1. Went on a cruise as part of my good friends' wedding. They decided to bring the honeymoon with them to Florida, and then all around the Western Caribbean. When we weren't on Carnival Legend (clubbing in Medusa's Lair, strolling through the Enchanted Forest, sitting in the casino), we had time to stop and explore Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Belize City, and Roatan Islands. I've never been on a cruise before, and while I didn't know what to expect, I enjoyed myself once I accepted that I wasn't in Kansas anymore. I just don't know if I'd do it again any time soon.
2. While on the cruise, I got a job. I was baffled when I found out. Somehow, against the odds of the economy and other qualified candidates, I nabbed my dream job. I've now re-adjusted to the 9-5 routine of working in an office in a cubicle, but this time I'm right where I want to be: as an editorial assistant in children's publishing. I love it, but it has certainly taken up most of my time, and explains the majority of my silence around here.
3. Finally, after so many months, I am also enjoying another old routine that brings me sanity: reading and writing. Yes, all, I am back to writing. Granted, I can't claim to be writing as much as I once did, but even if I am producing small fragments, they're more than I can say for July-October. I'm also enjoying adult books on my commute and before bed, and buying more poetry! With a job that requires tons of reading (and children's at that), it's understandable that you'd want to get as far away from that as you can in your downtime. But that is a terrible habit to fall into, so I'm fixing it.
4. I just had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My second in New York. Slowly but surely, this city is feeling more like home. Which brings me to . . . .
5. I don't want to jump the gun, but I was talking to a friend tonight about my Christmas travel plans, which immediately led me to thinking about New Year's, and the fact that it is already almost 2009. I won't say anything yet (we still have December to get through after all!), but 2008 has been a huge year for me. Sometimes I can't believe how much I've packed into it, but all I can hope for is more years like it.
Here is a poem by Victoria Chang from her newest collection Salvinia Molesta, which is my current obsession.
Ars Poetica as Birdfeeder and Hummingbird
All winter I watched the empty feeder
and the God light pummel
its stained glass in a sieve. No
hummingbirds, no
humorous little body with a tent stake
as a nose.
Look, little bird, how do you know, how
do you know
your brilliance is what I seek? The way
you lance a honeysuckle’s
heart, take the blood in your bill. I wish
I knew how to punch
a center, inch in and in, lance something
to death, that flowers and
flowers light. You in your array of vibrating
attire. I am not
a weed, I need your praise to survive.
The field will consume me.
The field has chosen sides. The field is
not hungry for the middling.
How I hate the field and what it sees, its
teeth digging out the ochre
of mediocre, what’s left but medi—a non,
a nothing, no-one.
O tiny bird—medicate me, convulse me,
punch holes in me so
some of my light leaks out.
- Victoria Chang
