College Visits Day 5

Monday, March 28, 2011

8:00 Woke up, went to the bathroom, discovered that both of my parents were definitely still sleeping, and decided to go back to sleep. Very gladly.

9:00 Woke up again only to see that my mom was already showered and dressed and my dad on his computer. Wow, time flies when you're dreaming!

So I took a shower. Unfortunately, I had to take mine last. And I don't do well being rushed out because I took the last shower. So basically...it was a bad morning. Let's leave it at that.

10:00 We walked over to the main part of campus and caught the campus tour just on time. The tour guides were all very nice, all girls... (Hey, I just realized - all the tour guides we've had at colleges have been girls...hmm.) But they didn't seem to have the same amount of enthusiasm for what they were doing as the students at Oberlin. Our tour guide kept talking about things as if everybody had the classic school-is-boring mindset... Which, I admit, I've never had. In fact, everyone there seemed like that. Like they couldn't wait till they could go and party, and they just weren't that interested in what they were doing. Lots of people are like that, I know, but I barely got that feeling at all at Oberlin. A large part of that was because the students we got to talk to individually were all very passionate about their studies, and that wasn't the case at Kenyon.

11:15 Afterwards, we sat in on an information session. It was a lady involved in the admissions process, and that was pretty much all she talked about! And boy did she talk! She seemed very nice and personable, and she did a good job of making the college admissions process very comfortable...but she barely talked about Kenyon! Seriously, at one point when there was a little lull in her chatter, she said, "Hm, I'm trying to think of what makes Kenyon unique... Well, I guess I just keep going back to the place." Yes. All she could think of was the location! Which, I've got to admit, was very nice, but not at all what I want.

It's isolated, on a hill. In fact, our tour guide said the founders built it there because then it would be above the sinners down below. (I couldn't help but be reminded of the colonists' City Upon a Hill theory.) All the buildings are very nice and grand. A lot of the classes are actually held in houses that the professors used to live in. One of the dining halls is called the Great Hall, and actually looks like a smaller version of the Great Hall in Hogwarts. The campus is beautiful, but it somehow isn't real. The "town" it's in, Gambier, is barely a town. It's really just a collection of a couple shops and restaurants on like...ONE street.

The whole time I was in the information session, I felt really uncomfortable. We were in a room with fancy chairs and a high ceiling and bookshelves lining the walls, along with big painted portraits of the founders or something. It felt too unreal, too fancy, not like a home. And not someplace where people would be passionate about what they were learning, and actually go out in the world and DO something about it.

We went back to our hotel room and checked out, then went to the cafeteria for lunch, because my parents insisted upon eating in there. Let's just say that I was in a very bad mood. I was very affected by the feeling of the place, and I felt very trapped. I hadn't had a chance to talk through it all with my parents yet, since we were always around other people, and I was hoping to do that during lunch. However, when you're in a cafeteria filled with college students, it's a little hard to tell your true feelings about the college they're going to, especially when those are largely negative! That, combined with this trapped feeling and not being able to find A SINGLE THING that I wanted to eat in the cafeteria, made that a very undesirable experience. I was hoping that I'd get some good food and feel better, but not at all.

While my mom walked around campus to take pictures, I stayed with my dad in the cafeteria while he ate his vegan veggie burger (which took so long because they actually had to DEFROST it), and then we walked down to the bookstore. We ended up just walking back up to the end of campus where my mom was.

We talked about all our perceptions of the school on the car ride home, but I was still really hungry, dissatisfied, and then nauseous. Finally, when we were drawing closer to home, we started talking about where we'd eat. After much much much deliberation, we went to Papa John's and got a large cheese pizza with tomatoes on it. My family NEVER orders pizza from chain restaurants...so that was quite a special experience. My mood improved a lot, and when, late in the day, we got home and settled down to an episode of Friends and some pizza, I felt a lot better.

