A good friend and mentor of mine once told me that everyone has a story worth telling. Granted, this friend happens to be an archivist by trade, but after sitting in her office for two years, listening to the fascinating stories of people she had met (and meeting some of them myself), I started to see her point. Certainly, not everyone is a talented story teller, and I'll be the first to admit that I am not a writer, but it seems to be in our very nature to want to share our stories. If not for others, there's something therapeutic about doing it, and I'll admit I've always enjoyed going back and rereading my old blogs and journal entries. There's something satisfying about returning to recorded thoughts with a knowing perspective.
All that said, I'm starting a blog again. I doubt it'll be a regular kind of thing; I really actually hate journaling. Sometimes you just need a place to blog for when you have the itch to share something. I thought I'd make this first entry a beginning of a series of blogs that will reflect (Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me?) on the past year.
So, let's rewind to one year ago. Summer 2009.
I had just graduated with my BA in English from ASU. My grandparents on both sides came down for the occasion (with the exception of my grandma on my mom's side); in fact, the date of my graduation happened to be my grandma's 82nd birthday. Fun fact about my graduation: I was the first person in the graduation procession and the first one to walk the stage. The day was truly one to remember. My grandma wasn't doing so well, and it was truly amazing that she was able to be there. In fact, I was told after the ceremony that my grandma had said that being there was a dream come true for her.
After I graduated, I continued working on my school's production of "Fiddler on the Roof." I was on the lighting crew. After that ended, I made a trip to El Paso to see Albert and Joel. I got to spend a week with them. We went to our first casino, ate lots of Mexican food, watched tons of movies (to make up for my lack of movie-watching), saw the season finale of "American Idol," had our first margaritas together, and did way too much shopping (I got to stock up on my favorite discontinued Bath and Body Works scent--Sheer Freesia). (Oh, and leave Joel's hoodie in a dressing room.) (Let's not forget all the cats I got to pet.)
After a week in El Paso, I came back home with the intent of getting a summer job and mentally preparing myself for graduate school. In all honesty, neither of these things happened. For the first summer in four years, I was unemployed and couldn't seem to find a job. The thought of starting graduate school in the fall freaked me out. I didn't think I was ready for it, but instead of being productive about it by getting started on assigned readings, I allowed my fears to keep me paralyzed all summer.
While Summer 2009 was quite a disappointment in those aspects, I ended up finding an amazing support system from a group of people I met online. In June, I was added in a chat with people who called themselves the "Classy Ladies." I started spending more time on Skype talking to these friends from all over the U.S. who were going through similar things or who were going through very different things. I made lots of YouTube videos and really got involved in the online Nerdfighter community. By the end of the summer, I got to meet up with three of my "internet" friends (Leslie, MK, and Carmen), and in September, I got to hang out with even more of them at my first convention, Dragon Con.
This time last year, I had no idea that these people would end up being some of my best friends. Not only did they make last summer much more enjoyable, they got me through my first year of graduate school. And even though I wasted a lot of the summer worrying about the fall and even though I technically missed out on going to Portland and hanging out with many of these people, I don't know what I would have done without these close friendships that began last summer.
I feel like this first post has rambled on long enough. So, I'll continue this series next time with Fall 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment