I'm interning with Project Vote Smart this summer...in the middle of nowhere Montana. My plane takes off late Friday; I'm gone for 10 weeks.
I haven't even started to pack. I, the most intense list-maker EVER, clearly need a list.
Packing List: Montana - Summer '08
1. Ipod -- charged!!!
2. cell phone charger
3. cell phone
4. umbrella
5. calendar
6. lap top
7. lap top charger
8. camera cord
9. running head phones
10. clothes + hangers
11. running attire
12. shoes
13. accessories
14. make up
15. shampoo / conditioner
16. deodorant
17. face lotion
18. sunscreen
19. perfume
20. face wash
21. make up remover
22. soap
23. lotion
24. purses / bags
25. towel (s)
26. pillow cases
27. first aid kit
28. inhaler (s)
29. jacket (s)
30. camera
31. notebook
32. writing utensils
33. sudoku book
34. knitting
35. reading material
36. phase 10 cards
37. playing cards
38. wallet
39. water bottle
40. travel mug
41. battery charger
42. Nyquil
43. Ibuprofen
44. Luna bars
45. dictionary
46. thesaurus
47. RUNNING SHOES
48. tea bags / propel packets / lemonade packets
49. brush / bobby pins / hair ties / head bands
50. laundry detergent
51. nail polish / mani-pedi bag
52. laundry bag
53.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Evolution and Never-Ending Cycle of Success
It's normal to want to excel. It's normal to want to succeed. It's normal to crush the competition.
Why?
Why, in a society that is already fast-paced, intense, and (for the most part) progressive, do we continually strive toward a position above the rest? Why is it that we seem completely incapable of being happy with what we have?
We always hope for promotions. We always try to better ourselves. We always want more. Whether we do it in public or private...we are continually moving forward...and to us, moving forward means evolving into something more impressive than before.
We berate ourselves over the smallest off-beats. In the scheme of life, when will getting a bad test score or eating half a bag of Doritos really matter? Things along those lines shouldn't even register as minor set-backs, but somehow, we let them.
Why?
I want to be happy with my life. I want to be able to move to my remote Minnesota lake, work a might-as-well-be minimum wage job, and just be happy to exist.
You know what I really want RIGHT NOW? I want Cedar Falls to flood, forcing UNI to forgo distribution of final examinations.
Why?
Why, in a society that is already fast-paced, intense, and (for the most part) progressive, do we continually strive toward a position above the rest? Why is it that we seem completely incapable of being happy with what we have?
We always hope for promotions. We always try to better ourselves. We always want more. Whether we do it in public or private...we are continually moving forward...and to us, moving forward means evolving into something more impressive than before.
We berate ourselves over the smallest off-beats. In the scheme of life, when will getting a bad test score or eating half a bag of Doritos really matter? Things along those lines shouldn't even register as minor set-backs, but somehow, we let them.
Why?
I want to be happy with my life. I want to be able to move to my remote Minnesota lake, work a might-as-well-be minimum wage job, and just be happy to exist.
You know what I really want RIGHT NOW? I want Cedar Falls to flood, forcing UNI to forgo distribution of final examinations.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A Mid-College Crisis
In preparation for life, K-12 schools everywhere prepare students with ideas of endless possibilities.
College is like a brick falling smack onto the head. When the brick first drops, we don't even know it's coming. When we hear it, we look up, and prepare ourselves with less than a moment of preparation and a thought of deep depression. When it hits, life is over. That's it; there is no way out of the situation.
It's the perfect analogy.
Undergraduate Freshmen: They are ridiculous. They are all binge-drinking, slightly whore-ish, slacking, complainers who think they rule the campus. Anything is possible.
Undergraduate Sophomores: I think it's sometimes referred to as the 'sophomore-slump'...but that might just be what my friends and I deemed it. These are the kids who realize that life is actually happening...no matter how much we try to stall it. Still...anything is possible...the only difference is that everything is seen through a bit of a bleaker outlook than before.
Undergraduate Juniors: First semester - life is great. Anything is possible...and nothing can possibly go wrong. Then second semester hits...GPA's matter all of a sudden, close relationships with faculty and staff are key, and there is no more pretending that life after undergraduate is too far in the future to matter.
