Wednesday, August 26, 2009

...and it's back to school again...

School started and I have had no time to write. Hopefully, this weekend will allow me to make a good, worth-the-wait blog entry.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Rae's Fashion Plane

I realize some of the updates I make on Twitter, and some of the comments I make online or in real life, may cause some confusion about my take on clothes. See, I have a lot of clothes. And shoes. And jewelry and bags. But I am very often very lazy, t-shirt-and-jeans lazy, and the people who see me regularly know I don't stick to any particular style, lazy or runway or retro or anything else. So, I suppose a brief explanation is in order.

I don't consider myself fashion forward; I am nearly a year behind on my Elle and Vogue collection and I very rarely feel the need to go buy something new to "update my wardrobe" or whatever. I do not consider myself fashion backward, either, since I don't get stuck in the trends of old (or any trends, really), and I do read Elle and Vogue when I find the time. I think I may live on a different plane of fashion, finding it more than acceptable to take fashion cues from Princess Peach, Aeon Flux, or that chick from Footloose with the red boots and fluffy hair. I have some simple fashion rules, like no heels with shorts, don't wear a large shirt with baggy jeans, and keep a general balance to everything unless a specific slant is required--but I only follow these rules when I care enough. I can say I like a few designers, but only because I have often liked their works before finding out who did them--Oscar de la Renta and Fioni, for two. Not that I know if Fioni really counts; they aren't exactly A-list. Isaac Mizrahi is good too. I didn't know a thing about him until I fell in love with a pair of his shoes.

Currently, my fashion plan is to care enough to wear heels and sparkles sometimes when I'm at college, instead of defaulting to my University Casual uniform of a tee or tank with jeans or PJ pants. Ah, but no heels on days I have to walk very much--that's just stupid.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Brief Procrastination Retrospective and Re-Resolution

Some of you may remember my New Year's resolution to stop procrastinating, once and for all, and some fewer of you may be wondering how that's been going.

Well, it went fantastically for a while. I did all of my class assignments right away, and I had all this guilt-free extra time. It was wonderful.

Unfortunately, I backslid, and I now procrastinate more than ever.

So, for the new school year, I renew my resolution. Beginning on 24 August, 2009, I, Rae Botsford, shall no longer procrastinate, shall no longer play Mario when I should be working, shall no longer play Sudoku to avoid waking up in the morning, and shall no longer let "I'll do it later" be my motto.

I hope and pray.

Onward!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Stationery Fail

First roadblock on the road to writing more letters: finding suitable stationery. Sure, I could use plain old regular notebook paper, but where's the fun in that? I could print up my own, but buying it at the store seems to be cheaper per sheet, not to mention nicer and less of a pain in the neck.

I tried Target, and they sent me to Michael's. I tried Michael's, and they sent me to Office Depot. Office Depot, hallelujah, needed only to send me to the Paper Depot section of their store, where they had a small selection of one size of writing paper. Something about beggars and choosers and low demand for snail mail supplies.

Oh well. Any recommendations for stationery suppliers in the area of the University of Central Florida (UCF to you locals), I'll gladly take.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

On The Benefits Of Paper Correspondence

I find I may, from time to time, come across as an oddly old-fashioned young woman. As a digital media major, computer science minor, and general young person in America, I allegedly ought to be embracing technology as it comes, and thus, quick to discard what is old - including the U.S. Postal Service, which is beyond unpopular since the advent of e-mail, text messaging, and Facebook.

I had a pen-pal in my younger days, a friend who had moved across the country. We wrote in order to eschew long-distance phone charges, and because both of us had read and loved the book P.S. Longer Letter Later, which is a series of letters between friends separated by distance. Amusingly enough, its sequel was called Snail Mail No More. Unlike today's e-mailers, though, the protagonists continued to write long personal notes, taking e-mail as simply letters that arrive more quickly. Nowadays, it seems that most of the people who really check their e-mail are the people who don't have time for personal notes -- such as my father, whom I imagine has an inbox that is mostly unread. E-mail is for work, quick memos, and forwards of politics or kittens. In fact, my mother is the only person I know who actually uses her e-mail to keep in touch with people far away, like letters used to do.

I have recently begun letter-writing again. I wanted to get in touch with a few of my old teachers, and this seemed the most sensible way to do it. Even if any of them are on Facebook (and I am reasonably certain they aren't), once I "friend" someone and banter back and forth with "it's been so long!" for a bit, the conversation drops off and they rarely even appear in my News Feed again. To call that being "in touch" is at best a heinous stretch. If they are not on Facebook, it's fairly impossible to find an e-mail address in the white pages, even the online ones, especially as they often change far more frequently than a mailing address. I could call them, but it seems that would only lead to an expensive, awkward conversation, instead of a forty-four-cent note to which they may reply at their leisure.

And so, I wrote. I have received one response, so far, from the three teachers, and think I may get more. If not, I believe I may at least have a steady continuing conversation with the one for quite some time. Another friend of mine has recently asked if I would join her in pursuit of a snail mail revolution, and we will begin a correspondence once I am back at college next weekend. We will likely be better in touch than we are now through Facebook, since the complacency of reachability makes us feel "in touch" though we have not actually spoken in some time.

Thus, snail mail may actually give us more real connection than all modern technology combined. Such innovations shall not be ignored, however, but used instead for making plans and other things needing immediate attention -- though without texting, e-mail, or Facebook, we do still have the telephone.

Anyway, e-mail themes have nothing on pretty stationery. So buy some Forever stamps and write a letter, already!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

View From An Airplane

I must admit I love flying. At sufficient altitude, one may peer out the window and catch a glimpse of heaven, too much light for the eye and too much beauty for the mind, a sea, a land, a world of clouds, all lit by the unfettered sun and lying beneath an indigo sky.

How I wish to dance upon that ground that wouldn't even slow my fall, to sleep within that seeming-snow with all the substance of a sigh. It is only a dream, an illusion; at best it is a hint at what may lie beyond this life. I squint against the sun, across the monochrome savannah, half-expecting to see the mirage of a village on the horizon.

Eventually the plane tilts, and the captain brings us all down to Earth.