In a Dream

It's been a difficult semester, what with endless writing assignments on top of endless noodle binges, life has been weird for the past few months. It seems like i'm still trying to find my place in this life. But i've decided to look for some of the good things that have been happening, for there are MANY. First and foremost, OMG who knew noodles could be sooo effing delicious??!! Also, being situated across from a high school, I get to pass some cute high school boys playing some hardcore tennis, every day on my way to school! Ok so maybe i'm a pedo, whatever, cute boys are cute boys. Also after being separated from my best friend for almost a year, she's coming to see me! And on her birthday too :))). There are few things that make me happier then just chillin with my bestie :). God, I love that girl; thank you for letting me collide with her.

Also, ivy on this particular ivy league, is quite beautiful. All throughout winter these vines that have creeped their way up to the top, were an inspiration. No matter where I am in this life, there's only one direction and i'm making my way there :). A beautiful reminder that there are no mistakes and no wrong turns. It is remarkable to me how wonderful life can be, I will use that tired adage to describe it: even on a cloudy day- you always know the sun is there, waiting, peeking, and will always be there. To share it's warmth and love, with you.

Walking home a few days ago, it started to snow. I hurried along, not wearing a jacket- stupid weather was having menopause or something, it was 70F just the day before- I happened to glance down at my phone and noticed on my arm, was a perfect snowflake. The most beautiful and tiny, white beauty that made me stop and smile. There really is perfection in all things, was the first thought that popped into my head, the next was that it was freaking cold! Baby steps, right? .0_0.

Life is good, no- it's wonderful. I have been blessed with a truly unique path, for all paths are unique. Sometimes I forget that we were not created to emulate one another, but to be ourselves. To live for ourselves. To find the beauty and the love, within ourselves. I'm not one for resolutions, or false goals but I have one for myself: I hope every day, no matter what, I can look for things to appreciate. To appreciate the blessings that have been bestowed, upon me. For thankfully, there are many!

Here's to a wonderful semester, filled with aced term papers and easy finals. And of course noodles- lots and lots of yummy noodles! :)

Einstein

 "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." 

— Albert Einstein

***picture from deviantart

Hi everyone!

Hows your new year going? Mine's been packed with writing assignments that make me crave memorization-only classes ;). Anywho, up in my neck of the woods there were these huge snowstorms that made everything look sooo pretty and interesting!

This is the entrance to my school it made me think of a winter wonderland :))

Ooo and this is something I found which I thought was really cool, it's a poster that was found in New York. If you ask me, it should be everywhere!

Since it's now citrus season I thought i'd plug my favorite citrus-y fruit! The Blood Orange!

Ok I think thats enough time procrastinating on my 8 page paper :) meet up with you lovelies soon with something a little more substantive ;p

Peace

When I was 10 someone made fun of my leotard in ballet class. I don't remember the specific person, but I remember how what she said had made me feel. This wasn't some random memory coming up like, oh I remember when .. no. I was sitting in meditation for I think my 30th or so hour out of my 100 hour course and the feelings of hurt and pain surfaced up from an insult that had happened a decade ago. This type of situation happened over and over again. We get so used to stuffing down things that bother us that we don't realize that we still harbor all of that negativity and pain from the past. I went on a 10 day Vipassana course here in Dubai. It was situated up out in the desert surrounded by desolate mountains. It was the most intense experience of my life. Total and complete self-assessment. During these 10 days we lived in noble silence, i.e. no speaking, no gesturing, no looking each other in the eye. It was solely an individual experience. My roommate was from chicago and before the noble silence took place we were reminiscing on the greatest pizza orgasm we ever had(pizza in dubai sucks). The course was like bootcamp for the soul, 10 hrs every day we sat in meditation and my butt protested every hour of every day. My back would complain at being forced ramrod straight and my feet would go numb in silent protest, but every day I worked. I worked because I wanted to rid myself of the pain I have pushed far down within myself. I was tired of reacting to life, reacting out of fear, anger, frustration. Vipassana taught me equanimity, it taught me how to live life with real happiness, happiness from within. Not happiness from people, or things. Am I perfect now? No. The day I got back, $@#% exploded in my face and I really had to test the mettle of my meditation, but I see progress as reacting possibly 10 times out of 10 situations with anger, but one time- not reacting. One time, being able to become the observer.

Hello my friends,
It's been a weird month. I've been jetting back and forth from MI to Dubai to MI so much that I feel like I have permanent jet lag :/. no worries though, I shouldn't be complaining. On this last excursion I had the biggest epiphany, and the most uncomfortable stench surrounding me. Let me explain. I started smoking due to stress related reasons, I went crazy and binge smoked for a week before my 13 hr flight. Not a good idea. I got on the plane and then fainted on my sister and then puked. twice. yup. that was my trip. It made me realize that smoking might just not be for me. I've quit ever since then- which i'm sure Controlled Chaos, will be thrilled to read :). Anyways, so i'm in the beautiful city of DC- or should I say crowded? AND super effing HEATED. This city can get HOT. But I like it. The locals are all dressed in suits and business casual, you can hardly find a slacker looking man/woman anywhere on these streets- well to be fair I am staying near Capitol Hill.

So what's going on in the world? Well, BP finally stopped the leak- for now. They capped it and are deciding to leave it that way for now even though their are some suggesting that the integrity of that cap might disintegrate further on in time- but who cares, it's capped right?
There's supposed to be a meeting tomorrow where President Karzai will declare that the Afghan troops will take over the main security of their country by 2014, what happened to 2011? is really all I want to know. I'm pretty sure the President- our President- was clear that we would leave Afghanistan by July 2011. But I guess these things drag on, something we should all be painfully aware of after 9 years of war.
Speaking of war, Iraq isn't exactly a bed of peace and roses just yet. A suicide bomber let one rip killing at least 43 people. It was assumed he was targeting Sunni militia members, because the bomb occurred outside a line where the militiamen were waiting to get paid. AND on the same day, another suicide bomber targeted a meeting of Sunni militia leaders and killed at least 3 people.
Um..lets see what else is going on? Well Palin doesn't want the building of the Cordoba House, a Mosque planned to be built on Ground Zero; Mexican drug cartel burst in upon a birthday party and shot the place up, killing 17 people; I heard Inception was a good movie, breaks box office record- oscar anyone?; and jobless-ness is at 9.5%. I think thats it, until next time- seyonara folks!

I was just reading this article on what women thought were the sexiest accents in English. By far the consensus holds that the British accent is the best thing to have ever happened to the female libido- mind you, this is just the findings of this one article, but- in my limited experience I have found that most of my female friends are extremely attracted to the British accent- regardless of what the actual man looked like. Since living in Dubai, surrounded by British expats, the accent doesn't hold the same appeal for me. Which brings up an interesting point, after time and continuous exposure to someone's accent, do we back away from the initial attraction or is it something that is sustainable? Like for example, if an American woman met and married a British man- for various reasons, including his accent, over the long term would that accent which was a turn-on in the beginning become a turn-off? Whatever the whole point of this post was to kind of see what our readers liked- so ladies (and men I guess), what is the most attractive accent in English for you?

FYI: for me it's Italian ;)
AND, painting can be found at this lovely site: http://browse.deviantart.com/?order=11#/d2l2cai

Eat, Pray, and Love your way through today!