Hello and Goodbye

I got a job today. I start on Monday. I think it'll be a good job - lots of contact with other people. (I will be the first point of contact for students and parents in the undergraduate registrar's office of a local university.) I'm excited to start something new and see where this step will take me. I also really liked the people that I will be working with, and in my experience, the people you work with can make or break your job experience!

I had my final interview on Tuesday afternoon, and then I headed out to meet my sister-in-law for a movie. She called before I got there to let me know that Heath Ledger was dead.

It was an interesting day.

I feel weird about Heath's death. I mean, he was a total stranger to me. I didn't even have a hope of someday meeting him. In spite of that, I grieve for him. And then I wonder if I even have the right to grieve. I feel like I knew him because I knew the characters that he portrayed, and I thought about him in the sense of "Oh, look who People says that Heath Ledger is dating right now!" But none of that was really him. So am I even really grieving him, or am I just grieving for Sir William Thatcher, or Patrick Verona, or even Casanova? And if the emotion is directed toward fictional characters, is it really even grief?

Maybe it's a little bit of grief mixed with shock. After all, Heath is the first to die of the younger generation of actors - the ones that I grew up watching on TV and in those teen movies. Maybe what I feel is really just a sense of shock, a realization that we're not invincible just because we're young, and that he was not invincible just because he's famous.

Either way, this is my farewell to Heath Ledger - or to the idea of him. From someone that he never knew.

Goodbye, Mr. Ledger.

About CurlyGirl

Now that I've had this blog for a few weeks, I realize that what I am about to write should have been the very first thing I wrote... Oh well. It's never to late to correct a mistake . . . right?

Curly Girl

Who am I?

I am a fun-loving, generally cheerful, brunette extrovert. I love people - especially people who smile at me, although sometimes the people who never smile are just as interesting. Or have the more interesting stories. (I recently finished a year-and-a-half stint in customer service at a telecom company, and the phone calls that I remember most fondly were with the people who were least friendly.)

Sometimes I think that I love places just as much as I love people. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles - not the Valley, thank you very much! - and I absolutely love it here. The sunshine, the palm trees, the spicy scent of the eucalyptus tree that I love even though it constantly sheds on my car, the sunny glint of the ocean on a clear day, the mountains glowing pink in the sunset... Sometimes I walk outside and smile just because I'm here.

I spent my college years in a midwestern city, and it was just as gorgeous, but in a different way. Downtown was full of old buildings that sometimes made me feel like I was in a little part of New York City . . . or maybe a Hollywood soundstage. October is far and away my favorite month of the year, and October in the midwest defies description. The leaves, the air, the pumpkins, the bonfires... But winter in the northern midwest also defies description, which is why I am happily back in southern California!

I got my college degree in media communication, and since then I have been an administrative assistant (several times), a customer service specialist, a warehouse envelope-stuffer, a voicemail specialist at a phone company, a freelance editor and a freelance greeting card writer. (That last one is my favorite. I get such a kick out of sending in my greetings and actually receiving a check in return!) It's probably time to find a job that I really love, but what I really love to do is tell stories - in writing, photos, video, etc. - and I've discovered that I'd rather tell my stories in my own time. I don't want to sit at my computer all day long, trying desperately to meet deadlines and satisfy bosses. I'd rather work at a job that I enjoy well enough and use my own leisure time to tell stories my way, at my pace.

Right now, I'm camping out with my mom in the most adorable little back-garden guest cottage you have ever seen! She was generous enough to allow her almost-twenty-six-year-old single daughter to move in with her while hunting a job. Have no fear: Once the job is found, I will be moving out!

One of my old college roommates used to say that adventure follows me wherever I go. Personally, I think it has more to do with my attitude than anything else. (Tramping through a harvested cornfield in the dark on a Friday night in a light snow while searching for the perfect autumnal decorations can be an adventure if you look at it the right way. Heck, having your car break down on the side of the interstate in the middle of Utah's desert can be an adventure, too! It's all in how you look at it.) Sometimes I do things just because I think it will be an adventure, and sometimes I do them because I figure I need more stories to tell my future grandchildren. I like to think that it makes me an interesting friend to have.

Curly Girl Style

Well, if you want to talk actual style in the fashion world . . . my fashion sense is absolutely fabulous. Unfortunately, I tend to lose my nerve when actually leaving the house, which means I end up wearing very basic outfits that bore me to tears. I'm working on that.

But enough about fashion - for now, at least. The best way to get to know someone is to learn about a few of their favorite things, so I'm here to share!