Obviously, I liked Oberlin a LOT more than Kenyon. It was surprising what an extreme reaction I had to Kenyon, especially in comparison to how much I loved Oberlin. I'm sure Kenyon is just right for some people, but I'm just not one of them.

College Visits Day 4

Sunday, March 27, 2011

I woke up, very relaxed, and continued reading a book by David Orr (who facilitated the building of the Adam J. Lewis Center at Oberlin) called Design on the Edge: The Making of a High -Performance Building. The writing is pretty dense, and the paragraphs long, and I don't understand a lot of it as well as I could if my vocabulary was a little broader, but I still enjoy every word! I know I'm reading something written by someone extremely intelligent, regarding a topic that I'm passionate about...and every time I remember that it's about something that happened at Oberlin, it feels me with warmth. I like that place!

Anyway, that morning I also finished The Alchemist. I was stunned afterward - very moved. I will be writing another post about the book sometime soon.

So I spent a lot of time that morning sitting in bed, reading and thinking. And I drank some tea. After all of us had showered and gotten dressed, we walked out to find something for brunch. I was reaching a point of inner panic, having not eaten yet and not knowing where or what I would eat. We walked down to the Oberlin Market again...well, only after stopping by a little place we'd noticed called the Pizza Shack that offered pizza by the slice, but unfortunately was not open that Sunday. My mom got another German Chocolate muffin, but we couldn't find anything else, so we checked out a place called the Feve (pronounced fev), but it would have been a fairly long wait there, so we made our way back to the Oberlin Market, where I got a bagel and a blueberry bar. We had decided we'd go back to our "house" and eat the rice and lentil dish that my mom had prepared earlier.

After I took a bite of my blueberry bar, I was a much happier girl. I felt like a little kid again, only calmed by candy...although that blueberry bar was a lot better than any candy I've had! Anyway, we also stopped at Gibson's, the place with chocolate covered everything. I got some milk chocolate covered dried cherries and dark chocolate fudge. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get something from there...

We mournfully finished up our last walk through downtown Oberlin. At this point I just couldn't wait till I could eat that meal, and my stomach was feeling slightly knotted from having a few bites of the blueberry bar while walking... But anyway. Also, we stopped at a couple more pizza places while on our little stroll to see if they sold it by the slice, but they didn't.

We had a very nice brunch...Ok, well, it was about 1:30 or so in the afternoon, so more like a late lunch I suppose. We completed what little was left of our packing at that point, cleaned up the kitchen so it was just as we left it, and sadly made our way out the door and down the winding steps to depart our little home for the last time.

The drive to Kenyon was mostly in the country, and the winding road certainly did not make my stomach or my head very happy. When we finally arrived...boy was I glad to get out of that car!

We stayed at a place called the Kenyon Inn. It was like a small hotel, and the room was actually a lot nicer than most hotel rooms. But the first moment that we drove on campus, I just didn't like it as much as Oberlin. And when we opened the door to our hotel room, I was grateful that we could stay in such a nice place and be comfortable, but the house we stayed in at Oberlin - which was owned by a lady named Jo - was just so much more personal!

Once we moved in, we walked around campus a little bit. We were also looking for a place to eat, and weren't very successful. There were only about three places to eat on campus - the cafeteria and two restaurants, The Middle Ground and The Village Inn. The latter was closed, and the Middle Ground just didn't have anything that we wanted. The cafeteria wasn't open at that time. We ended up spending some time in the bookstore, which was my favorite part on campus. I read some of Alice Through the Looking Glass, which I actually found extremely interesting - partly because our school play was a variation of Alice's adventures called Alice in America-Land, and partly because there were footnotes throughout it that explained little things like the name of Alice's cat. Anyway, at this point I was getting hungry and annoyed, and my head was once again not in the best shape since I hadn't brought my glasses with me, so I was totally ready to get back to our room. We decided to just eat the food we had with us, which was exactly what I wanted to do.

