Take chances, make mistakes

I rip out images from the New York Times and stick them on my wall. You are looking at photography by Irving Penn, a painting by Kandinsky, & some Bento Boxes

“Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”

Ms. Frizzle circa Magic School Bus

I used to be a shy, afraid, overly methodical girl who was never outgoing and never took a risk.  It was because of a fear of what others may think or if I would be the one making other people uncomfortable.  I also used to be overly concerned with what other people thought of me and if I was making the best impression.

Forget that.

These past few years I have learned to take advantage of opportunities that come my way, to say “yes” instead of “no” more often.  While this may get me in trouble by never being able to say no, I have had a better life experience by saying “yes” more often. To relate to my current situation, I find myself overbooked with school, work, and outside activities while running around trying to find a job after graduation.  Yesterday I booked it after class into Manhattan for a job interview about a marketing assistant position and then proceeded to run back for Hofstra’s Association for Graphic Artists’ “Not All Artists Are Starving” networking event.  Friday I have an audition at MTV and all weekend I am picking up extra hours at LICM.  My next three months are already halfway booked in my planner and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

More often than not, I feel that self-doubt gets in the way more than lack of experience or knowledge.  Everyone is their own worst enemy in that your perspective on any given day could make or break you.  When you are at your best and most confident, you produce better work, writing gets easier, inspiration comes from everywhere.  When I am at my worst, all insecurities surface, from wondering if that guy really likes me as much as he says he does to whether my friends feel they can still count on me to worrying about if I will find a job after graduation.

It’s the acceptance that life is unpredictable, unplanned, and unfair that will change your life.  We have just this one life to experience, so it’s fine to try anything and everything,  making mistakes along the way.  I would not be where I am today if I decided I was too afraid to apply to WRHU or move to Chicago for the summer or apply for an internship or speak up in French Literature or tell some one how I really felt.  With all that experience and insight on life you will get by saying “yes, i want to take chances and make mistakes”, you will be able to relate to so many more people.  You are simply being an active, passionate individual who takes the initiative to take their life for what it’s worth – as precious time to gain and grow as much as possible.

Tidbits of Advice Part 1

The following list are tidbits of advice derived and compiled from lessons I have learned throughout my life, either from the vast experiences I have had (in 21 + years).

1. Always try to return phone calls and text messages.  No one likes to feel ignored.
2. Eat breakfast.  Every day.  Within an hour of waking up.
3. It’s never about how nice you are to your superiors.  You can only be considered a genuine person if you are nice to senior citizens, children, and animals.  In fact, if you treat any being from within the three groups terribly (remember I don’t hold grudges)   you are a truly terrible person in my eyes.  Actually, when some one else is talking about a person they greatly dislike, and which I agree to, I always say “yeah, and I bet he/she kicks puppies.”  So brake for animals, be nice to kids (though you’re allowed to be sarcastic to them, they rarely catch on), and help out old people when they ask  – especially if they are a stranger to you and are standing on a sidewalk by themselves and you are their only hope to get home/cross the street/hail a cab.
4. If you care about some one, write a letter and mail it to them.  Letter writing is an art.  A text message? Those get deleted eventually.  Phone calls?  Always appreciated and well deserved, but how do you keep them preserved?  I keep two boxes in my room in my parents’ house.  One is labeled “0-10” and the other “11-20”.  In those boxes are cards and letters that I have saved during my life, with the numbers obviously corresponding to my age at the time of receiving said letter or card.  Therefore, I have the ability to read through the letters my grandmother sent me before she died, cards my family members have sent throughout the years, valentines from grade school crushes, etc.  No matter how advanced technology gets, no communication will ever be better than that similar to the contents of those boxes.
5. If some one makes you something as a gift, you better appreciate it – especially the more personal it is.  This is most important for relationships.  Dear next boyfriend:  I won’t be able to buy you a new Ipod for your next birthday, but I will bake you cookies.  I know you understand this shows more love than an Ipod ever will. I dated a guy who claimed to not like vegetables, and I drew him a cartoon of evil, angry vegetables as a random gift to give when I met up with him for a date.  He understood it’s value.
6. Don’t drink more than 4 caffeinated drinks a day.
7. The trick of sleeping for only three hours to get you through the day doesn’t work after the first time.
8. Try to see as many of your favorite bands live as possible.  Get in the mosh pit as often as you can.  Push to the front of the stage when it really matters.  Crowd surf at least once.
9. Live in at least one region other than the one you were born in.  Pick up a bit of the accent if you live somewhere for over a month.  If you are lucky like me, you will eventually have a wonderful voice containing a medley of attractive accents.  It is something I have been complimented on, from friends’ mothers to creepy truckers who call in at WRHU.
   
