So Spring Break 2K9 has finally drawn to a close. While I didn't get to go to Canada, I did do quite a lot of traveling anyway - mostly between Richmond and DC, but still. Let's make a short, cliche-ridden list of things collegians are supposed to do that I succeeded in doing over the break:
1. Get absolutely shitfaced most/all nights: check, 8/10 nights.
2. Met people I will Facebook but do not remember meeting: check (read: half of my new friends as of this week).
3. Engaged in at least two instances of drunken sex that seemed to be a brilliant idea at the time but ended up being the worst decision(s) ever: check checkity check (just...check).
4. Slept until between 2 and 4pm most days, only to be awake (and usually drinking) until 6 or 7am.
5. Walked (read: staggered) through no less than 3 of the most dangerous 'hoods in DC at or after 3am.
6. [This one is DC-specific] Got drunk laying in Dupont staring at the stars with an aforementioned Facebook friend I don't remember meeting, only allowing the occasional socioeconomics discussion with a random European backpacker to interrupt.
7. Find myself absolutely petrified at the thought of returning to Richmond later tonight and having to re-join the real world, complete with not excessive drinking and sleeping until the early afternoon.
Hope everyone else's breaks were as fun and/or more productive than mine. Until next time!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Ship Up, Ship Out
I've hit a point in my life at which I no longer feel comfortable in either places I call home. The people, the places, the cities themselves no longer feel like places I belong. Of course, ideally, I would pick up and move; I'd ask for a relocation from my job, or I'd up and find a new one. But university doesn't allow that, so what's a girl to do?
Well, I'm going to do what I think is likely the next best thing. I'm shipping up, and shipping out. This coming week is spring break, and while most of my classmates and friends are going to various tropical islands or exotic locales, I think I just need some time to myself - but somewhere new.
An old friend suggested I visit her up in Ontario. It seemed silly at the time, but the drive is only slightly longer than the drive to Boston used to be. What better place to find my own peace than with people who want me around in a place I've definitely never had the opportunity to explore.
I can keep myself busy while keeping myself unattached. I can take as much time to myself as I need (9 hours in a car each way will be the best for that, of course) and I can find that place in which I feel good in my own skin. And around other people.
When I come back, there will be no one waiting for me. Though this should feel worse than it does...it doesn't. And I don't particularly mind right now. As I cross the border coming home, I will surely feel a sense of dread looming, growing larger with every state further south I get. But the true test of my own capacity to find my footing and bring it all back will be the return to Richmond itself.
So here's to break. Tonight, we drink; tomorrow, I do laundry at my parents' place and grab my passport. Monday, I set out for some much-needed closure from the only person who matters.
Well, I'm going to do what I think is likely the next best thing. I'm shipping up, and shipping out. This coming week is spring break, and while most of my classmates and friends are going to various tropical islands or exotic locales, I think I just need some time to myself - but somewhere new.
An old friend suggested I visit her up in Ontario. It seemed silly at the time, but the drive is only slightly longer than the drive to Boston used to be. What better place to find my own peace than with people who want me around in a place I've definitely never had the opportunity to explore.
I can keep myself busy while keeping myself unattached. I can take as much time to myself as I need (9 hours in a car each way will be the best for that, of course) and I can find that place in which I feel good in my own skin. And around other people.
When I come back, there will be no one waiting for me. Though this should feel worse than it does...it doesn't. And I don't particularly mind right now. As I cross the border coming home, I will surely feel a sense of dread looming, growing larger with every state further south I get. But the true test of my own capacity to find my footing and bring it all back will be the return to Richmond itself.
So here's to break. Tonight, we drink; tomorrow, I do laundry at my parents' place and grab my passport. Monday, I set out for some much-needed closure from the only person who matters.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Oh, Oops.
Definitely epically failed at that one.
I will eventually write a real post. I promise. This semester is more hectic than any I can think of.
I will eventually write a real post. I promise. This semester is more hectic than any I can think of.
Monday, January 12, 2009
On the News, For Once
I know it's been a long time since I've put my hand to political commentary. And the post I will be making later this evening will not by any means be a fair and balanced account of what is going on in the recent Gaza conflict. I do, however, want to put something out there from the way I see it - even if I am just one of the grossly under-represented supporters of Israel (specifically IDF's Operation Cast Lead).
Hopefully I will be able to get something substantial written and posted before bed tonight.
The new semester just started today, and I'm thoroughly enjoying being back in Richmond, back in classes, back with my friends and classmates and most importantly, back into the groove of things.
Regardless, I hope to have something of some sort of substance at all sooner rather than later. Until then!
Hopefully I will be able to get something substantial written and posted before bed tonight.
The new semester just started today, and I'm thoroughly enjoying being back in Richmond, back in classes, back with my friends and classmates and most importantly, back into the groove of things.
Regardless, I hope to have something of some sort of substance at all sooner rather than later. Until then!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Holidays
New BlackBerry for Hanukkah/Christmas! So awesome!
Going up to Boston after Christmas to spend New Years with Rachel. Pretty damn excited about that. Then I go back down for class to start up again, and she comes down the day after her birthday and spends that weekend/the inauguration/the week after with me in DC/Richmond. I am sufficiently stoked.
All in all, good break so far. Being 21 is awesome. That's really all I've got as of late. Sorry folks.
Going up to Boston after Christmas to spend New Years with Rachel. Pretty damn excited about that. Then I go back down for class to start up again, and she comes down the day after her birthday and spends that weekend/the inauguration/the week after with me in DC/Richmond. I am sufficiently stoked.
All in all, good break so far. Being 21 is awesome. That's really all I've got as of late. Sorry folks.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Right Quick
Hey everyone (no one?). Sorry it's been roughly forever. I'm in crunch time with a zillion papers, quizzes/tests and even an exam or two. Aren't those supposed to wait until finals time, people? Oh well.
