noooo-thing

1. had a great day. delicious lunch and then went to the mall. 
2. shopped at the new h&m and also the forever 21, then got another ear piercing! 
3. my night was so much fun. except for a teensy, weensy incident, it was all so much crazy fun.

i don't have that much to say, of course, because it's the weekend and i'm exhausted. but i'm happy and i love 12 hours and i love my friends. they have made my college experience unforgettable. i'm also happy that i've made new friends and decided to follow my motto, to fly, and lived it as much as i can. i promise, tomorrow night will have an interesting post. my weekends really do need to pick it up...i apologize.

the disney d

1. one pm. that's what time i woke up today. it felt amazing. granted, i was awake til 2 am reading my new book. 
2. had no classes but i was still semi-productive.
3. ate a delicious dinner and had delicious ice cream for dessert! i'm excited for this weekend. 

i watched aladdin tonight and it made me want to be a little kid again. aladdin was always a great disney movie, but i never could decide if it was my favorite. i really loved sleeping beauty (i thought the fairies were really cool), but watching it now makes me realize how simplistic it is, because it was the first one made. lion king was always great, but sad. the little mermaid? enough said. but it's interesting watching these movies as a semi-adult because i catch all the innuendos and subtleties. also, i took a fairy tales class and it forever changed how i think about disney movie portrayals of classic fairy tales. really? a whole new world, ariel? like...the men's world, up above the women's world of the ocean? wow, sexist. there are many examples of these sorts of things. you can google them if you're interested. for now, i think i will watch the jungle book next...and keep reading my book. cheers!

"don't die."

1. class today, beautiful weather, weekend started. overall? great day.
2. watched tv with my suitemate tonight, read a book (like, a non-school book, shocker!), and ate some ice cream. wow, 12 hours = ♥
3. going to bed relatively early tonight and planning to have a productive and fun weekend!

so i wrote on my hand the word "biology" today because i wanted to remind myself that i wanted to blog about that tonight. buuuut now i've been reading the do-over novel "pretty little mistakes" for the second time and it gave me something else to think about. this book, btw, was a graduation present from my sister. i like it a lot and highly recommend it, if for nothing else than its entertainment value and its perspective about life. anyway, i've talked about death before but not how i want to talk about it tonight. it seems crazy to me how easily we can all die. like, so many things in this life can be straight-up lethal. but isn't it strange how many billions of people avoid death every day? what makes life the option some people get to take over death? it makes me even more supportive of the principle of survival of the fittest. granted, it's not as big of a deal now as it was back then, but it's still relevant. lifestyle choices, like overeating or not exercising or tanning, are not exactly conducive to surviving and passing on genes. but the thing is, lifestyle choices will usually keep someone alive long enough to reproduce, unlike getting killed by a velociraptor or something. anyway, i just think it's weird how death is so close at every moment and how it seems so random that some people die and some people don't--it's like flipping a coin. or so it seems...who can really know, though. i think i need to post funny stuff again soon...my posts are getting too heavy. suggestions? 

sinking

1. spent most of my day outside reading for classes tomorrow. it was beautifully sunny and lively and relaxing. 
2. missed america's next top model for a meeting--yeah, i'm pretty upset about it.
3. i am excited to register for fall classes! i have no direction that i need to go in really, it's all about the classes that i want to take. that's an exciting feeling.

it's pretty interesting to me that new moore island in the bay of bengal has completely disappeared. india and bangladesh had been fighting over possession of the uninhabited rock island for over 30 years. and now, the island has sunk underwater, thanks to global climate change. thanks, mother earth, for solving that political dilemma. it makes the global climate change phenomenon seem pretty real. i hate to think that one of my favorite cities on the planet is also going to sink--venice. i am in love with italy, and especially in love with venice. the deep mystery and history that characterizes the city is poignant, lonely, beautiful, and compelling all at once. and it's sinking. i encourage everyone to visit venice to experience what will no longer be possible to visit, perhaps in our lifetime. one day, new moore island was there, the next day...it was gone. so why do people not believe in atlantis? will people be questioning venice's existence hundreds of years from now? people just need to remember how to believe in things (please see posts on magic and fairies). also, i get really frustrated when people claim that "global warming" is all a sham because it's been a really cold winter. the correct term is global climate change, which i'm pretty sure this past winter proves is happening. that is a tangent, but i just want people to stop being ignorant and believe that humans are the reason that islands like new moore are sinking. accept it and make the appropriate lifestyle changes, or it will be too late (for us, and for venice).

