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My Impossible List

For the longest time now, I've had a bucket list in some form or another. However, it was always a nagging reminder of what I hadn't done - never a spur in my side to push me forward. Today I threw out that bucket list and replaced it with something infinitely better: an Impossible List.

Joel Runyan - blogger, stuff-doer, people-inspirer - runs a blog outlining his ideas about doing the impossible
 and living a life that reaches for something beyond what you think you're capable of. A main part of doing this involves developing your own Impossible List - a list of goals you thought were "the sort of things that I assumed the cool guys on TV only ever got to do. The things I never thought that I would be able to do."

The Impossible List is not a bucket list. A bucket list is "made up at one point in time that most people don’t end up actually incorporating into their lives and discard when things get tough." Far from this, the Impossible List is a "fluid, updating status of what’s coming, what’s next and where you’ve come from. It’s always changing, always updating and always evolving. The impossible list isn’t just a piece of paper, it’s a commentary to yourself on how you’re living."

I've spent a lot of time lately contemplating my goals and how little I've done to reach them or improve myself in many areas. When I saw Runyan's impossible list, I was inspired to do my own. And I did.

Here it is:

Life:

- Go out 50 times to be social and develop people-skills

Creative:
- Start a Youtube channel
- Self-publish an illustrated children's book
- Learn to sing well within my range
- Finish Intermediate level piano books
- Finish a portrait in oils
- Finish my Aesculapius painting
- Finish a still-life with fruit in oils
- Finish my 30-lesson watercolor book
- Learn to play Cristofori's Dream

Health Fitness
- Become a morning person
- Fit into my old jeans
- Increase stamina so I can practice dancing for 30+ minutes without being dead-tired

Activities:
- Memorize The Ballad of Reading Gaol 
- Read 3,159 books (beat George Vanderbilt's record)
- Learn to speed-read
- Make $10+ on the stock market

Skills:
- Fluency in Spanish
- Fluency in French or Norwegian
- Semi-fluency in French or Norwegian
- Master 4 soft-shoe dances
- Master the 6 hard-shoe dances
- Learn to waltz
- Learn to use graphic design software
- Become a decent Go player (win 50% of non-practice games)
- Learn to appreciate opera

So, there it is. Let's see how it goes.

So Many Books . . .

My reading habits have reached a breaking point, and I've had a revelation.

It started like this . . . 

While composing an e-mail today, I found myself debating which font to use. "Calibri" was the default, but I wanted something that looked like I put some effort into my e-mail and didn't just go with the default. I tried "Consolas," but it was too clinical, cold, outdated, and impersonal. I switched to "Sylfaen." I love it's name, and it has a magical, Times New Romanesque look that doesn't look too "default." However, its serifs make it a bit too busy for an e-mail that I'm hoping won't look too long and time-consuming. I considered Helvetica (which reminded me of the "Helvetica" documentary on Netflix; if you haven't seen it, watch it now!) before settling on "Candara." 

Considering these fonts made me see them as what they were - artwork. Artwork with style and meaning and a heckuva lot of consideration that went into their design. Each font has a specific feel to it; choosing the right one is often not an easy task. While thinking of these things and writing my e-mail, I thought, "There's that one really good book about fonts - "Just My Type" - that I've wanted to get." Then I realized -

I OWN that book.

IT IS IN MY POSSESSION.

RIGHT.

NOW.

It was like forgetting and then realizing I owned a trunk of gold ingots. HOW DO YOU FORGET ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

This brings me to my point: I've needed to finish reading the books I own, but now, for the first time in a long time, I want to read the books I have more than I want to buy more books.

I haven't finished my book inventory yet, but I'm pretty sure I have more unread books compared to read books in my shelves right now. While I know I should read them, the siren's call of new books and my unfortunate book-hopping reading habits have made it near impossible to finish all the unread books. However, forgetting that I owned "Just My Type" is a wake-up call. When you FORGET that you own a certain book - a book that you had looked forward to owning for the longest time and were exceptionally excited to find at the bookstore - you know you've reached a breaking point.

For so long, I've bought about 2 books for every one I finished. I figured it would all work out in the end because I was going to eventually read them all, but now I realize that I can't just be stock-piling books for later.

Now is Later.

On my shelves are all these books that I've been holding off on - like saving the coconut-chocolate-piece in a Russel's chocolate box for last. I see Maphead, Reading in the Brain, Darwin's Proof, What the Dog Saw, Who's Afraid of Opera?, The Rise of Thedore Roosevelt, etc., and, for the first time in quite a while, their appeal far outweighs the appeal of the books I want to buy. Suddenly, they aren't the tired titles that have been on my shelves for years, they're the friends I've neglected for too long. I don't want any more books. I'm excited to enjoy these long-neglected morsels here.  

Rant #1: Disney's First Hispanic Princess (?)

