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

Sure It's Out of Self-Preservation, Brave Nonetheless.

Arlen Specter is switching to the Democratic party, because it's clear the Republican Party is Rush Limbaugh polarized, allowing no room for moderates. 

Oh, and the fact that there's no way he'd win re-election as a Republican due to the 200,000 new voters that registered as Democrats in Pennsylvania.

I think it's going to be interesting to watch the Republican Party re-package itself. 

Because, apparently, it's gotta.

At the end of the day, it's not about small government or big government, but whether or not government can get the job done.

Why Georgia Why.

Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don't.

- Georgia O'Keefe.

Memory: Callahan/Butcher roadtrip through Indiana, we tour the Indianapolis 500 racetrack and follow that experience up with a trip to the art museum were I stand in a room filled with incomparable Georgia O'Keefe pigmented flowers and bleached bones.

Song to go with it: Pete Yorn, Splendid Isolation.

Take Me To The End So I Can See The Start.

Right now I am:

Drowning in too much stuff to do. Because I'm committed to ending on a strong note.

Nostalgic. But pushing it to the back of my mind in order to take full advantage of every part of my undergraduate lifestyle.

Phi Beta Kappa. How did that happen?

Officially a Theta alum. How did that happen?

Reading Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer.

Listening to Ingrid Michaelson's Die Alone and the entire She & Him album, especially I Was Made For You.

Immediately after graduation:

Home for a teeny tiny bit where I will take full advantage of suburbia swimming pools, homemade mojitos and MY SISTERS!!!

And then:

I move to Washington D.C.

Which was totally freaking me out to the point where I didn't even want to talk about it. Logistics and realities can be overwhelming.

But after finally accepting the google group invite for Center for American Progress - I am so excited! Summer in the city, perfect political timing, creative work I'm interested in and kickball games against the Heritage Foundation...

And then, then:

Who knows? Which is...scary/crazy/cool.

So maybe I still have trouble putting together power points, but here are a few cliched statements I've found to be true about life so far:

Everything worth anything takes time. For me, it takes a lot of time. A lot.

Take classes that you're interested in. That way, school's not as torturous. 

Bloom where you're planted.

Comparison is the thief of all joy.

Don't make someone a priority if they only make you an option.

Don't stress, just do.

When people say they don't have the time to read, watch television, run, etc. what they really mean is they don't make time for it. The way you spend your time should reflect what's important to you.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

And think not you can direct the course of love...

Meaning: any manipulations or efforts on your part to try and win affection or love are worthless and a complete waste of time. It just happens. 

60 percent of life is obligation.

Show up.

It'll be okay.

Kick ass. Take names.

Courtesy of my Dad.

Pictures, resumes, etc. can never truly capture who you are, because you are beauty in motion.

Courtesy of my Mom. Moms are the greatest.

The greatest gift you can give someone is your undivided and attentive time.

Keep things in perspective. Count your blessings.

Italian Swimming Pools.

So last summer in Arezzo, we'd have these long, blissful stretches of unbearably hot afternoon to waste away.

That's why the local swimming pool, aptly titled Piscina Florida, was the best discovery ever.

We'd walk there with stolen convent towels over our shoulders and pay our entry fee to the surly, befuddled elderly couple who ran the place wearing bifocals and pajamas - the most unlikely, unapt job for a guy who literally looked like he'd rather kill himself than let you in.

The place was always packed and we'd spend a good chunk of time locating vacant reclining pool chairs and dragging them into a consecutive line for the pefect people watching vantage point.

Death defying stunt dives off the high board by macho Italian teenagers in Speedos caused us to cover our eyes every single time, always surprised brain and blood weren't splattered across the concrete afterwards. The stuff they did was insane.

And the lifeguard would blow his whistle, sometimes stand up for a second in mock consternation...but he knew as well as everyone there that he had absolutely no authority. It's Italy.

And everyone wearing nothing. The tiniest of swimsuits on every shape, size, sex and age group. Just letting it all hang out without a care in the world. Totally embarrassing. But definitely emphasized how body conscious and prudish Americans are. Something to think hard about.

And we'd get huge slices of watermelon and cold cans of beer and potato chips from the snack bar and eat them while sitting on the side of the pool with our legs dangling in the water. Against the rules. But again, there was nothing to stop us.

And every local we encountered would give us a look of whole hearted perplexity as to why American college students were spending their summer at the public swimming pool in tiny Arezzo.   

We'd trek home after five or six hours in the sun - worn out, burnt, buzzed and completely content. 

Perfectly summer.

Keep It Personal.

(via Cup of Jo)

I love this.

Because I've always hated things like gaudy prom dress sections in department stores, cheesy engagement stories, commercialized holidays, senior portraits, graduation ceremonies, wedding photographers...

Really anything that takes something that's supposed to be special and all your own and turns it into this stuffy, formal, staged affair.