As If It Wasn't Already Apparent That I Love The New York Times...

SAVE POLAROID FILM. (So neat).

One Summer, 14 Weekends. 

Biography over Brain? 

People I Really, Really Do Not Like:

1. Kobe Bryant.

Summer Mode.

It's come to my attention that my blog resembles every other girls' blog out there in the blogosphere. I feel unoriginal.

Maybe I'll resolve this by committing to Twitter...

Or by becoming more original...

I saw Star Trek last night.

With my dad.

At Kickingbird.

And can I just say that I would trade all of the world's Bricktown Harkins and Warren-like theaters for one Kickingbird 8. I just love its simplicity.

I remember loving it during the middle school and high school years, because I could go there with my family and not be embarrassed, because everyone my age would be at the one at the mall. And if someone did happen to be at Kickingbird, they were similarly with their parents and just as ashamed.

I'm glad I'm past that stage now - being embarrassed to be seen at the movies with my parents.

Because seeing a movie with my parents is awesome - its paid for and includes overpriced popcorn. Even if my mom is the one in the audience persistently asking, "Oh my gosh, what's going to happen next!?" in her loudest tone.

I also really enjoyed Star Trek. 

Mostly because I like how J.J. Abrams recycles his actors. He was on NPR's Talk of the Nation the other day and seemed genuinely nice.

However, I am confused as to what exactly the "red matter" was/how it originated. I feel that element was not sufficiently explained, but if you can get past that...

I'm also completely perplexed by:

the Violent Femmes' lyric: big hands, i know you're the one...

I have successfully memorized all of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" while running.

I have no idea where my diploma is. Maybe I left it in the Union...

So I was reading an article on Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the UN, and became completely overwhelmed by her impossibly rigorous resume and schedule.

Sometimes I feel like I'm Maggie Gyllenhaal's character in Stranger Than Fiction, when she goes to Harvard law school only to find she really just loved to bake.

This is all to say, I like being productive, but things like sleeping-in and wasting entire afternoons doing nothing are also extremely important to me.

Advice I got recently from my mom's landscape architect colleague, that seems like it should be a no-brainer, but for some reason isn't:

Network and make connections, but only with people you like and respect. Don't waste time with people you don't really care for - no matter their position or advantage. 

 

Summer Soundtrack: Santagold's Lights Out and The Cure. (Thanks to Kori).

While I continue to float. (Thanks to Whitney for the perfect word to describe this current stage of life).

 

Home on Tuesday!

Meg is awesome because...

a) She can pull off a purple wig a la Natalie Portman.

b) She made this with her bare hands!

And I can add her to the list of people traveling with their boyfriends.

Because, she'll be visiting her boyfriend's home state.

Where is it, you ask: Nebraska? North Dakota? Maine?

Nope. Hawaii. 

The End.

As of May 15th & 16th I am a college graduate.

And despite the up-to-the-minute finals and barrage of family members, I can only describe it as fairytale-like with rushed memories of tumultuous weather, garlands, sangria spilt on a white dress, happiness, golden best friends...

I began college hating it and have ended it, so in love and not wanting to leave.

And I'm counting that as my biggest success.

That's the way I am with everything though, it just takes time to adjust and to build a life.

I would beg and plead with anyone to not waste as much time as I did worrying and freaking out about the meaning of life/why hasn't this or this happened yet/I'm behind/I'm too ahead/who am I/direction/where am I going/what am I doing/what are other people thinking and take more advantage of exactly what's in front of you. "Eating the ice cream while it's on your plate," if you will. Like, before it melts.

Not that a little evaluation isn't important now and again, but...ugh, I'm such a pathologically pathetic worrier.

I arrived at the end, completely in awe of how surreally wonderful my life in Norman has been.

So, don't for a minute change the place you're in.

And if I've learned anything from that, I'll now enter into the immediate post-grad years with a sense of adventure and a spirit of excitement about the uncertain and unknown. 

Books perfect for graduation, that never ever get old. I mean, I reread them a million times and still discover new truths:

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.

Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Suess.

Inspiring stuff I've seen lately:

TV on the Radio.

Doubt.

The Visitor. Agh, so so good! Music may just be the purest thing in the whole wide world. 

I think it would be interesting to research the significance, if any, Southern writers have on readers in other countries (China immediately comes to mind, but any country would work). I mean, is there even an appetite in these places so far removed from the culture, a capacity to understand something by John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Mark Twain, Margaret Mitchell, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Zora Neal Hurston, William Faulkner...

I'm reading Toole's Confederacy of Dunces right now and keep thinking, what would this mean to a Bangladeshi hungry for American literature?!?

But then again, would I really want to devote my life to compiling a thesis that would end up in some obscure journal, read by all of five people? No.

I have a lot of friends going on solo trips with boyfriends this summer and I'm wondering why traveling together is such a good litmus test for a relationship?

Because you see how one deals with being someplace different, being outside their comfort zone? How easygoing, flexible they can be? Their sense of fun and adventure and energy level? There's no hiding? 

So, Jim Halpert.

After watching the ending scene of the finale, is it possible that I love Jim even more now?

I am aware that every girl in the world loves Jim, but don't we all convince ourselves that somehow our fictional love is more meaningful, special, important, more real than the next persons...

Anyway, that's the end (of the college years).

A Thousand Words.

This picture is courtesy of The New York Times in the context of a response by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan to a sudden defensive alert.

Humanizing isn't it?

On a more trivial note, it's 2 a.m. and I just finished my last college paper!

Stop And Smell The Roses.

Falling asleep with my roommates to romantic comedies.

Ice machine.

Elvira and the yogurt she so lovingly saves for me every morning, because once I located the culprit who dared to park in her parking space.

Passing honeysuckle vines on my way to class. 

And sitting by people I enjoy.

The genius of Oscar Wilde.

My own little office at KGOU.

Weeknights with Kelly and Vanessa.

Running on Lahoma.

Discussing the depth of the Boss's lyrics.

Everyone and everything I love within walking, biking and longboarding distance.

Texts.

Rain mist.

Balmy nights.

Cafe Plaid booths.

Because it's Mother's Day.

Louis Kahn's Salk Institute.

(My mom's favorite building and architect and thus, representative.)

I love you every second, of every day.

I remember my mom wrote that in a birthday card she gave me once. And I remember finding that kind of love unfathomable.

My mom is bomb.

Interpretation

My actual favorite album cover.

Last night I dreamt I was being attacked by a man who works at the 7-11 on Chautauqua, except he had duck feet and lobster claws. I woke up in terror. What does this mean?

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep.

Best album cover, I think. 

I'm lacking in spirit.

So, some songs I like lately...

Delta Spirit, People C'mon

Ida Maria, Oh My God

Okkervil River, Girl in Port

TV on the Radio, Dancing Choose

Chris Thile, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

Lily Allen, The Fear

Andrew Bird, Swedish Wedding March

Metric, Help I'm Alive