Saturday, May 15, 2010

Not enough give






I take myself for granted.

I lose my identity quite often.

Why can't my mind and soul align?

I didn't realize the rut I was putting myself in until I sat down and read something that I had written a few years back.


-I love the feeling when I'm eating a fork full of rice. Just plain white rice. Everything else pales in comparison when it comes to that texture.

-I love how my voice sounds ten times better when I'm singing in the bathroom. It brings joy to my mornings and in turn, makes a pretty good start to any day, don't you think?

-As much as I hate doing laundry, I love folding sheets fresh out of the dryer. Every single time I just want to wrap myself up like a mummy and never let the warm tingly feeling leave my body.

-I love cooking. Not because I'm a great chef, or because I need something to do. I love the aromas. With every chop there are separate and very unique smells. Onions, parsley, mint, strawberries, bell peppers, the list could go on. But honestly, how many of you can instantaneously conjure those specific scents in your mind as if those foods were right under your nose? People don't pay attention to things like that. I don't know what I would do without my sense of smell.

-I love the sound of clapping hands. They can make a tide turn in you, break on top of you and lift you up at the same time. It's one of the most noble things humans do with their hands. I mean, think about it. Humans make fists with their hands. They use them to fight, to steal things, to hurt each other. When people clap, it's one of the few times they stand together and applaud other people. I think clapping hands are there to keep things. They hold moments together, to remember.

-I love the look on my mom's face when I come home from the grocery store and surprise my her with Sunflowers and wish her a Happy Thursday! You can't fake that gleam that appears in her eyes. I'm glad people say I look just like her. I couldn't imagine a more perfect twin.

-I love the thickness of the air and the heavy smell that reveals itself a few hours before it's about to storm. I love everything about a storm. I love the chaos. The blinding, jagged bolts of lightening as they streak across the sky. The echo that you can feel in your chest and as it rises to your throat right as a thunder cloud bursts open directly above you. The cool touch of your hand feeling the rain droplets crash against the window pane. But all you feel is serenity.

-I love the way I see color in this world. Sure, I may not see green too well, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

-I love scars. This is a new love. I don't have great skin. That isn't news to anyone, but I've come to realize that I wouldn't be me without the skin I have. And people should never feel ashamed of scars. They are the stories that define you and how you got to where you are. Embrace them. Show them off. Tell the world your stories. I know I have plenty.

-I love wrinkles. Now, I know that I'm not old yet, but I can't wait till I'm 70 with a face full of lines. Those lines are your life. Just like your scars, embrace your wrinkles. They're your life lines.

I love the scent of a candle when blown out. It's absolutely intoxicating.

I love when that perfect song comes on the radio, but it's only perfect because you didn't even realize that you really wanted to hear it in the first place.

I love walking with the sun at my back. It provides a feeling of security and that all is right in the world. Who wouldn't want that?

I love when something I walk past every single day suddenly catches my attention and leaves me speechless, not only because of its obvious beauty, but that I had also never noticed until now. I really do wish I was artistic, so that I could capture these experiences, etch them into my memory and conjure them at a moments notice.

I love to watch people. It's especially beautiful and inspiring to watch a blind person make their way around. Wouldn't it be absolutely wonderful to be so in tune with your senses, that you could do without one?

I love to drink either a really cold or really hot beverage and be able to feel it going all the way down my throat. It makes me feel alive.

I love going to the movies and liking every single preview shown. It's only happened twice, but let me tell you... it's a really cool feeling.

I love to hold hands in the cold. I mean, really think about it. Picture your hands being so cold that they're practically numb. And then picture your hand enveloped in someone else's hand. The feeling is almost indescribable. It's almost like how you feel when you wake up on Christmas morning, but concentrated at first in your hand and it eventually travels up your arm until it warms your heart. If you've never held hands when it's cold outside, do it. Seriously.

I love walking downhill when it's windy outside. I feel so alive and as if I could be lifted and swept up off my feet. I feel on top of the world.

I don't necessarily enjoy the cold, but I have come to appreciate it. Or at least the immense power of it. Especially when I walk to class and by the time I get there, my fingers are so cold that it hurts to flex them.

Speaking of walking to class, I love my 20 minute walk to Anthropology, listening to my ipod and never once having to change the song. I can't help but walk into class with a smile on my face when that happens. Not to mention, I enjoy who I sit next to as well. :)

I love the butterflies I get in my stomach when I sit next to you, talk to you, think of you. But I'm not nervous - just content, and it makes me smile. I wish I was more of a morning person, so I could show it.

