Thank you all so much for keeping up with my blog! I hope you’ve been enjoying reading about my few weeks in Nashville, Tennessee. I wanted to write today about some other things I’m doing, though – if you know me, you know there’s always so much going on in my life. I’m a dreamer and schemer. I’m not exactly hanging out in Nashville waltzing through tourist attractions while my life merrily drifts by. “Write my blog” is only one item on a huge daily to-do list. So what else is on the list? What HAVE I been up to? Here’s a list of my top five side pursuits:
- Online courses. I’ve been learning through Coursera and its free online course offerings. I try to keep them relevant to my job, learning skills like Excel and Finance, but I can’t help getting distracted by other interests. Moral Foundation of Politics with Ian Shapiro and Effective Altruism with Peter Singer were both fascinating. But by far the best course I’ve taken is Rebecca Stein’s Microeconomics. She is AMAZING. I’ve never had such a good economics teacher and totally have a third-grade crush on her.
- Looking after my finances. It’s very difficult to be travel for a living and keep to an established budget. Unexpected expenses crop up, grocery prices vary widely between geographical regions in the U.S., and I work on commission. Even though many financial issues are beyond my control, there are some things I can still have a say in. Deep breath, because this is such an adult sentence… I’m happy to say I’ve finally set up my 401(k)!
- Practicing French. Foreign languages are not my thing, but I decided to branch out and finally learn more about French pronunciation. Just a word or two a day, every day… at least I’m learning something!
- Being a news junkie. It’s easy to immerse myself in work and play without regard for what’s happening in the larger world. I listen to podcasts – NPR’s “Here and Now” is a daily staple – and subscribe to The New Yorker, always a winner for their dry mockery of the world in general. Also: it’s worth knowing what’s going on in the world to be able to read David Borowitz’s satire.
- Bringing back an old creative writing project. My senior year of college, I started on a creative writing project, a short book. I’m working on again, going back to its creative foundations and thinking through it, making sure it makes sense, struggling to make it all work together. In practical terms this means I’m writing about writing it. Amazingly, I find I’m still in love with the concept of it and I don’t mind taking things slowly.
There’s much to love about life these days, and I’m enjoying it all while I can. Vacation and my trip to Cape Town in sight on the horizon! In less than two weeks I’ll be leaving Nashville and the steady routine I’ve settled into here. It’s been lovely, but I don’t have any regrets leaving. In fact, after living so long shopping at Fresh Market in Brentwood, drinking coffee in Nashville’s wonderful little independent coffee shops, and hanging out with Nashville’s young urban community, I feel myself turning into a bit of a yuppie. It’ll be good to shake things up again.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~