Playing Chess

Graduation

2011-07-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

I attend my Graduation ceremony this week.

However I would already describe myself as a Graduate, having seen to a close my University life.

Upon Graduation there are endings, beginnings, meets and goodbyes.

You end a way of life, the time that is truly all to yourself and the only time you can lie in bed all day without guilt and with funding from the government.

You begin a new kind of life, and for me this a more driven one. I feel like I have woken up from a complacent daydream. I am very much looking forward to my first official pay-check.

You meet the real world. Up until now I have had a taste of it, but not the whole mouthful.

You are forced to say a temporary goodbye to the ones you have come to love over the years. Those people that have surrounded you during the moments in which you truly grow as a person, and that are there as a buffer when we stumble every so often.

I am a mixture of emotion.

I am excited.

I am scared.

I am hopeful, yet sad.

Graduation is said to be amazing. No one really gives you any warning that there may be this anti-climax. Three years of deadlines, stress, exams, all-nighters…these suddenly end. I am glad to be free, however I don’t like the cost at which this comes.

Overall, I have met some amazing people over the last three years. I miss and love them all.

You Were Once Wild. Don't Let Them Tame You.

Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)

Art is a Tart

2011-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Warmest of Welcomes

2011-07-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

“Hi my name is Chess…you know Chess…no not Jess…Chess…erm, as in the game.”

Welcome to my creative outlet. The title of this blog, for which I apologise if you have been mislead, is not what you would at first assume. ‘Chess’ is me, I am Chess, and this blog will (for the foreseeable future) serve as a witness as I try and have a go at…well…life.

When introducing myself to people, as I am to you now, I find myself meeting the same old struggle, people hear the word ‘Jess’ instead of ‘Chess’ and then the explanation I give turns into a generic and simple ‘as in the game’. You then instantly see the lightbulb flicker on behind their eyes. “Oh Chess” they say. Not only is there this, but I also find people like to make jokes about my name choice. They find amusement in saying things like “do you like playing Chess, Chess?” or they think its clever to call me another form of board game, “Checkers” seems to be a favorite. As many times as I have been driven to just give in and be called “Fran” or “Frankie” I believe that these don’t suit me as well. Now, through the title of this blog, it is my turn to play around and use my name as a pun, to my advantage, and it’s about bloody time.

I have yet to learn what I want out of life. I have adopted the mantras “hope for the best, expect the worst and take whatever comes”,“this too shall pass” and the infamous "keep calm and carry on". I love art, the country, food and friends.

Amongst these friends I am lucky to have the wonderful Maria. She has a fantastic blog of her own, Frills n Spills. Consequently I found this blog so wonderful that I was inspired to have a stab at creating one of my own. I had previously attempted creating such a venture during a stay in Venice (PlayingChessInVenice), however this was more of a temporary communication for the use of friends and family to stay in touch as opposed to a regular outlet. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Maria, for her patience and for guiding me through the process of setting up this blog. The countless hours she has spent answering all my questions have been a Godsend.

And so...