I want to write

Yesterday I tweeted about how my job is getting in the way of my recreational writing, and I meant it.  How am I supposed to publish all the blog posts I think about, write notes about and begin writing when I am now required to work for at least 8 hours a day?

My mind is always filled with blog post ideas.  As I walk the dog, take a shower, grocery shop, eat my lunch, sit in meetings, ride the bus, watch television, read, and just about everything else, I am thinking of blog posts.  I wish I could hire someone to transcribe all of my thoughts. 

Just after Wilbur finishes his breakfast, a little after 5:15 am, as we cross the street on our walk, I begin thinking in writing.  How I will begin the story, what quotes I do not want to forget, and how I will describe each of the characters races through my head as Wilbur tries to find the next tree to sniff. 

On an unrelated note, there must be a new dog in the neighborhood, because Wilbur has been stress-sniffing every single tree for the past two days.  Someone is new in town.

Not all of my posts reflect the amount of effort I described.  Let me correct myself, most of my posts don’t reflect the effort I described, but I wish they could.  If you could read all the reams of thoughts in my mind, I’m sure you would be impressed.  Unfortunately, the time to write doesn’t exist at the moment.  I wish I could sit around and write all day and every day, but as soon as I say that, I realize how ridiculous it would be.  If all I did was sit and write, where would my stories come from?  It’s my trips to the grocery store, days at work and random real-life experiences that make this blog what it is.  My real life is what gives me my material and my desire to write.  Some posts are deeper than others, but they all stem from the same thing: my every day. 

So as much as I would love to devote my life to writing, I don’t know what I would write about! (I also don’t know how I would pay for anything, but that is beside the point…)

Until then, I guess I’ll keep going to work (and getting a paycheck), writing blog posts in my mind, making lists in my notebook, and writing when I have the chance.

Stumble Upon This!

As the owner of this blog I can see how people get to my blog.  For example, I can see if someone searches "capitol of Cambodia Sean Penn" and ends up here.  Remember that post?

I can see where people are located around the world when they read this blog.  I can also see what site referred them to my blog.  So when I plug my blog on facebook and twitter, I can see the influx of readers from those sites. 

But huge news on the Live Fully site!!  StumbleUpon is now referring people to my blog!  Yes, you read correctly.  A whole 2 people have stumbled and come across my blog.

Maybe I'm crazy for getting so excited about two readers, but I think this is huge news.  When I stumble across blogs, I think they must be some kind of big deal, and never considered my blog to be part of that crowd.  Surprise!  I made it!

Keep on stumblin' on!

{source}

Much love, Stumblers.  Much love.

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

Happy June 1st!  Happy new month!  And happy summer!

Oh my goodness!  Where did the last 21 days go?  What have I been doing that I haven't been able to publish a single post?!  Trust me, I am wondering the same thing myself!  I have missed this little blog.

But, with a new month, a new temporary living arrangement, a new car, new furniture and a new condo (gasp!) I have been quite busy, and I have a lot to catch you up on!

I still have a handful of posts sitting in my drafts that I simply haven't had enough time to finish writing and edit, but not to worry faithful readers, you have lots of stuff coming your way!

My goal this month is to write a post every single day.  And considering June is my month of unemployment, this shouldn't be too challenging.  I just hope you won't mind if I jump around a bit.  I still haven't told you anything about The Kiwi Bergers trip to NYC!  I have to write about my sister's final performance, the Hot Blondies Bakery booth, moving home from NYC, visiting Madison, WI with my dad, and getting a condo!  Gasp!  I still can't believe I have it!

Then how about the fact that my dad is moving to Abu Dhabi?  Yeah, I have to write about that.

I'll write about Madison, furniture, cell phones, moving, baking and anything else that may come to mind. So stay tuned, because it is going to be a great month!  I can feel it...

But first how about a few little photos?

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge the last weekend I lived in NYC.

Packing up my life for Madison, WI.

The two things Madison is known for: beer and cheese curds.

