cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance: an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously (courtesy of Wikipedia).

The fact that graduation is impending  (aka 12 days away) is causing all sorts of conflicting ideas. And plenty of discomfort. Not sure if cognitive dissonance is the right phrase for it but that's what I'm going to title this post. I feel like I haven't quite processed what is happening and what will happen, which sucks because the way I make sense of things is by analyzing it in about a hundred ways. I don't think listening to Keane helps, either... sort of puts me in a funk. Well. Some happy thoughts:

1) finished my political islam paper! colloquium left.
2) we had an incredible colloquium potluck last night with a couple rounds of CATCH PHRASE!
3) I'll be feasting on nachos in about a half hour. YUM.
4) I'm going to see my best friends in less than a month!
5) my mom is coming in 8 days!

Alright, some lady gaga before la boca.

ALSO. A first. Youtube video link to one of the prettiest songs (and voices!) - Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"!

Food (?!)

Not too much going on today. Four days left to finish two 15-page papers. Goal: finish FIS paper by tomorrow. Celebrate by going to trivia tomorrow night. Work on Colloquium paper Wednesday-Friday. Done by noon on Friday....?!!

Waiting for my brownies to finish baking in the oven for the colloquium potluck tonight! Then ST lab. More FIS. Bed. Also, the weather is beautiful outside today! 

Picture of the day:

We love you, Eboo Patel! At the Interfaith Leadership Institute, Fall 2010. Maybe I'll run into him this summer during the week-long Better Together Coach training in Chicago! :)

Photos (that aren't even mine)

Too tired for a real post. We had a phenomenal IJL potluck (and I made some delicious pesto pasta! Recipe coming soon?!). I've been sitting in ST lab the last 2+ hours working on this Political Islam final paper. I'm writing about the origin and development of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria. The topic is SO interesting to me (and probably only to me...) but I just realized that I still have research left to do. My goal is to finish this paper by Tuesday but I don't know. It might take a bit longer. Also, loud Koreans in ST lab. Ugh. 

Some neato pictures from good blogs:

From the glamourai. Derek Lam shoes!

 From Cupcakes and Cashmere (suitcases from Anthropologie!).

From Gentle Pure Space. I don't know how/when I found this blog but it is like a collection of pretty things. I'm a fan.

 From interiors porn. OMGGGGG.

Searching for these pictures may have been the highlight of the last couple hours. Tomorrow is a religion-filled day. Majors picnic then Colloquium dinner. Some ALGERIA FIS PAPER WRITING in between. Go go goooooooooooo.

Five Things!

So here's the BIG FRIDAY FUN THING I mentioned yesterday. A few days ago while I was trying to procrastinate on working on my colloquium final paper, I found a couple fashion blogs and interior design blogs that I have now added to my daily reading. Emily's "Cupcakes and Cashmere" blog does this thing called "Five Things" every Friday, and I will now be doing it as well (I think). Basically Five Things means pictures of - yes, you guessed it - five things that the blogger likes. My pictures are nowhere as artistic or cute as hers, but I'll try not to be too lame.

Flowers! This carnation is more of a salmon-orange but my camera isn't all fancy and can't actually capture the real color of things sometimes. I got some thank-you flowers for my reslife boss Jon and delivered them to him today!

Random photo of my jewelry collection scattered on the windowsill. Can't believe I'm packing all this up in a matter of weeks. 

 

I'm pretty sure my life was a little less meaningful before I discovered Arrested Development!!!! Honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I will forever remember Buster's hook (after his hand got bitten off by a seal). Loose Seal!! Tobias's jean shorts! Never-nudes!

This five things is actually really hard. Also, these pictures are leading to some strange spacing issues. Okay, well part of this blog is supposed to encourage normality and temper my OCD/perfectionist impulses.

Future purchase. As in "I will buy these, along with my graduation dress, in approximately 13 minutes." 

