finals are...

OVER! Well, except for one incredibly ridiculous project that still needs to be turned in, but we're trying not to think about that.

In celebration, I'd like to share with the blagosphere my number one form of procrastination: photoshop. Want to know why it's so grand? Because it still feels a little productive and some might argue that the ideas and ingenuity it inspires are beneficial in creative thinking and problem solving. Plus, it's a surefire way to crack myself up.

Here is my collection of "I-Can't-Wait-To-Be-Back-In-Texas-Studying-Is-Making-My-Brain-Ooze" facebook profile pictures.

Three Sixty Five

I started Project 365 on my birthday last year as a way to keep my mind off of the crud that accompanied my first year of college. No cool story about improving my photography or documenting my life for posterity or keeping family and friends informed. I just needed to have something, anything, to look forward to every day. I needed an occupation. In all honesty, 365 was my saving grace.

Some days were easy: game days, dinner parties, concerts, costumes. Some days were hard, and I wound up taking pictures of flash cards or bookshelves or iPhone screen shots. Naturally, I tried to avoid these days since they made me look like a total lame-o to my parents who, at the time, were the only people I could imagine being interested enough to look at the album. I found myself participating more. I sought out things I could do that would make an interesting picture. I plucked up courage to ask for pictures that I never would have otherwise - and some of those pictures are the best memories. As sappy as it sounds, my life was definitely altered by 365. I began to enjoy all of these things I was forcing myself to do just for pictures. I began to realize that I did actually do more cool stuff than I ever thought. I began to like college.

As the days progressed, more and more people started to ask me about 365. It was neat, but also sort of unnerving to have my life available for anyone to browse.

Now that it's over, I still find myself on the lookout for things to photograph that will make my days look interesting. Then I breathe sighs of relief when I remember that I'm not accountable for documenting every day anymore.

One thing's for sure: I would never have completed 365 without all of the people who let me awkwardly take pictures with/of them, the people who refrained from pointing out how strange I was while taking pictures of me when I asked them to, the people who leapt up at midnight when I exclaimed, "I haven't taken a picture today!!! Quick, do something cool!", the people who suffered my demands of "I need a picture today, so we better do something cool.", and the people who actually looked at all of these pictures and made me feel validated. Thanks for thinking 365 days of my life were worth 365 pictures!

The whole album resides here.

CYD

Because I am an advisor for EL, I get opportunities to do really cool things. Take this morning, for example. For most college students, knowing that you have to be up and at 'em at 7:30 on the morning after campus finally goes wet is not cool. For me, it was cool because I was so amped for Into the Streets, a morning of service for the freshman class. My job was to go be a freshman wrangler and make sure everyone in my group was having fun and getting involved in the project we were assigned.

I ended up joining the group headed to Create Your Dreams, and incredible organization here in Atlanta. These awesome people pick, based on need and promise, a number of 3rd graders from a small, Title I elementary school and basically foster and encourage their dreams all throughout elementary, middle, high school, and eventually college, breaking the cycle of poverty that has been inherent to their families for generations. Most of these kids are the first to earn high school diplomas, gain admittance into college, earn college degrees, and even go on to graduate programs. Some of these girls are the first in their families to make it past sweet sixteen without being pregnant. The kids get one on one tutoring, college prep, stability, a safe and secure atmosphere, and love and caring from the CYD team. It is honestly amazing. Our involvement today was to just have fun with and love on some of the kids. We played field day games, ninja, tug of war. We made crafts. We played UNO and Spades. We talked about Greek mythology, writing plays, playing in the band. These kids were so bright and cheerful, making my early morning wake up call incredibly worth it. And their classroom looks like something straight Out of the Box. Late 90's Disney Channel, say what.

This is The First Day of My Life

Last night, Bright Eyes, the Tabernacle, ohmygosh. This concert was beyond amazing. He put out a new CD at the beginning of the year, so I was a little nervous that the majority of the setlist would come from that. Pleasant. Pleasant. Surprise. He played tons of old stuff, including some of my very favorite songs and some that I'm Groovesharking at my earliest convenience because they sounded great and I was a little ashamed of myself for not having heard this goodness before. My highlights of the night: Bowl of Oranges, I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, Gold Mine Gutted, Take it Easy, <entire setlist>. I can't pick highlights. The whole night was my highlight. Plus, I got to hang out with a pretty awesome Big, who's birthday happens to be today, so we went b-day shopping a day early at the merch table. Scores all around.

"We went to Disneyworld and learned a new motto. Celebrate the dream inside. That's what we're encouraging you to do tonight. Celebrate it."

"This next song....is in 3D. Please put on the glasses that were handed to you at the door."
3 minutes pass.
"Please put on the 3D glasses"
3 minutes pass.
"There must have been some kind of mistake. Just squint really hard at the stage for this next song."

"You might be wondering who this handsome devil is. Right here, in the flesh."

Dear Conor, if I could be half as devil-may-care as you, I would feel unstoppable. Keep up the good work.




P.S. I'm pleased that some of my pictures from the concert turned out ok, but I'm sick and tired of shooting on the Auto setting, especially when I know my camera can do better than most of the shots I got last night. Any good tips/tricks/tutorials for sashaying into the realm of priority or manual settings?

Lounging in the Bureau Drawer

This darn cat bites the fire out of my ankles, sprawls over any homework I set out, corners me in hallways, stalks me through the living room, attacks my wrists, makes me stand for an eternity while she decides whether to come in the door or stay outside, throws up in the most inconvenient places, eats/drinks anything left out on the counter or table.

But she also sits on my lap while I'm reading, rubs against my legs, applies warm and comforting pressure on my stomach while we both sleep, tickles my fingers with her rough tongue, kneads my legs with her paws, softly buts her head against mine, and I miss her.