Lake George: where I should be spending the rest of the month.  Mmmmm.

Letter to me

When I had lived in Thailand for less than a year CIEE, the program I went through, held a writing competition.  I submitted my story about spending Songkran with Bri.

You can read the story here.

I didn't win, but when you google me, it is still the first link that appears.

Now, there is another competition.

I had ignored all of the emails from CIEE until yesterday, for some bizarre reason, and today is the deadline.  The competition is to write a letter to your former self, giving advice regarding the time spent teaching abroad.  I couldn't pass it up.  As soon as I read the requirements my head began racing.

Here is my submission:

Dear Meaghan,

First of all, you are awesome!  Going to Thailand?!  Good for you.  Your two friends backed out, but believe it or not, it was for the better.  You’ll learn so much alone.  Secondly, while it will be a pain, you’ll be grateful you cleaned out your room before you left.  Mom will appreciate it too. 

Onto the nitty gritty stuff.

The first few days are going to be rough.  It is hot.  Hotter than you could  have imagined.  And the dress code is far more conservative than seems appropriate for the temperature.  Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.  In two years you will catch a chill when it dips below 75 degrees.  Oh, yes, you will stay for longer than you planned.  The family will understand.  It will be worth every second of it.  

You will quickly find your stride in the classroom.  The culture is far more challenging.  And the language?  Are you kidding me?  But, believe me when I say, it will all get easier.  Your best friends will be Thai people.  And you will speak Thai.  I promise.

Always wear your helmet on motorbikes.  When Paul pressures you to buy a humongous helmet with a jaw protector, listen to him, it’ll save your life.  Yes, you will be in a motorbike accident.  You will be driving.  And you will have a passenger.  You’ll spend some time in the hospital, but both of you will be okay.  You will have scars.  The accident will be a blessing in disguise.  Because of it, you will be home to see your grandfather just before he dies. 

Befriend the students.  You’ll learn so much from them.  They will be your best language teachers.  They won’t mind if you mispronounce words.  They will teach you Thai the same way you teach them English.  You’ll have a moment when you realize that you are doing a good job.  Keep up the good work.

Play kickball.  The entire school will fall in love with it!  It does wonders for the English Program... and for you.

Travel.  I cannot stress this enough.  The six-hour bus ride sounds long?  Deal with it.  The beaches are incredible.  Your time in Thailand is limited.

Leave when you know the time is right.  Not only won’t it be easy, but it’s going to be really, really hard.  You will cry.  Your friends will cry.  But you will see Thailand in your dreams for months to come.  The decision is the right one.  The trip home will seem like the longest 30 hours of you life.  Your mom and sister will be at the airport, and you’ll cry again.  It’s sad.  But it was so, so happy.  And it is something that no one will ever be able to take away from you.

Good luck.  You’ll do wonderfully.  

PS- Look in the mirror when you arrive at the airport in Bangkok- mascara and tears don’t mix well.

PPS- You’ll get an awesome job in four months!

And here is what I would have added, had it been appropriate, and had I been given more words to play with:

You will love drinking whiskey.  Whiskey and soda water, mmmMmmm, it tastes good just to think about.  You will also drink beer with ice cubes.  But, don't you dare pull that move back in the States.

Befriend the teachers.  And be careful.  Two teachers will betray you.  It will hurt more than you have ever been hurt.  You'll consider leaving Thailand, but won't, and it is the right decision.  After a very long time the three of you will be cordial, and that will be the extent of it.  It's okay, you are stronger because of it.

Beer Olympics is an amazing idea.  Your costume is quite impressive.  You won't win, but it will be one of your favorite nights of all time.

Christmas eve of 2009 will start a lifelong friendship.  He will change you.  You will change him.  You will both cry when you say goodbye.  Don't fret, you'll see him in the US.

And The American After School Program?  It's a pretty genius idea, if I do say so myself.  Run with it.

Moving back to the US will be harder than going to Thailand.  New York City will be scary.  Not finding a job will be even scarier.  Everything will work out.  Just give it time, and enjoy the ride.

