29 May 2007
smiling
Although everyone thinks of me as a pale English rose, I've actually always had a love affair with Holland (an incorrect term, I know; the country is called The Netherlands, but it will always be Holland to me). I think this kind of thing often develops between a person and a place they really don't know at all, versus a place they've visited and traveled for years and years. I'm sure you know someone who's really into Japan or France or Australia even though they've never stepped foot in the country. Perhaps this is because reality hasn't emerged yet and we can entertain all sorts of fantastic, idealistic thoughts about our version of life "over there" (if only!). This is the case with me and Holland. I can claim I have been physically present on the land - when I was seven or eight, during an trip over Easter to see old Dutch friends of my parents - but my four memories are of their beautiful old wooden house, their huge old dog Bos, wooden clogs by the front door, and riding a bicycle past tulip fields. Seriously, this one fragile memory encompasses every single stereotype of Holland. So ever since that trip, I have been fascinated with the country... and what a great country it is! Words that come to mind include tolerant, respectful, ancient, artistic, edgy, "green" (in the 21st-century meaning of the world), lush, and colorful. In this case, I have a feeling that my constructed image of the place isn't too far from reality. And really, can you think of a better country for me, being into history, simplicity, and the environment? Over the last few years, Amsterdam routinely came up as a study abroad option and after I scrapped France this spring, Amsterdam was a serious final contender against Edinburgh and Prague. As in most important decisions I've made in the last two years, I can't really explain why I decided what I did. But ever since I turned in my application four weeks ago, all I can think about is Amsterdam. Not a good sign. Being asked about next year countless times by all my parents' friends made me realize that I really wasn't very excited to go to Edinburgh. CRAP. I spent the long weekend contemplating my options and came to the conclusion that its very early, nothing is decided and if I want to change my mind I have every right to do so. Expecting a fight, I called the Study Abroad office today, and was relieved to find out that it shouldn't be a big deal at all. After all, I only turned in a Scripps application to be approved to study abroad somewhere. The program application isn't due for me until late summer, and for normal people the deadline is in November. I do have to re-submit the Scripps app which is a pain because it involves a lot of photocopying and typing and emailing my advisor, but I'm pretty sure that at the end of all this, I'll be able to change to the IES Amsterdam program without any problems. I still am able to directly enroll in a university (Universiteit van Amsterdam) and take classes there in English in their International College. Dutch art is one of my favorite topics, and the university also offers courses in architecture - two subjects Scripps lacks. I'll live near the university in an apartment with a few other international students. The program meets all the criteria I have, and relative to the other type of study abroad program (the "island" program, the SA office calls them, because the students live in an isolated American island in a foreign city), I'll be quite independent, just the way I want it. And I get to learn Dutch! So ever since the nice lady in the office raised my spirits, I've been in a tizzy about the prospect of living in Amsterdam, a mysterious, fascinating place, for five months! It just feels right. I think its a bit unfair that my college requires you to choose a place to study abroad nine months in advance. We're in college! We change our minds every week! But I'm already excited: clogs, bicycles, trains, tulips, cafes, clubs, canals...!
25 May 2007
splash
It took a few weeks, but the details of my life for the summer are finally sorted. I was in the middle of a gynecological exam, paper dress, stirrups and all, when the doctor (who is a family friend) asked me if I wanted to work part-time at the front desk. I'd actually been looking for pleasant part-time morning employment, so I said yes, and came in bleary-eyed at 7:30am the next morning to be thrown to the wolves. Once I learned the computer scheduling program, the job became kind of fun. I have so much power! The power of the schedule! Answering the phones is fun too; each call is being a problem and I have to solve it. I am also amused by the change in tone and pitch of my voice when I speak into a phone. I sound so happy and hopeful. The atmosphere in the office is fast-paced, so time flies by. It's also nice to work knowing I'm getting paid for my time. So from now on, I'm working there every morning until lunchtime. Miraculously, I've been able to schedule in an hour of free time between the OBGYN job and my Heard Museum internship. I tried working out after work at 5:30, but the gym is packed and I'm exhausted after a ten-hour day. So this is great, because now I have a set hour of the day in which to exercise. And today I had my first lunchtime swim workout, which went swimmingly. I have swimmer's ear already, and I definitely inhaled quite a bit of chemical water but what the hell, that's the way it goes. I really like swimming - like cycling, it's something I did often as a kid and then it drifted into the category of "things I do once in a long time". When we moved to New York when I was 10, I was on a competitive swim team for a month or so, despite my plea not to be registered for such a team. My mother either didn't listen or didn't realize, and the coach/experience was so traumatic that I never considered swimming for sport again. I kind of wish I had, because I'm strong and solid and probably have an ideal body type for a competitive swimmer. Swimming, soccer and field hockey are three sports that my family's moving every four years kind of messed up for me. So here I am now, needing to stay active at a time when it's easy to not be, so I bought a one-piece suit, a silicone cap and kick-ass clear goggles, and tried it out. Despite my swimsuit's large cup-like space for those with ample boobs, which kept moving out of place due to my lack of breastage, it was a good experience. I like that you don't acknowledge that you're sweating until afterwards, and being horizontal for an hour is quite fun. The ability to exercise in the middle of the day, in the middle of work, will be good for me because it means I'll always go since I'm not going to go home for such a short time. So instead of having homework this summer, I'll be earning some money as well as getting experience in museum administration, and I won't have to worry about finding time each day to exercise. Works out rather well, I think.
