Book Review

I just can't get this review out of my head so I'll put it in yours...

Jennifer Weiner picks Geek Love
by Katherine Dunn
How to describe Geek Love? It's the story of a family of circus freaks headed up by a matriarch who deliberately ingests poison when she's pregnant so that her kids' resulting deformities will guarantee their lifelong employment. Our heroine, her daughter, is a hunchback albino dwarf named Olympia, and the book details her childhood; her lifelong love affair with her limbless brother Arturo, who forms a cult of voluntary amputees; and her quest to rescue their lovely (but with a little something extra) daughter Miranda from unspeakable peril. Huh. Maybe just say it's a story about a dysfunctional family, the longing for normality and the enduring bond of a mother's love, and tell your friends they won't be sorry.

I guess it's time I post

I started this blog thinking it would force me to write more and share with others. I guess I needed a break. : ) My trip to China didn't pan out. Not enough people signed up for the class. Hopefully it will be offered again next year. Sigh. I was really looking forward to a big adventure. The good news is that I took some of the money I saved and bought a banjo. I've been taking classes for about 3 months with an awesome instructor at the Homestead Pickin' Parlor. He tells stories while he gives me lessons. I guess his father was a classical musician and saw music in colors. I wonder what that would be like. When I was little I would see colors if I pressed hard on my eyes... Anyway, I enjoy going getting my lesson once a week because he gets excited whether I play well or not. I like exciting people. I also love old time bluegrass music!
Last week I went to see Arlo Guthrie perform. He was wonderful! I could write all kinds of things about him but I guess to sum it up I would have to say that he was just a well rounded performer who put on a great show. He played several instruments and sang all kinds of songs from Old Shep to the Motorcycle Song. He told a poem about a moose and shared some stories about performing at Woodstock. He also talked about his dad and made jokes about himself, the audience, and even Pete Seeger. It was an inspiring night.
On another note, my job is going well. I have been getting supervised for two years to prepare me for my clinical exam. My paperwork was sent to the state social work board and I'm just waiting for the green light to take the test. Then the pressure will be on. Once I pass a few more doors are supposed to open for me. I don't know how I feel about that. Am I supposed to know what I want to do? Nah, I'm finding out that planning only takes up time...

China!

I'm going to China! Thanks to the Minneapolis Community & Technical College for opening up a China Insights tour to the public. I've been feeling antsy to take a trip lately so when I saw the trip to China I thought I might as well go for it. The tour is 17 days long. I can't wait! Here's the list of of things the program includes...

Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai!
Jiaxing City
Triple Pagoda
Jing-Hang Grand Canal
Wu Zheng
Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou City
Shanghai Museum
Jiaxing Museum
Shaoxing
Hangzhou
The Forbidden City
The Summer Palace
Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall
The Great Wall
The Ming Tombs
The Temple of Heaven

