The Way I See It # 399

I'm up at 6:30 in the morning because I've agreed to accompany a friend to 7 AM Yoga.
I'm not concerned about the Yoga, but I concerned about making the trek across two blocks down Harrison.


I wonder what crazies I'll run into..


I'll be manning my pepper spray.

The Way I See It # 398

My GOD Urban planning, you are ruining my life!

I've been in the library all morning, it is now 2 0' clock, and I'm not even done with this chapter! I'll have to resume my studies after Linguistics. I am famished, and will venture out into the cold to find food.


Winter is coming.

The Way I See It # 397

An Urban Observation:


When someone asks me where I live they are usually very surprised. My usual answer is “The 900 block of W. Franklin St.” Their surprise is not rooted in the safety or general “word on the street” about W. Franklin St, as it’s actually a safe and welcoming block, but instead it is rooted in the fact that most wouldn’t peg the 900 block as a residential street. Virginia Commonwealth University has purchased most of the old Victorian real estate on W. Franklin and turned the charming town houses into administrative buildings for the University. The President’s House is on my block, which I like to think gives my own address some sort of regality (even if it doesn’t), and my very own address is across from the Wilder School of Political Science and two doors down from the Buford House (Art History). This juxtaposition of the few residences that have invaded the block and the University buildings creates an aura of collegiate academia—one that I am happy to live amongst.
It’s 4:00 PM on the 900 block, and due to the blistery cold weather, not many people are outside. On a sunny day people can be seen strolling down the sidewalk under the line of trees. Many people walk their dogs toward the dog park up N. Harrison, and more so are there students walking to class. W. Franklin is one of the few side streets of the VCU campus among which students frequently utilize to get to class. But for right now, there aren’t many people about (reasons for this include the weather, and perhaps for the lateness in the day), and the street is predominantly empty.
At one end of the 900 block runs Shafer St., and on its corner is the Chesterfield apartment building, which holds a wonderful restaurant, Cous Cous, and also one of two VCU bookstores. Now it is apparent that the 900 Block of W. Franklin has bee utilized by different types of building zones: restaurant, retailer, administrative buildings, and actual residences. All of these different zones provide an inviting feeling when one steps onto the block, and it feels almost as though you have everything you really need at an arm’s reach.
Perhaps what is more responsible for the inviting feeling one gets from living and walking here is the Victorian charm of the architecture that is prevalent on W. Franklin St. I myself live in the downstairs parlor of one of the Victorian homes that nestles up to W. Franklin and it’s odd to think that at one time whole families rather than apartment dwellers such as myself used these homes. In fact, this very Victorian architecture that is seen on W. Franklin is one of the many things that draws VCU students to attend the University. The charm of these large, elaborately decorated homes adds a sense of sophistication and wonder to those who live and work here.
As for neighborly interaction, normally when it’s cold outside I don’t see much of anyone. However, when the weather is warm, it is not unusual to see a gaggle of people on every stoop down the block, talking academics, “I don’t understand why my students in Art history 103 aren’t getting the concept of the Golden Rule!” (at Buford House), or talking about anything in general. The neighbors are jovial and in good spirits when the weather is up, and it’s just as common to see people from the street join in their conversation, and even make their way up onto the stoops. However, due to this cold, windy, weather, most people are walking fast and trying to get home or to class. All kinds of people interact on W. Franklin, whether it be professors heading to office hours, bike kids making their way across town, VCU students, workmen working on restoring the buildings, or just regular inhabitants of the block, everyone and everything seems to mesh together quite nicely. I personally couldn’t imagine a better place to work or live.