"i need a soldier"

1. loooong day today. classes and meetings and papers, oh my!
2. FREE CONE DAY AT BEN & JERRY'S. 
3. spent my evening in a lovely way. 

i think there is a major difference between being anti-war and anti-military. i usually fall into the previous category and am often accused of being "anti-military" or "anti-soldiers" or something ignorant like that. i don't like war, but i am incredibly supportive of our troops. i have the utmost respect for the people who put their lives on the line day after day, year after year to support the goals of the higher ups in government. soldiers have accepted that they are not in a place to act out their personal feelings about policy; they accept the task at hand and carry it out. that kind of courage is admirable. while i have some (major) problems with the military institution, i am in no way anti-military or anti-soldiers. that is absurd. i support our troops and do what i can to show that support. when i see men and women in uniform, i thank them for their service and try to learn a little about their lives/missions. i've been told that a simple "thank you" means a lot, especially in a climate of an unpopular war. because of this, i have decided to write some letters to soldiers abroad and thank them for their service. you can too, if you want, using one of these websites...
http://www.letterstosoldiers.org/
http://www.anysoldier.com/

the bunny

1. today has not been one of those days where i see the beauty in life. but according to my resolution, i need to look for the beauty in every day, even the awful ones. 
2. i missed the bus, i have to pay a lot of money to get the girl's car fixed, i cut myself shaving, it rained and was cold, i have ZERO motivation to do any work...it was just a bad day. 
3. but tomorrow is free cone day at ben & jerry's and softball game day, so it will hopefully be better than today.

my energy is draining. school is starting to become really hard because i have a lot of free time, or so it seems, so i end up wasting time doing non-school things (like getting tanlines) and then have to do all my work at once. good work ethic? i think not. but i hope it's just a phase similar to my really high energy phase that lasted a few weeks. i'm starting to sound hypomanic in my description of my energy level patterns--this is not the case, i promise. but i really do just feel drained after today. i think it's because i had such an amazing weekend and now feel the pressure to get through tomorrow. man, i love college? most of the time. but it's also strange how being around certain people can make affect your energy level. that's all i'm going to say about that.

mmm, cake

1. lazy sunday. went to the baseball game, did homework, watched a movie. i feel repetitive, but i love being in 12 hours...and i love that it's springtime.
2. i'm counting down the weeks to summer! it will bring new, exciting things into my life. 
3. the revised health care bill passed the house tonight. which brings me to my topic for tonight (kind of)...ta da!

cake. everyone loves cake (actually, not everyone, but still). since everyone loves cake so much, we always want to have our cake and eat it too. not possible. repeat: not. possible. this is where the frustration factors in. you want the cake, to look at the cake, smell the cake...eat the cake. but then! you eat the cake...and it's gone. you can't eat it and still have it. sorry. wrong-o! not how it works. yes, semantics can factor into this argument, but let's be real: the point of the phrase is that one cannot simultaneously have one thing and have another contradictory thing. so as this relates to health care, people want full-coverage and for their problems to all be magically solved...but no one wants to pay for it or for government to interfere. see what i mean? why can't people understand that YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH?! yes, i am guilty of this crime of being blissfully ignorant to life's realities and murphy's law, but i am slowly learning that this cake rule applies to life almost all the time. some people think it will also apply to personal life, like, one can have a significant other, but still flirt like one is single. it may work for awhile, but eventually it will all catch up and blow up in one's face. or so i like to think this is true...anyway. it all comes back to the cake: you can't want one thing for yourself, like being single, but then not want the person you are interested in to remain off the market. that's just not fair. i have a lot to say on this topic, as you can tell, but i think i have summed it up pretty well for now. cake rule.

