The Next Few Months

Posted on June 26, 2014 by lisafindley

Hello, dearest fellow travelers. Some of you have asked for an update on where I’m headed next and what my longer-term plans are. I’m excited about what’s next: On Sunday, I fly back to the States for a couple weeks, to visit with family and friends. Then in mid-July, I fly to London. I’ll visit with family and friends in England, and my cousin and I will take a trip somewhere in western Europe together. I hope to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Fest, and maybe see some parts of the UK I haven’t before. If you’re in the UK and want to meet up, let me know!

I think I can stretch my money til the end of the summer. After that, well, that is a good question. I need to get a job somewhere. I have an EU passport, so I could work anywhere in the EU, or I could return to the States. Both of those sound appealing to me, so I might cast a very wide search and see what happens. If you know of any freelance editorial work, even just proofreading a resume or something, or if you hear of any leads on long-term office work, please let me know at lisa dot findley [at] gmail dot com. Steady work after two years will be the next adventure!

New Blog Series

Posted on November 29, 2012 by lisafindley

Hello dearest fellow travelers! I’m writing you from Auckland, New Zealand. It’s cold and wet here, but that’s all right; it feels like November that way! I’ll be moving around the North Island in the next few weeks, and maybe by then it’ll be warmer and sunnier.

I’ve set up a couple new features. If you look at the black menu bar at the top of the page, you’ll see I have a Links page, so you can see what travel, music, and other fun websites I like. I’ve also added a Photo Series drop-down menu up there, so you can see all the Where in the World Wednesdays in one place, for example. The new Sunrise, Sunset series is up there, and so is the latest, called Every Room I Lay My Head, which is a visual chronicle of the various places I’m sleeping on this trip (bed, outdoor swag, tent, sailboat berth, etc.).

Enjoy the new series and look for posts on Uluru next week!

At My Pace: In Defense of Slow Walking

Posted on February 2, 2012 by lisafindley

Sometimes when I’m ambling down the street and fellow city workers rush past me, I sing a little song to myself: “I’m a slow walker and you think it’s not fair, but I’m a slow walker and I don’t care.”

...on track to my destination! Boo-yah?

Friends have tried to make me speed up but that just makes me want to drag my feet out of stubbornness. City walkers move impatiently past me, but I don’t rush from place to place and I don’t see why I should. I don’t stand and gawp in the middle of the sidewalk, and I keep to the right so it’s easy for people to pass me, so I don’t understand the sighs of frustration as people do pass me. There’s sidewalk enough to share!

At my pace, I’m able to see little things to brighten my day or amuse me, like a kid making up a hopscotch game as she waits for the bus with her mom. At my pace, I can look around and enjoy the sights, and feel like I’m really a part of whatever place I’m in.

I’m a slow walker at home and I’m sure that won’t change when I go on my trip. Since most of the time I’ll be doing my own thing, it shouldn’t be an issue. I will have to speed up some if I go on tours, so as not to slow down the whole group, but otherwise I’ll see foreign sights as I see hometown ones–at my own pace.

Image from here.

Quick Blog Note

Posted on January 27, 2012 by lisafindley

Do you “like” Stowaway on Facebook? I’ve set up a page on FB so I can remind people to check into the blog, and I’ve also started posting links to interesting travel articles I read on other sites, so that it can become a hub of travel talk in general. (Check out today’s post, for example.) I usually post on the Stowaway wall 2-3 days a week, so you definitely won’t be inundated with FB wall spam. Also, anyone can write on the Stowaway FB wall, so if you find your own interesting link, just post it there, and be sure to use the “Everyone (Most Recent)” view of the wall to see posts made by not me. Click that “like” button today!

You can also sign up to have Stowaway added to your RSS feed, or set it up so that you receive an email each time there’s a new post. You can do that right here on this page (see the “follow this blog” box to the left).

There are a lot of ways to make sure Stowaway is a daily, integral, essential, more-important-than-brushing-your-teeth part of your life, is what I’m saying. And isn’t that all what we’re looking for–a blog to shape our every waking moment?

Have a good weekend, dearest fellow travelers. See you next week!

