sighs

Forecast: cloudy with a chance of crazy. I'm just on a little whine here, so bear with me. Two papers today, test tomorrow, two papers Wednesday, paper Thursday. This does not include my reading, grammar exercises, or oh, did I mention reading? And then I have some reading after that.

The good news, I am two papers down!!! {yay, mini celebration!}

The bad news...my butt is bruised from sitting in library chairs. Too much info? Probably.

 

Was the picture overkill? Oh well. At least it is my butt in London. Setting makes up for awkwardness.

Wish I could go chill with this glum looking gargoyle. I think he feels my pain. 

Sigh.

love.

classified

One thing that has been on my mind lately is the ease with which we classify and downsize people. More specifically: why we think that 1) we can and 2) it does something for us when we cut someone up, stick them in a box, slap a label on it, and ship them to Timbuktu. 

This week started with a snide comment from a classmate {yes, in college...}. He called me "Dorothy" in a mocking {not cute mocking, just mean mocking} voice {I was wearing sparkly Toms} and then said that I was probably only "19 years old or something" and "didn't really know anything."

I am past being injured by the petulant words of someone I barely know, and I am certain he intended no harm. His manner and purpose, though, occasioned some pause. Why is he so anxious to cut me down?

Another comment that got me thinking this week: in my Literature and Neuroscience class we were talking about eating disorders. The discussion turned to runway models. Someone commented that even though they were all really skinny, they were also all very ugly because "designers just want a blank slate to work with." Apparently this particular breed of person has no facial features...?


Things we do not know, cannot relate to, and/or that to which we compare ourselves, offer great subject matter for our disdain and ridicule. Why is identity one of the first things to negate when we have a beef with someone? Because it is easier to hate a thing than a person. It is easier to degrade and insult a non-sentient being than a person. We can have a clear conscience if the thing we mock has less conscious ability than a starfish.


One of the best moves of the Concentration Camps was to remove the identity of the inmates. Torturing and killing a nothing does not have the same consequences as if the nothing were a something just like ourselves.


Let's dial it back. I am not saying that those who degrade are like unto Hitler.

I am saying: let's be a little kinder this week. In spite of ourselves, and for ourselves. 


[Here's my challenge: the next time you have either 1) the impulse to make a snide comment or 2) the impulse to react to someone rudely, wait a moment. Think about what you like about that person. If the only thing you can think of is the color of their backpack or the fact that they have five fingers on each hand, that is great! Find something, focus your attention on the positive, and see if you don't have a better week].


Oh, and I'm sure you're wondering what I said to that guy: I think my shining moment that day was simply biting my tongue.




love.
one

remember snow?

And pine trees and cabins and weekends with no homework? 

I remember those things too. Except the no homework thing...I don't remember that.

At my Pancake Party on Tuesday, a friend came over with a  little proposition. He suggested we ditch the forever-away-camping idea this weekend {I think he noticed my haggard 21-credit face} and go up to his cabin at Sundance 

{= not forever away} instead! Perfect. Weekend saved! My friends are so good to me.

It was so nice to not have one single homework-y thought cross my mind for a whole, entire, complete...12 hours. Thanks, philosophy-test-that-made-me-cut-my-weekend-short. 

{the Michael Jackson one glove thing...check out that snow! it's up to my waist!}

P.S. I ❤ snow shoeing! 

Yes, my legs are literally a mile long.

Hope you had a good weekend, too!

LOVE!

day two

This is loooooooong long overdue. I just watched thousands of photos upload; it was very nostalgic. I almost cried. Europe...I promise I won't be gone long!

Second day in Ireland, we settled down for a little tour of the Irish countryside. Majelle {Anna's Mum} took us on a drive all around Kilrush and the cliffs. Oh my beautiful. No words. None.

{notice the sea to the right. we were on a precipice that dropped off steeply just barely to our right}

{trying to push over the rock...ha...}

After that little jaunt, we treated ourselves to dinner at the local pub. I had chicken stuffed with black pudding. Points to the first person to know what that is without using Google!

 {awwww! look how tired I am!}

{sunset-ish at the cliffs}

Are you in love yet?

love.

the best view of Paris, from Paris

There are a lot of places to "view" Paris, but the best is from the Ferris Wheel. They set it up at the end of the Champs-Élysées, and from it you can see all the major Paris landmarks, the layout of the streets which, after three months, you feel you know so well and barely at all. 

