Hermit

I just saw the movie Stop-Loss. It was so good. It was heavy and sad, but so good. I think Tim Cogshell of Box Office Magazine put it well when he said, "The film manages to walk a line that is not antiwar in the main, but is distinctly pro-soldier, and thus takes pains to speak to the plight of the American serviceperson." Ol' Timmy, he always knows what's what.

I think it's interesting hermit is winning in my poll. I guess I have some loner friends. I, for one, chose to be an owl. Then I could fly, people. Fly I'm feeling kind of like a hermit right now though. I'm sitting in my room on a Saturday night. I can hear a party going on next door. As we were returning home from the aforementioned movie, we saw some girls leaving in high heels and little else. Their night was just begining while mine is in the process of ending.


[I have a confession. I don't actually hear a party going on next door, I just thought that would add dramatic effect. Sometimes I do hear parties though. And I little while ago I heard a person talking loudly, if that counts for anything.]

Achoo

I'm feeling a bit under the weather. This is unfortunate because I'm supposed to go camping tonight with my Backpacking class. I honestly don't see that happening. It was hard enough sleeping last night in my bed, I can't imagine sleeping in a tent like this. Ug. Bleh. Achoo. So right now I'm drinking hot tea and watching Chicago. (Pop Six Squish Uh-uh Cicero Lipschitz . . . that's the song on right now)

Dang. Being sick is annoying. I want to just go to sleep and wake up when I'm better.

I want to do this or this maybe.

edit:
fyi: the words "this" and "this" are links.

A Diversion

I'm at Common Grounds.  It's really loud and hoppin here.  And Robin Hood is playing on mute in the next room.  I'm kind of studying for my Mythology test on Thursday.  Thursday is so far away.  Here's a picture of me taken right before I wrote this sentence, making a Jim face.

That's how much studying I'm getting done; I'm taking pictures of myself on my Photo Booth.    I'm really ok with it though. I'm not too concerned about the test, whether I should be or not. I'm usually not that concerned about tests, and that has worked so far. I think what messes people up is when they get too stressed about things and psych themselves out. Also, not studying would mess people up.  


Photo Booth is a handy tool.  If ever I am studying somewhere, and see someone attractive of the opposite gender and want a quick mirror check, I just take a peak at Photo Booth.  I don't do it a lot, don't worry, I'm not that obsessed with myself.

My bike is fixed finally! I don't know if you knew it was broken. Miles sat in my backyard all last semester and half of this semester and so he was all rusty and icky.  I took him to the bike doctor (aka Waco's Bicycle's Outback) and now he's ready for the road.  The weather was ready for him too--today was beautiful.  I enjoy Miles.  I've missed him.

The battery of my laptop is slowly draining away so I'll get back to studying.

Easter

So I'm back on Facebook and I'm back on meat.  I'm a little more normal.  I had Babe's chicken tonight at Echo and it was sooo good.  Mm mm.  As was the creamed corn.  I still want to eat less meat though, than I did before.  I can think of more reasons to not eat meat than to eat it and  I would rather err on the side of not eating meat than eating meat.  If nothing else, I tend to eat healthier in general when I'm not eating meat.  So why not become a full-fledged vegetarian?  Perhaps I will someday.  I just don't really feel like it right now.  Truth be told I just don't want to be accused of copying my vegetarian  roommates, Tins and Rach.   It's a lame reason, but whatever.


And it's Easter today.  I hope you had a happy one.  Mine mainly consisted of eating and sitting around, which is happy.  I'm doing the later right now, with my friends from Sunnydale.  We've spent a lot of time together this weekend.  Don't worry, I have actual friends that I spent time with too.   Chances are if you're reading this you're, one of them. 

Old Friends

I caught up with some old friends tonight.  My old gang from Sunnydale--Buffy, Xander, Willow, Dawn, the usual.  They're doing well, still saving the world.  Buffy still impresses me--how she can do all those high kicks and acrobatics in tight leather pants.  Remember when I was Buffy?



The was me right before I threw my stake straight into a vamp's heart.  Good times.

Don't judge me.

I'm home for Easter.  I took a bath tonight too; I haven't done that in a while. It was nice.  The key ingredient to a bath is water.  Without it, you would just be lying naked in a large porcelein bowl.  That's awkward.  I had a similar thought when I was on a boat last week.  Not about being naked, but how the key ingredient to boating is water.  Without it,  we would have been flying.  I used to think that when I was little, while I was swimming in my pool.  I'd imagine all the water underneath me was air and I was flying.

I think that's my cue to go to bed.