I had a little time after my swim to eat something for lunch other than the normal hummus, pita and veggies, so I went to That's A Wrap! on 7th Street between McDowell and Virginia. It's owned by the same guy who owns the vegan restaurant Green in Tempe, but it's not strictly a vegetarian wrap place. In fact, there are only two vegetarian wraps offered but you can substitute tofu for meat in the others. It's a cute, popular little place with the same kind of vibe as Green - young, alternative, friendly. The Senorita No-Meata wrap I had (grilled peppers and onion, black beans, corn, and guacamole) was sooooo good. They also have rice bowls, salads and smoothies and everything's until $8. That might become my once-a-week-lunch-out place.
My mother is a food packrat. Despite the fact that her kids are leaving the nest, she still buys enough food to feed three growing children. She particularly loves Costco, a place that is great for getting bulk food for parties or gatherings or huge families, but we just do not need a five-gallon bag of baby carrots. Or walnuts. Or pasta. So things pile up in the pantry, going uneaten (and forgotten) for months and months. I get that the purpose of a pantry is to store things, but in this day and age we don't need to be saving up provisions for a food shortage or nuclear bomb. There are grocery stores five minutes from us, there is way too much food produced in this country anyway, and if there a nuclear bomb is dropped over Phoenix, I hope I'm not around afterwards to eat canned beans in the dark. So I came home from college a few weeks ago and noticed three huge, unopened packages of whole almonds sitting on the shelf, two of which I remembered seeing when I was home for Spring Break. Why my mother deems it necessary to have 64 ounces of almonds on hand, just in case, I will never understand. But I make almond milk, so this is okay. I just had to learn how to blanch them. Which I did:
Pour boiling water over almonds, let sit for three minutes, and then spend half an hour slipping the ivory almonds out of their mahogany skins. Toast in the oven for ten minutes and voila.
From a little company in Berkeley called Elaina Love's Pure Joy Planet I ordered a product called The Amazing Nut Milk, Juice, and Sprout Bag. It took an irksome three weeks to receive it, but the quirky handwriting on the envelope warmed me up, and the bag is really pretty amazing. I used it for the first time last night and it made almond milk making much cleaner and easier. I can finally stop using my pathetic raggedy cheesecloths.
And after a long, topsy-turvy week, I'm so glad it's Friday. Yay for a three-day weekend!
20 May 2007
watering
Weekend bliss.
Friday night post-work indulgence - guacamole, using a recipe I found last summer in the fabulous cookbook The Voluptuous Vegan. I was halfway into making it when I realized that I had only three of the ingredients: avocados, tomatoes and garlic, but despite the rampant substitutions - yellow onion for scallions, lemon juice for lime juice, and no fresh cilantro to speak of - it still tasted beautiful.
Breakfast this morning: a delicious tofu scramble, toast with jam and almond butter, and grapes. I used a recipe from the ppk but followed one commenter's variation. So: onion, garlic, fresh ginger, spices (garum masala, cumin and tumeric), broccoli florets, roasted red pepper, tomato, tofu, and nicoise olives. It's a rare day when I'm in the mood for sauteed veggies in the morning, but this may have changed my breakfast behavior for good. A feast, and the Sunday New York Times.