New Series: Be a Grown-Up

Posted on October 24, 2011 by lisafindley

“Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.”
— Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye

It’s a well-documented feeling, that we were expecting to be given a copy of The Grown-Up’s Handbook when we turned 24 or so, and that once this did not happen, we grew very discouraged. You mean to say that we have to figure out all sorts of bizarre adult rituals like buying car insurance and navigating office politics on our own? And once we realized that actually no one else had received the handbook either, and that they’re all figuring it out on their own too, we saw it first as “phew, I’m not the only one,” and then “wait a minute, who’s running this show?”

I’m 28 years old and confident in my ability to run my own life well. I pay my bills, go to my job, host visitors, etc. I like lists and I like my planner. I’m self-sufficient and have been since fall of 2005. But there are some things I have no idea how to do, things that I’m ashamed aren’t in my skill set, because they seem so basic to being a functioning adult or someone who can help out in a scrape (like, say, on a trip around the world).

So for this new blog series, I thought I’d combine learning with fun, just like they taught us on Magic School Bus. I have a Flip video camera and friends who know how to do stuff. I’m going to make videos of them teaching me useful things, and then post them here for your viewing pleasure. You can laugh at my missteps and perhaps pick up a new skill in the meantime. How’s that sound?

Let’s brainstorm what skills I’ll be learning. Here are some things I don’t know how to do that I’d like to (with some suggestions from Hannah and Andy, thanks). This should give you an idea of the scope of things I’m looking to learn:

Fix a hem
Change a car tire
Bake bread
Start a fire
Make coffee
Drive a stick shift
File an insurance claim
Play poker and euchre or other tricks-based card game
Knit a scarf
Tie a necktie
Administer basic first aid
Make an Excel sheet that actually takes advantage of the calculation function, rather than just notes how long it’s been since my last oil change

I won’t necessarily be learning all of these, but it’s a good start. Please use the comments below to suggest a skill and/or offer your services as a teacher. I clearly can’t do this without you. I think this should be one of those inspirational government posters: Together, we can help me Be a Grown-Up.

So go on, comment away. It’s patriotic.

Eat Your Vegetables

Posted on July 26, 2011 by lisafindley

I love fruit. I do not love vegetables. Their texture is all wrong, it’s difficult to cook them just right so they’re not too hard or too limpid, and they taste far too much like earth and not nearly enough like something delicious. But being a grown woman of 28, I am aware that I need to eat more vegetables. I’m training myself to eat broccoli since it’s basically the best vegetable for you. How do I do this?

Mix the vegetables I do like in with broccoli, and stick them all next to mashed potatoes. Conceal and deceive!

rewards and punishments

For the record: it was not a fully successful experiment. Broccoli is still a tiny tree trying to sprout in my mouth. Perhaps repeated attempts will yield better results.

If not, there’s always the mashed potatoes.

And the Prize for Sulkiest Player Goes to…

Posted on November 30, 2010 by lisafindley

Hi all! Welcome back from the Thanksgiving break. I hope those of you who had uncomfortable family situations and the like were able to get through and find enjoyment away from the dinner table. For those of you lucky enough to enjoy going home, I hope it was another good year of feasting and family. Mine was another delightful combination of family, friends, and food, and I took advantage of my parents’ TiVo for a whole lotta 30 Rock. Good times all ’round!

But there were a few times I squirmed a little, though they had nothing to do with the holiday. My friends and I met up Friday and Saturday nights, and both nights we played various word games — Pass the Hippo, Scattergories, Catchphrase. My high school friends and I all happen to be smart in a wordy kind of way, so these nerdy games are just our kind of fun. But in addition to the 6 or so of us gathered around the coffee table, an extra guest snuck in: competition.

I don’t like losing, but more importantly, I don’t like looking the fool. If I’m doing well, just not as well as the other team, that’s fine. I might get in some smack talk and will probably feel energized by the good feeling a well-matched competition engenders. I’ll groan about losing and probably nitpick rules a little, but generally, I enjoy myself even if I lose. It’s when I’m losing badly that I get defensive and grumpy.

