June 27, 2009

nomad

And we're off!

Almost...

I'm sitting here at PDX waiting to board my flight home. Indy and Brig just dropped me off (with my surprisingly compact two suitcases - how's that for two weeks worth of international travel) and after being met with a much longer line than I expected I am now at gate C14 enjoying the free wi-fi. 

It's an almost unsettling sensation I have right now. My last night at work went off with no upsets (ok, yes, I dropped and broke my first plate on my last night... awesome) and last night was a dream come true when Brig and I saw RENT at The Keller Auditorium with original cast members Anthony Rapp (who I've met twice) and Adam Pascal. It was nothing short of perfection. To see and hear them perform these songs that are so near to my heart was indescribable. But this morning when I woke up it hit me just how fast these next few weeks will come and go and that, I must say, is enough to make my heart break.

I know everything to come is for the best and will be wonderful, but in all honesty I am nowhere near ready to leave my life here in Portland. I came here with the intention of staying one year before going back to grad school. But what I could not have foreseen was falling in love - with the city, with Jared, with my friends, with my life here. 

For the past four years my life has been come-and-go. Never living in one place longer than 8 months. 

Home, school, home, London, school, home.

I got used to the nomadic lifestyle. And now as I close in on 10 months here, it saddens me to think about packing it up and leaving. There are good people here who I will miss having in my daily life. 

Still, it's the ebb and flow of things that keep me on my toes and there is a thrill of not knowing where or what I'll do next. I'm twenty-two and there is still an entire lifetime waiting for me beyond Portland city limits. So now it's off to London... Dublin... Portland... Pepperdine... 

June 15, 2009

assorted idiots











dean, lambnuts (greg) and jared looking through a photo album... jared and me acting like dorks... shamu, me, mike, dean and nuts acting like bigger dorks... me making mike cry... jared and me dancing in the living room


June 10, 2009

and so it goes...











































The Indianians playing poker... Dean and Shamu (Justin)... Mike and Brig having a dance-off

June 2, 2009

something for everyone

"My hands tend to be full enough dealing with people who hate me for who I am. Concentrate too hard on the millions who hate you for what you are and you're likely to turn into one of those unkempt sloppy dressers who sag beneath the weight of the two hundred political buttons they wear pinned to their coats and knapsacks. I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but still i keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out."
- David Sedaris -

I just wanted to post this quote because I think it's very, very true. Just a little reminder that it is not OUR place to judge ANYONE. 

We are commanded to LOVE.

Not BECAUSE of differences. 
Not IN SPITE of differences. 
But REGARDLESS of differences.

One of my favorite musicals is RENT. In it there is a lyric:

"Let he among us without sin be the first to condemn."


I know that I have my beliefs and I never want to be one of those people who forces theirs on others just as I wouldn't want someone to push 
theirs on me. However, in an effort to make more sense of myself I 
wanted to put this out there. I believe in equal rights for EVERYONE, 
regardless of color, gender, sexuality, whathaveyou.

"If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion that love 
actually IS all around."