With my parents gone and my siblings in a perpetual state of social activity, I've been alone most of the weekend. I've been reading a lot - I just finished Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors, and now I'm working my way through In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. On Friday night I ate dinner and caught up with my alter ego, Ali. Last night I babysat for the first time in two years. Piece of cake. Kids these days, they're drugged with television. Maddie couldn't even get the game of Monopoly Junior set up before her hands slowed to a stop, hanging in midair clutching a little blue car, and she was sucked into That's So Raven. I came home to a deserted house - Will was at the prom, Hannah had left to go to a friend's house - and when I woke up this morning I was still alone. It's funny; when everyone is here chores have to be delegated and enforced and my parents do more than they should, but when it's just me I do more than my share just because. It's the same at school, of course, because no one is going to clean your room for you. I like making things look presentable, though, so I don't know if this theory would apply to, say, my sister with the perpetual bomb of her bedroom.
"Well coiffed, in a business suit, Togo removed her shoes to show me the apartments: lofty, open spaces where trees planted on the terraces screened huge picture windows. 'I love this because when I'm inside I feel outside,' she said. 'It's a modern interpretation of a Japanese way of thinking. Without nature, life is not sustainable, we believe. We write poems about that. Buddhist monks live in the mountains where they can open the door and let the wind whistle in. Ban [an architect] does the same here in a way that's extremely practical.'"
- "The Accidental Environmentalist", Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times Magazine, May 20th, 2007.
18 May 2007
opportunity_costs
The process of uploading the photos below was about equivalent to trying to get around Phoenix this week without a car. First, the photo explanation: I have neither my laptop nor my photo transfer key, and I'm using my Dad's old laptop and my mom's photo key, so I had to upload the photos onto this computer, email them to myself, download them on the family computer and edit them in Picasa, then upload them to Photobucket and now I'm back on the laptop typing this. However, it looks like that in the process of Picasa-editing, the changes weren't saved so unfortunately the lighting is poor in a few of them. As for work: I started my internship on Monday and it's going well. The first week has been lots of new faces, tours of the library and the basement where 90% of the collection is stored, a free meal at the cute cafe in the courtyard, getting a security badge, situating myself in a cubby-like area, and doing good ol' data entry. Everyone is very nice and helpful and it feels fulfulling to know that I'm working (for free) for a non-profit organization. It makes me feel better that I'm learning about marketing and development (i.e. advertising and fundraising) for a good cause, not for a company that wants to make as much money as possible.
As for transportation: on Monday and Tuesday I used public transportation to get to the office, 15 miles away. I didn't sleep well Sunday night because I was anxious about everything I had to do plus having to prepare for a new job. On Monday I drove a few miles to a central bus stop, parked, and took the bus. This worked fine except for taking so long, and it felt kind of pathetic to drive four miles. Also, on the ride down and back I learned where all the "little" stops are that aren't listed on the bus schedule - officially, there is a stop every 1/4-mile. Knowing this, on Tuesday I biked two miles over to a closer stop, hitched the bike onto the bike rack on the front of the bus, rode downtown, unhitched the bike, and rode half a mile to work. I enjoyed the second day a bit more because I knew what to do with the bus stuff and because riding a bike is really fun. Dealing with a bike is not: it's heavy, so loading it is hard because you have to lift the whole thing up and over this large contraption. Legally, the driver cannot come out to help, and the racks are old and confusing and it took me a while to comprehend the thing and I knew I hadn't secured it completely, but I was holding up traffic, so I said bugger it and figured that if the bike flew off and was run over by the bus then I'd probably die of embarrassment anyway. Luckily, it didn't fall off but the driver saw it wasn't attached all the way and got out ten minutes later to fix it. The bus ride home went more smoothly. The other thing about riding the bus is that I don't want to wear my "office" outfit because I get sweaty biking in 100 degree heat and because people on the bus stare at me when I look nice and it's awkward. So I wear basically my gym clothes and change out of them at the office. I have to say, this is annoying. It may not seem like it, but combined with the bike, the heat, and the fact that it takes almost 90 minutes to travel a 30-minute journey... it's an ordeal, to say the least. I hadn't appreciated how much it would affect me until I got home and was so exhausted I didn't want to do anything except sit in a comfy chair and read. On Monday night I slept weirdly and spent Tuesday in agony with sharp shooting pains in my neck whenever