Well, I've been in the Greater Los Angeles Area for two years now. Three years ago, I never imagined it was time for me to settle in one city, one job, even one apartment! And to be truthful, I still don't think now is the time to become complacent and tied to a physical place...at least, not completely. So while my frequent flier miles may sit dormant for the next few months, year, or more, this blog is not dead! Despite what my posting frequency as of late might suggest...
Luckily, LA is a traveler's dream...even if said traveler is rather moored at the moment. There are mountains, there are oceans (well, one ocean, many beaches), there is the city itself and more day trips than I could follow through on with a year's worth of weekends! Plus, there are travel books, websites, and magazines that are begging to be perused and places worth dreaming about.
Traveling doesn't have to be physical, you know.

Travelling these days allows a sense of wonder, if you let yourself feel it. The novelty of many modes of transportation may have worn off many years ago (now, we can even hear about the victorious land of a space shuttle with a sense of "been there, done that). However, if you open yourself to the experience of getting from point A to point B in whatever your chosen mode, you can experience a reflective meditation (on trains), a venture of pure faith (on planes), or a complete sensory withdrawl of your environment (automobiles.)

Every day, I am in my car for 1-1.5 hours during my commute to and from work in Downtown LA. Part of that time, I am at a dead stop. It's probably one of the most stressful parts of my day, especially driving back home when it's dark. Part of what makes it scary is that, for all the control you think you have....control of the temperature in the car, control of the stereo of the car, the security that comes from your seatbelt, and your decision of how fast or slow to drive...there will almost always be at least a split second (only a split second if you're lucky) that reminds you there are thousands of other people out there who are "in control" as well...and one of them almost didn't see you passing in his blindspot.

I'm reluctant to say there's a "meditation" there, because I've been one of those drivers who "gets in the groove" and then can't remember the details of how I got home from work. I'm always thankful that I got home and a little scared that maybe I was the one who cut someone off and caused their "out-of-control" realization without knowing it. However, there is a meditation in here that perhaps you could ponder once you've exited your 2-ton personal valet - we are never, truly, in control.

This meditation only rings true for those who may believe at least part of what I believe. In this case, it speaks to the part of me that says we always have choices, but we're not in control of the outcome. I don't believe that everything is written in the stars (although I've been known to say "it's destiny! when something goes right...), but I truly feel that we are all given choices in life - to be happy or sad, to be thankful or ungrateful, to be aware or unaware of our surroundings. Some people may have to make a more conscious effort to go towards their decision - I'm not suggesting that people with severe depression can just "choose" to be happy and it will be so - but the decision is always there.

Today, I wish for you to choose an awareness of your decisions and how they affect you, your loved ones, and maybe even that doofus in front of you who cut you off.

Namaste,
Lacey

Wow, I haven't had a blogpost in FOREVER. However, since I am still linked to a few of my friend's blogs, I guess I could start up the habit again...well, as much as a habit as ever there was.

One of the reasons I quit writing was because I quit traveling. I had grand plans and they just...well, I didn't follow through is the pure and simple of it.

But after a few spurts of travel and working at a job that I hated - love libraries, hate being a librarian - I've finally gotten the chance to work at a job I LOVE. I'm working on a political campaign in Iowa and I've been here for about 5 months. I have four months to go until the caucuses make the first prediction as to who will be the next President of the United States. Then I'll have a few more months of primaries, hopefully a break between primary season and the National Convention in August, and then I'll probably get sent back to Mason City, Iowa for the general election, since I've made so many contacts here already and we'll have to remobilize them come November 2008!

