Europe is cold.
That shouldn't come as news to anybody. Europe is in the northern hemisphere and contains such remarkable countries as Great Britain a.k.a. We-Get-Sun-A-Few-Weeks-A-Year-Land (note: I confirmed this with a British person at my hostel, although he honestly admitted he didn't mind the lack of sun. Not sure whether to chalk this one up to the British stiff upper lip mentality or not). Having been reading about portents of SNOW and MORE SNOW for the U.S. this past week, I thought I'd post an update about a place that actually got snow: Berlin.
I'm currently holed up in a lovely little hostel in Berlin as I search for an apartment/job/purpose in life. The first few days of my stay proved almost pastoral: the world warmed up, the sun came out, the air smelled fresh and clean. The city seemed ready for spring. Then, two days ago, the weather switched course very abruptly. In the middle of the night, snow began to fall, and when I woke up, the world had been covered in white and the balmy March temperatures had plunged to a cozy -6 C (that's 21 F for people who haven't lived abroad).
I have to hand it to German snow. I wasn't living in a blizzard here; the snow honestly looked like something out of a movie, it fell in such a measured and delicate way. But on the other hand, the snow did not stop. It kept snowing beautifully for hours, for the entire day, well into the next morning, well into that day. As I write, it seems to have taken a slight break, and a friend of mine says that the weather forecast says the snow is done. But the snow still managed to coat the streets and cars and buildings with a thick layer of white, thick enough that the government summoned the adorably tiny snow plows to clear the city streets.
So, yeah, sorry to the East Coast USA friends who didn't get snow. Europe apparently stole it from you although if you really want it, maybe we can arrange some kind of trade agreement. In the mean time, I'll be digging out my gloves to build tiny snow-people and drawing smiley faces on windshields. Tschüss!
Monday, March 11, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
New Year's Resolutions
This isn't a post about New Year's resolutions; those are boring as shit. Everyone comes up with the same two or three goals: lose weight (or the less overt "eat healthier"), quit smoking (or "lose weight" if you aren't a smoker), get a job (a.k.a. "save money" if you're one of the lucky S.O.B.s that has a job already) and so on.
No, I am writing this to ask if anyone has genuinely stuck to their resolutions. Ever. Because I absolutely failed at mine this year.
So I guess this is a post about my resolutions after all, but mine are a little more unorthodox, because my goals have been a bit more specific. I do need to lose weight and eat healthier, but until I can afford a gym membership and/or food, that one is getting shelved. I do need a job -- desperately so -- but that's something I'm constantly working at. It's a "forever" resolution. I only smoke when I drink, so I quit smoking when I'm sober: resolution accomplished!
With that in mine, here were my real goals, and how I failed them:
1. Draw at least one thing a day. Even if it was something stupid and small, like a cartoon muffin trying to eat Lincoln's head on a fiver, I tried to stick responsibility to myself with this one. My life as an artist has been suffering just a bit because I haven't got in as much practice as I would have liked, and this resolution was supposed to inspire me to practice. Sadly, I didn't even start attempting to keep it until like a week after 2013 started, so I broke it immediately due to a combination of laziness and forgetfulness.
2. Write as least one thing a day. See above resolution; I'm really not as organized or determined as I like to think I am.
3. Wear more makeup. I own far too much makeup for someone who wears it roughly twice a year. I love the expensive shit, unfortunately, and tend to accumulate it at the rate I accumulate pens (I will never, ever run out of pens -- I simply own far too many for this to ever happen). And it's not like I don't enjoy wearing it: I love playing with colors and styles. But again, I get lazy. I look just fine going out the door not wearing makeup, so why should I bother waking up an hour early to put on a far (or style my hair, even)? Yeah, this resolution died quickly.
4. Stop buying so many notebooks and pens. Hahahahahahahaha.
I admit I don't think New Year's resolutions are for chumps. If setting a goal helps give you something real to work towards, good job! But even with how specific I was in my resolutions (at least the first two), I failed before the year practically began. Do I feel bad about that? No, not really. I'm better with deadlines than with goals, to be honest: if I'd promised myself something along the lines of "by this Sunday you will have drawn seven things" that might have gotten more results. For now, I'll just stick with what I've achieved and keep trying to do better in general. Yes, it's lazier, and yes, it's easier, but I'm so done with setting goals right now. And hey, I can try again next year. No promises.