I turned my head. It's funny how we don't appreciate what our bodies can do until they don't work normally. Do you know how often you turn your head without turning your body? A LOT. My mom gave me a massage Tuesday night and it felt better on Wednesday, but I needed a break from the stress of trying to get to work without using a gallon of gas, so I drove. That's right, I left the house at 11:25am and got to work at 11:55am. It was glorious. I wore normal clothes, I didn't have to bring a change of clothes or a backpack or an iPod or a book or a bike or a bike lock. Best of all, though: I was in a good mood when I got to the office. No sweat, no stress, no fatigue. It was so nice to get home at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm that I drove again yesterday. But my gas tank is now a quarter empty, and it won't be long before I have to pay another 35 bucks from the bank account that doesn't get replenished (soon to change with babysitting jobs). Oh, the dilemma. Another factor is: next week is the last week I have this schedule before French class starts at ASU. This will add more complications to the mix because I don't have/want to buy a parking permit because it will cost at least $250. Biking was the original plan, and then bussing to work and then home, but I've calculated that I'll have to leave at about 6:30am in order to arrive in Tempe by 8am. There is a point when it isn't worth it anymore, you know? Is spending 3.5 hours a day on a bike or bus, being uncomfortable and hot, and having only four hours at night before having to go to bed - every weekday of this summer - really what I want? Is my sanity/happiness worth saving some money and CO2? Now, I'm not saying that I'm giving up on bikes and buses forever. But they become, for all intensive purposes, pretty impractical in a searing desert summer in an exclusively-commuting city. I am also not saying that we should not change our habits just because our comfort level will be kicked down a notch. That is what is going to have to happen if people want cleaner air, safer food, and abundant forests in this world. But it's the ratio of these two things that determines whether a change is a good decision. And I think that in this situation, the amount of money/CO2 saved is less than the amount of "negativeness" that will accumulate in my life. Saving the world is supposed to - indeed, I think, must - be a positive thing, or else others won't deem it worth the expense. It's like "the starving vegan". No one is going to consider a vegan diet if all the vegans they know are pale and bony and so entrenched in their dogma that their self-righteousness fail hurts the cause rather than helps it. If trying so hard to help the earth makes me unhappy and unpleasant to be around, then I'm hurting myself and my goal. And I'm actually considering not taking French. I don't need to for credits or graduation - the only reason is to get ahead. [Getting ahead. Our generation is constantly trying to get ahead. Beat time. Make more money. Emerge as the victor. Why?] I can take Intermediate in the fall. My schedule will have to shift around, but I can still take everything I want to. And really, if I do take French here, my options are both pretty grim: drive and pay LOTS of money for tuition, books, parking, and gas, and have homework every night... OR bike/bus, be gone from home from 6:30am to 6:30pm, and have homework every night. All for "getting ahead". What do I value more, money/the environment or time/my happiness + sanity? If I don't take it, I'll just have the internship from noon to 5pm every day, and then sporadic babysitting in the evenings/weekends. It's been really nice this week to have the mornings free. I get up early, read, cook, listen to NPR, think, and dream. And that is what summer is really about. Internships - yeah, they're good for experience and for the resume, but I have my entire life to work from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday and deal with the same problems of transportation, money, time, meals, and the weather. (Although I'm also considering choosing an "alternative" career that won't be a standard 9-5 job - more on this in the future). Perhaps I will take up a few other environmentally-friendly actions to make up for driving, if that ends up being the compromise. I'm already thinking about hanging up a drying line outside for laundry. Why use electricity to dry clothes when it's 100 degrees outside? I also want to find out if I can grow any vegetables in the garden. I haven't completely made up my mind on what - and how - I want to spend the next three-and-a-half months, but I'm thinking about it a lot.
Some photos taken over the last two weeks, involving FOOD!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes. A kitchen, finally!
My first time ever eating kale! Until last week, spinach was the extent of my leafy green intake. (I still need to try bok choy, swiss chard, endive and collards.) I prefer spinach cooked (and you "unlock" more nutrients than by eating it raw), so I followed a recipe from Alex Jamieson's book and sauteed half an onion, then threw in the kale and covered for three minutes until it was deep green, and at the last moment, added some roasted red peppers and green olives. The kale and olive contributed to the sharp flavor of the dish, mellowed a bit by the sweet onions and peppers. I could eat this every day! So good.
