Hi everyone,
I started this entry perched on the top level of a Megabus returning to New York from Philadelphia, where I spent less than 24 hours this weekend (a good whirlwind trip). For those of you who aren't familiar with their $12 fares and unpredictable routes, Megabus is a cheap, mostly reliable way to travel between cities in the Northeast. My favorite feature, other than the free wi-fi, is the double decker buses. So, I sat up there, and started to write this, before I fell asleep and almost dropped my iPad.
So, as I mentioned before, I've been reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, which my mother recommended to me. It's written by a woman who lives in New York with her husband and two young daughters, who, though her life is comfortable and relatively charmed, decided to spend a year trying to become happier through truths and resolutions she set for herself at the beginning. What sets this apart from Eat, Pray, Love and other, more superficial entries in the genre is the fact that Gretchen goes about her year in a smart, organized, and academically informed way. A former clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, she feels comfortable with lots of lists, research, and rational pursuits, and that really hit home for me - especially with all the resolutions I've made for myself in the past month.
I finished the book on Saturday, while my friend got her hair cut at a Philadelphia salon, and reading 200 pages of it in one sitting made things all the more clear. If I wanted to be successful in the goals I've set for myself, I need to set some guidelines and introduce real structure. Keeping the resolutions vaguely in mind throughout the days and weeks works for some people, but I'm someone who responds really well to boundaries. I was so busy being pleased with myself for making the resolutions in the first place that I didn't realize I was swimming in some ambiguity as far as how the hell I was going to get this stuff done. So, for some of the bigger and more isolated resolutions I've made, I'm going to attempt to devote one month to each of them, as Gretchen does in the book.
So, in February, which conveniently starts tomorrow, I am going to attempt something kind of huge and crazy. I'm going to write a novel. In one month. Typically, November is National Novel Writing Month, where people write a novel (about 50,000 words - the length of The Great Gatsby or The Catcher in the Rye) in one month - about 750 words, or 7 pages, each day. It's supposed to be a high velocity, low stress approach - not a ton of editing, just lots of writing each day for a month. One of my resolutions is to write every day, which this will certainly help me do, but the thought of finishing something this big (even if it's totally horrible) would be such a great way to knock that one out of the park. So, we'll see how I do!
As a fringe benefit, I'm trying to save lots of money for my Paris trip, so hopefully this new undertaking will keep me in the apartment working, instead of out doing the fun and expensive stuff.
More updates soon!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Seduction: Pros & Cons
My life is being overrun with seduction lately. No, I haven't taken up residence on the cover of a Harlequin romance novel, and my schedule is not full of candlelit encounters in romantic restaurants. For better or worse.
The truth is, I'm acting as lead publicist for my first book, which comes out in June. This book is all about seduction, specifically how it is the driving force in French life. It's fascinating stuff, very well written, and will ultimately be, I hope, a lot of fun to work on.
As a result, I've been writing a lot of supporting material for the book, discussing its themes and implications. The French concept of seduction is very different from that of Americans. For us, it's mostly the Puritanical (so I'm told) delay and denial of pleasure, to the point where seduction is less of an art and more of a means to an end. In France, seduction is as ubiquitous in politics as it is in fashion and food. The allure and game present in seduction are everywhere, not just in places that lend themselves to the pleasurable. Just another example of how the French seem to have it all figured out.
In the name of additional research, I've been rereading a book given to me as a joke (supposedly): The Art of Seduction. It's by the same person who wrote The 48 Laws of Power, or something like that. He seems to get the "seduction as a way to get what you want" concept in more than just a sexual way, so I'm thinking it may turn into some worthwhile extra reading.
On a different note, one of my multitude of New Year's resolutions was to write something every day, no matter what it is, even if just for 5 minutes. This morning, while reading the NYTimes in bed (for which the iPad is the best innovation ever), I got some help with that goal. There was an article in the Style section (the first one I read. I know, I'm superficial) on Internet solutions for sticking with resolutions. For writers, they suggested a site called 750words.com. The concept is simple, but I'm really liking the way they approach it. Who knows, maybe it will help me on my way. And I highly recommend you read the article. It's got suggestions for basically any resolution you could have made.
