I have to do a speech this Monday for my interpersonal communication class, and it has to be about 3 important aspects of myself. I gotta tell ya, it was A LOT harder than I thought It'd be... But this is what I finally came up with:
Hi, My name is Patricia, but you can call me Trish, and I like Red Lipstick, vinyl and shoes!
Haha, When I first started writing this speech I figured that would be the route I would go. The obvious, what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach.
But then I thought about the rarity of an opportunity like this. To tell a group of strangers who you really are. I'm not a what-you-see-if-what-you-get kinda girl. So if you really wanna hear about my 45 pairs of shoes or collection of vintage big band records, check out my blog, because I'm going to go ahead and tell you about the deeper, more personal things that make me, Me.
The first and most important thing about me, is this. *Holds Up Pen* Everyone else wanted to be firemen and ballerinas and Panda whisperers, but being a writer wasn't something I wanted to be, It was something I already was. My mom told me once I didn't have first words, I had first sentences. Writing is something I HAVE to do, everyday. It's therapeutic to put a pen to paper and turn my thoughts into a physical hard copy. I'm not talking about a diary, or a journal, it's like, so much more than that to me. I can go through the things I've written and watch how my handwriting, and ideas and views on life just change an evolve as I get older. It's also really interesting when I'm having a really awful day, and I go back and read through my past, and it always makes me feel better, knowing no matter how many bad days I had, everything always turned out ok, it always got better.
When I was younger I thought I'd be a novelist, like Hawthorne and Vonnegut, but, as I got older I realized unless you're writing about wizards and vampires, the world probably wont even notice. So In high school I started doing something completely different: Journalism.
To this day I have no idea why I decided to take it in high school, I just figured, I want to write, and this is a class that'll let me do that. Turns out, this writing was more than I'd bargained for. I was used to flowery rhetoric, I had been a literature junkie for so long I thought I'd never be able to be a completely unbiased and objective reporter, but, turns out I could, and well. Going out and interviewing people to find answers to my questions was so rewarding, and I loved turning plain old information into something other people would want to read.
I guess my love for it was apparent, because after only one semester I was made editor in chief of the west high saga. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to be in charge of a publication like that. To have your name in a byline over an article that hundreds of people will read. Not just students but, teachers and the staff and principal. It was an opportunity that I will forever be grateful for, and it's led me into the next thing important thing I would like to tell you about myself
I love music and fashion, and because I love being a journalist too, I figure a match made in heaven would be to combine the two and work for the fine people over at Rolling Stone or Vogue magazine. In a perfect world, that's where I'll end up, interviewing people like Robert Plant and Christian Louboutin, but if not, I’ll be happy with the opposite end of the spectrum, working for a small, local newspaper called The Santa Maria Sun.
I've lived in Bakersfield my whole life, but for a short while my dad lived in Santa Maria CA for work, and every break and three day weekend I had for five years, I was there. There's this feeling people say they have, when they meet their soul mate, like their lives are finally complete? That’s how I feel about that town. It's like, my missing piece.
Even the drive there is perfect. I always liked taking the trip over there on the 166 right before it got dark, because it always felt like we were chasing the sun right into the ocean, and I can't explain how amazing it is to know that the next time you see it, you'll be home. That's truly my one goal in life. Get in my car, blast my Metallica and Led Zeppelin, and runaway from this town in the middle of the night and start brand new in the morning, as a journalist in the one place I feel the most complete. A lot of people see their future selves married, with kids, but I've never really wanted that, I've always just wanted this life where I could get up and go, buy a sailboat and sail off the edge of the earth if I wanted.
If I had to choose three things I would want people to know about me, it would be that I'm a writer, and a dreamer, who, like Miss Dorothy Gale, thinks there's no place like home. Bet you couldn't tell all that from my shoes now could ya?
I like my legs. I like my shoes. I like what I do with my legs and my shoes.
Soft makeup and straight hair...
...and Domino's sandwiches for lunch.
