Response 13: I belong with the rich and famous... theatre geeks?

What community would I want to join? The community of the rich and famous! DUH! Who wouldn't wanna be r&f? I know in class we were talking about top money-making CEOs and how they may not be truly happy, but hey, money makes the world go round! In all seriousness, Being rich and famous is kind of a life goal for me. I wanna be COMFORTABLE; I don't want to live paycheck-to-paycheck or be in serious debt. But I SERIOUSLY want to be famous. I have this fear of death, like most people, which basically culminates into a fear of being forgotten. So in order not to be forgotten, I need to be in the history books. I could be a famous movie star, cure cancer, whatever. I just want to be famous so that people still know me and know my name. I generally like attention, and that doesn't stop when I die. xD

Besides from that, it's always been a dream of mine to join the community of professional entertainers. Acting, singing, and dancing have always been my passions, but I value having a stable career over possible homelessness. But it would still be amazing to be apart of that community. And it truly is a community. Have you ever met theatre people? They are the most fun, energetic people on the planet. And I LOVE THEM! Since coming to AU, I've realized that some of my favorite people here are part of the performing arts program. To be surrounded by my theatre homies all the time, and to be able to put my stuff out there on the stage every night, that would be a dream come true.

Paths to Community

I, like many of my classmates have no clue what community I'd like to join later in life.

I don't know what I want to do with my life, where I want to go, or how I'm gonna get there. In this I think I am part of a community of not knowing.

We live in uncertain times and surely an uncertain community of non-belonging, non-commital people is in order. A group of wanderers, similar and yet different from those described in Joe's post. As our generation enters the workforce we are met by a defined lack of place for us in this world. Jobs are scarce and in many ways wandering the world with a backpack and hope is an attractive option. The current group of wanderers go form vocation to vocation searching for a rent check as opposed to truth.

If "good person" and "happy" are communities, I aspire to be in them. But when it comes to defined communities like workplaces and towns I'm at a loss.

Reflection 14: A late Thanksgiving reflection

So looks like I forgot COMPLETELY about writing in my blog this weekend. Whoops, but then again I'm not the only one apparently. You can't blame me though, it was Thanksgiving after all. I was caught up marveling at how tall my cousin grew, the status of my other cousin and her boyfriend, and my parents' dilemma over a busted oven. So anyway, here we go, my Thanksgiving reflection... a week late.

I was terribly unproductive over break. I tried doing some homework, but ended up watching Say Yes to the Dress in my spare time. There was like a marathon on everyday! It was VERY distracting. Not distracting enough, however, to make me forget about my interesting family dynamics. I just seemed to cause loads of trouble right when I got home. I fell asleep in the bathroom and left the hot water running in the shower. I went to grab a pillow off the couch and spilled my mom's tea all over the magazine-laden table. My mom says I came back from college more opinionated, more stubborn, and much lazier. Then she freely told my psychiatrist how I'm the high maintenance one in the family, and how quiet its been without me in the house. Thanks a lot Mom, I love you too. At least Dad says he missed his little girl! XP

But anyways, I was really excited for Thanksgiving. It has extra importance for me especially because it starts this huge holiday triad for my family. First, there's the traditional turkey dinner at Aunt Judy's house, the big matriarch of my family. It's not quite traditional per say, since Aunt Maria brought Chinese-style duck from Chinatown and we ate more flan than apple pie. Second is Christmas at my house, which it always has to be. We held it at Uncle Johnny's one year, and everyone agreed Christmas was MUCH better at my house. It causes a lot of cooking stress for my mom, and she sometimes wishes she didn't have to entertain all these stinkin relatives, but she does it to keep us kids happy. Otherwise Uncle "Never RSVPs" Billy wouldn't even get invited. Third is Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is a huge holiday for my family. We're not quite sure who's holding it this year, but all that matters is that I'm gettin money! I'm afraid the haul will be a little lacking this year due to the economic downturn, but I think I'll be alright as long as nobody gives me 2 dollar envelopes. That's just a waste of time. But seriously, Chinese New Year brings everybody together one last time before the summer. We can bring guests too since it's a little less formal. For example, I brought my bff Jemila, and we got to play our Chinese orchestra music for everybody. It's also the perfect holiday to test out new boyfriends. ;)

So yeah I'm gonna end my post here. It's too long already. To recap: going home for Thanksgiving break is SO awkward, but happy, and the start to a jolly holiday season. I can't wait till winter break! (Unlike my mother. jk!)

