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 |   A blog to house my musings, curiosities, and fascinations. |
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When it came time for me to start blogging again, I found myself paralyzed. I was trapped by the belief that my blog had to be unique, that it had to have a defined theme, and that it had to be appealing to everyone. After some time scouring Google for advice, I realized that if all I did was worry and plan, I would spend forever worrying and planning and never get to writing. From that realization, I've decided to display my blog writing guidelines here for everyone to see, but especially for me to see when I come here to write. ~1~ Blog about what is appealing to YOU. Don't worry about anyone else. ~2~ Allow yourself to WRITE! Don't restrain yourself to one voice, one writing style, one genre, or one topic area. ~3~ Throw out the fear of maintaining a consistent theme. Blog about your passions, interests, fancies, inspirations, opinions, musings, curiosities, ramblings, and loves. ~4~ Explore, experiment, and have fun! So, this is my solution. A blog about anything and everything that sparks my interest.  The title is inspired by the quote at the bottom of this introduction. Everything you love, even for a short time, becomes part of you. Our experiences and perception of the world is colored by those things we love and have loved, whether those things are  or not. This blog will be a place to house those passions and curiosities. Please enjoy! "It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them, and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are." -Anonymous ![Merit Badge in Aloha
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Only the most selfless, dedicated person would come up with an idea like an Aloha MB. But then, from all those things you do on WDC and we know you're doing out in the world, it's what we should have known you'd do. You've always been working to make things better and help people, animals, and places. Maybe the badge should have your picture so everyone knows a real example of Aloha.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Aloha-2171989_14.gif) Cover image by Jessica Woulfe
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Entry in the contest:
Character Count: 139 She placed the gift that had been lost in his workshop for decades by his warm milk and his eyes twinkled. “Ho ho! You found my first toy!”  ~~~ |
Entry in the contest:
Syllables: 24 Lines: 6 Prompt Word: Benthos We live as snails in benthos submerged - our false shelter from strife and shame. In silt shells we live as snails.  ~ ~ ~ |
| Welp, this was a toughy. The final task in my Wodehouse challenge this month is to write about what I consider myself to be a Grandmaster of. This was hard for me, not only because I despise talking about myself or doing anything that could be construed as "bragging," but also because I am really of the mindset that no one can be a true Grandmaster of anything. There is always room for improvement, whether by yourself or by someone in the future. I mean, look at the Olympics for just one example. World records are broken again and again and again. The World Record holder is the best in that sport for that moment, until someone else breaks their record or they break it themselves. For me, I find significant value in continual improvement, and could never see myself as "the best" at something because there is always more to discover. And even when you feel like the end of discovery is near, teaching others is the next step. In short, the journey of discovery is never-ending, and I find that an extremely liberating and humble way to live. But, of course, as this is a challenge, I am forced to write about something I have mastered to the level where others may consider me a "grandmaster." And, because this is something other's have said about me on a fair few occasions, I figured it fit the bill: My Grandmastery of Listening. I am a private person. I like to keep my personal life contained so it doesn't distract or burden anyone else. This means I don't often (if ever) talk about my personal issues. It also makes me fully committed to listening to other people's personal troubles/traumas because I'll rarely be inclined to share my own experiences in a way that might compete with their story or dominate/shift the conversation. I'm naturally curious about their emotions/needs and willing to be an ear for them to vent to. I am honest about my perspective of their situation if they need advice, or sensitive if they just need space to air their thoughts. I'm good at being quiet. I am comfortable with silence. I like when conversations lull because you can feel the thoughts settling. Not only do I listen, but I hear (and yes, there is a difference). I am good at processing an abundance of information as it flows into my ears in bits and pieces and distilling it down to what truly matters. And at an even more basic level, I like helping people. If I can take some of your burden by simply listening when no one else will, or offering advice when others told you to cover your emotions and deal with them in isolation, I can be that