Now, it's back to reading The Happiness Project. Today is all about bettering myself, apparently.
The truth is, I'm acting as lead publicist for my first book, which comes out in June. This book is all about seduction, specifically how it is the driving force in French life. It's fascinating stuff, very well written, and will ultimately be, I hope, a lot of fun to work on.
As a result, I've been writing a lot of supporting material for the book, discussing its themes and implications. The French concept of seduction is very different from that of Americans. For us, it's mostly the Puritanical (so I'm told) delay and denial of pleasure, to the point where seduction is less of an art and more of a means to an end. In France, seduction is as ubiquitous in politics as it is in fashion and food. The allure and game present in seduction are everywhere, not just in places that lend themselves to the pleasurable. Just another example of how the French seem to have it all figured out.
In the name of additional research, I've been rereading a book given to me as a joke (supposedly): The Art of Seduction. It's by the same person who wrote The 48 Laws of Power, or something like that. He seems to get the "seduction as a way to get what you want" concept in more than just a sexual way, so I'm thinking it may turn into some worthwhile extra reading.
On a different note, one of my multitude of New Year's resolutions was to write something every day, no matter what it is, even if just for 5 minutes. This morning, while reading the NYTimes in bed (for which the iPad is the best innovation ever), I got some help with that goal. There was an article in the Style section (the first one I read. I know, I'm superficial) on Internet solutions for sticking with resolutions. For writers, they suggested a site called 750words.com. The concept is simple, but I'm really liking the way they approach it. Who knows, maybe it will help me on my way. And I highly recommend you read the article. It's got suggestions for basically any resolution you could have made.
Now, it's back to reading The Happiness Project. Today is all about bettering myself, apparently.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Nostalgia and Its Perils
So, for reasons including excitement for my return, the search for names of places to find again, and general madness, I spent a large amount of time yesterday going through all the emails and chats I had while living in Paris in the Spring of 2008. Aside from being a fantastic waste of time, it made me the most nostalgic I've been in recent memory.
I have a love/hate relationship with this feeling - mostly because it is such a combination of wistful happiness and sadness for me. I was such a different person in 2008, in ways that are both obvious and more subtly hidden upon reading all this correspondence. It was a time in which I had very few responsibilities, was able to pursue new adventures and experiences (mostly) as I wanted to. While I have a (bursting at the seams) journal I kept during my time there that I've since reread, I think there's something interesting to be seen in how we interact with others - how it's a reflection of who we are at that moment.
And who was I at that moment? Happier, more free to pursue my impulses, not consumed with the specifics of how to carve out life for myself post-graduation, surrounded by beauty in a place I love. Yes, all of these things, but also less informed about who I was, so often frustrated about the silliest problems, and without the knowledge that I have now. The past 2-3 years have been joyful, frustrating, and nothing if not eventful. My relationships have changed - the same ones chronicled in these emails. And some don't even really exist anymore. Some of it does make me miss the version of me that wrote these emails - she's just different enough from me now to feel like a separate person. I find it startling to think about.
Plus, all my Paris emails are labeled and filed together in the organizational wonderland that is Gmail, so it's all there, compact and staring at me - whereas ten or twenty years ago, that time in my life would be scattered in mismatched letters and postcards that could accidentally be thrown away. On a more cheerful note, all of this makes me more excited to go back and see how I respond to the same places, tastes, and language that were part of my life before.
Speaking of Paris and all things French, came across these ads today, and they're so perfect. Also, it is possible for Scarlett Johannsson to not look fantastic?
Makes me want red lipstick. And champagne, of course.