Love, meaghan
 

Favorite Compliment... EVER!

Throughout my life I have received enough compliments to accurately say that yesterday's was my favorite.

While driving to the office, after my boss picked me up on the FDR (remember Phillipe?), we got to talking.  I told him about my weekend in Virginia, including the bachelorette party and the upcoming wedding.  We ended up talking about my time in Tulsa.  After a story about the wedding I was in last year, Phillipe turned to me and said, "you should write all of this.  Seriously, I am going to see what I can do.  You should be paid to write."

I should be paid to write?  Favorite compliment.... EVER!  Granted, Phillipe has never read what I have written, so he may end up retracting that comment, but I'm going to take it for what it is: my favorite compliment ever.

"Get up in the morning and I can't keep it in..."

Oh, little blog, I am so sorry.  I have neglected you terribly.  I have neglected you so much, that I missed 300 hits!  Whoa.  But trust me, I have good reason.  Everyone says that though, right?  I have so much to tell you, blog!  I am going to keep everything in chronological order so you don't get confused.


Right now I am hooked on this song by Gotye:  

I am listening to it on repeat while I bust out a few blog posts.


Be prepared for another post about my weekend with Heather in NYC, a Virginia bachelorette party, another job interview, posts about podcasts, annoyances and weddings!  Oh, there is so much to tell!

tkts

It's a beautiful sunny morning in NYC!

Heather arrived yesterday and Erin left this morning... Woo hoo!

Now, I'm off duty for the week and enjoying the long weekend with Heather.

We are currently standing in the tkts line with our fingers crossed for tickets to the matinee of How to Succeed in Business.

It's a long line, so I am loving the blogger app!

Lucky you, lucky me!

I have great news for all my loyal readers! I now have the Blogger app on my telephone, which means so many great things!

This means that while I was waiting for my interview this afternoon I was able to blog while drinking my tea. This means that while I was waiting for Erin to finish at ballet I was blogging. This means that as I sit on the living room and Erin is on my computer, I will be able to blog.

This means that you should have so much more to read!

For me, it means that I will have so much more to edit, because my thumbs are a little large for this tiny virtual keyboard. It also means that I will probably significantly increase my chances of getting carpal tunnel, but you're worth the risk!

But most importantly, this means that while I sit in this subway car, with a very stinky homeless man seated across from me, even though I may be unable to breathe, I am blogging away!

Job Huntin'

Job searching.  Finding a job.  Looking for a job.  Job seeking.  Nope, I am not doing any of those things.  Ladies and gentlemen, I am job huntin'.  And you have to say it with a deep southern accent, when you swallow the middle part of the word.  Job huntin'.  That's what I'm doing.

I have officially lived in New York City for five days.  Five whole days is beyond the amount of time you can count in hours, and therefore, I live here.  And while Erin and I have taken part in a variety of activities and accomplishments throughout the city, unfortunately, I have spent a large amount of time in front of my computer.  Bummer.  Yes, I have been working on my resume, cover letters, applications, and huntin' for jobs in general.  My recent google searches include: "how to write an awesome cover letter," "include in cover letter," "format resume," "jobs in nyc," and "thesaurus.com."  My next searches will probably be along the lines of "free things to do in nyc" and "living in nyc on a budget."  And depending on how long this unemployment lasts I may begin searching "making blogging a profession."

But, all is not lost.

Thanks to Allison and Stephen I had two phone interviews today.  Score!  I also just submitted an application for a position that could be pretty darn perfect, and surprisingly enough, I am qualified for!

For the time being I am going to continue applying here, there and everywhere and sending good vibes out into the universe.  I'm not into all that hippy dippy stuff, but in this waiting game, sometimes there isn't a whole lot more you can do.

Now that my brief blogging break is over, I'm back to job huntin'.  Anyone need an outgoing, intelligent and hardworking employee in NYC?  She has a pretty rockin' blog...

Now that we are back...

Now that we are back, I am allowed to tell you that we were away!

