experimenting: 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

quotes from Sylvia Plath

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.”
― Sylvia Plath

“Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted.”
― Sylvia Plath

“If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Sunday, February 2, 2014

what should I wear in Italy?

I found this somewhere online and I don't recall where---but it was good advice:

Veteran

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I've been to Rome mostly in March or May with one smallish carry-on. You can get by with very little if you take quick-dry clothing. I took three bottoms..2 pr pants and one skirt, all black. I recommend black or other dark color as a base. I could have gotten by with any two of the bottoms as long as you can dress one of them up or down with different tops. One pair of pants never left the suitcase. I'd take ( that can be co-ordinated and layered) one sleeveless top, two short sleeved tops and one long sleeved top that can be buttoned up to be a blouse or worn open to be jacket over other pieces. I fact one of the short sleeved tops that you could wear as top or jacket over the sleeveless piece would be a great idea.
I also took black silk shorts and Tee that I wore for sleeping, but could be worn out. I never saw any adults that weren't obviously tourists in shorts.
Take a raincoat (it can double as a robe) and travel umbrella. I also took about three scarves as easy and lightweight ways to change an outfit and cover shoulders for churches. You can buy scarves there, even from street vendors everywhere. If it's hot you can dampen them on the back of the neck to keep you cool.
Shoes must be comfy for cobblestones and stairs. Take at least 2 pair, probably three if you want one for dress. White sneakers will instantly identify you as a tourist and therefore potential pick pocket victim. Romans wear very stylish shoes. I got by with three pair of undies washed out each night in the sink. If you get nylon, you could get by with two easily.