Hello,New York

Well guys,

I’m in New York for a week. We got in last night around 8:30 and spent the evening getting to know our gracious hostesses (who are generously allowing us to crash on their couches while we’re here).

I haven’t seen much of New York yet… but there’s this:

view from the window

We’re in a building right across from Macy’s on 34th. We’re above a Forever 21 and The Gap. And apparently there’s a LUSH close by. We definitely lucked out being right in the middle of everything.

I’ll try to get some pictures up of our adventures. But if you want a more real time play-by-play check out my tweets. (www.twitter.com/snoelr) the urls in the tweets will likely be pictures and such.

Also this:

the weather today

Happy Wednesday you guys! I’ll check back in later.

farewell

One of our assignments in my Fiction I class was to share with our classmates something that inspired us when writing. Almost everyone in the class showed off something from the interweb. One girl shared this blog/site thing:

goodmorningandgoodnight

It’s a beautiful blog filled with stunning photography, design, music, and quotes. I went through the entire archive in a matter of a few days and faithfully checked it every day to see what new wonders were posted. I found music that I never would have heard, quotes that struck a chord in my soul, and some videos/pictures that almost moved me to tears.

And on December 31st he bid us all adieu. And I felt like a hole opened up in my daily internet routine.

Pinterest moved in to fill that gap. And via the wonders of someone else’s board I found this:

Crush Cul De Sac

And now I’m a little happier. Though I still miss Goodmorningandgoodnight.

Where do you find inspiration? Do you look for organic things (not on the webs), too?

protein monsters

So, one manifestation of of my 2012 overhaul is beginning to run. My feelings toward running are the complete opposite of my feelings toward reading. I love, love, love to read and I loathe, loathe, loathe running. But Camille and I have been diligent in our attempts. (Despite cramping legs and bizarre sleep schedules).

Last week I managed to propel my body (either through water or air) 8.3 miles. Which I’m pretty proud of. Though, most days last week I had to go without my favourite breakfast item:

Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster

*that website is full of fun noises and animations.

But seriously it’s the tastiest thing. See, I prefer to drink my breakfasts rather than eat them (I’m just averse to chewing early in the morning, oh well.) And this tastes like straight-up, delicious chocolate milk. Now, I’m not endorsed by them (though they did “@ reply” me on the Twitter machine that one time) so you don’t have to worry about my “selling out” as a blogger or anything. I’m just passing along an opinion. If you, like me, are beginning a fitness regimen (or just amping one up) this year make sure to check this tasty concoction out. There’s all kinds of reasons to love Odwalla (like their name, and the plant based recyclable bottles, and their flavours, and that website, and how cool their name is… you get the picture). I mostly find them at Publix… but you might have to search a bit, this flavour seems to be a favourite in the area… it’s always sold out.

And yes, I think it IS made from Soy-beast

SOPA/PIPA

STOP SOPA/PIPA

Exclamation Points!

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

I first heard of Karen Russell in my Fiction I class last semester. Actually, we read one of her short stories selected for the Best American Short Stories 2010 anthology. It was something like “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach”. I was one of the few in the class who liked it (or maybe actually did the assigned reading before class… either way…) but even in liking it I felt like reading her words spent time I could never get back and not necessarily in a good way.

Our professor talked about Karen Russell and this book that had only just released very briefly in class that day. And I remember my friend Michael commenting that he wanted to read Swamplandia! but didn’t realize that it was the same author. I think some of his enthusiasm deflated a bit that day.

Here’s the thing: Karen Russell writes some absolutely, thrillingly, heart-achingly beautiful sentences and descriptions. Her stories have just enough eerie weirdness that they keep you hooked. Her universe looks and behaves just like ours, until suddenly, it doesn’t anymore. And we, the readers, are left scrambling, trying to figure out when she pulled the rug out from underneath our feet. When, Karen, did you decide that this world you’ve created no longer behaves like the one I know and understand?

In your reeling recovery you are forced to decide how you feel about the rules suddenly changing, at least in appearance. Russell writes about such bizarre circumstances I guess it’s obvious to some that there will be strange things afoot in her stories. But each time I’m overwhelmingly flabbergasted.

