The Day of the Race!

Hi everyone.

Well, I’ve been so busy, what with a new (second) job, and with training for this race, that I’ve hardly found time to post. Well, not had time at all, I guess.

But I did the Samaritans 5K today, and it was great. The weather was beautiful, and I ran as hard as I could. I only wish I could have run harder. Not because I wanted to win. I just wanted to do it for my sister, because she deserves it.

Anyway, my family came out to see me. It was a very emotional day, but a good one, too. It was both saddening and inspiring to be among so many people whose lives have been touched by suicide. I think I will definitely do the race again next year, and my family is thinking of joining me as well.

Thanks to everyone who supported my run. Together, we raised just over $1,500 for the Samaritans, and that means a lot of people win because a lot of people are going to be helped by what the organization does.

Of course, next year, I’ll have to travel back from San Francisco, but I’ll do it!

Road Runner

As many of you may know, I am getting ready for a 5K, which I will be running on September 29th. This will be my first real race. And I am doing it in memory of my sister, and to raise money for The Samaritans of Boston (www.samaritansofboston.org), which is a charitable organization dedicated to suicide prevention, education and survivor support.

My personal donation page is www.firstgiving.com/laurensrun if you are inspired.

Thank you to everyone who has supported already! I am looking forward to a great run.

Weekend Review

So New York was excellent, and Agent 66 was so fantastically cool as to both join me for the Academy of Art University runway show on Saturday and to let me stay at her house as well.

The show was a blast, with a lot of great designs that were really inspiring. It took a lot less time to watch than it did to wait around, but that’s all part of the experience, I guess.

Other highlights of my short weekend trip were walking miles and miles in my quasi-pointy-toed high heels until I thought my toes were about to all squish together into the tips and stay that way for life. (Walking down ramps to the subway at that point was not fun. But I guess if I wanted to be comfortable, I would have brought flip-flops.)

Part of the reason I walked so much was that I wanted to save on Metro fare, and also, being from the small city that Boston is, I’m not accustomed to vast lengths of street. I looked at the map, and I could see that a north-south block is pretty short, and so I figure it’s a straight shot up 5th from 42nd street to 82nd. Why pay for a ride when I can walk to the Met? My feet were comfortable enough then, but I think that’s what did me in later. Several days later, my toes are still smarting, but at least I didn’t get any actual blisters. And it was worth it, because it was the Met. Even if I only had time to see the Medieval art and a glimpse at the Oceanic bits, it was still great. Now I can say that I’ve been to the Met, which I figured at this point it was sort of a travesty that I hadn’t.

The other highlight of my weekend was the air mattress at the abode of Agent 66. “Air bed” is really more accurate, only when she said that on the phone, I didn’t take her seriously. I expected some little rolled up vinyl pad that I could just casually crash on, but this turned out to be a highly involved affair. First of all, it looked like a piece of furniture already when it was all zipped up, and could potentially double as a coffee table. Then, when we finally figured out the zippers, we weren’t quite sure what to do with the neatly folded collection of metal brackets under a blue mass of plastic. Searching around, we found the electric cord, and 66 called her roommate to ask her what we should do. And then it was very simple. We plugged it in, turned the knob to “inflate,” and listened and watched as the motor churned and the blue lump of plastic slowly expanded, pushing the metal supports outward and sideways. It looked like an uncurling monster spider with 26 legs. But I also thought of secret spy devices and bat-cave-like machines as I watched the smooth efficiency of the mattress unfolding and building itself without our having to move our little fingers. Not only that, it was very comfortable. I was prepared to be sleeping on blankets.

So that was my New York weekend. And it was great, but I can’t say it makes me feel like I need to move to New York City. No, because I’m moving to San Francisco! And I mean, why shouldn’t I move to a city named after the patron saint of animals? As another friend pointed out, that’s perfect for me, since I love animals – and what with my small menagerie and all.

But anyway, as I come back to Boston and sort of relax into what I’m doing here, it almost feels comfortable. And I realize November is not that far away at all, especially now that September is half over. So much to do! But I hope I can get it all done soon.

And luckily, my family still knows nothing of my plans…

NYC Fashion Week watch out!

Okay, I have to go to kickboxing class soon, and my mom is chopping vegetables in the next room, but exciting things are happening!

I called the Academy of Art University of San Francisco today.

Background: several years ago, in college, and afterward, I had considered pursuing a graduate degree in Fashion Design at the AAU. For whatever reason, however, I didn’t. I think I basically convinced myself that I didn’t have a good or complete enough portfolio or enough experience or whatever kind of BS I was telling myself.

