If there's one thing I've learned in my past year in New York, it is to believe no one. Especially those who claim they're 'famous' or doing something really cool in their field and can absolutely take you under their wing and 'hook you up.' It's a protective distrust and skepticism, really...one I've had for a long time, sometimes ignore and has earned me some not-so-nice titles at times.
About a week ago, one of my regulars at the shop came in, money in hand. I had his vegan chocolate chunk cookie bagged and ready. He had $2.20...keep the change.
"Do you write? I'm a writer, you know. I'm actually a FAMOUS writer. You should really come study with me. I'm right up the street. $75 an hour. You can come study with me now."
This guy is generally pretty quiet, so naturally I was slightly taken aback. Furthermore, he just blatantly told me he was FAMOUS. To me, this kind of a statement screams 'delusional, out of touch with reality, certifiably nuts...' choose your term. He told me his name, I looked it up and didn't find anything.
On Tuesday he came back into the shop. He has decided he wants to give me writing lessons for free. He wants us to work together, he has a 'feeling' about me. He writes his name down...I realize I misspelled it last Sunday. I am instructed to create a list of my 50 favorite things and have it ready for him by Friday. I get home and Google him again. Oh boy. He wasn't lying. He's not delusional. At. All.
The moment he gave me my first assignment I started thinking about it, not really knowing if I'd actually send it his way or not. I figure taking a moment to think about the things that really make my world is something I ought to be doing anyway. Taking inventory.
So here they are, my 50 favorite things (as of July 3 at 8:24 PM, in no particular order)...and bear with me, some of them were a little emotional, but damnit, they're honest.
1. Waking up early to start my day in silence and calm...this is why I love opening the shop so much. Nobody is awake or alert enough to be in my world with me while I get ready, or walk to work and I have a nice chunk of time to organize life the way I want it to be before I allow anyone to touch it.
2. Being in the darkroom, under the safelights and watching my images come up as if I'm releasing a little secret from the paper and setting it free.
3. The smell of fresh laundry. As in the smell of dryer sheets PLUS warm.
4. Poppies. The color, the texture of the petals, the texture of the stems and leaves, the pattern, the plant, the buds, the actual flower, the seed pod. Every. Single. Part.
5. Pigeon (yoga pose).
6. Yoga Inversions. Being upside-down.
7. Not looking back to 'revisit' what I'm leaving when I walk/drive/ride away. I learned this from my father. Say your goodbye's and be gone.
8. Standing in front of the actual work of art I love and have studied (in books and via slides) to the point of knowing well enough to feel like I am 'getting' it (as opposed to once again viewing it via textbook or slide).
9. Birds. Real birds. Pictures of birds. Dreams about birds. Songs about birds. Bird songs.
10. Making lists and conquering them.
11. Building things. Like shelves and lightboxes...and preferably requiring the use of power tools.
12. Reading a book I enjoy, start to finish, in one sitting.
13. Fresh, just cleaned sheets. Preferably ironed before they were put on the bed.
14. Rigid routine. And the flexibility to deviate from the routine if I feel like it.
15. The way you held me that night I couldn't sleep at all and had the worst cramps of my life. I changed position every three minutes, easily, and somehow, despite the fact that you were out cold, you managed to change position and hold me in each new 'pose'. I am rather confident you have no idea this ever happened, which makes it even better.
16. Alternative processes in photography. Especially Gum Bichromate.
17. Cleaning. Dishes, the refrigerator, the bathroom, clothes, walls, surfaces, floors. And organizing.
18. Hot tea.
19. Barging into your office all throughout my Junior and Senior year of college, making you listen to my ideas and making you tell me about yours.
20. The way my mom tucked me in bed when I was little, putting my blanket in an arch over my head (from ear to ear) and stroking my nose until I could calm down.
21. Francesca Woodman's photographs.
22. Pad Thai with Chicken.
23. Padilla Bay and the Hoh Rain Forest. Or more generally, the Pacific Northwest.
24. Pippin.
25. Riding on trains. Fast movement.
26. Human contact. As in touch. Honest, loving, caring, nurturing touch.
27. Female photographers, musicians and writers.
28. Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development...the idea of scaffolding.
29. Dance. For competition and performance.
30. Meeting new people, trying new things with them, and realizing that the faith I sometimes manage to have in humanity is not unfounded.
31. Giraffe eyelashes. Literal and figurative.
32. 76°...outside...sunshine...light breeze.
33. Baking soda and vinegar volcanos.
34. Having soft covers that reach up to my neck (as in bedspread, sheets, etc) on me when I sleep.
35. Baking. And sending the goods away.
36. Cooking for myself and making things that are absolutely delicious, nutritious and exactly what I wanted.
37. Kodak High Speed Infrared Film (Dear Kodak: Please un-discontinue this. I would go broke for this film), a Hoya Red #25 filter, Ilford Multigrade FB Warmtone Paper (Semi Matte) and Duratrans.
38. Smiling...and laughing until tears come out.
39. My own aggression. Because it is only 6 years old and make me laugh everyday.
40. Walking and refusing to take cabs.
41. Stainless steel.
42. Pin Up/Rockabilly style.
43. Planning for the future...both rationally and irrationally, realistically and not realistically at all.
44. Working out.
45. People watching.
46. Producing quality bodies of work.
47. Coconut popsicles, coconut shampoo and coconut conditioner.
48. Snow White.
49. Being in charge. As in being the boss. As in running the show...
50. Handwriting letters and mailing them via the USPS.
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