Inspiration Fridays: When I Have Money

I came to a rather harrowing realization this morning- I am close to broke.  (Sorry mom, dad, grammy and grampop...)  Now, close is a relative term- I am not in debt, I am paying rent successfully, I'm not starving, I have a gym membership and am in school again.  So, yeah.  Not really broke.  But, I have a small enough amount of money that all of those attempts at "watching it" I've been making lately have suddenly become absolute necessity.  Honestly, this has been going well.  I've been watching it, and saving some dough.  At this point, I have to.

This post was originally intended to be a "stuff I will buy when I get money" inspiration post.  A lot of bloggers I know do this- they post about things they want, and are working towards owning.  Clothes they wish for, necklaces they found on Etsy.  Frankly, it's usually clothes or cameras or random crafty stuff they found on Etsy.  I tried to compile that post.  I did.  I'm just not materialistic enough to do it.  I have barely been clothes shopping lately, and god knows I need some new socks.  This should be done.  However, I own such a ridiculous number of clothing items that I can't justify it; not to mention that I have no particular desires at the moment style-wise.  My closet is pretty great.  There are quite a number of nifty pieces in there, and everything I own matches in some bizarre way to equal one closet full to the brim with semi-gothy outfits.  Only semi, because they manage to look within  the general bounds of normal 99% of the time.  That one percent day is the one where I allow it to shine and, you know, wear pirate stockings.  Which, I may have bought as an impulse buy on Etsy.  Okay- I might be materialistic.

What I really desire, and crave is experience.  Learning.  Living.  Going.  Doing.  I want to move and I need to see.  Talking.  Listening.  Giving.  Receiving.  THAT is what I plan to do with future money acquisitions.  Save, and then spend those hard-earned dollars on travel, or eating a nice meal out with a friend, seeing a show, taking a class, what have you.  I own too much stuff.  Too much.  I think it's a disease, buying crap.  Then, you're stuck with it, and feel like you should attempt to sell it- but it's so much work!  Organizing a yard sale takes forever, and carting massive bags of stuff to Buffalo Exchange almost requires a day off from work it's so tedious.  There are two of said massive bags of clothing in my storage closet from our last move that I keep meaning to get rid of, but I haven't yet.  They are sitting there.  Inhabiting space that I could be using for something, you know, useful.  That'd be cool.

In any case, guys, I have a wanderlust and a need for adventure.  This may be why I am an actor, why I do martial arts, and why I do yoga.   I like to have experiences that most people will never have.  Fighting.  How many people have legitimately been in a fight?  Like, one that lasted beyond the initial punch?  I fight multiple times a week, something I certainly thought I would never say.  It's in a controlled environment, yes, but when you're working against a guy who is a foot taller than you, and weighs 100 pounds more than you, or when you are fighting against a woman smaller than you who has been training for 20 years, it doesn't feel fake.  It's not.  Before I started, the idea of legitimately hitting someone blew my mind.  You know what?  It's one of the most exhilarating things that I have ever experienced.


Everyone should try this.  Everyone.  I get to feel like a bleeping ninja multiple days a week, not because of an avatar on the screen, but because my actual, physical body, those muscles and bones that are me, are really doing ninja shit.  It's freaking awesome.  

So, these are some things I want to do when I have enough money.  They are not things I want to have.  They are things I want to do.

Yoga teacher training

(in progress!  YES!!!)

New Element Yoga

Work with Andrew Wade for a full week next week!

(okay, this is free for me, but holy cow, is it awesome and going to be the most fulfilling)

Backstage

Savate Seminar with Nicolas Saignac at my martial arts school!

(this is in two weeks.  note to self: pay for this on Monday.  French kickboxing.  Yes.)

 UCLA

Go along with Danny when he might have to go to Los Angeles

(soonest!  must save so fast!  I've never been there...)

 

 Public Domain Photos

Get up to Maine to visit my grandparents at their house on the lake

(it's been a year and a half, and it's time.  also, it's so peaceful there.  so much nature)

 Millsaps

 Get down to Texas again sometime in the near future.

(because I just love Austin.  seriously,  such an amazing town.  also, it makes Danny the happiest.)

Last City Standing

Visit my sister when she studies abroad in The Netherlands next spring

(saving now, this is soon!  love her a lot, but this is also a great excuse to go back there)

 Trip extras

 

Get a Masters in Voice at the Central School of Speech and Drama

(this is in the 10 year plan... preferably the 5 year, but we'll see.  Post- Danny black belt...)

Eye Magazine

Before attending grad school, tour Europe.

(this is the big one.  all of the saving ever must happen.)