A little bit more about what I've been doing lately will come later. For now, I'm just letting people know that I have every intention in taking this back up (although I'd appreciate that, if you comment, you leave my candidate's name out of the comments...I would really HATE to get fired from my dream job, lol). And, so you know, more grand travel plans are in the works. And I know it ups the suspense your life may be lacking...will she ACTUALLY follow-through this time?!?! Time will tell. ;-)

Peace,
Lace

I've heard that boredom can jumpstart creativity. Or maybe I'm just making that up, thinking that I need a reason to write in my blog. Basically, I'm writing 'cause I'm bored. Hopefully I won't instill that boredom into this post, in turn, boring you. It's a new type of virus, boredom. It used to be spread person-to-person; contact was needed. Now I can bore you without even seeing you; you may be bored and I don't even know you. Such is the beauty of the Internet and speed-of-light, speed-of-communication news. There's a flood in New Zealand and I know about it, even before I see the prices of apples in the grocery store go up. (New Zealand has good apples, right?) And now you know that I'm bored before you even talk to me and see that I have nothing really remotely interesting to say. Wait, does that make me bored or boring?

Yay stream of consciousness.

I wonder why we let people get under our skin. Especially people we don't even know. A random person could check my blog and tell me that I'm definitely in the "boring" category rather than the "bored" one. And I won't know if the person is 5 or 50. Male or female. Cute or Amazonian. Why should I care what they think? Why does that one person's opinion of me (out of a bazillion possible personalities) grate me. I wouldn't go as far as to change for them, per se. But I might watch the stream of consciousness posts. And my consciousness might (unconsciously, of course) tone itself down. But what the heck do I care about that person? Why do I care if they think that I am the most fascinating thing they've read all day. And why do I worry about other people spell-checking my thoughts and cutting through them with red ink? (Nice mental image.) Even thinking about it makes me consider erasing this post and starting again with travel information and bullet points. (Which I'll return to later.) Those bastards; they are the cause of self-editing and self-monitoring. And they don't even have names, faces, voices, or worthy opinions.

I have become obsessed with playing Fantasy Football. I don't know why. I like planning things. I like working with statistics (especially the ones I don't really understand...see "Champion Bullshitter").

Speaking of bullshit, I was talking to my roommate about this earlier. I'm so good at smiling through (almost) anything, that I'm not sure if people really know who I am or what I feel. I don't even think some people realize that I feel. (I'm not dead inside! - see: "Friends" references.) I'm really good at acting put-together. I can convince anyone (even Myself) that I know what I'm doing and what I want. Then I change my mind. And in a snap, I have a new reality, a new goal, a new sense of self. And it's happened so quickly that I didn't even have time to blink or watch my "old" self walk away. At some point, I know I'll have to stick a goal, a dream, a future, a ME and stick with her. But there are infinite possibilities and I haven't found the rightcombination.

But back to football.

I started "liking" football in Middle School. That's when you like it 'cause the guy you have a crush on wears a football jersey to school every Monday. You like it 'cause you can wear the game day jersey with the number matching the cutest boy in school so people know you're "together" (but only if you're cute...and being a cheerleader helps). You want to be "one of the guys" so that you can infiltrate and make one of the prepubescents fall in love with you. You like it because you're deluding yourself.

But that was then. This is now. I actually enjoyed football in college. Going to the games, wearing purple, screaming (still trying to impress boys with my intensity and knowledge of the game), and basically freezing my butt off because, after all, this is Chicago. And now, as an alumni, I'll watch a few games and go to ones with meaning (playing Purdon't is huge and a yearly event). But now I'm in the big leagues baby (so why can't I get a job?). So it's NFL. It's Steelers and Packers (they seem to suck this year and that's sad) and the Bears (even though they embarassed my Steelers, it's nice to have a team nearby). And it's Fantasy Football. Which means I'm involved in more than simply yelling at the TV screen. I can win! I can be the best! I can be someone! I can be...a girl, sitting on a couch, watching a screen, checking if my (almost random) drafts actually pan out. And I'm missing my boyfriend, who lives across the country, and is sitting on his couch, watching a screen, checking if his drafts pan out.

Now I'm simply a girl, sitting on a couch, writing in a blog, missing my boyfriend, thinking about making some money, and wishing I were back in college, where I could go to meetings, write papers, attend football games, and know who I am.

