chinashuebox

I'm On A Roll

IMG_7565, originally uploaded by shuebox.

I delivered speech #2 to my Beach Cities Toastmaster's Club. I rocked it. This time I spoke about eating Street Food in developing countries with imagery as live as the crab I described and as spicy as the red curry I ate in Thailand.

(Note: Photo above is Street Food in Saigon, Vietnam)

I also should mention that I won "Best Speaker" at the meeting and I was simply floored. I am taking the head rush in stride. However, I am incredibly excited.

What a Rush

Mastering The Toast, Jitters, originally uploaded by shuebox.

I'm still reeling. Pull me in.

I'm doing the fish hook dance, trying to contain the exhilaration from my first speech delivered to my new Beach Cities Toastmaster's Club in Manhattan Beach, California. The first speech is an Ice Breaker and requires I introduce myself to the club.

I plan to upload the recorded speech, as soon as I find the USB cable cord.

So, in the meantime, as I reconnect with the surface of the earth, I will give a brief overview of my speech. To start, my opener was this:

When you go shopping and the sales associate asks, "Can I help you find anything?" I reply, "Just looking." If you are anything like me, inwardly, I am two mindsets. One, I have no idea what I am looking for and no amount of help will make that happen. Two, I know exactly what I want and I want to find it on my own. Both of those describe my approach to life.

Hmmm

Hmmm, originally uploaded by shuebox.

On any given day, it is hard for me to know exactly what I want.  I think a great deal about my life and reflect on how to be a better person, and frankly, I've got that down, pat.  The larger challenge I am facing now is applying myself to a career and the long haul.  I am ready and wondering.

This all came about when I watched a recent episode of 60 minutes detailing the new generation of 20s and early 30s, called millennials, career warriors entering the workforce.  I am caught watching it with my mom, who has never directly told me to get myself in gear, but who I sense hoped I would take the story to heart.

The Annuals of Time

IMG_8511, originally uploaded by shuebox.

It is all so breadthtaking that it is hard to know when to exhale.  Just having the opportunity to breadth fresh air from different perspectives on my road trip to Los Angeles kept me swirling in excitement. 

Oh, the Places You'll Go

steamboat on the slopes, originally uploaded by shuebox.

Here I am, moving again.  I have put off packing and cleaning until the bitter end, where time is limited and the adrenaline pumps.  My motivation is the clock even after giving myself 3 days to pack and clean.  Unlike my usual moving proceedure, I have taken time to take in parts of Colorado I may not see again for awhile; such as rock climbing in Boulder, skiing in Arapahoe Basin and doing open poetry mics in Denver.

In this time, I have spent time with friends to say good bye and do all the things I promised to do since I arrived.  I have also given some though to what I will do next.  It is routine to talk about the future, when in many cases I haven't established much of a past with my new friends here.  Plus, living in a seasonally dependent ski resort means there is always the question, "Will you be around next season?"

Veiling the Fear

Humming along, listening to the depth,
Held in the nest, breathing and scheming.
No screaming or dreaming,
Teaming with Turkish delight,
Here to witness, full sight,
The empire in grand light.

Singled out for covered skin,
Veiling the fear from within,
Behind the violence is emptiness,
Echoing woes, scrabbling for control,
Too busy to unroll.

April Project Explanation: I have neglected my blog for the last 4 1/2 months, mostly due to my pursuit of good ski powder days and a business opportunity, both of which I didn't manage to catch enough of the tail to pull.  Now, it is time to recenter myself and catch up with my favorite thing to do, write poetry. I aim to write one piece per day for the month of April.
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Copy written by Shannon Shue. All Right Reserved. No portion of this material can be reprinted, recited or published with the expressed written consent of Shannon Shue.

Settle These Crimes

Ain't I gonna know,
the hollow and the whole,
this beat I walk, in dark carried reflections,
hunched below, lips cold froze,
waiting for the time.

Rhythmical rhymes,
struggling times,
shake a few dimes,
settle these crimes.