I love waking up in the morning and just knowing before I even get out of bed that it's going to be a good day. And I like not knowing why...

I love it when my body is sore or it aches and then having a feeling of accomplishment knowing that it was from honest to good hard work.

And I love when that perfect song comes on and I just can't control the itch in my hands and feet, because I just want to get up and shake it! Ha.

What can I say, I LOVE TO LOVE



It took me reading this to capture the feeling that I have been longing for lately, but what will happen in the morning? Sleep always seems to wipe the slate clean when all I really want is to bottle these emotions up and keep 'em in my pocket.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Renovation plans

Hokay, so Meg and I have decided that the apartment needs some life breathed into it. We have come up with a list of ideas to change the place up. When are we starting you ask? Tomorrow. Well, technically today seeing as how it's after midnight, but I'm sure you get the point. Here is a mini preview of upcoming changes:

1. push pin tree
2. furnish above the kitchen cabinets
3. book shelves and/or tea shelf
4. wood place settings for outside
5. plywood personalized walls
6. coat rack

Expect photo updates SOON.

....As in the next few days, that is.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

This Is Me



In light of recent happenings (ahem, the passing of health care reform, ahem), I'm tired of seeing people running and screaming out of left field when they've always shown to be on the opposite side of things. I wish people were more forthright and true to themselves. So this is an entry dedicated to myself, a celebration of who I am and what I stand for.

My name is Keri.
These are the things I believe in:

- myself
- love
- karma
- roots
- experience
- beauty
- desire
- knowledge
- The Phoenix Coyotes
- family
- friendship
- life
- failure
- stillness
- chaos
- nature
- art
- dreams
- children
- and that sometimes people can be kind

Things I don't believe in:

- hate
- oppression
- democracy (I don't think true democracy exists)
- god
- world peace
- dominance
- brushing your hair everyday
- violence
- suffering
- reality
- perfection
- technology
- debate without action
- WAR
- traditional marriage

Things I'm "for" or "against" that tend to get me in sticky conversations:

- gay marriage **for**
- strict separation of church and state (especially in schools) **for**
- re-writing the constitution **for**
- caps on immigration population allowances **against**
- building superhighways **against**
- death penalty **for**
- outsourcing *****against*****
- legalizing pot **for**
- legalizing other drugs **against**
- cloning **against**
- stem cell research **for**
- abortion/right to choose **for**
- national health care **for**
- abolishing guns **for**
- global warming prevention *****FOR****
- war in Iraq ***against***
- war in Afghanistan ***against***
- stationary troops in all previously occupied countries ***against***
- Guantanamo Bay ***against***
- torture *********against******** (I don't care if you caught them red-handed with a bomb strapped to their chests in the middle of a church. You don't torture)

I'm getting carried away now, but this is me. This is who I am. No curve balls. Nothing is sugar-coated with kind words. You know, I'm always worried about offending others, but this isn't about that. This is about the far too high number of people who hide these things in the closet.

Be proud of who you are. Always.



Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Today is going to be wonderful.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Long lost creativity


I don't know where my creativity went. Well, I guess it didn't really "go" anywhere. I just lost the drive to finish let alone start all or any of these great ideas I have. Hopefully during spring break I can find some will from deep inside and bring this side of me back to life. I really miss it.

Some of these ideas?

1. I want to make my own re-useable lunch bag complete with re-useable sandwich and snack bags.

2. Dye my own yarn with the crockpot.

3. Make a push pin tree on my wall.

4. Learn to make a t-shirt quilt.

5. Turn a book into a purse.

6. Get a flower pot and paint it, so it can be my kitchen utensil holder.

Ahhh! There' so much I want to do! But that's enough for now.




Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Can't get enough of this.

http://vimeo.com/173714

Friday, December 4, 2009

The Life of a Tree

B. Bailey, this one is for you.

What once was a child's castle of disillusionment
Only remains to be used as the whimsical wonderings
Of a lonely young boy with a solitary pair of slicing scissors.
Now with the easily frustrated fragility of a child,
It is taken from its torn tower of grandeur.
Left empty, unfulfilled in its fullness it remembers
A tortuous time of Homer and Shakespeare.
It strengthened steadily through Roosevelt's Reformation.
It gave guilty witness to Kennedy's Killing,
Trading its tricky secrets with Truman's Temple.
It once was an infrastructure of naturally created Complexity,
Lying in careless, crumpled abandon on the floor.
But Daddy, its only a piece of paper