Planes, Trains & Automobiles

This summer has gone by in a flash, what's crazier is this year is going by in a flash. Weddings being the driving force behind most of the year, snagged with a load of job interviews. Speaking of which, I got one. A job that is. So, there's an update for you. In an effort to have fun before signing away most of my life, I decided to take a couple of trips before my first day on the job, eminent in t-minus 3 days. Right now I'm in Boston, visiting my good friend from Lake Forest, Amy. Brian is here too, joining in on the fun, i.e. walking everywhere, Sam Adams Brewery, Newbury Street, Fenway and the Freedom Trail that I am pumped for. But before taking off yesterday I had a flash back to the loads of airplane rides I've taken this year.

1. Washington, D.C. first week of January
2. New York, New York, first week of February
3. Naples, Florida, end of February
4. New York, New York, again, late March
5. Atlanta, Georgia, June
6. Boston, Massachusetts, August

And littered throughout: roadtrips.

1. Washington, D.C., January
2. Kalamazoo, Michigan (the mitt), February
3. Iowa City, Iowa, March & May
4. Des Moines, Iowa, May
5. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, July
6. Watersmeet, Michigan (UP), August

That's a lot of travel, especially if you include the 40 minute commute by train every morning on the way to the city. Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the east coast. See you when I see you.

The Peace Out Explanation

Left: Photo of Iowa earth post my weekend trip to Iowa City





I went to Iowa City over the weekend to catch up and slow down at the same time. Ever since the culmination of my latter educational years, I've felt a bit of a mess. Internships, deadend retail jobs, family happiness on repeat, etc. has been a bit draining. So, I headed back to what had been my homeland for real growth and change, and it was a joy.

The best part of Iowa City is you never really know who will be there, when, and for what. I know things will change even more in the next year, because then I really won't know anyone anymore because we'll all have moved on, but it will still be the same. The thing is, once you accept that a place is fluid, that people are interchangeable, and visiting is always the correct antidote, it's fine. Iowa City can stand on its own in my mind. This morning before my favorite shop opened, a good friend of mine (Sarah) and I grabbed a warm beverage and chatted up one another about what this town has meant to us, how we are or were ready to move on from it, and how we're going to embrace everything it gives us. College towns do that. They have this warm, cozy up next to it feel, just as much as they have a cyclical, "get outta here and see the world" vibe. And we love it.

The only down beat is that the weather is cyclical too, and to really enjoy Iowa you have to remember and accept that it might snow at the end of March two weeks before Easter. It's a cruel weather world out there, regardless of which Midwestern town you've stumbled upon.

Leaving Las Vegas Among Other Places

The beautiful Red Rock Canyon

Sheryl Crow's Leaving Las Vegas makes me happy. I recently traveled to Vegas to visit some friends and see Brian, who flew in from Chicago, as well. It was a spectacular weekend full of adventures—but it seemed slow at the same time. Between losing a twenty at one of the local casinos, seeing the Beatles Love show, free climbing at Red Rock Canyon, visiting with everyone, and skydiving, I'd say the weekend was a success. It's been nice to be part of what happens around this side of the country—deserts, gambling, and mountains.



Downtown Vegas' city lights

I like it, but I can't imagine looking out my window each day and not seeing a flat, beautiful patch of grass, or just being able to look out and look at forever. There's something so glorious about looking at the sun setting over fields of beautiful corn. And the mountains here are glorious, too. Yes, I like looking out and feeling as if I'm tucked into a bed of high hills overlooking me as I go about my life here—but it's definitely not that feeling of infinity that prairie grass delivers.