These were my take on Vegan with a Vengeance's Raspberry Blondies. The recipe makes bars, but I only made half and decided that little pots would be fun. I overfilled them, as you can see, and the hell that broke loose on the bottom of the pan used for raspberry/sugar cooking had me scrubbing it off three days later, but these were GOOD. A layer of blondie, a a layer of raspberry stuff, a layer of chocolate chips, a layer of blondie, and more chocolate chips.
The other night my Dad and I were talking over dinner in the kitchen when I noticed a grasshopper hanging out on the counter. My Dad wanted to whack it with the flyswatter, but it wasn't going crazy flying everywhere, it was just hobbling along so I conviced Dad to chill out and we watched it for a while and I took it's picture. It looked like an aging grasshopper - he looked wise, like an old professor - and I got my Dad to be patient and acknowledge for two minutes all the life in this world that has a right to live, even that which cannot think or reason or understand.
I carefully put a piece of lettuce nearby, and before long he had ambled over to have a bite. In the end, my soft-hearted father trapped him in a Tupperware box and put him outside.
I've been making almond milk every few days. It's delicious, I've got the method down-pat, and I'm getting an actual almond milk bag in the mail soon so it will be even less messy.
This is the almond meal left over from straining out the milk. Usually I throw it away, but yesterday I decided to find a use for it (there are many, actually: face scrub, in a dip, dried in the oven and crumbled into granola, in bread) so I made my first purposefully-raw food: a cinnamon roll!
Of course, it wasn't much like a traditional cinnamon roll since it was raw (meaning all the ingredients were vegan and hadn't been heated above like 110 degrees so as not lose any nutrients); it was more like the cinnamon roll-flavored Larabar, if anyone is familiar with those. It was time-consuming, as goes raw food making, but this is how it went: first I mixed the almond meal with flaxseed meal, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Then I chopped up dates, water and vanilla in the food processor and added half of it to the dry ingredients. This was spread out into a thin square. The other half was blended with raisins and more cinnamon, and spread onto the square. Then I chopped up some cashews (we were out of walnuts) and sprinkled these on top. I carefully rolled up the square into a log, wrapped it in parchment paper and went to bed.
For breakfast I sliced off a piece and spread a bit of almond butter on top. I was expecting it to taste like a Larabar, and I was right. The "dough" part was just okay, but the date/raisin paste and the cashews in the middle was delicious. To get a more visible swirl I would double the amount of cashews.
The recipe had lots of raves by raw foodists, so I guess my reaction is normal from someone who doesn't eat exclusively raw things, but it was interesting and fun to try. But now I'm left alone with a huge log of nuts and dried fruit - there is no way I will get anyone in my family to eat it... and this, I actually understand.
I didn't take pictures of more normal food - like dinners and lunches - but rest assured, I'm making fun stuff like lentil soup, and sauteed tofu and veggies, and cherry tomato orrechiete. I'm having fun getting through my cookbooks (I sold all of my mediocre ones last summer and now have only four - excellent - ones) and there are always new recipes to try. And it's summer, so berries are inexpensive and plentiful! And there are ripe tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, and eggplant! Tickle me pink.
My parents are on a business trip in the Bahamas for a long weekend, so the house is at the mercy of three teenagers. And after working all week, I am very happy that it's Friday.
13 May 2007
commute
Well, it's been quiet because I've had nothing much to say, and it's been quiet because I can't find my photo transfer key thing, and it's been quiet because my computer has died. It froze up and conked out on Thursday, the day before my art history papers were due, but I always email to myself anything I write, and there are one-to-three computers available in my house at any given time. I'm really thankful that it didn't happen last week at Scripps, or else I would have died. Because the computer is still under warranty, it's getting sent off to IBM to get an entirely new system. So really, it's fine that it doesn't work now I'm home! At least it knew when *not* to have a seizure. And it's officially summer for me: no more finals until December. Now I've got four blazing hot months in the desert... :(
But I can tell you what I've been doing... not much at all. It's been a quiet week at home. I've made some meals, got lots of books from the library, rode a bike for the first time since CC - six miles around my neighborhood, and spent the entire weekend with my family: Will + Connor's graduation party, Hannah's confirmation, Mother's Day.