person. I like when the focus is on other people, but of course there are times where my own bottled emotions become too much and I need to get them out some way. In those cases, one of two things happens - I either cry on my bf's shoulder until I (or he) falls asleep, or I write about it. I tend to keep those thoughts close to my heart and putting them on paper is therapeutic enough for me. I wouldn't be able to share those things verbally, mostly because I know I wouldn't be articulate enough or thorough enough to express the emotion to the depth I was truly feeling it. For me, writing it out is so much more cathartic than telling someone, which would add even more stress for me. That said, I am comfortable with being on the listening side of those conversations. And, a bit selfishly, hearing other people's problems makes me feel a little more fortunate that I only have the problems I have. I'm very non-confrontational, which I believe makes me easy to approach and talk to. It is interesting to think about this in the context of my work as well. I am basically a non-formal educator and event coordinator, which you might think would require a gregarious and outgoing personality, but I am exactly the opposite of that. I prefer to work behind the scenes setting up for events and recruiting others who are more extroverted to be the face in front of the crowd. With my position, I am good at listening to what my "clients" (for lack of a better word) are looking to gain out of an event and making that happen. I am also good at listening to people who approach a booth I am staffing to understand where they are coming from, and what they value so I can meet them with an appropriate message and level of knowledge for their understanding. So, I guess that's enough blabbering on about that. If you see this as an open invitation to spill your guts to a random stranger on the internet, please feel free. Maybe not in the comments though ...  |
| For the second to last task in my Wodehouse Challenge, I’ve been asked to explore five things I wish I could be a Grandmaster of. With so many endless possibilities to choose, it seemed impossible to narrow it down to just five! But as I got thinking about it more, I found I could fairly easily categorize the things I was coming up with into one of three categories, which I will lay out for you now. The first category would be things that are simply beyond the realm of possibility. Of course I would want to be a Grandmaster of talking to animals or teleportation if those things were possible, but since they are not, I’ll force myself to move on. The second category includes skills/fields/talents that would give me more satisfaction from the act of learning them than by being able to do them right off the bat. The act of practicing and perfecting one’s abilities in these things creates the joy of accomplishment once you finally do achieve them. All sports or physical talents/abilities fall into this category along with solving puzzles, reading dense books, and writing. If you could just all of a sudden do those things at the top level without needing any practice, you wouldn’t know enough about the struggle to get there to feel the appropriate level of fulfillment. So then, what sorts of things are there left to want to be a Grandmaster of? They have to be things that normal humans can feasibly do, but things that I would find too terribly painful/boring to put in the time needing to learn them. What things would simply be good to know how to do well without needing any practice? The first one came to me right away: I would love to be an instant Grandmaster in social interactions, especially small talk. As a classic introvert, I often struggle in group gatherings/parties where I’m forced to make small talk with people I hardly know. I find myself standing among a group of people who are talking to each other while I remain silent, or even worse, standing alone.  I would seriously love to have the skills to be able to chat easily with people and not feel or sound awkward. My grandmother is a Grandmaster of small talk, and I envy her for it. I think part of her mastery comes from her vast knowledge of the world, which is where the second thing I want to be a Grandmaster of comes from.It would be great to be like my grandmother and have an anecdote to share about any topic in any situation with any type of person. I would love to know more about history, the arts, religion, politics, and world cultures in general. I do not consider myself very worldly, but I think it would be valuable to have that knowledge base in any number of different situations. If I could be a Grandmaster of culture without needing to live my whole life first, I would do it, but as it is now, I suspect I’ll learn those things slowly over time until I too am the encyclopedia my grandma is. The third thing I would like to be a Grandmaster of ties in with the culture idea as well. I have always struggled so much to learn languages, but think other languages are so beautiful and would love to be a Grandmaster of speaking different languages. I learned a bit of Spanish and German in school, but nothing really stuck. In addition to those two, I would