My dad has a fear of the internet and people breaking into our garage, so I wasn't allowed to share the fact that we went on vacation!  Yes, yes, we did.  My family spent the past 7 days cruising around the Caribbean and the two days before that celebrating the Garvey Family Christmas, my favorite holiday of the year!

But now, it is back to reality.

We arrived back in Saratoga well after midnight on Sunday (that in itself is a story) and promptly headed to bed.  Now I have spent the last two days frantically packing and not blogging.

After I left Tulsa in 2008 I moved all of my things into my parents' basement.  And yes, I have a lot of things.  I lived in an apartment for two years and ended up with plenty of kitchen utensils and appliances, photos, wall hangings, curtains, etc.  Let's just leave it at: I have a lot of things.

Then, less than a year after coming back from Tulsa I packed my winter clothes away, adding them to my pile in the basement, and moved to Thailand with two suitcases of summer duds.

Now, I am moving again.

Tomorrow I leave for the big, bad city, and I have lots of packing to do.

I spent the majority of Monday going through Tulsa things.  I am proud to say that I threw away 9 Price Chopper bags filled with trash.  Thank you very much.

Tuesday I spent the majority of the day going through clothing.

Clothing to be given away to Salvation Army.

Summer clothing to be put away.

Winter clothing to go to New York City.

Oh, and the pile of dirty cruise laundry.  Please excuse the mess.

Today, well, today I have been productive too.  I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Koreana, and that was VERY productive.  I haven't spoken to Koreana in longer than I would like to admit, and it was just what I needed.  I also figured out the mystery behind the Christmas itunes gift cards.  Want to know?  It's really very simple...  Any guesses?  Okay, fine.   Ellie never paid for them!  She gave each of the four kids a gift card for Christmas, but managed to walk out of BJs without ever paying for them.  Silly, Ellie.

And now I am back to packing.  Because as much as I hate to admit it, those piles can't just stay in piles, they must fit into suitcases and into the car.

So there it is: my update of the moment.  I am now going to race off, finish packing, and hopefully enjoy my last night in Saratoga.  Tomorrow I will be on the road again.  But tomorrow night, I will be back to blogging!  I have so much to catch you up on: the cruise, the Christmas party, the flat tire and men, oh my!

Did I tell you that?

On New Year’s Eve Dexter and I had a breakfast date.  But considering we were both a few minutes late for our 11:00 breakfast date, it ended up morphing into more of a lunch date, but that is beside the point.  While standing in line for the most delicious bagels in the greater capital region, a tall man behind us said, “hey, Dexter!  How are ya?”  Dexter and I both turned to look at him.  I had no idea who he was, but he hadn’t said hi to me.  When he reintroduced himself to Dexter I knew exactly who he was.  My, how my little brother’s friends have grown!  He then said hello to me, asked me how things were going, and turned his attention back to Dexter.  He congratulated Dexter on his most recent, and very impressive, accomplishment, earning Coach of the Year in Colorado.  Dexter thanked him, we ordered our food and sat down to chat.

We sat for a while catching up.  He told me about his kids running.  I told him about my kids that I left in Thailand.  We both talked about teaching.  We both talked about how much we love working with kids.  And then, as the person who knew us said goodbye and left, we started talking about technology.  Dexter mildly mocked me for my obsessive blogging, but admitted his desire to read it.  But between my blog, our two smartphones, and looking around the coffee shop to see all the different types of technology, we agreed that it is just the way of the world these days.  But what Dexter said to me, made me think more about what we are all doing with this technology.  

Dexter has been living in Colorado since we graduated from high school in 2005.  He went to university there, worked for a few years, and is now back in school again and coaching high school.  Throughout the years he and I have kept in touch over the phone, through facebook, birthday cards and the occasional Saratoga reunion.  But, as I have spent quite a bit of time with him over the last week or so, I have watched as tons of people have congratulated him on his coaching.  So, over our lightly toasted bagels with a schmear, he said, and yes, I wrote this quote down in my telephone, “I have to not get offended when people don’t ask me stuff because it’s on facebook.”

