January 15th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Focusing on something means that other things fade to the background, that while you make one thing clear and crisp and clean, the rest fades into a fuzzy blur. Obvious, but not obvious.
I guess, like photography, when you focus on tasks and projects, depending on timing and composition, you can either get something better, or something that you shouldn’t have bothered with. And half-hearted floppy attempts at focus get you nothing.
I met up with a friend from high school about…hm…a year and a half ago. We talked about all our AP-class, then over-achiever friends, and where they’d ended up. We talked about how there were so many interesting things to learn and do, it was hard to really go anywhere on just one. And how being “smart” or at least, meeting some intelligence threshold, meant that you could be mediocre at lots of things, and that was almost a handicap. If we were stupid, maybe there would only be one thing to be mediocre at, and then that would be something to focus on, and actually get GOOD at.
Which is to say, mebbe I’ll just do archery in the last three months I’m here. Archery, and snowboarding. Oh, and my Japanese classes. And taking fun photos. And…..hm…whatever. Really, I’m just not doing hip hop anymore. Maybe I’ll do it back when I’m stateside. Or, maybe I should just acknowledge retardation levels of skill and work on things I have some faint glimmer of talent at. Nerdy, sedentary things. Because I need to do more of those.
(Really though - I used to read a lot more. And once upon a time, (fourth grade) I went through a crochet-ing phase. And there are all those ME-ish projects on the mental shelf.)
(Not really though - denial is part of the fun in doing things you can’t really do. And who’s gonna support the people who are good at artsy stuff, if not unskilled people like me, who pay to do what they just picked up?)
I think my world just got a whole lot smaller. At least it’s easier to save that way…
November 30th, 2008 at 1:56 am
My mom im-ed me today (! for some already, but I’m over that one), and said “How does this video thing work?”
…Video thing?
She meant Gmail video chat, and was confused why she’d seen a video camera by my name before, but why she couldn’t make it show up now.
She’d installed the plugin on her own and everything!
So I went and signed into my Gmail (I had been using adium) and we had a video chat. Simple. Straightforward. My dad even popped by for a little bit. We had used skype before, and he’d stop by…but he seems to be learning to center himself in front of the camera more, instead of just his arm.
Ah, technology. Making me hastily change out of my pajamas at twelve noon. :(
(Though as it turns out, since my parents were going to bed, it didn’t much matter.)
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I think I have a problem.
This weekend I got a new toy - a Nintendo DSi. Apparently a lot of you have no idea what this is - so in short, it’s the successor to the Nintendo Gameboy. You know, the little thing that lets you swap out little game cartridges, and is maybe…3×5inches big…the kind of thing your aunt gave you in junior high after a deprived childhood of NO VIDEO GAMES. Anyhow. I have one! It just came out on Saturday. It cost me about $200 bucks. Probably more if you factor in the exchange rates these days, but I’m not going to think about that.
I really didn’t stop to hesitate when picking up said gizmo. Rather, despite forecasts of low production volume and selling out, I found a website in Japanese that tracked when vendors came online with reservations, and snagged one that way. That took some effort.
The problem comes in that later this weekend (yesterday), I was at the Tokyo Design week booths, and there was (of course) a vendor with cool graphics on bags, and they caught my eye. See, I have enough of those stupid messenger-ey graphic-ified bags. It’s a long standing thing. I wheedled a timbuk2 bag out of my mom in high school, and dragged my butt to niketown in LA to grab another one there. But these and these were shiny and different, and though I’d seen them on blogs (where else?), they still looked cool in person.
I was there with a new friend though, and warned her “oh yeah, I should avoid those. Have too many bag type things, and not really like…normal ones.” And I realized it was true. And the realization doesn’t really make me want them, either, except for the “gimme” factor. Apparently, even though I’ll go to great lengths to acquire electronic things with very little hesitation, the obstacles to buying a purse are such that I haven’t ever actually bought one for myself. Really. Like an actual girly-ish purse thing. I mean, I guess the pricier purses cost more than electronics (a lot) and messenger bags, so maybe it comes down to cheapness…but I think the one actual purse I own is pretty small, and er…it was a present. I think I picked up some fakey purses in China, at the behest of my mom, but that wasn’t fun and it wasn’t for me.
Ah, which is not to say I’m going purse hunting. I mean - would I even use one if I had it? I’d have to get some heels to hobble around in, pigeon toed. Perhaps some glittery decals on the fingers. Oh, the nausea…
October 26th, 2008 at 5:05 am
Soooo - now that my mom knows I have a motorcycle, there’s no real reason to separate my two blogs. Ahem.
Rather than me copy-pasting stuff around, if you care to be updated on my life in Tokyo, hop on over here: www.audreyy.com
:D
Otherwise, stick around here for posts that aren’t so much updates as random thoughts. I think.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
As seen in Central Park:
Purple crocs coordinated with purple shorts and soft tie dye palette.
Accessorized with red ladybug doodads.
…America is going downhill, fast, no?