My friend Yushi happens to be a phenomenal photographer. This is Middletown in all its spring glory. From now on, maybe I'll just use five of his photos... I'll keep this short because the photo/text ratio is sort of alarming in the first few entries. Now I'll have to brainstorm of gifts for my mom and actually purchase my Forever 21 items with the paycheck I have yet to receive...

The End (or the Beginning?!)

Welcome, readers! Or more accurately, hello, self!


I've had this grand idea for awhile to start blogging again. Maybe it's because I spent 45 minutes the other day looking at interior design and fashion blogs, or because I want to sort of re-live my prague blog. Either way, what better time to start than now?! Right?! It's a Wednesday night and a pretty monumental day (explained below). So here I am.


My goal with this blog is manifold, or so I think/hope. First, I want to let my many followers and fans (so basically two or three friends) know what's going on with me in the post-college world. Second, I want to blog about all sorts of things and have a creative outlet to voice my thoughts, concerns, grievances, adventures, trials and travels.. that sort of thing. Finally, starting this blog right now means that I'm not reading about John Winthrop or generally feeling sad about my college experience ending. A win-win for everyone, methinks. Plus I can include pictures of cute animals in my down time.


A little about me - talking about myself (to myself) feels awkward and vain so I'll try to intersperse this part with some fun facts as well. I'm a college senior/soon-to-be-graduate of Wesleyan University living in Middletown, CT. I've recently become pescetarian. I'm an only child. My favorite concert was Coldplay (sophomore year). This year, I've started a "eat dessert once a week" policy. I wrote a senior thesis about French representation of religion in colonial North Africa. I don't like feet. I only started eating broccoli last summer. I love public transportation. I spent nine weeks in Montana two years ago and LOVED it. I don't know how to drive. I've never had a manicure. I have perfect pitch. I've been blogging since middle school and I had no idea blogger.com had a million new layouts and choices. I usually don't type with proper capitalization in informal situations. 


That seems like enough for now.

Anyhow! I hope I can keep up blogging, even if it is just for my own sake, because it's important to reflect on things. Plus, since I won't be surrounded by brilliant Wesleyan peers, I want to continue to challenge myself mentally and intellectually by critically thinking about various issues of interest. And to post pictures of animals, as mentioned above. This is probs going to be a really wordy blog, so pictures are good.

SO. TODAY. Today was the last day of class. Ever. Or at least at Wesleyan. You know, I've been thinking about graduation for awhile so it's strange that all of these feelings are hitting me NOW. I don't quite know how to make sense of it, so I'm trying not to process it all right away. Everything is going to change, and I don't know how to feel about that quite yet. True to form, I have a TON of things to do before graduation and also things I want to do this summer. Books I want to read. People I want to see. It's going to be refreshing to be away from academia for a little bit but the future is starting to become blurry again. I was/am (?) planning on studying for the LSAT this summer and taking the test in October, but I'm starting to think that maybe I want to go to grad school again. I just got the comments back from my readers who read my thesis and I just feel like academia has such a strong pull. Then again, I went to a lecture (two, actually) yesterday that made me feel like I am just not cut out for it. Or at least not the feminist/queer theory or process theology parts. Sigh.

Okay. That's all for today. PICTURES NOW. 

me. and food. the bento box at sadako in ann arbor, michigan (fall 2010).

three of my favorite people in the whole world - and they are all college graduates now! 

(ann arbor, michigan - fall 2010).

i spent my junior spring abroad in prague. loved it, miss it (prague, spring 2010).

this was me freshman year. i still look the same? (middletown, fall 2007).

Alright, that's all for now. My photo captions aren't properly capitalized. I'm just going to leave it as is. If you know me, that's kind of a big deal because I like uniformity and whatnot. So much more to say! Including my final paper on the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria, my desire to perhaps read Judith Butler this summer, summer plans, what I'm wearing for graduation, what the heck I did in Montana (aka a self-indulgent post with pictures from the great outdoors), and so on. Not to disappoint, here is my FAVORITE picture of puppies. Pure happiness. Until next time!