Moving On, Forgetting, and Starting at Square One

Here's the thing about starting over: sometimes you forget to tell people that you are.  And when you do remember to check in again it's too late.  Or at the least awkward to go back and say anything along the lines of, "Oh hey, yeah, I forgot to mention that I abandoned this project to start a new one."

Okay, so that's not entirely true.  I didn't abandon my blog.  In fact, in some ways I've upgraded.  The thing is though, that I forgot to tell people that I did.  And this is me coming back and saying, "Yeah, hi, I moved my blog and I forgot to tell you about it."

It's not that I didn't want to it's just that... well, I kind of moved in a hurry.  I was trying something and the next thing I knew I was over on Wordpress already, filling out the form and transferring everything, and well, there it was.

http://rachelannpierce.wordpress.com/

http://rachelannpierce.wordpress.com/

http://rachelannpierce.wordpress.com/


And I'll admit that it's still a little wobbley on it's toddler feet, but overall I'm quite happy there.  Some of the links need to be fixed and it doesn't have a proper name yet, but here is the link anyway.  Work in Progress I suppose.  It probably always will be.  I just thought you should know.  Since I somehow started getting a more significant amount of hits since I switched over to Wordpress.  Funny how that works.

Falling Into Place

This week was a good week.  And a bad week.  I handed in a script that was ten pages shorter than it was supposed to be, and I went to a few classes without the homework, but this week is still a really good week.  Because everything seems to be falling into place in a way that makes me really happy.

I had a long chat with my boss/advisory about a huge range of things (including the most recent episodes of Fringe and Once Upon A Time) and I realized that I have a lot more figured out than I realized, which is really exciting.  Last weekend I signed up for another class which fills up my course load to the maximum sixteen.  I realized that I have a few options for where to live next year and none of them suck.  Then, near the end of the "meeting" she pulled my other boss in and we had my what-are-you-going-to-do-next-semester conversation.

Granted, I'm still not sure the class I registered for is the right one, and I haven't actually picked where I'm going to live next semester, but I certainly feel a lot better about my life right now.  And even though what I handed in today wasn't quite what I would have wanted, it's actually really nice to not have to worry about it anymore.  Meanwhile, I still have ten pages to write over two different papers, but I'm actually starting to look forward to next semester.

Especially with work next semester.  I was stressing out over the uncertainty of what I was going to be doing for work next semester.  Not that I was in huge fear of my job, just that I know there are a lot of new people coming in who would be great for the show I've been working on and I had a sense that I wouldn't be do it come next September.  I found out this week that I'll be working with a show that is basically how I became interested in Frequency to begin with.

Meanwhile, I'm taking guesses as to who the new hires are going to be and getting super excited for the summer.  Nearly four solid months worth of not having a direct responsibility.  The summer idea list keeps growing, but there are very few "chores" that have gotten on it.  Besides applying for study abroad and trying to figure out a pitch for the fall, I'll mostly be catching up on TV, reading and hanging out with friends... in Berlin.  No big deal.  (by which I mean, really-big-i'm-so-excited-i-could-die deal)

Finally everything is falling into place.  Now if I could only finish these papers...

Plan Z

A long time ago on a blog I don't remember (this was before I was bookmarking blogs and keeping track), I read a post about imagining the worst and trying to see how it wouldn't be that bad.  The sermon I heard on Easter Sunday this year talked about how even what we are sure is God's last plan for us, is still a part of His plan and can be used for His glory.  He even used the same phrase, Plan Z.

Plan Z is what happens when nothing you have in mind for your future comes to fruit.  For me that would include not being able to use my degree, moving back in with my parents... but I'm getting ahead of myself.  The reason that you think of Plan Z is so that you can think about what you would do in the meantime.  What would make this worst possible outcome better and somehow not awful.  So here it is, Plan Z.

