What I love about literature

A quick jaunt into my mind.

You know what I love about literature? For the most part when you read something, you don’t personally know the author. Whether it be an article in the newspaper, a restaurant review online or a fiction novel, most of the time you start reading with a completely clean slate regarding the author (unless of course you’ve read other books of theirs).

What I mean by “clean slate” is that the written word creates a sort of even playing field. By it’s nature, it takes away the normal biases and stigmas we conjure up about someone when we are first introduced. Think about the last time you read an article in The Stranger or any similar alternative publication. Most likely the article was something sarcastic and you no doubt chuckled and admired the wit of the author and maybe even felt a little jealous of them for their ability to write so well.

Meeting someone through their writing takes away preconceived notions which tend to unintentionally find their way into our judgements when we meet people face to face. That’s the great thing about literature: it eliminates the barriers we put up and the judgments people have of each other just based on physical first impressions and societal statuses.

Writing creates this sort of perfect world where anyone can express themselves to an audience that otherwise might not have taken the time to listen.

Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.

-Helen Keller

Settling In

Well the last few weeks have been a whirlwind and I couldn't be more upset with myself for again being horrible about keeping up with this blog. I swear I think about it at least five times a day when I'm out and about and jot down something I want to post but I just never seem to have the time to do it whenever I'm thinking about it. I am starting a couple new social projects soon though that will involve interviewing strangers to hear their stories etc and I'm going to create a new blog for each of these. I'm hoping to get that started very soon and I'll post updates and links to the new blog(s) once I get my act together.

For now, here are a few peaks at my new life in Ballard! Ballard has turned out to be a really fun and eclectic place to call home and I am in love with our new apartment. Even though it's so close to the city, it is very residential, really laid back and full of funky small businesses, coffee shops, bookstores and some really great places to get dinner and happy hour.

So here are some before-and-after shots of our new place...

Before - living room/peak of the kitchen. Notice the built in shelving...so cool!

Before - living room and big wood burning fireplace!

Before - bedroom

After - living room with our new couches!

After - living room and kitchen

Kitchen in progress

We finally have our own laundry room!! This is such a blessing

Our big walk in closet!

After - bedroom - and it even comes complete with a cute boy singing and playing the guitar!

We're going to find a tall cocktail style table and tall chairs (and hopefully a round rug) for this corner and make it into a casual dining area

We started a bunch of vegetables and some flowers in the utility sink in the laundry room. I can't wait to see them start to sprout and then move them outside to the garden next month! We have a huge raised bed garden in the back yard that's been overgrown and we have free reign to bring it back to life!

So it's been a long process moving in, finding new things for the apartment (mostly from the Goodwill which rocks) and looking for work but it's been a lot of fun. I'm so happy to be home and I can't wait to see what the next few weeks hold for us. Stay tuned!

The Journey Home

Well since I didn't stick to my guns and haven't updated this darn thing in a month I'm going to condense everything into this one post. Let's see...

I went to Tampa and Clearwater, Florida! Both were a lot of fun and Tampa was by far the best place I've visited so far in Florida. It felt so much more laid back and less corporate and the nightlife was a lot of fun. The people were really nice (which I've also experienced in Orlando) and it felt a lot more like a small town in a lot of ways. And check out the beaches in Clearwater! Can you believe this is late December?

We also saw some street performers which were kind of sketchy and I was a little afraid that the guy was one heckle away from snapping but they were actually pretty good. Here you see said gentleman jumping through a hoop:

A lot of things have changed last minute for me and because of complications with Scott's cruise ship contract, he came home early and I wasn't able to go cruising for four weeks like I had planned on doing. So instead of coming home February 11th, I came home January 13th. I was really looking forward to going on those cruises but my desire to come back to the northwest was also something that I couldn't get off my mind so I guess it's bittersweet. So Sixto gave me a ride to the Orlando airport and I hopped on an early flight to Seattle with a stop in Denver along the way.

Sitting at my gate in Denver waiting to board my flight, I looked up at the reader board and was amazed at how emotional I suddenly felt seeing "Seattle" lit up in red letters. I think familiarity is what I missed most about being so far away from home and seeing that sign was the first solid reminder that I'm really going to reunited with that which I've missed so much.

Look at that freaking mountain! I snapped this shot of Mt. Rainier out the window of the airplane as I flew back into Washington. I'm having trouble finding the right words to express how I felt when I saw this so I'm hoping the picture will serve as enough explanation. I realized that I had grown so used to Mt. Rainier being the backdrop to my daily errands that I had began to take it for granted. Now that I've lived in a place that doesn't even have hills, let alone jaw dropping gargantuan mountains just a short drive from the city, not a day goes by that I don't look out the window and realize how lucky I am.

Orlando

Orlando is an interesting place to spend Christmas and it has nothing to do with the weather. The under 35 population in this city is extremely diverse. You'll find every ethnicity, personal background, sexual orientation and an extraordinary gap between the lower and upper class. However, within this diversity resides two major constants: almost no one is originally from Orlando and virtually everyone
works in the hospitality industry in one form or another.

It has begun!

After years of regretfully not being part of this incredible blogging community, it's about time that I join the rest of the writing world and nervously set out to create an outlet for me to expose my mental preoccupations. No longer will the post-its and crinkled scratch paper which upholster the pockets of my messenger bag serve as my avenue for transporting my thoughts onto canvas. I am so excited to finally be starting a blog and I can't wait to see where it takes me!