So hey, I turn 21 ridiculously soon. I have no idea if I will feel any different or more awesome, as I haven't ever really felt a huge change come with officially turning a year older in the past. Then again, I have a pretty wicked habit of lying about my age (in social situations only, of course). So I suppose we'll see when we get there.
I haven't really been this excited to go home and spend time with my dad and sister in...well, possibly my entire college career. I think it's mostly due to my mom being gone for such an extended period of time; I feel like maybe that's what's subconsciously making the three of us emotionally closer. I'm just glad my mom's been able to keep in contact with us at least periodically. She comes home for a (very) short winter holiday break, but then she's back out until September. I don't have anything negative to say about it, though, because the woman loves her job, is clearly pretty much amazing at it, and the assignment will do wonders for her resume/career.
I think I'll leave this post off on that note. In the recent past, a friend of mine had the opportunity to make the biggest career move of her life, almost double what she's making now and an entry on her resume for which about 95% of all people in her career field would skull-stomp. The thing is, she'd have to leave the place she's lived her entire life (I think she's been out of the country once or twice, but has never not lived within a few hours of the house she grew up in) and the people with whom she's spent that entire life.
She's not taking the position, even though it's exactly what she wants in life.
That completely blows my mind. I could never imagine giving up anything that could boost my career; especially not just so that I could stay with mommy and daddy and stay with a girlfriend (boyfriend in her situation) who could easily move anywhere with the career she's chosen.
I look back on all of that and realize how lucky I am - twisted as it may be - that I grew up in a household that valued education and getting a good career above pretty much all else. Sure, my family's not close and we're one of the pinnacle definitions of dysfunctional. But I know for a fact that when my parents are in their mid-to-late-60s, they won't care if/that neither my sister nor I are within even driving range. I know what will make them the happiest and most proud is when they have a civil rights lawyer/Hill lobbyist and a registered and board-certified OB/GYN as their two legacies, they will finally be able to feel 100% proud of all the sweat, tears and money they poured into us for what will collectively have been around 30 years.
It is when I come across situations like these that I realize how lucky I am to have the parents, sister and girlfriend that I have right now. My mother and father, though it has admittedly taken them a bit longer than I'd originally hoped, couldn't be prouder of the woman I've become and the career path I've chosen for myself (even though my mom secretly hopes I decide to stick with law school and abandon lobbying - but she knows it's a fat chance). My sister is more supportive of me in every single activity in which I participate and decision I make for myself than I am, usually. I'm most pleased and lucky that I am currently involved with someone who views the future - namely her career, but also some social options too - with the same prioritization that I do.
For anyone who might be reading this - how do you feel about this sort of thing? I'm curious to see how other people view and rank their priorities in life. Does it always have to be dream job or dream life, or can there be a happy medium? Am I the only one who considers one of the highest markers of a happy life to be having a career for which one would do anything or go anywhere?
So hey, I turn 21 ridiculously soon. I have no idea if I will feel any different or more awesome, as I haven't ever really felt a huge change come with officially turning a year older in the past. Then again, I have a pretty wicked habit of lying about my age (in social situations only, of course). So I suppose we'll see when we get there.
I haven't really been this excited to go home and spend time with my dad and sister in...well, possibly my entire college career. I think it's mostly due to my mom being gone for such an extended period of time; I feel like maybe that's what's subconsciously making the three of us emotionally closer. I'm just glad my mom's been able to keep in contact with us at least periodically. She comes home for a (very) short winter holiday break, but then she's back out until September. I don't have anything negative to say about it, though, because the woman loves her job, is clearly pretty much amazing at it, and the assignment will do wonders for her resume/career.
I think I'll leave this post off on that note. In the recent past, a friend of mine had the opportunity to make the biggest career move of her life, almost double what she's making now and an entry on her resume for which about 95% of all people in her career field would skull-stomp. The thing is, she'd have to leave the place she's lived her entire life (I think she's been out of the country once or twice, but has never not lived within a few hours of the house she grew up in) and the people with whom she's spent that entire life.
She's not taking the position, even though it's exactly what she wants in life.
That completely blows my mind. I could never imagine giving up anything that could boost my career; especially not just so that I could stay with mommy and daddy and stay with a girlfriend (boyfriend in her situation) who could easily move anywhere with the career she's chosen.
I look back on all of that and realize how lucky I am - twisted as it may be - that I grew up in a household that valued education and getting a good career above pretty much all else. Sure, my family's not close and we're one of the pinnacle definitions of dysfunctional. But I know for a fact that when my parents are in their mid-to-late-60s, they won't care if/that neither my sister nor I are within even driving range. I know what will make them the happiest and most proud is when they have a civil rights lawyer/Hill lobbyist and a registered and board-certified OB/GYN as their two legacies, they will finally be able to feel 100% proud of all the sweat, tears and money they poured into us for what will collectively have been around 30 years.
It is when I come across situations like these that I realize how lucky I am to have the parents, sister and girlfriend that I have right now. My mother and father, though it has admittedly taken them a bit longer than I'd originally hoped, couldn't be prouder of the woman I've become and the career path I've chosen for myself (even though my mom secretly hopes I decide to stick with law school and abandon lobbying - but she knows it's a fat chance). My sister is more supportive of me in every single activity in which I participate and decision I make for myself than I am, usually. I'm most pleased and lucky that I am currently involved with someone who views the future - namely her career, but also some social options too - with the same prioritization that I do.
For anyone who might be reading this - how do you feel about this sort of thing? I'm curious to see how other people view and rank their priorities in life. Does it always have to be dream job or dream life, or can there be a happy medium? Am I the only one who considers one of the highest markers of a happy life to be having a career for which one would do anything or go anywhere?
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