       Disney announced their first Latina princess, controversy ensued when she was revealed to be an auburn-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned girl, and now Disney is saying she isn't Latina. Apparently, she is of a sort of Spanish-Scandinavian background and the story focuses on her living in a European-looking kingdom (Enchancia) modeled on the British Isles as she adjusts to her new royal step-family. Also, there appears to be little attention paid to the Hispanic side of her ethnic background and she is voiced by a Caucasian actress. Huh?

        As I read the various articles detailing the backlash, I found that most of the reader's vehement comments centered on how you don't have to look a certain way to be Hispanic. There were many comments like, "I have blue eyes and fair skin, and it bothers me when people say  I don't look like a Rodriguez," or "Go to (insert name of country here) and you'll see a lot of fair-complexioned Hispanic people." First of all, I'd like to say that I agree whole-heartedly with them. You certainly don't need to look a certain way to be Hispanic. My Hispanic mother has a lighter complexion and lighter brown eyes and her mother has light skin and green eyes (Spanish roots from 400 years back; long story). I am perfectly aware that we Hispanics have different backgrounds and a large spectrum of different hair, skin, and eye colors.

      What bothers me is that Disney chose the more fair-skinned, Caucasian-looking end of that spectrum. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a fair-skinned Hispanic. I'm sure all the fair-skinned Hispanics out there (who seem to make up the majority of the commenters online I've read) appreciate there being a Hispanic character that looks like them. However, what about everyone else? I live in an area near the border. What about all the people who look like me and the majority of people around me? Did we really need another super-fair-skinned princess? It's hard to write this without trying to sound like I care too much about looks, but at the root of it, it's her looks that matter.

       When "The Princess and the Frog" was released, I remember seeing stories on TV that put a spotlight on Tiana being the first African-American Disney princess. There were little girls saying, "There's a princess who looks like me!" If they had chosen a fair-skinned Tiana, people would have thrown a fit. In one of the "Sofia" article comments I read, one person wrote that they work with children, and one 3-year old told her that she "can't be a princess because her hair isn't blonde." People notice these things.

     As I mentioned before, Sofia lives in a fairy tale land called Enchancia. Her mother is from Galdiz, a country modeled on Spain, and her father is from a country modeled on Scandinavia. Let me repeat that - Galdiz is "modeled" on Spain. Unlike the Tiana-New Orleans, Mulan-China, Pocahontas-America combos, Sofia isn't even from a real country. Hispanics are the largest minority in the U.S. and our supposed first princess is from a European fantasy world.

      As previously mentioned, Enchancia is modeled on the British isles and Sofia's ancestry lies in countries modeled on parts of Europe. Now, if I look 400 years back on my family tree, I can find some European roots, but I certainly don't think of myself as being European. I, and a lot of the Hispanics around me, have roots in Mexico or other countries south of the border. Why did they make her European? Don't we have enough European princesses?

       Also, why did they initially announce that she was the first Latina Disney princess and then not put any emphasis on her culture? I feel like it was just an afterthought to them - "Oh, hey, we can say she's from a country modeled on Spain and then we can call her the first Latina Disney princess! Everyone will think we care about diversity!" Now, they've announced that she was never meant to be Latina in the first place.
Disney's Statement: "What’s important to know is that Sofia is a fairytale girl who lives in a fairytale world. All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures." Wow, Disney, somehow I never knew that New Orleans, America, and China were fantasy worlds.

       Another beef I have: Why is the first Hispanic Disney princess in a kids' movie on a Disney kids' TV channel? Is Disney running out of money? Did they not want to waste time on a full-blown movie? Why isn't Sofia getting the full-blown Disney princess treatment? Everyone knows you're not a legit Disney princess unless you sing incredibly catchy, beautiful songs and have a bedsheet set sold at Walmart.

      Something else that I'm wondering about is why Disney gave her mixed heritage. Disney is claiming that because Sofia has mixed-heritage, she is like many girls out there who are have mixed-heritage as well. I agree with this; not everyone has just Hispanic roots. There's a lot of diversity out there today. She is certainly familiar in that regard if you have strong feelings about your mixed-heritage, but why did Disney decide to do this with the first Hispanic princess? Why didn't they make her as Hispanic as Pocahontas was Native American, or as Tiana was African-American, or as Mulan was Chinese?

My two last problems: I watched the trailer and noticed two things.
1) The animation looks weird.
2) Sofia is way too clumsy and her problems look overblown. How can someone possibly fall over and drop books that easily? It's like in Twilight where Bella's big flaw that makes her more human is her clumsiness. 0_0 Really? Do you actually know anyone in real life who is "clumsy"? Does that make them human or cute or relate-able? No. It makes me wonder if they have sight or balance problems. Also, you can't pour tea well enough? Too bad you don't have a castle full of servants to do it for you. Oh, wait . . .

So, in a nutshell, this whole Sofia thing bothers me because
1) Disney chose to model their first Latina princess on the fairer skinned end of the Hispanic spectrum.
2)  She's not even from a real Hispanic country
3) I have yet to see any emphasis on her ethnic background. Making her Hispanic looks like an afterthought on Disney's part.
4) They gave her a weirdly animated kids' movie and not the full Disney princess treatment.
5) The animation looks weird.
6) Sofia's clumsiness doesn't advance anything - it doesn't make her look like she's having difficulty adjusting to Royal life, or that she's just like everyone else. It makes her look like she has balance or sight problems.