Mr. VPN

During said tour, explore more of Wales

(liked it, need more than just one day in Cardiff.  was not enough)

Teenager Break

I have the exact same feeling about Scotland

(one day in Edinburgh- one of my favourite days during my entire time in Europe!  I need more)

Explore the "mystical" towns/ cities in England

(though I love this stuff, I ignored Glastonbury, Avebury and Salisbury last time.  must be remedied)

Wikimedia

Sit in a cafe for hours in Provence, France.  Preferably outdoors.

(because, yes.  this is what I want from life, basically)

Wikimedia

Rome, Italy.

(yeah.  haven't been there yet.  this must be remedied.)

Venere

Barcelona, Spain.

(Barcelona or bust! I know so many people who have been, and they have raved.)

Travel Destination Info

Paris, France.

(I just can't get enough.  been there twice.  not enough.)

Fruhling in Paris

 

Helsinki, Finland.

(most popular clothing style is "cyber alien" and their top selling band is Nightwish.  I need to see this place)

Go Finland

Oslo, Norway

(must connect Danny to his Viking heritage.)

Iguguo

Augsburg, Germany

(I want to eat a pretzel and sausage in the town square, and see the cathedral.  my dad loves this place and raves about it, and I want to see it.)

Travel Pod

Study Kali/ Panatuken in the Phillippines with Danny

(yes, really.  this would be for like a month before Europe in an ideal world... and would be so cool!)

Allfight

SO.  There is my life plan for the next five years.  

Yup, plan.  Expensive?  Yes.  Very optimistic?  Yes.  Possible?  With some penny pinching, planning etc, yes.  Absolutely.  Especially if we do it cheaply.

Inspiration Fridays: I Just Want a Castle...

Who doesn't want to live in a castle?  I do.  Castles are the coolest.

While I was studying in London, I was able to visit many of them, including Canterbury Castle, below.  I wrote a post about it soon after visiting, but the structure was incredible.  By incredible, I mean it was old, historically important, and crumbling to bits.  Though it had been a residence of the monarchy of England, it apparently wasn't important enough to charge money for entry, or even to be guarded.   We walked right in.  I climbed around in it.  I stole a rock from off the ground, which was part of the Roman wall that surrounded it.  This was legal, apparently, because were there cops or Unesco Heritage Site guards or anything?  Nope.  It was a big, open space that, you know, happened to have a castle in the middle of it.  No big deal.  The UK has tons of those.

As an American, this pretty much blows my mind.  Living in a castle, or seeing one, is one of the pinnacles of existence, as far as I'm concerned.  I was in awe of every structure I had the pleasure to view that was built before about 1550AD because we just don't have any of those on our continent.  At some point during the first couple weeks I was living in London, I took a moment and bragged to one of my English friends that I had lived across the street from one of the oldest pubs in New York- it was founded in 1865!  With an utterly straight face she said something along the lines of "Yeah, whatever, my building is fifty years older than that and it's the newest building on my block"...  It's just different.  

But, this post is about castles, not pubs.  Once again, as I have hypothesized during basically every Inspiration Friday post from the past few monthes, I may only be inspired by castles because I read too many fantasy and historical fiction books, watch too many fantasy and historical fiction films, and play too many fantasy video games.  I'd play historical fiction video games if more of them existed.  Or, maybe I do all of those things because I love fantasy and historical fiction with a passion. Honestly, I'm rather certain this is the reason. I almost accidentally acquired a minor in medieval and renaissance history in college.  If I had been paying attention, I would have achieved that, but frankly, I didn't notice I had done it until I was about to graduate.  I just gravitate towards this stuff.  Reminders of times gone by, times in which I did not live, excite me.  Or, maybe I did live there.  Who knows the true nature of our existence?

Yet someday, I want to climb a castle tower in the middle of the forest and gaze out over the land.  I want to feel the wind whip through my hair as I do this; I wish to watch a hawk circle overhead. 

Well, I think I've established that I'm not just a hopeless romantic, but a completely lost one. Sounds fine to me.

Here are some castles and such in the British Isles.

Tintagel Castle

Photos 2 Please U

Windsor Castle

Inel

Restormel Castle

Lusete

Castell Caerdydd

Joan Angelats

 The White Tower, Tower of London

S.M. Tunli

Chepstow Castle

Piers Perrot Gaveston

 Caerphilly Castle

Euro Tours

Caernarfon Castle

Castle Wales

Edinburgh Castle

Beautiful Places to Visit

Castle Stalker

Scotland in May

Threave Castle

Sascha Koehler

Caerlaverock Castle

Tom Langlands

Inspiration Fridays: Back to Britain

Since my parents visited England a few weeks ago, my brain has been dreaming of returning to Great Britain.  I want to see more, desire to do more, and need to learn more.  I want to learn everything about the culture, immerse myself in it.  There is this vision I have, of me wearing a tartan scarf, eating a sausage roll, and reading Shakespeare whilst sitting in the middle of  a stone circle.  Call me stereotypical, but that just sounds fantastic. 

