Happy Holidays!

So in that this may be my final blog before the New Year, it may be long. I have this on-going list of things to blog about on my desktop.

But 2009 has honestly been one of the best years of my life.



MmmmHmmmm... Nostalgia.

Anyways, I will try and log on and post my resolutions, as soon as I write them up on Friday. But I'll be in Istanbul from Wednesday-Friday morning.

So in other news:

1.

I finally downloaded Skype. Did you know you can get it on the IPhone? Had I known, I'd have had it for a long time! That's pretty cool! So now I can call people on Skype from Turkey for free anytime I have WiFi.

2.

Christmas in Athens, Greece. It was super awesome.

3.

I finally have YOUTUBE! Thanks to MIT-VPN. So now I have a few things to share with you:





Lastly, the Ke$ha album leaked. It's actually pretty good:



...and finally, Meep?

4.

Over break I have been able to catch up on my daily reading.... of Wikipedia... as well as a few movies :)

Did you know:

-Tazmanian Devils have been placed on the Endangered Species list thanks to a infectious facial cancer? ... INFECTIOUS CANCER.... scary.

-Paranormal Activity. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it. However, what's interesting is the history behind it, and how it became one of the most profitable movies ever.

-My Sister's Keeper. ----> AWESOME MOVIE.

5.

I'm really REALLY looking forward to 2010! I'm hoping it is even better than 2009... but it has a lot to live up to.


Anyways, that's all for now...

I should probably head to bed, instead of watching Naruto on Hulu lol. (Thanks again VPN!) But I just woke up from a long nap. Long story short, I got sick today.. from like bad food from McDonald's and no sleep I believe. To make it worse, we went to the General's house for dinner, where I tried my best not to embarrass my mom by puking all over. Lol. But, I came back and slept til like an hour ago, and feel better.

Anyway, much love and happy holidays!

<3

JS

Happy Birthday, Mother.

*It's December 21st, and it's my mom's birthday! This is her shoutout!*

1. So we had a crazy thunderstorm last night that knocked out the power for like 12+ hours. And of course, being super jetlagged, I couldn't fall asleep. However, I always find situations like that good for introspection. I spent a lot of the night evaluating my life, future, friendships,.... dance hahaha... Long story short, I like where my life is right now. I honestly wouldn't change a thing. :)


2. Speaking of happiness - http://www.livescience.com/culture/091217-happy-state-list.html - Ironically, the last 3 states I've lived in, are ALL in the top 10 :). And I've lived in 3 out of the top 5.


3. I wanna see Avatar. bah.


4. I started looking at apartments for next year! Kinda complicated though, because I may be in Japan for the Summer 2010. (But I'll figure it out.) Bah, if only Boston were a little warmer.


5. I'm dying to be able to post Youtube vids on here again. I feel like my blog is boring with them. :(


Anyways, I'm officially planning Turkey trip for next year. If you wanna come - let me know!

Home, Sweet Home. :)

So I'm done with my 2nd to last semester, sitting in my newest 'home' in Turkey.

Top 5 things on my mind:

1. I <3 my house. I can post pics later on.. (I no longer own a camera.) But it's a narrow 4-story with a pool, in a newly-renovated neighborhood right on the water. Lol, I'm still getting used to the shower/toilet... lol.. and the washing machines in Turkey are in the bathrooms... odd. But I love it.

2. I think I will be working for Arthur D. Little - Boston Office next year. It was my second choice, and I definitely love everyone there. They are a fun office. Time to figure out cheap living arrangements... with parking.

3. I still need to go Christmas shopping. (We are going to be in Greece from the 22nd to the 25th, and the 21st is my mom's bday, so bah....)

4. I will really miss some people next year. Sigh. Especially in that I continue to make new friendships every semester it seems. I hope I don't lose touch with everyone like I have with most of my High School amigos.

5. I got the new Nano for my flight. It's cool, tiny though. I'm not good with tiny electronics.

ps.

6. Dance, dance, dance, dance.... so much to choreograph... so little time.

Something Borrowed.

I borrowed the article below, from where I don't remember.

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Why I Dance

I am endlessly fascinated by the body in motion.



Living in New York, I am constantly surrounded by a frenzy of physical activity, hundreds of people engaged in the movements of day-to-day life. These simple movements are a kind of common denominator between us as humans, something we share at a very basic level.



But the body is also an extraordinary vessel, capable of extraordinary things. I spend my work day in the studio challenging my body to extend outside of itself, to play, uninhibited, beyond what is comfortable, what is common. For me, part of the adventure is that search for a new physical language. When I am dancng, I can feel the subtle and constant communication running between my head, heart, muscles, nerves, and gravity. The moments in the studio or onstage when I can feel those lines of communication humming at their highest resonance are the moments that fill me the most.



I am also intrigued by the kind of physical intelligence we develop as dancers. I really enjoy the process of learning new material or being given a motivation for creating movement, and then digesting that information and seeing how it translates into my own physicality. I love watching my body problem-solve. In the company, Shen Wei gives us a lot of opportunity to develop our own movement within a certain physical quality or sensibility. Making movement in that way feels to me like encountering a sort of physical puzzle, and the task is then to discover the way my body wants to go about solving it. I like to think of dance as a physical science, or a scientific art, or an artful physics. It is the interplay between those worlds that makes dance so powerful, so captivating.



On a good day, I feel totally physically satiated when I’m dancing, and I’ve grown to crave that sensation of fullness. But it is much more than a physical fulfillment that motivates me as a dancer. Because it isn’t only a physical sensation to feel the heat and breath and noise of an audience filling a theater. It isn’t only a physical sensation to dance in unison with a group of people whose energy collectively interweaves and swells and gives birth to a universe unto itself. The sensations of that universe, the electricity of the energy created by a body or a group of bodies moving in space together, these elements transcend the realm of physical activity and move dance into an experience where I feel mystery, magic, and captivation.



My body is the form that makes me human in the most honest and basic sense. It is the structure at the root of my humanity, a root shared by every human being on earth. To feel the commonality of that root when I dance, and at the same time to feel that transcendence, that magic, that mystery of my body as a vessel to extraordinary and otherworldly sensations—that is why I dance. That is what I search for in movement, and why I am forever enthralled by the sensation of a body moving in space.


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Anyways, I'll be leaving for Turkey in a week. Crazy.

Also, I read this today, and it still blows my mind.

Good luck wrapping up the year to everyone who might be reading this. :)

-J.Scottie

Owl City

"I'd like to make myself believe.... that Planet Earth turns... slowly."

So. It's been a while, but I'm gonna give this blog things another shot. I've decided to do it in the form of a top 5 list from now on.

As of December 5, 2009... the Top 5 things on my mind are:

1.


2. I'm a very different person than I used to be. I'm not sure if it's good, or bad. But it's definitely apparent to me, and everyone else who's known me for the past four years.

3. I may be in Boston next year. Sigh. 0_o.

4. I will miss my youth. I keep feeling as though it's almost over.... and it's saddening.

5. Life keeps getting more and more interesting, yet still extremely complicated.


Anyways, I'm going to Turkey for Christmas. Still weird to call 'home', but I'm super excited.

Best,
Jason