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Monday, January 9, 2012

Books, Art, and Music

I used to love to read. I'd go through a Nancy Drew book a week, and when I finished all of them (yes, every single one) I started the Hardy Boys books. I read effortlessly, enthusiastically, and relentlessly. My parents used to tell me to have to put my book down at the dinner table because it was as if I wasn't there, and I wasn't. I read until I lost track of time, until I knew the characters as my best friends, and until my eyes burned in the early hours of the morning. I feel like I lost that person in middle school and high school when reading became a chore. I would love to get back to that place where I can lose myself entirely in a book. I would love to read the famous, brilliant works of art that grace pop culture references that fly over your head until you know the words from the text, and I want to read the books that were banned until we came into a more progressive era, and the ones that nobody has heard of but speak the words in my heart in ways I don't know how to express. Lately I've had this craving to inject my life with more passion. I love photography and connect with music in a way I don't think most people do. They are both part of my life every day, but I long to feel more enriched by the world. I want to get back to playing guitar, and invest some time in the film camera I have, and read those books that I will fall in love with. The only problem is college. When I am there I can't do those things without feeling guilty, like there is some sort of work or studying that I should be doing instead. But, I would love to try so I'm setting some goals:


  • To be to constantly reading something unrelated to academics, even if I only have time for a few pages each day or every few days.
  • To bring my camera with me even when I don't think I will use, want, or need it. So many of my favorite pictures have been taken when I happen to have my camera with me, not when I set out to take pictures. That's part of what photography is for me - finding beauty in the unexpected. 
  • Put some real time into getting better at the guitar. I get frustrated easily because my hands are small and sometimes I find a tab that involves a chord that I physically can't play because my fingers won't reach. Guitar is something you need to struggle through to get good at, and isn't easy to start, but will be well worth the hard work if I can get good at it.
  • Continue to work out. I feel unspeakably alive when I am done running. I feel more connected to the Earth and the world around me, I am happier, and I feel better about myself. I am not in it to lose weight, but to be healthier and feel better every day.


Too many disconnect from the world. I don't want to forget the novels that inspired, the music that made us survive, or the passions that express the innermost secrets of our hearts.


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