Unfortunately, my stomach still felt pretty bad afterward. And then I got really full after not eating much, and then my stomach hurt but I was still hungry, and blal-de-blah-de-blah. However, my night was much improved when we turned on the TV and there were re-runs of Friends!

College Visits Day 3

Saturday, March 26, 2011

I woke up peacefully and very rested this morning. I also found that my ribs are extremely sore, presumably from all those push-ups yesterday (in total, I did 100!). I think that’s thrown my stomach off a little bit…oh well, sometimes feeling sore feels good – makes me feel accomplished. We all showered and got ready to go. Had a few sips of tea, but didn’t get to finish that cup… However, that was all fine because… At about 10:40 we walked across the street to the Slow Train Café again and shared two Chocolate Expresso muffins between the three of us. They were vegan, so we could eat them, and quite good. Just a tad bit dry, but still an extremely tasteful breakfast! I thanked my parents for letting me have a huge chocolate muffin for breakfast. We started dipping the pieces of muffin into the soy chai latte my mom had ordered, and boy was that scrumptious!

11:15 Soon after, we made our way to the Admissions Office for the information session and campus tour. There were about thirty people in the information session, which was about 45 minutes long and covered lots of information about Oberlin. He said a few things that really stuck with me about the personal essay for college applications. He said, firstly, to write about yourself, not some other figure (since “we’re not admitting your aunt to college, or Abraham Lincoln”), and that it doesn’t have to be a structured essay, with an introduction, three main points, and a conclusion. He said you don’t even have to have a formal conclusion. And he said this is why: because your life is concluded yet, “otherwise you’d be dead, not applying to college.” That is, of course, very true, and I like how he said that. How could you have a conclusion? Things are still very open-ended. I got inspired when he was talking about that, so I took a few notes on my iPhone about what the essay could be like. I have a good idea of how to write it.

12:00 After that, we went on the campus tour. I loved it! It was, of course, frigidly cold, but we kept moving, so it wasn’t too bad. Our tour guide was a sophomore, a History major, and deciding on a second major, either French or something else. She said a lot about all the opportunities on campus, and really gave us all a well-rounded perspective on what they have to offer. We walked through the Conservatory of Music (which is world-renowned, and apparently comparable to Julliard). It was an aesthetically pleasing building, especially the jazz part. Something particularly unique about the college (among many other things, of course) is that you can actually get a double-degree – a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts degree – at the same time. This is only if you were enrolled in both the music and arts & sciences divisions of the college. However, even if you weren’t enrolled in the Conservatory of Music, you can still take music lessons and be involved in the music programs, which is nice. She also talked about the food and living co-ops, which is basically working with a group of people to sustain good living quarters and/or cook food (which is definitely something I would be interested in).

After the tour, I found myself much more interested in Oberlin. I’ve found that all the students I’ve seen appear to have very solid, developed characters. They all seem classy and most have a sense of style. I like how accepting they all are of different, innovative ideas, and effective they seem to be. In the information session, the man talked about lots of Oberlin alumni who have gone on to do big things in life. Considering some of the things Jeffrey and Lauren talked about yesterday also, I’m beginning to see how important a Liberal Arts education may be to me. That it seems a lot more like my kind of thing than an Ivy League school (which I’ve never been very interested in, with the exception of Princeton). I love the town of Oberlin, also. It’s so alive, and the food is great! It’s what I wish the small town I live in was, and what it’s trying to be. So now, Oberlin’s looking like a sincere possibility on my wish list. I’m enthusiastic about it, and I think all the experiences I’ve had here, just in the last two days, have had a large impact on my perception of what Oberlin has to offer and why that could be the right thing for me. The only problem remaining? It’s in Ohio, not too far from where I live, and I’ve always wanted to go someplace different for college. But, you know, things change, life takes unexpected twists and turns, and many times you just have to go with the flow. I’m getting better at that.