My biggest question about all of this is why do I care and why did I just waste so much time writing about this?! 

Identifying with Memes?

How wrong is it that you find yourself identifying with Paranoid Parrot?

Ramblings #1 Art Inspiration

Normally, I'd start this post with a preamble on how sorry I've been for not posting and keeping this blog current; however, I am well aware that no one reads this blog but me, so I'll just get to my main post.

Excellent things that catch my eye always inspire me to do better in that area of my life. Bill Bryson's writing encourages me to improve mine, watching videos of people dancing encourages me to practice, and looking at appealing artwork makes me want to improve my own. Kathryn Elyse Rodgers makes such artwork.

An apparel designer based out of Boston (soon, Spain), she posts her work on a blog ( http://paperfashion.net/) that I delight in perusing. Her watercolors are delovely - not super-realistic, just colorful, fun, and done with ink (have I already mentioned that I ADORE pen and ink drawings?).

There are just some things - clever sentences, particularly fun-looking steps, certain juxtapositions of lines and colors - that give you that jolt of motivation to practice your own. Ms. Rodgers' blog gives me jolts by the dozen. Even now, looking at this piece with the multi-layered skirt, ink lines, and fun shadows makes me want to practice my own drawings.

One Year Down, Ten More to Go!!!

Before I get to more serious stuff, I need to get something off my chest:

OMIGOSH-I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-FRESHMAN-YEAR-IS-OVER!!!! ONE-YEAR-DOWN-AND-TEN-MORE-TO-GO!!!!!

*cough-cough* Okay. I feel better. Now I can proceed.


On August 23 of last year (only a couple of posts ago; I know - I need to write more) I wrote about my anxiety over college. I actually wrote the following words:

"Don't worry. In a fortnight, I'll be blogging about how wonderful college is and how great and sunny my existence is turning out to be."

Well, it's been more than a fortnight, and college isn't exactly a sunny wonderland, but it's not the hellish existence I feared it would be. The light bulbs in the bathroom have been out for over a week, there is almost no school pride, and the library is only open 'till 11:45 pm, but I rather like UTPA. Tuition is cheap, it only takes about ten minutes to get to class from waking in bed to arriving, the cafeteria occasionally has whole-wheat noodles, the professors are accessible, the LAC is helpful (Mr. Mike and Dean are wonderful!), Carlos works here as a TA (FYI, Carlos is the greatest TA to have ever lived), and I get to see my family and Yorkie every weekend.

That post from last year reminded me of something about this new chapter of my life. It reminded me that this chapter, too, will end in three short years and another anxiety-inducing chapter will begin: medical school. It reminded me that I need to enjoy and make the most of where I am and what I am doing because it won't last forever.

All in all, it's been a very good year (whoa - I just thought of that Frank Sinatra song!). Now without further ado, I present the Freshman Year Recap, which is a list of some of the things I've done in the past school year.

Freshman Year Recap:

1) Made friends
2) Got stains on my lab coat
3) Went to the hospital (I really wish I had better veins. I think my nickname is going to become "pincushion")
4) Survived Dr. Wedig's lab
5) Didn't have to take psychology
6) Stayed up 'till 4:00 am finishing a biology report
7) Stayed up 'till 3:00 am studying for A&P
8) Drank an undisclosed amount of coffee
9) Learned that coffee demineralizes your bones. (oh, yippee.)
10) Won 1st place (unopposed) at a state HOSA competition.
11) Ran to class
12) Reached into various buckets and pulled out kidneys, brains, and dead creatures (that smelled of formaldehyde). The kidney bucket was the worse.
13) Spammed Noora and Laraib's Facebook walls.
14) Watched pigeons grow and leave the nest
15) Lived in the Troxel dormitory during its last year
16) Went to Moonbeans with Katie and Joana; drank iced coffee, played card games and learned new threats ("Jesus loves you and so do I, but you're going DOWN." Don't ask and you won't know).
17) Learned that anything you don't study WILL be on the test. It's a universal, unwritten law.
18) Learned that India won the World Cricket Championship
19) Learned lots of Biology, Chemistry, and A&P.
20) Learned how to use an ATM machine. *SIGH* That day will forever live in my memory . . . and NOT for positive reasons.


Top 7 Things I Still Don't Understand:
1) How Dr. Edwards has more than 206 bones in his body
2) Why there are random coins cemented into the walkway.
3) If the change machine is ever going to give back the $3.75 it stole from me
4) Why spell check thinks "glucose" and "fructose" are okay but counts "galactose" as incorrect?
5) How people can study all this biology and still insist that the universe wasn't designed
6) Why the crossing signs at the intersection don't let you get back to the UTPA side of the street.
7) Why people who write graffiti go to the library

This year has been great and next year will be even better. In the words of the tenth Doctor, "Allons-y!!!"