Haha!

Anyone else been watching the olympics? I've seen several, but not all the events. I'm liking the figure skating and snowboarding the best. Here's something for a good laugh:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-20-funniest-figure-skating-faces

New Photos From a Very Old Camera

I finally took my Grandpa's old Rolleicord camera out with some black and white 120 film and attempted to take some pictures! They aren't spectacular but my hope is that as I get better at using the camera, the photos will get better.
See the pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2495928&id=10220358&ref=mf

You Still Work Here?!

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

I'm getting very restless with my life right now. I'm trying to enjoy my time but I just don't have much going on right now and I can't help but feel like I'm just waiting for more exciting things to begin. With an end in sight to my work-study job on campus, the menial work seems a lot more boring than it ever did before. And with no homework to keep me busy I have to keep finding new movies to watch or things to do online or books to read. I guess it's nice though to have the time to read books again! I'm reading Three Cups of Tea right now. I'm finally getting around to reading it after seeing the author Greg Mortenson speak at the Journey of Hope benefit/concert thing last summer at Red Rocks. He's got a cool story and it was fun to see him in person and now I'm reading his book so that's fun! I'm ready to move on from this job though and see what else is out there in the world soon!

Random things going on lately:

-A friend of mine from middle school was on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew last week. It was so cool to see her on tv! She's a pretty freakin' amazing dancer. I've never watched the show but since I knew someone on it and they were representing good old Colorado I just had to watch :-) The episode is here: http://www.mtv.com/videos/americas-best-dance-crew-season-5-abdc-regional-finals-the-west/1631540/playlist.jhtml

-My new project, although it's proving a lot more difficult than I thought it would, is to learn the violin part to Bob Dylan's song 'One More Cup of Coffee'. Mostly it's good because it gives me something to do but I've got a couple friends who can duet the song and it might be fun to play along with them. We'll see if I can actually keep motivated to learn the whole song. As of right now I've got about the first 30 seconds of the song figured out. If only they made sheet music for Bob Dylan songs! As it is though it's a matter of adjusting the song via Audacity to slow it down and isolate the violin part so I can actually hear it, then meticulously go through each little bit and try to find the notes that are being played, then put it all together, speed it up and memorize it. If only I were a musical genius and learning something by ear came easier to me! Oh well I guess it will be a nice challenge for me. I miss playing the violin so it's fun to pick it up again. Unfortunately I live in an apartment and I fear my neighbors might hate me if I practiced at home, so I've been playing at my mom's house.

-I've been continuing my contemplation of what to do after this summer. My new idea is to travel and work/volunteer as I go. I really want to go to Europe, as I haven't been there at all yet. Preferably England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Czech Republic...it's a long list. I did find a cool program though that hooks travelers up with volunteer work in exchange for food and a place to stay. Doing things like helping out on a farm or vineyard or B&B. I think that would be so much fun and a much cheaper way to travel around! I'd have to pay for transportation but that's about it. Those travel/work/volunteer websites are:
http://wwoof.org/ and
http://www.workaway.info/

On Saturday Kira and I went up to Nederland to have another of our picture-taking adventures. It was cold and snowing up there but it was fun. I finally tried out my Grandpa old Roleicord camera with the help of Kira and all her photographic knowledge that I seem to have forgotten in the last few years. I got a refresher course in f-stop and shutter speed, plus just the act of loading, winding, and removing film is kind of a lost art for me, ad especially tricky with a camera from the 1950s! It will be interesting to see how the pictures turn out. I also took pictures with my digital camera.

Keeping myself entertained

I am currently....

Reading: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry


Addicted to watching: Dexter


Learning to: use my mat board cutter for framing, and cook eggs in new ways

Hoping to: go hiking with friends more often

Trying to: go to the gym every day

Geography of Bliss

Read this book. Seriously. I just finished reading it. It's fabulous, profound, and totally hilarious.


In this book Eric Weiner quotes an Indian guru saying: "Life is a combination of freedom and destiny, and the beauty is you don't know which is which" This quote reminded me of my favorite quote from the movie Forrest Gump: "I don't know if we each have a destiny or if we're all just floating along accidental-like on a breeze...but I think maybe both is happening at the same time"

Forrest Gump, the Indian guru, and Eric Weiner all have a good point, and for now at least, this is how I choose to view things like destiny and free will. I think the two are intertwined so deeply that we can't tell the difference, and maybe it's a little bit of both.

Bon Voyage, Tyler!

A friend-of-a-friend, Tyler, has just begun his Semester at Sea this week! He's got a great blog going and it's so much fun for me to read about his experiences and how much they are the same as mine when I went! It also makes me miss it very much. My friends, the ship, the experiences and adventures! What an experience. Months ago Tyler and I exchanged many many emails with me prepping him for things he should know before he goes and him asking questions. I think my ability to get carried away has caused him to be the most prepared SASer in the history of the world :-) I tried to leave some things for him to experience for himself and not give away TOO much of the good stuff that was to come. It seems to be true what they say about studying abroad...when you come home everyone wants to hear all about it but there's a certain "saturation point" of stories where even the most interested of friends and family just can't relate to your experiences abroad. This is why it was probably just as beneficial for me as it was for Tyler for me to get to tell him about it and give him tips and advice and stories. I also recently got to talk to Kristene in France, one of my very good friends from SAS and it was so great to talk to her again and remember our experiences on the ship and all that good stuff! I miss all my SAS friends so much!

But I wish Tyler the best of luck and the most amazing adventures the world has to offer as he begins his journey. And I am grateful for having those experiences in my lifetime too!!

The Lost Art of Compromise

Here's a very interesting paragraph from the book I'm reading: 'The Geography of Bliss' by Eric Weiner:

"...The road is only wide enough for one car at a time. Passing is negotiated through a series of elaborate, poetic hand gestures...Everything in (Bhutan) requires cooperation....In the west and in the United States especially, we try to eliminate the need for compromise. Cars have 'personal climate controls' so that the driver and passenger need not negotiate a mutually agreeable temperature. That same pair, let's say they're husband and wife, need not agree on the ideal firmness of their mattress, either. Each can set their own 'personal comfort level.' We embrace these technologies. Why shouldn't everyone enjoy their own personal comfort level, be it in a car or in a bed? I wonder, though, what we lose through such conveniences. If we no longer must compromise on the easy stuff, like mattresses, then what about the truly important stuff? Compromise is a skill, and like all skills it atrophies from lack of use."

He points out something I never really thought of, but it's so true! We're becoming out of practice on compromise. Children become increasingly convinced that the world revolves around them. Our country is based on the idea that if you put your mind to something and work hard you will achieve what you've been striving for. If you work hard enough you can do anything. This causes people to be so angry and frustrated when they can't do something, or it proves more difficult than they expected. No wonder our country, collectively, is not very happy. I see this in politics as well. If, say, a president isn't making everyone in the country happy he's not doing a good enough job. We can't compromise and admit that our country is still a work in progress. We want policies and action to directly, immediately reflect our own beliefs. I'm pretty sure, though, no matter who our president is and no matter what the country is like there won't be a time when everyone is satisfied. That shouldn't even be the goal though. Thanks, Eric Weiner, for reminding me to work on my ability (an willingness) to compromise!