Paint it Red July 9, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 4commentsI’m a redhead. Kind of. I’ve always considered myself to be a redhead, that is. It’s a bold color that can be amped up or toned down, and there’s always a little bit of a mystery with a redhead. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. I’m pale with freckles, so it’s a color that manages to suit me in a bevy of shades. Want to take a trip down memory lane?
nice angles there, kate.
That was my hair color in high school. I’m not even kidding. I looked like a crazy person. I guess I was a crazy person. Also, I wore that little purple flower clip in my hair almost every day my junior year. Again, a crazy person. You really should have seen my fashion sense back then… I would wear knee-length skirts with knee-high striped socks and ballet flats. Basically, a still-wanting-to-look-goth faux-ballerina. I can’t even really justify it or begin to explain it any way better than that.
But I digress. I decided to make a change. More after the jump, as well as some more [equally hilarious, Myspace-like] pictures from days ~gone by.
The Five-Year Plan July 3, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , add a commentI feel like people in their college years get this a lot. Where do you want to be in five years? What do you want to do with your life? What do you want to do after you graduate? What’s your ideal career? What careers would you be willing to settle for? Is it a career or a job? Do you have an anxiety disorder from all these questions yet?
I’ve been thinking a lot about mine lately, and it’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to try to hammer out. How heavily do I consider a backup plan? How miserable am I willing to be to pay off my student loans? What’s the ideal situation, and how do I take that into account in relation to my backup plans?
There’s a lot of questions to consider. However, I have been able to boil it down to two plans.
The ideal right now:
Now: Apply for MFA programs this fall.
Spring 2011: Get into MFA program with full funding. Graduate with BFA.
Spring 2013 [or 2014]: Graduate with MFA.
Fall 2013 [or 2014]: Come back to Pittsburgh, work job I currently work seasonally, while applying for more jobs.
[At some point] Begin adjunct faculty work.
[All through this time period, be sending things out for, and hopefully getting, publication.]
This would, hopefully within 10 years, lead to my having enough publications [maybe a book deal?] to get a full-time position.
Backup plan:
Now: Apply for MFA programs this fall.
Spring 2011: Get rejected from programs. Graduate with BFA.
Fall 2011: Move back to Pittsburgh, work job I currently work seasonally, apply for more MFA programs.
Spring 2012: Get rejected and keep applying or get accepted, and continue with ideal plan.
People always tell me “I thought if you wanted to be a writer, you just had to write.” This is true in some aspects, but also quite condescending to hear. Of course I write. But I have to be able to survive somehow, preferably without losing my sanity.
You five-year plan really depends on you. I have friends who just aimlessly travel throughout the country and find little jobs here and there. If you’re personable and can thrive in that lack of structure, that is wonderful. I can’t quite do that, I like a plan. It’s been good to get one figured out. Now I just have to do it.
Outfit of the Day (June 25th, 2010) July 1, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsThis was my first real attempt at putting an outfit together while thinking about all the elements going into it.
I saw this shirt at Target, on clearance for $5, and thought it would go well with the bag. A bit of shoulder detail that looks more “metal” [anyone remember those pyramid bracelets/belts from their junior high goth years? I think this is the grown up version of those] in contrast to the light softness of the bag.
Unfortunately the outfit wasn’t exactly the best. I think next time I’m going to wear it with a high-waisted skirt [which would hide some of that awkward cling around my belly] and with different sandals. My original plan had been these black, strappy kitten heels that I bought literally 5 years ago, but I couldn’t find them before I had to leave. I also think I might wear some kind of fun-colored necklace next time, too, to add a pop of color. Or maybe I’ll just leave the red lips to do their thing.
On Being Unapologetically Fat June 21, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsI originally wrote this as an assignment for my Think Piece class. What I discovered was that it kind of became my personal mantra.
I am unapologetically fat. In this new age of weight-loss everywhere, of low-fat, low-carb, no-carb food, I refuse to stoop to the level everyone else seems to want me to. Fat is the last acceptable form of discrimination in American society. “Thin” has a connotation of beautiful, gorgeous, and successful, “fat” signals lazy, undisciplined, and ugly. Maybe some of the criticism of fat people comes from a “good place,” and maybe I’m unhealthy in my fatness. But why is that anyone else’s business? It isn’t. What’s more, I feel some of the greatest critics of fatness are insecure fat people themselves.