No, I am writing this to ask if anyone has genuinely stuck to their resolutions. Ever. Because I absolutely failed at mine this year.
So I guess this is a post about my resolutions after all, but mine are a little more unorthodox, because my goals have been a bit more specific. I do need to lose weight and eat healthier, but until I can afford a gym membership and/or food, that one is getting shelved. I do need a job -- desperately so -- but that's something I'm constantly working at. It's a "forever" resolution. I only smoke when I drink, so I quit smoking when I'm sober: resolution accomplished!
With that in mine, here were my real goals, and how I failed them:
1. Draw at least one thing a day. Even if it was something stupid and small, like a cartoon muffin trying to eat Lincoln's head on a fiver, I tried to stick responsibility to myself with this one. My life as an artist has been suffering just a bit because I haven't got in as much practice as I would have liked, and this resolution was supposed to inspire me to practice. Sadly, I didn't even start attempting to keep it until like a week after 2013 started, so I broke it immediately due to a combination of laziness and forgetfulness.
2. Write as least one thing a day. See above resolution; I'm really not as organized or determined as I like to think I am.
3. Wear more makeup. I own far too much makeup for someone who wears it roughly twice a year. I love the expensive shit, unfortunately, and tend to accumulate it at the rate I accumulate pens (I will never, ever run out of pens -- I simply own far too many for this to ever happen). And it's not like I don't enjoy wearing it: I love playing with colors and styles. But again, I get lazy. I look just fine going out the door not wearing makeup, so why should I bother waking up an hour early to put on a far (or style my hair, even)? Yeah, this resolution died quickly.
4. Stop buying so many notebooks and pens. Hahahahahahahaha.
I admit I don't think New Year's resolutions are for chumps. If setting a goal helps give you something real to work towards, good job! But even with how specific I was in my resolutions (at least the first two), I failed before the year practically began. Do I feel bad about that? No, not really. I'm better with deadlines than with goals, to be honest: if I'd promised myself something along the lines of "by this Sunday you will have drawn seven things" that might have gotten more results. For now, I'll just stick with what I've achieved and keep trying to do better in general. Yes, it's lazier, and yes, it's easier, but I'm so done with setting goals right now. And hey, I can try again next year. No promises.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Bye Bye Budapest
I am heading home for a month of much needed vacation, and I am writing this from Liszt Ferenc Airport, Budapest's main hub. Even though I will hopefully be back in January, there is a certain finality to leaving a place at the end of the year. Or perhaps that's just the way it feels to me. Maybe it's an effect of the heavy fog that's currently surrounding the airport: a place of departure enveloped by a cloud so thick that anything could potentially hidden on the inside. Regardless, here is a list of a few things I will miss about Budapest.
The food and drink: while there's hardly any fish on the menu in Hungary, there are plenty of delicious meat and vegetable dishes to make up for it. Paprikás, which literally means "pepper" in Hungarian, can be found in most every dish. Other popular seasonings? Sour cream, parsley, and garlic. The food is almost uniformly terrible for you, and that's what makes it so delicious. There are healthy options (my second to last night there, I ate at a vegan restaurant that you would never have suspected of veganism) but if you aren't eating something delightfully meaty or sweet, you aren't doing Budapest right.
The people: when I lived in Japan, I found that people usually avoided me because I was obviously foreign. Not so in Hungary. As odd as it sounds, having random people come up to you on the street to ask for directions or try to hand you a flier or, in one memorable case, complain about a man who had started across the road while the traffic light was still red was actually quite fun. It felt good to be a part of something larger than myself, even though I spoke so little Hungarian.
The public transit: oh my lord, is getting around the city ever easy. I sprung for a monthly pass (9800 forints, around 45 American dollars) each month, and that covered me for every form of transport within city limits, save for the antiquated funicular that goes from Clark Adam square to the top of Castle Hill. I could even ride a ferry down and around the Danube if I felt like waiting. Even with the ongoing construction of the fourth Metro line and the occasional tearing up and rebuilding of the tram tracks, I never felt like I had to struggle to reach a destination.
