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Feb. 4th, 2009 @ 07:03 pm
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from kat hunt's facebook page, a quote to be saved and to measure things against:
"I AM IN LOVE WITH AN ACTUAL MAN AND NOT JUST A SERIES OF THINGS, PLACES AND IDEAS."
right? right. |
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"For what it’s worth, it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit… start whenever you want… you can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that stop you. I hope you feel things that you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. you can swear and curse the fates, but in the end, you have to let go."
Quote from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
You guys...go see this movie. Please. It's the best movie I've seen in a theater in years, and it's definitely gone on my list of movies I wish I had made.
I was choked up pretty much the whole time, but when I walked out I loved life and everything in it.
So, it's kind of a feel good movie...but don't go when you're not in the mood for thinking about existence.
I had to walk right into work afterward and right up to a table to take their order, I think they could see that I had just been crying. Whatever. I loved them! |
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Oh Holy Shit!
I forgot about this thing again. Let's try some highlights with illustratory images.
1. I'm still in Arkansas. More specifically, Little Rock. I'm happy and I really can't justify going anywhere else right now (nor can I even kind of afford it)
2. I'm making movies with my friend Brandon. Right now we are making short videos that are based on some of the more interesting missed conections ads from craigslist. Here's Brandon and Lex covering windows for a shoot. Guess who's bright idea it was to shoot a night time party in the middle of the day? (mine)... at least we get some Hollywood points, right?
3. Though I went through a few duds at first, I now have a great living situation and a great job. I'm living in an empty house my dad's trying to sell, which means living costs are WAY down right now (which is good because I am broke). I earn the money I do have by working as a server at a nice italian restaurant calle Bene Vita. I love it because it's candlelit, i get to speak softly and move slowly, AND i get to wear all black. shazaam! it makes me feel like a classy girl. and i'm learning about wine! hopefully there will be more money as soon as consumers get themselves out of the "psychological recession."
i look just like this:
4. For the first time ever in my life, I have a functional relationship with a child. I've been babysitting for the past couple of months and I get along great with the kid. She is sweet, and tough, and Elmo's biggest fan of all time.
5. I've been accepted into the Peace Corps. My medical documents are in and I am awaiting assignment. The vague information that I have is that I will be working in education somewhere in asia (mongolia, cambodia, thailand, or the philippines) starting in august 2009. This week, I'm rooting for assignment to mongolia or cambodia.
6. HOLY SHIT BARACK OBAMA WILL BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT. I can't tell you how good this makes me feel. My faith in goodness is restored. I'm planning to go to his inauguration in january. i spent a good 50+ hours (depending on how you count it) volunteering for the guy. I went to missouri to work for the last four days of the election. when i was there, the man himself stopped by for a rally, and i was in the 3rd row!! here are some photo highlights.
7. My dad got married and my mom is getting divorced. More details can be attained through one on one coversation. Here's a picture of the unprecedented family gathering that occurred in honor of the happier of these two events.
8. I've been learning to read/write Arabic from this free class being offered at UALR...not that i can speak it. err, anyway..this is my name in Arabic: السن بلند
YAY!
9. Last but not least, I'm back to being a redhead.
Besides all that, there are a lot of people I really really miss in the world and it makes me itchy to get out of here. but it's just not the time. past years have taught me that winter was meant to be a settled time of warmth and productivity...right? sounds good to me. i'll be here for a bit longer. |
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Gaining freedom is a trajectory, you dont get it until you fight for it, you can't fight for it until you are organized, you can't be organized until you are informed, you can't be informed without a free press, you don't get free press before widespread critical thought, you dont get widespread critical thought before people can go to school, and you dont get that until people have money...which is what people are starting to get now in China.
It doesn't have to be this step-by-step, but it's just not gonna happen all at once. Things are changing there, I promise. Please stop being so close-minded. |
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Hey Jo!
It's good to hear from you. I've been pretty all over the place since last summer, but it's been super fun. I actually went around the world!
After my week in Egypt, I moved to Berlin and started teaching. I think I wrote to you and Bill all about that. It was pretty much like being in hell at first. I was teaching the same class of beginners for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Talk about a crash course!
Luckily, it paid a lot and I managed to save a ton of money in my 5 months working there. After a while, I got antsy. My short visit to Egypt was my first time out of "The West" and I wanted more. I had a friend living in Shanghai, so I took my savings and went there.