Kind of like this, but with said food, book and scarf... and my face...

 (This creepy effect happened and I just LOVE IT.)

But anyway, check out these other, fabulous, Britain-only things that I just can't wait to get more of!  There are quite a bunch, but I've narrowed it down for the sake of brevity, and not losing readers because I've written an extensive, but contentless bit of drabble.

1.  Highland Cattle

Because, Holy Cow!  These things are awesome!  They are also 100% real.  And, in Scotland.

Animal Wallpaper

Oh my goodness.

 Scotland in May

Oh My Goodness!

Highland Cattle World

They have a world??!??

Red Bubble

OHHH My GOODNESS.

Seriously, though, have you ever seen anything more fluffy and stupidly cute in your life?  Best of all, these animals a freaking huge.  Like taller than I am (5'3") at full height.  That is so much fluff, I can't even take it.

2. Pasties, Sausage Rolls, and Meat Pies

Because what is better than meat?  Meat wrapped in pastry!  Pronounced pah-sty, as opposed to pay-sty... pasties (pay-sties) are things ladies wear on their nipples, especially whilst stripping.  I considered putting some kind of hilarious photograph of that in this post, but, I'm at work, and even though my place of employment is an acting school, there are just some things I feel like I shouldn't have on my screen.  Unlike this meaty, pastry glory...

Savory Bites

Yum.

Tastefully British

Well, yum.

The Cornish Pastry Man

Nom nom nom nom...

Unknown

So, there are Pasty STORES like this all throughout Great Britain.  It's wonderful.  Not all of them have meat, some have vegetables, cheeses, eggs- all kinds of delicious stuff.  I'm drooling a bit just thinking about it.  

3. Stone Circles 

Now these are just mind-bogglingly amazing.  Think about how crazy they are.  Obviously, there is Stonehenge, which everyone and their mom has heard of, but there are dozens upon dozens of stone circles and other old stone structures in the UK.  It's so nifty.  People care so little about these things, because they are just, well, standard, that they are in the middle of parks, and even intersections.  A road goes through Stonehenge.  It's mind boggling.  I was able to snap that photo of myself standing on an altar-like structure in the middle of one in Cardiff, and no one stopped me.  No one was even around.  I love this blatant love and simultaneous complete disregard for history.  They have so much old stuff, the insignificant historical locations don't even matter, per se.

Channels

There's the classic.  Stonehenge.  It's pretty epic.

Here's one of the ones I took in Cardiff.  Yes.  This stone circle is smack-dab in the middle of... a traffic circle.

This is the same stone circle from the top of the page, sans moi.  It's in Bute Park in Cardiff.  No fence or anything.  Just, you know, ancient stone circle, chillin' out.

Note:   I know that stone circles exist in places other than the UK, but, the ones in the UK just rock my socks.

4. Tartans

Here, we have another specifically Scottish one for the win!  Tartans!  Part of my family is the Craigs, it was my grandmother's maiden name, and it is my father's middle name.  If my parents had a son, they might have given him the middle name Craig as well.  Though I am actually more English than Scottish (and also more German and Swiss than Scottish...) I feel a strange affinity with this part of my heritage.  Not as much as my uncle Barry, who used to dress in a kilt and go to big Scottish events, but I do feel proud.

This is the Craig tartan. 

Loch Carron

Family pride is kind of awesome sometimes.

Cha Togar M' Fhearg Gun Dìoladh

Cha Togar M' Fhearg Gun Dìoladh (Gaelic)

Nemo me impune lacesset (Latin)

Wha daur meddle wi' me (Scots)

No one attacks me with impunity

This is the motto of the Scottish Order of the Thistle, the Scottish chivalric order.  This particular painting was in Edinburgh Castle, in the private chambers that once belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots, in a time when Gaelic, Scots, and English would have been spoken.  Latin was still considered to be a language of old orders, and of oaths.  French would actually have been spoken in this castle as well.  In any case, I love the unicorns, I love the phrase, I love the painting, and I love Scotland.

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Like this?  Take a look at For Scotland!

And it Was all Yellow

These flowers were all over England and Scotland in the spring.  The first place I remember really noticing them was in Edinburgh in April, but then I noticed them popping up in London as May began to bloom.  They grow on bushes that look spiny, but actually don't feel prickly at all.  From far away, clusters of them just look like a wash of yellow.  Yellow has never been one of my favourite colors, but I cannot deny that it exudes a sort of endearing happiness.  

Hampstead, London, England, UK

Does this make you happy?  Take a look at Bouquet.

Wallace

Stained Glass inside of a small chapel in Edinburgh Castle.

All of the windows were small like this with this type of stained glass. I was a bit obsessed.

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

If you liked this, then you will like Medieval.