Epiphany

Sydney, NSW – 19 January 2011 at 11:30pm
Kansas City, USA – January 19, 2011 at 6:30am

Today I had an epiphany…I need to slow down.

I woke up eager to go to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA).

When I first got to Sydney, Jason and I were walking around the Harbour and I noticed the sign for the exhibit and said “I have to go to that exhibit while I’m here…not today, not tomorrow but at some point before I leave I have to see it.” 

I really enjoy photography, especially photographs of people...expressions, actions, posture…you can learn a lot about a person by looking at them…words usually just fill in some of the blanks and details. Ms. Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer. Her work has always amazed me. She seems to capture the spirit of everyone she takes a photo of and highlights their best or worst quality. 

So, when Lisa and I were out and about yesterday I asked her if she didn’t mind if I ran inside to find out how much the tickets cost and when they were open so I could come back on my own time and not make Lisa go through it if she didn’t have an interest. The first woman we spoke to had a little bit of an attitude but we found another group of ladies who were very helpful…so far to explain that this particular day they were doing construction on the building so tickets were reduced to $5 from $15…ah bummer…we can’t go in right now because we have other items on our agenda… She said “No worries, the tickets are not marked with a date…you can by them now and come back to the exhibit any time between now and March.” Yes, success…just saved $10! God really does always provide…it may be little but it adds up…it’s all about celebrating the little successes in life, right? So, I tucked my ticket away to use today.  Apparently my enthusiasm was infectious, Lisa also bought a ticket to use at another time as well.

The exhibit had 192 works of art…each one different in their own unique way. As I strolled through the dimly lit rooms stopping in front of each photo to breath in what she was trying to convey through each image, I started to think about, well, a lot of things, art sometimes does that…certain images reminded me of my family, friends, experiences…one experience in particular… I remembered before I moved to Prague in 2002 I was temporarily staying with my parents the month leading up to my departure. One evening my dad came home from work all excited because he had rented the movie “Pollock.” A movie about the American painter Jackson Pollock, the role was played by Ed Harris. At the time I had no idea who he was. So I’m sure you can gauge my excitement level when my dad made me watch the movie with him. In the end it was a pretty good flick…Pollock had some issues though. That April I was in Venice walking around, I turned a corner and look up at the Guggenheim only to see a building size poster that read “Original Works of Jackson Pollock.” At that moment I knew there was a reason I had seen the movie three months earlier. Squintini (Jenny, my roommate at the time) was with me and had no idea why I was so excited, so I had to explain why I HAD to see his art in real life instead of on my parent’s 52” television. Sometimes life is definitely not random. And if you read the part about my dad and postcards from the blog post of Day 9 on the Aroona, you can guess that my dad has proudly displayed his postcard from this exhibit on his desk at work.

So after the Leibovitz exhibit I had an epiphany…I need to slow down. I haven’t taken one black and white photo (my favorite) since I’ve been here. I’ve been too busy to stop and look around. It was hot outside so I bought an ice cream cone and sat on a bench next to the Harbour and just sat and watched…I watched people, boats, the water, a crane operator, the street performers, etc. I took in all the sounds, the smells, the wind on my face…I realized that I haven’t been living a big part of the reason I took this journey….to slow down….to exhale. My life back in the States is/was very busy…by my own choice of course. I have something going on every night of the week….dinner with family and friends, yoga, movies, baseball games, work, parties, volunteer efforts, live theater…you name it and I’m there… I never sit still. Maybe it was a stupid idea but part of me thought if I just took some time off from everyone and everything I could get a little “me time”…so far that hasn’t happened. Don’t get me wrong…this trip has been outstanding…but this is the second day in 6 weeks that I have spent by myself. As my friend Matthew says…”you can take the girl out of Kansas, but you can’t take the Kansas out of the girl.” I’m realizing it was a silly notion to think that my personality would actually have the capacity to slow down the moment I got here…I’m a doer…which can be good and/or bad…sometimes I get so wrapped up in being a “human doing” that I forget to be a “human being.” I’m going to have to make an effort to make some adjustments…that effort starts today.

I've been feeling rushed to see and do as much as possible since I'm only here for six months...I can't believe six weeks has already gone by. So for the rest of the day I didn’t rush… I took my time, enjoying everything that was going on around me. I read my book and took some black and white photographs of the city and the people who live here or are visiting. 

I’m definitely not a professional but it was fun and relaxing…click here to take a stroll through the streets of Sydney via my camera.

Overall, it was an awesome day….which just happened to finish with an evening at a New South Wales vs. Tasmania cricket game…yes, I know I said I was slowing down but this was already scheduled.

The game was held at the ANZ Stadium which held the 2000 Olympic track and field events and the opening and closing ceremonies but was called Stadium Australia at that time. 

NSW (the team located in Sydney) lost to Tasmania by two balls right at the end.,,,it was a nail biter. All I kept hearing before we went was that I would hate cricket because it is sooo slow, I thought, "have you ever seen American baseball?" but I had a great time!

Additional photos: Cricket