China was awesome. I have never had more fun being a tourist. People there are so friendly and totally not jaded by visitors. If you're foreign, EVERYONE wants to talk to you, which was good because I was learning Chinese while I was there.
Another plus was that, not only did they want to talk to tourists, but they were also (for the most part) completely not interested in ripping you off. Of course at the markets you had to bargain, but it was all good natured and was the only place where people would try to scam you...but then, they were trying to scam everyone else too.
Another cool thing about being a tourist in China was that, due to the high amount of domestic travel, at any given popular attraction, you were still surrounded by Chinese people. So there was no feeling like you're in a tourist bubble. Besides that, China was wacky and interesting and exciting and just plain awesome. I really REALLY want to go back.
But I had to leave. I renewed my visa twice and that only got me three months. So I got a job back in Arkansas. But before going home, I took a boat to Japan from China and hung out there for 2 weeks. It was pretty different from China. A whole other bowl of noodles, really. China doesn't have the same strict social customs that Japan has and there are just less rules in China in general. This probably has a lot to do with China being a much poorer and less developed country than Japan.
My favorite thing about Japan was that, even though it's totally developed, (i mean exactly on par with any Western country) they've managed to do everything all their own (and often better) way. Especially when it comes to technology and graphic design. I loved the electronic toilets and the sleep-worthy internet cafes and the big, bold, colorful lettering on everything. Plus all the little eateries that utilized the best aspects of traditional culture while being completely modern at the same time. It's unbelievable how good of a job they did of modernizing without selling out their culture. So there's hope for cultural globalization, after all!
Anyway, I spent the summer in Arkansas working for an academic summer program for rising senior high school students. I was the Audio/Visual Tech and I worked really really hard. Oh, one of the guys I worked with was living in Abu Dhabi before he came back to Arkansas. His name is Frisco, do you happen to know him? That would be funny.
Now that that job is over, I've decided to stay in Arkansas for a while. I've got some friends here that are serious about making movies and so I'm gonna take the next year to work hard on that. I got two jobs, one teaching English and one being a film projectionist at a movie theater here.
Also, I've applied (and been accepted to) the Peace Corps. I'll be working in Education (probably ESL) somewhere in Asia starting in August 2009. It'll be a while before I know exactly what country, but it will be one of four: Mongolia, Thailand, Cambodia, or the Philippines. I'm rooting for Mongolia or Thailand, though I wish I could go back to China.
Anyway, that's all the main news in my life. It was great to hear from you! When will you be back in the States?
Alison |
| » Patriot Games |
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"So is wearing the flag pin good or bad? It is both; it all depends on where and why. If you're going to a Young Americans for Freedom meeting, where people think patriotism means "my country right or wrong," leave it at home and tell them about Fredrick Douglass, who wouldn't celebrate the Fourth of July while his fellow Americans were in bondage. And if you're going to a meeting of the cultural studies department at Left Wing U., where patriotism often means "my country wrong or wronger," slap it on, and tell them about Mike Christian who lay half-dead in a North Vietnamese jail, stitching an American flag.
And if anyone gives you a hard time, tell him he doesn't know what true patriotism is."
-Peter Beinart, TIME Magazine
my definition of patriotism: Keeping it real in the country that gave you everything you have.
Jul. 4th, 2008 @ 05:24 pm
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Two weekends ago i participated in the 48 hour film project.
"The 48 Hour Film Project is a wild and sleepless weekend in which you and a team make a movie—write, shoot, edit and score it—in just 48 hours. On Friday night, you get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. 48 hours later, the movie must be complete. Then it will show at a local theater, usually in the next week."
it was all too focused on comercial filmmaking, if you ask me. but we had a great time doing it. See if you can guess what our movie was about:
here's what we came up with:
Jun. 22nd, 2008 @ 11:38 am
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also also.
here's me at a party in china!
Jun. 20th, 2008 @ 12:07 am
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The further away you get, the wackier it seems. Lauren, Stephen and I got our feet nibbled by spa-treatment fish in shanghai. Seek further documentation under:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.a.yang/FishEatingFeetEatingFish
Jun. 20th, 2008 @ 12:04 am
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Jun. 19th, 2008 @ 01:13 pm
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lisonay's journal
