Alicia's Story

I'm glad that today is friday, and we have a three day weekend thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. It's warm again today, and the sun is just poking through the clouds now. It was pretty chilly there for a few days, but the weather is back to being mild and unseasonably warm. I'm learning to love it after three days of 30 degrees, as much as I want some snow this winter...

My raise started this week, which isn't that exciting, I have an extra $15 in my check today. Woo. So, instead of keeping it, I decided it would be wise to pretend it didn't exist and change my automatic weekly savings deposit from $25 to $40. Not that it's that great of a jump, but at least I'm saving, right? It's much better than where I was at a couple years ago, with barely $20 in my account at any given point in time. I think I'm growing up a little.

Greg and I are going to Cancun with his familia in February, just before my winter Residency at Goddard, so we're trying to save monies...which means we won't be doing anything too exciting tonight. I'm ready to go home, but it's not even 12 yet...perhaps it's time to play some bedazzled...

We know you never slack off at work, but if you did, what would you do?

Play on the internet, chat on msn with my coworkers to consult on daily activities and coffee breaks, buy things online, do homework, read, study for the GREs, play bedazzled on yahoo--it's addicting, make personal calls, blog (obviously), watch previous episodes of Lost, etc.

I'm a receptionist and the phone rings a few times a day at the most. I pretty much waste my life away. Thank god I can do homework here, I'd freak out if I didn't actually have a goal for the future. FYI, administration is teh suck. It's worse than working in a factory.

Show us something that warms your heart.

Love

If you're reincarnated, what do you think you'll come back as?
Submitted by Diana.

A cat, for sure. A really spoiled cat to be more specific. But then again, if I wanted to come back as something, I would want to come back as an angelina jolie-esque type--with big lips, loads of money, and a bigger heart--not to mention that hunky man.

Let's make a list.  What are 20 things in your life that you're grateful for? 
Inspired by wyndslash.vox.com.

1. My parents, they brought me in this world
2. My sister is my best friend.
3. My cat. Even though he's spoiled rotten, I love the crap out of him.
4. Greg, he's my sweetheart, through the good and the bad.
5. My job. Where else could I work in this city, get the pay and benefits I need and be able to play on the internet or do homework all day?
6. Myself, this is a necessary addition to the list, because without me, I wouldn't have anything to be grateful for in the first place.
7. My upbringing, I know, this probably falls under family, but not necessarily, since they have evolved and changed so much since I will little.
8. My mistakes. It's kind of wierd to say I'm grateful for making mistakes, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't be where I am now and I wouldn't know what I know.
9. Music/Art, I don't think that I need to point out a reason.
10. My apartment, it's so convenient and big, even though I'm surrounded by construction...
11. Modern conveniences, especially dishwashers, dryers, atms, online payments and anything else that makes my life that much easier.
12. The internet, I can't tell you how many people I have met, found and befriended through this virtual world. It's amazing.
13. HBO television shows, they are way better than regular tv shows, except for The Office and Lost (exceptions...)
14. My college! Goddard is the best school ever. I don't know if I'd still be in school right now if it weren't for Goddard. Plus, it's super fun to go up to Vermont for a week every semester to party and study.
15. Alcohol, the only legal drug.
16. My rights as an individual. Although women's rights still aren't where they should be, we've come a long way.
17. Nature, I'm not making this up either, if it wasn't for mother earth, we wouldn't exist. Plus, I love going to the mountains and smelling the fresh air, or heading to the beach and taking in an ocean breeze.
18. Intelligence, though I doubt my parent's sanity at their age, they must have some good genes in there some where, because I'm one smart cookie.
19. Chips, it's a staple in my diet, regardless of how much weight I'm trying to lose. I love chips, barbeque, sour cream and onion, ranch, rippled, kettle cooked, you name it, I love it.
20. Solitude. Once in awhile we all need it, and I'm glad I have access to it.

How many places have you lived in your life?

1. Born in Fort Myers, Florida
2. Moved to Waterbury, Connecticut at 6 years old
3. Moved to Sunderland, Vermont at 12 years old
4. Spent Senior year in Dubbo, Australia
5. Lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for one college semester
6. Moved back with family in Rutland, Vermont
7. Lived on my own in Rutland and Bennington, Vermont
8. Moved to Saint Augustine, Florida
9. Now living in Boston, Massachusetts

Almost 10! That's amazing! Greg and I keep talking about Wilmington, North Carolina. He used to live there and I fell in love with the place when we went on vacation over the summer and spent the day on the beach. Hopefully, that will be my 10th place of residence...But that won't be for awhile anyway, we are both waiting until we are at least vested in our company's retirement plans before we start jaunting all over the place...:)

Again, I can't help but write poems for my dreams. I think it helps me remember them, because I wake in the morning know that I am going to write a poem about what I saw later...

Nightfire
Sitting across the fire,
crackling sparks
the night is deep black
filled with the faces of friends,
companions, lovers
and so many others
I stand to exclaim
"everyone, come down,
down from the bleachers
huddle in close
and be one with each other"
As soon as the words
came pouring out
the crowd began to crackle
and move down closer
like the smoldering remains
of a spark turned ember

I take this dream about having so many people not only listen and do what I said, but it was so peaceful and intimate and beautiful all together. It was as if an entire ocean of people heard me cry out, "Love each other!" and they did. It was perfect.
Damn, I'm a hippie.

I heard this poem in a movie I watched yesterday, and I fell in love all over again.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in 
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere 
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done 
by only me is your doing,my darling) 
     i fear 
not fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want 
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) 
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant 
and whatever a sun will always sing is you 

here is the deepest secret nobody knows 
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud 
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows 
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) 
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart 

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

ee cummings

Gorgeous, right? I wish I could write that powerfully...must flex my writing muscle...I will get there one day, I hope.

Thank you Team Vox for the new turtle theme. I am in love all over again.

Do you have any tattoos? If not, if you were going to get inked, what would you get?

Two tattoos...one on my back and another on my neck. The back tattoo was something my brother designed for me for my first tattoo when I turned 18. The Pisces tattoo on my neck, a simple glyph of what I stand for, who I am and where I come from--dreamland.

Back Tattoo

Pisces Tattoo