20 January 2009
dance
I cut my hair. Again. The shorter it gets, the less tolerant I become of it getting longer. In this photo it needs to be washed, so it looks slicker and flatter than normal (my sister said "you kinda look like you're on Star Trek or something"), and you can't see the layers at all but trust me, they are there. This morning I woke up and despite being day two and a half or whatever, the hair near the back of my head was higher up in the air than it was yesterday. I did not know that volume can come and go based on your hairstyle. Anyway, I'm pretty enamored with having hair this short, and think I'm going to stick with it for a while.
In other news, I am back at school and quite content. I'm taking two actual classes (Intro to Comparative Politics, and Water In The West) in addition to thesis, since I predict thesis will soon equal 1.5 classes (if not 2) so I'd rather leave some breathing room than have perpetual panic attacks in two months. It is also 75 degrees and sunny, and it is January. The coffee in the dining hall (yes, the machine stuff) is divine. And my cute boys are all back and still cute. And Barack Obama is finally President. So yeah, life is good.
16 January 2009
lovesong
I just had one of the best trips of my life! On Wednesday night I arrived home after the second of two twelve-hour car journeys with two wonderful people, Tyler and Nicole. Old friends from Colorado College, I met Nicole and Tyler on our freshman orientation backpacking trip in August 2005 and we became a trio. Shortly after, Nicole and I figured out that we really didn't like CC and she withdrew immediately and took the year off, while I stayed through the semester and transferred out in December. We all stayed somewhat in touch, either with emails or facebook wall posts, and the occasional phone call. I visited Tyler in Chicago in February 2006, and he had a layover at LAX on his way home to Texas from China in August 2006, so we met up for a few days of fun in LA before I started my college adventure at Scripps. But it has been three years since the three of us were together, and after Nicole and I spontaneously decided to hang out this break for a few days, Tyler found out and asked to come too, and our little trip ballooned into an epic adventure to Northern California. We decided to go wine tasting (? why I don't know... Tyler suggested it) in Napa and Sonoma, and spend a day in San Francisco. We stayed in this fun eco-friendly sustainable hotel called the Gaia Hotel, which was fine for what it was - a bed - and I found a great deal online. We kind of went with the flow... vague plans with much room for flexibility. We met some awesome people, tasted some great wines, learned a lot, caught up on the last three years, enjoyed one last collective escape before we all return to our respective colleges, and had so much fun. As Nicole said, you know its a good trip when the day you go home feels weeks away from the day you arrived.
If this link works, you can see pictures here.
This winter break felt the most genuine and complete of the four I've had in college. I had the perfect amount of time at home in Arizona and away on trips (skiing with the fam in Colorado, being in the Bay Area), as well as a balanced amount of time being with other people and being solitary. I hung out with my sister and brother enough to feel like we were siblings again - we hadn't been all together since May. My family as whole had some much-needed alone time since we spent Christmas without any relatives for the first time in a while. I saw many of my old high school friends and saw a movie with a friend from Claremont who lives in Scottsdale. I was able to read (and maybe finish) a couple of books (Widow For A Year, Are Men Necessary?, The Abstinence Teacher, The Northern Clemency (still working on this one), as well as a billion others I want to read. I saw some (mostly) great movies: Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk and Valkyrie. I didn't cook much but early this month I suddenly had the desire for soup, so I threw together a delicious and easy chicken & tomato soup/stew that I made four times in two weeks. I took a month break from weight lifting since Eva and I do it together at school and I didn't want to get ahead in the six-month program we're doing called New Rules of Lifting For Women, but I stayed relatively active. I did this terrible conditioning exercise called the body matrix outside on the grass every other day, and I went to the gym a handful of times to do interval training. I also set myself an ethereal Push Up Challenge where I tried to double the amount of full push ups I could do in four weeks... I almost succeeded (started at 10, ended at 17). All in all, it was a great break. I feel refreshed, and I'm ready to write a thesis and graduate from college. I'm excited for these last four months, since endings tend to encourage interesting and unexpected opportunities. Most of my close friends have now graduated, but I hope to use the time to write a thesis I am proud of, as well as revel in the daily routines that give my life structure, meet new characters, take beautiful photos, read at least a few books for fun in between the water battles and comparative politics, and write. I want to write more.
I feel very hopeful and happy these days. My life is full of love and I am excited about the future. I'm excited about tomorrow and about next week and about next summer and about next year. I can't wait to meet more wonderful souls, encounter all the beauty in the world, spend hours talking about everything, and marvel at our luck, of having this short chance to exist. God, I love life.
05 January 2009
quiz
Political Compass. Take it; it's not too long and really interesting (well, in this Politics major's opinion). Tell me where you are on the map! (coordinates-wise). I'm (-3, -6).
02 January 2009
retrospect
I like Julia's survey a lot and haven't done in in about four years... so let's go.