This type of competitiveness has nothing to do with playing a good game, or putting skills to use, or enjoying camaraderie with friends. It has everything to do with pride, that little jerk. I don’t blame myself for feeling like this; nobody likes to have their pride hurt, even if it is among friends who won’t judge you. I do blame myself for how I react. Afterward, I always think, “geez, it wasn’t that bad, I should’ve just laughed it off” or “eh, next time have another beer and blame it on that,” but at the time, I get tense and sulky. I blame the Catchphrase gamepiece for running out of time on me every single time, or I say I have too many vowels when I’m playing Scrabble. I grumble when people call for another round and say we should switch games.

I don’t think my behavior would improve if I admitted to a competitive streak upfront, as most of my friends do, because I think it’s different from the drive to win. Part of it is, sure, but it’s more the drive to save face in all situations and avoid being laughed at at all costs. Sorry to get a bit psychoanalytical on you, but probably five miserable tween years being mocked for just about everything had more of an effect on me than I’d like to admit fifteen years later. Unfortunately, being bullied didn’t make me nicer or more easygoing; it made me harder and more defensive. That’s something I’ve been working against for years now, and I do well most of the time, but put me in the ring with better opponents than I, and those nasty, scared tendencies shoot right to the surface like hidden claws.

Anyway, that’s something for me to think about the next time someone busts out Taboo and I try to remember that it really is just a game, and a fun one at that.

How about you? Do you get involved in the game no matter how well you’re doing? Do you find yourself blaming external forces if you’re doing badly, or do you admit you’re just not doing so hot?

Oh, Well, You Know

Posted on November 5, 2010 by lisafindley

It’s mostly bad news this week and I don’t have the heart to catalog it. But in good news, Nancy Pelosi is running for Minority Leader, which I think she deserves to win. Personally, my life is moving along quite happily, so I’m sort of focusing on that right now and trying not to get a permanent frown from reading the news.

I will leave you with this excellent categorization of animated gifs and what they bring to each occasion or sentiment (from Jezebel). It’s fun and funny, which is always a good way to start a weekend. Enjoy!

See you next week for more tales of travel.

Fall Favorites

Posted on September 28, 2010 by lisafindley

For the last couple of years, I’ve thrown a Fall Fest at my apartment. Friends would meet up to carve pumpkins, eat donuts, and drink cider. It was a low-key event, centered around a love of the changing seasons and all the tasty, tasty food that goes with it. This year, now that I’m in my new, smaller apartment, I won’t be able to host Fall Fest, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be giving up my celebratory traditions. There is a pumpkin-shaped candy dish, the rum and cider recipe is as good as ever, and caramel is waiting to be melted onto freshly picked apples. (The centrality of food is no mistake here — autumn is harvest time, after all.)

pumpking carving at Fall Fest '08

Then there’s the whole non-food element to the season, that melancholy air that swirls in with those first few crisp days. Fall can bring you down if you’re not careful, as everything around you literally dies and turns away for six months. But if you’re in the right mood, that melancholy is poignant and comforting, a reminder to breathe in the air more deeply and fold your loved ones into you more closely as the cold cuts closer. I know so many people who name autumn as their favorite season, and aside from the relief from sweltering summer, the main reason seems to be that sense of change in the air, the knowledge that everything around us is burrowing under while we start a school year, or start a new project, or rekindle a friendship. Autumn is the perfect encapsulation of the cyclical nature of, well, nature, and also of we humans — everything is changing, decomposing, layering, rebuilding, renewing. The days grow darker and the skies cloud over, but that’s a (deliciously burnt leaves) smokescreen — fall smells crisper and tastes sharper because we are most aware of who we are in these shortening days, and we are alive.

one of my fall favorites

With all that in mind, what are your favorite parts of the season? What longstanding traditions do you cherish? What do you dislike about it? See you in the comments!

UPDATE: I didn’t even realize it as I wrote this, but I wrote like this exact post last November. Oh well, it’s still true.

No Post Today

Posted on September 21, 2010 by lisafindley

Sorry, folks. Moving has taken up all my brainspace. But do come back on Friday — I’m still mostly keeping up on the news, so there will be a The Good, The Bad, and The Silly. Have a great week!

Here, dance with this elephant while I’m gone: