i am doing three things right now:
1. teaching myself how to design webpages via tutorials on my mac. it's not going that well.
2. watching harry potter and the goblet of fire with my roommate. yes, we're nerds.
3. contemplating going to pilates.
still can believe that yet another year has gone by and is soon coming to a close. i try not to get caught up in the sentimentality of it (vitamin c, anyone?) but this year, it's been hard. i actually know - and like - about 96.1% of my graduating friends, so seeing them go off into the real world is more than a little disheartening. in my mind, graduating = falling off the face of the earth. and since most of my C.o.04 people are going to be seniors next year, the sentimentailty factor goes waaaay waaaaaay up.
i'm kind of done with finals, too. which leaves me twiddling my thumbs and curling my hair while every other person i know locks themselves in social isolation in cubicles devoid of sunlight. which leaves me with ample time to watch harry potter with my roommate, teaching myself how to edit webpages on a mac, and contemplate the possibility of maybe going to pilates. (although it's 10:49 and i'm pretty sure pilates is over.) i thought maybe it'd be fun to study for the GRE, but my mind seems to think it deserves a break. it doesn't want to analyze passages of beowulf or compare dickens to dickenson.
people keep asking me if i'm excited for europe. that's kind of like asking if a fat kid wants a chocolate éclair. something to add to the list of pointless and exceedingly obvious questions. yes please, and can i have some italy and greece to wash it down? i've practically memorized foder's see it! london, and am well on my way through the idiot's guide to europe. in good form, i've also been reading the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. i have my towel in hand, and i'm ready for anything that'll come my way, be it aliens, torrential rains, or the manchester united football fans.
quote of the day: "i'm so bored with the U.S.A., but what can i do?"
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
to everything turn, turn, turn
this week has been a dark one for americans, and those around the globe. for miami, it marked the death of one of its students. for virginia tech, thirty two students and professors were slaughtered in cold blood. for the world, hundreds lost their lives in baghdad today.
it seems like the only news i hear nowadays is bad news. some mornings i don't even want to check my email or turn on the television, because i know if i do, i'll be bombarded with images of death, of chaos, of suffering. tuesday, in one of my workshops, we put aside the flannery o'connor stories we were assigned to discuss and talked instead about the events that happened the previous day. "it seems you you guys today have been through much more than any generation," my professor said. "you had columbine, and september 11th, and now this."
i was in 7th grade when i heard about columbine. i still remember where i was, what i was wearing, all the cliches they say define moments in your life. mrs. carr's classroom smelled of mud and the various colognes and perfumes from bath and body works that all teenagers thought smelled wonderful. the orange plastic of the desk chair charged my skirt with static; the room was humid with all the students waiting for classes to start. mrs. carr sat down in front of the class on a stool. i had never seen her look so serious. she said, "i don't know if you've heard, but in a high school in colorado, many students have been shot and killed."
i grew up that day.
and now, eight years later, cnn and foxnews and msnbc and katie courac and everyone else is likening these attacks to those at columbine. everyday, a more tragic, heart-wrenching story is told. ryan clark, the tripple major R.A. who died to save another student. Caitlin Hammaren, who was only a freshman. the professor who blocked the door to save his students and was fatally wounded.
the most heartbreaking story i heard was on NPR - friends of those attending virginia tech would write messages of concern, saying "are you alright?" only to find out their friend was a victim of that day.
life, i think, comes in droves. it's cyclical. there are times in my life that everything seems to be set in place, and i float through my days as if i were acting it out in a play or a movie. but then something like this happens, that shakes me to the core. who could committ such horrible acts? nbc released videos cho had mailed. in the package, he also enclosed 27 photographs of him holding guns, some of them pointing at the camera. he said he was misunderstood and driven to do this, and he could have been prevented. and that eric and dyllon (from columbine shootings) were martyrs.
how do you get past this, though? i don't know, and i don't think there is any proper way. i think we just have to live, one day at a time, sadder and wiser for what has happened.
there is no other way.
quote of the day: "today, we are all hokies."
it seems like the only news i hear nowadays is bad news. some mornings i don't even want to check my email or turn on the television, because i know if i do, i'll be bombarded with images of death, of chaos, of suffering. tuesday, in one of my workshops, we put aside the flannery o'connor stories we were assigned to discuss and talked instead about the events that happened the previous day. "it seems you you guys today have been through much more than any generation," my professor said. "you had columbine, and september 11th, and now this."
i was in 7th grade when i heard about columbine. i still remember where i was, what i was wearing, all the cliches they say define moments in your life. mrs. carr's classroom smelled of mud and the various colognes and perfumes from bath and body works that all teenagers thought smelled wonderful. the orange plastic of the desk chair charged my skirt with static; the room was humid with all the students waiting for classes to start. mrs. carr sat down in front of the class on a stool. i had never seen her look so serious. she said, "i don't know if you've heard, but in a high school in colorado, many students have been shot and killed."
i grew up that day.
and now, eight years later, cnn and foxnews and msnbc and katie courac and everyone else is likening these attacks to those at columbine. everyday, a more tragic, heart-wrenching story is told. ryan clark, the tripple major R.A. who died to save another student. Caitlin Hammaren, who was only a freshman. the professor who blocked the door to save his students and was fatally wounded.
the most heartbreaking story i heard was on NPR - friends of those attending virginia tech would write messages of concern, saying "are you alright?" only to find out their friend was a victim of that day.
life, i think, comes in droves. it's cyclical. there are times in my life that everything seems to be set in place, and i float through my days as if i were acting it out in a play or a movie. but then something like this happens, that shakes me to the core. who could committ such horrible acts? nbc released videos cho had mailed. in the package, he also enclosed 27 photographs of him holding guns, some of them pointing at the camera. he said he was misunderstood and driven to do this, and he could have been prevented. and that eric and dyllon (from columbine shootings) were martyrs.
how do you get past this, though? i don't know, and i don't think there is any proper way. i think we just have to live, one day at a time, sadder and wiser for what has happened.
there is no other way.
quote of the day: "today, we are all hokies."
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
the cliche first entry
it seems like everyone has a blog these days. donald trump. the writers of grey's anatomy. paris hilton's dog. so i said to myself, "Self, you should probably jump on the bandwagon too. it's high time to fill people in on the mundane goings on in my life." now i can tell you, beloved readers, about my crazy weekends of debauchery, of my BURN BOOK thoughts about how some of you eat your feelings or are too gay to function, and my every thought that whisps through my brain at odd moments of the day.
more importantly, i want to keep a log of my (mis)adventures whilst over the pond. over in london towne. or at least what i can remember when i'm not stuck in class or at a pub. either way, this should be entertaining.
having said that, i should probably include some amusing anecdote. the most amusing thing i've got is that i'm beginning to look at grad schools. i'm leaning more towards the M.F.A. in creative writing, as most credible universities want to pay me to sit around, eat bon-bons, and write all day. can't say that i'm morally opposed to that. and then i can live in an intellectual cardboard box, and write all my stories on toilet paper, with the beacon of my advanced writing degree mocking those years. and i'll be fat from those bon-bons.
all the best,
beth
quote of the day: "suicide. at least we're not talking about it closer to finals week." -professor m. yockey.
more importantly, i want to keep a log of my (mis)adventures whilst over the pond. over in london towne. or at least what i can remember when i'm not stuck in class or at a pub. either way, this should be entertaining.
having said that, i should probably include some amusing anecdote. the most amusing thing i've got is that i'm beginning to look at grad schools. i'm leaning more towards the M.F.A. in creative writing, as most credible universities want to pay me to sit around, eat bon-bons, and write all day. can't say that i'm morally opposed to that. and then i can live in an intellectual cardboard box, and write all my stories on toilet paper, with the beacon of my advanced writing degree mocking those years. and i'll be fat from those bon-bons.
all the best,
beth
quote of the day: "suicide. at least we're not talking about it closer to finals week." -professor m. yockey.
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