The Way I See It # 396

I scheduled my advising appointment at the School of World studies this morning for next Tuesday (SLAP ME IN THE FACE I HAVE TO VOTE THAT DAY). I'm excited to finally/officially choose my major as Anthropology, and probably my minor as Art History. This is exciting. I also realized that I am ridiculously ahead in school, and that this can pose as a fork in the road. Presumably I can graduate in the winter of my senior year, thus shaving a semester off of my "Four Year Plan". What do I do? Do I go ahead and get out of school and save a semester's worth of tuition? I'm thinking now that I could work and go to school part time if I space out my senior year just right. I feel a pressing need to earn money for Graduate school, since it's now becoming a necessity instead of a nice thought. Anthropology majors don't get anywhere without higher learning, and this includes even the elusive PhD.

So I'm a sophomore in college (Technically a Junior next semester) and I'm already laying down a five year (even more) plan. I never thought I was that kind of person, but it's become painfully evident that I am, and that I'll spending a majority of my life.... well... my young life, in Academia. Am I upset by this? Not really, I love learning, and I love being busy with work. So this is good.

So here I am jumping the gun wondering where I want to go to Graduate school. I looked at Museum studies (if that's the direction I want to go in) at GW, and that looked promising, but fuck, I don't have the money for that. I need to stay close to hime if I want to save some money with instate tuition. Obviously there's a good possibility for UVA. Although I am bitter that I didn't get in the first time (meh), maybe another go around would land me in Charlottesville. But do I want to be in Charlottesville? I think I would prefer to stay in the city, and I'm thinking Washington DC is possibly the place for me. While not "In state" it's definitely close and has the Smithsonian Institution close at hand.


What am I doing? I need to focus on my Urban Planning class. This is completely out of the way, I have 2-ish more years to think about this.

The Way I See It # 395

I'm stuck between a shower and a barrel of trail mix. I'm about to drop the M&M's and head for cleaner living. I always feel better after a shower.

This weekend sucked pretty badly. Here's why:

1. I didn't go out, although I'm not sure it would have made a difference
2. I live alone
3. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to my love life
4. Fucking school is breathing down my neck
5. Some friends are flakes
6. I eat too much trail mix
7. My internet blows
8. I find myself jealous of Sarah and her boyfriend
9. Donde esta la belleza?

The Way I See It # 394

I am entirely too frightened to look at my midterm grade for Urban planning. This is what wishing for harder classes gets you.... fucked up the ass. I'll have to change the way I approach that class, and this means more labor, more hours, and more tedious studying on my part. Hopefully I knock the final out, blow away my teacher with my Urban observation, and generally make up for what a clusterfuck this test was. I hope Scudder (yeah, that's my Prof.'s name!) isn't ashamed of me.

But at least it's over my head and I can for the moment breath.

I saw Misha last night and we talked (holla atcha' guuurrrll!) which was awesome!

I took my French midterm this morning and I think I did really well! At least that class is going the way it should be.

My friend Russell that I worked with at Resto. was supposed to come up this weekend for the Highland festival, but sadly won't be able to make it. Bummerrrr,

I don't know what I'm going to do now.... I guess enjoy the rest of the night. :)

The Way I See It # 393

Girl what you do what you do what you do what you do is amazing!
You got me watchin' you girl what you do is amazing!
Do what you do what you do is amazing!
You are the truth
The truth hurts


So I'm pissed about my Urban Planning Midterm. What's wrong with paper tests? I know all of you "green" people give a shit, but honestly.... at least this technology isn't dependable, obviously!

I'm just mad because when I checked back to see if I could get into the test, I was able to, but I was already past the 3 hour time limit (and my teacher knocks off a point for every minute you go over!).

Let's all let out a long guttural moan.


But other than that all I have to worry about is my French midterm tomorrow, and then my week will be over. Thank goodness. This has been really rough!

The Way I See it # 392

I hate blackboard!

UGH.

I got locked out of my 3 hour Urban Planning Midterm!

HOW ANNOYING.

The Way I See It # 391

YES.


YES YES YES.


I bought the LG Vu for $50!


YES.

The Way I See It # 390

I'm sitting here in the library, about to start my physics experiment outline, and I cannot help but eavesdrop on the two research assistants at the Library desk in the middle of Cabell. One of them apparently feels bad about the way he handled a phone call while working with someone, and the other is giving him a pep talk about it. It's weird/interesting to listen to.