Dexter then explained how strange it has been to come back to Saratoga to be congratulated for something he never told the person about.  Yes, it was put on facebook and reposted by friends and family members, but it is a bizarre concept.  The two of us questioned when it became socially acceptable to use a status update or tweet to start a conversation, without ever asking questions about it.  Instead of asking, “oh, Dexter, what have you been up to?” leading to the coach of the year conversation, people simply congratulate him.  

I could sympathize with the strangeness of it, being a big time blogger and all.  But how much do we assume we know about others based on profiles, updates and tweets?  And just because we know it, should we be commenting on it?

Dexter and I came to the conclusion that it is 2012.  We can’t do anything about the information floating around out there.  And, being bloggers, facebookers, tweeters, etc., we are only encouraging the global distribution of information.  We do, however, love real conversations.  It would have been wonderful for the younger unnamed man to say, “congrats about the Coach of the Year!  I read about it in the paper... Tell me about it!”  But, alas, he didn’t.  And Dexter “has to not get offended.”  

As we continue to put the information out there, we have to accept that people have received the information.  So even though I read the statuses, I will probably still ask you questions.  And even though you read my blog, I will still answer any question you ask me!  I think Dexter would say the same.  

“Meaghan will do enough blogging for the both of us!”

When Kiki came to visit us the day after Christmas, things for NYC were quickly being put in motion.  Erin had decided she was going to move (no matter what!), I had agreed to go with her, and we were in the process of figuring out high school and apartments.

Just as Kiki was getting ready to leave and saying her goodbyes she said, “so, Erin, are you going to have a blog of your own all about your time in New York?”  Erin grinned, chuckled quietly, glanced at me and said, “I think Meaghan will do enough blogging for the both of us!”  Well put, Erin.  Well put.  

And, I will do enough blogging for the two of us, but Erin didn’t get off that easily.  Erin will be taking classes online and dancing in the afternoons, but she will have a lot of down time.  I told her yesterday, that since I am her keeper, she has to follow my rules.  Mooowahhahahaha! (that was my evil laugh)  I don’t have any intentions to make outrageous rules, but we will see as we go.  The one rule I have made for her, involves this little blog right here.  Erin will be a guest blogger!

I have told Erin that she will be required to write for this blog twice a month.  She quickly agreed to the deal, and then asked, “ wait... what do I have to write about?”  I explained that she can write about whatever she pleases.  Mostly, I assume she will write about her experiences in NYC, but that can include  the big and the small.  I told her she can write about dance, online high school, living with her terrible sister, figuring out what to eat without a mom and dad, basically anything that she desires.  But, I also told her that I will be more than happy to help and give her topics if she so chooses.

So, while I will be doing the majority of the blogging around here, you can look forward to Erin’s occasional cameos.  After all, she is the reason I get to move to the big bad city! 

Time to pack

My family is a bit strange.  We each have our own bizarre habits and such.  We each have weird tendencies.  But, when it comes to packing, we are all pretty similar.  Except for my father.

We are leaving for family vacation soon, and my dad has been packing for a week.  For an entire week he has been hanging things in the mud room, and choosing shoes and laying them on top of Wilbur's kennel.  His suitcase has been in the ready position for days, but has been left untouched.  He has piles at the foot of his bed and a few on the dining room table.  He has switched some shirts for others, put his shoes in individual bags, and rethought his sock choices.  And the rest of my family has spent an entire week making fun of him.

The rest of us, we wait until the last minute, and it is hilarious.