In my Plan Z I am living in my parents basement in some alternate or possibly future universe where they live in the suburbs.  I hate the suburbs.  I am working in some office job where I do mindless data entry or copying for the majority of an 8 hour day.  Somehow, in getting to Plan Z I was injured in a way that I can't climb anymore.  This means that I spend the work day sitting and sedentary, then go home and am sitting and sedentary because I can't go on adventures like I want to.

Like I said before though, the second part of coming up with Plan Z is figuring out how it doesn't suck.  In Plan Z I cook a lot.  Since I'm living with my parents my Dad and I cook together a lot.  Maybe I take yoga with my Mom.  In Plan Z (in any plan really) I am highly involved with whatever church I am attending.  Possibly more in Plan Z because I want to be doing stuff that's not being at work or sitting at home.  I teach Sunday School, I am a part of a Community Group, I am a mentor, basically I am doing a lot of other fun stuff besides going on adventures.

What is your Plan Z?  And how does it not suck that much?

Somehow I'm An Insider Now

This week has been a bit stressful.  I was working all week pretty much non-stop.  When I signed up for it I thought I would be fine, but it wound up driving me a little bit crazy.  Like taking a nap on one of the prop couches crazy.  Needing to take a walk to Trader Joe's to buy candy crazy.

I love my work.  I love that I get paid for something that I enjoy doing, but I'm not going to pretend that this semester has been easy.  I've dropped the ball on more than a few things, and somewhere in my head I have this idea that I have to have everything done perfectly every time.  While of course that would be nice, I'm starting to realize more and more the difference between what I'm expecting of myself and what others are expecting of me.

My work's big production is called Freq Out.  I have been busy up to my eyeballs getting ready for it nearly every day this week.  I'm solidly a drama girl, but when you spend ten hours on set everyday you learn to find a sense of humor.  Or you try to at least.

All told, we go live tomorrow evening.  Rehearsals are done.  There's nothing left to do, but still miles to go before we hit the ground.  As much as it's been fun, I'm looking forward to it being over.  I've not done any work outside of Freq Out in nearly a week, and I just know it's going to catch up to me very, very soon.  I'm tired of being tired from the ten hour minimum days.  Looking forward to doing homework.

If anyone is interested in watching it live-streaming, the feed will start from HERE at 6pm central time.  There are opening remarks before the actual show gets going, but it's pretty much going to be awesome.

Boys Club

I've posted some before on how much I like to rock climb, but a book I've been reading has made me think about it in a bit of a different way.  The book, a collection of essays (I've been reading quite a few of those lately) is awesome in that it has a huge variety of writing.  Everything, adventure to more run of the mill from all over the world.  The thing that's bothering me is that out of 30 some essays in the book, only two are written by women.

Now, I understand that climbing is a male-dominated sport.  I'm not delusional.  But I do know that there are a lot of women climbers out there, and I'm wondering why more writings from them weren't included.  Of course there could be a myriad of reasons for this in this particular book, but it got me thinking.

Where are the women climbers!?  Pretty much all women climbers I've run into are pretty awesome people, but the representations of them to the rest of the world are practically non-existent.  The whole thing makes me want to spend every spare minute climbing the walls to catch up with the boys.  I want to scream very, very loudly, "I'm a chick and a climber!!  Come hang out with me!!"  The only problem with that is that I'm not a professional climber if-you-know-what-I-mean.  Which brings me back to the wanting to climb all the time to catch up.  It's a vicious cycle.

In Which I Go On About Travel Plans

Now that my plans are a bit more official, I don't feel awkward sharing them.  As of this past week, I am officially going to Berlin, have a place to stay for a month, and am flying out of Rome.  How my friend Allason and I are getting from Berlin to Rome has yet to be established, but that's not the point.  The point is that I'm spending a month rehearsing for a performance, then galavanting around Europe.  I can't even describe my excitement.

