ROW80 Days: Hello, June!

#DailyWings:  "I'd rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy permanent planet." 

-Jack London

Alas! Is it June already? I know my posts often include exclamations of how time flies, but this exclamation is particularly significant because June is my birth month. In a little over two weeks, I will turn 20 years old. My reaction: O_O 

Ha. Um, what? That's two decades of my life right there! I used to think birthdays were the best ever, and that no matter what your age is, the day you were born and came into this world should always be a reason for celebration. Don't get me wrong - I'm still excited, but I'm a little afraid too. Technically I qualified for "grownup status" almost two years ago, but somehow the age 20 solidifies the new period in life that means real world. Responsibilities that require good decision-making. The job market. It's like I've been living in a bubble my whole life, and all of a sudden that bubble is going to be pricked with a needle. Pop. 

Well, I suppose there is nothing else left to do but embrace this next decade ahead of me. Changes are to come, and lessons of a lifetime. There are so many pathways in front of me... each one has the potential to define the rest of my career and my identity. It's up to me to choose the one that is best for me. I don't even know what those pathways are yet, but I'm ready to find out. Well, not yet. Soon. In two weeks, I will be ready. 

For this month, I have resolved to write in my journal, my beloved Moleskine journal, for every day of June. To document the last few days of my 19th year, and to accomplish a major writing goal. So far, I have managed to journal every single day no matter what, and it's been liberating. For once, I feel like my journal entries actually connect and make sense when they're read from page to page. 

Speaking of writing goals, I am sorry for not keeping up with my ROW 80 blog posts. But I do have wonderful news: I finished a whole chapter! I checked the count, and it's almost 6,000 words. Considering the fact that I've been taking summer classes and serving as a research assistant, I'd say that's an accomplishment! What about you? Have you 

Finally, I would like to introduce my new camera, Diego. Isn't it handsome? Diego is my first--and the best--birthday gift. I've been taking it out for some practice shoots in various locations just for fun, and I just started a new project called: "One-Sentence Story Photography." I will post favorites on my Facebook page. The idea is that every photo features a fiction super-short (theoretically one sentence long, but I get carried away and sometimes one sentence isn't enough!). All stories are fictional, of course, and merely for my own enjoyment. It's a nice writing exercise, too! Here are just a few from the first batch of Diego photos, along with their respective shorts: 

There was nowhere else in the world where she felt safer or happier than in the realm of her nearly-forgotten childhood, but what use is there in living in the past?

All his life, he had cared for nothing but books and movies. When he was nine, he tugged on his mother's skirt and said, "Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a storyteller."

No matter how hard Fishy tried to swim, he could never get close enough to pick up the pail.

She placed two hands on her mother's favorite vase and blew off the dust that covered the gold-tipped rim. Against the tip of her fingers, the vase was cold and hard, just like her mother.

Cameras took pictures, and pictures meant evidence. The investigator knelt down, determined to capture every crack, every stain.

To cut or not to cut? He was sure she would love it...roses were her favorite, after all.

The boy giggled, for no one else could have thought up of a better hiding place...nobody could find him here, in this perfect sanctuary.

This peculiar wall was the only thing that was keeping the squirrel from getting to his beloved pine nuts on the other side.

The ant clung to the rose branches for dear life, but to no avail - a single thorn sliced across his tiny foot, and down Tim fell.

After nearly twelve years of consuming half-eaten crusty doughnuts and sour milk from behind trash cans, Patty smelled her very first Thanksgiving.

It wasn't that she was afraid to break the glass cage and claim her freedom. She just wouldn't.

I have started a new #DailyWings trend on Twitter for sharing quotes, sayings and tidbits of inspiration. Feel free to tweet me your own collection of #DailyWings. Let me know how you like this new feature on TRA, as opposed to the Question of the Day. 

Wendy Lu

ROW80 Days: Hello, June!

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