Auld Lang Syne

It's New Years Eve. I'm pretty happy that 2012 is ending...it started out pretty great, but then got progressively worse until everything was an absolute mess. So a fresh start (or at least the illusion of one) is coming at just the right time.

I feel like calling new goals "resolutions" kind of jinxes them, so instead I've just compiled a rough list of some things I'd like to do in 2013, in no particular order, and definitely subject to revision. I'm also not going to kick myself if I don't get any or all done. But it's nice to have a foundation to shape my year around.

SO. In 2013, I would like to...

1. Get Healthier. Maintain my PCOS diet as laid out my my nutritionist, keep up with my medications, safely manage self-destructive habits if I can't quit them altogether, and just generally take care of myself.
2. Start going on short walks. The weather is so nice this time of year, and I think heading to Tempe Town Lake occasionally for some casual strolls would be fun.
3. Make time for reading, writing, and art. I've been doing that more recently, so this is just something I'd like to continue doing.
4. Take up fun physical activities again like yoga, swimming, and skating. And maybe even try something new like CrossFit, even though it's expensive as all hell.
5. Choreograph something. I've had a lot of ideas for solos floating around in my head.
6. Keep my apartment as clean as I can manage. Keep up on laundry and general cleaning so I don't end up with piles of stuff everywhere.
7. Do better in school. I'm tantalizingly close to being done, y'know. Hopefully the fact that I'm taking some fun classes (except for math) will give me extra motivation.
8. GRADUATE. Winter 2013. It's happening. And I will probably be drunk for an entire month afterwards!
9. Get another job, or possibly apply at a corporate Starbucks. Not that I hate my current job or anything, but I think adding another one (particularly one with benefits) might be good. Plus, if I choose to go to a corporate Starbucks, I think they can transfer me to another one when I move to a currently undetermined location after graduation.
10. Manage money better and save for future plans. I'm terrible with money and would like to change that.

Obsessions, Pt II

More things I am obsessed with:

Blending juxtaposing periods/genres/styles, etc.
Torture methods
Villains
Chair dances
The sound of high heels clicking on hard floors
Possession/Exorcism
Gestures
Vintage Propaganda (especially Soviet)
Dr. Cox & Jordan from Scrubs
Synchronization
Emily Gilmore from Gilmore Girls
Kelly Bishop outside of Gilmore Girls
Psychosomatic pain
Snow/cold weather
Moonlight Sonata
Desert autumn
East Coast autumn
Chocolate
Minnesota winter
The Donner Party
Talent
Dancers with high arches
Hula hoops
Skip-Its
Israeli contemporary dance
Bodies
Pinup Girls
"I Saw You" personal ads
Maria Celeste (Galileo's daughter)
Bob Fosse
Busby Berkeley
Catholicism
Natalie Portman
Burlesque
Vaudeville/Riverboat Shows
Minstrel Shows
The Moon
The 1812 Overture
Music from The Nutcracker
Doctor Who
Saturn
Tension
Movie trailers
Concert conductors
Zoe Bell
Stars/stargazing
Audrey Hepburn
Rhett Butler
Andre 3000
Sign language
Scarves
Masks
Smoke/Fog
The same story told from different points of view
Philip Glass on solo piano
Georgia--especially their accents
Quentin Tarantino movies
Poets--classic, contemporary, slam
Meryl Streep
Rope
Writers
Twinkle lights
Susan Orlean's writing style
Painters
Photographers
Francesca Lia Block
Michelle Pfieffer
Little eccentricities/quirks
Katharine Hepburn
Spelling
Black
Suicide
Emily Blunt
Ingrid Magnussen from White Oleander

Obsessions, Pt I

I was looking through old journals tonight, and I found a long list of my obsessions. I read in a Natalie Goldberg book about writing that it's good to keep a list of your obsessions, as it'll serve as writing inspiration when you can't think of a topic. So I listed them like crazy. It was fun reading over the list, and I'm still obsessed with basically everything on it.

