a rather odd coincidence

I attended a wedding brunch this morning for a good friend of mine. I had been invited to the brunch by the bride and groom, so the invitation was really just a formality. I was told that it was being hosted by the groom's godmother at the house of a family friend. When the invitation arrived a week later, it just sat on the dresser. I never actually looked at it. If I had, I might have realized that it was at the home of one of my former professors.
Following the long, winding, mountain like roads, the leaves are just beginning to fall, we pull down the drive way arriving at this beautiful house neatly tucked into the woods of Chapel Hill. Upon walking into the house, there she is, with as much presence as ever. Her home, just a larger version of herself. Oliver, her poodle, greeted us with his wiggling cotton ball tail, roses adorned every table, and the smell of antiques filled the air. Everything felt just as it should be, as if it always was and always would be.
Some professors seem so professor like, she was one of them. So together, such a professor, you never think of them as being normal and having a life. It's not their impersonal, or on a pedestal, they just have so much knowledge and authority over their classroom, it just seems like that's where they belong. Seeing someone with such a great aura was like discovering what lies behind the curtain.

Last night I was having a conversation about people, socialization, and perspective. Our experiences shape the way we view people, and therefore the way we interact with them- if we are willing to invest some hope and faith into people, we are more likely to see that most everyone has something to contribute, a grandparent's wisdom, a child's knock-knock joke, a parents nagging, a loved one's praise. Our words have a tremendous ability to impact others, and our actions have even greater impact- what impression are you going to leave others with?

You never know when you'll run into them again...

today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Since graduating school in May, my life has nearly exploded with activity. Having had the summer to straighten, sort and prioritize it seems as though my life might actually be aligned with the heavens... my horoscope for today read as follows:

It's challenging to jump into new projects and activities when you haven't completed the previous ones. You have been patiently waiting as you mapped out your autumn calendar. Now fall is here and you are finally ready to go. Don't hold back. Share what's been on your mind recently with those closest to you and take a small step toward living the life that you have been dreaming about.

Being in college had provided me with a giant blanket excuse for everything, I just shoved it all under the rug and said I would deal with it later. Later came like a screeching halt,splashing hot coffee all over my lap and sending all my neatly stacked papers into a flurry.
I was confronted by the ghosts of my parents, my past, their plans for me, my plans for myself... I wanted to become something great... but I just felt like I had been chewed up and spit out, I couldn't do anything else, wasn't graduating enough? there wasn't a job waiting, or a white picket fence with a cute puppy... I woke up feeling like my life wasn't good enough, everything that I had been working so hard for wasn't good enough. Luckily after three months I managed to wake up from that nightmare.

So here I am. This is me, or maybe just something like it. Please join me as I set out to explore and discover this beautiful, crazy, messy wild world that we live in.

First up on my list is the City of Oaks half marathon and the debut of my very own line of stationary.

Welcome.

127 days until graduation

My thesis was due on Monday.
My film analysis was due today.

midsemester meltdown.

"Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times." -Aeschylus

"There are people whom one loves immediately and forever. Even to know they are alive in the world with one is quite enough." -Nancy Spain

Light and Dark.

Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable.

Here's to the Crazy Ones...

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers. The round
pegs in the square holes - the
ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules and
they have no respect for
the status quo. You can praise
them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you
can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

- Jack Kerouac