Motown Philly, back again!

Eatin' blackberries at the moment...Mmmmmm...and realizing that I forgot to tell you about an AMAZING CONCERT I went to last week. :)

Whom, might you ask??

Boyz II Men!!!!

haha. Last minute, a friend told me she had a few tickets to go, and asked if I would attend. I think my answer was along the lines of, "Duh."

Ohhhh man. It was a great concert. Here's why:

• I forgot how damn good Boyz II Men (and older acts in general) sounded. They sounded like perfection. Talk about orgasmic harmonies! Listening to some acts that are popular today, those fools ain't got nothin' on old R&B and Motown.
  
• Which leads me to my next point as to why the concert was ballin'--they did a few covers of Motown songs. As you can imagine, I was belting out every word and dancing like a maniac during this section. *sigh* I love Motown.
• This concert was just an overall feel goooooood concert. People stayed way past the end of the show to slow dance to "One Sweet Day." The audience was just happy!
• It brought be back the 90s. And I liked the 90s a whole lot. :)

So yeah, that was my adventure last week. And I still have "End of the Road" in my head...

Finding True Treasure

"Most of us, even if only for two minutes in our lives, have experienced at some time or another an inexplicable and random sense of complete bliss, unrelated to anything that was happening in the outside world...

Over the centuries, people have tried to hold on to that state of blissful perfection through all sorts of external means--through drugs and sex and power and adrenaline and the accumulation of pretty things--but it doesn't keep...

Your treasure--your perfection--is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart."

--Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

Oh yes. Ohhhhhhh yes, indeed. This passage helps to explain my search for the divine. That "bliss" that Liz is explaining here, is God. A happiness that goes beyond this world. Because simply, happiness cannot be found in sex, drugs and rock n' roll. (No comment from you, Frank).

More on this book later.

In regards to Turkey, I have decided to stay on the course to go there. After advice from some wise friends (including you's wise guys!!), there is so much potential and learning and life to be gained from going on such an adventure. The one and only drawback is leaving everything familiar. But God is telling me to get a bit uncomfortable...staying in comfort never forces us to grow.

This girl does not want to stay in an awkward, 20-something, transitional phase, forever. It's time to sail the seven seas, explore what is ahead of me. Even if I don't like the experience, that will not diminish the amount of growth I will be able to do.

So, unless there is a clear reason not to go, I'm on my way. Looking to train in January (for about six weeks) and then apply to jobs for the fall.

Here's to living :)

Monster Mash

Man, you guys offered some amazing advice in the last post, and I sincerely internalized it. I know what I really need to do now--pray about it. Pray about it with such veracious hunger that I am pretty damn sure of the right answer.

But let me leave serious subjects for another post...

I have some pictures to show from Halloween!!! And, no, I do not dress slutty on Halloween because...just ew.

So here are some pics:

On friday night, I was a zombie last minute. heh heh.

I had immense fun drawing blood on myself. On the left is Colleen, the Mad Hatter. And Lainey, a kitty cat.

Even Churro had an outfit, which got me hungry ;)

Onto Saturday night, our Halloween party!! Here I am with with Beth. She's a police officer, I'm the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

It was hard to capture the decorations for ya, I seriously had a maze of streamers. But you can at least see the spiffy swirl I made (inspired by when Alice falls down the rabbit hole).

The whole Alice-in-Wonderland crew: Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, a card, Alice and the Mad Hatter.

I had a jolly ole time decorating. Poor Lainey (the Cheshire Cat) had the flu or some bug during the party. Poor girl had to sit on the couch the whole time.

But overall, Halloween was a huge success!

We ended the night trying to watch the 70s original of The Last House on the Left, but then couldn't take the ridiculousness of it anymore, so we put in Signs instead (Blockbuster was out of The Shining).

Twas a great Halloween, if I do say so myself!

Nobody can stop me. But me.

So as I am delving into this whole 'Teaching in Turkey' idea, it's becoming more slap-me-in-the-face real. Which is exciting, yes. But I hate to say this...it also scares the hell outta me.

I didn't know I was such a scaredy-cat.

This might sound soooooo ridiculous to you all, but I've never lived away from my parents. Yeah, I've lived in different houses than my parents, but I haven't lived more than 20-freakin'-minutes away from mommy and daddy.

The one bad scenario that I've been playing is my head is, I go to Turkey, I have a jolly time, then I find out that one of my parents has passed away. Of course, I feel guilt.

I know this sounds extremely negative and morbid, but I think about death more often after my dad had cancer 3 years ago. It is more of a prevalent entity in my life. And it's not just my dad, my mom had me when she was 44. That puts her in her late 60s now. My whole life, I've always thought about the possibility of losing my mom earlier than others.

Now the other side of this coin...I know, and YOU know and my PARENTS know that this shouldn't stop my dreams. What am I gonna do, never leave home, so to speak? Out of fear? No, no, no...I won't be going down like that.

Isn't it funny that I'm not scared of living in a foreign place? (Cause that's the fun part!). I'm just scared of leaving my family.

So I'm in the place where, yes, I'd like to still move forward with this. But I have a little anxiety about the whole thing. I think that's normal. Really, I just wanted to release some of that anxiety here, by talking about it.

So, penny for your thoughts? (I pretty much know what you'll say, so say it).

Rings Everywhere!