Thanksgiving Reflection

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it is one of the few times my entire extended family is able to come together in one place at one time. I consider the welter of conversation and laughter that accompanies our Thanksgivings one of the greatest blessings in my life. That is why I feel like this reflection allows a powerful opportunity to reflect on our recent blog discussion- where does an event like Thanksgiving fit into the Heinlein Theory of survival?

If humans are no different than the lowest forms of life in that we are fundamentally motivated by survival, then where do all the elements that most define humanity fit in? Why do we have the ability to appreciate food, music and other forms of beauty; why is it that humans most cherish memories that deal the most with our own pleasure, rather than those which teach us lessons? Thanksgiving Day and all the satisfaction accompanies it is incongruous with Heinlein philosophy.

Back!

So I went home for Thanksgiving break this week! It's so weird how quickly I adjusted to being back home, and I have only been at school for about two hours and it already feels like I have not left.

I went into the city on Wednesday night, and it's really made me realize how much more I like DC than the city. My friends always call me crazy for not liking the city, but I personally find it dirty and some place I would never want to live. Funnily enough, I find DC to be super fun and somewhere where I could really see myself living when I'm older. I really don't know why- it could be because maybe I have been in and out of the city my whole life, but then again I have friends who can't get enough of it and go to college at NYU and Manhattan College.

I've also realized that up until my last sentence, I have unconsciously be referring to NYC as "the city." This just made me think of a story that my friend told me at breakfast this morning. He goes to school at Ithaca College and was telling me how he got into a screaming match with a girl who insisted that "the city" was Atlanta. I mean I guess it's because it's what I'm used to and is because of where I am from- I'm sure people from the suburbs of Philadelphia refer to Philly as "the city" just like I call Manhattan "the city." I just think it's funny. Could it be because we are egotistical and think that the city located near us should be called "the city?" Or just because it is easier to call it the city?

Reflecting a pie

When it comes to Turkey Day festivities mine, and most families gatherings tend to run similarly to Joe's without the mad dash to a movie theater.

There's copious amounts of food and pointed remarks about my many short comings.

There's always something about family gathering that makes sibling rivalries comeback full force even without the siblings being present. Part of it is the ease with which we revert back to our old roles. Gathering the family together makes it easy to go back to the way things used to be. Pie and turkey or roast pork are traditions just like family sniping. It's as American as apple pie

Reflection 12....YUMMMM

So it would be amazing if Sofie writes about this too, but I highly doubt she will. Wednesday, Sofie and I decided to enjoy all of the loveliness of the Tavern that we could while we wouldn't be enjoying it for five whole days. Inspired by thisiswhyyourefat.com, we concoted the most fattening meal ever from the Tavern: two pieces of pizza faced towards each other with diced chicken fingers and french fries in between...mmm mmmm! Surprisingly, this wasn't horrible.

Anyway, we were laughing because of a few of the comments that were made while we were eating it...

"This is exactly why America is the fattest country." -my friend Thomas who was visiting

"This is the essence of college food." -Sofie

These aren't exact quotes, but they're the gist of what was said because I really don't remember exactly. I thought about what Thomas said and realized some correlations with what we were talking about is class. Part of the United State's identity is that it is "the fattest country". Along with the obvious fast food culture that is part of America and the disregard for the importance of exercise, it's people like me and Sofie that ate about 2000 calories in one meal.

Then when Sofie said something about this being the essence of college food, I laughed. The sterotype is college food being like Ramen, Easy Mac, other unhealthy combinations of cheap products. Similar to the identity America has of being a fat country, the identity Sofie was referring to was the identity of typical college food. Again, we were just examples of an overarching identity. This whole experience reminded me of what we did in our ethnographys of observing things that contributed to the all-encompassing identity a place suggested. And P.S. the pizza-chicken tender-french fry sandwich was unfortunately incredibly delicious....if you're looking for a meal to cook for a fancy date I fully recommend this with 5 stars.