Dance!

The Professional Writer

Good writers often hate all that they write; a professional writer is one who hates all he writes and publishes it anyway.

On Getting Dressed

I know what it is to find no joy in getting dressed. I dressed rather uniquely in middle school and high school, but my first two years of college, especially last year, were essentially free from much thought about appearance. I sometimes, particularly during finals, wore pajama pants to class. I often wore a uniform of t-shirt, Vans, and jeans.

I have since rekindled my love of the colorful and the unique; however, my look is rather more refined, if as experimental.

Clothes and accessories ought to be beautiful and comfortable, they ought to make the wearer look and feel good, and they ought to be something that the wearer really likes. I have heard and read these things before. I find, though, that another ingredient makes an outfit delicious for wearing, and this is simply: story. I may best explain this by telling the little tales woven throughout the outfit I selected for today.

I started today's dressing with an Ann Taylor skirt that I got at Goodwill when I needed something for a hippie costume. I went searching with my mother, and we found similar but different skirts. This one went a little better with the shirt that we'd picked out, and I am rather easily seduced by on-sale brand-names, so it's the one we bought. I was pretty sure I'd never wear anything from the outfit again. And yet, here I am. I love its hippie-cum-gypsy flair, and as I know nothing about its original owner, it will always hold some air of mystery.

With it, I paired a black Newport News ribbed tank that I've worn frequently since back when I thought I wanted to be Avril Lavigne. It doesn't have much in the way of story, per se, but its simplicity means it has always been a comfortable standby.

My shoes were black flip flops from Old Navy, the ones they sell for like $2.50 a pair. I generally buy a bunch and I wear them out over time. They do take a while to wear through, even though I wear them several times a week when it's warm out (in Florida, nearly all year). But, they're comfortable. That makes them great for wearing when I have blisters from other shoes, which is why I chose them today.

Accessories-wise, I wore two rings: a Native American-style ring with a bear paw (claw?) on it, which was once my mother's, and my Silver Ring Thing ring, which I wear pretty much every day. I added a pair of huge hoop earrings that my mother bought me this summer, the first large hoops I've had in years, though I did wear them a lot back in middle/high school.

I finished it off with a green bracelet that I haven't worn in a while. It's pretty but simple, aesthetically pleasing but not particularly amazing. However, I bought it on a bit of a whim from the "marketplace" at a Latin competition (the allegedly dead language, not the dancing), and my time spent learning Latin was some of the greatest time of my life. The State and National competitions were especially fantastic, and the bracelet reminds me of that.

So, I find that if all my clothes can hold some memories and some beauty, getting dressed will always be a simple pleasure.

University-Sanctioned E-mail

My university has recently required its students to get a school e-mail address on its new e-mail system, and may now use it and it alone for class-related correspondence. I noticed the creeping change when we were first asked to make one, and then when the school's system would no longer allow me to make my main e-mail address something more sensible, like my Gmail account. Various professors this semester have indicated that they are now in fact only permitted to accept e-mail from students if it comes from this particular e-mail provider, a thing indicative of either a need to keep tabs on its students' e-mail correspondence (to at least the degree that it is legal), or a need to do something with the resources they have. One would think, with all the programs that universities are dropping, it cannot be the latter, but this is a public university and nothing funded by the government ever uses its funds very wisely.

Or perhaps it is, as one of my professors said, "because UCF has nothing better to do."

...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.

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.

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!