Yon Evil Bush

Shutterbugging - a word I learned from Rosie. It means adventuring with the purpose of capturing beautiful photographs.

I recently purchased a very, very, very nice camera (pocketbook went OUCH!), but have had little opportunity to use it in my normal, day-to-day, erm, mostly boring life. This past weekend I found myself on one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world, which also happens to be my alma mater. It was the perfect opportunity for shutterbugging.

I meandered about, sometimes lying flat on my stomach to get the right angle, sometimes straddling bushes to capture a flower. One must make sacrifices for one's art.

I made one unanticipated sacrifice that ended up being rather time consuming.

You see, when a lady is in the real world, she finds herself carrying a purse everywhere she goes. This provides a convenient place to keep many things, one of which is her phone. When one gets used to always having a purse, one forgets how very inconvenient it is not to have a purse. This is relevant because, you see, most women don't carry purses on campus. I guess it's because you usually have a book bag or something, but most people don't walk around with a purse all the time. It would be very inconvenient and cumbersome. Being an alumna, I neglected to even bring a purse with me on this visit.

Wearing Sunday clothes, I had no pockets. I found myself with my camera around my neck, and phone in hand. This situation forced me to be creative with methods of holding my phone while still acquiring magnificent shots.

For one particular shot, I had my phone tucked under my elbow. I found myself leaning over, torso at at a right angle to my legs, trying to snap a photo of a rose (a photo which inspired a blog post to come...). I didn't quite have the angle I wanted and, without thinking about my precariously placed phone, I lifted my right elbow to change the angle of the shot. As focused the lens, I felt the phone slip and heard a soft thud. I finalized my shot, captured it, and then began the search for my phone. I knew it had landed in the bush that was directly under my elbow (dictated by the nature of gravity and confirmed by the noise it made) and thus directed my search there.

Fifteen minutes later, I was still squatting next to the bush, dirty and sweating now, but still without my phone. It had managed to disappear completely, as far as I could tell. The bush ate my phone.

 

It looks so innocent and innocuous. And small. Yet this bush was able to hide my phone from me for a solid 15 minutes. I was beginning to doubt whether I even had a phone when I finally found it wedged deep inside the bush. I'm not sure what this whole episode says about me, but I'm fairly certain that it doesn't say anything good. 

Reunited & It Feels So Good

Got to meet up with some of the most awesome people in the world yesterday.

 My & my bro. We are so fabulous.

 

 My ladies.

There is nothing that makes me happier than hanging with the people I love. These people really are the best. They're kind, generous, funny, loving, and loyal. They make my heart siiiiiiiiing. Well, ok, maybe that's a little overly dramatic. But they make my heart happy.

Why I Proofread

As the TAC senior thesis deadline approaches, I have received numerous requests from my friends to proofread their theses. People here at home think I'm crazy. As one fellow put it, "Wait... didn't you graduate already?"

I did graduate. And I still wrinkle my forehead over hundreds of pages of thesis draft with a red pen in my hand.

Why? A few reasons:

1. I love my friends. If they ask me for help, I like to give it. It doesn't really matter if it's reasonable or unreasonable. If I can do it, I will do it. That's what friends are for. (N.B. - I haven't found any of these requests unreasonable. Yet. ;))

2. I'm a perfectionist. When I proofread, I nitpick, unless specifically instructed not to do so.

3. Even when I'm not nitpicking, I oftentimes catch things that the author did not catch, simply because I haven't been looking at it and thinking about it for six months. No one wants to turn in a final thesis with a missing finite verb (which I, unfortunately, did. Sigh.) I am not more qualified in this department than any other person would be, I just happen to have more time than most people. :)

4. It's like a work-out for my brain. My brain needs exercise just as much as the rest of me. I'm happy to accept any and all opportunities for brain jumping-jacks. Every thesis presents me with a new challenge. Each author has a different subject, a different style, and different weaknesses. It's like a puzzle to untangle the (big or little) messes that one comes upon while reading them.

I, of course, have my limits. I can't do more than one thesis in a day. Sometimes (depending on the roughness of the draft), I can't even finish one thesis in a day. When proofreading my own last year, I would often get frustrated after about five or six pages and have to put it down for a while. (I had BIG messes. Heh.)

I guess it all comes down to this: I really enjoy proofreading. I enjoy helping my friends and I enjoy reading academic papers. What is not to love? :)

My Squishy

We never managed to come up with a good name for our room. We had some good material to work with: out initials are the first two letters of the alphabet. But nothing came. There was similar situation with this layout: I couldn't really think of anything to say about it. That may be because I'm tired and feeling a whole mix of emotions that I didn't know could co-exist in a person. Or it may be because my friendship with my roomie is beyond description. I'll let you decide :)

She Said Yes

I know I've been gone. I went back to my alma mater for the three day weekend. It was wonderful. I'll tell you about it later. In the meantime, I want to show you my first layout with my fancy stuff.