Is senioritis even possible in college? There is no way seniors fit that into their schedules.
The majority of us grow up with solid positivity and optimism ingrained in us. It's like we're placed in a crystal ball and everything we see through the ball shines with a certain, golden glow.
Then the second semester of our junior year in undergraduate comes around. The crystal is shattered; the glow is gone...and our optimism goes with it. Our young, curious, positive minds are no longer.
With second semester comes a new level of responsibility...and the ever-present question referring to the status of our futures.
'They' always talk about the mid-life crisis...but no one ever pays any attention to the mid-college crisis. Why is that? Is it because it's shameful? I'm not ashamed. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. I feel like screaming it from the porch out of pure frustration sometimes.
You know what? A mid-life crisis can be solved with an expensive shopping spree...usually resulting in a large shoe collection, a shiny, new, expensive car, and / or the vacation of a life time. College students can't afford that. College students represent a large chunk of the U.S. citizens currently in debt...we can't even afford the education that is causing all of the stress!
I miss kindergarten.
College is like a brick falling smack onto the head. When the brick first drops, we don't even know it's coming. When we hear it, we look up, and prepare ourselves with less than a moment of preparation and a thought of deep depression. When it hits, life is over. That's it; there is no way out of the situation.
It's the perfect analogy.
Undergraduate Freshmen: They are ridiculous. They are all binge-drinking, slightly whore-ish, slacking, complainers who think they rule the campus. Anything is possible.
Undergraduate Sophomores: I think it's sometimes referred to as the 'sophomore-slump'...but that might just be what my friends and I deemed it. These are the kids who realize that life is actually happening...no matter how much we try to stall it. Still...anything is possible...the only difference is that everything is seen through a bit of a bleaker outlook than before.
Undergraduate Juniors: First semester - life is great. Anything is possible...and nothing can possibly go wrong. Then second semester hits...GPA's matter all of a sudden, close relationships with faculty and staff are key, and there is no more pretending that life after undergraduate is too far in the future to matter.
Is senioritis even possible in college? There is no way seniors fit that into their schedules.
The majority of us grow up with solid positivity and optimism ingrained in us. It's like we're placed in a crystal ball and everything we see through the ball shines with a certain, golden glow.
Then the second semester of our junior year in undergraduate comes around. The crystal is shattered; the glow is gone...and our optimism goes with it. Our young, curious, positive minds are no longer.
With second semester comes a new level of responsibility...and the ever-present question referring to the status of our futures.
'They' always talk about the mid-life crisis...but no one ever pays any attention to the mid-college crisis. Why is that? Is it because it's shameful? I'm not ashamed. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. I feel like screaming it from the porch out of pure frustration sometimes.
You know what? A mid-life crisis can be solved with an expensive shopping spree...usually resulting in a large shoe collection, a shiny, new, expensive car, and / or the vacation of a life time. College students can't afford that. College students represent a large chunk of the U.S. citizens currently in debt...we can't even afford the education that is causing all of the stress!
I miss kindergarten.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
What Would Jane Do?
What would Jane have done?
Would she have walked across the street?
Would I?
I'm watching The Jane Austen Book Club right now. I just finished Becoming Jane.
I don't think Jane would have gotten to the street in the first place.
I think I wouldn't have gotten there...but for a different reason. I wouldn't have gotten there because I would have done the sensible thing.
Would she have walked across the street?
Would I?
I'm watching The Jane Austen Book Club right now. I just finished Becoming Jane.
I don't think Jane would have gotten to the street in the first place.
I think I wouldn't have gotten there...but for a different reason. I wouldn't have gotten there because I would have done the sensible thing.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Shiny, New Shoes
The bare necessities of life. For most people, the list goes something along the lines of the following: food, water, shelter, sleep, minimal clothing...
...for me? It's a little skewed: A closet full of shoes, bags, clothes, and accessories, water, a good treadmill, and my IPod.
If there is a pair of shiny, new pumps in the window of my favorite store, I will literally go for months without grocery shopping just so that I can afford them when they finally go on sale.
I usually go to bed around 2:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. wouldn't be too bad if I didn't get up until class time. However, that's not how my life works. My alarm tends to go off sometime around 6:00 a.m. each morning...the Health Beat's fabulous machines and I tend to be inseparable during the early morning hours of facility operation.