Life Lesson

On February 1st it will be two years since I moved to Minneapolis. I remember the date because four months before that I had moved back to Iowa from Alaska. Before I begin, I should go even further back to when I graduated from college and moved to Nome, Alaska. I graduated with a social work degree and I was eager to work with Native Americans. I had finished up my senior year with an internship at the Division of Indian Work here in Minneapolis and had my sights on finding a job on a reservation or joining the Peace Corps. Instead, a friend told me about an interesting volunteer program at a radio station in bush Alaska that broadcast to several isolated Native villages. Within a week my application was dropped off at the post office. On July 1, 2002, I boarded a plane for Alaska. I had signed a contract to volunteer at KNOM for one year. After a year, I signed on for another. After two years, I took a job with Kawerak Native Corporation. Three years in Nome. It was the experience of a lifetime in so many ways; good, bad and a little something in the middle. Living in isolation does something to a person. Want to know what it does? Ask me over a beer! Just don't ask me after three. Anyway, after three years, I decided to return to the midwest for my master's degree. Since I already had my bachelor's degree in social work, I finished my MSW in one year. At the end of the year, KNOM offered me a job and I gladly accepted. I returned to Nome with my sights set on a future in Alaska. Yes, I would continue to advocate for Native issues. Yes, I would get married. Yes, I would build a life on the tundra and allow myself to be swallowed up by mother nature! I gladly traded in my professional clothes for a full suit of Carhart and fleece. Three months later, after finding my soul being sucked away in several different ways, I quit my job, ended a handful of relationships, and boarded a plane for Chicago. With tears streaming down my face and my possesions packed in a bag, I learned one of life's biggest lessons. Life doesn't always turn out the way you plan.
I had my whole life planned out (or thought I did) when I had left for Alaska. I returned to find that I didn't know what I was going to do the next day. I sulked for awhile. I got angry. I felt defeated and then I slowly put myself back together. I felt a need for a plan, but nothing was really calling out to me so I decided to try something different. The city. On New Year's Eve two years ago, I declared that I would be moving to Minneapolis. On February 1, 2007, I packed up a few boxes and moved into a small room in a lady's basement. It was actually the same room I rented when I interned my senior year of college. The same room I had completed my phone interview with KNOM. Only this time I didn't have a plan. Two years later, and I find that life is good. I took a chance without a plan and it has worked out for the best. I've found myself again in my little apartment by the lake. I'm a social worker at a residential facility for adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses. I've gotten back into performing improvised comedy and what initially was a hobby, has now become an obsession. I've found friendships with creative, interesting and caring people. I still pull out my fleece and take walks in the snow, rain and sunshine. I no longer feel isolated. I'm more open to the unknown than I ever was in the past. At times, I still worry about the future, but I'm finding it more comforting to enjoy what is.

Highlights of 2008

Highlights of 2008

Parasailing in Mexico
Becoming a member of The Outtakes
Watching my dad enjoy retirement
Attending the NKOTB concert (a childhood dream come true!)
Getting my nose pierced
Scoring a fantastic date from an arm wrestling match
Having my brother return safely from Iraq
Starting up a successful family support program at work
Watching Obama make history
Bonding with my mom over rum and cigars on Thanksgiving

Overall, it was a great year. Although I’m sorry to see it come to an end, my arms are wide open for 2009. Cheers!

Checklist for the upcoming year:

Ski/camp/hike more
Try snowboarding
Look through old family pictures with my mom
Fish with my dad
Travel (Possibly China this year)
Attain my clinical social work license
Visit my extended family in Oregon
Go whitewater rafting on the boundary waters
Take banjo lessons
Learn longform improv
Try to play hard in every aspect of my life

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.
~Henry Ward Beecher

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Christmas

When I was growing up my dad would take my brothers on a week long hunting trip every year. While they were away hunting, my mom and I made our own memories. I loved spending time with my mom. She would call my school and tell them I was sick. This was a secret tradition we kept for many years. While "sick" my mom and I would shop for gifts and decorate the house for Christmas. It took several trips to bring down all of the Christmas decorations from the attic. I can still remember the smell of the attic in the house I grew up in. Such a sweet smell. We lived in an old stucco house on a bluff. If you ask me it was perfect for Christmas. High ceilings for a big tree. A fireplace for the stockings my grandma in Oregon made. Actually, she misspelled my name for years. My stocking said Emilie. She also made us a nativity scene. It always took us the longest to arrange the scene just right on the mantle. From my mom's childhood we had bubble lights and an old white ceramic Christmas tree full of holes for tiny colored pegs. It was my job to insert the pegs. Over the years we lost some of the original pegs and half of them were replaced by pegs from my Light-Bright. I remember turning it around and around to make sure the colors were evenly spread out. In my eyes the house was gorgeous. When we were done decorating we would turn off all the lights except for the Christmas lights and sit and talk into the night. If I ever have kids, I hope to pass along the tradition of calling them in sick once a year for the sake of Christmas.

I Blog?

Wow, my very first post on my very own blog. This is a big step for me. A few years ago I didn't even have a cell phone. In the past year I've made leaps and bounds. First, I set up a gmail account. Then I got on facebook. Now look at me! To be honest, I've tried to start a blog twice but I ended up deleting it before I put anything up. I've decided to make bolder choices and this is one of them. I call it Meat and Cheese because I love the food items as well as deep and not so deep discussions. So here it is folks...the inner workings of Emily. (Insert Cheers theme song here)