After the tour we went to a little health food store and café called The Oberlin Market. It was fantastic! I felt like I was back home. It was very modest too, but the food was just right, and just like the things we could cook in our own kitchen…yet different enough. My mom got an absolutely delicious, to-die-for German Chocolate muffin, and we all shared some rice noodles with peanut sauce and tabouli made with quinoa, along with some bread and parsley pesto. Unfortunately, my stomach wasn’t in the best of spirits, so I couldn’t wholeheartedly enjoy the meal (after all, I barely ever have chocolate expresso muffins for breakfast). Then we went back to the little shop we discovered yesterday called Inspired, where my mom and I tried on some clothes…to no avail. The thought was nice, of fair trade and bamboo cloth, but they didn’t fit right. I did get a beautiful green and silver bracelet that sort of wraps around several times; and it was handmade in Indonesia! I found it yesterday, and still loved it today…and I’m wearing it now. It’s motivating to thing that I can walk around all day wearing something on my arm that was made halfway around the world. (Not that most people don’t do that…but buying it in a small store, and knowing that it’s fair trade makes all the difference. I feel so much more connected.) We walked back up and stopped in the bookstore for a few more minutes, where my parents found a couple of books by David Orr – the man who designed the Adam J. Lewis Center. On our way there we stopped in at Gibson’s, a place that has ice cream, donuts, and chocolate covered everything. Seriously – dried cranberries, dried mangoes, dried cantaloupe, dried apple, pretzels, Oreos, mint patties, marshmallows, granola…all covered in chocolate. Let’s just say…I’d really like to go back there.

We finally walked back to “our house,” and I promptly went to the bathroom, made a cup of tea, and had a few grapes. I’ve been sitting at the kitchen table, typing this up, for an hour at least, and soon we’ll probably go to the Slow Train Café! Who knows what the rest of the day holds… We’ll see!

At one point today, while I was washing my hands actually, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of enthusiasm for life. I’m filled with this quite often, actually, but sometimes it gets to be so much that I’m afraid I’ll burst with it! It’s a little confusing, too, because I enjoy so very much what I’m doing at the moment, yet I just can’t wait to move on, go out into the world, and do more! I’ve considered starting college early, but I don’t want to rush too fast through the experience of going through high school, and all the enrichment I can experience at my school and in the surrounding area. Better to make the most I can of that time than rush through it so that I can be finished with school earl, I believe. But who knows what’ll happen – I’ve still got time.

6:23 p.m. Now I’m sitting in the Slow Train Café again, finally warm and sort of tired, ready to relax. And try some of the Everything Cookie my mom just got! I walked around campus with my mom while she took some pictures. It was nice to talk and revisit some of the places we’d seen earlier in the day. I still LOVE the Conservatory of Music – it has such a calm and focused feeling to it…as does the rest of campus, actually, and all the students. Everything I do here just makes me love it more!

College Visits Day 2

Friday, March 25, 2011

7:30 Woke up and stretched.

9:00 – 9:50 Went to the class “100 Poems” with my mom. They analyzed and discussed William Wordsworth’s poem “Ode.” Interesting thoughts about childhood vs. adulthood, life as a play…I kept thinking of the Alchemist as I listened. At first, when the teacher started reading the poem, I was totally confused and couldn’t make any sense of it, despite loving the sound and texture of all the words. I had to ask my mom about the meaning. However, as the class started analyzing it and revealing their perspectives, I really got a good idea of what the poem was, so now I feel confident, should I ever have to pick that poem apart myself. (Now, I really want to find it and read it again so that I can pick it apart, or at least enjoy the words for what they are without being encountered by confusion and overwhelming-ness.)

After that my mom and I walked to the admissions building so we’d know where to go for our tour.

10:00 Ate brunch at “home.” Finally had tea!

11:00 Went across the street to the Slow Train Café so we could use their WiFi. Blogged and got all caught up.

12:30 – 1:20 Science tour. The guide wasn’t a science tour guide because they had all left for spring break already, but she did her best. She’s actually going to law school after she graduates this year, and seems pretty excited about it. (We actually saw her later in the Slow Train Café, where she reached out and said hello to us, apologized for not being a science major, and was just very nice.) Unfortunately, this was actually just a tour of the science building, not the sustainable building for environmental studies, which we were all very interested in. The science building actually cost more than 50 million dollars to build!