2008 In Review
1. What did you do in 2008 that you've never done before?
Checked into a hotel by myself, spent the summer away from home, went skinny dipping, got tattooed, began enjoying beer, began to lift weights, grew strong enough to do real pushups, voted, drank legally, went to a sex shop, got a brazilian wax, actually started contemplating what to do after I graduate.
2. Did you keep your New Years resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make them, so no and no.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
None, actually. I've stayed "out West" all year. I did go to a state I've never been to (Utah) to ski over spring break. But I was pretty much a California girl all year, with the exceptions of a few weeks here and there.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A boyfriend, a direction for the future.
7. What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 1st was the day my summer internship started; November 4th was my 21st birthday and the day Obama was elected to be our next President.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Overcoming an eating disorder and embracing myself as a beautiful woman.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting more thesis work done last semester. I have so much to do before April 24th.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, luckily not.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My MacBook (although my parents paid for it) and my Canon Digital Rebel SLR (birthday present). Damn, I need to get a job.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My best friend Eva, for dealing with a lot of shit this semester and keeping her head up through it all; my Gender, Race and Class professor for being lax enough to let me get away with not reading the books, rarely coming to class, totally bullshitting the papers and still giving me a B+.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
John McCain for succumbing to Sarah Palin as his VP pick; Sarah Palin for being retarded; Heath Ledger for taking a couple too many pills and forever depriving the 21st century of his amazing talent.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Food (in the spring), gas, food, tattoos (in the summer), tattoos, microdermals and music (in the fall).
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Spending a summer in the most beautiful place in the world, Obama being elected, turning 21.
16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2008?
Oh god, a lot. The entire Blackout album by Britney Spears, the Pickin' on Modest Mouse album by Iron Horse, "I Like The Way" by Body Rockers, anything by Jurassic 5, "Down The Line" by Jose Gonzalez, "Yesterday" by Atmosphere, "Mercury" by Bloc Party and the rest of that album, the new Snow Patrol album, the debut Justice album, three Fall Out Boy songs I'm too lazy to write out the titles for, the Narrow Stairs album by Death Cab, "Soft Revolution" by Stars and some others on the same album, the Faded Paper Figures debut album, "Spiralling" and "The Lovers Are Losing" by Keane.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Happier, by miles.
ii. thinner or fatter?
About the same. I'm more muscular, though.
iii. richer or poorer?
Poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading... only now, over winter break, am I reading novels for fun. And letter writing. I kind of slowed down with correspondence after spring.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Spending time on the Internet.
20. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No.
21. How many one night stands?
One.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
I got sucked into Gossip Girl thanks to my sister.
23. Do you hate anyone now whom you didn't hate this time last year?
Sarah Palin.
24. What was the best book you read?
The Brothers K by David James Duncan.
25. What were your greatest musical discoveries?
See #16, but a short list: Jurassic 5, Justice, Atmosphere, Jose Gonzalez, Cut Copy, Faded Paper Figures, Yo La Tengo, Daft Punk.
26. What did you want and get?
A summer in the mountains, a MacBook, a sweet camera, more independence, self-confidence, self-love.
27. What was your favorite film of this year?
I really didn't see many, unfortunately. And the ones I saw (James Bond, Australia) weren't that spectacular.
28. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?
I turned 21 but actually didn't do anything unusual on my birthday: went to class, watched the returns for the election, worked out during Obama's acceptance speech. I did wear my sexy boots to dinner since it was cold and it was my birthday. But the weekend before, my parents flew out and took me and my friends out to a fantastic meal at Valentino in Santa Monica. I didn't buy alcohol until a few days after my birthday, and then I wasn't even carded.
29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
It was a pretty satisfying year. I guess a boyfriend, but that might have overwhelmed all the other changes that took place.
30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept for 2008?
"I refuse to wear anything but skirts" in the spring, "bare feet forever" in the summer, "tank tops and spandex bike shorts until the weather cuts me down" in the fall.
31. What kept you sane?
My friends, my car (being able to escape Lee Vining this summer when it got claustrophobic), drinking coffee three times a day, my daily breakfast at the Hoch, the delightfully comfortable chairs in Platt, the cute boys and interesting characters at Harvey Mudd.
32. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Wilderness bill in Mono and Inyo counties, Proposition 8 in California.
33. Who did you miss?
Catherine when she was abroad in London in the spring, all my friends over the summer, Alexis in the fall.
34. Who was the best new person you met?
There are a lot: Claire, Nora, Morgan Becky, Natalie from the summer, Adrian and Yael (not totally new but whatever) at Scripps, Patrick and his friends at Mudd.
35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Talk to people, including strangers, who interest you - the worst that will happen is they'll think you're weird and then they're clearly not worth the effort. At best, you'll meet someone awesome.