Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I5 South

I'm back! I missed all of you.
Leather jacket: Laundry by Shelli Segal (gift from Mom)
Grey v-neck: Express (thrifted)
Pinstripe skirt: Club Monaco (thrifted)
Lark ankle boots: Naya (eBay)
Pewter enamel necklace: unknown (thrifted)
Moving has imposed an interesting set of constraints: I'm in Southern CA now, but there's very little room in my mother's house for any of my things, much less a one bedroom apartment of stuff, even after selling my furniture.

... also, the closet of the room I'm staying in is filled with my brother's clothes, and he refuses to move them. -_-

So here's a go-to outfit I threw together out of what was available while I was driving up and down the state. 
I thrifted the Express shirt ages ago, because I really liked the side ties and the subtle silver and grey floral print. I think it's going in the donation box because the elastic cap sleeves were not designed with someone of my shoulder girth in mind, and the rounded ruched waistline in front doesn't do my build --wide-waisted in front and narrower in profile-- any favors.
Still, I liked it because it showed off the cool buckles on this Club Monaco pinstripe skirt. Most of my other shirts are too long and would leave the pseudo belt (it runs through a loop in the back and buckles above the front pockets) as a funny-looking series of lumps.

I am glad I went out on a limb (for me, anyway) and purchased this pewter, rhinestone, and enamel floral necklace at the thrift shop before I left. I needed more short necklaces, and though I was worried the colors were too bold/garish, I decided I needed more obvious colors in my world of dark neutrals.

PERSONAL STUFF after the break:

I know I'm very fortunate to have family that can put me up while I'm working part time and frittering away anxiety about my graduate school applications, but as a friend's friend pointed out while I was visiting Oakland last week, I'm without a home right now.

I'm a 'stuff person'. My home to me is a place where I'm surrounded by familiar objects and smells. It's where I unwind from the outside world and shut out some of the stressors of every day.

Three and a half years ago, I quit my full time job, shut the door on my first career, and went back to school, while undergoing a breakup. I ended up building up my apartment because I refused in some ways to acknowledge my lack of income and live like a penniless undergraduate. I was too old, however lacking in maturity, I thought, to rewind my lifestyle by a decade. It was too depressing.

I undertook the self-delusion willingly, because it gave me something to distract myself from ongoing existential crises and financial stress. I got furniture for a song off craigslist, picked some cheery art, tea sets, and decorations from thrift shops, and made myself a little calm world in my vermin-infested, run down apartment.

The hardest part about moving was tearing down that illusion, piece by piece, and really looking at each bit in my hand as I put it into a box for what it was- inexpensive trinkets, scratched and dented, that filled both a distressing number of boxes and an equally distressingly small physical space when it was done.

Intellectually I know I am not the sum of my material possessions, but when you look at a series of boxes when you move, you can't help but evaluate how much or how little you have accomplished in your adult life and how it does not measure up to an idea of yourself that you carry with you, that against which you, however much you sprint and run, will never, ever catch up.

I'm doing better now! And my diploma arrived, finally ending the nightmares that my Uni would screw me over one last time and tell me I had failed some final project or exam or missed some mandatory mystery class and had to stay another semester. But that all up there was what I was thinking about a lot over the last few months.

ALSO I'm helping teach at my friend's new martial arts school. Should any of you find yourselves in the Orange County, CA area looking for Chinese wushu, you should come on by! I'm there more nights than not, waving a straightsword around. There's no cure for an existential crisis like practicing wushu until you dry heave. Anxieties are prone to drowning if you provide enough sweat. (eww!)

21 comments:

  1. I like the outfit a lot. And I wish you well, living at your mom's house for now. Bound to raise emotions, one way or another.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Lisa! Fortunately I get along well with my mother and brother, and she's thrilled to have me around (many Asian parents always want you to move in with them.) My stuff, on the other hand, she may feel more ambivalent about. :D

      I am looking at it as a fortunate time to spend with my mother, who won't be around forever. And I am learning more about her, since I grew up with my father.

      Delete
  2. I'm glad to see you've returned! I'm sorry to hear it's been a rough time as of late, but I'm glad things are starting to look up again! I hope they continue moving in that direction!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Bethie! I'm looking forward to catching up on your blog and seeing how Oliver is coming along. (:

      Delete
  3. Yay! Good to see you. And no more balcony photos with striped shadows on your clothes from the railing.

    It's normal to have the reflections you're having. Moving, while hard, is a catalyst for change and introspection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, exactly! I was totally thinking about the lack of pinstripe shadows on my outfit shots in the future. :D The front gate to my mother's house has lighting that is so much more even.

      I agree with what you said! I understood the moving was necessary and even for the better, but I still sobbed like a baby when I sold my first piece of furniture I bought when I had my first full time job.

