Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Pour Your Daydreams in a Cup

While it's not as deep as some of the things that we've read in senior seminar, I am really enjoying Davita's Harp. It's such a great story, and it really does have some thought-provoking tidbits within its pages.

Here's one section that really struck me:

"...isn't what you call an illusion simply someone else's dream with which you disagree?...If faith in God is merely an illusion then why not faith in man too? Anne, are your dreams too not an illusion?"

Illusions as dreams of someone else that you disagree with...hmm....

Monday, April 27, 2009

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee*

*For the next two weeks, Justin wrote inspirational (sometimes not so much...haha) quotes on different days in my planner, so I'm going to use them for my titles.

I don't really have much to say tonight. Today was fine--Marie's presentation was GREAT!! I'm so proud of her! :)

At 3:00 AM, I was woken up by a thunderstorm! It was so fantastic! It had been waaaaay too long since the last storm. I stayed up and listened to it for about thirty minutes. I watched the lightening flash and the rain pour. I heard the thunder clap, the rain splash on the window, and the wind blow the trees. It was a beautiful thing.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Here are some of the awesome times* from spring 2009 thus far:
Seeing pretty flowers!


Visiting So-Lo with Caitlin
(notice how perfectly everthing is faced)

Grabbing Marie and forcing her to go take pictures of C-Street with me.
We were standing on a corner, and then we saw cops.

Going out for Linz's Bday!
Happy 22!!!

Art Walk + really any of the times we've been Downtown.
It's so nice when the nights are warm!

Going on a picnic with my beautiful sister over spring break.
This is a loaf of the very tasty bread that she baked!

Caitlin visited!!
This was on the bridge over the train tracks, and it was so much fun!


There have been many other great things! These are just the few that I've documented. Thanks for all of the great times!

*I wish these were in chronological order, but this is the order the pictures uploaded.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

You Say You Want a Revolution

I want to change the world.

I don't know how I'm going to do it, yet. I'll figure it out though, and it'll be fantastic. Sometimes I get so inspired to do something great with my life--I get so excited about the future and what I'm going to accomplish in my life. I hope that by the time I'm 90 years old, I'll have stories that will capture my great-grandchildrens' interest and inspire them to do great things as well.
I love John Mayer's song Waiting on the World to Change, but if you want something to happen, you have to actively try to fix it. You can't just sit back and wait for it to fix itself. I mean, I understand feeling small, insignificant, and as though nothing you do will make a difference. But, if you don't try, than it for sure won't help. Even if you don't know what to do, throw yourself into it, and you'll figure it out!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Into the Light of a Dark Black Night

Fly.

This Religion/Philosophy Senior Seminar class has given me soo much to think about, and now I have to formulate a "intellectual/spiritual autobiography" that is 12 pages long.

What do I say?

Before.

I held tightly to the Methodist faith for nineteen years, was an active leader in my church for 5-6 of those years, sang in the choir, played instruments, learned Bible stories, participated in youth group activities (hell, was the president of the youth group), acted as a liaison between the adult committees and the youth, blah, blah, blah.

Now.

I. Don't. Have. A. Clue.

Hahaha. I'm okay with not knowing. It gives me something to work towards.

It does make me think of a song by the Beatles:

Blackbird

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise


When I do figure it out, it's going to be amazing and wondrous.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

But there are things that happen, between a man and a woman, in the dark, that sorta make everything else seem unimportant *

As of April 11, Stella is 5 months old!
Doesn't she look sweet?
She's enjoying Davita's Harp

It can be rather difficult to do homework when she's laying on it...


*A quote said by Stella in A Streecar Named Desire

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Time (x2)

"Everything has a name, Ilana. And names are very important. Nothing exists unless it has a name. Can you think of something that doesn't have a name? And, darling, everything has a past. Everything--a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don't know the past, you can't understand the present and plan properly for the future."

Davita's Harp: pg 10

It all brings me back to Medieval Philosophy. Oh, the "whatness and the whiteness"...