Raindrops on roses are lovely, but I generally prefer daisies and violets and daffodils and everyday flowers. And when it comes to weather, I like the wind. The fierce rain and lightning of a good ol' fashioned thunderstorm is also okay with me. (I can live without the tornadoes, though.) I spent my childhood in the hill country of Nebraska, where 'weather' means 'run for cover!' Good times, good times...

As for whiskers on kittens . . . well, I prefer dogs.

Bright copper kettles are certainly pretty, but I really don't cook. I can handle various pastas, and I have a couple of go-to casseroles for company, but other than that, the cheap IKEA pots and pans will do very well for the amount of cooking that I do - or don't do.

Warm woolen mittens? Yeah . . . I live in southern California.

...And that's enough from The Sound of Music! (I'm probably rambling enough already without going through the entire song!) So very quickly, here are a few more of my favorites:

- Tea. Coffee and I are friends, but tea and I are in a relationship.

- Dr. Pepper. I try not to drink too much soda, but when I do, it has to be DP.

- Bluegrass. Yes, I know - sometimes it's annoying - but I'm here to say that bluegrass music is not always annoying! Sometimes it's very fun! Besides, I like any kind of music that makes me want to dance...

- Friends. As in the television show. It's a wonderful thing.

- TV in general. It's addicting. My current favorite is Psych on the USA Network. It's like Hardy Boys meet Nancy Drew.

- Books. I'm a bit of a literature nerd, although my absolute favorites tend to be for a younger audience.

- Movies. For a girl who likes to tell stories, television, books and movies are like manna from Heaven.

- England, Ireland and Scotland. I spent a semester studying in the UK in college, and I fell in love. I would live in London if I could figure out a way.

- Travel. I love exploring new places. Samantha Brown (from the Travel Channel) is one of my heroes!

I'll think of more random favorites later. That's probably enough for now, don't you think? Actually, if you're still reading, I'm impressed! Now you know a little more about me . . . so tune in sometimes! It should be fun!

New Year's Resolutions, Curly Girl Style...??

When I started this blog - and threw out the blow dryers, curlings irons and hair gel - I had big dreams of coming home every night from a wild and wacky day, stopping at the computer for five minutes, and detailing all of my wonderful adventures in my new life.

Yeah, right...

I forgot that that I am currently the unemployed new girl in town. Translation: No one to hang out with and no money for hanging out.

Okay, that's not entirely true. I do have a couple of friends in the area, and I'm slowly making new friends, and I might have a job offer coming through in the next week or two. My life isn't quite as pathetic as I made it sound.

But . . . my life in the midwest was very spontaneous. Sure, I scheduled things ahead of time, but I also had many evenings of unplanned activity. It was fun. There were always new stories to tell at the end of the day.

Sadly, my new life here in California is not like that - yet. I love it here, and I like the new people that I'm meeting, and I have hope that someday life will be socially beautiful as well as generally beautiful. But for right now, I can see that I have my work cut out for me!

New Years Resolutions, Curly GIrl Style

I've been doing a lot of thinking over the last week - while watching the antics of my mom and grandparents as the four of us tried to navigate the holidays together in a two-bedroom cottage - and while camping out overnight for the first time ever at the Rose Parade route in Pasadena - and while watching the rain pour down for three days straight in this desert city. (It's been an interesting week for thinking.)

After all of this pondering, I'm not sure if I've come to any conclusions.

Great punch line, huh? Let's back up for a minute...

I've only been in California for three months. I grew up here, but I went to college in the midwest and stayed there for several years after my graduation. Now that I'm home again, I'm looking for a job, trying to make some new friends and hoping to move out of my mom's house as soon as possible. Seems easy enough, right?

Wrong.

That part about "looking for a job" has been driving me crazy (which is the reason for my thinking over the past week).

Looking for a job in and of itself is not all that hard. I've done it several times before and I think I know what to expect. My problem is that I've done it several times before. (Translation: I've worked at several temporary positions and no "permanent" positions since leaving college.) I'm ready to get out of the temporary world and find a job that I can sink my teeth into, but frankly, that's frightening! I mean, what kind of job do I really want to try to get? And how much of a chance am I willing to take to try to land the kind of job that I want?

This whole curly girl thing has got me thinking that it's time for a change. It's time to stop settling for boring jobs out of fear that no one in their right mind would consider me for an interesting position. It's time to apply for jobs that I actually think I would like to do. It's time to stand up and admit to the world that I am a writer or an editor or whatever it is that I want to be. It's time to start labeling myself as an artist instead of just an art student! (Okay, that last bit was from one of those cheesy made-for-tv movies. I'm not really an artist...)

Thanks for listening to my little self-directed motivational speech. Tune in next time for some actual entertainment!