I have just under three more weeks on the Ode job, and then it's off to other things with other people in other places. I'm due for an adventure. It's funny, I love the experience of deciding to go somewhere and making it happen, feeling comfortable, and then almost a moment later tossing my cares to the wind again—I go and do something different. What do you call that? It's more than antsy-ness. I was once referred to as a free bird, or perhaps that was just me thinking to myself, but regardless, I am. Well, I'm no more unique than the rest of you, really. It seems I've done a good job of encircling myself with people with that exact mindset—one of here today, gone tomorrow. It's nice because while we're all scattered about the globe, we're also free to visit one another and thereby expand our worldliness. Anyway, it's a double-edge sword because the relationships we have with one another end up becoming strained, and people get hurt and time passes, but there's never the right time to make mention. Until one day, somehow thoughts are expressed and life moves on. I suppose that's the one down turn. You find all these great people, but it's impossible to get them under one roof—especially since they may not know one another because you've been continent hopping alone.

lacking caffeine and that life zeal business

Hi. I've been a bit lackadaisical about updating this bad-boy right here. Sorry. I can't believe it's been about two weeks since. Much has happened. Here's the bulleted list.

a. Kerstin, my friend since 3rd grade, visited San Francisco over this past weekend. [went to Alcatraz, shopped, dined, bar-hopped, and had a party for my housemate, Nancy.]

b. The weekend prior I was in Chicago visiting my family and friends and going to my cousin Maureen's wedding. It was beautiful. I also managed to pick some apples, grab dinner with my girls and boy and bonded in Rebecca's living room.

c. I've got about a month left of my internship here at Ode. It feels good to know how this place ticks, adding in my own two cents in the possibilities section. Really, I'll miss it when I'm gone.

d. I'm going to Vegas this weekend. Brian is meeting me at the Las Vegas airport, and Meagan and Dan Walsh (our married friends, weird) are going to pick us up for a fun weekend. Planning on a little skydiving, some Black Jack, sassy dresses and a show!

e. Already I am being harassed by my mother about not having a full-time job lined up post internship. It's stressful enough as it is. Damn all my smart friends who went back to graduate school.

f. I think that's it. Whew. Oh, and I'm planning a trip to LA post Ode in November before heading back home. Should be a fun time.

And, of course, a story: Monday I waited for Marco for 45 minutes only to find out that he was at the chiropractor. I called my other possible ride about 6 times before getting a hold of her. All I had to do was walk/bus to this way far corner. I think I lost a pound before 9 am Monday. I probably sped walked 3 miles in a 1/2 hour. I might as well have been running. I did manage to hop a bus and didn't even have to pay because I got off before I could make it to the front of the bus to drop my change. There's nothing quite like beating the system. That buck-fifty was mine!

My Life in Bullet Points

- I woke up this morning a few minutes before the magazine's conference call with our Rotterdam office and executive editor. That went fine, just informative for me at this point.

-Ate Special K red berries while listening, then had a bagel and cream cheese. Productive.

-Super tired from watching Freaks and Geeks. I don't know what it is, but once I'm on a roll watching some new show, I can't stop. Alias, Sex and the City, Lost, Undeclared, 30 Rock, Growing Pains, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and now Freaks and Geeks. I'm a little insane when it comes to box set television. I can't exercise restraint in any way. It's unfortunate.

-After eating cereal I decided to heat up some water for tea. Totally waited to drink it so it wouldn't burn my tongue. However, because of this fact I spilled in the center of my jeans right at the crotch. I was already in Marco's car so we couldn't turn around for me to change. I never want to be a burden, so I just sat in it. I felt like a baby in a wet, dirty diaper. I used my Eddie Bauer scarf to soak up most of the mess, but still. I'm soggy. So much for to-go mugs and their fail-safe caps.

-Oh, and the White Sox lost yesterday. Sad. I mean, granted, they weren't the best team this year, but they're still my team. On to Blackhawks season. Woo!

-I'm going to Chicago Thursday for my cousin Maureen's wedding! Hooray. Thursday night's the rehearsal dinner, and Saturday is the wedding. So, if I'm not at wedding festivities I'll be picking apples at the Apple Holler orchard in Wisconsin or chilling with friends and family.

-I can't believe how soggy I am. I'm like a waffle that's been soaking in syrup, no longer does it taste good and the quicker it actually gets moldy and gross. I think I'm going to bring my hot beverages in spaghetti cans again. At least it stayed closed.

so you just want to stay at home?

what? no one wants to go to the middle east? last i checked america was pretty neat. not to mention canada. and. i have always wanted to see a polar bear in the arctic. plus. wouldn't it be so sweet to climb down a frozen snow crevice? so sweet.

