birthday girl

So I'm celebrating my 22nd birthday today! I feel super lucky because having a February birthday usually means rain, but today it is super sunny and warm! I love birthdays because everyone is so nice! I got some really sweet gifts from my roommates. Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! My day has been pretty laid back, I went to class, finished the crossword puzzle in the paper, and then got lunch from my favorite sandwich place with a friend. We took our sandwiches down to the beach and had a little picnic. It was so nice! I have to go back to class in a little bit and unfortunately I have to do a little work on a take-home midterm, but it should be pretty painless. Tonight I'm going bowling with a big group of friends. The local bowling alley has over 40 beers on tap. I love throwing heavy things around when I'm drunk!

It's weird to think of where I was a year ago on my birthday. I celebrated my 21st in Paris, and I had such a blast. I went with a big group of friends to a funky little fondue restaurant that served wine in baby bottles, then we went dancing at a club on the Seine. It was such a fun experience and I have such fond memories of my birthday abroad. Here are some pics from exactly a year ago that I love to look at. The Eiffel Tower never gets old.

Why hellooo

So it's been forever. Not days, not weeks, but literally months. I feel like I've gone to the moon and back since I last blogged. I had some crazy adventures in Europe, and even made it to Africa. I survived my 21st birthday, and took two separate trips to NYC. Sadly though, summer has come and gone, and school started back up last week. Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, I decided it might be kinda nice to get a regular blog back up. So keep an eye out for new posts; I'll be talking about school, life, and my future goals, dreams, hopes, and anything else that I fancy. This week I'm going to Las Vegas with all my girls for the first time, so I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell soon. Right now I'm gonna go daydream and roll around in the sunshine in the park across the street. Pictures coming soon!

Listening to: Satellite by Guster

TIME

Just a few personal updates, then some ponderings...

Had the best weekend ever. Visited some friends, was super active, saw lots of cool things. Made me appreciate people and life and California.

Got a flu shot today to protect me against all the ickies that seem to be abundant in planes and public transportation. My arm is kinda noodlesque as a result though. But I got a cool bandaid and sucker nonetheless.

On another note, my right hand seems to be falling asleep quite often. Don't really know what's up with that...Hopefully it doesn't develop into something too chronic. Or fatal.

Also I don't know what happened last night, but I think I was having a sleep panic attack. Had dreams that someone brought a gun to school and killed a lot of people. It made me super anxious and I couldn't sleep, and then it felt like I had water in my ear so that pestered me and kept me up too. Super weird because I never have sleeping problems. I think I'm just getting anxious about my trip and it's messing with my brain though.

Hmm it's the last day of 2008. It feels crazy to think about how quickly time passes. And I hear the older you get, the faster time seems to fly. Which makes sense if you think about it for long enough...but again, that takes time.

I had to slow down to avoid a skunk in the road tonight. The moment seemed painfully slow to me, but at the same time the skunk's heart must have been beating so fast. It's weird how things can be like that. So slow and so fast all at once.

I've been saying a lot of adieus to friends in the past couple of days. Isn't there some saying about how goodbyes aren't for forever? I know I'll only be gone for six months, and like I just said, time flies, but at the same time I think it can drag on, and magnify and warp things. Who knows where I'll really be in six months' time: mentally, physically, emotionally?

I'm getting all philosophical, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Henry Thoreau which I think perfectly describes how I feel:

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes."

See you next year.

Listening to: Owl City-Saltwater Room