Blood, Business, Birthdays and Boston

By AC

Jul

Night at Fenway Wow. Crazy, crazy times. So, we’re in the long haul of the Birthday Fortnight, the roughly two weeks of birthday mayhem that surrounds my two brothers. I make an average of three secret-family-recipe chocolate cakes with frosting I’ve developed over 15 years (to the point that my mother doesn’t even know what I do to it) during that time, and (EESH) eat my fair share of the finished product. And I also tend to go to my fair share of Red Sox games during this time.

Talk about an understatement. Thursday night we went to the Cape Cod League All Star Game (where I got my brother’s birthday on the Scoreboard at FENWAY!). Friday night we went to the Red Sox game in luxury box seats (SCORE!) and Saturday I literally hid from the world to get a lot of work done on the TownMe website. Sunday morning I woke up at 630 (so NOT a morning person), worked for a few hours, baked a chocolate cake, made the frosting, cooled it, frosted it, hid it from the dog, ran to the Red Sox game, had an amazing time (sans birthday boys with some of my favorite women) and ran back home to have a big birthday dinner complete with prismatic candles. Heck yes.

And then today, I got some bloodwork back and found out that my diabetes is fully under control for like the first time ever. YES!

And today I got an extra assignment for work, I’ll find out tomorrow about the permanency of the TownMe job (but I’ve been pretty thrilled about the work I’ve been doing for them) and I started a series that I am beyond excited about on Want to Freelance. I’ve always seen job postings for grant writers but never felt like I had the necessary knowledge, and I know that other writers feel the same way. Break Into Grant Writing is the first part in the series and I’m just thrilled with the work I put into it.

I feel a surge of positive energy lately. Anyone else get that sense? Let’s hope it’s the beginning of fast and heady days.

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TownME

By AC

Jul

So, I’ve been writing for TownMe.com, which is pretty cool–it’s a collaborative guide to Boston (and other cities, but I only care about Boston!) and I’ve been writing a bunch of articles that you should check out, and, if you have something to add, add it on at the end of the page.

How to Get Red Sox Tickets

Fenway Park: Know Before You Go

What to Eat Around Fenway Park

Museums on a Budget

Museums with a Social Life

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts

The Hallowed Fish of Massachusetts

Check them out, edit them or leave comments! I don’t have the job on a permanent basis yet, so I could use the support.

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exactly as it should be. i think…

By AC

Jul

i’ve already admitted that i watch THE FASHION SHOW on Bravo obsessively. I’ve already talked about my personal investment in the show, because I’m not sure if I’m more the 22 year old ingenue that’s fresh out of the gates and bursting with everything, or the 35 year old designer that’s weathered and tough and at the top of her game because she’s had to struggle for it.

i worried that watching the 22 year old win would be like the universe saying “it wasn’t a matter of gaining life experience. you weren’t good enough, she obviously is. game over” and that would be the end of it. i felt like maybe, just maybe, her getting a competition handed to her would be a cosmic put down to me.

and yet watching the 35 year old win would reinforce the sad fact that i’ve got a long time to wait.

the 35 year old won. to be honest, i liked her collection better. she did better work. i’m really happy for her. and the 22 year got a consolation prize and a ton of connections in the real world.

here’s the thing, where the conversation veers back into narcissism. to the universe, please, please don’t make me wait just because you know i will. it’s not fair. i’m broke and confused in every aspect of my life except this one thing, except this vital heart throb, and i won’t give it up, not ever. now please don’t be a five year old and make me prove it, because the same thing will be true then that is now. i won’t give it up, not ever. i’ll just be more broke, still living with my mother, and possibly referred to as the girl who cried wolf by everyone who knows me because all i do is talk about writing.

its been a tough two years since graduation. kind of like surfing, where you’re carried forward irrepressibly on a wave, and then the wave cycles out and you’re sucked out a little bit, beyond the surf, and then just pushed onto the beach. grounded. and you have to make your own way to where ever you’re going from there because the ocean has done its bit. i’ve had the heady rush of instant success, the dull pain of rejection after rejection after rejection, and i’m on the long walk. i AM the long walk.

all i’m asking for is a signpost, an indication that i’m going in the right direction and i have a somewhat more than vague hope to accomplish what i set out to accomplish. and until then, i’ll keep walking.

