This Is Me

This is what I find interesting. Maybe you will too!

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Tonight I’ll be seeing Sons of Fathers at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. I’m on the guest list. This up and coming alt-country group from Austin, Texas is on the rise and is criss-crossing the country. After tonight’s show their next stop is my office for a lunchtime performance to about 200 people. Yep, that’s right, I’m putting on a concert for the very first time. Wish me - and this great band - luck on Monday!

Filed under sons of fathers music music video Roots & Vine Bootleg Theater Los Angeles alt-country

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What I learned from my wisdom teeth

I recently visited a new dentist, where one of her assistants told me my wisdom teeth were in the way when taking x-rays. I explained that was impossible. I don’t have wisdom teeth. She disagreed. I got annoyed. These days I may not know a lot for sure, but I know I don’t have wisdom teeth. I am sure of that. It is a fact. And yet, for a moment I wondered if she was right. Did I have wisdom teeth I didn’t know about? 

Of course not. If I did, I would know about it. But nothing these days seem to be on solid ground. So much is fluid, changeable and in flux. There are so many unknowns. Things that once seemed impossible are now reality. My world has opened up in a big way and with that comes the need to question the way I saw the world before. 

It isn’t like aliens have landed on Earth or the zombie apocalypse has begun. I just got a new job. Just. But it has been a huge shift. Not only in the way my days are structured and what I spend my time thinking about or doing, but the way that effects my outlook on everything else. My job is exponentially more demanding than my last job, which is what I wanted and I am thankful for it. I get to use my brain, challenge myself while building on my skill set. It is a great match and I think after eight weeks I’m starting to get the hang of it. Yet, the energy, focus and time it takes to get through a day with so many new, unusual, exciting elements is exhausting. My brain gets full, and then amazingly overflows with more ideas and aspirations that can’t fit into the day. 

Where should I put all of this, well, “extra” stuff? In talking to friends also working beyond their previous capacity and we discuss where the excess goes. The biggest concern is whether it oozes into your personal life and take it over. Should we feel guilty if it does? What does that mean for your life as it existed before the job? What is left behind on the chopping block? How much of what was left behind was intentional and what do you need to go back and recover? How much time and energy do you have to allocate to assessing these things? 

We all agree: we love our jobs and we’re in a great place in our careers - whether they are temporary or long term. We are also all women who feel a tug towards family and friends in ways that perhaps our male partners don’t feel as strongly or identify with. We can’t help it that we want the world and plan to go out and get it. It’s already happening. And that’s a fact. Just like my wisdom teeth. 

Filed under wisdom teeth women career work/life balance

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When working in the financial industry I wanted to learn about the business which provided my livelihood, but knew that my brain wasn’t going to do well with facts and figures, calculations and economic theory. So I searched out online podcasts which might help shed some light on finance in a way which didn’t immediately turn my brain to mush as it tried to sort through complex topics and nuanced regulations. 

I discovered a wonderful NPR podcast called Planet Money out of New York. A small group of very smart reports who had a talent for making complex concepts easily understood by luddites like myself actually were offering up their service for free a couple times a week. The show became a staple during my commute. 

Back in 2008 when the financial crisis hit, then when the housing market bubble burst and later when toxic assets were indirectly effecting my job daily I was thrilled to have Planet Money explaining it all to me in simple 20 minute segments that I could truly comprehend, then connect to the next story of what was happening at work. Their show “Giant Pool of Money” in conjunction with This American Life was a fantastic piece of coverage, by any measure. 

I thought when I exited the world of finance for gaming I would likely stop listening to Planet Money. My commute is shorter now and I don’t need to understand why this or that is messing with our fragile economy, but I still listen. I appreciate understanding these concepts that others shy away from learning about because it is daunting to understand financial investment theory when you are an artistically inclined person who can barely balance their own checkbook, but I wish more people listened and learned from these reporters. 

Right now they’re doing a story on what it takes to make a simple t-shirt, the rules, regulations, limitations, and many steps in the process to turn cotton into clothing. They’re even making a Planet Money t-shirt to truly live the process. And I’ve pre-bought one by contributing to their Kickstarter campaign. If this intrigues you at all jump onto Kickstarter now since the effect will be complete in one week. Nearly 8,800 people have pledged almost $250,000. Who knew a t-shirt with a squirrel drinking a martini would get so much attention. And they technological aspect of the shirt is pretty cool too. What will these finance nerds think of next?! 

Watch this video to learn more about this unique project and who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love with learning about the financial aspects of the world we live in thanks to the thoughtful folks at Planet Money.

Filed under planet money NPR How Is It Made? learning economy this american life

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It is Monday and that means The Following is on Fox tonight - yay! What’s that you say? The weird cult show where hoards of FBI can’t catch anyone, only Kevin Bacon can? Yes, that show. I’m loving it.  The tie to Edgar Allan Poe appealed to me, reminded me of the night in high school when my eyebrow was cut open by my glasses when clashing with another JV high school basketball player on the court at Latin School. I took my homework with me and read The Raven while waiting in the emergency room. So somehow I believe an entire cult of unstable people could easily be tied to Poe’s work. And his dark writings are a wonderfully creative backdrop for the story being told weekly. In the final two episodes of the season I hope they loop back around to the cult’s connection to Poe and put a nice bow on the insanity produced by Joe Carroll and his dedicated followers. I am excited to see what happens next season, but not before watching Ryan Hardy take down the bad guy. 

It is Monday and that means The Following is on Fox tonight - yay!

What’s that you say? The weird cult show where hoards of FBI can’t catch anyone, only Kevin Bacon can? Yes, that show. I’m loving it. 

The tie to Edgar Allan Poe appealed to me, reminded me of the night in high school when my eyebrow was cut open by my glasses when clashing with another JV high school basketball player on the court at Latin School. I took my homework with me and read The Raven while waiting in the emergency room. So somehow I believe an entire cult of unstable people could easily be tied to Poe’s work. And his dark writings are a wonderfully creative backdrop for the story being told weekly.

In the final two episodes of the season I hope they loop back around to the cult’s connection to Poe and put a nice bow on the insanity produced by Joe Carroll and his dedicated followers. I am excited to see what happens next season, but not before watching Ryan Hardy take down the bad guy. 

(via nevver)

Filed under Edgar Allan Poe The Raven The Following Literary Humor poetry Kevin Bacon