Life List Stories and Inspiration

Cute article in the LA Weekly about top 10 reasons we like top 10 lists.

Before I read it, my list is:

1. Saves time
2. Avoids thinking
3. Interesting to see what other people consider to be “top 10.”
4. Gives us a reason to make our own list.
5. They come in so many flavors.
6. Clues us in to whatever we think we should be doing or want to do.
7. It’s too hard to think of top 10 things ourselves.

What 3 things am I missing about why we love top 10 lists?

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I don’t mean blame Maslow himself. But pretty much when relationships  don’t work out due to being in different places in your life, you can chalk it up to Maslow’s hierarchy.

• You want to go traveling while he needs to work?
• He wants to go to a meditation retreat while you need to tend to the house and kids?
• She or he is too stressed out over having to find housing / health insurance / or part time work, while you are not satisfied in your relationship when your life is going fine?

Blame it on Maslow’s Hierarchy.

It’s the best way to stoically accept incompatibilities in needs / desires and try to move on OR understand that it is a temporary situation. That alone will get you closer to the pinnacle, not that that’s always the best place to be.  What do you think?

PS — What is the “sex” on the bottom level vs. the Love level I wonder?

PPS Of course, maybe he’s just not into you.

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It’s the first day of Fall already!

There are some things I want to change in my life so I couldn’t help but think “I’m going to turn over a new leaf.”

As I visualized turning brown crunchy leaves over, it made me wonder where in the heck that expression came from. (Like dude why would anyone be turning leaves over?) It didn’t take too many sips of coffee for me to realize it was referring to a book leaf…turning the pages of a book to a new chapter. Then it didn’t take too many more sips of coffee for me to think that the Kindle could make that expression obsolete one day.

Regardless, today is a good day to turn over a new leaf too! Or just enjoy the fall leaves.

Here’s a list of ideas of things to do in Fall that I put together last year.

Happy crunching!

PS Speaking of the Kindle and me wanting to make money for SuperViva, yesterday I heard this woman raving about how her Kindle was her favorite toy ever. she was the quintessential unintentional product evangelist, talking about how the books are so affordable, it’s so handy, she gets lots of free content, how she used to lug around books. So if turning over a new leaf for you means looking into buying a Kindle, if you click here and buy it I will make a few cents for SuperViva!

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I checked my bag in as requested at the Dali Theater-Museum and only after entering did I realize that cameras were allowed. Only flashes are not. Oh my, being a horrible shutter bug the idea of being without a camera in my ultimate of museums went against the grain but I decided to skip getting it from my backpack.

I glanced around and found that about 80% of the people had cameras and looked around at every turn for things to photograph as well as memories of family in front of the Cadillac; weird statues; and gold work. I remembered all the photos of my youth in museums…and well “who cares.” Nowadays you can pretty much see photos of whatever you want online.

Instead of focusing on finding things to photograph - although I was dying to photograph the fire equipment which truly made me look twice thinking it was a piece of art ala an old New Yorker cartoon - I was able to truly LOOK at the art. As mentioned previously I was able to examine how he created the effects through various techniques.

I’m not saying all the people photographing weren’t “seeing” the way I was. Just that I know myself what it’s like when I have a camera. Half the fun of eating is taking the photo of the food. Without the camera I need to remember the experience and recount it through other senses and means. 

What do you think?

Tags: 1103Commentshttp://superviva.com/blog/2009/08/to-photograph-or-not-to-photograph/To+Photograph+or+Not+to+Photograph2009-08-31+16%3A40%3A39Susie

Going with the flow while traveling is especially important, when so much is out of your control. The flow takes you up, takes you down, takes you up again.

If you resist, you’ll likely end up miserable and miss out on various interesting opportunities and synchronicity.

Yes, this all relates to my day today:

1. I head of from a hotel I was leaving to walk 1/3 of a mile to catch a bus when all of a sudden the bus I needed pulled up to me. I hopped on.
2. 10 minutes later I realized the bus was right in front of where I needed to get off, much to my surprise (thought I’d have to walk a couple of blocks). An auspicious start to the day, or so I thought.
3. I get to the new hotel to leave my bag. The girl gives me a weird look. Um, are you reserved for tonight? I reminded her I had emailed. She tells me 1) I had requested a room for the next night. 2) She had emailed me back after the guy had confirmed it saying they hadn’t actually confirmed it and in fact it was given away. Which was irrelevant since I was going to be flying home the next day. Duh. Instead of beating myself up for being such an idiot (I even re-confirmed the wrong date), I decided to be happy for not thinking my *flight* was on the wrong date which would have been much more catastrophic. She makes a couple of calls. Everyone is full. She let me go online, even as other guests wanted to use the computer. I post on Couch Surfing to find an “emergency couch” then decide I can’t stand the stress of waiting to hear from people…plus it is  generally not well received to be looking for a place just to crash even though I sincerely want tomake new friends. I end up booking at a hostel and thank her profusely. Then I offer her this cute shirt I had brought thinking I’d sell it. She doesn’t want it but thanks me profusely and we have a nice conversation…and I feel like we’ve made a connection.
4. I hop on the metro and get to the new hostel. It’s beautiful and I wish I’d discovered it earlier and am looking forward to cooking some seafood as my last meal here. I’m excited to be in a new neighborhood that I find more pleasant than any others and find a local market where I discover wine in a box - a souvenir must! 
5. I head back to the metro and some EMTs carry a dead body in a bag by me. Totally utterly weird. I’m mad that I got on a subway line that was out of the way from where I was going but figure I can discover a new place. There’s a guy sitting huddled on this ramp thing using a Mac laptop. I suggest taking a picture of him since where he sits is such an odd sight, encircled with clear plexiglass. He agrees and pulls out a nice camera and admires my shot. He’s an aussie giving tours and turns out was at La Tomatina! We walk a few blocks together, have a nice chat, and shoot pictures of African men being chased off by police carrying their knock off wares in huge bags on their backs like nomads.
6. We part and I wander around deciding where to have my last lunch…and making sure it is not bad, unlike the last few meals I’ve had. I pick a place that looks like it has only locals. It’s air conditioned and turns out to have the best food I’ve enjoyed at a great price (Diversus in the Born District in Barcelona). Peaceful, beautiful lighting, just the right amount.
7. A nice person from Couch Surfing writes and says he isn’t around but will introduce me to someone who is town. Hopefully by days end I will have some new friends!

Today will surely bring more ups, more downs, more happy flat lines.

By the way I’ve found that sketching as I travel is extremely relaxing and sort of interesting. I don’t know “how” to sketch but try to imitate when I see art. For example at the Dali museum there were tons of sketches of bodies. I tried seeing the artistic strokes at a micro level to see if I could replicate and even though mine were more child like than Dali-esque it still is a good way to get into the flow especially on a long voyage.

Tags: 1099Commentshttp://superviva.com/blog/2009/08/go-with-the-flow-when-traveling/Go+With+the+Flow+When+Traveling2009-08-31+13%3A54%3A33Susie