Found out last night that my good friend Jaclyn is engaged. She is the first out of my goooood friends to get married. Totally strange. But fitting for her. Jaclyn is sensible, smart and doesn't just jump into things. I do approve of this young marriage (because my approval is needed--ha).

Still it's really weird to see friends around me marryin' up a storm (I'm going to a wedding in November, as well). Maybe it's weird to me because I'm just not on that track. My mind is in no place to get married, and to who, anyway? My boyfriend is traveling...the open road. My love is the idea of endless possibilities.

I'm sure I'll change my tune when I meet someone that totally knocks me off my feet. Until then, I don't really feel the pressure. I don't understand women that start saying things like, "But I'm ready to get married!" without having a guy in their lives. Why are you obsessing over something that is not even of prevalence in your life?

Anyway, not to turn marriage into a negative; because, if done correctly, it's quite beautiful.

On that note, I'm very happy for my friend Jackizzle...CONGRATS!!!!!

Monster Ball

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Tis the name of the Lady Gaga tour I will buying tickets for in about 20 minutes.

Oh, THAT'S RIGHT...I said Lady Gaga.

Currently in the process of buying a purple bob wig to wear to the concert. Uh-huh. I'm totally going for the drag-queen effect. Except, I am, er, a girl. But you get what I mean.

hahaha. Ok, I'm off to shop today for cool Halloween decorations!!!!

All Hallows Eve PARTAYYYYY.

OH man...it's been over a week since I've posted. Now, that doesn't happen often. I've been kind of absent from the internet in general. Sometimes, that is so needed. Too much brain stimulation all week. I kinda want to give my brain a bit of a rest.

I've also been busy planning a Halloween party with my roommates. It will be Alice in Wonderland-themed, and I will be the white rabbit (since I am prompt in real life!). I was gonna use this costume last year, but I never did. So this whole party, and this whole theme, is revolving around the fact that I need to use my dormant costume. I've successfully convinced all my roomies to go with this theme. Yaaaay!

If you have any suggestions for creative food/decorations/drinks, TELL MEEEEEE!

Also, I'm deciding to show a couple scary movies. So far, I've decided to show The Shining. Any others that I should show?

You guys are creative...I need your help!

Of Writers and Travelers

Why is my room already a mess when I cleaned it last week? I feel like Ricky Ricardo is going to walk in at any second, take a look around the surroundings and say, "Ashley, you got some splanin' to dooooo!"

Well, looks like I am going to spend my Sunday cleaning. Until I go to the Jason Mraz concert tonight, that is. And get this, the concert is free. Who does that anymore?

Jason Mraz--I will have your babies.

Anyway, I am having a tremendous amount of fun reading Eat Pray Love, mostly because Elizabeth Gilbert is an outstanding writer; no, that's an understatement. I don't know if there is a word to describe her humble, hilarious, honest writing. All I know is that I absolutely love it. I hope I can write like that someday...because yes, I do think excellent writing takes some diligent training and experience.

Here is an excerpt that I especially relate to, and you'll know why once you read it:

"...traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves."

Ahhh...this quote has "Ashley" written all over it!!

And a side note, relating to traveling. I noticed on all the posts from my trip, there were a lot of "I'm jealous" comments. While I often say this to other people going on vacations, I just want you to know how do-able traveling is. My trip cost me a grand total of $1700...that includes the plane ticket, as well. There are ways around huge traveling fees. And while $1700 is a good chunk of change, it's still easily savable, and as Gilbert pointed out, worth every penny.

I will have more to say about Eat Pray Love this month, but until then, have a great Sunday. Hopefully you don't have to clean the whole day.

Trivial Pursuit

I have to leave for work in, like, a minute; therefore, I should not be on blogger.

I'm messing with my blog colors again (not really liking the blue. I'll change it soon enough).

Really, I want to mess with my hair color instead of these dang blog colors. I kinda wanted to go brunette again. Eh--part me thinks I should leave my freakin' hair alone. But I get so bored with one color when there is so many choices!!

This is all small beans to be thinking about so much.

Anyway, I really have to go. I must go...but before I do...I must mention that I am reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I got it on Sunday, and since then have read 86 pages. I have tons to say about this book. And lots to say about how it's put me in a writing mood. But that will have to be another day, now won't it?

Ciao!

Remembering My Purpose

It's two in the morning and I just got back from picking up a friend from the hospital for alcohol poisoning.

And man do I feel like a jerk.

Because she's been having a rough time lately and I didn't even know. And you know why that is? Because I've been so wrapped up in myself lately that I haven't even asked her how she's been.

Dude. Here I've been, complaining about my life, saying that I've been bored and uninspired...blah, blah, blah. WELL NO WONDER!!!! There are people to help and friends to check up on that NEED HELP and all I have been doing is looking out for me me me these past few months.

No wonder I've been feeling down. Because throughout my life, I've always felt the most alive when I am helping someone else. Why have I been just looking out for me all this time?

And GOD, I could have lost a friend tonight, and I would have been crushed...when was the last time I've asked her how she's doing, anyways? THANK THE LORD someone called the ambulance for her.

This is a kick in the butt, to remember the reason for my life. Not for me--but for God and others. My purpose is not to make me happy. Because trying to live for just me doesn't make me happy.

I know that I can't fix broken people; rather, that is the job of a supreme being. I can, however, help a broken person stand up, and give them a shoulder to hold onto. I'll be praying tonight.