1:30 – 2:20 – I sat in on Introduction to Advanced Literary Analysis. It was an interesting class – they were discussing Othello. The energy was a bit low, but that was probably just because everyone was pining for break to start. However, once they got a little warmed up, they had a lot of fascinating comments to make. What I enjoyed the most about it was looking at the students and imagining them as characters in some story or other. (I try to stock my mind up with those mannerisms and types of presences that make a person who they are.)

After this, we walked to the Adam J. Lewis Center (the sustainable building). The front room was beautiful – there was a little pond and lots of tall plants. A sundial was outside the front of the building, and a little pond snaked around the side, one that was actually part of the building’s waste water recycling system. It recycles waste water – water in the toilets – using plants in what they call the Living Machine to filter it and then bring it back into the toilets. All of the materials the building was made of are local, except for the floor, which still plays into the environmental side of things. The roof is covered in solar panels, and the building has a passive solar design (meaning it uses sunlight for heat).

Then we made our way back to the Slow Train Café to meet a student from the Creative Writing Department. We had some extra time, so on our way there we stopped in the Bookstore and looked around. I didn’t find anything profound, unfortunately.

3:30 – 4:45 We talked to a couple of students in the Creative Writing department, Lauran and Jeffrey. (Lauren had to leave early.) I loved hearing their individual stories about how they got into the school and their experiences once there. They talked about other projects they’ve done. Lauren recently went to Rome, and while there discovered some interesting things about the idea of monuments. She, along with some friends, are working on a project where they’re going to cover up and then rededicate a huge arch on campus. She’s also working on a novel, which has something to do with monuments. Jeffrey is creating a website that has something to do with publishing or creating poetry or prose. He is a vegetarian also, as is his whole family! Part of the reason he came to Oberlin instead of some other colleges was because they had so many vegetarian choices. He said, also, that he didn’t like the feeling of some Ivy League schools – the reputation they had to uphold, the superiority everyone that goes to those colleges feels entitled to. We were all able to engage in conversation about some complex issues, and it was very stimulating. Made me like Oberlin more…getting this insider’s perspective, and actually getting to really talk to them. They both seemed like the kind of people who enjoyed life and the many things it has to offer, enjoyed the simple things and the normal kind of fun, but found real, heartfelt satisfaction and joy in the things they were passionate about doing, particularly writing. You could tell they had a lot on their minds, and they were very much people, and very much wanting to do something, and well on their way to doing it.

4:45 We walked down to a place called the Black River Café. We were there a few minutes before opening time, so we walked down the street and found a place called “Inspired.” It’s a little shop of clothing, jewelry, snacks, books, etc, all fair trade and sustainable. We’ll definitely be going back tomorrow. The lady there let us try some fair trade milk chocolate balls – they were very good!

5:10 We went back to the Black River Café. We got amazing French fries for an appetizer. I got a really good beet salad with candied almonds on it and some tomato and artichoke soup; my mom got mushroom risotto; and my dad ordered the best dish – some kind of tomato and cheese stuff wrapped in noodles...I don’t know what it was called, but it was amazing!

And now we’re back in our room, so glad to finally lie down. And my shoulder still hurts. [It really pained me that night, and took a long while to feel better. The movie “Pretty Woman” was playing on TV, so we watched that. It was really the only thing I could do, considering that sitting up and holding a book would hurt my shoulder, and I wasn’t relaxed enough to sleep. I needed a distraction, and movies are the perfect thing for that. Anyway, afterwards I was feeling a lot better, and I did some sit-ups and stretching before bed. I did get a chance to read, fortunately, which I’d been craving all day.]