I have a love/hate relationship with this feeling - mostly because it is such a combination of wistful happiness and sadness for me. I was such a different person in 2008, in ways that are both obvious and more subtly hidden upon reading all this correspondence. It was a time in which I had very few responsibilities, was able to pursue new adventures and experiences (mostly) as I wanted to. While I have a (bursting at the seams) journal I kept during my time there that I've since reread, I think there's something interesting to be seen in how we interact with others - how it's a reflection of who we are at that moment.
And who was I at that moment? Happier, more free to pursue my impulses, not consumed with the specifics of how to carve out life for myself post-graduation, surrounded by beauty in a place I love. Yes, all of these things, but also less informed about who I was, so often frustrated about the silliest problems, and without the knowledge that I have now. The past 2-3 years have been joyful, frustrating, and nothing if not eventful. My relationships have changed - the same ones chronicled in these emails. And some don't even really exist anymore. Some of it does make me miss the version of me that wrote these emails - she's just different enough from me now to feel like a separate person. I find it startling to think about.
Plus, all my Paris emails are labeled and filed together in the organizational wonderland that is Gmail, so it's all there, compact and staring at me - whereas ten or twenty years ago, that time in my life would be scattered in mismatched letters and postcards that could accidentally be thrown away. On a more cheerful note, all of this makes me more excited to go back and see how I respond to the same places, tastes, and language that were part of my life before.
Speaking of Paris and all things French, came across these ads today, and they're so perfect. Also, it is possible for Scarlett Johannsson to not look fantastic?
Makes me want red lipstick. And champagne, of course.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Vinography
Yes, I'm pretty sure I just made up the title of this post, but it's kind of in the spirit of how I'm feeling today.
So, in case any of you were wondering, the wine dream (that is, me learning more about and possibly getting a job out of wine) has not died. In fact, it rose from the Veuve Clicquot-tinged ashes of the New Year stronger than ever.
At the height of my Christmas shopping frenzy, I went to the wine store at Eataly, which is excruciatingly close to where I work (this is both blessing and curse). I bought my Dad a bottle of Barolo, and, upon check-out, realized the girl working there was younger than me. This made me feel like an underachiever, so I proceeded to pick her brain about how she got the job, how she learned so much about wine, etc - just generally being nosy and probably a little obnoxious, as it was the middle of Christmas shopping season and the store was pretty packed. Despite all this, she was very nice and gave me lots of good advice - most notably buying a book called the Wine Bible. It's essentially a definitive, and also readable, guide to all the regions in the world that make wine, what their characteristics are, what good vintages have been, etc etc. Armed with that and my new Moleskine Wine Journal, I'm going to start recording and reading and generally becoming a more informed person. Knowledge is power, after all. Instead of buying the same Georges Duboeuf Vin Rouge du Table (I love it! It's so good and so cheap!), I'm going to tread into the unknown, and hopefully come out the other side wiser and more sophisticated. There will be disasters (there already have been - NEVER drink this), but I'm committed. It's a resolution! I am a slave to my resolutions - so what if they involve drinking wine on a regular basis?
In other news, I decided to try to ride the trend and paint my nails gray. The jury is still out on whether it looks cool or not.
More this (long) weekend!
So, in case any of you were wondering, the wine dream (that is, me learning more about and possibly getting a job out of wine) has not died. In fact, it rose from the Veuve Clicquot-tinged ashes of the New Year stronger than ever.
At the height of my Christmas shopping frenzy, I went to the wine store at Eataly, which is excruciatingly close to where I work (this is both blessing and curse). I bought my Dad a bottle of Barolo, and, upon check-out, realized the girl working there was younger than me. This made me feel like an underachiever, so I proceeded to pick her brain about how she got the job, how she learned so much about wine, etc - just generally being nosy and probably a little obnoxious, as it was the middle of Christmas shopping season and the store was pretty packed. Despite all this, she was very nice and gave me lots of good advice - most notably buying a book called the Wine Bible. It's essentially a definitive, and also readable, guide to all the regions in the world that make wine, what their characteristics are, what good vintages have been, etc etc. Armed with that and my new Moleskine Wine Journal, I'm going to start recording and reading and generally becoming a more informed person. Knowledge is power, after all. Instead of buying the same Georges Duboeuf Vin Rouge du Table (I love it! It's so good and so cheap!), I'm going to tread into the unknown, and hopefully come out the other side wiser and more sophisticated. There will be disasters (there already have been - NEVER drink this), but I'm committed. It's a resolution! I am a slave to my resolutions - so what if they involve drinking wine on a regular basis?
