African Playboy Butterfly Mashup

It's been an emotional past couple days. Death of a Salesman truly affected me. It was marvelous, but I can't stop thinking about my family since. I got to talk to my sister Becca yesterday on the phone and that was wonderful. I've been trying to decide how I'm going to spend my summer. Every year when I plan this, I think to myself... Ah what the hell. One more summer of being a kid, running around, maybe waitressing a little. I fear this will be the case until I'm 100. And she suggested that after I finish nannying her kids for a few weeks in June, I jump on a plane to Germany and visit my second cousins. 


Now there's a thought! 


Thing is, I've been running around a lot the last couple years. Bali, Belize, Europe, Missouri, Florida, California, ACTF, now NYC... I haven't taken much time to sit back and be comfortable. But for some reason, I feel like that would be a sin. I've been living my life like the Kimya Dawson song, Tire Swing:

"Now I’m home for less than twenty-four hours

That’s hardly time to take a shower

Hug my family and take your picture off the wall

Check my email write a song and make a few phone calls

Before it’s time to leave again

I’ve got one hand on the steering wheel 

One waving out the window"

Today, a New Yorker woman sat down with me in the street. She's know to her friends as Butterfly. She never told me her real name. A few minutes into our chat, Anna and Brittany joined us. And hence the life lessons began. I even took notes! Sometimes she made sure I was writing things down. Here's what we learned:

1) Live for your dreams and your passions. Don't live for anyone else. In the end, it's between you and that spirit. 

2) Tough love means not letting anyone rob you of your dreams or who you are, including your family, your close friends, even your husband. We can compromise. But we can't let go. 

3) Don't ever lose yourself or stop being yourself. 

4) Always remember where you come from. You have to give back. Outreach. 

5) However, you must also step out of your comfort zone--that's the only way you can grow. Change is good.

And lately I've been rethinking my plans of foreign exchanging to Africa. I love traveling, but I also love being home. Comfortable. I'm an introvert and get overwhelmed by so many new people after a bit. It drains me. But that's not who I want to be necessarily. So perhaps Africa is what I need, though it's scary as all hell. As much as I like to pretend I'm a worldly traveler, I'm a terrible one. I don't do directions or research or anything! (Though I did totally find my way back on the subway the other day by myself). 

Random: So we met Christine Vienna (http://www.icedpanty.com/#!about) on the Subway yesterday. And she told me that South Africa was her favorite place she's ever lived in. Who better to take advice from then a former Play Boy model?

But I dunno. Right now, I'm just really excited for Easter Break, to get a couple of days to just sit back at home, see my best friends, and hopefully get caught up on the homework that I am ridiculously behind on. I had a paper due... last Friday? I have less then a page done. Oops. Though I wish wish wish I could stay here for at least one more day. I should have planned a little better on the shows I wanted to see. Now I'll be scrambling tomorrow to get the last two shows in as well as the last bit of sight-seeing. So I'll be starting my day, standing in line for tickets at 6:30 am. 

Oh God. That's in less then four hours. Wish me luck!

With love, from NYC.

Today's Count: 4 things dropped