Posting my Secret

Complete- Drop #41: Send a Postcard in to PostSecret

     If you are not yet familiar with PostSecret, you must have been living under a rock for the past five years.

      I have to admit that I was pissed off somewhat upset when PostSecret got their "App" on, and I did a mental celebratory 'happy dance' when their app was shut down due to pornographic or threatening content. Some things should remain as simple as possible. To me, snail-mailing deep, dark secrets is one of those things.

     There's a bit of nostalgia attached to the physicality of having to create something from scratch and sending it to somebody, instead of creating a virtual representation of it on whatever device you have in front of you. It simply isn't as meaningful, and I miss that connection sometimes.


     If you haven't heard of PostSecret, the concept is quite straightforward. Design a 4x6 postcard with your secret on it and send it in. The secret can be anything that you've never revealed to anybody. There's a sense of release to know that- although it's anonymous- at least one person knows something that you've been holding in. So what if that one person is only Frank Warren.

     I've been meaning to do this for years. But, for one reason or another, I've been putting it off. Honestly, the major motivation for me to do this today was that I hadn't written anything for this week, and I am a great disbeliever in writing content just for the hell of it. So, I've now completed something that I've been wanting to accomplish, and can cross it off both my life list and 25 before 25!

Shhhhhhhh! It's a secret...

     I'm pretty sure my secret won't be published on the PostSecret blog. It turned out to be some sort of hideous, monotonic catastrophe. I tried to use nail polish as a surrogate for glue, so if (for some reason) Frank wants to sniff my secret, he will get a noseful of nasty!


Aaand off it goes!

     Sorry, you can't know my secret. That would kind of defeat the purpose.



     Who can you confide your secrets to?
     Would you ever consider telling a complete stranger your secret?

An Interesting Find

     In my restlessness I was organizing some boxes that we still haven't unpacked from our move back in August (can you tell that we can't wait to move out of here?) when I came across the planner I used my senior year in high school. It had been touched by the flood that wrecked havoc on our basement last spring, so the pages had blended together and were water damaged. I briefly flipped through it and lo-and-behold, look what I came across:

If I remember correctly, the picture that seeped through from the other side of the page is a sketch I drew of John Steinbeck based on his portrait on the back of one of his books.

     Ladies and Gentleman, Stephanie's Senior Year Bucket List 2006! It goes all the way up to 100. It seems like high school senior Stephanie and college senior Stephanie still have some things in common.

Some things that are on the old bucket list that are already on the current one:

#1. Write a Memoir
#3. Visit all 50 states
#15. Donate hair to Locks of Love
#30. Own a House
#43. Take a Photo Every Day
#58. Send a Postcard to Postsecret

Some things that are on the old bucket list that I actually did, even though I forgot all about the list:

#14. Learn how to Cook Vietnamese Soup

#17. Go to a Concert

#21. Work in a Jewelry Department

#31. Go Scuba Diving

#35. Adopt an Abandoned Animal

#83. Start a Charm Bracelet

Some things that are silly:

#18. Make a Music video Featuring my Life or my Feelings

#51. Become a Grand Master at Suduko

#69. Never Turn Down an Opportunity to Try a New Food

#72. Get to the End of Endless Bejeweled

#90. Pet a Lion

#93. Try Camel Meat

A few things that I would like to add to my current list:

#37. Stand up for Something I Truly Believe In

#48. Identify 100 Things that Make Me Happy

#70. See the President in Person

#80. Love my Job

#82. Start a Family Tradition

#100. Pass on a Legacy

     A few comments: Something I found interesting was how subjective some of the items on the first list were. Maybe I've become too philosophical since high school, but what defines happiness? What is considered a legacy? If I love my job one day can I cross it off the list, and what if I love it but then end up hating it? I find the things on the new list are a bit easier to measure. It's easier to tell when I've graduated college or gotten a million dollars in assets.

    Before I came across this list I was debating whether or not I would allow myself to change my current list if I didn't want to do something on it in the future. I think that I have to allow myself that flexibility, else I would be stuck with a goal that may no longer be obtainable or enjoyable for me to strive for (ex. try camel meat??).

Update: Summer

     This summer was a complete waste of time. I suppose that's what happens, though, when you let your mind get away from you. Anyways, I didn't really get a lot accomplished on this list... nothing even close to what I wanted to do. But, it's fall semester now, and it's time to refocus myself and remember my goals in life. So, here's an update on what I wanted to accomplish vs. what I actually did accomplish:

1. Paint a really incredible painting- I would have been happy with a simple rough draft of this. Didn't happen. 

2. Catch up on all my bills- Got some of this accomplished, no thanks to me.

8. Learn Vietnamese- Didn't learn any Vietnamese this summer.

13. Have a successful garden- I had good intentions with this! Unfortunately I was gone way too much this summer so my garden went from growing successfully to a weed garden. 
15. Become fluent in Spanish- Nope

18. Cut my hair short and give it to a hair charity- I wanted to do this over the summer, but my best friend is getting married next September and I'm the maid of honor. She wants me to keep my hair long for the wedding. She's right- long hair for weddings is so pretty :-). I'll cut it in a year or so.