Conundrum

I've noticed something this semester.  Everyday after class I come back to my apartment, fling my backpack aside, slump down on the couch, and don't know what to do with myself.  It's like--I've been looking forward to this moment all day, this moment when class is over, and once is comes upon me, I don't know what to do with it. I haven't looked past that moment.  I'm going through that right now.  I got out of class at five and came home to an empty apartment. I don't even know what I've been doing with myself this past hour, but nothing of note.  I've been going since eight this morning and it feels very uncomfortable to just stop.  But my brain and body are tired, so I don't want to start anything, so I'm just left feeling unsatisfied whatever I do or don't do.  I think this is called boredom.


I picked up my guitar in an attempt to expel some creative energy.  I'm wanting to write songs.  I've written one that I'm not particularly proud of, and so I'm not really encouraged to write more that I will also not be proud of.  But I'm getting bored of just learning other people's song.  Conundrum. Any advice?  (I can't think the word "conundrum" without thinking of Natalie Portman.)

Let's say something positive, Laura.  I don't have class this Friday or next Monday.  Holla.  Another positive thing--I've discovered the joy of sleeping in the middle of my bed.  I have a double bed, shared by no one, but I would still just sleep on one side of it.  It's like I was waiting for someone to come home and occupy the second half of the bed.  That's just silly.  So last night, I slept in the middle and could stretch out and roll around every which way.  It was freeing.

Here's something else freeing.


Rach and I learned how to fly last week. 

And sorry if this crosses some sort of TMI line, but I really enjoy not wearing pants.  In my apartment, not on the street.

I am Woman; hear me Roar


I finished The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan yesterday. I read it for my Women in American Society Class and I have a book report over it due Wednesday. It was a really enlightening book. I only have the intro paragraph of my paper written, but I'll quote myself and say, "Reading the book was not only an interesting lesson in the history of American culture, but also was helpful to read as a woman myself."

Without going all into it, I'll just tell you one of the biggest things I took from the book. My future makes me kind of anxious. Like, I don't know what my life will be after graduation--Grad school? If so, studying what? Peace Corps? Teach ForAmerica? Working? Some sort of other crazy adventure? The uncertainty is kind of scary. But Ms. Friedan encouraged me that such anxiety shouldn't be run away from. That's what most women did in mid 20th century (the book was published in the early 60s). Following their interests and passions--whether it be in art, business, writing, medicine--meant much risk and uncertainty, and it was much easier and safer to just retreat back into a home and tend to clean floors and healthy children.   


"Anxiety occurs at the point where some emerging potentiality or possibility faces the individual, some possibility of fulfilling his existence, but this very possibility involves the destroying of present security, which thereupon gives rise to the tendency to deny the new potentiality."
So I've decided to embrace my anxiety and my uncertain future.  I get to have an uncertain future.  I don't have to just have babies.  Nothing against babies, I love babies,  babies are precious, but there is so much more I want to do with my life.  I want a life.  And I get to do what I want.  I have a future to be anxious about.

Roar.

Here I Am Again

I'm back in my bedroom in Waco, about to go to church. It has been a really good week. I'm rather sunburned at the moment, but it is worth it. It feels like more than a week has gone by since I was last in class, it feels like it has been a month. I've done so much. I helped my mom with the shower, I went to Oklahoma, I played guitar in public for the first time, I went to the beach, Rob and Caroline are now engaged, and now here I am, back at one of my homes. Good times. And I'm so excited to have Caroline as part of my family. I wish I could have been there. And next weekend I'll be home again and so can see the ring and hear the story. And, you know, celebrate Jesus' love for all of humanity.

And that is Rachael, Linh, and myself in front of the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.

Initiating Phase Two

I'm about to begin phase two of my Spring Break. Today some of my friends and myself are roadtripping down to Port Aransas for a couple days of fun in the sun. Even though tomorrow there isn't supposed to be much sun, the rest of the days are supposed to be beautiful. And even though our condo will have free wifi, I'm not bringing my computer, so you probably won't be hearing from me these next couple of days. Of course, I'll have my phone so if you need me, you can call me.

Buon viaggio! (that's me wishing myself a good journey in Italian)

A Getaway

Today I had an adventure. Will, Bailey, Amanda, and myself roadtripped to the Arbuckle Mountains region of southern Oklahoma for a day away. We ate a grand American feast at a little roadside diner,

got slobbered on by camels and llamas,

got into some trouble with the law,

and saw some beautiful waterfalls.


