I respect this chick...

So, the internet and gossip shows are  buzzing over this gal, Lolo Jones. She's 29, a 2-time Olympian (or soon-to-be) and holy crap on a cracker: a virgin. Oh the horror!! Oh, and she's single...double horror.

I have mixed feelings over her announcing she's a virgin right before the Olympics and via the internet and gossip mags. It's a great PR move since being religious and pious is the thing these days. Ahem...Tebow, anyone? But, what I find very interesting about her is that she is so vocal about her choices. She's not ashamed about her status. I like that. I find it a bit refreshing for a female to be so honest with herself and everyone else.

Sadly, she is considered abnormal by society but I do not. I find nothing wrong with her. She's made the choices she believes in and feels comfortable with. I respect her. I also empathize with her. It's hard to stand by beliefs and choices or even defend them. Even explaining situations is hard. She went at the issue head-on. Good on her!

What I find sad is that society, the media, etc make her sexual choices an issue. Who cares if she wants to wait until marriage, to find the right guy, or do it when she's ready??? I don't. Why should society? I am not in her relationship or her life. If she slept with a plethora of men and advertised it like she does her virginity, it would be an issue as well. Again..unless she's spreading STD's to the hunky peniled masses, then it's an issue but if she isn't...I couldn't care less.

Let her be. Being a female, albeit a single one, is hard enough. I should know.

Although....we all know she will and is having trouble getting dates and I think a little more so now, since it's really out there. That hurts. I am not sure I have enough faith in humanity to let this be easy for her. I wish it was.

Needless to say, she's a strong female and good role model (I hope she is..I mean if she's a crazy Christian that hates all things non-white..I will be sad and will eat my words.). Anyway, let's not focus on the virgin status of this Olympian focus on her winning hurdles this summer.

Maybe I can focus on my own status or let's be honest...I'll be focusing on the Olympics and running around...and pretending I am an athlete. Gotta remember..my faith in humanity ain't that great.

My lost art...

So, I rarely write anymore. It's almost as if I've forgotten how. I am also not really sure what my feelings are on this loss of a favorite pastime. I am not really sure what my feelings are about most things as of late.

Writing was supposed to be my livelihood. In some ways, it does come into play in my job. I write manuals. I write emails. I compose a killer tweet or a Facebook update. So, okay, fine I write. But, I do not write for "fun". 

I rarely exude passion about filling up a screen with well-crafted, handpicked, gorgeous, sensuous words, sentences and paragraphs. Small glimmers of excitement often leak out of me when someone persuades me into writing a short story or a couple of silly sentences...for amusement in an email. The words ooze slowly at first from my nimble fingers and then they pour on to the screen, quenching the longing thirst in my dehydrated brain.

I miss it. I miss the community of writing at times. I miss creating things that I find beautiful, silly or sad.  I miss the whole process of choosing the right word and formulating flowing sentences.

I miss a lot of things. I miss myself writing. At times I just miss myself or the person I was when I was writing so much or when I was around fellow writers or "creatives".

Have I lost that spark out of myself completely? I am not really sure and there is no one to tell me otherwise.


In other news....I saw a Salvador Dali painting this weekend..up close.  Art Viewing Win! I viewed it on accident, really. I didn't know of the special exhibit at RISD and I walked into it and much to my surprise, I got to see some gorgeous stuff and a few glorious installations.

So essentially I got to see Dali, Van Gogh, Warhol, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Cezanne, O'Keefe, Matisse, and the list goes on in this one tiny museum in my favorite city, in the smallest state.

See that passion still lies beneath.....I am not sure how to recover it. 

So long 2011, Hello 2012

2011 was not my best year. Let's face it, the past say 2-3 years have not been my best years. So, I am determined to make 2012 magnitudes better than the past. So far, I think it will be.

I started off 2011 with food poisoning and as I vomited I listened to Ryan Seacrest shout out the countdown to midnight like only he can: haughty, condescending and cheerful. It was great, just kidding. So my year started off...on the wrong foot. I will refrain from all the tawdry puns that I can conquer up.

It continued down the road of ugly with nasty emails riffs, lost and unsalvageable friendships, difficult  and tasking work projects and situations, heartbreak, family cancer diagnosis' and battles, scalp treatments, a crazy landlord, moving to another new place and all together loneliness without anyone to fall back on for support: friend or boyfriend. I am sure I left some fun trial and tribulations out but 2011 was altogether not stellar. I am not saying this as a poor me statement..it's just the truth. All of this happened this year and I am sure millions of others have had worse years.

2011 did have positive notes. My mother is on the mend...actually she's cancer free and her surgery scars are healing. I reconnected with my first and best friend from when I was a child and will be visiting her in Vegas in February. I started ballet and in the coming months I will be going to class in Boston with another instructor for more intense training. (I will still be at the same level she just has a different teaching style that I feel I can hone my skills with.) I also discovered that I still have the ability to connect with people and not everyone is utterly selfish and self absorbed and common courtesy still exists.

I learned that I will be allowed to learn another language essentially free of charge through work. I chose French and I cannot be more excited. Oui!

Finally, I did start writing again..although most of my gems were in emails to people. I did write. I am still conflicted about if I will keep this blog going. My "theme" really did not work for me which is rather sad. It should be easy to find things that you are thankful for, which I can but the effort I put into the blogs really did not show and I was not altogether pleased with the results. I still do not want to discuss my life which I am somewhat doing right now. Will I continue this? I do not know.