I think I could live in one of the boxes of the Ferris Wheel. Just move in with my pillow, blanket, macarons, and Zola. Wouldn't that be a lovely time?

love.

mardi gras

Today is Mardi Gras, which is really Shrove Tuesday in the Catholic tradition. Usually celebrated by debauchery and Bacchanalian festivals {NOT necessarily by Catholics, but by everyone in general}. 

The point: I love the way the Irish celebrate it...it's called "Pancake Tuesday" and the gist is, you eat pancakes. A lot of pancakes. Pancakes are sold at the grocery store, in packages wrapped in plastic.

So today, unlike the Crepe Day failure, I'm going to take complete leave of my senses {if you haven't been around much, I'll explain: busy semester. The end}, and throw a Pancake Party. In so doing, I can also get rid of most of my processed sugars; Lent begins tomorrow and my darling roommates have agreed to celebrate it with me...by giving up sugar. Mostly.

Rules:

1. No processed sugars. Okay, it's a lot more lax than all that, but that's the general base line.

2. One dessert per week. This mean one piece of cake, a reasonable number of cookies, etc.

3. Eat at least two fruits and one vegetable, or the other way around, every day.

4. If you mess up, you have to do penance. {One lap around the block per 10 calories}

The focus isn't on the giving up of food as much as it is a focus on coming closer to Christ. The symbolism behind Lent is Jesus' fast in the wilderness for 40 days. So we'll also be studying Christ in the Bible and trying to be a little more Christ-like through the process of sacrifice. 

Are you giving up anything for Lent?

*Amended: a friend issued another challenge. Facebook only twice per day, 15 minutes each time. Challenge accepted!

LOVE!

one

love from instagram

{Kiel James Patrick bracelet = birthday present from a friend} 

{Red Velvet Cake, made by the same friend!}

{What happens to my keyboard when it's not in use}

 {A little love note, from me to you}

Happy weekend!

love.

grammarize this.

Mixed into my twenty-one credit semester is a little-bitty-300-level Grammar class. Quiet, unassuming...and then bam. Oh, you thought that grammar had to do with apostrophes and commas and cute little adverbs? 

Wrong-o. They reside in the mere kindergarten of Grammar. 

Will I ever need to know that you can use up to but not more than three paraphrastic modals in one complete sentence? It is possible. Taking apart the individual clauses, it's really not bad. This tastes a whole lot like math...all's I'm saying is that there is a reason I'm not a Math major. 

My first time looking at it all together? On par with that one time I watched a scary movie...

Not. Pretty.

Yeah, I used to find this humorous:

Now I just feel like this...

Thanks, MegaMind. Thanks.

Dear Grammar, I will never give up my over-use of the ellipsis, my love of the dash, or my seemingly randomized use of commas, periods, exclamation points, question marks, and/or parenthetical comments. But you may keep trying! 

By the way, {you, not MegaMind or Grammar} thank you for being one of my 19,000 views!

LOVE!

two/three

be my valentine {part three}

Hey, you.

I am dying to tell you about all these awkward-boy-encounters that have been absolutely plaguing me lately. 

For now it is sufficient to tell you that at least two of them involve a bagel, two of them involve the library, and I'm aiming for an epic sort of awkward fail tomorrow in the hall of the JKB, which is where most of my awkward-awesomness lives. It's coming. I can feel it in my bones.

You know that feeling, when a boy makes you feel dizzy and nervous and silly like a school girl dressed up in her best at a dance right at that moment when *he* asks you to dance?

That is how this jacket makes me feel. It may or may not be Maison Scotch, and I may or may not have won it over while window-standing. Score!

This is the part where I am posting too many pictures, like a Facebook addict. 'Cept it's my blog...

You know what is sad about today? I tried to send flowers to a friend, but couldn't get anywhere to deliver. Flower shops are probably a little bit overworked right now. Shoulda thought of that last week.

You know what isn't sad about today? Not having a boyfriend.

*Shrugs* 

On another note, I feel like cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for dinner. Happy Valentine's Day to me, and to you, and you, and you!

love.