College Visits Day 1

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Today was the first day of our little college visit trip! During the car ride, I occupied myself by listening to the radio (NPR – All Things Considered) and relearning how to solve the Rubik’s Cube (I just needed my handy-dandy algorithm post-it note). We arrived in Oberlin at around 8:00. We lugged all of our stuff up the steep staircase to our room. We’re in a room of this lady’s house, which she rents out. The house is ginormous, and our little upstairs room is quite cozy, and spacious – bigger than a hotel room. Plus, we have our very own kitchen!

I went into the bathroom, and spent a few frenzied moments in which I couldn’t locate the toilet. It turned out to be right beside me, right by the door, but so short it just blended in with the rest of the little room. I soon realized that everything in the bathroom was miniature – the toilet, the bathtub (which is one of those old-fashioned ones with claws), the sink, the little marble counter across from the tub… It’s the cutest thing! The walls are painted a light, pleasant pink, and the drapes around the window have a modest white lace around the edge. It’s the daintiest bathroom I’ve ever been in.

After unpacking our stuff into the dresser, we went on our way out to eat dinner! I was extremely hunger, and in a bad mood because of it, which was only worsened by the car alarm being set off by my father’s delinquent keys. But, because of the cold, I started jogging instead of walking, and it warmed me up so much, along with lifting my mood a little. Not even a block from the house we’re staying at, I saw a warm, bright place called Aladdin’s. I pointed to it, my mom said there was one in Columbus, and BAM, we decided to eat there!

And boy am I glad. I wanted to melt the moment I walked in because it was so toasty, and then I got cinnamon apple hot tea with honey… It took us a while to decide what to get, but I think we were all very happy with our choices! I ordered a Baba Salad Pocket. It was lettuce – lots – with baba ganoush on top, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and sprouts, all enclosed in a big pita pocket. It was huge…and heavenly. And I managed to eat the entire thing, with relish, and pride. After I finished I kept staring across the restaurant to the colossal cakes that were on display. They had ample amounts of whipped cream, chocolate, and general fatty, creamy goodness. One looked like a giant Oreo! Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any of them because they all had eggs. I kept pestering my mom about it though.

It was a very nice dinner, except for the fact that the waitress and the manager (at least I think that’s what she was) of the place kept talking to us. They kept asking us how the meal was, if we needed anything else, were we ready for the check…and then they’d start complaining about the long winter! They were both very nice people, though. The way they acted was annoying, but I still thought they were nice… The manager, however, had a funny habit of wrinkling her nose as if she was sniffing something. Like some kind of animal. It was…pretty funny, actually.

Then we all came back to the house and crashed. And I can’t get online now. We have to get up early tomorrow, because we’re visiting a poetry class at 9. Ooh, how I want to sleep in…

Colleges, Coffee Shops, and Birthdays

First, let me just say... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORA!!! You mean so much to me. I can't even begin to imagine what the last three years would have been like without you. I just found this quote: "A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails." (Donna Roberts) So have a happy, hopeful, heartful birthday!

I'm sitting in a cafe at Oberlin College right now. I'm visiting a couple of nearby colleges with my parents this weekend, just to check them out. I love college campuses - they're so energetic. Everybody has something to do, somewhere to go, something they're thinking about. And so many people carry around coffee cups! I visited a poetry class this morning with my mom, and probably almost half the class brought in a cup of some hot beverage. When I see coffee cups or mugs, I feel comforted and busy and satisfied. Sometimes I want to get a cup of hot tea at a coffee shop just so I can walk around carrying that little cup of warmth and hope in my hands.

I also love coffee shops. Pretty much for the same reason. The busy-ness yet contentedness of every person inside, the way the drink you order seems to define you somehow, and the concentration that is inherent in these places. The ability to just sit for hours and work on something, without any complaints. And the way each person has their own space, their own world within their mug or their laptop or their book, or simply the way they eye everything around them in the shop.