I'm flying out on the 4th of July, continuing the not-yet-tradition of flying out of the country on Independence Day, spending a few days on my own before checking in to What Moves You? a Eurythmy conference (eurythmy is quite difficult to explain, simply put it's a dance form with specific movements for music or spoken word, but that definition seems constraining to me).  

The conference is a month worth of rehearsals cumulating in a performance in early August.  The conference is being held at a school in Berlin.  After the performance Allason and I have ten days to make our way down to Rome before heading back to good old San Francisco.

So far I've bought myself a travel book for Berlin and started making marks in it of what I want to do.  Allason and I have brainstormed ideas of what we might do too, but we haven't made any hard and fast decisions yet.  Have I mentioned that I'm excited?  I am.  Quite.  I'm going to be spending a month with some of my favorite people in the world seeing new things and (hopefully) speaking in a language I don't quite understand (My teacher said my pronunciation is getting better though).

Anyone have any ideas?

Around Town: Climbing SFMoMA

I've got climbing on the brain.  After a trip to Sports Basement last week all I can think of is when I'll get a chance to climb again.  I haven't been since October, and I'm really itching to go.  This lead to a lengthy discussion of instillation piece that's in the atrium of SFMoMA with my Grandpa.  I'm still a little puzzled as to the exact logistics of how it was done, but I think it's one of the coolest things there.

Of course, the exhibit we went to see, on Richard Serra's drawings, was no photography allowed.  I was a little ticked, but it was still a great exhibit.  Richard Serra is one of my favorite artists, because he forces you to experience his work, not just see it.  This showcase of his early work was a bit different then what I'm used to, but it was beautiful nonetheless.  One room in particular had two black canvases stretching to the ceiling.  When you enter the room completely you can feel the walls grow around you.  So cool.

These pictures are just general around the museum pictures.  Mostly the aforementioned instillation piece, and the sculpture garden.

We Smell Like Smoke

The Birthday Girl with her lovely boyfriend.

My friend Brittany's birthday was this weekend and so a bunch of us hung out at the beach, made a bonfire, and ate hot dogs and s'mores.  We watched the sunset and we were all taking pictures of everything.  Oh, the Waldorf children that we are.

This was the first time I've used this camera, it's a 6-year-old Nikon D50.  My dad got it for my mom as a present, but it was one of those presents that you say is for the other person, but is really for you.  When he upgraded, my sister laid claim to it, as I was uninterested at the time.  I commandeered it for while I'm home and may even take it with me back to Chicago.  Though, it doesn't seem to want to let me adjust the settings, so I'll have to get it checked out before I drag it all the way back.

Hanging out just before sunset (note the long shadows).

Owen finally arrived.

Playing with the light.

And practicing my framing.

My shoes.  Because I want to.

Manetteie!

Chicago DARSIT

Geeking out with my badge and program.

Where do I even begin?  Perhaps with the nearly two hour long trip it took my old roommate Sarah and I to get to Yorktown Center, where a conference actually called Chicago TARDIS, a tribute to all things Doctor Who, was being held.  We took two different forms of public transit from start to finish to get there.  We then paid the slightly painful price of $60 to get our badges allowing us free reign of the event space (clearly there will be more planning ahead next time).  And then, AND THEN we had a freaking blast.

This was the first time I'd ever been to a convention of any sort.  I wasn't sure about it.  I wasn't sure I would fit in because I didn't have enough time to make a costume.  I'm a normal girl with a bit of an obsession.  Who happens to want to work in the television industry.  That's what I was thinking, but I now quite clearly see that these reasons were exactly why I needed to go.

I needed the first hand knowledge that fandom was not completely crazy.  I needed to see for myself that nerds are awesome and I can fit in just fine with people if I just be myself.  I knew all of this before.  I just forget sometimes and need reminding.

Panels with titles like "People Dig Chicks Who Dig Time Lords" (It's a book.  Which I now own.), "I'll Tumblr For You", "If Silence Falls In An Empty Forest Will River Song Notice?", and "Inspector Spacetime: The Panel"; I nearly didn't know where to begin (and a call from my best friend while she's in London didn't help matters -- love you Al!)