I Could Have Danced All Night

Costume Salsa Dance Party. If you know anything about me, you know that these words are what I live to hear. So this afternoon, when I got a text inviting me to a Costume Salsa Dance Party later in the evening, my answer was an emphatic YES.

First order of business was finding a costume. I sorely miss having a well-stocked dress up closet at my disposal, because I'm finding costumes to be a common recurrence in the college scene. After racking my brain and the public brain known as the world wide web for ideas, I remembered my Captain Kirk shirt which would pair perfectly with my black pants and high boots to make a mighty fine Captain Kirkette outfit. (The best part of this shirt is that I obtained it by sending in ten box tops to the Kellogs company.)

On my merry way, I stepped out of my building smack dab in the middle of a group of five or so guys. Now, I've had this happen before when I was dressed to the nines for chapter, but this was the first time I have ever been addressed. Only at Tech. The guys were heartbroken when I told them that it was only a costume and that I have never actually seen any Star Trek except for the newest movie. But I liked it! (At this one guy fell to his knees and wailed.)

Feeling pretty good, I met up with my friend, who was dressed as Hermione. We walked together to the Student Center and arrived at the ballroom just in time for the last half hour of lessons before the actual dance began. Just like in Social Dance, the guys and girls stood in circles and the guys would circle around to new partners practicing the basic step, the crossbody inside turn, and the righthand turn. When we could all at least function, the dancing began.

My first partner was one of those zero social skill types, who was not afraid to belittle this first timer. It was one of those situations, though, that I couldn't easily bail out of, for the sole reason that I was so amused by his antics. He would watch me spin the wrong way, snidely say "You've got the gist, now try going in the right direction" or some other comment, and I would laugh at the ridiculousness of my position. The song ended, and more partners came and went. I started to see a trend - they were all old and somewhat creepy, but that alone made the whole night even more fun. After each number my friend and I would meet up to swap stories about the last weirdo we danced with.

By far, the most fun to dance with were the Salsa Club officers and the people who actually knew what they were doing. Most were really patient and willing to teach me the steps. I am very proud of myself for how many times I told one of these that it was my first time salsa dancing to be told I was doing very well for a first timer and learned quickly. Of course, I could have told them about my Dancing With the Stars Latin Cardio Dance exercise DVDs, but somehow I didn't think that would count as "experience".

Even though I sacrificed watching my Texas Rangers BEAT THE YANKEES AND EARN A SPOT IN THE WORLD SERIES!!!, tonight ended up being one of the most pleasurable of my college career so far.

A Pictorial Review

Allow me to introduce you to some stand out moments of my fall break:

 meet the cheerful tidings from some of my favorite people

 meet Elinor, who enjoys movie musicals, german chocolate cake, and long walks in the park

 meet airport dinner

 meet the 1201 lb hog

 meet Elsie, the Borden milk cow herself

 meet Fletcher's corny dogs, the best in the entire galaxy

 meet Big Tex, who must've come down with laryngitis this year

 meet all kinds of heaven served in a paper tray

 meet East Texas at its best



Add to this list: family, friends, church, Mexican food, cowboy hats, old movies, Project Runway, pets, crafting, and I think you'll get a pretty good idea of how I spent my fall break.

Oh! Cruel Reality, with your homework, warm refrigerators, fickle TV tuners, quizzes/tests, MARTA stations, and dirty laundry - you've come to quickly.

P.S. Go Rangers!

Simple Pleasures

I have always been a goober for simple pleasures. Today, these things in particular have made me happy:

- ice cold milk in my cereal
- a Pumpkin Spice Latte to accompany some morning Barnes and Noble browsing
- crewneck sweatshirts
- discovering the $1 Dover Thrift Edition's on some obscure shelf

- a Jane Austen address book
- blog comments from weeks ago that I haven't seen until now - Emily, I am so glad that you like Bright Eyes! I have a Canon Powershot SX210 IS, and I'm still figuring out how to use it best. Sorry for the delayed response :)
- receiving letters from friends back home
- writing letters to friends far away
- Oliver Twist
- a new room reconfiguration

- Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper and popcorn
- seeing that Kevin from Top Chef will be at Taste of Atlanta, fueling my desire to buy a ticket
- GT Night at the High is in t minus 30 minutes
- finally making it to Revelation Day!

Reading

One of the toughest parts of college, other than making new friends and changing sheets on a lofted bed, is finding time to read. I've always loved to read, so for sanity's sake I make time during my week to read for pleasure, aka something other than a textbook. At the moment, I'm about halfway through Oliver Twist. It helps to immerse myself in Dicken's world after a difficult Calculus lecture or a frustrating Biology lab, even if it's only for the paltry satisfaction of knowing someone else is having a worse off time than I am. And so I read for enjoyment, exhilaration, and escape.

19.09.2010 BJ Novak stand-up performance: the best way to start off a week.

20.09.2010 Catching up with Oliver before Calc recitation.

A Photographic Journey

In a quest to become a better photographer, I recently purchased a book on digital photography from Barnes and Noble. Among other more tedious things, it told me to start up a project as a way to practice and gauge progress. Coincidentally, I've recently been impressed by a few of my friends who are taking a picture a day for 365 days. And so my project begins: a self portrait for every day I remember to take a self portrait. Seems doable...

16.09.2010 Studying Calculus in one of my favorite shirts. Why? It's soft, it's Bright Eyes, and it actually belongs to my brother, which rather ranks me in the class of girls who wear their brother's old concert shirts.

17.09.2010 Perched on my lofted bed in some comfy sneaks.

As an unrelated side note, I love the way that I laugh everytime I accidentally type "me" instead of "my" because it makes me sound like a pirate. And, yes, this does happen a lot.