Snowing

Christmas week was all snow and shivers. I don't mind it when I'm watching it, but there is something about my driveway laced with layers of thin, slippery ice that seems sabatoging of mother nature to impose on such an earth loving person as myself. Especially considering I have completed reading 1,001 Ways to Save the Earth. Really though, unless your sitting inside watching it, shoveling, cracking, throwing, and piling chunks of snow and ice really is just pointless in it falling to the ground. However, maybe that's what evolution intended for and it is only inconvenient to us because we developed vehicles which catalyzed driveway pavements and subsequently the need to clear snow. I remember seeing a picture in a National Geographic magazine of a tree in the cold skies with a Jay perched onto it surrounded with red berries or flowers in Finland. and I'm not sure if it was the angling and skill of the photographer or just the mere beauty of nature itself, but it was honestly the most beautiful red berry tree I've seen. I'm sure there was a specific name for both the tree and photographer, and till this day I wish I could remember at what office I read that magazine to withhold the photo from all others. Or, I could go through all my father's collection of National Geographics as we are lifetime subscribers. Well, I managed to do a google stalk search of "Finland" and "National Geographic" and "Red" and found the photo! I am so thrilled because there were many beautiful photos in this issue which featured Oulanka National Park, Finland. Here are a couple of many beautiful photos.

Photography by Peter Essick

If you can, I recommend taking a look at the rest of the photos. The writing is photography in words, and probably one of my favorite written photography collaborations.

Here's to me wishing that when it was snowing, winter looked like said pictures on the left or right. Instead, the pixellation created by the sliding netted door of my patio creates this wintery image itself. Not so much what I was wishing for. Thanks, Illinois.

Building

Building friendships, careers, empires, whatever. I don't know what I'm building, but I know my best friend Pooja is building her stairs to conquer Paris. This is because she got her internship at Chloé. Wish there was a "scream" button on this keyboard; (!) will suffice. So proud of my darling. But I also hate Paris because it is removing my friend from my life for some months, so I'm bitter. Currently working out applying to study abroad in Ireland and work out the kinks of how I can go see her in Paris come Summer, two thousand and 10. Will miss this girl dearly, till next Fall. This week is long, sleepless, and cold. I'm home bound in a few days and ready to allow the laziness to seethe in, along with family time and admiration of this holiday season that's not as exciting to me as it is to everyone else. Alas, maybe going home will be the first stairstep in building up that holiday excitement. Maybe.

Oh. Good Morning.

Singing

Today, I was singing.

Believe

I am pretty speechless today. Raining again, wishing for Wellingtons. Need to buckle down this week and next two weeks for finals. $2.00 lattes at Espresso Royale makes that easier for myself and many others. Joyous espresso, always making my day a ray brighter. With that said, I'm going to need more sunlight to get through the next few weeks. Let the struggle end, the joy begin (B. James) It's nice to believe that will happen. Maybe it will, so help me ____.

One of those weeks where it is constantly pouring, constantly drizzling, and (or) constantly gloomy. Despite me being able to wake up at whatever hour I choose on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have not seen the sun in these recent days. Instead, I have seen wet uggs, sneakers, and uggs again. Indisputably, it is relatively safe to say that uggs offer no protection for the wetness of the ground and its respective puddles. Not only do they fail to offer wetness protection, but the hole that has seethed through my left ugg creates significantly more problems than I would have hoped. I thought these shoes were everlasting, but they are obviously only good for walking around in my apartment and cooking because I hate the feeling of cold tile on my bare feet. That was one of few issues I had with my past apartments. It's not even the hard-textured floors holistically that anger me, but just tile itself. I adore wooden floors and can't wait to have them in my house (future). Speaking of house, it would be nice to get to mine anytime soon. Unfortunately and fortunately, I have scheduled my EMT-B clinical hours in the ambulance and Emergency Room for this weekend of two shifts totalling twenty hours. It should be grand. I get really anxious which leads to nervousness when I have to try new things out, but I'm wishing for the best and to save a life or two: I wish. In further news, I came specifically to the library to update this and am meticulously writing it as a result. I have just witnessed two studious collegiates unscrewing a lightbulb from one light, and transferring it to the light at their desired table. They must be engineers, because I wouldn't have the guts to do that in a public space. Moreover, I am at an engineering library and am not that surprised at such behavior. I really hope that this weekend is enriching, relaxing, and enjoyable. As for the rain, though I have nothing against you falling over the skies of England and Ireland in my presence, Champaign, Illinois skies don't give me enough reason to love you as much. But if you wish to keep falling, I'll just have to do my best at (hopping puddles).

