“We came to writing at an earlier age, from an urge to release a scream that had stuck in our throats. Then we worked on our screams until we thought they were something someone might want to hear.”
- Stephen Elliott, Why I Write
- I got an apartment in San Francisco! It’s on 26th St. and Guerrero right in the heart of the Mission; close to the BART and Dolores Park, and a 25 minute commute to work. I’ll be living with a very nice 30-something Yahoo programmer so hopefully I’ll be able to up my nerd quotient even further.
- The internet on Monday was so amazing that it completely set the tone for the rest of the week. Between the Gizmodo iPhone 4 story (ARE BLOGGERS JOURNALISTS?!), the WSJ vs. NYT infighting, the #freetavi trending topic that Joe and I started and the Xanga-ridden chain of e-mails sent between Local staffers, Monday was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I had dinner with Seb and didn’t cry! Instead we talked about FTC blogging regulations for half the time. It felt good to feel so good, like my life finally (but quite suddenly) regained its composure.
- I wrote a lot this week. I compiled an epic post of middle school Xanga entries from the NYU Local staff, which was definitely one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever written for the site. I also wrote about NYU spammers and my clueless Comp Sci professor. I wrote a heartfelt goodbye post on NYU Local and when Lily e-mailed me a response to it, I broke into tears at work over how nice it was. I was linked to by two of my all-time favorite websites, The Awl and This Recording. I was so inspired by today’s installment of Stephen Elliott’s Rumpus newsletter that I @’d him to tell him so, and he @’d me back (and followed me!) to thank me. I told Joe I was proud of myself for being so brave on the internet this week. He said he was proud of me, too. I planned SF media world domination with Katie and started working on pitches for SF magazine/website columns. If this week were a movie, it’d be called “How Jessica Got Her Groove Back.”
- I finished school! I had my last final of my undergraduate career today, and it was laughably easy (“Do JPGs support animation?”). I graduate May 10th and I’ll be working until May 21. I leave New York on May 23rd for Pennsylvania, and I move to San Francisco on June 2nd. I spent so long being nervous that now I’ve crossed into excited. I can do this. And now that school is over, I have more time to focus on my writing, which has always been a more beneficial way of spending my time anyway. I want to pitch features to magazines and websites; I want to start working seriously on my essay anthology; I want to start my life as a writer and as an Adult and as a San Franciscan. I have a feeling, one that is beginning to spindle its way through my bloodstream, that everything will be okay. I am overwhelmed by that naivety characterized by young people poised to take their first big step into the “real world,” and it feels good.
The future is bright, and I got my sunscreen right here.
“I have a feeling, one that is beginning to spindle its way through my bloodstream, that everything will be okay.”
I was having this same feeling last week but just couldn’t put it in words. Like I could describe it in my brain but it wasn’t something I could easily communicate to someone else. I’m glad you’re able to describe it so accurately.