my bucket list item for this week is especially fitting: bake a big cake, like a wedding cake but just for me and whomever happens to be in my life at the time i decide to bake it.

tanlines

1. i did nothing today. aka i laid out in the sun all day, (sort of) watched the baseball game, and got some tanlines. yay, sunshine. 
2. i went to a good dinner and then got ice cream. deeeeelicious. 
3. blogging is hard on the weekends.

not much to say again tonight. except i love spring! today was the first day of spring...which makes me so happy. the sunshine was live-giving today. and tomorrow will be nice weather again, and hopefully next week too! so yeah basically, i'm just happy about the weather and happy that it's spring. i love spring; it's possibly my favorite season. but i like summer too...

nm, u?

1. best afternoon ever: lunch with a friend, hours in the sunny, beautiful quad with friends in a new dress, great dinner. 
2. then, got in my first car wreck ever. long story, but i basically reversed into a girl's car. not that much damage, but still scary as all get out. 
3. then a good night, really fun night, followed by some minor drama...can't wait to sleep.

i don't have anything to post about tonight? does that mean that my new year's resolution was a failure? i don't think so. i said that i could post about whatever i wanted, and tonight, i honestly am at a loss for words in describing how i feel.

medicating the masses

1. had three classes today, and my weekend started at 4:45. baller! 
2. had a delicious and fun (!) dinner with my grad student friend. good times. that's all i can really say about that. 
3. i had a great night. except for that one part involving a ping pong ball and an oreo... 

so my subject line may be telling...but i am pissed off about overmedication. i think it is way to shove drugs at someone to attempt to solve problems. this issue is really personal for me in more ways than one, but in general i think it is a huge issue for western society today. what happened to just letting a headache be a headache? what happened to just letting a cold run its course? sure, the argument of "why feel pain if there is a medicine to remove pain?" is legitimate, and in some cases completely understandable. but pain is the body's way of alerting us to the fact that something isn't right and needs to be fixed. it's a built-in warning system--why mess with that? it means you're stressed or have been staring at a computer for too long or aren't getting enough sleep or aren't eating right. so...change whatever is off and make it better. but drugs mess this process up--they mask the pain, thus masking the body's natural response and inhibiting the proper action from being taken. i also look at this from an emotional standpoint. it's like feeling hurt/angry/sad/stressed and doing something maladaptive to mask that feeling. the actual problem doesn't get fixed at all, just the symptoms are taken care of. but that's not getting at the root of what is actually wrong. so by merely treating the pain and ignoring the cause, no progress or growth can be made; then how are people to grow as individuals? overmedication really bothers me. i wish i could say more right now, but i'm feeling a block building up inside my head--writer's block, i guess it's called.

"why couldn't it be follow the butterflies?"

1. no class today, but still a super busy day. 
2. the weather was b-e-a-utiful. it made me so happy.
3. three classes tomorrow, then the weekend! i have exciting plans.

i believe in fairies. i have posted about magic, greek mythology, being superstitious, and now i'm posting about fairies. my friend found out that i believe in fairies and was...incredulous. he shook his head and changed the subject. but really, i'm just the girl who never stopped believing in fairies and goblins and spirits and all sorts of magical creatures. i can't really explain this without sounding slightly mental, but i've already admitted that i retain a belief in magical creatures--how much worse can it get? so yes, i believe mainly in fairies and goblins, and the power of magic and its influence on life. there isn't that much more to say about it, other than think about it this post next time you lose something and have no explanation for the place it ended up, or the next time you find a flower blooming in the dead of winter.