So here are some things I'm obsessed with:

Chandeliers
Anachronisms
Glass bottles
The sound of shattering glass
Masculinity
Morticia & Gomez Addams
Idiosyncratic love songs
Mirrors
Breakdowns
Fleurs de lis
Eye contact/stares
Ella Fitzgerald
Different versions of the same song
Flawless ballerinas
Hands
Shoulders
Backs
Lyrics
Quotations
Poetry
Strippers
Prostitutes
Brothels
Eyes
Tattoos
Shiva
Art deco
Gender roles
Waiting
Singers who sing with their ENTIRE BODY
Silence
Screaming
Foreign languages
Anthropology
Russia
Addiction
Sex
Color
Black & White
Dreams/Dream Interpretation
Long strands of pearls
Id, Ego, Superego
Alter-egos
Gold makeup
Black & White makeup
Falling
Umbrellas
Desert rain
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Feet (looking, NOT touching)
Breathing
Audible breath
Fear
Percussion
Musicians
Portraits
Water
Death
Grief

I'll continue with the rest of the list tomorrow. :) You should list your obsessions...it's fun! And even more fun to look back on. I feel like it reveals a lot about oneself.

Things I Love Thursday

It's been awhile since I've done this. Here's what I've been loving lately...

1. Idiosyncratic Christmas songs. I can't stand sickly sugar covers of "Last Christmas." Rather, I prefer Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan doing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," Sufjan Stevens doing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," Lady Gaga singing "White Christmas" as only she can. I scour iTunes for them. The idiosyncratic versions of carols get me in the spirit more than traditional ones.

2. Italian Wedding soup from Oregano's. I had it last night. It's served in a bowl bigger than my head with a sliver of cheesy garlic bread. So good!

3. The PBS adaptation of Macbeth with Patrick Stewart. Wow wow wow. It's amazing! It's streaming on Netflix. WATCH IT.

4. The Three Witches in Macbeth. I'm kind of obsessed with them, especially the ones in the PBS version. They give me the creeps in the best way.

5. Cake vodka! Three Olives makes it, along with many other flavors. But this vodka is so smooth that you could drink it straight if you wanted to. I prefer to mix it with hot cocoa for warm boozy bliss.

6. "Heartwarming" lattes and snickerdoodles from Liberty Market. "Heartwarming" denotes adding a shot of 100 proof peppermint schnapps! So delicious, so warm and fuzzy. And their snickerdoodles are the only ones I've found that are as good as my Mama's homemade ones.

7. This blog entry about how to talk to a dance major. I get these questions ALL. THE. TIME.

8. Pancakes from The Good Egg. Food there is pretty hit or miss, but their pancakes are stacks of fluffy deliciousness.

9. White Oleander, by Janet Fitch. I'm re-reading it for the millionth time. It never gets old...it's so nasty and beautiful. And it makes my fingers itch to write.

10. Natalie Goldberg's writing exercises in Old Friend From Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. She is such a remarkable teacher and gives such great prompts. I've generated a lot of great writing because of her.

A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving

I AM THANKFUL FOR...

1. MY KITTY! <3
2. Support from my parents.
3. My lovely little apartment.
4. My amazing friends near and far.
5. The School of Dance community at ASU. 6. My DUCK & COVER dancers.
7. My big famiglia.
8. Shows like Parks & Rec for keeping me smiling.
9. My doctors who have helped me out over the past couple of years.
10. Feeling like I have things to look forward to in the future--my transition project, graduating, moving to New York, etc.




Happy Thanksgiving!

Things I Love Thursday

I've seen people do this on other blogs, and I decided to copy them. :)
Here are ten things I've been loving lately...

1) THE WEATHER. Holy wow, the weather this week has been unbelievable! My favorite times of year are the "mish-mash" seasons, meaning the days in between the major seasons. Arizona does mish-mash incredibly well. The between-summer-and-falls and between-winter-and-springs are absolutely perfect.

2) Whip It. I have roller derby on the brain. I'm trying out for the Arizona Derby Dames next Sunday, and it's practically all I've thought about this week. Whip It has definitely been my inspirational movie that gets me all pumped up and ready to kick ass.

3) Skateland Chandler. It is vastly superior to Skateland Mesa, that's for sure. I love going there to practice for derby tryouts, even with all the screaming children. The staff is really nice and the skates they rent out are decent (they also rent speed skates which is perfect, since that'll be the type of skate I'll be using for derby if I get on the team). I highly recommend it if you're in the area and ever feel like skating.

4) Ben Kingsley as Feste in Twelfth Night. I watched the Trevor Munn adaptation of the aforementioned play today, and enjoyed it. While everyone was brilliant (especially Imelda Staunton; girl has got some Shakespeare CHOPS), Ben Kingsley's Feste really stood out to me. He had that perfect mix of enigmatic and sharply witty. Lovelovelove.