My ecological footprint is big. If everyone in the world lived like me (right now, living at home with four other people in a big house with certain things I wouldn't choose to do/have/buy...) we would need 3.3 planets! So, as part of my commitment to reduce my footprint, I've made a commitment to not use my car for commuter travel this summer. Exciting! It's a challenge and I'm looking forward to it. For now, I will take the bus to downtown Phoenix for my internship (which starts tomorrow). When French starts at ASU two weeks from tomorrow, I will bike down there (super early in the morning), and then take the bus to the Heard and then home - the buses have bike racks on the front. I've got a nice bike route planned to get down to Tempe while avoiding Scottsdale Road, and since I have two weeks until I have to go the whole fifteen miles, I'm going to start getting used to sitting on a bike for an hour and fifteen minutes... starting tomorrow! I'll do a little bit more each morning until I feel comfortable being on a bike (both butt-wise and mind-wise) for that length of time/distance. Because I'm enrolled at ASU I get a free 2007-2008 bus pass, so with the exception of bicycle maintenance it will cost me nothing (in greenbacks, that is) to travel 25-40 miles each day for 15 weeks. This is instead of approximately $30 a week in gas and several hundred pounds of CO2 emitted from my car. One day I'll live somewhere where I can ride my bike around to do everyday things - how nice that will be! I've always loved bicycles, like most people, although I cycled (as opposed to "biked", a word I associate with hardcore racing/mountain biking) much more on family outings when I was young in England. It'll be nice to rekindle that interest. It's not always going to be pleasant, and sometimes I will curse the heat and the sun and the stuff I have to carry, but my uncomfortableness is not an excuse. At dinner tonight I got into a strange dicussion cum argument with my brother about all the things I am trying to do to help save the environment. His argument was (get ready): I'm a realist and what you're trying to do doesn't matter because too many people in this country think like me to change anything/I don't care because I'll be dead by the time things start affecting the world/if the world is very different when my children/grandchildren are alive, that's okay because it's all they will have known, meaning that they won't care if the sky is grey and there are no wild animals and California is underwater because they will not know of a world other than the one in which they live. I stopped arguing since it was pointless. He's completely clueless when it comes to the world, geography, current events... and lots of other things. I don't mean to imply that I think I'm eons ahead of him in wiseness; I have a lot to learn too, but I was actually shocked when he said the above and was serious. I think it reflects more on his naiveity than his morality... I HOPE. He has no idea about what is already happening and what might happen in the future if people don't colletively change their habits and act together to demand change in local, national and global legislation. Let's hope that the next four years of college are good for him, globally and ecologically among other things.
So that is what is going on. I love my big bed and having a kitchen to make whatever my heart desires (well, whenever my mother isn't around), but I miss my Scripps friends and being independent and running my own life. It's only been a week, but I've already said to a few people that this may be my last summer living at home.
09 May 2007
think
I liked the italicized quote below from this article about the new niche in the market for "green" products, services, etc:
"I wonder what Mother Nature would say about all this. Perhaps she'd be pleased that so many mavericks are addressing the problems that have given her emphysema, making it necessary for Laurie David and Al Gore to step in to replace her.
Or perhaps she'd echo Ingrid Johnson, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. "If you really want to be environmentally friendly, buy fewer things," Ms. Johnson said. "It's that simple. I mean how many pairs of jeans do you need? And how many shopping bags at Saks?"
Me? I'm no eco-saint. I do have a personal plea. But it's for the social environment rather than the natural one: Please, tone it down. The world is in terrible shape right now. Global warming isn't another happy opportunity for marketing clothes, candles and sustainable weddings or for green-washing your bad corporate karma.
It's not about having a moment for the environment, either.
It's about a lifetime."
- Bob Morris, "The Age of Dissonance: Global Yawning", NYTimes, May 6th, 2007
08 May 2007
canvaslove
For about a year now I've been using canvas bags or my arms for carrying groceries, and this spring I've gotten excellent about always having them with me. It takes a few weeks to get into the habit (I definitely hit my head quite a few times after realizing I'd forgotten to bring one) but now it's second nature. And it feels really great to say, "By the way, I don't need a bag!" It's weird how shocked some baggers are, especially at non-health food stores like Safeways. I guess because I take away their purpose of employment if it's only a few things that I'm carrying myself. Really, some ask two or three times if I'm sure. Yes, I'm sure, I hate disposable bags piling up in my room, and I don't mind that it's only one less plastic (or paper, doesn't matter) bag being used. They add up. I am all for the US implementing a bag tax like Ireland. The way to change people's habits is to change the price of those habits.
