I'm Baaaaack . . . #2

I'm Back, and by back I mean back at Southern for my last semester of college. And by being back that means that the summer is over. I'm sorry I didn't share all my adventures or even post half the blog posts I thought about but it's time to say good-bye to this blog until next summer. I'll probably start some other blog and start posting there. But until then, this blog is going to hibernate.

Blessings to all of you who kept up with me this summer! :)

Suzanne Ocsai

Men With Beards

I've found a museum/tourist hobby! Find all the artwork that features men with beards, photograph it, and then make a collage of the photos and post them on Instagram—and subsequently everywhere else. 

So far I've found bearded men at the Smythsonian National Portrait Gallery: 

At the United States Capital Building:

And the National Postal Museum:

My perfect day...

Yesterday was perfect! Exactly what I needed—exactly what I wanted all summer! A day in DC.

This escalator was so dizzying! #metrostation

Trying to figure out the metro stops.

Photo courtesy Andrea.

Riding the metro. 

Photo courtesy Andrea.

Trying to figure out where we got off and how far it is to where we want to go. Photo courtesy Andrea. 

International Spy Museum with Carissa and Andrea.

Homegirl Dolley and me turnin' up in DC! #Favorite1stLady 

#licenseplatelove

In honor of paying taxes for the first time!

In honor of my great-grandfather! 

Raising my cup of tea to Tennessee! 

Washington monument in all it's scaffolding glory! 

#VietnamWarMemorial

We were here! 

And here's the proof! 

Can't be a tourist without a jumping photo! One of the things on my DC check list for the day was to get a picture wearing my spectrum socks in front of one of the monuments. ;)

Photo by Carissa.

On the metro headed back. 

Reflections. 

Finishing the day off right with a burrito from Chipotle! 

Sketches

I haven't drawn this much since the semester ended and I wasn't required to for class...I hated that art class. But now, 3.5 months later, I'm finally drawing again—and enjoying it. 

Reveal Your Dignity

So I guess I'm on a bit of a Sara Bareilles kick right now, but I was going through some of her videos on YouTube tonight when I found this one about picking out her clothes.

Being a bit of a fashionista, I loved that this was about her own personal style and what she likes to wear. Also being someone who is unashamed to believe in and practice modesty, I thought it was cool that Sara looks for clothes that aren't too revealing.

I will warn you, however . . . the video does contain some four letter words. Watch at your own discretion.

Keeping Quiet . . . for what?

Today I found a new Sara Bareilles song that I've fallen in love with—so much so that I actually bought it on iTunes (this rarely happens!). The song is Brave from her album The Blessed Unrest. In the song she sings about not letting people abuse you with their words and what would happen if you stood up for yourself and said what you need to say.

In my short life and in my even shorter life in the working world and in my EVEN shorter life of watching TV shows like Suits, I've realized that people keep quiet about a lot of things they shouldn't because they don't want to lose their jobs, opportunities at their jobs, or their status in life. It's quite sad really, that people would live life controlled by other people and by their silence encourage the kind of behavior and practices that need to be investigated.

In the third verse of her song Sara sings,

"And since your history of silence

Won't do you any good,

Did you think it would?

Let your words be anything but empty

Why don't you tell them the truth?"

The last line of the song's chorus simply says, "Honestly I wanna see you be brave."

Honestly, I want to see people be brave. 

I love soccer . . . I really do

The conversation was serious. She was mid sentence. I was listening intently. But then out of the car window I saw him. Actually who it was doesn't really matter. It was what he was doing. He was about to kick a soccer ball. My eyes fixated on the fluid movement of the kick. As we passed in the car I turned to watch where the ball went.

"Soccer," I said quietly.

I'm no soccer player and I don't even know the sport that well. I'm a total noob when it comes to knowing what's happening with teams and leagues. But that doesn't deny that some of my happiest moments as a child and then again in college involve a soccer ball, good friends, and wide open space.

When I came to Maryland this summer, I brought my cleats with me hoping I'd use them. So far I sadly haven't. But seeing that guy tonight made me realize just how much I miss soccer. I really love that sport!

Two suggestions to live by:

It's true . . . I'm a fan girl . . . haha!

Doubt this will ever happen but it should . . . haha!

The man who introduced me to my favorite sport—my old man!

The girl who was brave enough to try this sport out with me in college.

