Who wouldn't want to get paid to vacation in Hawaii?

My dream job is to be a travel journalist. I've been searching through Craig's List looking at different freelance jobs and taking note of what kind of experience they are looking for. Most all of the listings asked for sample writing pieces however, some asked for photo and/or video samples. Obviously inspired by the potentially greatest job on the planet, I sorted through all 4000 of my pictures from the past year and put together a Photo Stream to send as an example of some of my work. I know little about photography and so honestly can't say whether or not these are any good, but I guess you can let me know.

Here's the link:
Photo Stream

Check it out and let me know what you think!

climbed up on the dreamweaver train

As kids, my sister and I had this same reoccurring dream. We always thought we were connected in some way because of it. But looking back now, who knows if we were just bullshitting the whole thing.

It was her and me in these dresses our grandmother had bought for us. I was sitting on the curb outside the house and she'd come running from down the street. I didn't know if she was running away from something or towards something, in the dream I never asked her. I just got up and ran beside her. We would run only for a short while until we'd see this house in the distance. I can't remember the details of the house, but I know it wasn't one that I had seen before. We would turn and look at each other mid-stride, still in silence, and she would nod at me. The dream always ended as we ran up the front steps. I don't remember ever entering the house.

I sometimes still have that dream and wonder if she does too. I've never asked her about it.

Since we were just kids, we never gave much thought to what this dream might mean. You always hear about dreams having connections to your real life so I figure it's a possibility. But I've been dreaming this for so long without any change in detail. Shouldn't I have solved whatever issue this dream represents by now? 

I found this Dream Dictionary  online and this is what they had to say: 

- "To dream that you are running with someone, signifies cooperation. "

- "To see a house in your dream, represents your own soul and self. Specific rooms in the house indicate a specific aspect of your psyche. In general, the attic represents your intellect, the basement represents the unconscious, etc. If the house is empty, then it indicates feelings of insecurity. If the house is shifting, then it suggests that you are going through some personal changes and changing your belief system. To dream that a house has no walls, represents a lack of privacy. You feel that everyone is looking over your shoulder or up in your business."

- "To see your sibling in your dream, indicates unresolved issues with your sibling or unresolved issues from your childhood that needs to be confronted. Consider their actions in your dream and how it may be a reflection of your own self and your character."  

We were close as kids but have grown a part over time due to different hardships we faced. Maybe the house represents how our future relationship will shape ourselves, and we never enter because we have yet to allow ourselves to affect the life of the other. The running could represent the amends that can be reached with mutual effort. And obviously she represents herself and my relationship with her. The reoccurrence, I guess, is a reminder of the importance of this relationship to my life. Even though we don't see each other much now, our relationship is still an important part of who I am. And to truly understand myself I must begin to pry apart the decay of my relationship with my sister. 

Maybe one night we will see inside the house we ran to so many times.

A little thing that drives me crazy:

 

Two things are the same and on thing is different. Can you choose the item that doesn't belong?

 

I feel like this is something that belongs on a shapes quiz in Kindergarten, not on the shelves of a grocery store. I will never understand why companies package together items that have absolutely nothing in common. Did Duracell really think they were making my life easier by including a Tide to go pen with AA batteries? As if they just knew I'd spill salsa on my shirt while watching TV, which I turned on using a remote that contained the Duracell AA batteries I purchased earlier that day. Wow, these people are mind readers! Like, we all know nothing goes better together than PB&J, except SC&W (sunscreen and cheap wine, of course). Come on now, forget keeping Gatorade court side! We're gonna whip out the wine and get a little dangerous, all while staying UV protected with the Coppertone SPORT that was included in the two bottle package.

I am not more prone to buy a product if it includes a free-be that is completely unrelated to the product. Include something that I will use with the product, like a corkscrew with the wine, or I will think it's stupid. Who wants more random junk to keep in their pockets?

The most simple advice is sometimes the most important...

There's a simple saying I've come to live by: remind the world that you're still here.

In life, the most frustrating thing is the feeling of unimportance. Like you have sunk so far into the woodwork that no matter what you do you can no longer go against the grain. We've each been given a script to live out. We play the role of the person we are supposed to be, spending our days going through the motions; enter stage right, exit stage left. Eventually you become so comfortable with this character you've created that you're afraid of the person you actually are.

Originality gives life meaning. People search for years trying to "find themselves" but really they are just filtering out the bullshit until they can finally see what is left. Being original isn't easy and it's certainly not comfortable, but it is real. It took me a while to figure that out, and to be honest I'm still figuring it out. I think everyone is. So everyday I try to do something I've never done before, something no one would expect me to do. Even if it's something small, or something no one will witness, it will remind me that my place in this world is my own. Having that sort of ownership makes my life important. I know that if I weren't here the world would be affected. Or, more importantly, since I am here the world is affected.

The moment I realized I was wrong...

"I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine."
-- Indigo Girls

The hardest thing about living in this world is trying to block it out. Not that you shouldn't participate in it, but rather that you shouldn't let it participate in you. It's so easy to build yourself up with the titles and labels of your resumé; SGA Director, VP of your sorority, member of various prestigious standing committees, etc. But none of those positions hold any value in describing you. Sounds like a simple concept, yet one that is so easily pushed aside. I spent my whole life trying to better myself on paper, it only took one moment to realize how wrong I was.

I was in the Salinas Grandes which is a 3,200 mi^2 salt desert in the Córdoba providence of the Sierras de Córdoba in Argentina. Because of the extreme concentration of salt in this area no life can be sustained, meaning no plants, no animals, not even insects. It was the most incredible sight, I felt like i was on the moon. You'd look in any direction and see the white, salt covered ground stretched towards the horizon. But as inspiring as the view was, the night was actually more eye-opening. The sun went down and I just started to run into the blackness. Without having to worry about direction, speed, or potential obstacles, it was freeing. It was the perfect physical experience to mirror the inner turns I was making in my life. I ran blindly until I tired and threw myself into the sand. As I laid in the silence I realized I was the only living thing for miles around. I could scream or sing or jump or think with no witnesses nor anything to effect with my presence. But that didn't mean my actions didn't count. I made one of the most important discoveries of my life in that desert and no one, until now, had even known I was there.


I had searched every source for some definitive in my life, but it wasn't until I took everything else out of the picture that I was able to see that what was left was what mattered the most.