Archive: May, 2010
Not too long ago, I read that the Dalai Lama was asked what he thought the key to happiness is. He answered simply, routines. So I discussed this is great detail a few months ago with my friend, Will and I mistakenly thought he meant just any old routines. I equated routines as being in a rut. How can he say this is the key to happiness? What about adventure and expanding horizons? Will guided me to what I think the Dalai Lama really means, which is positive routines. This is in alignment with what Aristotle has been credited for saying. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
My BFF recently wrote a list of positive routines she had which reminded me that this topic has been in my draft folder for a while. I thought I’d share with you a list of some of my good habits.
Some of My Good Habits
What I Want to Make Habit
It’s your turn. What are some of your good habits? What would you like to make habit?
 1.I’m moving in less than a month and have not started to tackle the mountain of a challenge of packing and uncluttering. Every year, I move. Every year, I tell myself, “Linda, you must not buy so much stuff. Do you need all these miniskirts? You are a working woman and you can only wear these skirts two days a week!” Etc! The only good thing about moving is that it’s a good time to reminisce and take stock of your physical life and your emotional life. Letters from old friends surface. Sentimental keepsakes surface. Journals are opened and perused before stacked neatly in boxes. I’m looking forward to going down memory lane. It’s a moving tradition. 2.One of my 2010 resolutions is to write 15 letters. I wrote a few for Valentine’s Day but I cannot for the life of me remember how many. I think 4 is lowballing. I forgot this was a resolution so I haven’t been keeping out. I think it’s safe I’ve sent at least 7 this year. I’ll start the count there. I’ve been meaning to write Suki of SuperDuperFantastic for what, a month now and that first letter to someone is always kind of intimidating. I’m almost out of my Lisa Frank stickers circa SECOND GRADE. That’s 1990! I like to sticker bomb my correspondents with stickers from my massive childhood collection. See below, Kim’s facebook photo of a letter I sent her a few weeks ago.  The sweet blurb she posted with picture: one of the best qualities to find in people is their ability to remain young at heart. playing in the snow, getting excited about fireworks or making smores, water balloon fights, lisa frank sticker-bombing notes to your friends. i hope we never grow up. 3.Curious, I did a search on zee blog and found a picture from this year of a batch of cards I sent out for Valentine’s day. I counted 5 in this picture. Booyah! I have adjusted my letter/correspondent count to 8.  Original Blog Post 4. Alan just gave me a morning call to thank me for the serving of lasagna I dropped off last night. (I like early morning calls from him.) I made my first lasagna!! The excitement still hasn’t completely worn off. Made it for a mini potluck. Mini includes myself, Bing, Deesh, and Jesse in attendance. Here’s a picture of my plate pre baked beans. Kind of funny. Do you see any vegetables? Not pictured is Jesse’s cake.  In our defense, we winged it. This potluck’s only stipulation was “bring what you want.” 5.I had my first and hopefully my last Double Down this week. I give you permission to be disgusted at me. If I’m going down though, I’m taking my partners in crime with me. See photo of guilty partners in crime below.  6.Remember how I told you Brittany and I were making eyes at a real live camel? I have proof! This was taken at the Bob Bullock Museum after a free screening of Arabia (IMAX & 3D).  Don’t be coy with me, Camel. 7.I’ve sat and contemplated no. 7 for a while now. I give up and share with you another picture. A wipe board message from an undergraduate who left our lab. I never get used to that part of growing up, the goodbyes :(.  |
My best friend and I started a daily writing exercise about 6 weeks ago. I got the idea from a book I read on writing about food. We compiled an ongoing numbered list of stuff. Stuff could include people, objects, ideas. At the beginning of each week, we draw a random number and then Monday through Friday, we spend a few minutes a day writing about the corresponding prompt. So far we’ve spent a week on carrots, goldfish, names, roaches, broken watch, and this week we drew motorcycle.
We’ve started writing projects together before but I think we appreciate this one the most. For a few weeks after our first prompt, I couldn’t suppress a secret smile every time I came across a carrot. Before writing about carrots a week, I never really gave them much thought. It also has unearthed and helped me record some memories; I never realized how many vivid roach memories I had! I thought I’d share a memory of mine that was my Day 1 contribution this week. It’s about my oldest brother whom I haven’t seen in over ten years. Word on the street, and by word on the street I mean Google search engine, tells me he’s currently in San Francisco. I am not divulging why I chose not to call but suffice it to say, not only have we not seen each other, but we haven’t spoken in over ten years too.