These panel's taught me more that I ever expected to learn from a nerd convention.  I learned about creative licence verses sticking to the book.  I wrote down at least a dozen names that I need to have a proper sit down to google.  I got to know the entire history of a little known show called Inspector Spacetime all through the experts and show creators.  It was fabulous.

I think the best part of all of this was realizing how attainable it is.  With the Doctor Who fandom especially, the people who are now creating the show have been lifelong fans.  It's been around that long.  And the cycle will only continue.

I'm in Love with the Idea of: Drinking Beer in Foreign Countries

I'm a 20-year-old college student, so admittedly I have only drunk when in foreign countries.  No really.  Okay, not quite, but almost really.  Anyway, ever since a conversation that I remember overhearing about how real people drink beer straight from the bottle / can, and reading Gossip Girl after which I associated fruity cocktails with bratty, stuck up, rich kids; I thought that real people drink beer.  Straight from the can.  These "real people" may have a glass of wine at a dinner party or a specialty drink for different occasions (a mint julep while watching a horse race of example), but for the most part real people drank beer.

My problem is: I kind of hate beer.

Beer is light or dark.  It's thick.  It froths over the edges of the glass and makes strange patters on the glass.  Beer makes my teeth feel funny.  Funny in an icky, I-haven't-brushed-my-teeth-all-day sort of way.  Beer is sticky and smells weird.  I just don't really like it.

Cocktails on the other hand... brilliant.  Sugary, liquored up wonders that taste great and make me a little bit happy.  I can drink a few of those, but then again, that's not always the greatest idea in the world...

21 Before 21: The List

This will be an everlaaaaaasting love.  Oh wait, no.  This will be the post where I finally say my list of 21 before 21.  Twenty-one things I want to do before I turn twenty-one.  I've sort of kidnapped this idea from Sarah Von of Yes and Yes, so I always feel like I should give credit whenever I talk about it.  Go check out her blog, it's kind of one of the reasons I started a real blog.

Anywho.  21 Before 21 is my way of doing New Years Resolutions.  Some are more resolute-y than others, but the general idea is to get a bunch of stuff done throughout the year.  Since I have a September birthday it's also a great way of setting goals for the school year.  Well then, without further ado:

1. Read the whole bible
2. Go to a clothing swap
3. Vote
4. Create a Cookbook of Rachel
5. Start and complete a knitting project
6. Do a lead climb
7. Go snowboarding with friends
8. Go scuba diving
9. Bake Bread
10. Have a real sit-down dinner party
11. Plant a mini herb garden
12. Learn how to apply make-up
13. 100 push-up challenge
14. Improve my typing speed (I'm at around 60 wpm, and I think it's be really cool to get up to 80 or so)
15. Dye my hair with Kool-Aid
16. Go paint balling
17. Get my fortune told
18. Go for a month without looking in the mirror
19. Skip class and go out to breakfast
20. Go camping
21. * <edit> Buy Christmas presents with money saved </edit>

The last one is an asterisk because I actually still don't know what it's going to be.  No clue, which is a little irritating to me.  Everything I think of is too simple or completely impossible.  Maybe it should be a reading one, but I wouldn't know what book (to be honest, the "grown-up" section of the library scares me a bit).**

So, there's the list.  I haven't really done anything yet other than start a bible reading plan that will get me through the whole thing (awesome).  I have some recipes collected, some people in mind for a dinner party, and a connection to go diving, but other than that... Let's do this.

<edited to add>I'm adding "Buy Christmas presents for immediate family with money saved" to the list.  In past years I've always gone to get Christmas presents for people with my parents and they they would pay for the gifts.  This year I'm going to buy gifts for immediate family and some friends with my own money.  I've already started looking, and it's turning out to be a little harder than I thought.  But no matter, I'm pretty determined about this one.</edit>

Where are Your Feet?