I wrote up a little narrative of our arrival in Oberlin last night before I went to bed (unfortunately I can't get Internet connection in the house we're staying in, so I couldn't post it last night). I'll post it separately so as to avoid yet another case of long-post-syndrome. Well, to avoid it as well as I can. I'll write daily accounts of our time here, and post as often as possible.

Rain, The Alchemist, and Writing

Ah, today's just one of those wonderful rainy, satisfying days. Outside, it's dark and wet and still. I can hear the raindrops on the roof as they fall, and when the rain abates, the chirping of the birds peeps through the stillness as a calm reminder of spring. Even the air in my room smells fresh and alive.

I love rain... True, sometimes it's the devil, but we need rain. It washes over things and makes them new again. It clears my thoughts, too. Like chamomile tea for the brain. Rain makes me joyous, and incredibly appreciative of this earth we live on. I remember countless rainy days when I was little when I would go outside by myself to play. I'd make up grand stories of adventure and escape, and come back inside smiling and soaked. Sometimes my mom and I would do rain paintings together. This was never a planned activity - as it depended on a good rain - and a very cherished one. Those times were like the first bud of spring: rare, timeless, and priceless. And then there were the times, when I got a little older, when I'd stay inside and read the whole day. So peaceful.

Rain allows me to live in the present, take it as it comes. That's such a wonderful feeling, especially for someone who plans things out meticulously. I do that even unconsciously sometimes...always thinking of what's next.

I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - the book we're reading in English class - for a while this morning. It really gets you thinking. It's a book about following our Personal Legend - the destiny set out for us, should we choose to follow it. It's an empowering book, and every time I read it, I'm filled with an overwhelming urge to go out and do something, along with the contrasting desire to just sit and read and absorb every single word of that book. That produces a strange conflict, which can sometimes get a little irritating. But eventually I'm able to resolve myself to reading the book, figuring that that's a step to achieving my Personal Legend.

But right now, I feel like I writing. I'm trying plan ahead too much on what exactly I'm going to write. The best things I write are spontaneous. All I know right now is that I'm perfectly comfortable and cozy and happy snuggled up here in my bed, with my windows open, hearing the birds, and looking out my window to see the yard gradually lightening as the sun comes out of hiding.

Spring Break, A McDonald's Cup, and Just...Livin'

Yes, that's right. I'm on spring break! For TWO WHOLE WEEKS! It's a pretty good time to have it, too, seeing as I haven't been feeling like myself now for weeks. And my weekends have been absolutely PACKED...and then I got sick...and bleh.

My arm is still a little swollen from the shot I got the other day (for going to China). It's gotten so much better today, but it's most definitely still swollen. My normally bony elbow is actually normal because of it...I like it better that way. However, the swelling is still keeping me from playing piano or saxophone or running.

Earlier today I didn't know what to do. I was feeling very...peaceful, and I didn't have a nagging desire to do anything in particular, or to no be doing anything. I wasn't highly energetic, nor was I incredibly tired. Wasn't hungry, wasn't full. Wasn't bored, wasn't stressed. I was just...balanced. This is unusual for me... Anyway, I walked around my yard a little bit. Eventually I found my way back to our creek, and I jumped across it. There was a styrofoam McDonald's cup lying on the ground, which I picked up later on my way back, to put in the recycling. But how did it get there? Was somebody walking along the creek with a styrofoam McDonald's cup that they thought they'd just drop there? Or was it blown to our creek from the street, or from the field behind it? That cup itself has a story, which is incredible. A cup. A McDonald's cup. Something I've had veerryy few encounters with in my 14 years...

I continued walking along the opposite side of the creek. I listened to the sound of the creek, and the breeze, and the birds. I could even hear a distant train whistling. The branches cracked under my feet, and every time I had to move one aside to get past, I felt a very reassuring connectedness to the Earth. This whole time, I was wondering, "What exactly am I doing here?" And I didn't have an answer. Because it didn't matter. I was living the moment, calmly enjoying myself. That's what I love about nature. It befuddles me, actually, because sometimes, while I'm really in nature, I don't exactly know what I'm thinking. I just am. And that is such a wonderful feeling. I don't get that much, since I'm always doing something, always thinking about something, and always so aware what I am thinking about. Sometimes, I think, it feels good to step out of the person we're familiar with, and experience a different side of ourselves. (I'm discovering this also as I prepare the script Cora and I are writing for the Script Frenzy in April - linked to NaNoWriMo - which is a combination of high school drama and a mystery. Neither of us are high school drama girls, but we're having enormous fun working on it.)