32. Go scuba diving- I did this!!!! Completed!!! Did it in St. John USVI and it was amazinggggg.....
33. Jump off a cliff in to water- It isn't too late to do this, but I don't think I'll be getting to it this summer....
40. Read the Bible (Including old testament) and Quran. - Yeah.... No.......

41. Send a postcard in to PostSecret- Actually I think I will make the time to do this in the next week or so. Haven't done it yet though

     Soooooo That's what I accomplished from my list this summer.... basically nothing. Very disappointed in myself. But, Like I said before, I just need to refocus. Update next week.

Summer

     As nobody would notice since I am basically the only person keeping up with this blog, I haven't updated for a while. Definitely not posting every week! It may not be immediately obvious as to why I stopped posting as religiously as I used to. But, upon further evaluation, it becomes clear that my last post was posted on the week of a notable event: The end of my Facebook Sabbatical.


     The sabbatical itself was amazing. I highly recommend it to anybody who has to check their social media site at minimum once a day. For those who stay logged on all the time, I think it is necessary. I found myself much more motivated, and got a lot more done. I finished school, started a garden, started my volunteer job, kept up with this blog, etc. I was hoping I wouldn't slip back in to my old routine, but I suppose it is inevitable. On a positive note, though, I no longer use it on my phone. So, I am no longer FBing on the run. Deleting the Facebook account is looking more and more attractive. Perhaps when summer is over, and school starts again.

     On another note, I haven't not had a job since I was 15 or 16. So, this summer is going to be very interesting for me. I find myself bored quite often (and, hence, on FB). What I have decided to do to alleviate that boredom is to get as much accomplished on this list as possible, and start a few of the bigger, more time consuming tasks. Here are some of the things I would like to either get started on or accomplished, and a bit about how I plan on going about doing it.

Drops to Work on this Summer: 

1. Paint a really incredible painting

• I am not for sure how I am going to do this or what it's going to be of, entail, consist of, etc. I suppose the first thing I should do is really get an idea of what it is I am going to be painting. I think I would really like to do an abstract, but mix in other materials and objects which are quite distinguishable. Come to think of it, even if I get a good idea and perhaps a rough draft of the painting out this summer, I'll be happy. I can always start on it whenever I feel motivated to do so (what I am trying to say is I am not motivated right now... ha ha).

2. Catch up on all my bills
8. Learn Vietnamese

• I do really want to learn this language. I'm going to have to Rosetta Stone it up ASAP, and accomplish as much of it as I can

13. Have a successful garden

• I have already started my garden! Right now I am trying to grow lettuce, snap peas, tomatoes, carrots, scallions, onions, lemongrass, herbs (cilantro, basil, parsley, mustard greens, Thai basil), and attempting Serrano peppers (which started out good, but are recovering slowly from transplantation). I am having two major problems: The first, is that weeds are rapidly spreading. I'm not always 100% sure which one I am supposed to pull and which is the vegetable. And secondly, cats use it as a litter box. Yuck. Other than that, everything is looking pretty good!

15. Become fluent in Spanish

• I'm already pretty good in Spanish. I'm just going to try to change my settings over, make everything in Spanish, and practice that way. My main focus this summer is on learning Vietnamese. If I can catch my Vietnamese up to the level of understanding I have in Spanish, it will be a successful summer.

18. Cut my hair short and give it to a hair charity

• This kind of coincides with the previous drop of growing my hair out to the top of my buttocks. I think it's close enough. By the end of the summer, I think I am going to call it a quits and cut it short. I've had it long for 5 yrs plus. I might chicken out by the end of the summer, though. Yeah, I'll probably chicken out.

32. Go scuba diving
33. Jump off a cliff in to water
40. Read the Bible (Including old testament) and Quran.

• Not planning on finishing, but would like to get started

41. Send a postcard in to PostSecret



     I was going to put drop 45 down also because it's something that's quick to cross off, but I'm not ready for a tattoo yet. And besides, I ended up putting a lot more down here than I thought I would. I suppose that a lot of these are doable in summer's time. I just loose track so easily of the day. I'm so used to being busy all the time that, although no longer being so time restricted is a relief, I also don't know how to properly use the spare time to get things done. I've always had to be somewhere at a certain time, and that more often than not is no longer the case. This will give me something to do and work towards.

     Oh, I also have to do those darn GREs... but that's not on the list