Writing

   It is no secret that I love to read. I'm a chain-reader. I read to live. And I've recently stated  I will run out of air before I run out of books. I love it too much to put it in words, and maybe I'll write another post about it, but for now I'll just leave it nicely resumed by one of the best Twitter accounts I follow.

   What I love just as much, but don't partake in with nearly as much frequency as I should/like is writing. I've been keeping journals since I was in 5th grade. I don't write anything important of even coherent in them. I also don't read them back. I write short-stories, and have begun several novels, none of which I've been able to bring to a conclusion, I don't mean to share or publish them, for now. 

    I just write for the sake of writing.

    I write because I have control of the story. I write fiction because I can take something that happened to me that day, and transform into the situation I wish had happened. I can write about situations that didn't happen anywhere else other than my head. I write non-fiction because I believe I'm truly special, a singular snow-flake type deal, and that what happens to me need to be remembered, and told.

   I write characters that I can identify with and are natural to me, and I write characters I puzze over for months. I write people I wish were my best friends and people I've wanted to kill in the page just for the satisfaction of making them not exist anymore. 

   I write so I don't become a consumer only. Somebody who just takes and take without ever giving back. I write so when I criticize a book or a story I'm not just finding flaws in the world, but so I can learn the process and know what and how to criticize. I'm doing it because if you think you can do it better, you should. Even if it's not really.

   I write so there are always things to read.

M.

Tough decisions

   I've been dealing recently with some tough questions regarding my job and possible career.

   What do you do when the job you currently work on conflicts with your morals, but you really need the money?

   Nobody is making me do anything I don't want, but there are some practices of my firm that although perfectly legal don't sit well with me.

   Sadly I really need the money, and unfortunately grad school is getting more expensive by the minute. So I'll stay, and not say anything against it because I don't want to lose my job. The compromise I've made is that I'm not going to build a career here, nor will I rely on my current bosses to provide me with recommendations along the way. This way my conscience can be a little at peace, although it nags me from time to time.

    It got me wondering about people who really need the money, for their basic needs like feeding their families and paying their mortgage, and the things they have to put up with. Or as my dad says "swallowing the frog". As much as I want to go to grad school, I won't die or be homeless if I don't go, so the day I can't handle this anymore I can just get up and say "fuck it", hop on my high horse and gallop away.

   What do you guys do when faced with choices like that?

M.

My (emphasis on the MY) Halloween Costume Rules

   I love Halloween, it is not only a fantastic, magical "holiday" but also the usher to Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are also favorites of mine.

   Having grown up in a different country my idea of Halloween, specially my very first one, where somewhat distant from the real thing as I only had movies and tv shows to base my so called knowledge on. As time went by I've managed to approach my perceptions with reality, without losing too much of what made it special for me. The main thing being my choice for costumes and the rules I choose to follow in picking one out.

   Disclaimer: this is not a rant or me wanting to impose any of the "rules" on anybody, these are just the guidelines I like to go with when picking a halloween costume. When it comes to yours, do whatever you want, I'm not your mother.


So without further adue, here are my rules.

1. Nothing sexy.

Is nothing sacred anymore?!

    I am not particularly comfortable with the idea of being sexy, specially because it often involves little clothing and October is a cold month. Also sometimes these sexy costumes just ruin some dear characters to me and are often things I can't unsee. So if you like to wear lingerie out on a cold October night, be my guest, but I'll skip on that, thanks.

2. Something I will wear again.
    Halloween costumes are expensive, I've followed this through high school but it didn't become a rule until college where I had to fend for myself and make the decision between paying $60+ for something I'd wear once. I may not be the Belle at the ball, but I dressed up as Alex DeLarge, three years ago and those are still one of my favorite pants.

3. Something original.
    I'm not the most creative person out there, and you'll be hard pressed to find me in any "best costumes ever" list, but I like for my friends to be able to find me for my costume when I tend to Irish Goodbye them. "Have you seen the sexy school girl?" just doesn't narrow it down.