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Good Things About Today

Got to sleep until 8 am
Registered for my LAST SEMESTER of classes
Justin told me I looked pretty
Had a heart-to-heart with my brother's girlfriend
FOUND A BEAUTIFUL APARTMENT to live in with my girls
Felt completely appreciated at work
Had a lazy afternoon
It was absolutely beautiful and sunny and warm outside!!!
Spent some quality time with Stella-Bella
Had a relaxing evening
Going out for margaritas

It was a good day! :-D

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Where Do We Fit in the Dimension of Time?

Where do we exist in the realm of time?

How does our past influence our future?

How much importance should we place on what has happened on the past, and how far into the future should we be looking? Would it be okay to simply live in the present? Is that even possible?

Everyone is so concerned with the future (finding jobs, relationships, money, etc.) that we cease to treasure and savor the now--the present.

Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness,
To be conscious is not to be in time

T.S. Eliot: Burnt Norton

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Who Am I?

DIRECTIONS:
- Go to Google image search.
- Type in your answer to each question.
- Choose a picture from the first three pages.
- Use this website (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php) to make your collage.
- Save the image for use in this note
- Post

QUESTIONS:
1. What is your name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your hometown?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What is one word to describe yourself?
10. How are you feeling right now?
11. What do you love most in the world?
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Boy, Oh Boy!

We can't live with them; we can't live without them. We love to hate them; we hate to love them.

Yes, I'm talking about the opposite gender.

I keep hearing that all men are stupid and asses who can't be trusted at all. I know that I've said my share of this, too; I'm not innocent of this. However, I've also started feeling bad about this. There are some guys in my life who are truly fantastic.

First, I have my family members. My grandpa, Jake (Abe is still a kid, and as such is not included in this conversation), my cousins (Charlie, Bob, Tim, Brad), and my uncle are all such wonderful men, and I feel so lucky to have them in my life!

I have guy friends who truly care about me, and who I truly care about as well. There is a handful of these guys who I completely trust, and who I know would be there for me in a minute if I needed it.

It feels like I'm short-changing these guys when I speak so negatively about all boys. Don't get me wrong, there are several jerks out there, but you have to remember to not judge all of them. I'm so tired of hearing that there are no good ones out there. There most certainly are; you just have to look a little harder for them.

You might be saying that I really have no basis for this, because I haven't had my heart broken by a guy. Well, romantically, no, I have not. However, the man that is supposed to be there completely and who a girl should be able to trust fully has, in a way, broken me, and I think that I do have a little bit of basis for saying all of this because of that very fact.

I'm not ranting; I just want to bring this up, because it really has started bothering me. Please know I'm not trying to discount the hurt and anger that certain guys have caused my friends. Those guys have truly been assholes. I just want to stop lumping all of them into one category.

Monday, April 6, 2009

There are Very Few Things that I Will Never Forgive

I think I've finally figured out why The Fall bothered me so much. Don't get me wrong--it was an excellent book, and the portrayal of the human condition was fairly accurate (if not totally cynical).

The narrator of the story, Jean-Baptiste Clamence draws you in completely--describing his past life as though since then he has had a dramatic change in his attitude and actions. All along, I was thinking, "okay, he was a drunkard, a womanizer, and a complete asshole, but he's going to change; yay for him."

Wrong.

He manipulated me.

I can't handle it when I'm being manipulated. It's the one thing that I cannot get over. Luckily, only one person has truly succeeded in doing it--but he will probably never be forgiven for it.

Ugh.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Past, Present, Future

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present

From: "Burnt Norton"
T.S. Eliot

It's a False Ideal

"Chicks before dicks" is such a lie. It's a great thing to shoot for, but it doesn't really work out.

Friday, April 3, 2009

To-Do List

Due Tuesday, April 7: Linear Projects Due (4 presentation boards)
Pet Carrier Project Due (1 presentation board)

Due Wednesday, April 8: Capstone Project has to be turned in to the printer

Due Thursday, April 9: Seamless Reality photography project

Due Tuesday, April 14: Stealth group project (2-3 billboards, 2 print
advertisements, webpage)

Thursday, April 16: Final Capstone Review

Due Monday, April 20: Proposal for Business

Wednesday, April 22: Turn Capstone Project in to Dudley

Due Thursday, April 23: Landscape photography project

TBA: Float, Sink, Fly project

TBA: Typographer's Chair project