UPDATE:

So, a quick post that accomplishes a few different goals:
A) I need to start writing again. I enjoy it and I like keeping y'all up on what I'm doing/where I am.
B) I need to let everyone know where I've been and where I'm going.
C) I like to innundate y'all with what I'm doing 'cause I KNOW it's the most interesting thing you'll read each day... ;-)

So here's where I've been/what I've done (longer descriptions later...):

Road Trip West with Mandy - We left Chicago on June 23rd and arrived in Seattle on June 27th. We drove through the Badlands National Park, Big Horn Mountains, and Yellowstone National Park. We saw the Corn Palace (tourist trap), Wall Drug (yup, another tourist trap), and the Columbia River (definitely worth the pull-off). And we didn't get tired of each other!

Alaska Trip with the Pisters - After we spent a few days in Seattle, Mandy, her family, and I headed up to Alaska. The trip up deserves its own story and the weeks in Alaska are almost indescribable. I've tried to write about it a few times, but it's hard for me. There just are not enough superlatives and it's hard to say anything except that it's my favorite place EVER. And it was with some of my favorite PEOPLE ever. :-)






































Home to Hurricane - After flying back to Chicago, I basically unpacked, did laundry, and re-packed. Then I headed home to Hurricane for Brooke's wedding.

Brooke's Wedding - Gorgeous. And she looked so happy. I now understand what it means to say she glowed. And it was great to see some high school buddies and spend time checking up. Although, I must say, every conversation I have with people from home has at least a five minute conversation about who is marrying who. It's crazy.

What I'm currently doing:

I'm chilling out at home, waiting for our family vacation, which we leave for on Sunday. I've updated my podcasts, downloading NPR segments and National Geographic episodes. I'm currently listening to Frommer's Four Essential Pieces of Travel Advice. It's good to have something on in the background - especially educational stuff. I've also downloaded a new webbrowser called Slimbrowser (http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/dlpage.php). This allows me to put a few websites into a group and open them all at once. This helps me keep updated on news sites that I like because I don't get distracted. So I get my NPR, CNN, and National Geographic news fixes each morning. I'm also visiting friends from childhood - Charlotte, Heather, and I put together Brooke's wedding album for her on Tuesday, yesterday I spent time with Mark, Carla, and Tyler (family friends from waaaaaay back), and tonight I'm going to dinner with Brooke's parents and, potentially, Charlotte. Brooke is in Ireland for her honeymoon or I'm sure that I'd spend time with her too!

What's in my PDA:

From August 6- August 13 I will be cruising the Carribbean with my family: Dad, Bridget, Ramey, and Heath. We'll be stopping in Grand Cayman, where we will snorkel with stingrays and see a turtle farm - we may even be going to Hell! Then it's on to kayaking in Cozumel and snorkeling a coral reef in Belize. And lastly, we'll tour some Mayan ruins in Costa Maya. Hopefully, I will not return lobsterfied.

Then I drive home to Chicago for a Dixie Chicks concert with Ashley on the 15th and, again, enough time to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack before heading to...

PARIS! From August 17th (Happy Birthday Ramey!) to August 23rd, I will be exploring the City of Lights. I have no idea what I'll end up doing, but I've enjoyed looking through one of my favorite tour guides (Eyewitness Top Ten Travel Guides) for the city and imagining all I could do. I'm definitely hoping for an evening at Moulin Rouge and, of course, a view from the Eiffel Tower. Other than that - so many options, only five days! Guess I'll have to go back...

Then, I'm finally in Chicago! :-P

*Whew!*

What a great way to end a year off. :-)

UPDATE:

So, a quick post that accomplishes a few different goals:
A) I need to start writing again. I enjoy it and I like keeping y'all up on what I'm doing/where I am.
B) I need to let everyone know where I've been and where I'm going.
C) I like to innundate y'all with what I'm doing 'cause I KNOW it's the most interesting thing you'll read each day... ;-)

So here's where I've been/what I've done (longer descriptions later...):

Road Trip West with Mandy - We left Chicago on June 23rd and arrived in Seattle on June 27th. We drove through the Badlands National Park, Big Horn Mountains, and Yellowstone National Park. We saw the Corn Palace (tourist trap), Wall Drug (yup, another tourist trap), and the Columbia River (definitely worth the pull-off). And we didn't get tired of each other!