So now, at 9 pm, Garvey, Erin and I are all packing upstairs.  Erin is planning every single outfit, and exactly which night and to which dining room she will wear it.  She is also making sure that I bring exactly the accessories I promised I would.  Garvey, is cleaning out.  He is getting rid of things left and right.  And every five minutes or so, he calls Erin into my bedroom, and asks both of us if we want     blank   .  First it was an ipod dock.  Every time Erin and I would chuckle, call him crazy, and go back to our respective rooms and music choices.  But, most recently, Garvey called a giveaway meeting, and pulled from behind his back two old cups.  Yes, he offered us his old cups.  Weirdo.  But, I had an idea.  Poor Wilbur gets very cold ears in the winter.  I had just finished telling my mom that he needs a pair of earmuffs, and voila!  We had earmuffs.

At one point Garvey let Wilbur borrow his headband so the earmuffs stayed in place on their own, but by the time this photo was taken, Wilbur was all done with the game.

So, now I'll get back to packing.  I did a little dancing, a little slideshow making and now a little blogging, but it's time to get down to business.

25 by 25 Update

Back in September I made a list of 25 things I want to accomplish before I turn 25.  Now, I don't want to share every single thing I do with the endless abyss we call the internet, but I did share 19 goals with you. And, as of January 2, I have made a pretty good dent.  I have exactly 205 days left until I turn 25, and to complete these goals.  Let's recap:

1. Read 25 books
I have read 10 books since September 16.  That's okay.

2. Bungee jump
Done and done!  If you didn't see the post about it, check out the video here!

3. Drive a big motorcycle
Darn.  I never had the chance for T. Paul to teach me how to drive his bike.  Anyone want to teach me?

4. Learn to juggle
I'm doing quite well.  Unfortunately, I didn't make any concrete goals when it comes to this one, so I'll just keep practicing.

5. Snowboard
Well, we need snow.

6. Go to New Zealand.
I did more than go to New Zealand, I rocked New Zealand, and loved every second of it.  Read about that trip here, here, here, here, here, and here! Yes, I wrote a lot about NZ.

7. Run a half marathon
I'm still thinking about the Lake George Half at the end of April.  Anyone care to join?

8. Go to Burning Man
It doesn't happen until Labor Day weekend, so I'll just have to wait.

9. Learn to play golf
Hmmm.... I think it's too cold right now.

10. Take a tour of Alcatraz
On my next trip to San Francisco- I promise!

11. Complete a Rubiks cube
I'm back to doing 2/3 of it.  I have fully completed it a handful of times, but not without the online instructions.

12. Go to the New York Public Library
Oh, I'm moving to NYC on January 18, have I not told you yet?  So, this one should be a piece of cake.

13. Get my scuba certification
I kicked this one's butt.  Not only did I get my scuba certification, I got my advanced!  And next week I get to go diving again!  Yeah!

14. Play tennis
I brought my racket home... does that count?

15. Finish learning the Thai alphabet
Check!

16. Have over 5000 views on my blog!
Really?  Holy moly!  I wanted to have 5000 views by the end of July.  And as of January 2, 3:34 pm EST, I have, drumroll please, 6,270 hits.  Whoa!  Thanks, everyone!  You keep me motivated to write.

Resolutions

I have never taken New Year’s resolutions seriously.  More appropriately, I have always thought them to be silly.  Too often I hear people make resolutions, break them within a few weeks, and forget about them.  So in the past I have made little resolutions such as, trying to always have my nails painted, or ironing all of my clothes.  While I did really like the nails resolution, and I sit here typing, loving my black nails, I think I’m going to stick with what I already have, my 25 before 25 list.  

Instead of trying to change something in my life- eat less, workout more, bake more, write more, complain less, etc., I think, hasn’t everything changed?  My life has been flipped upside down and inside out in the past few weeks, and I think that is enough change, for the time being.  So, I would rather stick to my goals.  I’m going to stick to the things I want to accomplish, the things I listed back in September.  I have until the end of July to complete the list, and I’m pretty pumped.  

Oh, but there is one resolution I want to stick to, and it involves my blog.  I want to post more photos to my blog.  When I was traveling, the photos were easy.  But now, only blogging about everyday things, I find it harder to remember to take photos.  I’m going to work on it.

My view of Uncommon Grounds right now- minus the black fingernails.

Check back tomorrow for my 25 before 25 update!