This was my best play right here—which really doesn't mean much but to me . . . eh . . . I'm pretty proud of it. ;)

The guys who got me back into soccer by asking me to photograph their team. I am forever indebted!

Finishing things

I'm a typical art type. And by that, I mean that I'm terrible at finishing things . . . I shouldn't blame this on art though.

Things I'm having a hard time finishing/keeping up with:

Finishing college . . . yes, I'm going back for one more semester . . . how many years has it been since I started, now?!

Finishing writing projects: they just always end up so messy and complicated . . . okay so I'm really just talking about one main project.

Keeping up with a blog: I was looking back over last year's posts and I noticed that I only posted regularly for about two weeks and I wish I had kept up for the entire summer . . . that would have been so cool to go back and see.

Keeping up writing friends: this year I decided to write friends the old-fashioned way . . . that has well . . . stopped. Kinda . . . I have three friends waiting for responses . . . maybe I should go do that after I finish keeping up with this blog . . . haha.

Okay, I'm done telling on myself . . . but, hey! They say confession is good for the soul. :)

Peace out! Go finish something yourself!

Suzanne Ocsai

P.S. I just realized that every single thing on my list has something to do with writing . . . maybe it's a sign . . . I shouldn't be a writer . . . haha . . . jk! 

Hotel Living

Sometimes I feel like hotels are my second home . . . and in a reality they are and have been for much of my early life—and now they are beginning to again.

This past semester there was a two month period where I was gone almost every weekend either at a youth conference, small group training, or some kind of meeting relating to youth in some way—on many of those trips I stayed in hotels. And though it might have seemed like after a while that would have gotten old, I always enjoyed checking into a new hotel, exploring the building and grounds, and seeing what it had to offer.

Why am I thinking about all this tonight? Well, because I’m staying in another hotel. I flew out to Salt Lake City this morning for a food tasting tomorrow for the Society of Adventist Communicators Conference, which will be held in SLC this October.

Sleeping in another hotel tonight made me think back to all my trips this year and then further back to when my parents used to remodel motels and hotels for a living while I was growing up. We’d stay sometimes for a month or more at a time in various motels/hotels. Two of the most memorable ones were the Days Inn in Nashville, Tn (because we stayed there so long) when I was seven and the Holiday Inn on Long Island, New York when I was 16 (because that trip had so many miracles take place).

Maybe that’s why checking in and out of hotels is no big deal for me now. I’ve been doing it for years. Sure it was a little different, the stays are shorter now and the destinations are further apart. Yet, there’s still something similar about it. No matter what hotel I’m staying at, something about it just feels like coming home. And the hotel I’m staying in tonight is no exception.

Oh and I always seem to notice the wallpaper—especially how it’s hung under the sink—cause that was my job in New York! Haha . . . ;) 

My job as a kid was to glue the paper for my dad. I'm the little one on the left. I guess, I've always been a little over dramatic as well! haha

This was the last motel/hotel job my dad took. It was close to home and I took off a couple days from college to help him by gluing paper, just like old times. This was in 2011 when I was 21.

I'm Baaaaaaack!!!

It's summer time again for me (and half the world)! I'm home right now just sorting through stuff and cleaning . . . getting ready to return to Maryland again this summer and work at the NAD Office of Communications—round II, here I come!

So with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, I often wonder 'why keep a blog?' I actually have like a million unused blogs sitting around the internet (I'm such a litterer! oh well!) It's 'cause, I'm never satisfied with a blog for very long. My favorite photography blog was on Posterous but then they decided to stop their blogging service . . . losers! Anyway . . . I haven't found another one that I like all that well. Jux is cool. But people can't download the photos (or at least, I'm not sure how they can), I've resorted to Tumblr for my photography and another Blogger blog for my portfolio.

But the reason I still try to blog is because I randomly like it. Sharing thoughts and musings is fun sometimes and when you know your friends actually read it and enjoy the photos and stuff . . . it kinda is something you enjoy doing. Plus . . . I'm a writer . . . we blog . . . lol. JK. That's only half true!

Anyways . . . just letting the world know, I'm back for the summer, and hopefully I'll be a more faithful writer than last year . . . I didn't even capture half the summer back then. Totally missed sharing Canada and my West Coast adventure with all of you . . . I'll try to do better this year!

Peace!