      Delete
  4. Great post and good to see you back! First of all, I love your outfit and the necklace is beautiful. But mostly I want to tell you that I have had a similar sort of experience in life, though I am older. I got divorced after being with the same man for nearly 25 years. I moved into a rental apartment and began to fill it up with stuff from thrift shops. I did the same thing with clothes from thrift shops. Anything and everything, I just bought anything that appealed to me and I realise now I was looking for my new self. I did that for three years and then my divorce came through, I bought a condo and moved. In the process of the move I purged my stuff intensely. In some ways you could say I wasted a lot of money but look at it as having been spent on an experience. I learned from it, and finally settled myself into a lovely new home with the right furniture and decor and the right wardrobe and a huge weight off. I haven't quite been ready to write about this on my blog. Perhaps telling you here today is the beginning of getting ready.
    I wish you all the best in your new ventures and look forward to more of your blogging.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for telling me, Shawna. Sorry for the late response (got really sick). I discovered your blog recently and looking forward to knowing you better.

      I relate to the experience: I got a lot of clothes that were experimental at first, and jettisoned them as time went on and I found my own style.

      Delete
    2. I hope you are better now. I noticed you weren't around and hoped it was just life keeping you busy. Take good care of yourself!
      xo

      Delete
  5. Happy to see you too! I can feel you for living in a small place - we live in my studio flat with hubby and iguana.. this was okay when I was alone, but now this space is TINY. I'm a stuff person too, so moving is always a pain..
    Love that jacket on you and the shirt is really pretty :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Moving is the third most stressful thing after a death in the family and divorce. No doubt you are feeling very reflective.

    I'm happy you are back blogging and love that leather jacket.

    bisous
    Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  7. Go into that closet and wear whatever of your brother's clothes you want. That's what he gets for not moving his stuff when asked nicely. Would serve him right if you, ahem, altered some of them, too, and then put 'em back.

    (My, I'm having an aggressive moment over here at the other end of the country . . . Must be the 15 degrees on the thermometer this morning.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha! This is a fantastic idea. Maybe I'll try the 'boyfriend blazer' look, only with my brother's clothes. :D

      Delete
  8. How good to see you! You look great, that's a fabulous leather jacket and the necklace was a good buy, it's very pretty. Colours; yes, colours are good!

    You write so well about the circumstances in which you find yourself, and I totally understand the real self/imagined self dichotomy, I bump my head against that one most days... Accomplishments are not the same as possessions though, and while you may not feel you have the home and material situation you would like (or deserve), you certainly have accomplished something in your life. Being bold and brave enough to go back a step for the sake of changing, experimenting, and eventually moving forward, these are achievements. Not to mention your diploma! Congratulations. And keep those anxieties at bay with as much sweat as you like! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice to see you again, Aya! And such a thoughtful post. I've moved so many times, so I can completely relate to what you're talking about. It's nice to choose how your surroundings look, and to feel that they work for you. Yet I don't like having a lot of stuff. I think having to move and condense and even leave things packed up for awhile are all good exercises in making you appreciate what's really important. Having really cool boots is important!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Aya, it's so nice to see you! It's sounds as though you are coping with life's stresses rather well. Change and I aren't particularly good friends so I won't even try to give you any advice. In fact, the next time I'm up for a move, which hopefully will be soon, even though I hate change, {did I say that already?}, I will try and remember how calming physical activity can be; especially a discipline that involves mental prowess as well!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Aya, It was wonderful to see your name in my in-box ... I wondered where you were. Congratulations on your diploma ... and good luck with your applications.

    I applaud you for having gone back to school and all the challenges that that in and of itself brought about.

    I agree with Sue ... go through your brother's clothes and find a couple of things you like and keep them and then alter some of the things that are in there!!! LOL!!!

    And keep calm while living under your Mom's roof ... It can be a real challenge but this too shall pass.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It is nice to see you back, Aya! Nice outfit, the leather jacket and the skirt looks great together. And I like how the boots work with this look. Your new necklace is very pretty. I'm glad you're doing better now. I moved several times and I know how stressful it is.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am glad that you are back! This is a new chapter in your life, and you will be awesome! Soon you will be able to get your own place again, and re-create a home as you once did :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh, that jacket is sweet - lovely piece. Great to see you again, Aya - I kept checking, "is she there yet?" I hate moving so much - I'm such a nester - but as everyone's saying, this is the start of change, of something good and new, that old cliche " a new chapter." Be who you want to be! And sweat is always good. Means you're working!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Darling Aya! You look lovely after all the moving heave-ho! ( I HATE moving worse than anything. ANYTHING except perhaps any form of voluntary ignorance, political sins of omission, slavery, fascism or people who chew with their mouths open and customers who call me Sweetheart.)
    Gotta tell you, I was a late graduating one as well. I have never had a passion or even a talent that anyone wanted to pay me to produce, so I accumulated a lot of credits I've never even applied. I wish I'd found something I truly love to do for work, but never have so I do what I can. But you will / do have virtues I never managed to attain, and you have scads of time, a lot of maturity and a fair share of wisdom you didn't have earlier. And all your best years in front of you! Yeaaay you!
    I get sweating for endorphin release and just plain virtue, but I draw the line at puking. Just sayin' . But give it hell, anyway. We're all out here, wishing you the absolute best life ever!

    ReplyDelete