Modern-day Austen? I think not!

Since I'm trying to do what I can to recover from my cold, I spent most of the day today sitting on the couch, watching movies on TV and reading Jane Austen. It's not a very auspicious beginning to my new curly life, but it was interesting to read Austen's characters and then observe the actions of my family members. If I had her skill with a pen (or computer keyboard), they would seem to be straight out of one of her novels. Some of them would be silly characters, like Mrs. Bennet in Pride & Prejudice. Some would be hypochondriacs like Mr. Woodhouse in Emma, and one or two would be like Henry in Northanger Abbey, always ready to tease...

My favorite observations of the day:

- My 80-year-old grandfather, visiting for the holidays, walked in the door after his two mile walk this morning and announced, "I'm home! I'm home, you lucky people! You lucky fools!"

- After spending the day with some friends, my grandparents told me all about the visit over dinner. My grandfather laughed, "Oh, that mother was jolly!" Replied my grandmother, "Oh yes!" To me - "You would have liked it. She was very jolly!" (This was the first time in my life that I have heard either grandparent use the word 'jolly.')

- My mother's 'friend' is in town for the holidays, and his father called tonight. When the call was over, my mother immediately asked about it. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes. They were just itching to make a phone call."
"Oh."
There was a moment of silence, and then, "Were they calling from your sister's?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
And that was it. There was no further curiosity about the telephone call from anyone.

(That last was probably one of those "You had to be there" moments, but it was very Austen-esque.)

More Than Just Hair

I was looking at this new book of mine today. (You know, the one that teaches me how to be proud of my curly hair instead of trying to hide it behind a blow dryer.) I noticed that the slogan across the top of the book's cover says, "More than just hair . . . it's an attitude." I admit that it sounds incredibly cheesy, but I like it. It fits with what I was trying (and probably not succeeding) to say yesterday.

I've spent the last ten years of my life trying to fit into the world around me. Trying to wear the right clothes, to use the right slang, to live the right life . . . and that includes my hair. It may sound crazy - especially to someone with straight hair - but the world around us teaches us that beauty means straight hair. Straight, shiny, swishy hair. Those of us with curly hair spend hours trying to flatten out the kinks and erase the ringlets so that we fit into the acceptable idea of perfection. And then a rainstorm or even a sprinkler comes along and ruins it all, leaving big, frizzy puffballs instead of hair. (Remember Monica's hair in the Bahamas on that classic Friends season finale? I've had worse hair than that.)

Well, this is my act of rebellion. No more blow dryers, flat irons or curlers! I'm saying goodbye to straight hair and a life of trying to fit into a straight world's idea of who I should be! I won't always talk about hair, but I am going to do my best to be worthy of the potential of my curls and live a life that is free, spontaneous and crazy, full of love, laughter and . . . well . . . life! And I'm going to write about it all along the way!

After that introduction, it seems somehow ironic that I've spent the first three days of my new curly life sacked out on the couch with a cold...

Living curly...

My family moved to California the summer of my sixteenth year. I became a city girl, a beach lover, and a curly girl all within a few months. Up to that point, my hair was dirty blonde and stick straight, just like my mom and my brothers. (My dad's hair - when he had any - was dark and wavy.) My hair had been gradually darkening over the years, but that summer - my first in California - was when I discovered my curls.

Now, almost ten years later, I have dark brown hair that - depending on the day - falls past my shoulders in ringlets, ripples and waves.

When I was eighteen, my best friend (whose hair was gloriously thick, shiny and straight) told me that I should learn to straighten my hair. She thought it would be pretty, or at least prettier than my frizzy rat's nest. I spent the next seven years fighting curls and frizz with blow dryers, curling irons, goopy gels and velcro rollers - anything to have straight swingy hair like everyone around me. Anything to fit into the idea of Pretty. I lay awake in my bed at night, dreaming up new ways to create sleek beauty out of my crazy curls. I dreaded rainy days and sprinklers and avoided swimming like the plague, for fear that water on my hair would turn it into an uncontrollable frizzball. I wore jeans and sneakers when I went to the beach so that I would have an excuse to stay far away from the waves. I tried everything I could think of to be as straight as possible.

Two days ago, my unbelievably-straight-haired mother gave me a book for Christmas: A handbook for girls with curly hair. I laughed, but then I read it . . . and decided to become a curly girl.

So this is me. Curly-haired, creative, laughing at life and embracing all its glory - I'm throwing out my curling irons and the straight-haired life and making my own way, crazy curls and all, and I'm inviting anyone and everyone to come along for the ride, whether your hair is curly, straight or somewhere in-between.