what i want to do when i grow up

it's DO, not BE. not active enough, that latter one.

- be a chef (okayokay, it has "be" in there)
- open a restaurant? (maybe. i'm also really hungry right now)
- alright fine, just cook more interesting things, in addition to my normal meals (which are good, but not new anymore, since they're just part of my everyday repertoire)*
- travel a lot, everywhere; take advantage of my almost tri-lingualism
- impact education and learning, teachers and students, administration. at the local and systemic level, no matter what the government doesn't do.
- figure out what i am and am not okay with, in the next 5 years (vague, i know)
- get a DOGGIE!
- paint the vanagon, seriously.
- make a blown glass cup, really well.
- more to come


* i'm sorta stuck in a habit of making breakfast-for-dinner (omg, so good), kale + onions + tofu tossed in balsamic on top of couscous (also awesome), homemade pizza, brussel sprouts and turkey bacon, mismatched salads, pre-packaged ravioli (actually quite rare these days). i need a few more NEW regulars to add to the mix.

the netherlands

hi there, i'm sitting in an apartment in rotterdam because, duh, where else should i be for thanksgiving weekend. well, i guess that's not entirely obvious. i was thinking about turkey and stuffing and cranberries and mashed potatoes the other day, and i almost got sad that i won't be cramming my face with ridiculously-rich and yummy food at jeremy's... while sneezing and praying that the deep fryer won't catch on fire. but then, i realized that i could forego one year's worth of east coast orphans for the semi-exotic land of holland.

it IS fun and interesting.

like the trains, and the cool library, and the sorta odd imitation-crab-and-egg-salad wrap that i ate yesterday. that latter one just goes to prove that cafeteria food, in any country, isn't that good. but the beers were great, and the stew. and the perfectly picturesque cobblestone avenues of delft.

most people speak english, or they do with a sweet dutch lilt. it's chilly, but not freezing, and i'm a big fan of not driving anywhere. the BIKES! omg, they're awesome with kids and adults hanging off the back, and luggage lying across handlebars, and backpedaled braking! i feel like i'm 10 again -- a good thing, mind you.

but it's true, it doesn't feel totally exotic. maybe because everyone speaks english? but there's a lot that's only in dutch. i can kinda derive meaning through my ingrained knowledge of germanic and romance languages, but it's not all obvious, even menus. or maybe because i'm not alone. or maybe because i'm older. i dunno, but european-living... well, i dunno.

i'm not really sure how to feel.

everything is circular

that is such a cliched statement. haha.

but it's true.. kinda, maybe? i keep on seeing this circular occurrence in my life, and i sorta can't ignore it. or maybe i'm just finding them, sub-consciously.

that idea came up in mas.110 long ago and far away, with john maeda. (whom i so wish i got to see last wednesday night!) he's the oft-debated president of RISD now, but he was once just an awesome professor at the mit media lab, and he taught mas.110 -- fundamentals of computational media design, a class to which i came with dripping wet hair each week because i was taking a random swimming pe class. haha. to be honest, i don't really remember too much of what i learned in that class, and i can't really explain why i thought maeda was so awesome. maybe it's just 'cause he thought differently, or taught differently, than the bio professors that i was used to. or maybe it was the media lab in general. or maybe he really was great and insightful. whatever the case, i remember that class, that environment.

and i remember a story that he told, on the first day. maeda got his start in japan, where his parents owned and operated a tofu shop. he helped out, in some capacity, and so for a long time, his life revolved around small white cubes.... which originated as huge white cubes, then cut down to size. and many many years later when he arrived in cambridge at the media lab, he felt that he had come full circle -- to another big white cube.

:)

storytelling. i'm really starting to see the intrinsic quality of narratives.

so here's my story of circles. i remember thinking that the media lab was SO cool. i don't remember when this was, whether undergrad or far before, but it was SO cool because it was all hands-on and creative and new and interdisciplinary. but i didn't know those terms, or think of them, just yet. it was just a cool space with cool projects. legos! open spaces!

and now.. legos! open spaces! creative, hands-on, new, interdisciplinary. i'm reading research about mitch resnick and the kindergarten lab at mit. and how it all connects to tangible digital interfaces and everything that i'm interested in. to the maker fad, to education, to different learning styles, to design thinking and constructionist pedagogies. geewhiz.

no white cubes, but somehow, it feels right.