I have rock climbed in various forms since 7th grade.  It started with weekly classes in middle school, when I broke my arm I took a really long break before getting back into it later in high school.  This past summer my friend Allason and I would go climbing together.  Usually in the morning before she had to go to work.  We would take turns on a few top rope climbs before she had to go, then I would bolder until I was sore.

One week this summer I showed her a boldering problem I was having a lot of trouble with.  I explained to her where my hands were, what point I was stuck on, and what I had been trying to do.

Then she asked the critical question.  Where were my feet?

Too far down was the answer in that situation.

But it got me thinking.  How often do we reach for something that is just out of reach?  We stretch so hard to try and grab something that we want to be ours, all in vain because it's just a bit too far.  What if our problem is not that what we're reaching for is too far, but that our feet aren't in the right spot?  The problem can easily be solved by adjusting our feet so that we can reach new heights.  Could it really be that easy?

20 Before 20: A Disappointing Wrap-Up

As many of you know it was a goal of mine to attempt 20 new things before my 20th birthday.  Sadly my birthday has come and gone, and half the list goes undone.  I hold out hope for next year though as I am putting the finishing touches on the 21 Before 21 list, and putting in place plans to actually go do the things on the list.  Yeah.  Anywho, here goes; the list of 20 things that were done or not done by my 20th birthday.


1.  Have a fancy tea party.  Not done, but I threw one for my old roommate's birthday which was immediately after mine.  Counts?
2.  Try out a crown braid.  DONE.  Has become a near-staple.
3.  Knit a hat. Not done, learning this winter from Elspeth.
4.  Bake a pie.  DONE.
5.  Read the whole bible.  Not done, on the list for next year and already working on it.
6.  Sew a pair of pants.  DONE.  Sort of, shorts count.
7.  Grow a herb garden.  Not done.
8.  Go on a hike.  DONE
9.  Go to a real concert.  DONE
10.Learn to navigate by bike  DONE
11.Send a care package.  Not done.
12.Organize a clothing swap.  Not done.
13.Learn to apply make-up.  Not done.
14.Be in a performance.  DONE  Sort of.
15.Go to a Critical Mass ride.  Not done.
16.Teach myself to play a song on the piano.  Not done
17.Post poetry online.  DONE
18.Skip class and go out to breakfast.  Not done.
19.Try yoga.  DONE
20.Go camping.  Not done.


Total things done: 9
Total things not done: 11
Things from this year on next years list: 7


Next week look for my new list of 21 Before 21.

Around Town: Austin

So, in keeping with tradition, I will do a post on my weekend trip out to the Austin neighborhood for my InterVarsiy chapter's retreat.  I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that this isn't a normal "Around Town / Around the World" post in that I didn't go to Austin for a vacation like the other places I've written about so far.  Also, I am notoriously bad at remembering to take pictures, and since the weekend was so short I have no pictures whatsoever.

Now that all is out of the way let's get down to it.  I went to the Austin neighborhood with a handful of other members of my school's InterVarsity chapter.  We meet up with a handful of students from DePaul University's InterVarsity chapter as well.  On Friday night we spent time getting to know each other, eating way too much cheep, off-brand candy, and talking about what God is doing in Austin.

And God is doing so much.  Austin is a neighborhood that was radically changed in the 60's with white flight and is now a heavily black neighborhood where a significant percentage (I don't remember the number) of the population is living under the poverty line.  I struggle sometimes with how I should be dealing with race in my daily life and this retreat was occationally uncomfortable in that I was usually the only white chick there.

Being the minority is a switch for me as in most other places I am the majority.  I was a good experience for me to be the one that looks out of place.  My school is big on diversity and is always bragging about our amount of diversity, but I find that it isn't mentioned much outside of the admissions process and the office of Multi-Cultural Affairs.  The thing is though, that we are all broken people.  "Black", "white", "red", "brown", "yellow", what-have-you, we are all broken somehow by the pain and hardships that come with living.

