An invitation

Invitation
by Shel Silverstein

If you are a dreamer, come in
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by the fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

The first time I came to South Africa I was horrified by the responses of people to what I was doing (leaving for Africa...you'll perish!!!!). Above all my grandmother's response was the most insane knee-jerkism I had encountered to my prospective journey. I will leave out what she said, but do know that one day the letter she sent me will probably be framed on my wall! It was at that point that I decided that a major part of me leaving the country was to share my experiences of being away so that "outside the US" or "outside the Western realm" seemed less frightening to people. More real. More like something they could relate to. Besides educating, I also hoped to inspire folks to push their limits beyond their own personal safety zone. In particular thru travel, but not everyone is built for travel. And I think that's okay. Unfortunate, maybe, but okay in the end. To each his/her own. I feel like I've been moderately successful in that endeavour...my most recent evidence coming in the form of my friend Ben's blog in which he says that I was an "impetus" for his own journey to Costa Rica. Nice! Un peu du success!

My grandmother, although not a staunch enemy of my plan, was my greatest challenge. Or at least I perceived her to be my greatest challenge. I made sure to send photos and cards and such detailing what I was doing in South Africa. When I came home I gave her a book called "A Day in the Life of Africa." The book consisted of photos taken all over Africa on a particular day (I think a day in Feb 2002). I was conveniently in S Africa on the day covered in the book, so I wrote down inside the cover what I was doing that day. It was luckily a memorable day because there was a huge beerfest the day before and I remember sleeping in a friend's dorm room and then waking up late and hungover for a VERY early class...what a day! This book was one of the first in a series done by National Geographic. Now there are books that explore a day in the life of every state in the USA, many countries, and probably all the continents. I think it's a great idea...and now I want to rip it off.

As I was just laying down to cool off for a sec I thought "how can I bring my day effectively to the folks at home so that they can see what I'm REALLY up to?" Thankfully now I am blessed w/digital photography (cheap film!!) and I thought of something. So what I would like to do, on an ongoing basis, is photograph one day in my life. Which I will repeat maybe every month or something. It will be a work in progress. Initially I am going to start on Feb 15th (since I haven't had a 15th yet in SA) and I will take one photo every hour at the top of the hour. More or less.

So what's this bizness about "an invitation?"

I want to also invite you, wherever you are, to do the same. All sorts of folks have digital what not cameras, phones, and cuff links these days. So let's collaborate. I'm starting on Feb 15th...so please take your photos on the same day so we can compare. You can either upload the photos to a photo-sharing website (www.shutterfly.com, www.bebo.com, www.flickr.com, etc) and then send me the link(that would be easiest for me) or you can send the photos to me at my gmail address. It's easiest to send tons of files in a zip folder form. For those of you scratching your heads...

A zip folder is a compressed version (meaning it takes up less space) of a folder. It prevents you having to attach each individual photo at a time. Gmail has an automatic unzipper, I think, so I can just open the folder direct and take out the photos. To zip a folder all you do is go to the folder in whatever drive it is on your computer. Right click it on the folder and move your cursor down to "Send to." This should cause another menu to pop out and you should have an option to send it to a compressed/zip folder. That's how it works in Windows/PCs...for all you Mac-ophiles...you are on your own. Then when you go to "attach file" on your email account...you attach the zipped folder (usually it has a zipper on it). Let me know if you need help...but honestly the easiest will be for you to put your photos on a website and just send me the link.

So in this way we can share what "a day in the life" is for all of us ;) You don't have to be a superstar or have the most exciting day of all time to include yourself. You just need a camera and a computer. Isn't it the Zen folk that take pleasure in the small repetitive processes of each day? I like that a lot. Because after all, most of our day is filled up w/small inconsequential events. And that's okay.

"From such small incidents is a great day made."

Johnny Danja said that y'all.

On the more event-driven tip...I'm mobile!! I bought a bicycle today. A new bicycle. I think the last new bike I bought was in 1993-ish with hard earned paper route money. And that was just an old Huffy junker. P.O.S.H is what I used to call her...Piece of s**t Huffy. But she got me around. And at one point I think she even got Graeme around, which was funny to see his giagantic toothpick frame on a tiny bike made for a 12 yr old. This bike is a Giant bike (that's the brand, not the size...). I bought a women's bike this time...how the heck do ladies carry their bikes upstairs?! The frame is just not conducive for that at all...and I live upstairs! I can feel the muscles popping already! Also it's very exciting to ride around here cos everyone is driving on the wrong side. It's an adventure all right. Graeme, I invoke your intrepid bicyclin' spirit to protect me!!!

Also I've missed my first class already, d'oh! But I sort of made it up today. It was a lab for my biochem classes. I just forgot about the class yesterday and also scheduled a meeting with Prof Webb, the head of the Animal Sciences department here...and a colleague of my fav prof at U of IL, Dr. Kesler. It was very good to meet him and get some ideas on engaging my interests here. And he invited me to come check out his anatomy lab...yeah...guts!! Today though I went to another section and got all the stuff I needed...it was sort of a waste of time cos the prof was an hour late and then I sat at the back and couldn't hear anything. I just tried to take some notes and stuff.

That's about it I guess. My next big event is to buy a cooking pot so I can stop eating sandwiches. Although they are good sandwiches...I love cooking!

SA random tidbit for the day:
Cream soda is green colored here.

Until next time...get those cameras ready!

Love Lynsee