Wrapping Up

So, my internship is wrapping up, which means this blog will be winding down. I'd like to end on a final and, in my opinion, rather inspiring note:

Lunch was probably the highlight of my day. I ate with with a very influential Washingtonian who didn't know what he wanted to do with his life until he was 34. He called himself at 34 a "kid"--just think of being a kid at 34, it seems so ancient! He fell into his current job through a serious of flukes of fate and accidents, and it's comforting to know that road can be curvy and rough, but if we do our best it will be rewarding in the end. Setbacks are more like adventures, and I really do think "bad luck" is just a way of redirecting us. If we make the best of every situation--how can we go wrong?

I came to Washington to try and figure out what I wanted to do. I started this blog to record some of those thoughts, and I rediscovered how much I love writing. Working in a high-stress environment, I've been very lucky to be around people who truly enjoy their job, realize it's not everything, and have had amazing, crazy, and inspirational career paths. You can have fun and do good things all in once--and end up 600 miles from where you started too.

I'll leave you with Conan, I'm not sure I could sum up what I've learned any better:

All I ask of you is one thing, and I'm asking this particularly of young people who watch: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism- for the record, it's my least favorite quality, it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm tell you, amazing things will happen.

The Ghost in the Room

Does the past ever really let us go? Can we ever truly escape what was once for what will be, or are the two so vividly intertwined we have no idea when we look at the whole grand picture?

Perhaps like first love, our first passion is our true one. Essentially taking a semester off school and starting this blog has reminded me how much I love writing. I'd gotten away from writing (and I don't mean essays and research papers) for so long. But without the daily reading and writing assignments in front of me, the constant stressful factors of my school jobs, I've been able to focus on what I really want: to question and to think--more accurately to stew. And the answer seems to be that I need to write.

Lady Gaga has a script tattoo on her arm, it's a quote from a Rainer Maria Rilke, a German philosopher: "In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer and ask yourself, must I write?"

Like most people, I would prefer not to fail. I see so clearly now the path that I could take that would lead to mediocre success. It would be challenging, but I like a challenging. And it would be moderately rewarding, and I like rewarding. But I don't want the challenge without the reward. I don't want to wake up in 10 years and realize that I am nowhere near doing anything I want. I am tired of saying and doing the "right" things because they will potentially get me to where I possibly want to go. I want to say and do what I want because it will take me to where I absolutely want to be, even though I don't know where that is yet. I know the standard business model--big risk, big gain. Big risk can also mean big failure, and that is the one that is super scary.

Okay so we can't truly leave our past behind us. We can cut the line of communication, or shove it in the closet. As much as we try to put away, it will always find a way to lurk quietly in the back of the room. I guess the best thing to do is to embrace it, learn from it, and bring it along for the ride. Big risk, big gain, eh?

Peace out,
Thing Two

Best Wednesday Ever

Eve Ensler's name will forever be tied to the word "vagina," and rightly so. But hearing her talk and speak at Busboys & Poets tonight, she was so much more than that. Awe-inspiring. This is a woman who started a revolution; a revolution to love your body, not hate it. Radical, isn't it.

More than that, this is a woman who carries through. She has raised over $70 million dollars to fight violence towards women and girls. Let me say that again, just so you get it: she has raised $70 million dollars. Not for a politician, not for a political cause. To fight against violence towards women and girls.

Eve read a couple of passages from her new book I am an Emotional Creature. I got chills up and down my spine, not just because she's fabulous, but because what she wrote, is so much of what seems wrong with the world but no one talks about it. No one cares, no one wants to bring it up, because it isn't glamorous.

So here's a thank you Eve. Thanks for making it okay to say the word "vagina." Thanks for bringing attention to girls as emotional creatures. Thanks for raising money. Thanks for being inspiring. Thanks for being strong. Thanks.

Thing One and Thing Two

Whats Your Flavor?

The best tip I think I ever got was to have an issue. Have one thing that you can know, you can talk about, that can be yours. It took me six months to figure out what mine was, it sort of came to me. I've always gotten revved up about it, but one day I realized that I really wanted to work to change the status quo in it. Today I was fortunate to meet an expert in my issue, and it was...inspiring (corny, I know).

And let me tell you, it was like a drink of cold water. I've felt bogged down in some of the mundane intern tasks I've had to do, but hearing this person talk about the path they've taken renewed my love of my issue and my reasons for being here. I'm not doing the most glamorous job, but I'm here to have access to the people who do. I'm here to get a foot in the door and be introduced to the circles where I eventually hope to run.

I'm a passionate person, and I've had a chance to actually work with my issue in my college back home and I loved it. It was frustrating and addicting, and I didn't want to stop. While I don't always consider myself a competitive person, my issue is a challenge because it's not necessarily the most popular.

But I can do it, I can make it. All I have to do is want it bad enough; because if I want it bad enough, I'll make it happen.