Fast forward a few years: I’m studying journalism at BU, and my sister, having no knowledge whatsoever of my ever having been interested in the AAU, applies and is accepted to their Film Studies program. I’m thrilled, because I think directing films would suit her perfectly, and it would give her the chance to get out of our parents’ house. I still never mentioned to her that I ever had notions of going there.

But my little sister will not be a film director. She died last February.

So now that I’m pretty much done with J-school, and am working on this San Francisco thing, I am also considering taking up some more study of fashion design. Do I want to be a fashion designer? Maybe I do. I mean, I still want to write, of course – that’s why I went to grad school for it. But I think I just have to face up to the fact that I’ve always been a little obsessed with clothes. I studied art and fashion in college. I did costumes for theatre. It all somehow made sense. What if I am missing my true calling?? Oh, it’s so dramatic. Anyway, I just want to check it out and see what it’s like. Who knows what will happen.

So over the weekend, my family had a barbecue, and my mom mentioned in passing that the Admissions guy at AAU that my sister had dealt with was very sympathetic and had asked my mother if there was anything he could do for the family. Well, I kind of thought of something….

So I called him. I explained how I had wanted to go to the AAU before, although my sister didn't know it, and how I am planning right now to move to SF. I also told him about my background and experience with art and fashion, and he seemed pretty pleased, and said he’d email me with some ideas right away. Then he pulled some strings and got me tickets to the sold-out AAU runway show in NYC for Saturday. Okay, stay calm. You are very cool. Cool as a cucumber, yes... Ahh!

Okay, fine, I am not cool. I was literally jumping up and down in my room after I got off the phone. New York Fashion week! And I’m going to San Francisco!

Okay, I have to go to kickboxing now and use up some of this good energy. Whee!

Frankie Bird

In the interests of full disclosure, I'll just share the fact that, while I usually just call her Frankie, my parakeet's full name is, in fact, San Francisco. This may or may not be a coincidence, but at the time I named her, I for one thing thought she was male, but also I had never even thought of living in San Francisco.

Frankie began her life with me as part of my senior art project for college, six years ago. I was studying imagery and symbolism in Renaissance paintings of the Annunciation (as in the Virgin Mary), which involved a series of clothing pieces, performance, and finally a copper wire bird cage in the shape of a pregnant woman. Strictly speaking, I probably should have gotten a dove to go in the cage, but the pet store in Elyria, Ohio was fresh out. They did, however, have a big open-top plexiglass cage with probably about two hundred parakeets fluttering around inside, unable to fly out because their wings had all been clipped. They were mostly blue, purple, green and yellow - not exactly sacred colors for a bird that was supposed to represent the Spirit of the Eternal Creator. And then there was Frankie. Almost completely white, except for a little cerulean on his breast and between his wings, she sat calmly on a branch by herself, like the kid on the playground who would rather think philosophical thoughts than play around with the other kids. This was definitely my bird.

So in she went to my ten-dollar flea market bird cage, which the pet store attended told me absolutely not to wash with soap because the soap would kill her. She had her name before I even left the store. I can't say exactly what it was. I just looked at her and the name San Francisco just popped into my mind and it seemed to fit. It was like I asked and she told me. There was really no other name I could give her.

It wasn't until about a year later that I started thinking about going to San Francisco. Was it because of my bird's name? Or was it just because of all the things I kept hearing about the city that made it seem somehow attractive? Was it perhaps just because I've never been to the West Coast, despite having spent a decent amount of time in various European countries? I'm not sure, but it was probably all of these things. So Frankie/San Francisco just kind of reminds me that that's where I want to go.

Will it be odd to have a bird named after the city you live in? (or near.) Maybe a bit. I could change her name to Boston. But I don't think I will. Frankie will always be Frankie, her ornery Frankie self.

Geography

I'm generally pretty good at reading maps, but one thing I have trouble with sometimes is distances. I mean, you look at a map, and sometimes distances between things are greater than you think, and sometimes much less.

I'm sort of eyeing a job in Vallejo, but it's really hard to me to tell just how far that is from Oakland, if I were to perhaps be living in Oakland. Or maybe I could just move to Vallejo, although that is clearly pretty far from the city. I just don't have a car right now, and probably won't be buying one right away, so that makes things a little more complicated. Does anyone who's been there have an idea of what the distances are like?

I might go visit out there some time myself. It might be a good idea, but it depends on interviews in part, and other things. We'll see.