Thursday, December 8, 2011

Trying To Be A Better Person, Part 1

Since I've moved out of my mother's apartment, she is constantly bitching about not seeing me enough.  Fair enough but working full time and living an hour away has made me reluctant to haul ass to see her and the cats on a regular basis.  It is a shitty situation but it is what it is.

Then, I read this post on Design*Sponge and it gave me pause.  I am currently working for a Big Department Store and I see people spending huge amounts of money on clothes, scarves, bags, shoes, nose hair trimmers, blah blah blah....and I really wonder how much thought goes into these gifts.  I pride myself on giving gifts that reflect the wishes of the person and I know that my mom wouldn't give a crap about any thing I could buy for her.  What she really wants is my time.

With that in mind, I came up with this: once a month, I will invite my mom to my apartment for dinner.  I will cook something delicious and we will spend a few hours together enjoying the food and each other's company.  Or we'll get into some spectacular fights and I'll get to say "LEAVE MY HOME NOW!" once a month.  Either way, it'll be an adventure.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

4 Reasons...

...why I love my bike.

1.
It was a hand-me-down.
It was passed on to me from my dear friend Maria. She loved the bike but had to sell it and now I have it. Very good bike karma.

2.
I'm in control.
Being on the bus, especially the 29 Sunset, is an extremely taxing experience for me. When I take the bus to work, the only thing I have control over is what time I leave my house. After that point, I am left to the mercy of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority. On my bike, I am the master of my own destiny. I can pretend I'm in the Tour de France or I can have a slow leisurely ride, it's completely up to me.

3.
Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy.
I rode my bike to work on Monday and I felt amazing throughout my shift. I was smiling and working hard and the time absolutely flew by and I was so happy to get back on my bike to ride home. Today I rode up a hill without stoping and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face (until I hit the terrifying portion of Mission Street).

4.
The chit chat.
I love shooting the breeze with strangers and being on a bike, riding at a slow pace, is perfect for that. I chat to other bicyclists, people on the street, people in cars, myself...the list goes on and on. I love it, it makes me feel like I'm part of a community.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

¡Bienvenida!

Welcome to my new blog, The Wandering Fox.

Nicole in Seoul was specifically about my time in Seoul, with a few entries written in other countries. This is going to be much more general, about my life, goals, travels, and struggles to find my island of sanity in this world full of chaos. Or something.

Some exposition: I am spending my summer in San Francisco. Now, as a lot of people know, summer in San Francisco is really "summer" in San Francisco. While it is a welcome change from the horrible oppressive humidity of Seoul in the summer, it's a bit of a downer to wear corduroy pants in late May. There are pockets of good weather and it makes me appreciate the sunshine that much more.

Two weeks ago, I got back from spending five weeks in Colombia. It was an amazing trip and I'll be writing about in future entries. For now, I'll just say that it made a lot of things click in my head and balanced the shit out of my chakras.

I'm heading back down there in September to do this. I'm excited and terrified and I cannot wait. After...well, who knows? Hopefully I'll find a job in either Bogotá or Medellin or maybe even somewhere in Chile or Argentina. There's a great big continent with my name on it.