I was watching the Biggest Loser, the weight-loss reality show on NBC, as a contestant in her early 20s melodramatically sobbed. She’d been fat her whole life, never got asked on a date, never went to a prom, never had a boyfriend, and she “wanted her life back.”
I rolled my eyes. I was fat in high school, and I had no trouble. I got asked to the prom (though, as a high school anarchist, I chose not to go), I had boyfriends. I couldn’t help but think this crying girl on television was faking. What if she was just a boring person? What if, instead of accepting or trying to change her personality, she blamed her problems on being fat? I wanted to tell her that losing weight doesn’t rid you of all your problems—in fact, she would probably just find new ones.
I hate shows like the Biggest Loser because fat becomes the enemy—the thing about yourself you should hate. If a contestant loses 5 pounds one week instead of the 20 their partner loses, they’re shamed—which only reinforces the problem of the self-hating mindset. They never sit the contestants down for a pep talk about having confidence in themselves at any size. They just keep repeating that weight loss is the only road to self-acceptance, the only way to validate yourself.
I see the looks I get from people sometimes, evaluating my hips and belly, and I wonder if they know that I ran a 5k race at Thanksgiving. But would even that knowledge change their mind? I think people are afraid that if they become fat, they will lose their friends, and all respect from other people. That wouldn’t happen with the people they already know. As for the rest? It’s their loss. Run with me.
Designing a Wardrobe (Around a Bag) June 19, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsSo, being as that I will essentially have to use this bag for the rest of my days to feel all right about the money I spent on it, I knew it had to be one that will go with everything. With the help of Polyvore, a website designed to help budding fashionistas assemble wonderful outfits, I checked my theory.
I think this would make a good basic school outfit. I don’t own these items, obviously, but I own similar ones. The bag, coupled with the dark jeans, gives off a slightly dressy look, while the shoes and cardigan underscore the comfort and ease aspect.
I often wear a similar outfit to work, with leggings underneath when it’s chilly outside.
What about for a nice night out at a play? I love the ivory color of the waistband on this dress.
Or just a casual dinner out in the summertime.
Okay, maybe it doesn’t go with everything. But I totally wouldn’t leave the house in something like this.
Maybe.
Re-Launch June 17, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsThis is all because of a bag.
Well, maybe not all because of a bag. But it was the start.
I needed to find myself a good birthday gift. I’m turning 21 in September, and I figured I would get myself something really nice. I didn’t even consider a bag until another member of an online community I’m in posted a link to a set of handbags Coach had some bloggers design.
And there she was.
It sounds so stupid, but it made me realize that I really need to work on identifying who I am as a person. I’m about to spend the next year of my life writing a book and completing my undergraduate degree. You have to know who you are to be able to accomplish something so stressful.
I am, in a nutshell, this handbag. I’m fun, but not too loud and crazy. I make a statement in my own way, but it’s soft. I’m professional, but I can blend into different settings.
I realized that I missed blogging. I miss sharing my thoughts in a public space. I’ve been feeling so much in a rut the past few months, and I think this has something to do with it.
I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with this blog. And it’s a good question. I love food, but I don’t cook or bake enough to run a cooking blog. I’m trying to find my personal style, but there are a million and a half fashion blogs. I’m a writer (or I’m trying to be) but I don’t want to put all my writing out there. So maybe I’ll put all that in a blender and see what I come up with.
Maybe it will be me.
Interview With Nick Flynn June 16, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , add a commentI attend Pratt Institute, where we have a glorious little literary and art magazine called Ubiquitous. Every fall semester, they conduct an interview and write a profile of the Writing Program’s Writer-in-Residence. I, being an eager junior, offered to write said profile.
I met Nick in Pratt’s Pie Shop one rainy afternoon, expecting a fairly quick question-and-answer with simple answers. Instead, what I got was 35 minutes (that ended up being 7 pages single-spaced!) of thoughts on bewilderment, carpentry, and aging. Because of space restrictions, the whole of this interview couldn’t be published in Ubiquitous. So, here’s my original cut of the interview (with most of our “sort ofs” and “likes” omitted!)
Katie Oh: You lectured [at Pratt] about bewilderment, and I was looking at your website, and that’s sort of, like, the working title of your new project. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Nick Flynn: It was the working title—”A Memoir of Bewilderment,” hopefully that’s just in the book now, so we don’t have to call it that. I’ve just sort of been studying this concept of bewilderment, looking at it for a few years now, to see how various arts relate to it, how bewilderment fits into their practice. It seems to be this sort of key moment in almost any work of art, where the artist sort of pushes beyond what they know to this sort of unknown, to this sort of place that would probably, by definition, be bewildering. And it interests me. It interests me that that’s where art can occur, sort of beyond what we know.
