Life's for Living Yeaahhhh

In the summertime
When the weather is hot
You can stretch right up
An' touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out an' see what you can find

If her daddie's rich
Take her out for a meal
If her daddie's poor
Just do as you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton, or a ton an' twenty five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We're not grey poeple
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody but we
Do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishing, or go swimming in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for living, yeah, that's our philosophy

When the winter's here
Yeah, it's party time
Bring a bottle, wear your bright clothes
It'll soon be summertime
And we'll sing again
We'll go driving, or mayby we'll settle down
If she's rich, if she's nice
Bring your friends, an' we'll all go into town

~Mungo Jerry

Mirror Reflection

1. Describe what you see..

A face that screams of a heritage that nobody recognizes.

Eyes baggy with ambitions that may not be achieved.

Somebody so on the go that if a person were to reach out to them, they wouldn't be found.

An eye sore that drags up unwanted memories.

A person who doesn't know their place.

A freckled face wisecracker with creases in her forehead.

My mother's daughter.

My father's regret.

Somebody given too much to do in too little time.

A social butterfly with a dimple in the right cheek.

A dismal puddle of "A Believer."

An antagonizer.

A little girl who curses like a sailor and enjoys doing men's work.

A prideful independence that will hurt someone eventually.

An individual fed up with low expectations because of her gender.

Child of God, only because that's what you're supposed to say.

An asker of questions with no answers.

A girl who wants to be taken care of and loved but is too afraid that no one will, so she takes on the world alone to avoid being let down or left behind.

Somebody who has been rejected.

A comedian by way of coping, not for kicks.

A thirst to provide because of nature- not obligation.

A lost soul in a fish bowl.

A friend.

A ball of energy and well constructed smiles.

Focus Fox

Rhapsody

Sat in the cheap seats 

Of Symphony Hall, squinting

As the instruments tuned up

I could pick out only you:

Fourth row back and clutching

Your viola, bright hair spilt

Across the strings. You were

Deep in a flurry of pages

With bitten lip, too

Intent on forcing that

Melody right to the cheap seats

To notice me up there, ears straining

To block out any sound but yours.

- Ben Ziman-Bright

In the Eye of the Beholder

"Then in my mind's eye I see the bronze statue of the college Founder, the cold Founder symbol, his hands outstretched in the breathtaking gesture of lifting a veil that flutters in hard, metallic folds above the face of a kneeling slave; and I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more firmly in place; whether I am witnessing a revelation or a more efficient blinding."

~Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Life Lessons from Larry

Never marry for love.

Watch out for dream killers.

You can always add more water.

Homo says 'What?'.

Rocks are complicated things.

You can never get sick of the Beatles.

Date, a lot.  But no relationships.

Girls, you have all the power.

Feed the ego.

If you get married, remember, he wants you to be the same fun and silly girl that he dated.

Women marry men under the impression that they'll change them, this doesn't happen so get that outta your head.

You bringing up the past is like trying to get revenge.

You can never drink too many sodas.

It's better to get married than burn.

Home is where the heart wants to be.

I miss Indo. I'm wondering though if it's Indo I miss or the thrill of being away from everything I know. The past couple weeks it has been very difficult to keep the eye on the prize, for the first time in two years I don't really want to be back at Westmont. I want to gallavant and explore, not sit at a desk and learn how to teach. I'm between a rock and a hard place; to get to where I want to go I need to get my education... but at the same time I need to leave my education to go learn. The traveling and the classroom education are dependent on each other, I wish it was as easy as choosing one over the other but if it weren't, I wouldn't be needing this inner dialogue to figure it out.

I am where I am, and that's where I need to be and apply myself fully. I can make myself at home here for now...

Bus and Bike Rides

I love people. I learned that in Indo, I had always been vaguely aware of the fact that I enjoy people, but after coming home it is very evident that I do. This realization finally hit me while I was waiting around for the VISTA bus to come back from Ventura. As I sat there a man who I would have normally ignored sat down next to me and I was itching to start conversation. We talked about tons of stuff, cars, bikes, college, his kids... When that topic came up low and behold- his oldest daughter was my high school guidance counselor! She was the one that told me to apply to Westmont despite the super steep finances. I was so stoked to have met her dad!

People are great, especially when you don't automatically assume they're all out to get you.

After that glorious bus ride I nearly keeled over riding up to school from my house. A majority of the ascent was spent talking to myself about how I was outrageous for thinking I could go up that hill. I got up eventually, and once I did it was so good to see all the Physical Plant folks! Plus going down the hill was mantab!