So I'm taking the opportunity to just live. Enjoy the sights, and sounds, and smells, of livin'. And see, now I can think about it, and write about it. I can put my experiences into my writing. I realized something that ignorant little me hadn't a couple years ago when I started my first novel - people write when they're adults because they've had so many experiences that they can draw on, so it's important that I go ahead and have some experiences. There's a great story in the book we're reading in English, called The Alchemist. The lesson learned is that you've got to enjoy the world around you while not forgetting whatever you're striving to do. So wake up and smell those roses, but remember to work on that book!

The Day...A Ballad

This is dedicated to Cora, who has been very sick lately and whom I miss very much!

WARNING: This is supposed to rhyme, so i would recommend reading it
out loud with some...rhythm.

In Mandarin
we went over vocab
played around the world
and didn't get our tests back.

Art involved sanding,
and cutting with band-saws,
gluing with smelly stuff,
while some finished their draw (ings).

English was Alchemic-y
We discussed the reading
and went over some notes
for a QUIZ tomorrow speeding.

In American History we watched a movie
by the name of Johnny Tremain
Homework is pgs. 143-149, #1, 4, and 5
Don't worry: it's not a drain.

Science was more simple machines.
Geometry was Pi Day,
consisting of random Pi Youtube videos,
apple pie, and "Pi Day" bracelets Mrs. K
told us to make.*

And in gym we played soccer
with the whole of the sixth grade.
Girls and boys played separate games,
and it was a game so bad, it was barely played.

Yep, that was our day.
So to review this homework,
(and abandon the rhyme,
since homework will be quirk-y)

Mandarin: know pg 100 vocab (I have notes for you)
English: quiz tomorrow..over notes.
American History: pg. 143-149, #1, 4, 5
And then NOTHING!!

I hope you enjoyed my little rhyme
It wasn't much, but took a little time
I hope you recover very soon
or the world just might fall down to DOOM!

A Tribute to My Great-Grandfather

My great-grandfather, William Lassey, passed away on Wednesday, March 2, 2011. It was his 97th birthday. Ninety-seven years...that's a pretty long time to live on this planet. And he sure lived a full life. My great-grandpa Lassey was one of those people who, whenever you looked at him, just made you smile. Even now, when I see a recent picture of him on the family blog my grandfather (who is also named William Lassey, with middle initial R.) keeps up, with his eyes sunken in and his face wrinkled, I can't help but smile. It's so easy to see past the old age to the love and joy that lie within, and that have been growing for all of those 97 years. I didn't get to see my Grandpa Lassey very often, and I didn't know him nearly as well as his other great-grandchildren did, but I still knew him. And that, in itself, is a blessing.

When we went to his farm a couple of weeks ago, we came in the house and when I went up to him and held his hand, he said, "Your hand is cold." He didn't even know who I was, I'm sure, but he took the time to let me know that he could tell that my hands were cold. Later, too, I remember him looking around the room and saying, "Everyone's wearing a different color of socks." He said it with a chuckle, and a smile. I found myself just wanting to look at him the whole time I was there, to fill myself with the spirit of this 97 year old man who I am related to. I admire him, and I'm proud of him, too. I still can't believe he's gone. It probably won't hit me until we go back to the farm and I see his empty armchair. But I'm happy for him. I'm so, so happy for him, that he got to live such a full, wonderful, joyful life. And I'm thankful to him, too, because he reminded me to enjoy every little moment that life has to offer. So thank you, Grandpa Lassey, and I love you.