Running

What I did:

(bought some running shoes–on purpose–for the first time ever)

Why I did it:

When we moved up here, Spur’s world constricted from a twenty-acre spread to an 828 sq ft apartment. She’s handled the change like a champ, for the most part. But her dog aggression issues are worse now than they were before. That means that we don’t really have the option of going to dog parks, and there are so many dogs around here that there’s really not anywhere that I can take the risk of letting her off-leash. And that means that she doesn’t get to run more than a few yards across my apartment. Ever.

She’s such a trooper about it, but I want her to be able to run because she loves to run. And so I decided to do something I thought I would never, ever do–start running. I never really liked running, even when I was a kid. But I’ve found myself more amenable to the idea since I’ve moved up here because of the approximately 12 billion people who run in this city. When I’m out an see all kinds of people running, they seem to be . . . I don’t know. Balanced? Content? Free? I’m not sure what it is really, but it looks appealing. Which in and of itself is not enough to get me started. But . . .

she’s worth it.

Spring Break

I’m always grateful for Spring Break, but this year I’m especially grateful because I got to hang out with my mom the whole week and show her my mad Boston-navigation skills and take her to some of my favorite places. And you know what? I didn’t do a lick of school work until Friday afternoon. I had a real, honest-to-goodness break this year and didn’t even feel guilty about it because we were having such a good time! I feel rested and refreshed and ready to take the rest of this semester by the horns.

Swedish Meatballs and Home Goods

Mom and I had a grand adventure today. We went to Ikea. It was the first time either of us had been there, and we walked around in awe. And after we had traveled all around the showroom, where you see all of their products in context, we went to the store’s restaurant and I had some pretty tasty Swedish meatballs. And then we bought stuff. I came home with a couple of paper lamps for my living room, shelves for my kitchen, a few other little things, and a huge, wonderful palm plant. I love big house plants, and I’ve been wanting one since before I moved up here. I’ve recently heard that palms are particularly good for cleaning allergens out of the air, so I had decided to get one at some point. So when I saw that Ikea had some huge ones for a shockingly low price, I decided to get one. And all that green is already making my heart happy!

Also, for supper I had some amazing panang curry at the Thai food place around the corner from my house. I ate too much, and I’ve been forced as a result to spend the rest of the evening resting.

Best Haircut of my LIFE.

So it’s already a great week with my mom. Yesterday we visited BC and I showed mom around the awesome Bapst and Burns libraries and other places where I go on campus. We even took the shuttle, so she got a fair idea of what life is like around here. We had lunch at Chipotle’s, where we discovered pretty good guacamole and burritos. We were fairly certain that we would never eat again. Then we took the T to Bed Bath and Beyond, which is way more conveniently located than I had imagined, and we had a fun time looking around and buying a few things there. We watched Robin Hood (the new one, courtesy of Netflix) and liked it, and we ordered my favorite pizza from Pino’s (one of the two pizza joints I share an alley with) and ate it all up. Then we fell into a food coma and didn’t move for several hours, until it was bedtime. It was a fantastic day.

Today, I had a hair appointment at 1:00. We had a pretty lazy morning, although Mom went with me to get stuff at CVS and helped me carry the stuff back, so she got to experience that part of my life too.

So about my hair appointment. Awhile back I had decided to buy a deal on Buy With Me (it’s like Groupon or Living Social–a deal a day website) for a swanky Newbury Street salon. I decided I would treat myself. Just this once, I thought. I’ve never paid more than $20 to have my hair done, and I could afford to treat myself, I thought. And today was the big day. So I went in and we waited for a little while, and I think everyone who works there asked us if we wanted a tea or coffee or water while we waited. They were all so nice. When I went back, Roberto (my stylist) noticed right of the bat that I have a lot of hair, but he didn’t act like it was unbelievably thick, and he asked me what I wanted. I had a plan for this moment; I said, “Actually, I’m hoping you can give me a little advice. I never know what to do with my hair because it’s so thick and because I’m pretty low maintenance when it comes to my hair.” I told him what I normally have done–layers, thinned, bangs–and he asked me a few more questions, and then he did exactly what I wanted. He told me what he thought I should do, more or less, and then he just did what he wanted to.

And when it was all said and done, I walked out with the absolute best haircut of my life.

And I don’t just mean that my hair looks great (although it totally does). The whole experience was fantastic. Here’s why: normally, when I’ve gotten my hair done in the past, the hairdresser kind of looks at my hair and declares defeat (at least, that’s how it feels to me). It’s just so thick. What do you do with hair that thick? Roberto was not intimidated by my hair. He knew just what to do with hair this thick, and he did it. And it felt like he was crafting something, not just cutting my hair. And another thing: I’ve never had my hair cut by a man before, and I’m sure that for most people id doesn’t make a difference. But for people with hair as thick as mine, it does. Roberto is the first stylist who was strong enough that it wasn’t difficult for him to handle my hair when it was wet. He just had a lot easier time dealing with my hair than anyone else has.

For the first time I can remember, I didn’t feel a completely irrational twinge of guilt for having absurdly thick hair. I just felt good about my hair, and I felt GREAT about my haircut–the first hair cut that felt like victory rather than stifled defeat. I love it. I love everything about it.

