The Art of Observation

My adventure for today, as recorded mentally from a rather comfortable park bench toward the edge of campus:

I “smelled the trees and the nature,” as our favorite Office nincompoop Dwight Schrute would say.

I heard the constant hum of the busy street several blocks away, and the yells of neighborhood kids brought on by their apparently intense game of basketball.

I heard the laughter and frustrated groans of a couple about my age, trying out the frisbee golf course.

I heard birds sing and cars rev, bare tree branches rustle as winged residents came and went, the breeze stirring up leaves that had been incarcerated under a heavy blanket of snow only a few days ago.

Walking from there to here, I felt freshly thawed earth under my thin-soled shoes.

I saw no fewer than thirteen squirrels, doing whatever it is they do when it feels like spring in the middle of winter.

I counted three bird nests, five examples of modern outdoor sculpture, and four white cars, one of which drove past twice-maybe their GPS gave them some bad advice.

I glimpsed what seemed like a second sun, filtering through a window in the clouds to create a rainless rainbow.

 

I occupied that park bench for a grand total of forty minutes. There was nothing to read and no one to text, but it wasn’t boring at all-because I was making an effort to focus on anything but myself. Just sitting on a park bench, imbuing sunlight, listening to the sound of the world surrounding me.

What happens when I have the day off

 A quick overview of an average day off for me:

1. I sit in a chair all day reading, watching Netflix and alternately munching snacks/feeling unhealthy.
2. I get fed up with sitting around and think about going outside.
3. I realize it’s freakishly cold outside, but then counter that thought with, “Hey, the sun’s still out, so it can’t be that bad!” (I am wrong.)
4. Even my lovely jaunt in the frigid Nebraska air leaves me feeling like a blob. And sometimes, that blobby feeling is all the inspiration I need.

 

Stained-Glass Sky

Today I stayed in.

Alone with my desk chair

and a mug of instant cocoa,

plowing purposefully through a novel

purchased mere days ago.

Pausing every now and again

to observe the time

and acknowledge the sun’s

steady migration toward the base of my window.

 

Eventually the story ended

(alas, so it goes)

and with that

my restlessness returned, so,

thinking to catch the sunset,

I shrugged on my overlong peacoat

and traveled across campus,

a modern Victorian Lady

complete with Converse and jeans.

The journey was arduous

as wind mercilessly exploited weaknesses

in my winter armor

but still,

worth it.

 

Alighting on steps that overlook parking lot

and sorority house

I intercepted my prize,

its last rays peeking through

a net of iron-forged trees

that framed it perfectly,

like a delicate work of lace

against the dying blue sky.

On Travel

 I’ve never been able to sleep in automobiles. No matter how exhausted I am, I can never seem to tune out my surroundings long enough to manage it–and believe me, two weeks on a tour bus with 44 rowdy college choir kids (can you say that five times fast?) can get VERY exhausting. But alas, my wired brain hates me. So during basically the entire trip, as scores of my colleagues slumbered peacefully, I was looking out windows, taking embarrassing pictures of snoring friends, and trying to keep my creative process alive by writing, drawing, anything. Because if you’re gonna be fully awake for roughly fourteen days of bus rides, some good should come out of the torture.

I wrote the following poem as we cruised westward through the (highly interesting) Nebraska plains. Between the mental exhaustion, the bumpy road and the nosy friend I had sitting next to me, it was kind of an ordeal, but here it is. My first poem of 2016.

 

Drifter

Outside this humming capsule

of reclining seats

and recycled air

the world unfurls in our wake,

pavement skimming its way back to the place

we left in such a hurry.

Beyond barnacle-encrusted windows

the land crawls

and folds over itself,

a vista of gray on brown.

A fresh dusting of snow

drifts, caught between

hills that roll like shallow waves.

Though stationary,

the scene grants them a hint,

a glimmer of life

as the sun’s rays hang

refracted, reflected,

suspended in the air like a million tiny flecks of salt spray

and these once-frozen mounds of earth

become wind-stirred eddies

passing through a drifter’s nets.