Recognize the height,
difference born within,
the crushing will, ill with contempt,
justice afar,
collar up for the winds, blown clear blue,
limiting the sky,
all clouded with doubtful hues.

Jaded from days, turned into years,
this is my song, no tune to be heard,
the music plays within my ears,
still the sames lines, cut and refine.

Rhythmical rhymes,
struggling times,
shake a few dimes,
settle these crimes.

No truth consequence given, lies me
to myself,
the flapping of arms,
to unleash the rage, caged and assuaged,
no fight to take hold, no fight to hold.

Passively grown, honed into the bones,
It's not trivial only medial, unspeakable,
leak,
weak-able tears in hands, keep able,
reek able, teachable, reachable.

Rhythmical rhymes,
struggling times,
shake a few dimes,
settle these crimes.

Saved for the day,
ceasing a lifetime of pain,
situated and arraigned,
now, passing on.

April Project Explanation: I have neglected my blog for the last 4 1/2 months, mostly due to my pursuit of good ski powder days and a business opportunity, both of which I didn't manage to catch enough of the tail to pull.  Now, it is time to recenter myself and catch up with my favorite thing to do, write poetry. I aim to write one piece per day for the month of April.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Copy written by Shannon Shue. All Right Reserved. No portion of this material can be reprinted, recited or published with the expressed written consent of Shannon Shue.

Sink, Sink, Sink

I laugh at my follie,
the fool in me takes hold,
I can't help, but sort excitement,
holding for snickers to unfold.

Picking my own destiny,
such a trial, such a chore,
any other way, my bain,
to complain and rue.

Not quiet there, not quiet here,
Pushing on, pressing down,
the confusion and despair,
trying so, so hard, I frown.

Knowing is less the battle,
doing is easy, in a mode of fury,
hunker down, bunker in,
sunken low, down below.

Coughing decisions,
only myself to finger, blink,
this is mine and yet nothing owned,
I've gotta sink, sink, sink.

April Project Explanation: I have neglected my blog for the last 4 1/2 months, mostly due to my pursuit of good ski powder days and a business opportunity, both of which I didn't manage to catch enough of the tail to pull.  Now, it is time to recenter myself and catch up with my favorite thing to do, write poetry. I aim to write one piece per day for the month of April.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Copy written by Shannon Shue. All Right Reserved. No portion of this material can be reprinted, recited or published with the expressed written consent of Shannon Shue.

Snow Cat Tour: Learning About My Backyard

IMG_8336, originally uploaded by shuebox.

In a few hours, I learn Lodge Pine and Aspen grow in my backyard. Admittedly, I have not made much of an effort to catalogue the history and landscape of Winter Park, Colorado.

On a Snow Cat tour of the Winter Park Resort, the last 68 winter seasons are ground down to the finer points; the naming of Allen Phillips ski run, now masked as the extreme Terrain Park, the summer activities plan and the Colorado ski market.  The Snow Cat, a large bulldozer-like tank with comfortable seating for 12, is usually used to groom the runs.

Become

I'm missing something,
in those sidewalk-less streets,
dirty with the hopes,
less depth than a fishbowl.

Golden in appearance only,
the party is dying in me,
scrambling to catch yellow fever,
a place to call home,
familiarity really.

The middle kingdom afar,
here in the echo of beauty,
reaching for the shallow waters,
the glitz, glam and giant ego.

With this confusion of desire,
wanting the crowds, chaos and pollution,
trading the quiet, breath-taking rockies,
who have I become.

City dweller like no other,
preferring the fast pain,
curbed lanes, fake feign,
completely vain.

Who have I become.

April Project Explanation: I have neglected my blog for the last 4 1/2 months, mostly due to my pursuit of good ski powder days and a business opportunity, both of which I didn't manage to catch enough of the tail to pull.  Now, it is time to recenter myself and catch up with my favorite thing to do, write poetry. I aim to write one piece per day for the month of April.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Copy written by Shannon Shue. All Right Reserved. No portion of this material can be reprinted, recited or published with the expressed written consent of Shannon Shue.