karatetentacles

Katy: ZOMG PSYCH SEASON 3 IS OUT TODAY.
Wallet: ...
Katy: WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?
Wallet: No.
Katy: BUT I NEEEEEEED IT!
Wallet: No. No you don't.
Katy: WHAT ABOUT SEASON 1 AND SEASON 2?!
Wallet: Definitely no. You need to save up for the Office season 5.
Katy: BUT. BUT. BUT. BUT.
Wallet: Also, you want a car, right?
Katy: Well, yeah...
Wallet: And you want LeakyCon 2011... and college... and you like buying books A LOT...
Katy: Yes, I do... Where are you going with all this?
Wallet: Look, you like doing and owning expensive things. Psych isn't in the budget right now--
Katy: WHAT BUDGET. I have, like, six hundred bucks!
Wallet: Plane tickets cost money. And you want to go to college, right?
Katy: Why are you so mean to me?
Wallet: I'm just logical.

grrrr.

booklist:
1. everything is illuminated
2. the average american male
3. inferno
4. life of pi
5. othello
6. all quiet
7. slaughterhouse-5
8. a separate peace
9. wizards (collection of short stories)
10. cat's cradle
11. with the old breed
12. one flew over the cuckoo's nest
13. 13 little blue envelopes
14. extremely loud and incredibly close
15. youtube: an insider's guide to climbing the charts
16. timequake
17. how we are hungry
18. liberation
19. mcsweeney's book of lists
20. the bermudez triangle
21. running with scissors
22. you shall know our velocity!
23. the life and times of the thunderbolt kid
24. suite scarlett
[25. breakfast of champions]
[26. walden]

Summer homework is no fun.

ignore the ugliness of my blog right now... I'm working on it :X

booklist:
1. everything is illuminated
2. the average american male
3. inferno
4. life of pi
5. othello
6. all quiet
7. slaughterhouse-5
8. a separate peace
9. wizards (collection of short stories)
10. cat's cradle
11. with the old breed
12. one flew over the cuckoo's nest
13. 13 little blue envelopes
14. extremely loud and incredibly close
15. youtube: an insider's guide to climbing the charts
16. timequake
17. how we are hungry
18. liberation
19. mcsweeney's book of lists
20. the bermudez triangle
21. running with scissors
22. you shall know our velocity!
23. the life and times of the thunderbolt kid

Now I'm going to start doing my summer-English-homework reading... bleh.

Also, resolutions I updated on twitter but not here:

9) Appreciate people. Let them know when something they've done has affected me. Say thanks for seemingly trivial things.
10) Give unasked advice.

opinion piece -- online journalism "practice" writing.

George Washington Carver - scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor - is famed for his many discoveries involving that useful little nut we've grown accustomed to: the peanut. Peanuts are high in protein, the "good kind" of fat, and are just generally tasty. Though sometimes they can leave that feeling in your mouth - the one leaving you salivating, with a need for water or a nice soda, - it seems the general opinion is that peanuts are awesome.

There are some, however, who don't find peanuts quite so "awesome."

There are those who are allergic, those who are still worked up over the peanut butter salmonella scare and those who find the choleric intake too much to handle. Being allergic is one thing, but the other two claims are ridiculous. If we, as a human species, were to be perpetually afraid of every product ever infected by salmonella, we'd have nothing left to eat! Well, nothing delicious, anyway.

Personally, I am a big fan of peanuts. Writing this article makes me hungry for a big jar of peanut butter and a spoon - no other products necessary. And peanuts are the perfect snack food, according to four people at bestuff.com.

And another great thing about peanut butter? Pine Cone Bird Feeders! Endless entertainment, and it costs practically nothing.

So whether you're looking for a tasty snack or some great fun, peanuts and their byproducts (most of which were invented by George Washington Carver) are great things to consider.

and I will dance.

I will dance on the highest building, when the world is falling apart,
I will dance as the waves come in, crushing all, suffocating,
And while the world is sleeping,
waiting for doom,
hearing the sirens,
knowing the end is near,
not willing to accept their fates,
not willing to take on their destinies,
I will know the time has come and I will dance.

------------

kansas -

when I stand here, see the plains stretched across for miles and miles,
I see straight into the future, see straight into the past.
I need to escape this constant plane of time,
where all is visible.
it s t r e t c h e s so far, but not far enough:
I want to know more about past and future,
I want to know what's coming, I try and find,
search for answers, frantically,
terrified of what's to come, of what I've done.

but when mountains surround me,
I find peace.

------------

People always claim that nature is calming.
I have my doubts.
You've heard the birds chirping into the late night, all hours of the day, constantly fearing for their lives, for their safety, hungry and searching and calling out to others? The birds aren't calmed, they're alert.
And you've seen the ants, always busy, always working.
And the flies and bugs and beetles: always buzzing, even at five in the morning, getting in the way and becoming a nuisance.
And walking in nature -- not a walk in a park. Not even a walk in the park is a walk in the park. It takes concentration, focus, no time to let thoughts wander. Look out, a stray stick, a stray rock! Head's up, dog shit, horse shit. That rock looks loose, that one seems safe, tread with caution.
This is not peace.
This is chaos, this is nature.

I was talking to my friend Jennifer yesterday, reflecting on my camp experience, she reflected on her high school career and her camp experience from the previous year. She said something that really inspired me.

"I don't do 'big problems,' you know? I do little things. This past year, I made an effort to know everyone in StuCo. I would wave at the freshmen and make myself recognizable and known so that we, as a student body, would feel more connected and more like a 'club.'"*

Sometimes that's all anyone needs. Someone to reach out and make themselves available, and I know how cool I felt with her as one of my friends: exec board senior student council member. I mean, not everyone needs to tackle cancer or support the Invisible Children, and while those causes are amazing and admirable, what Jennifer was doing was just as beneficial, just on a smaller scale. So my eighth resolution mirrors hers:

8) Make an effort to get to know everyone in student council. Reach out to the freshman, offer my support and guidance to anyone who wants/needs it.

It's still hard for me to not be at camp, to not constantly talk about it; I can't even listen to my DFTBA Records Compilation album because the only thing I've been able to stand is the mix CD Kyle (one of my junior counselors) made for everyone.

*no, my memory isn't that good. I paraphrased pretty sufficiently. But I made her sound pretty awesome, amirite? <3

I'm not sure if I can make myself do a whole camp-run-down thing... it's just so hard to express everything I felt that week in just words, all the people I met in just words, all the things we did in just words. I could try, but everything we experienced is so intangible, and even if I explain it... I don't know. It's not the same, I guess.

Anyway. Here are a few resolutions I'm taking with me from camp:

1) Waking up early to squeeze as much out of a day as is possible.
2) Getting more involved in community service and volunteering.
3) Making sure everything I do has purpose and meaning.
4) "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who come alive." - Howard Thurman
5) Remaining in the same mindset as I was in camp.
6) Continuing to be a "stuco kid."
7) Keeping a positive, optimistic attitude, and trying to smile as much as possible.

----

"The people at camp are the role models of society - the genuinely good people. The people who wave to strangers on park benches and always say thank you to bus drivers and garbage men and flight attendants; who have passions and aspirations and want to change the world, or at least a small part of it. The ones who love deeply and honestly; who put their hearts into everything they do, who you can't help but like even after the stories of Friday night's party.

I can honestly say I grew so much as a person, that I'm less selfish and better prepared to take on the world. My goals seem tangible, intentional, and that I'm able to accomplish them."

-- camp journal reflections excerpt, from the plane, July 5th 2009