thoughts to bring it home

It's so easy to get wrapped up in your own world here at AU. It gets to the point where everything that matters, that is important, happens here, and the rest of the world is a small detail you visit every once in awhile.

Coming back after a small break was really bizarre for me. I was burning the candle on both ends when I left, and saw no way out. The thought never crossed my mind that one could actually become physically sick of a place.

It was as if AU became a gigantic house encompassing my whole life, and I walked out the front door only to find that it was made of cards, perilous and exciting, fragile and fleeting. I'm not going to let that happen again--I'm never going to allow this place to eclipse what lies beyond it--the rest of my life (which hopefully includes a fulfilling job and family).

What I'm trying to say is this: This place is the means to the rest of my life. It is only the starting point, the experiment I'm allowed to mess up every once in awhile because I'm only on level 1.

I love it here, but I'll always be thinking: This is great, but what are you doing to make things even better?

mademethink

An E-mail from a professor

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Coming Back

So I've been home since Monday.

One of the first things I noticed that was different when I came back was that my mom re-arranged my room. You know how you get used to things being a certain way, and you just fling yourself onto your bed without even thinking? Yep, almost threw myself right into my newly-moved dresser. My bed definitely was not where it used to be.

Now that I've been here a few days, though, its grown on me.

The College Diet

I never realized how much I ate until I came to college.

Actually--scratch that. I never realized how much I ate until I checked the balance of my meal swipes and found that I only had ONE left for the entire semester.

Granted, I swiped in a lot of people in the beginning of the year, but regardless, I know there were plenty of days in which I helped myself to a fourth meal swipe. So now I am on a true "college" diet. That means Easy Mac lunches and dinners, along with the occasional chinese takeout. I'm pretty sure I've lost some weight--although who's checking? Certainly not me. I even dropped low enough to actually PAY for my Tavern meal this week. It's getting really sad for my street cred and my wallet.

The reason I write this post is because right now I am sitting in my volunteering job, savoring box lunch meal swipe number two. I officially have one meal swipe now, and I intend to make sure it is well spent.

Contents of my boxed lunch:

Coke
Turkey Sandwich
Smartfood Popcorn (LOVE)
and an apple

Needless to say, I am a very happy but very poor college student right now.

I'm becoming a shameless self-promoter.

I figured I would mix work and pleasure here by posting a link to my latest Eagle article. I cover the student government here, and it's every once in a blue moon I cover something besides that, let alone sports. :) I love it when stories evolve.

http://www.theeagleonline.com/sports/story/fall-sports-set-au-attendance-records/

peace!

Social Networking

Some interesting statistics I came across about social networking:

2-3 new twitter accounts are created every second.

Social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the web

By 2010 Generation Y will outnumber the Baby Boomers. 96 percent of Gen. Y have joined a social network.

1 out of 8 couples married in the USA last year met via social media

TV took 13 years to reach 50 million viewers.
The Internet took 4 years.
The Ipod took 3 years.
Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months.


....makes you think.




Here is the video I found these stats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

I wanna Be a DeeGee!

Paths

Misunderstandings

I experienced a pretty big misunderstanding yesterday that lead to a pretty dramatic 45 minutes.
Basically all I want to impart on the 2.1 people who read this blog is this:

If you hear something about another person, and they've supposedly done something that really upsets you, call them and ask them if it is true. The worst thing you can do is to act rashly and make assumptions that can destroy a relationship.

All I can say is that I'm so glad I waited and asked and confirmed.

I Week

So on Saturday, I am going to be initiated into Delta Gamma. This week is called "I Week," the I standing for Inspiration. It's a week to reflect on what this whole new member-ing process has meant to me and where exactly I want from here.

Reflecting back, I've realized how much joining Delta Gamma isn't completely about Delta Gamma. It's about the fact that I am making a decision that I truly feel is utterly and completely mine. I made this decision to join a sorority without the level of assurance from my parents that I would have liked. I knew what I had planned out to do when I was a freshman in college, and I went and did the opposite.

I was never going to be a sorority girl. I was never going to pay for my friendships and snap all the time.
And yet here I am, wearing my pi alpha pin. Everything I thought I knew about sororities was wrong.

Joining Delta Gamma is not just about the pledge of sisterhood, character, and service I will take on Saturday. For me, it is my Declaration of Independence.

YouTube-iverse

Check out this video I stumbled upon today.

I really like how it brings up the fact that when we treat people like they are people, more things get done.

If only things were actually that way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Something That Came My Way.

I love it when people pass on lines that say the things you never realized you needed to hear.  


Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No it won't all go the way it should
But I know the heart of life is good.


<3

A Tale of Two Cities

This is a view of Water Tower Place in Chicago-- America's own Gotham.
I would say that this is where I am from, but in general, those who actually do live in the city get pretty upset when suburbanites claim they are from Chicago when they actually live in cookie-cutter homes 30 minutes outside of the city.
I would fall into the cookie-cutter category. Naperville was a great place to grow up. I moved there in 2nd grade after brief stints in CT and NJ. My parents still say they are from NJ even after living in IL for over 10 years--but I would have to say the Midwest did more to shape me than my Jersey roots ever did.

Anyway, Chicago is probably the only other city I love as much as I love D.C. Moving here and going to school here was probably one of the smartest choices I've ever made. I can walk out of my dorm and be in the central nervous system of this country in 15 minutes. I can confidently say now that walking out on the National Mall is normal for me now. Oh yeah, there's the Capital, not big deal---just another Saturday day trip. I never thought I would get to this point, but I have.

This photo was taken when Julia and I decided to go the National Book Fair on a whim---seriously how many college kids can say they can do this? Not many. 

So yeah, just wanted to rant a little bit and procrastinate the two HUGE exams I have tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Over-n-out

Just Another Blog Post

Hey there--

So this is probably the fourth blog I've started while in college. The rest are fossils of a week, a month, a year, that I was feeling particularly inspired.

I'm going to try to keep this blog going for awhile-- I'll be posting thoughts, pictures and stories that I run into  as I continue through the confusing and exciting roller coaster that is college.