Hello Again! June 16, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , add a commentSo I’m hoping to expand and update this blog more this summer/this upcoming year! I’ve got some ~ideas up my sleeve. You’ll see. I hope.
Life and Times September 29, 2009
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 1 comment so farI am back. That is to say: I have changed locations again, I am back to one of my homes, to one of my comfort zones.
The end of my summer was just that: an end. Unspectacular. No fireworks. I played “Born to Run” and drove 70 on roads with 45 speed limits going home from work and felt at peace when I left Westmoreland County. I will be back.
School this year is perhaps the most intense it has ever been. 18 credits and working part-time for America Reads has made me have two crying spells already.
My subjects:
- Fiction Studio
- Literature of Pop Culture: Harry Potter
- Bookmaking
- Reading & Writing Brooklyn
- The Professional Workplace
- Writer’s Forum
- Independent Study (about the lexicon of feminist journalism)
Harry Potter is one of the best classes, but at the same time, also the hardest. I forgot that the books are, at their shortest, 350 pages. The next one is over 600, and I have a week to read it. Ouch.
I turned twenty a few weeks ago: it was unceremonious. I worked all day and went out for a lovely birthday dinner with my friends. The night before, however, my friends baked me a cake:
That is perhaps the most unflattering picture ever taken of me, but I look joyous. And that is what matters.
I am already surprised at my resilience. I have written several stories and have yet to hit a block. I even have more material started for the future. I know it is not perfect, but I am trying. A writer-in-polishing.
This is all what matters.
Egad August 12, 2009
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , add a commentSee, I could never do this for a living. Primarily because, obviously, I can’t seem to update on a consistent schedule. Meh. I have been well. And by “well,” I mean “still alive,” so I’ll take it.
I drove out to Cleveland a few weeks ago. Amanda went to visit Adam, who lives in Cleveland like I live in Pittsburgh (close, but not downtown) so I got up much earlier than I normally do and drove. It was relaxing and made me realize that I am truly my mother’s child–I made it from east of Pittsburgh to west of Cleveland in two hours and some change. I drive fast, but cautiously. The best way to describe the place Adam lives in is by the fact that the closest grocery store to him is Trader Joe’s. We went to a Mexican fusion-esque restaurant in a cute little neighborhood and then went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the Bruce [!!!] exhibit.
It was wonderful. The only thing I’m not a fan of is that the building is a large glass pyramid, so all the escalators are sort of suspended in air as you go from one level to the next–and I am afraid of medium-distance heights. I kept my eyes closed a lot. But there were two levels of Bruce, which was amazing. Everything from the clothes he wore on album covers to the dining room table he wrote lyrics at. Amanda and Adam, not being Bruce fans, weren’t as interested, but I was enchanted. Ah! What a man. It inspired me to buy a print of this for my dorm room:
I am excited to recieve it. And hang it, of course.
We went to dinner afterwards, and I must say, Cleveland has amazing sushi. It was just wonderful, in the way that seeing your friends at “home” is.
Although “home” is something I’ve been struggling with for the past few months [years?]–I find myself annoyed, disenchanted with places after a while. Toledo never felt properly like home, Brooklyn is lovely but I get tired of the rat race, Pittsburgh is sometimes a bit too sleepy for my tastes. I feel like a nomad, but attempt to bring home with me everywhere–I carve a niche wherever I go and put my name on it, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy with it. I’ve always kept at least one box packed at every new place.
I haven’t done much back to school shopping–though it is something I love doing–because, for some reason, this year I’m a champion of simply revitalizing the old. Don’t throw it away, heck, don’t even give it away, keep it as long as you can. I bought two bags this summer, which is like some sort of record for me. And they were only 50 cents each at a rummage sale. They’re perfectly good bags.
My family is holding a little cookout before I go away, at my aunt and uncle’s house. They have a pool. I forgot how much I liked swimming until we stopped by one day and they invited me in. It’s awesome. Even if I tend to under-sunscreen and wind up with red skin for a few days.
I am excited for school to start. The classes I am taking this semester are absolutely wonderful. And I have an awesome roommate. In fact, I think I’ll end this entry with a picture of us that Amanda took in Cleveland.
I am excited for this year. Hopefully it will be the best yet.