Hunting. Or at least that's what this was going to be about.

I was in Michigan over this past weekend. Colleen, my 25-year-old sister, and I headed up to the Upper Peninsula late Saturday to meet my parents who had arrived the day before. Col hadn't been to our northwoods home in three years, since before she left for the Peace Corps. Sometimes I imagine myself doing something like the Peace Corps, but then I realize all the things she had to do, those she couldn't do, and how scary it is to be alone. I enjoy alone time, I do, but it's, well, lonely, when it's not self-imposed. I guess it would be mildly self-imposed though, in the Peace Corps case, as you'd be the one to sign on, but still.

Anyway, we were heading to the outward bounds. It's so beautiful up there. Fresh. Things are literally clearer. I'm set to move to San Francisco next week to take some leaps into my future. Ode Magazine offered me an enticing internship at their California office, so I took it. Early bird catches the worm.

No one in my family is really that encouraging about it though, which was expected. Journalists make no money unless you're someone like Katie Couric, or a journalist who somehow managed to meet a money maker spouse.

Colleen's doing something similar, but it's in Los Angeles, and it's a screenwriters workshop. I think it will be good for her, providing her with the necessary skillset she'll need if she's truly serious. I think the same of my adventure, and yes, it's an adventure and a test in resilience.

Driving up to Michigan Colleen and I discussed the reasons for our sudden departures for warmer weather and fulfilled dreams, or I guess an attempt at reaching both. And it wasn't until talking with her that I really noticed how similar we think. Entitlement generation or not, one has to at least try to gain something beyond the status quo. We realize that if we really, truly wanted to, we could get jobs at offices within the corporate world. And we would probably find a love for it and a passion, but there would always be that, "What If?" And that's what makes life worth it. It's your life, I continually remind myself. You need to do what you want with it, or else you're a slave to it.

Party People!

I'm in Lake Forest chillin' like ice cream fillin'.

Yesterday I bused it from Iowa City to Chicago. Greyhound, not my friend. You win some you lose some. I went to the last night of the 5-day Chicago Wilco concert. It was amazing! AMAZING!

Andrew Bird came for a little cameo. The band opened up for themselves, then played another set, then returned to the stage for an encore ending with Dreamer in My Dreams.

Seriously amazing stuff. Love it.

Inevitable Excitement

Over this past weekend I booked it to Amsterdam. I left Friday morning and arrived Friday night. My friend, Rebecca, from home, has been student teaching in London for the past month and was granted a week off to travel around. She met me there and now will be in Paris until Thursday. It was so refreshing to be with someone from home. I miss that familiarity a lot as every day since I've been here I've been forced to deal with the unfamiliar. Plus, she totally gave me an ego boost when I called her hotel to make sure the reservation was still on. I spoke to the concierge in French. It was actually kind of rewarding.

My parents are on their way to Pau right now from Paris, where the flew in a couple days ago. I love Paris. I'm going back with them for the weekend as well as going to Normandy on a day trip. Should be really fun. I just love history, and in Pau; there is some, but it's from medieval/renaissance periods. I love learning about the world wars and all that here. It's totally different from learning about them in the US. The history is right here. I can't wait to see the beaches made famous on DDay (Decision Day), June 6, 1944. I really can't wait.

It's so strange to think I have only three more weeks left, when just what feels like a little bit ago I was saying I only had three months left. What's more is that the French students haven't been in school for the last 3 weeks. What's up with 3's?

It's weird that all my big trips are finished as well. The Netherlands was the last country I was to visit. Obviously otherthan continuing to live in France. It's weird that I can legitimately say, 'Yes, I lived in France for a little while.'

I just, I don't know. I do know that I'm excited for things though. Excited for Normandy and excited for Christmas and excited for Meagan Ekberg's wedding and excited to see people again and share stories and live life at a slower pace for a while. It helps that my class schedule for Spring is ridiculous. MTW class at 1:30, none ThF. Seriously? Seriously, this is my life. I just can't believe I need to get a real job with health insurance and a dental plan and an apartment or condo and blah; blah, blah. I will have bills to pay.

