Summer Sights

Saturday, 28 June 2014Wednesday, 24 December 2014 Starr1 Comment

Hello friends!

I’ve been feeling crummy about not updating here, especially given that my Alaska posts are just sitting there waiting to be polished and posted. A lot of things have been going on that I’ll update you all on later, but I wanted to let you know that I am still thinking of you – 5 regular readers and people stumbling here by accident.

Summer is in full swing here in the DC area. It’s the first summer I’m working through, so I always feel like summer hasn’t quite arrived yet. There have been a few moments that remind me it has.

The other night, I had come home late from work, as I’ve been doing more and more often these days. I walked out to pick up our mail, my skin breathing in the humidity and missing the crisp freshness of Alaskan air. I looked up to see stars twinkling through the leaves of one of my front yard trees. As I looked closer, I realized that there were also fireflies sitting amongst the leaves, blinking with the stars.

Another day, I was driving back from the train station. The forecast predicted severe thunderstorms, and I could already see foreboding clouds brewing up ahead. But when I made a turn, the sky before me was split. On my right loomed storm clouds several miles ahead, creeping up with slate greys and purples. On my left, however, it was clearer. A dusty pink-orange spilled over as the sun set, casting a glow on a few clouds that were not threatening rain.

I have a lot in store for the blog once I get my life sorted out. Alaska posts are coming. Europe posts will be completed. More up-to-date life recaps. Fun posts. Less fun posts. I have so many things I want to share with you all.

I just need to find the time!

Spotted on the Georgetown Waterfront: the coolest dog

NaNoWriMo 2013

Monday, 4 November 2013 Starr3 Comments

This is my first year even thinking about trying, but I will be attempting to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) this year!

The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November. That’s an awful lot of words, and I only started today, so I’m quite behind. This is a busy month, but I like the idea of having something productive and creative to do when (if?) I have free time.

At first I had exactly zero ideas. This was November 1st. I am going to try to write something with a friend who had a super cool idea based on a dream she had. But THEN yesterday, I remembered I had an interesting daydream that could become a story. I’m not sure if it can be 50,000 words, but it is a promising story.

The problems I am having are:

Perfectionism. Perfectionism is the enemy of NaNoWriMo, so this has been making it difficult for me to just plow through daily word count goals.
Planning, er, lack thereof. Not having things planned out will bite me in the butt very soon.
Research. Originally, the story setting was a 19th century tavern, but given that I don’t really have the knowledge to write in this setting, I changed it to a hotel bar. The problem is I still don’t know much about this setting either, so I will be set back by little spurts of research sprees.

I’m pretty excited, though! This has been kind of fun, so far. Feel free to add me as a writing buddy if you are also participating this year. 🙂

Dusk, By Any Other Name…

Tuesday, 8 October 2013Wednesday, 20 April 2016 Starr1 Comment

Yesterday, while I was driving home from work, I saw the most gorgeous array of colors in the sky as the sun set. Since I was driving, I wasn’t able to photograph it.

So I thought I’d try painting a picture for you all, an exercise in articulating my thoughts.

The entire sky seemed to be ablaze. Instead of light beaming down from the sun in its pocket of the sky, I felt bathed by the glow of every cloud, reflecting a soft rosy warmth from every direction.

Blushing feathery wisps were spread across the heavens. The rare slices of sky that were not this dusty pink remained a vibrant blue, cerulean spilling forth and stealing glances between swirls of clouds aflame.

As the sun continued its dive towards the horizon, the flush of the clouds gave way to vivid plum hues, the ends of which were still dripping with that fiery scarlet. The dusky violets crept across the sky, overtaking the persistent azure, chasing the retreating embers until they shrinked back, back behind the treetops.

Or something like that.

Potentially Familiar Face

Tuesday, 13 August 2013Wednesday, 20 April 2016 StarrLeave a comment

I noticed you looking at me for a few seconds longer than a random glance warranted.
I found myself looking back for a few seconds longer than a return glance warranted.

He looks familiar.

You were on my radar from that point on. I was always aware of where you were, else I was trying to discreetly take in the sights while scanning for you. I would catch you looking in my direction a few times more, but never with the same kind of lingering glance as that first one I caught, but I would catch myself looking for you more times than I care to admit.

A few times, I managed to stand next to you while we read exhibit placards. I would look shyly at you, but you didn’t seem to notice. I would tell myself that you would look over at me when I wasn’t watching, but…

… most of me is sure that I created something between us and fixated on this imagined bond. That, if anything, you probably feared this girl who you’d always catch looking your way, standing near you in the crowd, failing to hide a smile.

But you looked so familiar to me.

I was mustering the courage all day to try to ask you why. “Hey, I’m so sorry, but you look really familiar, do I know you from somewhere?” Just as I was about to gather up enough gall to approach you, I was called away.
I caught you looking around for someone then.

Why did you look so familiar to me? Maybe I did know you from somewhere. Maybe it’s because you looked a bit like a friend of my brother’s or something. Maybe you just have one of those faces. Maybe I didn’t know you at all.

If I was more romantically available, or more romantic at all, maybe you were a figure from a not-too-distant future. Maybe your face is one that would become so familiar to me in the future that this familiarity permeated time and space into today.

Or maybe you were thinking these things about the guy standing behind me.