Friday 7 Quick Takes (vol 28)

Currently, my savings approximately cancels out my student loans so I’m not too worried about a will yet. I listed my family as the benefactors to my retirement funds. I want my car to go to my next of kin for them to sell. If my parents are still living, I want to let my organs be but if they’re not, I want to donate my organs. I also would like jokes at my funeral. Really.

That’s all I have for now.

It would go something like:

“You were sitting there waiting for me in the middle of Speedway. I was the Asian girl in the purple blazer. I’ve been dreaming of riding you for years. It breaks my heart I had to walk away from you. Find me again?”

Ha. :)

I got happy mail on Monday. My Sketchbook Project sketchbook arrived!

It remains blank as I am overwhelmed by the blank pages. Clock’s ticking.

I’m baby-stepping towards a healthier lifestyle. I’m very guilty of taking my youth, metabolism, and overall health for granted. I used to work out 2-3 times a week but stopped in October 2009. Since then I’ve maybe worked out 3 times? It’s embarrassing. I also rarely drink anything but coffee and eat a lot of junk and never enough fruits and vegetables. So I’m baby-stepping. Last week a friend from Houston came up and for 3 days, we mall-walked like little old ladies. Wednesday, I had lunch at The Carillon with Selina. Instead of starting with the carbs and ignoring the salad bar, my usual MO at buffets, I made a veggie plate first. See below. Yes, I know there were cheeses and creamy dressing, but it’s a baby-step after all.

That lunch was a lovely lunch. I like having lunch with non-work friends during the week because it makes the work day go by faster. Aside from that though, this lunch was especially perfect because it was a Thanksgiving spread for the faculty and staff of the university. My family alternates between American Thanksgiving food and Vietnamese food. I think this year we’re doing Vietnamese food, so it was lovely to have the typical. Namely, turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Mmm. Pumpkin.

I started to listen to the archives of The American Life. I sent a lovely quote from Ira Glass to Bestie and she loved it so much she researched Ira Glass and found The American Life. I started listening to it yesterday, and it was riveting! I started with the podcast on “Unconditional Love,” regarding the importance of parental love. I can’t wait to work through the archives for more!

Here’s the quotation I passed on to her:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Edit: I published this before checking my reader and I saw that Bestie did a blog post about Ira Glass and the quote today.