So I went to Sprouts today with a bag fun canvas bag I bought at the Motley, Scripps' coffee shop, a few months ago. And even though it's big, it was barely big enough to hold everything, and now that I'm home and will be doing grocery runs for five people I think it's time I get another bag. Cafe Press is a website where anyone can turn a design into a product, like t-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball caps, and bags. These are some of my favorite designs promoting vegetarianism:
One that's more about environmentalism, but since eating meat and dairy contributes to the destruction of the earth I can understand why it was tagged to this category also:
And one after my own heart...
There were lots of other fun designs, including some that I would consider if they were designed better and some with very concise messages:
A cow saying: "Mad Cow [space] That's what you get for eating meat, you dumb !@$*#"
"Available vegan seeks same"
"Vegetarian [space] Because I know better"
"How can you be pro-life and eat dead animals?"
As you can tell, I go for the cute, subtle, unoffensive designs, but props to those who like other people knowing that they mean business.
06 May 2007
laadedaaaaaaaa
The last four days have played out the same way: wake up, make breakfast, read the paper online, wait as long as possible until I'm so bored online that working on final papers actually seems more interesting, write some, eat baby carrots, take a break, write, eat an apple, take a break, sleep, eat dinner, pretend to write, do something fun, go to bed.
I'm so bored of this schedule! Luckily today is the last day where I'm sitting in the same spot on my bed for more than fifty percent of the day.
Accomplishments: One - I produced four not-half-bad poems for my Ancient Women final along with a sentimental little jobby about why I wrote them and how they relate to the larger picture of understanding blah blah blah. I wasn't looking forward to having to do this since I dislike the class and don't care about it at all, so I'm glad it was less painful than I'd predicted. Two - I've packed up most of my room and I am now surrounded by bags and boxes taking up most of the precious floor space in this room. The last things to come down are my posters and cards on the wall, but that won't happen until tonight because blank walls are depressing and I want to be around them for as little time as possible. Three - the fridge that I borrowed this semester was picked up by its owner yesterday, so no refrigeration means basically no happiness. No yogurt, soy milk, hummus :( Despite this, I haven't bought any groceries since like Tuesday and have been finishing up the rest of my oatmeal, larabars, baby carrots, and apples in addition to soup and salad from the dining hall. Story of my life. It feels good to use up everything you have, although I will be happy when food isn't so boring.
Still to be accomplished: One - finishing my three short art history papers. One is kind of half-done, and I've made outlines for the other two. Unfortunately, having until next Friday to turn them in makes it difficult for me to be motivated enough to write them now. Come Tuesday, though, when the house is empty and I have nothing to do and only three days are left, then magic will happen. Two - packing up my car, first to take stuff to be stored, and then with the stuff I'm taking home. It's basically going to really suck having to do this, because I'm on the third floor and I have about a bajillion different things to carry down. By myself. At eight in the morning.
I'm going home tomorrow!! Yippeeee.
But I am going to miss my friends and living here... it's going to be strange to be away. I'm looking forward to September! Happy to be going home, happy to be coming back; what a strange life we lead.
02 May 2007
stakes
Another semester has come and gone. In some ways it feels right that this is the end of my fourth semester of college - by this point I feel well-entrenched in life as a college student and I certainly have enough experiences from the last two years to fill up four semesters - but in other senses I can hardly believe that the experience I waited so long to have, ever since high school began, is already half-way over. With my study abroad application now safely in the files of the OCS office, I'm starting to acknowledge the subtle pains of transferring which weren't apparent last year when I only felt the pricks of the blatantly obvious ones. One year down at a college I really like and one semester to be spent abroad means that I only have three semesters left at Scripps. Three semesters! That's the equivalent of this ending year, plus four months more. In other words, nothing. But I'd much rather transfer in order to spend five semesters in a truly amazing experience than settle and spend eight semesters in a life that turned out to be merely okay.
