25 April 2008
wistful
This warm Friday afternoon makes me think of breezy white skirts, sitting on a creaky old porch in a lounge chair, cold iced lemonade with ice cubes clinking against the glass, the direct sun a bit too hot for comfort but the shade being blissful for reading and thinking and dozing off. I think of my mother's perfume hanging in the air, feet lined with dirt, of the smell of sunscreen, careless thoughts about boats and peanut butter sandwiches, of the comfort of feeling like time has stopped, that your parents will never grow old, that the afternoon warmth will be endless.
18 April 2008
thrills
So finally I can talk about the future with certainty! Three great things:
1) I've got a great schedule for the fall (as long as I get into everything, which shouldn't be a problem).
So excited!
2) Hall draw was this week, and even though my number was average (100 out of 200) I managed to get a room on the 2nd floor of Browning, on the same floor as all my friends. The room is pretty large, the window looks over a courtyard, and it has a walk-in closet and a sink. Browning is the most popular dorm because its both gorgeous and close to everything.
So excited!
3) I got the internship! I'll be interning for the Mono Lake Committee which is a non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and educate people about Mono Lake. There'll be four other summer interns and we'll be doing lots of things: working in the office, working in the visitors center/bookstore, and working "in the field" guiding interpretive canoe tours. Mono Lake is in the Sierra Nevadas in north-central California, and is fifteen minutes from our cabin, so I'll be living at the cabin all summer and working full-time at the MLC... AND it's paid! I'm also thinking that if I get really into the water history and politics (LA has been stealing water from up there for decades) I can write my senior thesis on the politics of water in California.
SOOOOO EXCITED.
Okay, I'm going to go revel now. Unfortunately I have a big presentation to prepare for Monday that's going to be a bitch to do this weekend... but hopefully it won't dampen my mood too much. Plus, it's in the 70s and gorgeous all the time now. I swam a mile today and my hair is clean and soft and beautiful and I just had a delicious iced coffee. Life is fantastic.
14 April 2008
formosaoolong
It has been above 90 degrees here for the last three days which is not pleasant until 6pm, when it honestly feels like heaven on earth. The feeling of being wrapped in cashmere, with soft light filtering through the trees, is unimaginable. The flowers also smell gorgeous... just walking around campus you inhale the scent of orange blossoms and jasmine.
I feel itchy all over, and I think it's just because I need to shower. I'm going swimming after I write this, and being in the water will feel beautiful. The itchiness may in fact be somewhat psychologically bug-related, though. I leave my window open in the evenings now, but my screen isn't 100% screened so little bugs occasionally make their way in. They stay near the light and disappear the next day and I'm not bothered, but I do start scratching my skin more than normal when I'm aware of little creatures in the room. There is also a moth wrapped up in my curtains; he's been hanging out there all day. I like to think my room is a nice place to be.
I can't believe it's mid-April. Four weeks and sooo much to do. Papers, presentations, final exams... gah. I produced a pretty good paper this morning after starting it only at 8pm last night. Why I think that's a good idea, I don't know... but I do know that I hardly write well unless under pressure. It feels so good to have a weighty stapled packet of paper in your palm, you know? Like, I made this.
On Saturday I went sake bombing with Eva and Alexis and a big group of people I don't know that well. It was really fun and we all got a bit drunk and got to know everyone a bit better, and then afterwards we all went to a dance at Pomona and throbbed our hearts out.
I've been swimming for two weeks, and in that time I've increased the number of meters I'm swimming at a time from 800m to 1350m. (Considering it took me three months last summer to get to swimming 2000m, this is fabulous). I never feel more natural than when I'm in water. My body in the pool is like a car on a freeway... you know it just loves it. My next purchase is definitely a waterproof iPod shuffle. How amazing it will be when I can listen to music in the water!
06 April 2008
notizen