I deem it a successful getaway.
(That last picture is little and faraway. You can click on it to blow it up. I look disheveled because I had to run from where the camera was on a stump to my position in the photo in ten seconds. Just so you know.)

An Idea

I'm sitting at my home in good ol' Colleyville, TX (uh oh, you know where I live now. But I guess I've mentioned Waco many times and am still alive. I'll be ok). It's the long anticipated break of Spring, even though it's not Spring yet, we'll let that slide (am I supposed to capitalize seasons? I'm never sure). Today is the long awaited shower of the weddings, which sounds dangerous. I just imagine wedding presents pouring down from the sky--you need to watch your eyes for those box corners.

I have this grand dream of finishing Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique this week, which I have to write a book report for next Wednesday. I never read as much on breaks as I plan to, though. I also would rather watch a movie or sit around with friends or sleep. Those are all valid pursuits on the break of spring, I think. But I have two hundred more pages I must read. We'll see how that goes.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I really like volunteering at World Hunger Farm. Yesterday I sorted and cleaned lettuce and other miscellaneous produce. Because of the rain and snow, the vegetables that had been harvested were really muddy. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, and it wasn't really exciting, but I enjoyed it. I guess because it's just so different from my normal day acitivities. And to see food come from the ground to my plate is really neat. I think if my plans don't work out this summer, if I don't get an internship, then I want to be a live-in volunteer there. Live-ins live there (obviously) in exchange for 20 hours of work per week. I think how it works is that they work on the farm until about lunch time and then have the rest of the time free. And weekends are free as well, unless you have weekend duty. I would learn lots of cool stuff--like how to milk goats and about vegetables and chickens and rabbits and cooking and living off the land.

So that's an idea.

CG

So I know I already wrote today, but I'm here again. Consider it making up for lost time; I haven't written a lot in the past few weeks. And I haven't had a "I'm sitting at Common Grounds" post in awhile, and I figured it was about time. So . .

I'm sitting here at Common Grounds, enjoying a mug of hot Vanilla Almond tea, seasoned with milk and honey. It feels perfect for a day like today. Its rainy and cold and a bit dreadful, depending on your frame of reference. If your frame of reference is the inside of a cozy coffee shop with a cup of tea at your side, then it's not dreadful at all. Astronomy was rather pointless this morning. The professor wasn't there, and instead the TA lectured on the topic of his choice, which was the history of rockets. Meanwhile, I practiced writing, and then doodling, with my left hand. It was enthralling, to say the least.

It's also fun being here because I always run into people. The coffee shop is right off Baylor campus and so us Baylor students are its predominant customers. There are always people here studying or chatting or having DTRs; every once and awhile you'll find someone napping.

I've been recently listening to a lot of Fiona Apple. She's good angry, empowering girl music. Not that I'm an angry girl, but sometimes I pretend to be.

Ok, I'll for real study or something now.

Disappointment

I have a headache. I've had it since I woke up this morning. My first thought today was "Ouch, my head hurts." That does not bode well for the rest of my day.

Last night, Baylor played A&M in Men's Basketball here in Waco. It was quite the event. Everybody went. I thought about going, but the only reason I considered going was because everyone else was, so for that reason, I refused to go. So Linh and I decided to be countercultural and went to see a movie instead, "The Other Boleyn Girl." The movie did not impress me, but apparently the game wasn't very impressive either. We lost. So last night all Baylor students were disappointed. Linh and I because of the movie, and the rest of us on the outcome of the game.

I just remembered Lost is tonight. My day is looking up.

I had two tests yesterday. One was Political Science which was fine, and the other was Backpacking which took ten minutes. Now I'm just biding time until Spring Break. Well I do have a midterm paper for my Yoga class. It's supposed to be 232 words, which is about a paragraph, basically. I asked why 232 words, and not 230 or 250 or some pretty round number, and he said there was a reason, but he wouldn't tell us. I bet there is no reason.

Burn

Spring Break is next week. Can you believe it? Me neither. Next thing you know tomorrow I'll be graduating.

I'm usually in my 3D Design class right now, but instead I'm at the SUB (student union building) writing to you. Class was canceled. I skipped said class last Friday, so I hung around the sculpture room anyway and caught up. My professor is going to think I'm awesome. I burned my finger though. We're starting a new project that involves torches and metal rods, and I kept picking up my metal rods where I had just torched it. My left pointer finger is really mad at me right now. It kind of hurts to type. But I type on because that is how much I love you guys. I'm actually starting to like this class as well. It used to just be a hastle, but I like working with my hands,I'm finding. Even when I torch them.

I'll go read about feminism now.