Hoppípolla.

Observe

University of Illinois' GEO had a strike today, and they had blocked off entrances to many of the main buildings inside the quad leaving students to either a) Disregard their presence b) Not go to class. Lucky, or maybe not, for me, none of the buildings I had classes in were blockaded, but it was a great time watching the protests and chants from a distance. The basis of the strike is eliminating tuition waivers for graduate students. However, the University is keen on not having said anything about eliminating any further tuition waivers as they had before, and the graduate students are indisputably arguing that the University is putting them in detrimental situations by threatening to eliminate tuition waivers as many of them have families to take care of and don't receive a valid enough monthly stipend. My opinion? None. Honestly, there are several factors I could insist that the University be spending less money on, like the new corinthian pillars outside of Lincoln Hall. But some things are just unchangeable, and though I do commend them for the protest, I think the University is too stubborn and concerned with other matters like...athletics. Which I may or may not have an issue with. Till then, I will sit back, admire the pillars, pray to mother nature that if it rain, it not be cold; and just observe: myself and others both.

Justifying

There is nothing better than quality time with girlfriends, dancing by yourselves and with each other to sleezy, dirty, really bad rap music. Those were the bulk of my events last night after what seemed like a week that lasted a month, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Soon after came home to watch an episode of Lockup: Raw, which completely fulfilled my night. After tossing and turning from what one might call sleep but what I would call thinking, I finally fell asleep and woke up at the ungodly hour of seven a.m. Meaninglessly flipped through channels and snuggled in my comforters in this apartment where I'm pretty sure the heater has failed to work, considering it is set to seventy-four degrees and I'm feeling frostbit. Also, this unusual noise usually comes whenever the heater is on, and I didn't hear it all night. Thank you, heater, for not being there when I need you most. Today, then, as a result of being so cold, lazy, and ultimately useless, I decided it would be okay to wake up at three p.m. after lengthy organized plans to study for organic chemistry exam which lies ahead this Wednesday. Now I am stuck in front of this computer listening to Yann Tiersen, whom I love, wishing that this heater would fix itself, and justifying my lazyness for my ambition to fix the heater; moreso hope it fixes itself. Today is all about justifying.

Bring me warmth.

Mull

This week I had exam after exam, with induced sickness, and lack of sleep. I didn't realize it was Mid-November already and that people had already started Christmas shopping until I rode the bus this morning and I heard an elderly woman talking to a stranger about how she is cutting down on Christmas spending this year, and making baked goods baskets instead of buying bulky, shared, ultimately unliked presents. I mean to say, there are always those presents that people don't ever use or like, but you still get the present because it is the meaning of a present that is satisfying you and the recipient. Anyways, my point of the story was that it is almost Christmas, which means it is almost two thousand and ten, which means time is passing faster than I want it to. I'm sitting here venting about exams and lack of sleep but before I know it that part of my week is over and a whole new week of the exact same thing is beginning, and this cycling manner will end in another week, and begin in the next. I think I'm nervous about time passing, per usual. Wish that things would pause for a day or two to just mull things over.

Since today is an hourglass, I'll pause time myself. Today, I will mull.
The photo: Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, Scotland.
If only I could mull things over there.

Sharing

I had the idea from a friend that as a result of being some hundred miles apart, we would each share something "cool" or interesting with each other that may or may not have been relative to our day. So, I had a better idea when listening to The Swell Season's "The Verb" to think of a verb, not an adjective that describes myself by the moment, thought, or day. This is my amateur way of attempting to create and maintain some personal writing and share the verb with others. Today, I'm sharing.