I’m most conflicted about this novel. More so than any other book I read in 2011. For one thing Karen’s excitement about writing practically leaps off the page and slaps you with a fish (and that’s kind of refreshing). Her word choice and prose are FASCINATING. And like I said heart-achingly beautiful. One scene in particular replaces the mindless destruction of a Hurricane with that of a curious giant monster merely peeling a roof back to sniff what was cooking inside a house. I mean the woman generates some really cool stuff.

Yet, in the midst of this quirky family of alligator wrestlers Karen’s enthusiasm and bizarre story get lost in the swamp along with her readers. There were moments in this book that I absolutely adored. I felt like I needed to be listening to Bright Eyes’ Cassadaga the whole time I was reading. And more times than not I wanted to throw the book against a wall. There in the midst of this carefully crafted story Karen switched around narrators on us, but not until halfway into the story! And don’t even get me started on the exclamation points!

And here the “if you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all” rule is slapping me over the head with a fish. So, I’ll cut it off here. I guess my best advice is for you to read it for yourself so you can develop your own opinion. But I don’t endorse it with my usual fervor. Try it out with Bright Eyes though… that might have been the missing ingredient.

why can’t i?

via escapadeblog

I like the sentiment of this infographic.

But for some reason I feel paralyzed when I think of going after, or asking, or any of that.

Not as awesome as I want to be. Still so afraid.

Swedish novels with long names

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I remember seeing this book in Sam’s Club ages ago and wondering if I’d like it. The cover sort of attracted me, and the title. But this was a bit before I really launched into the serious business of reading and I hadn’t really crossed the Mississippi (if you will) that runs between Young Adult Lit and Modern Lit.

I have to admit that I was not a big fan of this book. It moves at a snails pace, is full of quite tedious detail and horrific scenes that neither inspire empathy or anger just horror, and went on for about 100 pages after it should have just ended. That was my overall feeling of the book. There were moments that I enjoyed. Some of the detail in the prose regarding Lisbeth’s love of technological things was interesting.

Mostly I just felt like I’d been forced to spend several hours observing two people through a one way mirror who could not care less that other people existed.

I’m seriously debating whether or not I’ll finish the trilogy. My friend Garrett, who hasn’t really steered me wrong with a suggestion before (directly or indirectly) said that his enjoyment of the series picked up with the second book and the third was his favourite. It’s such a gamble though, each of those books is a brick.

In other news I’ve been lazy and I’ve left the cover of that book over there in my side bar for far too long. So, I’ll update that as soon as I finish typing this up.

I think the most interesting thing for me about reading this book is that Jeffrey read it as well. We now discuss books during our conversations together. Something I find quite endearing and always a little bit bizarre. He’s an interesting critic. He, like me, was not super impressed with the story and felt it went on too long. And we discussed the implications of translating it from Swedish into English (and how that made some of the words have different spellings than he was used to). I think that was the coolest result of reading the book.

I really don’t have any interest in watching the movies (except that I do love to see Daniel Craig stare intensely into the camera with those icy blue eyes of his)

seriously, they're almost clear

so I probably won’t watch them. But I will let you know if I finally decide whether to finish the trilogy or not. Recently something’s gotten into me and I find myself having less patience for series of books. Give it to me in a stand alone, that’s what I want.

What did you think? Have you seen the movies? Did you read the whole trilogy? Should I?

January is like Monday

Before I really get into the meat of this post I’d like to let you all know that the SPAM comments I’ve been getting recently have been absolutely hilarious! I’ve been tempted to approve them, but I fear this will allow all other kinds of weird things to happen, so I just read them, chuckle, and then delete. My two most recent favourites include: “This blog is kind of boring, sorry to be so blunt, you should eat some Norwegian carrot cake to cheer you up.” AND today I got some kind of ad for a torrent site that was in Swedish and I had a lot of fun reading it out loud.

Yesterday it occurred to me that January is like the Monday of the year. The first week of 2012 was sort of an odd week, starting with an holiday and all, and it made getting a cracking good start on New Year’s Resolutions seem a bit too enthusiastic.

I took my time, gathered my thoughts, read some inspiring blogs, (caught a cold), watched a dear friend run a 5k at Disney, (got more inspired), and stayed up way too late into the night thinking about things I want to change in my life. I have all new levels of motivation on this side of 25. For a long time I’ve been dissatisfied with my status quo, but I haven’t made much effort to change anything. And you know what the definition of insanity is, right?

