Intention

Last night I saw Woody Allen's new film, Midnight in Paris. I really liked it, though it made me want to go to Paris so badly. The plot is rather like science-fiction: Gil, who daydreams about the "Golden Age" of Paris in the '20's, finds himself magically transplanted there during a midnight stroll. He meets all the famous writers and artists who called Paris home at that time: Hemmingway, the Fitzgeralds, Picasso, etc. He spends a few nights amongst them, unable to believe he is actually living in an era he had so often dreamed about. The catch comes at the end, when his 1920s love interest sighs that she wished she had been born at the turn of the century, in "La Belle Epoque." When Gil tries to tell her that she is living in that age, that the '20s are the true Beautiful Age, she repeats, almost verbatim, the same complaints Gil himself had about the 2000s.

The moral of the story of obviously to be happy in the life you have, not waste energy dreaming about something impossible. It was a bit cliche, but it made an impression on me. Sometimes I find it really difficult to focus on the present moment; I'm too busy reliving highlights from the past or frantically trying to imagine what life will be like in the future. I've been doing this lately especially now that The Boyfriend is in Italy - it's been hard for me to focus on the present because I've been so lonely.

Well, the film has inspired me. I am going to try to be much more intentional about my daily life, and not just go through the motions, especially now that The Boyfriend is gone. We've lived together for about a year now, and I was so sad and lonely when he left last week, but I've realized now that it's good for me to have some time for just me, time to figure out again who I am outside of our relationship, just on my own. I'm not sure how I'll do this exactly, but it's certainly something worth thinking about each day, especially if I'm considering just sitting in front of the T.V. for the rest of the night. It reminds me of a speech one of the seniors at The Academy gave last year. He said that he hated feeling like he wasn't being productive. He never just sat around watching T.V. because he always felt like there was something better to be doing. And that, in a nutshell, is what I'm pursuing, I suppose: meaningful productivity.

On the more mundane side of things (or not, given what I just wrote above), tomorrow is a mini-orientation at Tufts for those students in the Dept of Education taking classes this summer. I'm very excited about it because it means I'll get to meet some people from my program - and hopefully expand my social agenda a bit, too. :)

Here's to living with intention and purpose!

ciao