So, with all of the things I have to look forward to in 2012, it's shaping up to be a pretty decent year. I hope with these positive notes, things will fall into place in other parts of my life.  I can only hope.

The Snow Queen

So, I've decided that if I ever get married...that I want to look like the Snow Queen from the Nutcracker: She's fly and about 30 seconds in. Also my "husband" (husband in quotes because the dude doesn't exist in my life yet)  is going to have sorta look like the Snow King or Cavalier...sorry dude..no tights but that princely top thing...is all you, buddy.

Anyway...enough of that fantasy. I've recently discovered something by re-reading these recent blogs. I suck at writing. I am thankful I don't write everyday because I cannot possibly be "on" everyday of my life.  But wow..these blogs are trite and lack focus and some serious creativity. Bullocks!

I guess I am in some writing funk. I have been for a while. I've been putting my creative juices into cooking and baking (that sounds so disgusting). I enjoy it and it provides me with an outlet. Will I write "well" one day? I have no idea. Do I want to? Of course.

I think this drought is due to my lack of topics. I really do not know what to write about. I mean..I am writing why I am thankful I don't write everyday. That's just wrong. I mean I write emails everyday..I am not sure those count. Some are quite zazzy, though.

I could stick to things I know and love: fashion, dogs and food. I mean that sounds fun. I can give it a whirl. We will see what the new year brings. Fun and adventure I hope. 

Thanks-giving

Anyone see anything wrong with this post date?

I do. I am supposed to be writing a blog about things I am thankful for and I missed my kairos. Thanksgiving was two days ago for crying out loud. Oopsy.

So, what am I most thankful for? hmm...my family. I am thankful my mom's cancer didn't spread and she didn't need further treatment. I am thankful for her doctors and I am thankful she is healing..as slow as it is.

I also thankful for my family because they are all I have. This isn't meant to be a poor me statement. It is just a statement of fact. They are the only people in my life I can turn to and who will hopefully listen and guide me.  Too many times this year I've had to realized this and yes it's sad, but very, very true.

I tend to forget that selfishness is innate. Everyone is selfish in their own right and way and looks out for their wants, needs and desires. People do what they want to do and forget about how it effects other people. Thinking of others takes work, hard work at that. It is the type of work that a lot of people "don't have time for" or do not want to do. You cannot force anyone to do this type of work, they have to want to, thus the work happens on rare occasions.

I am thankful for selfless people-thinking of others before they think of themselves*. I do not know many who have this trait but I think some (very few actually) people have a little selflessness in them. My mom being one of them....she's a giver. Not all mothers are givers..just because you have children doesn't make you selfless...sorry..try again.

Anyway, I wish there was more selflessness in this world but for now I will take what I get, as little as it is. It's sad when someone does something completely unselfish that it's a complete surprise. I guess people missed the whole golden rule of life/biblical verse--do unto others..lesson.

So, I sit here and revel in my thankfulness for my family and one other giant thing in my life. Puppies. I have to say....I am thankful for puppies: cute, snuggly, squirmly, little puppies. They make me smile and relieve my stress. Dear God..where would I be without Google image search and The Daily Puppy. Thank you Google and all the puppy-loving uploaders out there.

*The -- was supposed to be an em dash but...nooooo. Stupid Blogger wouldn't allow my proper HTML. I attempted and failed twice. Boo.

The Dancer's Soul...

I recently started dancing again. I don't like to toot my own mini-horn but it was one of the best ideas I've had in a very long time.  Every week I put on my leotard and slip into my ballet shoes and I dance...not well..but I dance. I toddle across the floor or demi-plié at the barre. My always loose and crazy hair is tied back in ponytail and sometimes even a bun.

I am not sure if I can fully describe how I feel when I dance or if anyone who hasn't danced can fully understand the feelings of dance. It's a connection between mind, body, and soul. Some say yoga does this but those people probably never enjoyed dance and the expression and solace it provides.

I attempt grace and beauty..something writing could never give to me. You can write with grace and use beautiful words but you can never actually be grace or beauty or even create grace and beauty in writing. You can in ballet. You can achieve typified perfection in form and movement. My moves do not come close to the sought after perfection of ballet but I sure do try. I pull my hips in and my chest is wide and shoulders are back but not too far back...

I stifle giggles and grins when I go through our foot and barre work because I cannot contain how happy I am to be there. My teacher is a real ballerina. She danced professionally for a number of years and her husband dances for the Boston Ballet (the school of which I attend). She has the grace and ease of movement I desire. I may never achieve the dancer perfection but I will have danced. Danced the way my heart desires. Felt the movements and the joy of the actions all at once. I dance. I will always dance.*

So, today I am thankful for ballet, its beauty and movement. I am also thankful for my close proximity to the best ballet school in state. The joy and elation I've experienced in the past few months surpasses the downtrodden feelings of a bad day at work or terrible news.


*Random footnote: The Duggar Family does not dance...as like a rule! I would die!! That ain't right.

On Writing...

I decided to make this  blog about things I am thankful for but I've been struggling with write anything of substance. I used to be able to just write with ease and some would say grace....

Now..not so much...

So, in a hopes of getting this kick started...I am thankful for writing. It provided me with an outlet. Hopefully, it can do that again. Right now..it's difficult to put a well thought sentence together.

Maybe with acknowledging my love for writing, it will come back to me. I can only hope.