step one

1. first classes since spring break ended--pretty depressing but still classes that i enjoy, so they weren't all bad.
2. played my first of several intramural softball games today! it was pretty fun, but still rather embarrassing at times. the plan is for me and my friend to start a kickball team, so that should be much more fun!
3. so busy all day tomorrow--volunteering from 10:30-4:30, meeting from 4:30-5:30, another meeting from 6-7:30. yeesh!

so i said that tonight i would get serious and talk about psychopathology. but i want to take this a different way and talk about stress management. i have become stressed as of...today...about a few things in my life. while i am still enjoying every minute, it's not like i don't have bad days or stressful times in my life. just because i'm overall really happy right now doesn't mean i don't also get sad/upset/stressed. but i just read this cool article about chinese medicine tactics for falling asleep. but it made me think about how i am dealing with the personal stress i am feeling right now (and will probably stick with me for awhile). i think that blogging helps, though i can't be really explicit with describing my problems. that is why i need to start a for real journal that only i have access to. but anyway, writing helps me get out any lingering thoughts from my day and see how they look on paper, as well as go back and read those thoughts later. but what is most pertinent for me is how to manage my career goals and my personal life. i want to help people, but am afraid i will feel too much and won't know how to separate myself from my work. also, i need to figure out how to not think about stressful decisions that are not facing me right now. i should stop thinking about may and the changes it will bring, graduation and graduate school, and writing a dissertation and getting a job. like really, what the heck is wrong with me that i'm worrying about things so far away? okay, may isn't that far away, but i still can't let the thought of may coming mess with my mind right now. i need to compartmentalize my life--something i have always been horrible at doing. i'm very organized and structured, but it is hard for me to compartmentalize my thoughts and my life into manageable segments. i have always been jealous of the male mind for this reason: they can shut out or allow in thoughts at will. how can one just...stop thinking? i would be terrible at meditation. and the lady from eat, pray, love was convinced she would be terrible at it too, but eventually became proficient. hmm, maybe there is hope. so this has been a bit rambling, but i am starting to take that as meaning it was inspired.
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/24717/sleep-solutions-from-chinese-masters/

realization

1. got back into the swing of things--kinda. didn't have class but had some meetings and lots of homework (that i am still not finished with...)
2. i had an appointment today about study abroad next spring! i have italy fever--i want to live there and eat there and drink there and study there and...be there, simply be. 
3. signed up for a coed intramural softball team (ha!) and am going to start a coed intramural kickball team with my friend. any takers? 

everything is starting to fall into place. i'm finding a place to live this summer, talking more about plans for this fall/next spring, focusing on my post-college plans, and enjoying every minute of every day, even if it's stressful or gloomy. i just hope that things continue to work out, and if they don't that i can find ways around the obstacles and fix the mistakes and accept the challenges. i feel like i'm starting to have boring blog posts because they are all about how happy i am and how much i love life. i promise, tomorrow i will blog about something important to me. i'm thinking...developmental psychopathology. cheers!

geaux tigers!

1. drove back to school today. i'll miss home, but will be back again for easter. 
2. the weather at school is beautiful! warm and sunny and blue sky, with blooming flowers and trees.
3. i'm excited all over again to only be in 12 hours this semester.

i knew that 2010 would be my year. it is the year of the tiger and a lot of my forecast for 2010 has been spot on (i'm the year of the horse). just look at this...