Back to work.

The Way I See It # 389

Ice cream makes me happy, so why shouldn't I eat it?


Ben and Jerry's Half Baked is delicious. And great on a radiator-induced hot evening of studying.

The Way I See It # 388

I'm so conflicted about which phone to buy.

I want the LG Vu, but it is more than my reasonable budget.... but I love this phone.

I basically won't be happy with any other phone. Should I splurge?
I can buy a refurbished phone online for $100. But then again it's a used phone.

I could get the LG Shine, but I don't think I want to spend money on something I don't want...


ARGG
MATERIALISM AT IT'S BEST!

The Way I See It # 387

Sometimes I just want my shower to burn. Does anyone else ever get that feeling? Sometimes the water just doesn't get hot enough.

Sometimes I intentionally pull the covers off and wait until I'm shivering to get back under them.

I set myself up for warmth. I must be cold-blooded.


Sometimes I enjoy silence and being alone.
Sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I feel like extra pillows give me emotional support, not just physical support.


What am I doing?

The Way I See It # 386

So being at Starbucks and finishing my drink, and thinking about tattoos, has led me to stumble up this horrible image.

The Question isn't "Why So Serious?"
Rather it is "Are You Serious??"

The Way I See It # 385

sI'm visiting my local starbucks (Oakton style) and I ran into my drumming instructor Chris. No longer is it awkward between us when we see each other, but he was disappointed to find out that I sold my drum set. Oh well, he knows it was practical for me to sell it. All is well between us, and he even invited me and my friends to a gig on Saturday night, which is really cool of him. It's in Old Towne Alexandria, but I doubt anyone will want to go with me. Another time perhaps.

Why is it that everyone is staring at me? The Business man sitting behind me was staring into my Photobooth back at me and it creeped me out. There is an adorable little girl who stared at me, and her mother was staring at me until we made eye contact. There's a girl doing math homework who occasionally looks over, and everyone standing in line has looked my way for more than 30 seconds each. Maybe I'm just interesting looking? Maybe it's the glasses? The Macbook? The iced caramel Macchiato? What about me makes me so different? That I am the only member of my demographic in the room?

You'd think someone such as myself who finds it odd that people are staring would leave. Maybe I like the attention.

The Way I See It # 384

I have a feeling that I have been bred to be the way I am.

Obviously.

Learning is a cultural aspect, and while my parents obviously had a hand in raising me that way they did, I never thought that parents could teach their children differently, perhaps based on the language they speak. I learned through, supposedly, pointing out objects and reading off their names. My learning process as a child was entirely object/noun based, and thus when it comes to picking out something, and observing, I tend to observe focal objects much more readily than my surrounding environment. I wish this wasn't the case. I think it is more useful to think of things in relationships to others. In Chinese, this is how children are taught to learn. Parents speaking chinese will teach their children objects through relations, rather than simply naming objects. So their learning patterns are verb-based, rather than noun based.

Do you think that by growing up here, learning the way I have gives me an entirely biased view of the world? Why didn't it occur to me to see the whole picture, rather than parts of it that I wanted to see? Has my whole perception been skewed? I guess someone who learned in Chinese could say the same thing. It just makes us different.

However, In my linguistics class I took a test to test my perspective and I scored dramatically in the "Eastern Sense", meaning, that the objects I chose matched with answers that Asians rather than Westerners. Does this make my perception Asian? No.... because in the study about 60% of Westerns thought in the western sense.... so I guess I'm just in the "weird" 40%.

The more and more I think about language, culture, and cognition, the more fascinated I am. It makes me wonder how much learning and "nurturing" really play a role in shaping a person. Obviously it's a big role.... but what if we're all hardwired to think in a certain way?

Some argue that Children cannot possibly learn language on their own at such a young age, and that they have an internal cognitive mechanism that is a road map for language. Do you agree with this?

