I just had a pleasant walk home from class/lunch. Sometime in between getting out of class and eating lunch it started to pour down rain. I had ridden my bike to class, but brought my umbrella along in case this happened. So I left my bike locked up in front Carrol Science and started to walk back to my apartment. Actually, it wasn't pouring, just regular raining, until I got to about Moody Library. Then it really started coming down. I pulled my umbrella down as close to my head as I could manage; I'm wearing a light blue tshirt and realized how transperant it would be when wet. I gave up on trying to keep my pants dry, and they were sloshing around my ankles. By the time I got to the SLC, I had almost fallen a couple times because my sandals were slippery, and so I just decided to take them off. At first I thought, "People are going to think I'm weird--walking around without shoes. They're going to think I'm hippie, or worse, that I'm trying to be a hippie." But then I thought, "So?" and did it anyway (more on that later). So I walked the rest of the way shoeless, not even trying to avoid the big puddles anymore. Fifteen minutes after I started, I got back to my apartment. My pants were drenched to about my thigh, and so I changed into dry capris and here I am.

It's was a nice walk.

Yesterday I read an article in The Oprah Magazine called "The Cure for Self-Conscious: It's one word--one little word--but it has revelatory power." Obviously this intrigued me. Aren't you intriqued? Wanna know the word? Don't you want to be freed from self-consciousnees? Empowered to follow your instincts and not care what people think? It's something "so lucid, so mind expanding, so simultaneously Socratic and Zenlike, that I was mesmorized on the spot."
So?
That's it.
So?

"If I say what I really think, people might disagree with me."
So?

"If I go out to eat lunch by myself I might look like a loser."
So?

"If I can't run on the treadmill as long as the person next to me, they are going to think I'm out of shape and think they are better than me."
So?

"If I go talk to that cute boy I don't know, he might think I'm weird."
So?

"If my house is slightly messy when I have people over, they're going to realize that I'm not perfect, that I am slightly human and slightly busy."
So?

"If I walk home in the rain holding my shoes in my hand rather than wearing them on my feet, people might think I'm a hippie, or worse, that I'm trying to be a hippie."
So?

There. Now you're freed.

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While I'm being all empower-y, let me share with you this quote I ran across.
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
You should paint that on a piece of wood all prettily. I bet it'd sell.