like to know how to speak Chinese and Hawaiian fluently, and as many others as this little fantasy would allow. Oh! American Sign Language would be high on the list as well. With my volunteer gig at a service dog training facility, there are always opportunities to help out more by signing for people at events or trainings, but I’ve never been able to help. The next thing I would like to be able to know how to do without having to put in the effort is how to invest in the Stock Market. This has always been something I felt was so beyond me and would take too much of my mental capacity, and so have never tried to learn. I feel I don’t have the patience to learn it right, and would risk making a mistake, but if I knew how to do it correctly without ending up in catastrophic failure, it would be a lucrative endeavor. So, a Grandmaster of stocks is number four. Finally, I would want to be a Grandmaster of medicine, including on humans and animals, and specifically in emergency situations. I knew I never wanted to be a doctor or vet because of the bodily fluids involved and the smell (no one ever talks about the smell). I couldn’t force myself to spend the time to learn how to care for someone or an animal that is critically ill or has a major injury. In my worst-case-scenario brain, I imagine what I would do if I were ever in that situation where my actions could save someone, but I didn’t know what to do to help. Thinking about that freaks me out, so if I could be a Grandmaster of emergency medicine, I think that would calm my nerves and assure me I would be able to help in a dire situation like that. If you’re game, what’s one thing you would want to be a Grandmaster of? Tell me about it in the comments This post was inspired by "a very Wodehouse challenge"  . The other two items I created for the challenge are here:
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| Well! Happy 2019, everybody! We made it! I think it’s important at the start of anything to reflect back on how you got to that point. It helps to put things in perspective, which I find especially helpful since I tend to worry about small stuff and get stuck in the difficulties of the “now,” but forget the strength I’ve had to overcome the difficulties of the past. So, I saw someone else do this, and I liked it enough to do it myself  Condensing a year into only a few sentences is hard enough, but it also forces you to pick out the most important moments that shaped your story. Below is my paragraph reflection on 2018.  I started off 2018 in an internship making $5 an hour, working like a mad-woman to prove myself and build myself a position with the organization. It was more work than I thought I could handle, but I relied on my strengths and was honest with myself, which led to me proving myself valuable enough to be hired in September into the position I created. Now, at 24, I hold the position title of Coordinator working at the intersection of my community and the environment, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. Outside of work, my year has been intellectually fulfilling with taking graduate classes online, jumping back into WDC, and completing my first ever NaNoWriMo novel. I am also very proud of myself for losing 20lbs in the last three months. Overall, words that characterize my 2018 are: perseverance, engagement, grit, ingenuity, honesty, and growth. Here’s to an even better 2019! And now, to start my year off on a good foot, I’ve got some goals for January! Review:  15 for "Anniversary Reviews" (8/15 done) 12 for "SuperTower Review Room MB Rewards" 10 for "Invalid Item" 10 for "SugarCube's Monthly Random Contest!!" Read: “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold Write Product Review for "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge" : "A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There" “A Jar of Hearts" by Jennifer Hillier Write Product Review for "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge" : "Jar of Hearts" “A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking Write Product Review for "CLOSED!The Monthly Reading Challenge" : "A Brief History of Time" Enter Contests: "Plot Support - Results announced!" or "Invalid Item" for January "The Contest Challenge" "Invalid Item" for August "The Contest Challenge" January "a very Wodehouse challenge" Blog entry about what I am a grandmaster of Blog entry about what I want to be a grandmaster of 500 word summary of five grandmasters in history Story/poem using chess pieces as characters "Dear Me: Official WDC Contest" "The Prompt Me Contest" at least 3 times "Invalid Item" at least 3 times "Invalid Item" at least once "SugarCube's Monthly Random Contest!!" at least onceContinue Regular Commitments: Jan 16-18 review crediting for "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" Jan 19-20 Raid review crediting for "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" Sleep and update "Habit Heroes " every morning: "Emily - Sign up and Tracking for January" General administration, prompting, and judging for the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"   Here I come, 2019!~~~Emily  |
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