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My oldest brother had a motorcycle. I don’t remember what it looked like. I was too young to go investigate on my own. We lived in an apartment so it’s not like my parents would let me roam the parking lot freely. But I always knew that he had one. I vaguely remember sometimes watching him tend to it from the balcony.
I only have a handful of memories of my oldest brother and I treasure each one. I think namely because I have so few and it’s my way of reinforcing in my mind that I have older siblings (all absent). I think he’s the very first person I think of when I think motorcycle and the first person I knew personally with a bike. I remember he came home one day (I wasn’t even in school yet) and I was sitting on the floor of our living room playing. It was just us two and he had this smile on his face. Gleeful. Like he just obtained something fantastic and was dying to share with someone. Since I was the only one around, I was that person for him. He asked me if I wanted to see something. Did he describe it as gross? cool? I wish I could remember. He then turned so I had a direct view of his profile. I can’t remember which side, I want to say his left side. He pulled down his pants all the way to his ankles to show me his leg. Stunned, I saw the biggest scab of my life! He had fallen while riding his motorcycle and skinned his entire leg. Hip to ankle. Red, scabbed, purple, tender, bloody. And he was giggling with delight. I remember feeling dumbfounded, why was he so happy? That’s all I have of this memory. |
It still is the biggest strawberry I’ve seen.
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One of my biggest life’s joys is expanding my horizons. Be it my gastronomic, ideological, geographic, or in this case, my literary horizon. The book club I’ve helped organized has been in existence for 5 months now and we’re on our 4th book. Every book has been something I normally would not pick for myself to read. Water for Elephants, this month’s read was no exception. It’s a historical fiction about a dude named Jacob who quits veterinary school during the Great Depression and runs away from his life. He hops a train only to find himself on a circus train. He gives in to fate and joins the circus. Totally not my kind of normal reading. Circus? Great Depression? Not appetizing to my literary palate. (Where’s Edward vs Jacob? ….. Just kidding!)
How was I so wrong! Another one of my life’s joys that only happens occasionally is coming across a book that I savour. As I’m reading along, I’m actually already mourning the story’s end because I’m so immersed in its world and never want to leave. This is what Water for Elephants did for me. Sara Gruen draws you in the world behind the magical circus of the 1930s. There’s not a lot of magic behind the scenes of a circus but there’s magic in the personalities she gave her animals. (I’m in love with Rosie the elephant.) I’ll spare you the plot. Suffice it to say Jacob falls in love with a married performer, Marlena. No book’s perfect, I wish there was a little more depth in her human personalities. I wish she made Marlena stronger. But hey at least I wasn’t rooting for her demise like I did other weak women of literature (Hello Catherine from Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms). Sara’s writing and dialogue really transports you. I finished the book last night while in a bubble bath yet would swear I was riding a train and smelling animal body odor and hay. Sara Gruen did good. Please see for yourself! Do it soon too! The movie is in the making. Hello, Rob Pattinson;) |
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Over the weekend, I saw Conan and his Legally Prohibited to be Funny on Television Tour at the Austin Music Hall. It was better than I expected and I was surprised and appreciative that he customized his show it seems by miles to cater to Austin and Austin culture. Down to inflatable bat, Austin rocker to do a song, wearing UT Jersey, and a “commercial” that really was a blast of Dirty Martin’s (a greasy hamburger joint on campus). He made us feel special. I was also surprised to see he’s such a musical person. He was on his guitar rocking out about half the time and for the first time during his tour, broke a guitar string.
 I managed to snap a picture of his back when he ran around the floor. Thanks to Alan for giving me the heads up to get my camera ready.  me & my date So I was gonna share several more shots from the weekend (I had a lovely date at a trailer eatery with Brittany and we saw live camels!) but I left my usb cord at home so it’ll just be Conan’s back, Alan’s face, and my face for now then. What did you do this weekend? |
Friday night, I hoped to drive home to Houston to surprise Momma for Mother’s day. My good friend Jennifer is in town only for a week til she goes back up north for her fancy smancy medical school rotations. I figured I’d grab a quick cup of joe with her before heading out. I set my target departure time as approximately eight. She had dinner plans with her mom and told me she’d call me afterwards. Brandi and Jess were going to grab a bite to eat so I told them I’d join them since they’re both moving away from Austin soon too. So bad timing had me leaving for dinner just when Jennifer called to tell me she was done with dinner.
