All posts filed under: Writing

Post #40: Invest in Yourself

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Welcome to the fortieth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. The New York Times recently ran an article about the benefits of being bilingual: “The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind — like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.” I am awesome at remembering directions. If I have been there once, I can get back and get home. And I can speak a little German …

Post #39: Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

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Welcome to the thirty-ninth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. The Great Writing Challenge 2012 has already been a great opportunity to stretch my creative muscles, and I am grateful for your feedback and your support. And so I want to pay it forward. My friend, Carolyn, has set herself a challenge of a different kind, and I wanted to share it with you. Each weekend, Carolyn has set herself a goal of doing one thing she has not done/gone to/experienced before in the ‘Stop Procrastinating’ Challenge (alternatively called the ‘Get Off Your Damn Ass and Do Things’ Challenge). There’s so many cool things to do in this city, but it’s so easy to let inertia take over. So each weekend, she’s going …

Post #38: Life List No.68 – Be a Jedi for a Day

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Welcome to the thirty-eighth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. It has been a sad few days for my American family here, and I shall not go into too much detail for fear of trivializing things. Life can sometimes be so damned serious as an adult, and it sucks to lose people you love. But this is a fantastic, loving family, and I am so lucky to be a part. So in light of monumental changes and reevaluation of my own life, I want to focus my attention this evening on happy things: my Life List. When I first saw Maggie’s Life list, I was really inspired. This was more a collection of moments and experiences, and less of a Bucket List. The Life …

Post #37: Umbrellas

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Welcome to the thirty-seventh post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. Umbrellas. I can’t stand them and I categorize people who use as impractical and weak. If there is one thing you will never see, it’s me with an umbrella. There, I said it!  It’s both a little ridiculous and a little unfair, but hear me out. I am a girl who has always been a little more practical than the next, and this was only encouraged when I lived in Ireland. And if there’s one thing you should know about the Emerald Isle, is that the locals know how to deal with crappy weather. Umbrellas cannot help you in Ireland. The cyclone-level winds that blow in off the Atlantic teaches foolish tourists who …

Post #36: The One Where I Shirk My Responsibilities

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Welcome to the thirty-sixth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. This is the post where I shirk my responsibilities and tell you just how sore and tired I am. I AM SO SORE AND TIRED! I cannot possibly sit here and tell you all about it because that would be super boring for all concerned. So I am going to make myself a cuppa, lay on the floor to stretch out my back and watch the final episode of Downton. I know, I know! I promised. But I can’t. We have walked miles today, eaten at Off The Grid (Chairman Bao is the best food truck in San Francisco!) and cavorted around like jedis with lightsabers. Oh, yes. It was a brilliant day. …

Post #35: The Intimation of Life

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Welcome to the thirty-fifth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com. This morning, we enjoyed slowly waking up and adjusting to the day. We made a breakfast of oatmeal and bagels, with a cuppa tea for me and coffee for the American, and switched on Fox Soccer. It was Bolton v Tottenham game from White Heart Lane. Little did we know what would happen next, live on television. The 23-year-old Bolton midfielder, Fabrice Muamba, had a heart attack. Right there on the pitch. The looks on the faces of the players from both sides said a thousand words. Muamba had apparently stopped breathing and they were resuscitating him on the field. It was horrendous. Part of hearing terrible news is the about-face you encounter …