There was a bit of a problem with the date... It went from November 2012 to November 2011 with the help of some conveniently perfectly sized stickers. Oops. I'll definitely have to watch out for that one in the future!

I took this photo during an engagement photo shoot I did for my Godbrother and his fiance last November. This shot is probably one of my favorites from the day.

(pause while I try to figure out how to get the picture onto my blog. technology wins fight)

Well, this is awkward. It's really cute, but I don't know how to photographically prove that to you. How embarrassing. I'll figure it out some day when I'm less sleep deprived from a three day weekend full of heart to heart talks with numerous friends. In the meantime, here are some photos from the weekend. :)

(styrofoam cup art, the outside of our amazing chapel, the even more amazing inside of the other chapel, and a tolerably well-framed self-portrait with a friend)

happy Wednesday!

The Ties That Bind

Four years in one place. Many, many friends. Good times. Not so good times. Daily Mass, daily class, daily arguments, daily hugs, daily life with four hundred people. Every day, day in and day out, same people, same routine. I loved it. There were moments I hated it too, but I always loved it.

How much I loved it really hit me this weekend, when my social networks were filled with updates of my friends going back to school. Without me. They'll matriculate and go to class while I go back to work. Work is work. Not bad, not good... a job that gives me money. My old schoolmates will all think and learn and I won't be thinking. I will be "learning"... not to know, but to be able to repeat tasks a multitude of times correctly. No causes, no truth.

It all feels so... empty.

My mother assures me that this is a phase. A transition period. Something that will pass. I hope she's right (she usually is right). That doesn't mean I like it, though. I distinctly dislike it.

(and I know I'm whining. but sometimes, you just really need to whine. especially about the important stuff. and how it's over. forever. please let new important stuff arrive in my life soon!)

What *I* Do Best

People have stuff they're good at. All sorts of stuff. Usually, it's enhanced by a college education and supplemented by experience in the workforce. Engineers. Doctors. Musicians. Radiologists. Etc.

But what's a girl with a double major in Philosophy and Theology and a minor in math, but lacking in the patience that is requisite for teaching, to do? She works 40 hours a week doing things she's relatively not good at. Like answering the phone and doing accounting clerk stuff. In the evening, she drags her tired self to Bible study. And there she gets to do what she does best.

Last night I ventured out of the house. I was hesitant to go since I was so very tired, but I decided it would be good. Worst case scenario, I could fall asleep on the floor while the video was playing. That isn't what happened, though. We all watched the video. I raised a quizzical eyebrow at some of the claims made, but agreed with most of it. The discussion that we had afterward wasn't always focused. We talked about trivial things (like catching "spiritual fleas") and serious things (like the meaning of "transverberation"). I brought up some reservations that I had with some of the claims made on the video, but found that I had the most to say about anything. I had strong opinions... most other people had questions.

I felt so obnoxious. I kept telling them to tell me to shut up if I was getting annoying, but the evening ended up evolving into a Q&A session with me as the resident source of knowledge. I was kind of embarrassed, but I did have an answer for everything. I tried to speak simply, but I still made their brains hurt. I was asked to bring a lexicon next time. Not in a bad way... they all wanted to know more.

I apologized multiple times for spouting factoids and syllogisms concerning the goodness of being as such and how we can be sinful and given grace simultaneously. They just sort of... popped out. But they were just grateful.

I realized on the way home, though, that while they were impressed, this is what I do best. I don't get to do what I do best at work, but after work. I was given a top-notch education at TAC. I don't know everything, but I've got a head-start on most everyone else. If I can't answer questions like this, what can I do? I was educated to know. I just hope I can use that to help others reach the same thing.

Truth. Goodness. Beauty. For the win. 

Skeptic

One thing my college experience has done for me: made me a super suspicious reader. Everything I pick up (and I mean everything), I pick to pieces. I can't just pick up a book and read it anymore.

This has its benefits, but definitely cuts down on the simple enjoyment of reading.

Maybe I should just leave the reading and thinking to the men and continue baking cookies and sewing aprons.

Kidding!

Right

Ever wonder about something that's just huge and seemingly unsolvable? To muddle through it, all of the problematic aspects and promising parts, and get some sort of idea of the correct answer?

With math, you know there's one right answer (possibly with a number of correct expressions). With people, there often is not one right answer. You can't just slap down a solution that contains all of the variables perfectly. Sure, you can get probabilities. The minute details change things. And you can't perfectly account for the minute details without perfectly knowing the persons involved.

This is what makes human relationships so difficult, but so wonderful. It's because you can't predict them. You find friends in unexpected places. You also find that there aren't friends in expected places. You hit it off with one, and are irritated by the other.

I don't like this phenomenon. Sure, it allows for some great surprises. But I don't like not having an answer. I like math and science because I can find an answer. I don't like psychology because it's so... vague.

My dislike directly corresponds to my need to control things, which is not a good thing. Why can't I just let it go? Let things be mysterious. Let people surprise me. It may even be pleasant.

Good things, they say, come to those who wait.