The amazing thing is the community that grows when people are in such tough situations.  On Saturday I went with a small team to a local church and we helped them with cleaning their sanctuary; sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms and polishing pews.  I learned that the church building is nearly a hundred years old and was built as a catholic church.  The current owners of the building are a Baptist church, and they've been there for 18 years.  The church congregation has been meeting in some fashion for nearly 50 years in the same neighborhood.

Saturday night we went out for Soul food (am I spelling that right?), and debriefed with each other talking about what we'd done in the afternoon.  Once again we ate too much food.  This time it was more nutritious than candy.  That night I sang hymns because I freaking love hymns.  Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em.  Apparently this is abnormal for a person my age.  I don't even care.  I could also talk for a very long time about stained glass windows, but I'll spare you.  For now.  I feel like there will be a post about one or both of these subjects at some point in the future*.

My love of hymns was actualized even more so when we sang a few in church Sunday morning.  I was in awe of the love and peace that surrounded the church.  The sermon talked about a lot of things, but the part that especially stuck with me was the mention of tithing.  I needed that reminder and still do as I figure out my finances for the rest of the school year half based on the atypical month of September.  Which is now October and feels to be very officially fall.

The chill in the air followed me back all the way to the Loop as the whole lot of us took the green line home again, home again.  Beginning again with "normal" life was a bit of a strange experience.  There was homework to be done, dishes to be put away, and Doctor Who to watch (Umm, guys?  Doctor Who? Anybody?).  Good-bye Austin.  You've taught me much, and I wait to see what else I have to learn.  Thank you for letting me stay, and bringing me back.

*But I also promised a post on farmers market meals and an "Around the World" post for my Denver / Boulder.

Beauty in the Broken: Waldorf

I often find the things that are the most broken and beat up the most beautiful as well.  Anything can be beautiful, you just have to look hard enough to find the beauty in it.  Sometimes it's hard.  Sometimes it's buried underneath layers and layers of history and pain.  Sometimes the ache has instead brought the beauty to the surface in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise.  

The fact that this former mining town is called Waldorf is not lost on me.  I wonder what the name comes from.  I know only the connotations it holds for me, not the history of the name in this place.  We had a bumpy ride up through a dry creek bed and we went in the complete wrong direction, but eventually we found Waldorf.  Gold flecks glimmered in the dirt piles as we ate lunchmeat sandwiches made that morning.  The place felt familiar.  Like an old friend.  Perhaps it was the shared name with my school.  Perhaps the quiet.  Perhaps more.  I think most of all it was the silence.  The thought that no one had lived here, truly lived here, in decades.

It was beautiful.

Around Town: Rocks and Stuff also: Denver

On my way to Denver today.  Going to visit my Uncle and do some rock climbing.  I'm pretty excited for this trip even though it is pretty short.  It will get me out of town before school starts which will be nice, and it will also give me a chance to go rock climbing outside.  I've only ever been indoor climbing, and I'm kind of addicted.  So today, a few pictures of my bestie Allason and I climbing in good old San Francisco.

While I'm gone I have a few posts lined up.  A few before and after projects that I've been super excited to show off.  Catch you on the flip side.

This chica is about to embark on a crazy awesome trip to Uganda and the Congo for a few months.  I'm so excited for her and I'm praying for her so much!  I'm going to miss her like mad, but I think after all is said and done she will be coming to spend some time in my bathtub (sorry, inside joke).

It Has To Be Done

I wasn't going to do a Harry Potter post.  I really wasn't.  Only, now it's 1 in the morning and I've been on Tumblr for hours.  I think this sort of has to be done because how else am I going to get past it?  The short version: I got there at 6:30 and didn't get home til 4, and I wouldn't change it for the world.  From waiting in line for ages, all the way through unexpected friends and a crowded bus ride.  (Spoilers under the cut)