Recycling Memories

Out of all of the college English courses I took the most personal thing that I discovered was my love for memoirs. I love reading about people's lives from their own perspective.  Blogs have made reading memoirs more accessible. Of all of the social media that is cropping up in this world, blogging is my favorite. Reading my friends' blogs (and others like Today's Letters and Une Gamine Dans La Cuisine) has become something that I do nearly every day now that I sit in front of my laptop for about six hours 4 days a week. They remind me that life doesn't have to be the way I've always lived it and inspire me to try new things creating my own memory after hearing some one else's.

I think that this discovery about memoirs and the ability to live life differently than you have in the past has changed the way that I have moved to a new city. For example, when I was living in Charlottesville I decided that I wanted to try and explore that area of Virginia as though I was visiting (because, really, that's all any of us are ever doing on this earth anyway, right?). I drove to the surrounding towns and made sure that I went wine tasting, fruit picking, and hiking, to concerts, plays, films, and festivals. I have to say that I remember these excursions more than I remember my routine. I read (in Today's Letters actually) that one woman's goal was "to make a memory every day".  I've also heard it said that you should "do one thing every day that scares you". I wonder how my life would change if I approached each day with those two things in mind. I think I've found a new challenge.

I found a Japanese Garden.

So far I have crossed off a few things that I originally wanted to go visit in LA: the Venice Canals, Santa Monica Pier, a Soda Shop, Griffith Observatory, Venice Beach Boardwalk, The Hollywood Sign, the Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, Malibu.  

I found the Great Wall of LA

Now on my list of things to do and see I have: Drink coffee at the Bourgeois Pig, sit and read outside of Figaro, hike the 7mile loop at Runyon Canyon, attend a taping of Ellen (and various other shows), visit the Angel's Knoll (500 Days of Summer anyone?), go to the Downtown Art Walk (First Fridays of LA for all my Cville peeps), visit the NoHo Arts District, visit Little Ethiopia and Little Japan, hike the Topanga State Park Trek (can't help but think of Boy Meets World), find and walk the Secret Stairs of LA...as you can see, I still have a lot of exploring to do. In a city this big I'm sure that I can keep coming up with more and more new things to try and do and the best part about almost all of the things above...its F R E E.

So, signing off today in hopes that if you've been discouraged or bored where you are living, find an adventure, think like a tourist. Dare to live life differently, do something that scares you,