Alaska Trip with the Pisters - After we spent a few days in Seattle, Mandy, her family, and I headed up to Alaska. The trip up deserves its own story and the weeks in Alaska are almost indescribable. I've tried to write about it a few times, but it's hard for me. There just are not enough superlatives and it's hard to say anything except that it's my favorite place EVER. And it was with some of my favorite PEOPLE ever. :-)

Home to Hurricane - After flying back to Chicago, I basically unpacked, did laundry, and re-packed. Then I headed home to Hurricane for Brooke's wedding.

Brooke's Wedding - Gorgeous. And she looked so happy. I now understand what it means to say she glowed. And it was great to see some high school buddies and spend time checking up. Although, I must say, every conversation I have with people from home has at least a five minute conversation about who is marrying who. It's crazy.

What I'm currently doing:

I'm chilling out at home, waiting for our family vacation, which we leave for on Sunday. I've updated my podcasts, downloading NPR segments and National Geographic episodes. I'm currently listening to Frommer's Four Essential Pieces of Travel Advice. It's good to have something on in the background - especially educational stuff. I've also downloaded a new webbrowser called Slimbrowser (http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/dlpage.php). This allows me to put a few websites into a group and open them all at once. This helps me keep updated on news sites that I like because I don't get distracted. So I get my NPR, CNN, and National Geographic news fixes each morning. I'm also visiting friends from childhood - Charlotte, Heather, and I put together Brooke's wedding album for her on Tuesday, yesterday I spent time with Mark, Carla, and Tyler (family friends from waaaaaay back), and tonight I'm going to dinner with Brooke's parents and, potentially, Charlotte. Brooke is in Ireland for her honeymoon or I'm sure that I'd spend time with her too!

What's in my PDA:

From August 6- August 13 I will be cruising the Carribbean with my family: Dad, Bridget, Ramey, and Heath. We'll be stopping in Grand Cayman, where we will snorkel with stingrays and see a turtle farm - we may even be going to Hell! Then it's on to kayaking in Cozumel and snorkeling a coral reef in Belize. And lastly, we'll tour some Mayan ruins in Costa Maya. Hopefully, I will not return lobsterfied.

Then I drive home to Chicago for a Dixie Chicks concert with Ashley on the 15th and, again, enough time to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack before heading to...

PARIS! From August 17th (Happy Birthday Ramey!) to August 23rd, I will be exploring the City of Lights. I have no idea what I'll end up doing, but I've enjoyed looking through one of my favorite tour guides (Eyewitness Top Ten Travel Guides) for the city and imagining all I could do. I'm definitely hoping for an evening at Moulin Rouge and, of course, a view from the Eiffel Tower. Other than that - so many options, only five days! Guess I'll have to go back...

Then, I'm finally in Chicago! :-P

*Whew!*

What a great way to end a year off. :-)

Um, yeah, about that...

About ALL of that which has happened since leaving Guatemala...a week after getting there.

Really, there hasn't been much to update, but I've realized that some people who may wonder where I am may believe me still to be in Guatemala. Unfortunately, they'd be wrong.

Hopefully, I'll get back into updating the blog, but for now, it's not exactly thrilling since all I do is read, eat, sleep, clean, and, um, that's it. I think. I shop. Sometimes. And see movies.

Can you tell I'm a bit bored?

However, I will be leaving for Washington state/Alaska with Mandy in a couple of weeks. Until then, I gots nothing.

Lace

Hola! Como estas? Yo estoy bien...and I hope you are all well too! (This keyboard is confusing me...I never thought about a keyboard en espanol being different!)