5) All the homoerotic tension in Twelfth Night. It's so brilliant because there's all this sexual chemistry between Orsino and Cesario, but Cesario is actually the lady Viola in disguise! So it's homoerotic-but-then-again-not. Then Olivia falls in love with Cesario and there's all this chemistry between them, only Cesario is a lady! So it's actually quite homoerotic. Shakespeare, you are truly a genius!

6) Parks and Recreation. I seriously can not get enough of this show right now. I wasn't into it at first because the first season is a little too awkward for my tastes, but I stuck with it and the show really finds its legs in the second season and is just brilliant and hysterically funny!

7) Driving with my windows down. Since the weather has been stellar, this has been fantastic. Tonight I did it while sipping a hot cocoa in one hand. It was perfect.

8) My Transition Project class. I love seeing how everyone's projects are developing as well as giving and receiving feedback! The class flies by and we've been having some really great discussions. It's exciting and terrifying and I love every second.

9) Bridesmaids. I finally saw it and really enjoyed it! It wasn't what I expected, but I totally loved it nonetheless. I wanted to smack Helen in the face. And I'm so, so, so happy that Melissa McCarthy is getting so much recognition! She is a comedic genius and deserves every bit of fame she's acquired from Bridesmaids and Mike and Molly.

10) Breakfast at McDonald's. I'm really not a big fan of McDonald's food. I go there often to grab a drink since they're only a dollar, but tend to steer clear of the food. Except for breakfast. Their tasty, tasty breakfast. I live for Egg McMuffins as well as their Hotcakes!! Om nom nom. I can't figure out why it's so tasty...it just is.

Katy's Top 5 Summer Reads

Summer has hit AZ like a hammer. One of my favorite summertime activities is catching up on reading, so I thought I'd make a list of the top 5 books I've read that are great reads for the summer.

5) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and any subsequent sequels - By Ann Brashares
Yes, this would technically fall under "young adult fiction" and/or "guilty pleasure," but it's still one of my favorite book series. The stories of four friends who share a pair of pants that miraculously fit them all perfectly are funny, poignant, and very sad at times. But always an enjoyable summer read. Ann Brashares apparently released another book recently where the girls are 29...I'm very curious (and excited) to read it.

4) Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch - By Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
This is, hands down, the best apocalyptic comedy ever written. Well, it may be the only apocalyptic comedy ever written. But still! This book is amazing, clever, and absolutely hysterical. Gaiman & Pratchett make a great team and have created an ingenious story about the apocalypse and all those involved, including but not limited to The Four Horsemen, the Antichrist, an angel named Aziraphale and a demon named Crowley. So. Much. Fun. Read it! P.S. Fun Fact - I gave this to my staunch Catholic Dad one year for his birthday. He found it offensive. Oops.

3) My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere - By Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean is one of my favorite writers. Do you ever feel like a writer just GETS you? That's how I feel about Orlean's work. This book of travel essays--focusing on many different places, from Cuba to Bhutan--is full of rich, vivid details and fascinating portraits of people, places, and things both well-known and obscure. Her writing is often so detailed that it's challenging to read sometimes, but that's what I love about it. This book is especially fun if you're unable to travel over the summer - You can curl up with it and be transported all around the world.

2) Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and any subsequent sequels - By Rebecca Wells
Ohh, my heart. This book! One of the most wonderful stories I've ever read. The movie did a decent job adapting it, but there are so many great details and twists and turns that didn't make it in. The characters are SO vivid and funny, and the plot is a roller coaster of different emotions. My favorite character is Genvieve Whitman with her fabulous outfits and Bayou French. You'll never forget these women. The sequels, Little Altars Everywhere and Ya-Yas in Bloom are just as good, but you should definitely read Divine Secrets first to understand the characters.

1) Valley of the Dolls - By Jacqueline Susann
My friends, this is the ultimate summer read. It's so delightfully trashy and too engrossing to put down! It's also very long (in a good way); it took me most of the summer to get through it. I remember reading this on a beach in Hawaii when I was there with my family a few years ago. I don't know what it is about this book, but it's just the perfect book to read on a beach or by the pool or any other summertime activities. I hope you enjoy the divine trashiness as much as I did! The campy movie doesn't do it justice, by the way. Read the book!

Happy Reading!