I've migrated

I've migrated! For those who don't know, I've been living and working in Kansas City for the past three months. Getting my bearings has been quite an adventure! You can keep up with my post-college life here:

http://kocikc.wordpress.com

Thanks for visiting -- hope to see you at the new blog!

:) Sarah

Oh, the Places I'll Go

"Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both you elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a sting of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

The University of Missouri. Class of 2009. My years here may be done, but I'll always be a Tiger, the proudest of them all.

Spain and Portugal, winter 2009

Pastries in Portugal: 3 euro
One postcard: .40 euro
One postcard stamp to the United States: 1 euro
Water, at each meal: 2 euro
A flamenco dancing show in Madrid and drinks to go with it: 35 euro
The best pitcher of sangria I've ever had: 7 euro
The original price of my Don Quixote painting: 55 euro
The new price of my painting, after I haggled in perfect Spanish: 35 euro
Cover at Kapital club: 15 euro
Cover at Dock's club: 0 euro on ladies' night

Returning to my job in America to a tower of documents to file (that's job security): priceless.

the lone star state, part two

(written in DFW airport, from one of those sweet free internet kiosks)

The interview began with me sitting in a room by myself for 45 minutes. Because I'm a student on a heavily Greek campus, my first thought is, HAZING. I'm being hazed. They just make you sit here until your eyes bleed. Sweet.

Turns out they just forgot about me.

Once someone figured out where I was, they were nothing but kind. I enjoyed the conversations and the interviews and things went well. My eyes didn't bleed. Still, things just didn't click. To make another Greek reference, things just didn't feel right. Does that mean I would say no if I got a job? No. I'd definitely consider it. Still . . .

The city:
I tapped into my Greek network and joined some women from the Dallas Phi Mu alumnae chapter for dinner. I was glad I went out and left my hotel room. I didn't see much of the city, but I do know there are a ton of commercial-y places here. You're riding along the highway and there's a gloriously large building. With a Pizza Hut logo on it. Pizza Hut headquarters? I wonder what their employee cafeteria serves. There are tons of beautiful malls here . . . and I like malls. I didn't get that excited, butterflies-in-my-tummy feeling . . . but that doesn't mean it won't come later . . .

Bottom line: Home is where you make it. No idea where I'll make mine. I'm flying back to STL in an hour, and then heading up to Chicago.

Lots of things to pray about.

the lone star state, part one

(written in the skies; posted in my hotel)

This is my favorite part of flying: everything below you suddenly becomes Polly Pocket-sized.

We rarely get to see so much of the world, all at once. It is moments like these that reveal God's creation. It is so big, so much bigger than us. We realize just how little we are when we see things from thousands of feet above the ground. Little, but integral. I'll praise Him for that.

* * *

(written from my hotel room)

My first look at Texas was from the sky. The first thing I noticed was how many trucks there were. Truck, truck, truck. The second thing I noticed was how many swimming pools there were. I guess in a climate like Dallas, you can use your pool more than three months out of the year. Does that mean it is always bathing suit season? If so, then thousands of sit-ups are in order for me.

The airport was normal. I'm not sure what I expected, but no one had an accent. No one wore a cowboy hat. Country music was not blasting over the loudspeaker. My taxi driver was Asian and played Christmas music on the radio. Again, no Texas cliches. I wonder how Texans feel when they hear the song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas."

Now I'm in my hotel room. I'm so blessed. My interview begins in an hour, and I can't wait. At the very least, it is a free trip to the state that almost became a country earlier in history, and a great chance to practice my being-a-big-girl abilities.

Yep. A big girl.

My whirlwind

Tomorrow is my first-ever trip to the big state of Texas . . . weather.com predicts 38 degrees for the high in Columbia and 61 degrees for the high in Dallas. Enough said.

Commentary to follow.

For more than just the ladies

Because little boys should learn to cook too . . . gender-neutral kitchens.

I'm not planning on babies anytime soon, but when I do, those kiddos will have kitchens like these :)

Beyond November 4

I posted this on the Service on Saturday blog and I felt it was worthwhile to re-post here:




Today is Election Day, and we’re not the first to tell you to get out and vote. But we do want to encourage you to keep up that civic spirit on November 5 and 6 and 7, etc. Voting enables us to have a voice, to make a difference in our community and our country -- so does volunteering.

From the City of Columbia’s Office of Volunteer Services newsletter:

The results are in! In the city's 2008 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2007-Sept. 20, 2008), volunteers shared 43,228 hours with the City of Columbia valued at more than $843,000. More than 6,000 volunteers assisted the city in nearly every department. Thank you for sharing your most valuable resource - your time - to improve Columbia.

Vote!

"Volunteering for something is the ultimate experience in democracy. You vote in elections once a year. But when you volunteer, you're voting every day about the community you want to live in."

- submitted to GUIDEPOSTS

Productivity

From Slate:

The challenge for presidential candidates, as Merlin Mann puts it, is "to know when to stop scanning your campground for bears long enough to make S'mores."

Isn't that the challenge for all of us?

The Slate article examines how presidential candidates schedule their lives, how they make productivity work for them. I'm a big 43 Folders fan. It's eye candy for the time-starved, offering hope for just half an hour to spare. There's more where this came from -- productivity classes, forums, books and podcasts (because who can read a book these days?). Half an hour would make me do a somersault; I'm sure Barack or John would do a round off and five cartwheels.

But do productivity strategies really make a difference? There wouldn't be an industry centered around checking off our to-do lists if the strategies didn't help us, would there? So why do we keep going back to these resources, keep trying to find what works? Why do we keep looking for a band-aid that will cover our open wound?

November 4

I've voted absentee in Illinois before, picking names out of a hat without understanding the candidates' track records in the community. As a former Public Life reporter, I learned that our local elections carry more weight than the national ones; after all, your school board will impact your life more than your national president. So I changed my voter registration to Missouri a few weeks ago. I know about Missouri candidates, and I'm invested in Columbia.

But who will I pick for our next president? Couldn't tell you with a shotgun to my head. Actually, I probably could scream MCCAIN or OBAMA if my life was in danger, but you get the point.

I'm trying to approach this from a faith-based perspective, but there's no clear winner. I don't want babies dying, but I want the poor and underprivileged cared for. I want lower taxes, but I want quality programs to have enough funding. I hate the war, but it would not be wise to pack up and leave tomorrow. Some argue experience, but some argue the need for fresh perspective.

People I really trust have different perspectives. I thought about linking them here, but my list got uncontrollably long. Obama supporters and McCain supporters alike have tried to persuade me. I have yet to be won over.