Interesting Human

So if you haven't caught on yet, I'm an interested person.

I'm interested in everything, and I want to learn about everything. From the time I was real little (we're talking elementary school little) I have watched the adults around me, and noticed that the ones who seemed happiest were ones who did something. The ones that had a hobby, or a craft, or just something to talk about that they liked. Like I've mentioned I grew up in a musical family and so I've watched countless times as my dad stomped to his piano, fuming with frustrations of life, and rose from the bench an hour later completely happy and at peace. He would play standards from the 40's Everyone needs something that is their own, that they created and take part in, to keep them sane in life.

Once I pinned that epiphany down, I made it my goal to do stuff. Always. I make it a conscious effort to explore things I don't know how to do. It may be hard, but after I flub around for a bit I'll finally get the feeling that there's one more thing I can add to the list of things I can do. I can knit, cook, sew a tiny bit, I can work with clay, I can paint, I can play french horn and piano, I can change a tire and my oil (but only if really necessary...I choose to shun these tasks most of the time), I can lay tile and grout, I can perform CPR and limited first aid and I can play 'name that tune' with the best of them.

The Heinlein quote above represents my feelings on life pretty fairly. I feel like if I am not moving and learning and becoming capable of doing things for myself, then I have fallen short of my goals. So every day I try to push myself either towards furthering an existing passion, or into finding the next.


All of this is to share something new that I am pretty excited (anxious!!) about. I went to an event recently called Poetic Justice, which is a poetry reading/art show in one of the artsy districts in town. I heard about it via Facebook, and it turns out that the show was created by a bunch of kids I went to high school with. I went to their very first one at the beginning of April, and had a great time. More importantly, though, I realized that when I was watching the readers I was thinking to myself "I could do that. I could so do that." The more I thought those words, the more another thought popped up: "then why the hell don't I?" Ain't a damn thing stopping me...in fact, I'm sure that this crowd would love more interest, more support. So I decided that if there was another Poetic Justice, that I would be in it.

I've been writing a bit of poetry for a while now, nothing serious or anything. I like words and I like to arrange them in ways that roll off of my tongue. I've got a small little collection tucked in a Google Doc in my Gmail of all of the poetry I've written since I was in high school. I know it's nothing to write a 50-page paper about, but they're my words and my emotions and I like them. I emailed a few of my favorites to the event creator and he 'liked my concepts' and said I was in! Easy peasy. Now the hard part will be getting up in front of a room of people and reading my words off as they were intended (as in, not shaky and nervous in a tiny mouse voice). I'm proud of myself for getting this far, and I'm sure I'll be just as proud once I'm walking back off the stage.

This will be me in approximately a week and a half!