The Way I See It # 383

The more and more I think about it, the more and more I'm leaning towards getting a tattoo.

But I don't want my mom to die, so I'm going to take her advice and get something fake, and live with it for a year.

What I need:
carbon paper, tracing paper and speed stick or old spice deodorant- the solid clear kind

Procedure:
put the tracing paper on bottom, carbon paper in the middle, your design on top

trace out your design- the image will be copied in blue carbon on to the tracing paper

cut out the design- leave about 1/4 to 1/2 inch around the image

shave the area you want to put the tattoo on-

put on a few swipes of deodorant to adhere the outline

place the outline carbon side down

press lightly and wait a few seconds

remove transfer

Then I would go over the design with permanent ink, (I've found that liquid eyeliner actually stays on for a long time, but I might look into other permanent inks that are safe for skin).


What I'm having trouble with is coming up with a design that is meaningful to me, and that looks aesthetically pleasing.

The Way I See It # 382

I've been listening to some fresh beats, lately, and it's helping my mood.
I tanked an urban planning test.
I'm tired, and still at the library.
I need to get my Halloween costume together.
I need break to start.
BLAGH




UGH. My back hurts, and my foot looks suspect right now....

The Way I See It # 381

Benny Goodman, I missed you so much.



I need breathing room.



but for this moment, I am content.

THe Way I See It # 380

The Internet at VCU isn't working for some reason, but it is working at starbucks. So I've been forced to come inside during the beautiful weather. I don't think I'll linger here after I've finished up my French lab work. Things over the last couple days have been hectic and weird. I have a lot of work coming up for my classes, and it's looming over my head. For example, this Linguistics assessment is worrying me. I think it will be fine, but I'm not sure I'm completely grasping what we're learning, and so I am worried. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I probably won't be getting straight A's this semester due to Physics which for being such an "easy" class, is rather difficult to do as well as I want to. Science just isn't my thing I guess.

I went to Harrison St. Coffee Shop with John, and that place is awesome. I don't think I had ever been to a real coffee shop before, and their Vanilla Chai was pretty darn good to boot. I'll definitely be going back. I would reccomend that you go check it out!

I don't know what I'm doing tonight. I don't feel so good today, but hopefully I feel better by tonight. Sarah Wax is out of town, I believe, but maybe I'll hit up Michele and see where she's headed to.

I think I need to go out, but I also think that I need to find things to do that don't involve the whole "Getting Wasted!" thing. I've realized that this probably isn't my "thang".

Also, I've been trying to think up ideas for Submissions to the Commonwealth Times. Their Opinion Section is kind of lacking, which means there's a good chance for publishing. Maybe I'll do that today too.

The Way I See It # 379

My Apartment/Building smells strongly of Methane.


I've decided to leave the premises for the day until my Landlord gets back to me.



Oh, and if you look down near the bottom of the page, I've added a ticker to see how many people are visiting this blog. I'm surprised! I thought maybe 5 people read it, and there might be a little over that in random passersby.

The Way I See It # 378

I AM ADDICTED TO "MISSED CONNECTIONS"

I've been here more than hour scanning them, wondering if any are about me.


Is that weird?

The Way I See It # 377

I've discovered Craiglist's "Missed Connections" section, and I can't stop reading.

One of them, I know who they're talking about, hahaha
http://richmond.craigslist.org/mis/864158671.html

The Way I See It # 376

I've been waiting for hours for a class that has been just canceled. Oh well, maybe I'll perpetually be in a state of waiting. Patience is my virtue. All I ever do is wait. "D' attente". Maybe everyone is waiting for something. I wish that I could project my thoughts as eloquently as Misha can. Her prose is something I always enjoy reading, while my posts seem scatter brained. I was sitting outside today after eating and I felt like I was waiting. I wasn't waiting for anyone in particular, and I didn't expect anything to happen. Maybe subconsciously I'm waiting for something.... I'm anxious in a way that I can't explain. I guess subconscious is the best way to describe it.