Goodbye, 2015!

 2015 was a year of firsts, lasts, astronomical happenings and excellent adventures–in other words, it was a most non-non-non heinous year. The following are a few (well, more than a few) highlights I thought worth preserving in the cryo chamber of the internet.

Last Year I…

• Had the privilege of experiencing my favorite band of all time, Jukebox the Ghost, live in concert on a cold January evening. I can still feel the adrenaline almost a whole year later.
• Acquired a beautiful guitar named Malcolm.
• Graduated from high school, turned 18 (and was forced to sit in silence as the servers at Red Lobster sang me a tuneful rendition of Happy Birthday), and registered to vote.
• Discovered I had a knack for poetry, and, more importantly, stopped being afraid to write. I even started a blog as a result!
• Tried sushi for the first time (sadly, it didn’t quite live up to the hype).
• Went to my first (and last) Prom. It didn’t live up to the hype either, though dressing up was fun and they had a caricature artist. So.
• Drove out into a cornfield to watch the Perseid Meteor shower. I saw at least six shooting stars, which seemed to me a very impressive number.
• Received a Nintendo 2DS as a gift from some really cool cats with whom I am privileged to share a college campus.
• Was accepted into (and earned multiple scholarships from) the school of my dreams, where I am honored to be a part of both the prestigious University Choir and Jazz Choir.
• Was beyond excited to witness a real-life Abraham Lincoln impersonator at my high school. (For those of you who don’t know, I probably the biggest Abraham Lincoln fangirl you’ll ever meet.)
• Became a member of NAfME and attended my first Music Educator’s conference as a college student.
• Stood outside under the stars to watch the Super Moon eclipse. It was definitely apocalypse-worthy.
• Read many many wonderful books. Some favorites include (but are not limited to) the last two installments in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, the Noble Warriors trilogy by William Nicholson, I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak, and Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell.
• Saw these movies for the very first time: The Hobbit cartoon from a million years ago, which is magical and inexpressibly nerdy, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is perfection, Ant Man, Jurassic World, and the FANTASTIC new Star Wars movie. I also finished the brilliant TV Series The Office, and hosted multiple Lord of the Rings marathons.
• Began the long and arduous process of learning Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in c# minor, which will never be good enough, ever.
• Went to Worlds of Fun twice: once with my high school choir in mid-April, where we got soaked by torrential rain, found the perfect apocalypse hideout, and ate really bad theme-park food; and once with my family in the middle of June, where we didn’t get soaked but did ride a 300-foot tall contraption of terror (twice).
• Spent a week house-sitting for a friend, wrangling their chickens and experiencing other farm-y novelties.
• Saved a baby bird from sure death at the hands of a (gentle-tempered but curious) dog.
• Learned how to pronounce and write the Russian alphabet as a means of secret communication between friends.
• Co-planned a Hobbit-themed birthday party for my sister (complete with creatively decorated theme cupcakes).
• Took a class involving Star Trek and its commentary on the human condition.
• Was retweeted by the aforementioned favorite band (after which I concluded that we must now be best friends).
• Was mistaken for a tourist in Lincoln, Nebraska because I was foolish enough to go downtown on game day wearing something other than Husker gear.
• Starred in a silent short-film shot by my sister.
• Achieved greatness with my impression of Ron Swanson.
• Filmed a telenovela for my AP Spanish class with some goofy friends of mine.
• Made crystal aspirin in a college chemistry lab.
• Was asked by my best friend to be her maid of honor, which made me feel both super excited and really old.
• Performed in my last piano recital as a student, sang in my last high school choir concert, took my last biology test, went to my last pep rally, attended my last high school jazz choir invitational, and finished my last day as the children’s worship minister at my church.

It went by too fast–but hey, that’s exactly what all those adults at my grad party said would happen. So, here’s to 2016!