This is the first chance that I've had to get to a computer, so I hope none of you have packed up to come down here yet. My first few days have been a bit crazy - but I'm thinking it should calm down a bit...or maybe not!

Antigua is gorgeous. It reminds me a lot of West Virginia - only less developed and much warmer! It is surrounded by hills - well, volcanoes if you want to get technical, but only one is currently active. Hiking the volcanoes is an activity offered by many of the travel agents in the city; I'm hoping that once I've walked around the town for a few days, I'll feel up to looking into it...

The city is 10 blocks by 10 blocks; a perfect square centered around el parque central. I live about 8 blocks from the school - about a 15 minute walk. On my way, I pass a magnificent church and quite a few ruins from the earthquake that brought Antigua down from its capital status in 1776. There are flowers everywhere and the weather is gorgeous. At school, we sit in a courtyard, in small structures like individual picnic shelters. We get the breeze, but the sun is kept off of our shoulders and necks. It can be a bit distracting with the noises of the birds, etc, but I don't allow myself to become too distracted...I can be quite focused, when I want to be! :-P

I've already learned a lot of Spanish - I'm able to communicate un poco with the mother of mi familia who speaks no English. My room isn't spacious nor lavish, but it is clean and the people are friendly. The father speaks English - he is a doctor - but he agreed not to speak it with me unless I really needed him to...if the idea just wasn't coming across, you know? There are also three children, but they're only slightly younger than me, so they're not around much.

Let's see - a brief recap of my few days here:

Sunday - All of my flights were on time!! I arrived in Guatemala City around 12:30, Chicago time, 11:30 Guatemala time. I waited for my bag, then exited and found the person holding my name (I've always wanted that!!) The guy who had sat on the plane next to me from Houston to Guatemala City waved at me outside so, thinking we were friends, the driver offered him a ride to Antigua as well. Just as well, since he spoke a little Spanish, so I felt somewhat more comfortable.

Once in Antigua, I met my family and took a nap. After waking to dinner (a dinner of Chinese food, lol), they walked me to the school so I would feel comfortable getting there the next morning. We then walked to the parque centrale and back home, so I saw some of the city - and I liked what I saw!!

The next day, I had my first lesson en espanol. A bit overwhelming, but mi maestra, Rosie, is really nice and speaks a little bit of English, so I caught on. She said I learned quickly, which made me feel a bit better for all the times I had to say ¨lo siento¨ or ¨no lo se.¨ That's I'm sorry and I don't know, respectively. I learned some phrases, vocabulario, pronombres personales (I, you, he/she, we, and they), colores, days de la semana, and months of the year. I also began conjugating verbs...my favorite part of a language...or not. :-P

That afternoon, after eating lunch with the mother in my family, I joined a tour offered by the school. It was a walking tour of Antigua and it was me, a girl I had met from Germany, ella llama Alex, and a guy from the States, el llamo Daniel. They're extremely cool and we wound up hanging out around the park until it was time for me to leave and go back to mi casa. I then ate dinner, did mi tarea (they give us homework!), and went to be around 8 o'clock. I'm such a loser...

This morning, I went to class again (I'm taking 5 hours a day - from 8 to 1) and learned the alphabet, more verbs, and mas vocabulario. I ate lunch with the family, minus their son, and then came here to write to y'all. After this, I'm going to search the mercados for a Spanish dictionary - I thought la escuela would provide books, but they only provided a small study booklet. So, a dictionary will be necisito...let the fun of finding and paying for one en espanol begin!

After that, I may do my homework in the parque. Or simply wander around more...I can always save the homework for later, when it's too dark to walk around by myself. I should have brought my guidebook with me - but I left it at mi casa. Oh well.

Thanks for dealing with the sporadic Spanish - we're really not supposed to speak English, although I don't know nearly enough Spanish to get away with that. So this was my comprimise. :-)

I love you all and hope you're well.

Yo estoy enamorado (with) Guatemala!!

Lacey