I've been trying to figure out my dreams. In all of my dreams there is food that is/becomes spoiled. Last time it was pizza bites with flies, once before it was a smashed jar of peanut butter, and so on, and so on. I've looked up dream interpretation online. My friend says that these sites cannot give an accurate description of the symbolism of dreams, obviously because dreams are undeniably your own creation and thus personal to yourself. But I don't know what to make of spoiled food.

"To dream of milk that is sour or impure, denotes small problems that will torment you and give you much distress."

"To see or eat pizza in your dream, represents abundance, choices, and variety. It may also indicate that you are lacking or feeling deprived of something."

Wonderful. I'm not sure if these dreams represent something bad. In the dream, the spoiled food is simply annoying. I don't find myself really upset over the fact that I couldn't eat this, or that this particular food went bad. It seems to me like a reoccuring annoyance.

The Way I See # 375

My back/wrist hurt from drawing all night.

The Way I See It # 374

I already wrote tonight, but I am restless and up. I'm depressed. I'm alone, in my room. Usually being alone/the only one awake at night makes me feel comfortable and inspired. Now it only forces me to think, and that's the last thing I want to do. I thought being home would be comforting. But Friday I was alone all day, today I went to Tysons, but something felt different. I was alone when I went, and even when Mom and Kara joined me I felt like it just wasn't the same. Naturally being home by myself doesn't feel the same either. I thought the peace would calm me, but it's only left me uneasy, and I feel anxious to get back to Richmond. I don't want to feel like that. I guess I'm worried about a lot of stuff. I always have shit in the back of my head.

I'm getting emotions and feelings that I haven't had in... years. I don't want them. I want them to get out of my head and I want to be left alone. I hate....


I hate everything in this moment.

Maybe if I wait my perspective will change.

The Way I See It # 373

For the moment I'm letting sound waves alter my brain waves. It seems that without sound, I can't function right now. Normally I enjoy the silence, but right now I can't seem to stand it.

Today was a good day. Purchased some needed things, walked around Tysons, and went out to dinner for my Dad's birthday. I still have laundry to do and I need to buy some necessities for the apartment. I think I'll end up doing that last minute tomorrow.

I feel an uneasiness that I don't want to experience. I'm hoping that music will replace my emotions with alternative ones for the time being, that way I won't have to focus for a while.

The Way I See It # 372

Fresh Beats I'm Currently Addicted To:

1. Crips- Ratatat
2. Neighborhood- Aiden Hawken
3. Acid Tongue- Jenny Lewis
4. Dr. C- Alias and Tarsier
5. Oslo In The Summertime- Of Montreal
6. Save Yourself- The Colour
7. Signs of Life- Every Move A Picture

The Way I See It # 371

So I'm home, and while it's nice to be here, it's not as relaxing as I thought it would be. I did all my homework today while enjoying the weather outside. That was nice. I did run in to people I know, and I did go somewhere that I have in Richmond, but seriously fuck that. I was sitting outside in the middle of Vienna, and if that's not "Going Home" then what is?

I took a shower this morning, and I realized that my hair looks much better up here in Nova. Also everything in my house is immaculately clean because none of the girls live at home anymore. My bathroom was untouched and pristine, and so was my room. It was creepy, but comforting at the same time. Tomorrow I'm going to Tysons to do some much needed retail therapy. I need a new coat like crazy, so that's my mission for the day. Then tomorrow night we're celebrating Dad's birthday and going out to Dinner. That will be nice, I think.

Now I might cuddle in my Mom's room and eat ice cream out of a coffee mug.

The Way I See It #370

BORED BORED BORED.

I'm going home! Yay! I'm so excited!

I need to work on my French group project, and I need to start thinking about my physics project proposal. I really need to think about that.

But I'm going home and avoiding it instead! YES. Besides, what does physics have to do with anthropology? Absolutely nothing. :)


Off to Linguistics I go, and then to see Weezy, and then back for 3 hours of urban planning! My weekend starts tomorrow at 3 PM.