The Horse

Fun, charming and attractive sums up the Horse’s traits perfectly. They love parties and crowds and being the center of attention. They can also be egotistical, hotheaded and impatient. The Horse is a considerate and protective friend and partner and when in his company, there will always be excitement around the next corner.
Forecast for 2010
The Year of the Tiger will be an exciting and lively year for the Horse. On the home and family front, there may be some changes with family members moving in, moving out or relocating to another location altogether. On the social front, the Horse will be in much demand with invitations to parties and gatherings increasing as the year moves on. Health wise, with such a busy year and added pressures, the Horse must ensure that he looks after his diet and gets adequate rest. Otherwise, irritability and heated arguments could arise unnecessarily. Those born under this sign will do exceptionally well career-wise this year. However, they must follow up leads and career openings with vigor in order to take advantage of the fast paced energy of the Tiger year. A word of caution for the Horse – they need to keep a careful eye on their finances as overspending could happen very easily. August through September will bring fantastic opportunities for those looking for love. March through May will be lucky for changing jobs or careers while November and December will bring fun and lively social gatherings.
Interesting Horse Facts:
Zodiac Stone: Golden Topaz
Special Flower: Rose
Best Hours: 11am-1pm
Season: Summer
Horoscope Colors: Orange, White, Yellow

a lot of these things have already happened! my uncle just relocated houses and moved out of the one on our property at home. career opportunities...well my summer is shaping up to be awesome for my career but i'll have to remember to be on the ball at all times. overspending will be more of a hazard for me this year too considering i won't have a "summer job" and will be wanting to travel over fall break...and study abroad in the spring (the year runs from 2.14.10-2.2.11). and socially, it has already been pretty exciting! my life is just on fire right now and i hope a lot that it continues (it sounds like it will)! yes, i put some faith in horoscopes. couldn't you have figured that one out by reading my post about superstition? anyway, i just found all this stuff online and it made me pretty excited!

so my bucket list item for tonight: throw a baby shower and bachelorette party for someone!

long day.

1. i have had the longest day ever. dealing with the car wreck and the emotions following that, then getting breakfast with friends and my sister coming over. on top of all that, it's the last day of spring break and i haven't done that much work. oh well...
2. went to a delicious dinner with my parents and sister and had a wonderful time. i love my family, end of story. 
3. i have to pack...at some point...and head back to school tomorrow. i'm ready to go back, but at the same time, i'm not ready at all.

so i said i would talk about new beginnings, organization, well-being, and perspective. i spent all day thursday moving my uncle into his new house, like i previously mentioned, and it made me think a lot about the relationships between organization and well-being. i spent all day cleaning and unpacking and organizing and making a house feel like a home. that did wonders for how i felt about my own abilities to do things for others, but it also helped jump start a new life for my uncle. like i've said before, i love my family more than anything and to be able to give back and make life better for someone i love...that's priceless. but after last night i have a bit more to say about perspective than i do about the other three topics. see, this happens sometimes: i plan to blog about some predetermined topic and something comes along and just completely changes what i want to talk about. c'est la vie, oui? anyway, perspective is something that has always made me think...a lot. hindsight is 20/20 and if we only knew then what we now, things would be a lot different, right? maybe. or would everything just...be the same anyway? it's very butterfly effect and counterfactual argument but it's fascinating to think about. one second can make all the difference...or can it? it's so weird to think about because we can never really know what life would be like if we had made different decisions. and i've talked about this before, but after last night it is 10x more relevant. i keep wondering "what if" but i am forced to remember that if one thing had been different, the evening could have played out very differently, or exactly the same. but to tie the two events together (all day cleaning and car wreck), they both showed me that perspective is everything. a new life can begin with simply a new way of looking at the boxes; and events can change how i view life and people in my life. 'tis a strange, yet beautiful, life, eh?

driving in cars

1. slept so late today, it felt really good to be lazy. 
2. did some homework, relaxed some, had a lovely evening...
3. until i got a terrifying phone call...

so the post i promised last night is not happening tonight. i am exhausted and recovering from an extremely stressful end to my evening/start to my day. car wrecks=not fun. that's all i really have to say. no, i was not in the car wreck, but my guest for the evening was. he is fine, but shaken up. it just all brings me back to timing and "what if?" questions. i know that way of thinking isn't productive, though, so i'm trying to avoid it. anyway, the post i talked about last night will be written tomorrow. for tonight, i'm just grateful that everyone is safe.

organizing life

1. cleaned/organized/moved my uncle into his new house for 9 hours straight today. i am a cleaning goddess. and am now in the order of st. yaya. 
2. that's pretty much all i did today. oh, i watched the season premier of america's next top model. 
3. seeing friends tonight. yay!

i have a lot to say, but i'm not sure how to word it yet. and i'm also in a hurry to leave. so i may save this post for tomorrow because i have all day to do nothing (except homework and sleep in). and i want to sleep on this some (actually, i just want to sleep a lot) and figure out all the thoughts in my head right now. so i'll get back to this tomorrow night. but it will be about...new beginnings, organization, well-being, and perspective. giggity.

not much, you?