10. Having a good sense of humor will get you far – especially if you can utilize it in any awkward situation.  If some one doesn’t get your humor, or maybe lacks some themselves, be rid of them.  It is a waste of your time and theirs.

…I’ve got a game for you

Among my adventures during my “Kerouac Summer” in Chicago, I took advantage of the free admission week at The Art Institute of Chicago.  It was in celebration of the opening of their new Modern Wing.

I was amazed at the variety and vastness of their collection.  I snapped a few photos of my favorite paintings and now I would like to test your savvy art history education and name these paintings.  The winner that names the most paintings with artist correctly gets a custom made mixed CD from yours truly. Wherever you are in the world, I will mail it off to you.  Everyone loves a methodically planned mix, let alone the fact it’s a trophy to show how cultured you have become.  Your ancient grade school art teacher would have been impressed.  I want to clarify the fact that I am known for creating great mixes with custom/creative packaging.  Keep in mind my credentials as WRHU Airwave DJ and Producer as well as being acknowledged for having creative artistic talent.

You have one week from when this entry was posted to give your guesses.  You can do so by commenting on this entry.

Here goes:

Yeah yeah yeah yeah…

Here’s the playlist for tonight’s Airwave on WRHU 88.7FM Artist	Song
Gospel Claws	Don’t Let It Die
Arctic Monkeys	Leave Before the Lights Come On
Cosmic Starfish	Don’t Give Up
Nada Surf	Where Is My Mind?
The Juliana Theory	Musicbox Superhero
Fol Chen	No Wedding Cake
Various Artists	Lovesong
M.I.A.	Paper Planes (DFA Remix)
Shout Out Louds	Hurry Up Let’s Go
Charles Spearin	Anna
Myka 9	To The Sky
Dragon Fli Empire	Fast Break
Shy Child	Kick Drum (feat. Spank Rock)
el Goodo	Feel So Fine
The Honorary Title	Stuck at Sea
A.C. Newman	Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer
Interpol	P.D.A.
Talking Heads	Life During Wartime
Vampire Weekend	A-Punk
Pavement	Roll With the Wind
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head	Slow Motion Tag Team
Dan Auerbach	The Prowl
Reel Big Fish	Gigantic
Golden Boots	Knife
Portugal the Man	Shade
Bright Eyes	We Are Nowhere and It’s Now
Titus Andronicus	Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ
Spiral Beach	Kind of Beast
Pixies	Hey
Hot Panda	Cold Hands/Chapped Lips

It runs in the family

Went to “Shake It!”, my friend Pamela’s belly dancing club tonight. My tummy hurts and I am not mentally prepared to think out the logistics of the proper pelvic roll.

DJed for Airwave tonight, still have producer responsibilities to handle. Thankfully enough I can walk into Rubenstein at 10 am tomorrow morning. Small miracles.