Water seems to be the only unarguable necessity shared by both my life and those of normal people.
I find that fact only semi-disturbing.
...for me? It's a little skewed: A closet full of shoes, bags, clothes, and accessories, water, a good treadmill, and my IPod.
If there is a pair of shiny, new pumps in the window of my favorite store, I will literally go for months without grocery shopping just so that I can afford them when they finally go on sale.
I usually go to bed around 2:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. wouldn't be too bad if I didn't get up until class time. However, that's not how my life works. My alarm tends to go off sometime around 6:00 a.m. each morning...the Health Beat's fabulous machines and I tend to be inseparable during the early morning hours of facility operation.
Water seems to be the only unarguable necessity shared by both my life and those of normal people.
I find that fact only semi-disturbing.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Iowa Heart Center
My life as a home-bound cardiac patient. In case there was any question...no; I did not change outfits all weekend
Christian really enjoyed taking this one. Hah...
I was counting down the seconds until I got to remove it.
Don't think those circles were fun to remove.
Sadie did not sleep on my bed voluntarily. I made her.
Unfortunately, the 24 hours I spent at home were insanely better than those I spent outside of it.
I have never been topless in front of more people than I was this weekend. I hate my heart.
I am so sick of hospital smells, gowns that only open to the front, incompetent nurses, long needles, wasting blood on laboratories, one-on-ones with ridiculous doctors, awkward silences, and leaving my mother behind in the waiting room.
Christian really enjoyed taking this one. Hah...
I was counting down the seconds until I got to remove it.
Don't think those circles were fun to remove.
Sadie did not sleep on my bed voluntarily. I made her.
Unfortunately, the 24 hours I spent at home were insanely better than those I spent outside of it.
I have never been topless in front of more people than I was this weekend. I hate my heart.
I am so sick of hospital smells, gowns that only open to the front, incompetent nurses, long needles, wasting blood on laboratories, one-on-ones with ridiculous doctors, awkward silences, and leaving my mother behind in the waiting room.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Home Alone
I asked her to stay but she wouldn't listen
She left before I had the chance to say
Oh
The words that would mend the things that were broken
But now it's far too late, she's gone away
Every night you cry yourself to sleep
Thinking: "Why does this happen to me?
Why does every moment have to be so hard?"
Hard to believe it
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
The taste of her breath, I'll never get over
The noises that she made kept me awake
Oh
The weight of things that remain unspoken
Built up so much it crushed us everyday
Every night you cry yourself to sleep
Thinking: "Why does this happen to me?
Why does every moment have to be so hard?"
Hard to believe it
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
Of all the things I felt but never really shown
Perhaps the worst is that I ever let you go
I should not ever let you go, oh oh oh
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
And I won't go home without you
And I won't go home without you
And I won't go home without you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6voJ1sgY_0
This song describes my life perfectly right now. I can't stop listening to it. It's not even that great of a song...but Maroon 5 captured my life in a snap-shot...only in their music video version though. The lyrics without the visual make it seem like it's going to turn out okay...but in the video you see the more realistic version...the one that proves real-life doesn't turn out like Cinderella's story.
She left before I had the chance to say
Oh
The words that would mend the things that were broken
But now it's far too late, she's gone away
Every night you cry yourself to sleep
Thinking: "Why does this happen to me?
Why does every moment have to be so hard?"
Hard to believe it
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
The taste of her breath, I'll never get over
The noises that she made kept me awake
Oh
The weight of things that remain unspoken
Built up so much it crushed us everyday
Every night you cry yourself to sleep
Thinking: "Why does this happen to me?
Why does every moment have to be so hard?"
Hard to believe it
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
Of all the things I felt but never really shown
Perhaps the worst is that I ever let you go
I should not ever let you go, oh oh oh
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
It's not over tonight
Just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
And I won't go home without you
And I won't go home without you
And I won't go home without you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6voJ1sgY_0
This song describes my life perfectly right now. I can't stop listening to it. It's not even that great of a song...but Maroon 5 captured my life in a snap-shot...only in their music video version though. The lyrics without the visual make it seem like it's going to turn out okay...but in the video you see the more realistic version...the one that proves real-life doesn't turn out like Cinderella's story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