And the day was just as good after that. Mom and I went to the North End (Boston’s Little Italy) and toured Paul Revere’s house (thanks for the tip, Katie!), then we went to the Old State House for a tour, and then back to the North End for supper at Fiore’s. We ate until we couldn’t eat anymore and were well satisfied with the meal. Before we headed home, we stopped in at Mike’s Pastry for some canoli, and then we got on the T at Haymarket at about 6:00. “Don’t expect a seat,” I told mom. I expected to pack in like cattle along with the folks heading home from work. Instead, the train was almost empty and we got seats. At each successive stop, more and more people crammed on to the train until it was uncomfortably full, but we were able to sit down the whole time.

We got home to a very, very excited puppy dog, and we’re about to watch My Fair Lady. This is a fantastic day!

My mom is here!

And she’ll be here all week. That’s more than enough to be grateful for in one day! But it’s also Spring Break–yeehaw!

Singing birds

This is another repost from the Children’s Book Quote blog.

Not another bite was eaten that night while the birds were singing, and in the small hours of the following morning men stumbled out of that hall not knowing whether they were in this world or the next, they were so happy. (from Irish Tales of Mystery and Magic by Eddie Lenihan)

This morning I enjoyed listening to birds chirp outside my window while I ate my breakfast. There haven’t really been birds around during the winter up here, and it is wonderful to hear them again. The sound lifts my spirits and fills my mind with visions of spring, and I am oh-so thankful for that!

Writing

I forgot to post yesterday. How ’bout that.

For my pedagogy class (the one I did a presentation in the other day), I’ve been working on a literacy narrative, so I’ve been thinking though some of the significant events in my development as a reader and writer. If you know me well, you know that there’s a lot for me to choose from, and they’re pleasant memories because reading and writing was always, always positive for me. But whenever I think about my development as a writer, I always think of my first reading of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury in ninth grade because that’s when I really learned to love the written word. I liked writing before it, and I wrote a lot, and I was good at it. But after I read the book, I wanted to be a writer. It changed the way I approached writing. And I can’t think about that without also thinking about the way that my ninth grade English teacher, Mr. Monroe, shaped my writing skills with his comments on my papers. And I still have those papers, so I pulled them out to look at them. And that led me to thinking about my humanities class my senior year, also with Mr. Monroe, and so I pulled out my response journal to peruse and ended up reading the whole thing. That was the year that I felt like I really developed as a writer, and it was fun to look back over what I had written.

And you know what? I was a pretty darn good writer for a 17 year old, if I do say so myself. And it was fun to remember that. But maybe more than that, it was fun to see myself as I was 10 years ago reflected in those pages. I laughed at myself a lot, and was impressed with myself from time to time, shocked by some of the things I thought about then and had forgotten, and just rolled my eyes sometimes. A lot has changed since then. My life is NOTHING like I thought it would be then. I’ve definitely changed my mind about some of the things I thought then (thank God). I was amused by some of the things I was obviously insecure about and by the things I was very confident about.

My voice is mostly the same now, but the way that I approach writing is, in many ways, very different now than then. I’m a much better rhetor now for sure, and I’ve discovered the wonders of harnessing the writing process. Back then, I was concerned almost exclusively with words and phrasing; I don’t know if I ever thought about structure at all. Now I think about both. Then, I was only interested in creative writing. Now, I also love academic writing, maybe even more than creative writing.

But maybe the biggest difference is that back then, I loved to write just for the sake of writing, for the beauty of the written word. I wrote all the time. These days, I guess I’m just not as passionate about writing as I was then. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t have the same romantic attitudes about writing now as I did then. That is to say, it’s less about inspiration and more about discipline for me now. Then I tweaked drafts as I wrote (and by “tweaked” I mean I labored over every word) and never really revised. Now I think that revision is the best part, where all the really good stuff happens.

I’m glad I took the time to read my old writing. It’s been a very long time since I have, and it was kind of nice to revisit myself 10 years ago. I’m thankful for a lot of things tonight: for the ways that I was shaped as a writer and as person, that I kept my writing and brought it with me, that I had a reason to look back through it today. And maybe most of all, I’m thankful that this daily blogging, as sloppy and haphazard as it has been, has reminded me that I love to write and share my writing with others. And thankful to you all for reading.

Comfortable

Today I had to give a 20 minute teaching presentation in my teaching class. I had to teach my peers a lesson I would teach to freshmen. And I thought I’d be nervous because teaching your peers and being evaluated on it is a lot more difficult than teaching freshmen. But I wasn’t. I felt pretty good that I was able to just feel confident and relaxed. The best part, though, and the thing that surprised me was that it only took a couple of minutes to begin to feel comfortable, to hit my stride, more or less. I taught a good lesson, and I got some great feedback from my classmates and my professor. But I think my favorite part of the day was that moment when I realized just how comfortable it was for me to assume that role of teacher, how natural it was. How’s that for life affirmation?

Small Victories

Today I had to go have blood work done in advance of my appointment with my endocrinologist on Friday, and I was so deeply delighted to be able to jump in my and go. I’m still feeling the relief of finally getting it out of the snow and ice prison it was in. My doctor’s office isn’t far from here, but it would be a long walk and it wouldn’t be particularly easy to get there by public transportation (I don’t think) so it’s really nice to have my car for that. Also, there’s valet parking at the hospital where my doctor’s office is, and I just laugh every time because of Brian Regan’s ER bit.

But what made today’s journey especially triumphant was that I drove there and back without the assistance of my GPS. I did it all on my own. I don’t drive a lot up here, which means it takes longer to learn my way around in the car. So being able to make this little journey by memory was nice. It felt like a signal that I really am, albeit slowly still, getting settled in to this place. I’m thankful for that small victory today.