In other news, I decided to try to ride the trend and paint my nails gray. The jury is still out on whether it looks cool or not.
More this (long) weekend!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Auld Lang Syne
Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog! I've had a mostly good start to this year. In the past, I haven't taken resolutions very seriously, but this year I think I got a little overzealous with them. Not only did I actually sit in a coffee shop on the 2nd and painstakingly write them out, I made 8 resolutions. Self-improvement is all well and good, but I think we can all agree 8 resolutions are a lot to be accountable for.
In any case, I'll be honest and say that I was on a bit of a New Year's shame spiral, the one that comes at the end of holiday gluttony and debauchery, etc, when you finally look in the mirror and say, "Okay, I need to get it together." So, as I mentioned, I took this sentiment into overdrive, and essentially laid out a road map to becoming an impossibly better person. I'm hoping to take little bits out of each resolution with the intent that it makes me happier, more unburdened, and ready to face the challenges and joys this year is bound to bring. Mid-conversation with an old friend last night, while talking about these sorts of things, we came around to the idea of the fullness of time. As I understand it, this means that time is sort of like wine or diamonds or something really amazing that you have to wait for before it reaches its full potential. So, like goals and resolutions and grandiose ideas for bettering oneself, it's sometimes necessary to wait for life to catch up, to let things happen to you in order for you to become that person who can change and move towards being better. It's great to have goals and hold yourself accountable, but time is always something to factor in. Yes, this means not being too hard on yourself if you can't accomplish everything right away, but, more than that, it means being able to step back and let things happen, trusting yourself to make the right decisions and grow into someone you'll like looking at in the mirror. That's what I hope for myself this year.
Yes, that was all very Oprah of me, I'm sure. Give me a break, it's a new year!
One big piece of news, Paris tickets have been purchased! And they're non-refundable! Which means we're really going! Let the planning begin!
There are more updates to be shared, but I've sort of exhausted myself with this post, so more soon. x
In any case, I'll be honest and say that I was on a bit of a New Year's shame spiral, the one that comes at the end of holiday gluttony and debauchery, etc, when you finally look in the mirror and say, "Okay, I need to get it together." So, as I mentioned, I took this sentiment into overdrive, and essentially laid out a road map to becoming an impossibly better person. I'm hoping to take little bits out of each resolution with the intent that it makes me happier, more unburdened, and ready to face the challenges and joys this year is bound to bring. Mid-conversation with an old friend last night, while talking about these sorts of things, we came around to the idea of the fullness of time. As I understand it, this means that time is sort of like wine or diamonds or something really amazing that you have to wait for before it reaches its full potential. So, like goals and resolutions and grandiose ideas for bettering oneself, it's sometimes necessary to wait for life to catch up, to let things happen to you in order for you to become that person who can change and move towards being better. It's great to have goals and hold yourself accountable, but time is always something to factor in. Yes, this means not being too hard on yourself if you can't accomplish everything right away, but, more than that, it means being able to step back and let things happen, trusting yourself to make the right decisions and grow into someone you'll like looking at in the mirror. That's what I hope for myself this year.
Yes, that was all very Oprah of me, I'm sure. Give me a break, it's a new year!
One big piece of news, Paris tickets have been purchased! And they're non-refundable! Which means we're really going! Let the planning begin!
There are more updates to be shared, but I've sort of exhausted myself with this post, so more soon. x
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