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what a day

By AC

Jul

1. i have a new job. they did say they’re trying me out, so i don’t know how temporary or permanent it may be, but i’m going to be working for a website for boston, brookline, and cambridge. woot woot!

2. i saw the new harry potter. i do have to say it wasn’t the same blend of ineffable humor and normalcy against the danger and darkness that the others were, but it was true to the book in that respect and appropriate for the overall plot. and i shed a dutiful tear for <the ending>, but I have to say I bawled at the end of Order of the Phoenix and this <ending> didn’t have the same effect on me. But there was still a single tear.

3. i got suddenly inspired by the trailers in a way that may have me setting aside arianna for a little while. suddenly i just got really inspired to start my next project, and got the feeling that it might be a timely, necessary move. it’s a take on the robin hood tale (which anyone who knows me is aware is the root of my thief obsession)(which is a major obsession). it started with a short story i wrote ages ago, but i’ve been dying to make it into a full novel.

4. my mother is becoming a mac user. hell has frozen over, mostly with the thick crust of my jealousy. i would have bought a macbook, but i could afford the comparable model.

i think this means i might spend some quality time at the lib tomorrow to do some robin hood research…who knows!

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changes are a’comin’

By AC

Jul

you may have noticed the hullaballo that’s been going on over here.

you may not.

anyway, here’s the deal: the final word is now permanently at WWW.FINALWORD.ORG . just that simple. fyi, ACGAUGHEN.COM will also get you here. handy, right?

i’m slowly discovering the joys of wordpress, so bear with me while the blog grows and changes and gets a little awkward for a while.

in other news, this week i’m going to be working pretty hard to try and get some magazine pitches together because i really want to get into this field. and of course, working on arianna. and it’s my brothers’ birthday fortnight, so the next 10-14 days are going to be lots of family and celebrations, starting with the Cape League All Star Game on thursday and Red Sox box seats (YAY!!) on friday. really, what better way to kick off the weekend? and we haven’t even started on cake yet….

so this week should be pretty fun!

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eeek.

By AC

Jul

matters of business:

1. sorry about any additional tweets that may be going out while i try to reclaim my blog, which i accidentally deleted along with my website.

2. if anyone actually really missed my blog, it all still exists in notes on facebook, so just friend me there.

3. i had another point, but i guess i mentally deleted that too.

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live and die for fashion

By AC

Jul

so, on bravo tv’s THE FASHION SHOW, daniella is a 22 year old fresh out of college. she’s young, cocky, and full of talent and she’s going for her dreams with all pistons firing.

i really want her to win. like desperately. and i’ll also be a little pissed if she wins. part of me thinks anna has paid her dues and deserves the chance to come up to the big leagues and design her own collection. part of me thinks anna is the better designer for struggling through it, but part of me also wants the young ingenue to get everything she’s ever wished for.

what on earth does this have to do with writing, or better yet, something other than my obsessive compulsive need to consume bravo tv?

i’m both of them at once. part of me is still 22 and desperately hopeful that right out of the gates someone will give me my chance to shine and i will hit the ground running and get every chance i’ve ever wanted. part of me still believes so hard core that just wishing it will bring it into reality, and part of me believes that if you’ve wanted something all your life, you deserve it, no matter how short the life.

and yet, part of me is starting to feel the weariness of not being 22. the feeling that really, i could be at this so much longer until i get my big break. i could be at this forever without getting the break. the terrible fear that this won’t happen for a long, long time and i have to buckle down and accept that. because i’ve told the universe from day one that i’m not giving up.

part of me is scared the universe is making me put my money–and my heart–where my mouth is.

i don’t know what it says, but i voted for daniella. and i’m still hoping to get called into the big leagues every single day. it’s exhausting, but i’ll never stop hoping, trying, and fighting. hang in there anna.

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