All this on top of my losing track of time catching up with Jennifer had me leaving 2 hours after my desired target time. Which meant I had to call my parents and ruin the surprise. I wanted to alert them that I’m coming in so they don’t set the alarm if they’re going to bed. This I think would also help save my life. What if I snuck in and set off the alarm and THEN my dad shoots me thinking I’m a burglar?! So yes. I had hoped to surprise momma, but I ended up having to call and tell her anyway.
I made pretty good time and arrived in Houston at midnight. It dawned on me that my car was DIRTY. It’s a pretty shade of blue but with all the pollen and my idea of a car wash is to wait for rain, the car looked like it was a mustardy yellow color. I could not let my parents see my car this dirty! They’d be convinced that I cannot take care of myself and therefore must live back home. I then embarked on a gas station crawl in Houston trying to find a car wash. Surprisingly a handful of these gas stations do not have working car washes! Also, as I’ve never been to a gas station after dark alone before, I noticed that most of these gas stations have window service. They close off their stores and talk to you through a window to ensure their safety. I’m assuming a lot of these windows are bullet proof too.
Anyway, one of these gas stations did not have a window. So I walked inside and instantly it striked me as an eerie gas station. Quiet. No one was behind the counter. I’m peering around and all of a sudden, I hear a voice.
“Hello.”
I audibly gasped and looked around to try to find the voice. There was this short peculiar man sitting behind the counter a little off to the side. He had black hair in an unflattering bowl cut, spectacles, and fishy, blotchy looking wet skin. It looked a little…. raw. His skin. With pinkish splotches. Creepy appearance.
“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry I scared you. Are you scared?”
I stammer when I’m nervous. Did he really just call me sweetheart?
“Oh uh. No. Hi. Car wash. I need a car wash. Do you have a working carwash?”
He started to walk out from behind the counter which kind of alarmed me.
“Aww, sweetheart, my car wash is not working…”
By this time he’s now standing before me and he extended a hand as if to ask for a handshake.
Against my better judgement and out of politeness and surprise, I put my hand into his.
“I’m sorry I scared you…”
THEN HE TRIED TO PULL ME INTO A HUG!!!
The gas attendant guy with fishy scaly looking skin was trying to give me, a stranger, who just wanted a car wash, a HUG!!?
Thankfully, I snapped out of my daze and resisted, shaking my head and verbally told him no.
Then I bolted. Not as fast as I should have. I should have RAN out but my walk was pretty damn calm despite my being completely stunned and freaked out.
The next day, I managed to have a little bit of free time after shopping and eating with momma, I met up Kim for some cupcakes. I told her this story kind of incredulously but also in a nonchalant “Oh my god, you wouldn’t believe the kook I ran into..” kind of way. Her reaction was a surprising one to me. She was stunned that I would go around gas stations in the middle of the night in the first place and she was also a little surprised that I shook this guy’s hand. I think her words were exactly this, “they should not be walking out from behind the counter!” Her alarm jolted me back into reality and I then remember my parents sending me newspaper articles of gas station murders and armed robberies (My parents used to send me sensational newspaper articles in hopes that it would scare me into doing what they thought was best. For example, I used to get cut out articles of drunk driving accidents (not that I drive drunk!) when I first left for college and started going out to bars.)
It took Kim’s alarm to get me to give this story a second glance. That is kind of a stupid thing I was doing. I didn’t even need gas!
I told Mary Ellen the story and I preface it with how Kim made me realize I was kind of being dumb and she was stunned and told me I need to hone my self preservation instincts.
Duly noted.
So I promise not to roam gas stations in the middle of the night ever again.
Let this be a reminder to ya’ll to do the same. Be safe!
About Linda
Texas native. Living and working in Austin, TX. Twenty something. In hot pursuit of good food, adventure, and laughter. Dreams of owning her own place with a big giant library.
Email me at: linda@curious-notions.net
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