So that's it, three simple guidelines that make my October worth living and the anticipation of Halloween that much more exciting.

Would love to hear if you have any rules for yourself, and if you already know what you'll be this year.

M.

p.s. In case you were wondering, I'm dead set on being Baljeet from Phineas & Ferb.

Books!

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who knows me that I love books.

I simply adore them. I prefer the company of books to people. If you're ever stuck on what to get me for a present you can never go wrong with a book or a notebook. Even if its something I've already read, or doesn't seem like its my taste, I'll always give any book a chance.

So it is no wonder that I'm particularly fond of Neil Gaiman's (one of my favorite authors) All Hallows Read. It is an amazing idea that will become tradition in ten years time, and I'm excited to be part of its beginnings.

The gist of it? Give somebody a scary book for halloween. Something spooky and bone chilling that they can read on a scary night. Give it to lots of somebodys, give it do a stranger, doesn't matter.

Although candy and fake blood are important there with the overwhelming amount of slutty costumes I feel like the scary is getting pushed out of halloween. So I've committed myself to making this a tradition.

Would love to know some book recommendations for all ages on the matter.

M.

Stories that need to be told.

While its no secret that I love to whine about my job, this isn't one of the times where I talk about how about what other people are doing things much cooler than what I do. Ok, maybe it is.

   One of my best friends is getting her master's in social work and working at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, I'll admit, my first reaction was less than stellar, along the lines of "oh... so you're working in jail? that's... interesting...or something?" but on further thought I realised that being the sucker for stories the way I am, I was missing out on this endless pool of tales that have just been waiting to be told.

   So I'm really happy that she started a blog about the inmates stories, as well as some of her own, and knowing her like I do I know her passion will fizzle out quickly, so I just want to do a bit of promotion here, and wherever possible to positively reinforce her into keep writing these stories, sharing what needs to be shared and showing the world that these women are in fact survivors, and not the monsters we all assume.

Give it a go.

M.

Quitting my Bitching.

   A while a go I made a promise to myself that I would complain less about things. To anyone who knows me, this is virtually impossible as I spend 97% of my awake moments complaining about one thing or another.

  

  Since I love money I decided that would be my motivator, and for every day that I complained I'd have to donate a dollar to a charity, or any cause that could use the help. Mainly when I complain I need to remind myself that I'm lucky to be healthy, loved and with enough money to not just afford my basic needs but a few luxuries as well. So when I'm bitching about something I make a little note on my planner and I have to donate a certain amount.

  I just donated $25 for the month of August for Teenage Cancer Trust, and you can do so here. Weird thing is, it feels pretty good to do something, as small as this, for somebody else. Maybe I'll continue to complain just to add that little bit to world.

Best,

M.

Experiment!

   I will be moving house (again!) next weekend, and I'll be renting a room at the house of an older woman who doesn't have wi-fi (!). She said she doesn't want use it and has no need for it, but if I pay for it she has no problems with installing a router in the house.
 
   Which is when I came up with the idea, of testing out my will power.

   I will go on for three months without internet at my house. And if at the end of it I am dying, I'll just call for help and have somebody install it, after all it doesn't take that long.

   It's not as daring as I'd like it to be, since I do have wi-fi at work, where I spend most of my time, and free range to navigate every page I want to. So this will just curb my weekend and night-time cruising. I don't think I'm debilitatingly addicted to tumblr or this blog (specially if you judge by how often I post) but I do like to be connected to twitter and youtube.

  I'm excited about it, mainly because I don't think it'll be that big of a challenge. I like to read for fun and I'm pretty content with going for walks or just being outside, so hopefully that'll spark a little bit more of that. Maybe I'll even begin going to the gym. (gasp).

  I guess this post is a little pointless, but then again, aren't them all? It just one of those days when I had the itches to write and had nothing to write about so I'm just blurting words out. So sorry about that.


M.