, china, japan.
5 things i would do with $1 million: divide 3/4 of it amongst my family
members, and use the remaining $250K to live off of for awhile. pay for
school in full, pay back my school loans early, buy a mini cooper
(maybe).
5 things i would never wear: a mullet, anything yellow, a padded bra, blue eyeshadow, a corset.
5 favorite TV shows: Nip/Tuck, Alias, CSI (reruns, especially), Coupling (on Netflix), Monk (because it's clever and set in SF).
5 bad habits: poor time management, leaving my contacts in while i
sleep, falling asleep with the lights on, falling asleep with makeup
on, drinking too much diet coke/coke zero.
5 favorite toys: my computer, my iPod mini, my new camera, my new printer, and from my childhood, Legos and Barbies tied.
5 biggest joys: being there for the births of both my nephews, being a
maid of honor, experiencing live music, laughing out loud and
unabashedly, loving/being loved.
5 fictional characters i would date: Howard Roark from The Fountainhead--to
have a constant reminder of the integrity of the individual, Napoleon
Dynamite--solely for dance lessons, Aidan from S&TC--because he is
so adorable and good with his hands, Vaughn from Alias--because, um,
hello? he's hot, and huh, i can't think of a fifth. probably someone
with an accent so i can be captivated all day long just by their speech
pattern.
***
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| what defines maturity?
marisela and i had a brief conversation tonight about the subject of
maturity and how some people are more mature than others. one of the
definitions on dictionary.com offers this:
"Of, relating to, or characteristic of full development, either mental or physical."
but how do you know you've reached said full development? sure, you can
quantify physical development by size and weight and height and the
like... but what about mental and even emotional maturity? how do you
measure that?
even though age is measurable in units of time, it's not necessarily an
accurate measure of someone's maturation. the phrases "acting like a
child," "late bloomer," and "mature for her age" all come to my mind.
furthermore, (the possession of) education and experience, though
quantifiable in years and events, also seem relative.
perhaps, then, maturity is an immeasurable, ongoing process which
coincides with the phases of our lives: birth, childhood, adolescence,
young adulthood, adulthood, late adulthood, death...
from my collective experience, maturity (which i loosely define as the
difference between wisdom and knowledge) often coincides with age, but
not always. i think that maturity often comes after some form of
suffering or challenge, solving (or not solving) a problem, or
experiencing something by which we are different, or changed,
afterwards than we were before. the maturation process can occur in
epiphanic spurts, or in long durations like the ageing of a wine. age
is simply a way of enumerating and marking milestones, reminding us of
what we've accomplished in the days, months and years we've been alive.
and since we can't go back in time, age could possibly hint at the
potential of what is yet to come.
i like to think we are all works in progress and there is always room
for improvement and maturity in everyone's lives. differentiating
between simply knowing something and knowing how/when/where/why to
apply one's knowledge can separate the immature from the mature. for
instance, acknowledging that high school can be a
traumatic/uplifting/life-altering place is one thing. but knowing that
it is a rite of passage for almost everyone (and it only happens once)
is another.
life happens so quickly, especially when we have so many things going
on at the same time. we want to do so much simultaneously that it
becomes this race after the proverbial carrot... we get so fixated on
the carrot that we forget all else.
i think real maturity is defined in knowing when to chase the carrot--and when to let it go.
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| hello hello.
tired from a long day with family.
after getting up at 8 am texas time for breakfast, my parents, siblings
and i headed to friendswood to witness aaron and andrew's baptism. it
was a lovely ceremony--simple, sweet and short. neither child cried.
following the service, we had brunch at my sister's house... where once
again, i ate to my heart's content: einstein bagels, kolaches, filipino
lumpia (egg rolls), king ranch chicken casserole, fruit, pizelles (made
by my sister's mother-in-law)... and on and on. it was a little out of
control.
when most of my family left, i stayed with aileen and rich and the boys
and rich's mom. we cleaned up a bit and then headed out to the
friendswood fire festival so andrew could see the firefighters and
firetrucks... i never knew a 2-year old could be so fanatic about such
things. it was marvelous--real firemen and women displaying their fire
gear and equipment, educating kids about fire and fire safety. i can
see why kids get so excited.
next, we headed to their new house, a lovely one-story in league
city, where the boys had free reign of the as-of-yet unfurnished rooms.
andrew was so wound up (and we were all knackered, lying on the new
carpet) that he was running around the house while intermittently
sitting on my head. ah, the love of nephews never ceases.
after that, we headed to wal-mart for a few things (aileen bought me a
couple of pairs of pants, one which makes my "butt look nonexistent."
her words, not mine!). nicole picked me up and we headed back here,
where we rendezvoused with gary, karen and john so we could all go
together to get sushi in houston.
the five of us stuffed our faces at oishii, a great little sushi place
with an extensive menu of sashimi, sushi, teriyaki, maki, teka maki and
more. apparently, they go there quite often for happy hour, where
the menu is buy one get one free. i wish i could transport the
restaurant to SF. i am going to find a similar place if it takes me
forever!
after dinner, we stopped to say hello to one of nicole's recent dates:
a real houston firefighter. (note: it was my second visit to a fire
station--bizarre.) it was a random experience that i had to include in
this post. i wanted and asked to slide down the firepole, but
alas, they didn't have one.
so... after all that, we retreated back here to pearland where i have
been getting my things ready ever since. in all, it was a great trip
home, meeting all my expectations for family, food and fun... i won't
be back until christmas, but i will be seeing my parents and karen in a
couple of weeks as they will be visiting me in the city by the bay.
my flight out of houston leaves after noon tomorrow, so i will most likely head to bed soon after i write this.
sweet dreams,
+mm+
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