1. went snowboarding again today.
2. went to a yummy (but slightly dangerous) indian restaurant for dinner.
3. went to a beautiful overlook of the city outside my hometown at night.

not much to say tonight. but how about you? i recommend that everyone say what they want to say to whomever they want to say it. life is short (so short, so short) and things need to be said. so if you are reading this blog and feeling something you haven't verbalized, for whatever reason, take tomorrow to do just that.

reading

1. had a looong day of traveling yesterday. finally got in to the apartment at 12:30 last night and passed out. for a night of real sleep!
2. drove back home today and did a happy jig and yelled "home, sweet home" when i got in the driveway. ran around my house and giggled and played with my kitty and smiled a lot.
3. had delicious home-cooked food tonight--it was my uncle's birthday! and that meant red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. mmmmm...

i love to read! books are my escape. my mom read to me in the womb and i've been addicted ever since. my favorite books when i was little were "are you my mother?" "goodnight moon" "the very hungry caterpillar" "six by seuss" and lots of fairy tales, legends, and poetry. i started to love fantasy and historical fiction almost from the beginning; our bookshelves at home are filled with every imaginable title in these genres. my parents both love to read, as does my sister, and we all just read books on the weekends or at night; rarely did we have game night or movie night. and i thank books for my creativity, verbal intelligence, and imagination. my imagination...that needs to be tomorrow night's post. anyway, i love to read, even now. probably even more now, actually, since college definitely restricts my leisurely reading time. yet another reason i want to live alone: so i can read all summer, every evening and every weekend. books opened my eyes to so many new worlds and possibilities. i started to live lives that i knew weren't possible to live: as a princess, a witch, a badger, a tree, the roles are endless. and living those lives enabled me to imagine any life for myself. books strengthened my independence and gave me the freedom to picture myself doing anything. are you getting a sense as to why i love fantasy books? but historical fiction, such a different story (pun intended? yes.) because the books are framed around historical events, but fictionalized and woven to make for a fascinating story that actually could have happened (who really know, right?). it's like living in the past, which is something i can never do, but have always wanted to do. on that note, i'm going to search for new historical fiction books that i can read this summer. yay! and maybe find a new fantasy series for this summer too...

it's early

1. so it's really early in the morning here in boulder, well, like, 10:29, but i have to blog right now because i'll be traveling all day and don't have access to a computer.
2. i'm sad my break is ending but i'm excited to go home!
3. i hope all my flights go well...and that i land safely and on time later tonight...

so i don't have much to say right now since i just woke up. and i've already blogged about sleep. but that's okay. i guess i can talk about new experiences. this trip, like i said a few days ago, has given me several new experiences. i flew all by myself and that was exciting/nerve wracking. any mistake i made was on my shoulders, but it also made me feel really grown up. colorado is the farthest west i've been in the continental united states (except the LAX airport for, like, an hour). it is beautiful in such a different way than the beauty i'm used to at home. and snowboarding out west has been incredible! i can't wait to come back and hit all these slopes. i'm so jealous that my friends live out here and get to do this every weekend from october-june (for a-basin, anyway). and i met so many new people and they all have such a different vibe than most other people i've met in my life. but i liked hanging out with different people and getting to experience life through boulder's eyes. as my mom told me, i have a "rocky mountain high." and now i'm about to come down from that high, but i'll remember it and i'll revisit it throughout my life. this is what i hiked yesterday...