Artist	Song
Gospel Claws	Don’t Let It Die
The Decemberists	I’m Sticking With You (Velvet Underground Cover)
Cotton Jones	Gotta Cheer Up
Myka 9	To The Sky
Blue Giant	Blue Sunshine
Spiral Beach	Made of Stone
Francois Virot	Not the One
Kinetic Stereokids	Have A Nice Day
Ladyhawke	Magic
Howlies	Smoke
Los Campesinos!	The End of the Asterisk
Pavement	Stereo
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	Come Saturday
Hot Panda	Cold Hands/Chapped Lips
Nickel Eye	Dying Star
Kyle Andrews	Sushi
Charles Spearin	Anna
Golden Boots	Easy Lie
Killola	Strung Out On Sunshine
Matt & Kim	Daylight
Black Peter Group	Kamikaze Kid
A.C. Newman	Submarines of Stockholm
Gangi	Subject Position
Miniature Tigers	The Wolf
Thao	Beat (Health, Life and Fire)
Portugal, the Man	Lay Me Back Down
Shy Child	Kick Drum (feat. Spank Rock)
!!!	All My Heroes Weirdoes
Amanda Palmer	Runs In the Family

25 random and obscure things (because everyone else is doing it)

2009 as of far has been eventful – to say the least – and I rarely have time to catch a breath. Between being in Italy during the month of January, starting my internship at Rubenstein, fulfilling duties as Airwave Producer for WRHU, thinking of new ways to develop and promote PRestige Agency, being PR coordinator for FORM, drawing naked people every Tuesday and Thursday morning, working at LICM, and trying to get a life…….just looking at the laundry list frightens me so.

But I always somehow have time for Facebook and judging how popular I am based on wall posts. The trend as of now is to list 25 random things about yourself – frankly, I tried to do that last week and I couldn’t limit it to only 25.

Now is my chance to start blogging regularly again and maybe have people read this regularly as well and the only way to do it is to create a complete picture of myself with another LAUNDRY list of both important/unimportant and interesting/boring tidbits about myself.

1. I secretly love Prince, the movie Purple Rain, and the song Little Red Corvette
2. I’m self conscious about my smile, so I just make faces for every occasion
3. More than once I have gotten the impression that my male professors have crushes on me. Everyone in my CL 150 class last spring would agree with me.
4. Some people would go as far as say I’m interesting, while I really think I’m a big dork who loves Prince.
5. I hate living by myself. I like being around the company of others. The only time I like living alone is when I dance by myself in my room. Which happens sometimes. Very often. Nightly.
6. In all honesty, when people tell me I’m very good at something, there is a small part of me that thinks “yes, I know”
7. I always buy books but never get a chance to read them.
8. My goal in life is honestly just to live well and be happy.
9. People sometimes think when I’m quiet I have nothing to say. I actually have a long running inner dialogue with myself, often about the people around me, that I probably shouldn’t say.
10. I believe in falling in love at first sight. I usually invent a story about some one that I hope is true. Then I will actually talk to them and even if it doesn’t quite match up, I still believe in the story.
11. No matter how old I get, I still always feel and act like an awkward twelve year old girl. I confirm this often with everyday life.
12. I can’t say no to anyone. Ever. I would never want to cause some one unhappiness.
13. I have a phobia about people in full costume. When Kate & Willy are around, I have to look away and walk in the opposite direction.
14. I love James Dean and the idea of Sid Nancy. I know a guy who seems like a combination of both, but because of #11, I have little hope anything will happen.
15. I am finally old enough to admit that my parents are pretty amazing people and I wouldn’t change a thing about them.
16. I wish I could have studied a more scholarly field; actually, I just want any excuse to become a college professor and be the epitome of bookishness.
17. I always wanted to be a rock star. I think I have the attitude for it.
18. I decided there are two types of people in this world: people who are waitresses/waiters and people who bar tend. To wait on people shows great humility. To serve drinks at a bar as a female requires stubbornness and sass. Guess which group I think I belong in.
19. I am anxious for the day that I will date a guy who will teach me to love football.
20. I was so sad when my skull earring broke over Christmas. It felt like a part of me died.
21. I really want to go to Japan. and the Bronx zoo.
22. I need to have at least three pens with me at all times or I have a slight panic attack.
23. I am insanely good at typing. people have commented. and i thought “yes, i know”
24. I was dead set to convert to Judaism when I was fourteen.
25. I miss watching cartoons on Saturday mornings

I promise there is better to come…