The pleasant surprises: I got lost in Pest one day and came across a wonderful little square (Egytem square, I learned) that boasted some cute cafes, a large memorial to soldiers who fought and died in World War I, and a stone fountain in the shape of a giant book. I wandered down Andrassy boulevard one night and came across the Opera house, which was broadcasting a new performance on a giant TV screen set up outside; hundreds of onlookers had filled the chairs set up in the street. I climbed out of the M1 Vörösmarty square station a week ago and found myself in the middle of a Christmas market. Not being able to speak a language can be frustrating at times, but making discoveries like the ones above is part of why I love going to foreign countries so much. If you ever get a chance to go to Budapest, explore! Maybe you'll find something I didn't.
So with all that said and done, I'm still looking forward to seeing my family and friends in the United States. But as excited as I am to be coming home, I'll be looking forward to returning to all of these elements when I fly back in 2013.
The food and drink: while there's hardly any fish on the menu in Hungary, there are plenty of delicious meat and vegetable dishes to make up for it. Paprikás, which literally means "pepper" in Hungarian, can be found in most every dish. Other popular seasonings? Sour cream, parsley, and garlic. The food is almost uniformly terrible for you, and that's what makes it so delicious. There are healthy options (my second to last night there, I ate at a vegan restaurant that you would never have suspected of veganism) but if you aren't eating something delightfully meaty or sweet, you aren't doing Budapest right.
The people: when I lived in Japan, I found that people usually avoided me because I was obviously foreign. Not so in Hungary. As odd as it sounds, having random people come up to you on the street to ask for directions or try to hand you a flier or, in one memorable case, complain about a man who had started across the road while the traffic light was still red was actually quite fun. It felt good to be a part of something larger than myself, even though I spoke so little Hungarian.
The public transit: oh my lord, is getting around the city ever easy. I sprung for a monthly pass (9800 forints, around 45 American dollars) each month, and that covered me for every form of transport within city limits, save for the antiquated funicular that goes from Clark Adam square to the top of Castle Hill. I could even ride a ferry down and around the Danube if I felt like waiting. Even with the ongoing construction of the fourth Metro line and the occasional tearing up and rebuilding of the tram tracks, I never felt like I had to struggle to reach a destination.
The pleasant surprises: I got lost in Pest one day and came across a wonderful little square (Egytem square, I learned) that boasted some cute cafes, a large memorial to soldiers who fought and died in World War I, and a stone fountain in the shape of a giant book. I wandered down Andrassy boulevard one night and came across the Opera house, which was broadcasting a new performance on a giant TV screen set up outside; hundreds of onlookers had filled the chairs set up in the street. I climbed out of the M1 Vörösmarty square station a week ago and found myself in the middle of a Christmas market. Not being able to speak a language can be frustrating at times, but making discoveries like the ones above is part of why I love going to foreign countries so much. If you ever get a chance to go to Budapest, explore! Maybe you'll find something I didn't.
So with all that said and done, I'm still looking forward to seeing my family and friends in the United States. But as excited as I am to be coming home, I'll be looking forward to returning to all of these elements when I fly back in 2013.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Third Time's The Charm
So, here is my third attempt to start a blog. From my point of view especially, it's easy to see how the first two attempts failed; long story short, my muse was emotionally unavailable. I was determined not to turn this space into a Livejournal-style rant box where each and every post consisted of me complaining how difficult my current situation was, and as a result, I decided not to post at all.
Since I've scrambled back from that brink, I feel like now is the apt time to give this another go. At the moment, I am no longer besieged by a terrible job (I'm not besieged by any job, actually, but I'm looking to change that) and am slowly warming back up to doing art more and more regularly. While I doubt this is going to shift into an art-centric blog, I'll post a few of the things I make, just for fun.
What am I going to post here instead of rants? Stories about travel, drawing, writing, cooking, languages, history, and cartoons, just to list a few possible topics. I'm making it my personal goal to write about something at least once a week. I hope this third venture into writing will end up more successful than my last two. Here goes nothing.
A short note about the title: I am infamous in my family for not going anywhere (be it China or the restaurant down the street) without a notebook and pencil for drawing and writing purposes. When I'm looking to buy a new bag, my first litmus test is whether or not I can fit these items in, and everything else comes second to that result.
A short note about the title: I am infamous in my family for not going anywhere (be it China or the restaurant down the street) without a notebook and pencil for drawing and writing purposes. When I'm looking to buy a new bag, my first litmus test is whether or not I can fit these items in, and everything else comes second to that result.
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