You Go Girl!

This blog has been a work in progress for quite some time now. It started out as a travel blog this summer when I took a trip across the United States (which, by the way, I HIGHLY recommend). Then I moved it from blogspot to another site before completely giving it the makeover you see today. I wouldn't get too used to the format, because I am likely to change it as much as I change my hair- every five minutes.

A little about me- I'm 22 years old. I'm from Washington DC. I was born and raised [t]here. I liked it so much, I went to college [t]here. I have never been away from home for more than a month and a half. As a matter of fact, my cross-country trip this summer was the longest I'd been away from home since summer camp in high school. But don't be fooled-I move around this city like an experienced traveller or a curious tourist. I try to take advantage of all my city has to offer. I am also credited as the Club Connaisseur because I LOOOOOOVE to party, lol.

I don't know what I want to do with my life. I have a passion for writing, children, and literacy, in that order (among other things). I have always seen myself with several career titles. I want to go back to school, but I'm not really sure for what. An MFA in Childrens Lit or an MA in Literacy top the list. I'm keeping an open mind.

I currently work as a paraprofessional for a local elementary school. I LOVE my children. I think perhaps, I like being a kid more than teaching them. Time will tell. Until then, it's all good.

I have come to embrace the uncertainties of life. I wasn't always this accepting of them. My last semester of college, I was sure I would spontaneously combust if I didn't figure out right then what I wanted to do. I'm still here, and I've come to understand that it's not really that easy.

Anyhow, a couple years ago, I decided to make a list of things that I did want to do in life. It began as a pretty simple list. Graduate from college, be a homeowner before my 24th bday, and get my masters topped the list. I wanted to become fluent in French and/or Spanish also. Yadda yadda lose weight find love yadda yadda don't judge me, lol.

Then, that list got lost somewhere in my room. But that's ok, because the others must not be that important anymore. I'm not so stuck on homeowning by 24. Though it would be nice, I have no idea where I'll be come 2010. I'd like to figure out what I wanna do regarding the masters, preferrably before I go. I've abondoned the whole "get your masters so your income will be higher" approach. Call me an idealist, but I want to go back to school to learn things.

I have tons of magnificent and unusual stories from my trip last summer, from my first dim sum experience in San Francisco to meeting a former olympic participant from the sixties in a Soul Food restaurant in Cleveland. So many stories, that I find myself writing book-length blog entries with all the details I can recall [I promise, this one won't be much longer]. After my trip, my list became much longer, and much more specific. It's a lot like a bucket list, but without the skydiving and laughing until I cry [though, I imagine the movie inspired a couple of things on my list].

I think the idea that I have come to embrace is that I don't believe that anyone should wait until they're old or sick to start doing the things they want to do, no matter how bizarre or lofty these things may seem. There are so many people who don't have the luxury of time. I mean, it is something we have no control over. And as cliche as this is going to sound [hold your breath folks], as much time as we spend preparing for the future, it is so important that we really live while we are still alive [forgiveth me, folks]. So, all the stuff I haven't figured out about my life yet will come in time. In the meantime, I'm going places, I'm meeting people, I'm telling stories. I'm completing and scratching some things off of my list, and adding more as I think of them.

Hence, these are the Confessions of an [on the] Go Girl.

And now, I leave you with a poem, compliments of Afsheen [thanks, homie!]

To the Impossible Him
By Edna St. Vincent Milay

HOW shall I know, unless I go
To Cairo and Cathay,
Whether or not this blessed spot
Is blest in every way?

Now it may be, the flower for me
Is this beneath my nose;
How shall I tell, unless I smell
The Carthaginian rose?

The fabric of my faithful love
No power shall dim or ravel
Whilst I stay here,–but oh, my dear
If I should ever travel!