While studying abroad is something I've always known I was going to do, part of me is uncertain that it wouldn't be just as well spent here instead. I'll come back to Scripps this fall, as a junior - oh my God, as a junior - and then when I leave in December I won't return until the following fall. In between that time, I'll miss out on living life in the blossoming spring with my six best friends -- only Catherine is also studying abroad, in London -- and when we all return as seniors, it will be her last semester, it will be Carolyn's last semester, and Mina will have graduated that previous May. The first two years have gone by steadily, full of ups and downs, learning about this strange experience that is college, and just as I'm settled in for the long haul, feeling comfortable and ready to "do" this, be here and happy, for a while, doors are closing and things are ending as quickly as they began. In terms of classes, I also am like a first-year in that I'm discovering the gems here, the best classes to take, the ideal schedule, the key to free Fridays. But three semesters means 15 classes left, and like 10 of those are in my major, and most of the others will be used to keep up the French I've worked hard to learn and start up German. I wanted to take philosophy, history, literature, and politics classes. I wanted to learn a new instrument and play in the orchestra. What the hell did I do with the last two years, and $80,000? Well, I hopped around to three different schools, having to start over with new gen-ed requirements at each one, and I had almost no academic advising until this semester (and only because now I'm in my major, in the big leagues), combined with a stubborn, independent character and an overflowing curiosity about the world. Since waxing nostalgic about the past gets you nowhere, I carry my head high knowing that everything I've experienced since August 25th, 2005 has influenced who I am today. And I'm damn proud of that person. Life has got to go on; there is no way to slow it down. The next two years are going to be even more exciting than the last two: I have my first internship this summer, by December I'll be very comfortable with the French language and with my major, I'll then spend the longest time of my life away from my family in a different country during a semester that will be saturated with experiences in its own right. The following summer will probably be the last four-month vacation of my entire life, and I sure hope I'll be doing something stimulating, challenging, preparing for the future. Then I'll start thesis that fall and start figuring out what to do after graduation, two things I don't want/need to think about for twelve months. But really, it's coming up: grad school, jobs, cities to live in, options to ponder. And then I'm out the door, into the real world. This may sound like an unnecessary thing to think about, but the way I've experienced college has made me appreciate every month, every semester, and I know that the end is much closer than it seems. In a way, being conscious of the end makes me appreciate the present much more. I'm envious of those people whose college careers are a smooth deal, boom boom boom boom, because the best word I can think of to describe mine is papier-mached together. One semester here, another there, three here, one there, two here, and cut. Ironically, I suppose it's a fulfillment of my affinity for change. Shaking things up all the time. For once, I would actually like the waters to be still, just for a bit longer. And I know that in ten years I'll miss the days when life was disrupted every four months, when new surprises were nestled into each month, when things never really had time to become routine.
As of today, I am done with my French and Economics classes, and I will spend tonight through Sunday night attached to this computer writing for my other two classes four shortish papers due next week. Then, come Monday morning, I'll pack up and drive home. Only four days left of one of the lives I've grown to love, to be thrust back into the other one. How strange it is to have two lives. And will the one I have here be the same when I slip back into it on September 2nd? No. Nothing will be the same, except for the buildings.
Emerging from the depth of my mind, let's get this post back in the present. It's now May! I love May: I love the word, I love what it embodies, I love the new turn of the year that it introduces. I think the best circumstances are those that are bittersweet, because you always take something away from it. So what is sad about May? I'm going to miss my friends a lot. I really love the girls with whom I live my life. They're the closest thing I have in California to a family, and they are the only people who know me in this life, so in that light, four months is very long. We'll pick up where we left off in the fall, but still, in terms of what I wrote above, it's sad. I'm going to miss normal summer weather as opposed to scorching summer weather. I'm going to miss having a room on the third floor and a sweet view down onto the street. Next year my room is on the first floor... my first "first floor" dorm room out of the seven I've had in college. I'm going to miss taking beautiful walks in the crisp spring air of California mornings. And I'm terribly sad about the end of my fabulous art history class with Professor Gorse. I may have a change of hearts this fall and take his Gendering the Renaissance class because I don't think I want to wait an entire year before having him again as a professor. And what's exciting about May? The end of my awful Ancient Women class (I had a great time yesterday filling out the course evaluation survey). The end of living in the corner of this strange suite, and anticipating a fun semester living my quirky little room in a beautiful dorm this fall. Being home with my family for an extended period of time. Living in an actual house. Hanging out with my brother and sister. Cooking my own food in a kitchen. The plethora of favorite restaurants less than twenty minutes away: Pita Jungle, Green, Sabuddy's, and the Ethiopian place. Sleeping in my lovely bed. Seeing friends. Movies at Camelview. The start of my French class at ASU. And - the start of my internship at the Heard! (I rescheduled my interview for next Tuesday, and from the conversation I had today with the woman who will probably be one of my supervisors, this meeting will mostly involve negotiating details of the summer: I think the internship is going to happen!) So even though my heart is split two ways, I'm smiling.