But it was inevitable. Just like everything else.

Thailand and all

Over break you may have gone home for a while—maybe you had a good time, sat around the fire, took part in a holiday celebration: New Years being the most recent. . I bet you spent your break sitting on the couch, maybe packin’ on pounds you’ll undoubtedly not shed so you could get through this quiet, freezing and uneventful break as the winter solstice came to dwell. I bet you ate a whole cake by yourself. I bet your mom uttered between baking sessions: TMT—that’s too many Twinkies for those of you who don’t know.

But by chance those four weeks in between grueling finals and spring semester hysteria led me into another direction. My sister’s been in the US Peace Corps for about a year and a few months now. She’s been in Kyrgyzstan, that’s in the middle of Asia, near Tajikistan, Afghanistan, the Stans. So my parents and I decided to ditch my four brothers for the warm summer-like climate of Thailand to meet up with the prodigal sister.

There’s nothing quite like seeing someone you had felt you would never see again, even though that person may be the one closest to you. Perhaps that’s why it hurt so badly when they left. But alas, over a year later my parents and I saw her again, and it was as if she had never left at all. Although we were more than jazzed to be with her, international traveling is always a hassle. That’s the story no one seems to tell, there’s only the term “jet lag” to speak of.

There is more to it though: You get off the plane. You search endlessly for your luggage, that inevitably was the last piece to come out of the turn-around, or if you’re really lucky it never comes out at all. You stand in line some more. You can’t understand your foreign tour guide. He doesn’t care anyway, because let’s face it: you’re foreign in his country. You’re tired. You’re flight was eighteen hours.

People don’t feel bad for you. You’re an international jetsetter.

You fly around; time turns back for you depending on which direction you’re going. Bangkok back to Chicago, really it’s about a day’s worth of travel, but time lies and says it’s only been psh-six hours. You’re confused. It seems as if your body clock has said, “It’s too hard to keep up with you.” And it is too hard: after all it’s been 24 hours but the sun has a different story to tell: Jet lagged and walking around on an hour of sleep.

Sometimes its better just to stick it out for those three or four weeks, take up shop on the couch and call it a break. But then again, new situations, rekindled relationships, and excursions abroad open up a whole other world.

So I got over the time difference, and visited the King’s Palace.

michigan

This afternoon I scoured the parts of the Upper Peninsula's landscape that I had missed the day before. Yesterday the Marshall clan minus one trekked along through the wilderness. I've been coming up to the land o' lakes area since I was a wee minor (1987, around the one-year mark). It's always been a place where my parents have enjoyed taking us kids, while they too could have a fun time with one another. I can say with all honesty that I was jealous growing up of other kids who had gone to this that and the other place, but that's just immaturity for you. But now I see what my parents have been trying to get through to us all along. I walked around alone today for a while just looking out at one of the innumerable lakes in the great chain. Our neighbors, Bob and Diane weren't home so I spent some time checking out their property and view of the lake (yes, illegally), but I'm sure they won't press charges. It was gorgeous--just the beauty that surrounds us--something I had seen basically my entire life. It was new. Anyway, the time I spent yesterday hiking through the forest preserve across the way with my family was nice.

The scenery. The exercise. The wildlife. I don't know, it all seemed different. And it happened again to me, today. I walked down to the dock and sat on the pier facing outwards away from everything simply looking into the setting sun. It was almost blinding, but in a good way. The light reflecting off the water back to the boat house was perfect. I think now, as trite as it may or may not sound, I sort of see the site the way my parents have the past 20 years. I don't know if I'd want to live here all my life, or even if this is the place I'd want to vacation with my children, but I do know that anywhere if you look long enough can be pleasant. Up here though, the serene, quiet lifestyle and bountiful opportunities for discovery, that's worth it. I sometimes find myself trying to relate to other people my perspective and experience in life, and I feel like if they just sat down to a Marshall Family dinner, the blindness would lift. And they would see things differently. Maybe they should come up here.