Watching the Disney 5k I felt tears pricking my eyes most of the morning. It could have been that we’d had a mere 4 hours of sleep the night before and my hair had been wet for something like 15 hours and it was only 42 degrees. If you were cranky you could say that. But I was really moved by the people leaving everything they had on the asphalt, or crossing the finish line hand in hand with their families. The parents who stopped running in order to snap a picture of their kids crossing, letting them have the victory, all of it was so happy. I pretty much converted to the religion of running on the spot. There’s some very strange sort of community in those types of races. And at Disney, everyone wins, but everyone feels really freaking good about it.

Sunday night I took Camille along to the Creative Loafing reading for their Heat fiction contest. A professor of mine ended up winning the judge’s pick with a story called “Bag Boy“. It’s a beautiful and sad story. As I was waiting to say hi and congratulate her I overheard a large, bearded man confess, “I loved your story. You made a football player cry.” I smiled, nodded my agreement and waited for Rita to turn. Her response to seeing me caught me off guard. She was SO excited and interested in my life. She admitted she missed me and a few other of my classmates (we had her two semesters in a row, so she got to know us pretty well).

I left Sunday night with a clear understanding for why I didn’t even come close to the top ten contenders. But instead of defeated I was elated. I’m still new to this writing thing, and all the stories I’ve heard are of great writers being turned down many, many times. I’m not a great writer yet, but I will be.

We’re almost half-way through January and I find myself pondering what my “Experimonth” challenge will be this year along with what I will abstain from during Lent. But today, as I sit here typing this, with vaguely aching leg muscles after a 30 minute walk-run and my ever expanding to-do/dream list running through my head, I’m happy with this little progress I’ve made toward the identity I’m chasing.

What things are you hoping to do this year? How was your first week’s attempt?

New York Trip

At the end of the month I’m going to New York City with my friend Rachael. It’s our birthday presents to ourselves. We scored some super cheap tickets to fly up. We’re still working on hammering out details for things we want to do, places we want to go, and which Broadway show we want to see.

And obviously I’m freaking out about clothes to wear. Rachael is much more fashionable than myself. And I have this deep seated fear that as soon as I step of the plane Clinton and Stacy from What Not to Wear will show up and just make fun of my clothes (without offering me the $5,000 to make my wardrobe better).

It’s going to be freezing cold while we’re there. And I’m ill equipped to dress for the weather, let alone dress cutely. SO, this is my HELP signal sent out into the universe. Any ideas for much cuter outfits than the one I’ve got below? Cause that utterly fails.

New York Trip by snoelr featuring wool scarves

postcards from my bed

a regular day of blogging via Instagram

 

I do a lot of blogging, writing, and reading from my bed. It is very, very comfortable. I still live at home and so this space (that I attempt to keep organized) is the only part of the house that’s really just mine. On any given day or night you could find at least two books, a journal, my MacBook, and my iPhone on my bed with me. It’s a double, so there’s enough space for all of us.

I found myself pondering a couple days ago whether this might be impacting my relationships in any way. Not that I’m in any particular hurry to share my bed (and call me old-fashioned, but there a are a few steps that need to be taken first), but the thought briefly crossed my mind that there’s a lot of stuff in the way if I were ready to share my bed.

In the early days of a new year many people find themselves making resolutions and life decisions. I haven’t really hammered all of mine out, yet. But there is something that has been steadily rising up in my awareness. I want to invest more in the relationships around me and spend less time in my bed.

This is a weird thing to put into words in just the right way. I am very proud of the identity I’ve begun to create for myself as a writer/reader. However, in an effort to bring some of this back into balance I am going to make a more concerted effort to do things and be with people.

A rich interior life is only one part of a whole life.

Shortly after this thought entered my brain the other day I read that one of my favourite blogs is shutting down after 2.5 years. It’s been a source of great inspiration to me for the past 8 months visually, aurally, as well as in blogging and writing. I’ll miss it, but the farewell and ambition to grow are just more inspiration I can add to the list.

So this year I will be out more. Possibly still with the security blankets of a book and my journal. But out I will be, living in the moment, instead of merely thinking how best to archive it in my memory. (Or where I should actually put commas).