Wind and Waves

ABOUT Laura Zick:

In short: Hi my name is Laura. I’m 28 years old. I LOVE to explore and experience life as at various levels of profundity. I love to learn and go on adventures. Right now, my focus is teaching, yoga, photography and writing. Come summer I’d like to add sailing,motorcycling, climbing,traveling and flying. If I could combine them, I’d be in heaven……….at least for a couple months! I’m curious about what makes people “tick” wHy do they do what they do. That will forever fascinate me. Also, what is their passion and how do they work with it? How different everyone’s individuals passions are, I find quite intriguing! I’m quite shy and don’t have much to say in a group, unless I feel like someone is really listening…..then I could talk all night! Photography is a a real passion of mine. I love capturing a feeling, a moment, that will never exist again. Sometimes, its beauty can bring me to the center of the universe (I can see the world through it!) I especially love intimate conversations with people (from all walks of life!) , which is one reason, I so love travel, you meet other travelers who are open to conversation….and open to life!

In long: So my life story thus far, in a net shell:grew up in the mountains of Colorado. Sheltered. Tom girl. Loved sports. my high school soccer team won state. Shy.College in Boulder. sucked ass. minored in Business and Spanish. traveled around the country with my ultimate team…never liked it as much as soccer. went to frat parties, didn’t like them. Met a three friends for life. Took semester off to travel in Costa Rica and Panama with Serena. My eyes were opened to the World! Worked in Moab for two summers with Outward Bound (this is what encouraged me to quit college) Had, what felt like an epic solo moto trip x-country, reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at night in church parking lots and farmer fields. Hiked 700 miles on Appalachain Trail. Fell in love with a fellow. Went to live in Vermont. Felt confined in Ski bum community. Moved to Ithaca, New York to finish school (even though I still don’t “believe” in University but for my soul, I need to FINISH what I STARTED!) Maintain an interesting relationship with Derek for two years,orbiting the world of Ph. D (tips) living at Cornell. I’m intrigued by the analytical,passionate,powerful,privileged academic world, I’m put off by the exclusive, condescending …..academic world. Finish my degree (Cultural Studies)
Move to Colorado for two months. Have Great conversations at the Thin Man bar and meet some amazing people, one of whom I develop a crush on
Ride my moto out to Portland with ALL my belongings. Cold Trip! Enjoy meeting random people, camping illegally,becoming one with my moto and tasting the wine and almonds of California.
Portland! Bond with Bryan. Become graphic/computer/literate. dabble in graphic/website design while living in an apartment downtown (right by the trains stations! and walking downtown to work everyday. Take pictures of all the bridges and the ocean with my first ever digital camera.
Purchase my first dual sport motorcycle. Ride it everywhere. I’m in love. Meet a fellow on my soccer team. Teach him to ride a moto. Fall for him. Sell him my bike for an airline ticket to Phillipines to sail on a boat for four months.
Return after many crazy adventures and meeting inspiring/amazing people. continue relationship with soccer boy. Things are stuffy….and up and down.
I’m riding his moto (the one I sold him) some dude runs into me. Bike is totaled, I’m alive…. yeah! I get money. Get job doing Wilderness therapy in Idaho. Its very intense, hard and sometimes rewarding work. Are kids really this harsh and how is it that they are so damned rich and entitled? End of summer, soccer boy and I break things off (he wants security, I want mobility) I come back to Colorado to be with family and hybernate for the winter. Get a job as a teaching Assistant. It is work that requires a ton of energy! I’m having days of loving it and days full of frustration but I will always think that there is nothing better than getting happy hugs and hello’s everyday!
AND that is about my external path in life.
Perhaps a more insightful path would be all the books I’ve enjoyed through all my various transitions………

Thoughts. When will I no longer be at the bottom of the totem pole, as far as a job goes? When will I actually have money to travel the world, which is my big dream? When will I not care what people think about me? Will I ever desire to get married and have a family? When will I buy my sailboat

In philosophically: Well………as I always used to tell my roommate in college when he asked how I was, “I’m livin’ and lovin’

I am a 28 year old woman…….who is …….fascinated with life! I guess you could say. I haven’t gotten it figured out, by far, but the more interesting it is. the more interesting it becomes! I love the feeling of connection, building, and sustainability. These are some of my favorite words. I have trouble with the linearity of life in people’s minds and I desire to live as expansively as I can! Bring out human potential, baby!!
Connection, is huge for me!! To really understand someone (especially people who are being very honest with themselves and with me) is a real joy. I feel connected! To them, to the universe to all of humanity. When I feel listened to, and understood…………there is NO better feeling. Not to be cynical……..but I feel like few people genuinely listen. So when I meet them, I would LOVe to spend more time with them! And reciprocate their gift of listening. There is nothing like having your existence Resonate and by helping to resonate another’s existence.
Building. Building a photography project, a tree house, a book project a relationship, a comfortable place to live, a report, a car, a motorcycle, wood furniture, a path in the woods, yourself, an essay, a book, YOUR LIFE! I love the process of building. It is such a great feeling. Your energy is focused and directed and though, eventually what you have built will dissolve and have no meaning to you, it will almost always serve as a proud step for you, in the process of life and eventually lead to a “coming together” of sorts. (one of my all time favorites :-)) like a waterfall!
Sustainability. Lasting. Circular. An energy loop that doesn’t let the energy out, rather it goes round and round and gains more energy and momentum and requires very little from the outside…………and what it does take in from the outside it easily matches the positive flow of the momentum and in fact speeds it up. THis is a description of a fascinating business model that I have yet to see. andi in fact my ultimate personal model. I’ve not reached this point but I get closer and closer as I learn more and more about myself and life. Sustainability also applies to living. I would like to live as sustainable as possible! Ride my bike to work, only drink out of my water bottle,generate very little trash, live in a small, totally sustainable home in nature…Have a career that promotes sustainability (rather than working at a print shop or a school where a scary amount of paper is wasted everyday). I could go on and on But I think that sustainablitly is a model (a positive feedback loop) that could serve as an example for everything in life and especially now in the day and age of excess and dwindling resources, it is especially important.

I’m currently living in Denver,Colorado