Thy cruel mistress who teases broken spirited students with days of warmth and sun such as these. You imply future happiness, but you are wont to proffer fallacious promises. I look upon my news-feed and find status updates celebrating the clear sky and lack of wind. But how quickly your good mood shall recede. It is not in your nature to bestow gifts without cruelly snatching them back before they can be fully utilized. Alas, we must take what is given and smile up at the sun. Bask in the rays while the day is still bright, for anon we shall cry once more in the freezing rain.
Or
IT'S WARM OUT, BITCHES! GET SOME SUN WHILE YOU CAN!
Alright, so this weekend I went to Providence College for a debate tournament and judged instead of actually debating (as I am wont to do). It was fun, except for the fact that every room I entered accosted me with a statue of crucified Jesus. I get it, he died for my sins. Might as well partake in hedonistic behavior to make his sacrifice worth it, right? (Aside: I realize I just totally misinterpreted the Bible. But who doesn't?). Anyways, Providence college was the Brandeis of Christianity except more "in-your-face" about it. I suppose that goes for Christianity as a whole, though. You never really see Jewish, Muslim, etc. people posting status updates with religious texts in them, or telling you about their God and how blessed he is, or how people who don't believe the things they do make them sad so they'll "pray for them". That's why I favor the quiet religions. They remind me of a friend or parental figure who says "I'm always here if you want to talk" but then doesn't press you tell them about your feelings or life any more than that. Also, I find the idea of praying for people who aren't Christian or the "right type" of person hugely offensive. Go pray for someone with cancer, not me. Wait, what was I talking about?
Right, the tournament. My really good friend Taylor Blackburn hybrid-ed with a girl from Harvard ( I believe), and they won the novice final round. Taylor also got top novice speaker, with her partner getting second novice speaker. My other really good friend, Colin Etnire, hybrid-ed with Nick Cugini (From Yale) and they made it up to the final rounds where they were dropped in an (unfairly polarized) 7-0 decision. Their case was "This house believes that we should ban tackle football". It was really good, as were the other two rounds I saw them in. One was about a "straight pill" pregnant women could take, and the other about letting people buy your votes. I laughed a lot in both of those rounds. Colin and Nick are a dream team. In fact, Taylor Blackburn is working on a debate rendition of the Taylor Swift song "You Belong With Me" in which Colin,the protagonists, vies for Nick's love and sings about how Nick should leave his partner to debate with him. It's like our "Henry Clay Halo" song, but funnier (I wrote a few stanzas, so I might be biased).
The sad thing about our debate team is that people don't fully appreciate Taylor and Colin as much as they should. Because they are such excellent debaters, people take for granted that they do well or even what they do for the team (logistic stuff, driving, other things for the team). Our debate members therefore do not congratulate and support them as much as they should. There's also a matter of "A person doesn't like B person because of categories XYZ, therefore A doesn't want to support B person when B person does well in categories QRS" (I can do variables too, Jason) which I think is unfair because people should be supportive of a person in their academic/debate successes even if they make choices you disagree with. Or, in more emotional terms "Everyone should just love and forgive each other. Why can't we all just be nice to each other!?!".
But seriously, you guys, why do I sometimes feel like I'm the only person who likes or at least tolerates (without eye-rolling etc.) everyone I know? I realize I say snarky things and make fun of people, but only the people I know and like (and to their faces). But there are just people who genuinely dislike others just because of mistakes they make or personality traits they have.
Anyways, there was a whole uproar about the fact that people are cruel and unsporting of others on Monday, and we're probably going to have a team "conversation" about the whole thing. It's really important to me that people appreciate my friends when they deserve it.
Speaking of being appreciated when it is deserved, last week in my Chinese Literature class, my teacher had three students read out their essays they wrote for our mid-term (because they were the best ones, I suppose). I, surprisingly, was one of those three people and I read my essay analyzing the poem "Written While Drunk". I didn't think my essays deserved such high praise, but I'm not going to contest it. Anyways, the even better part is that (as my teacher told me last night) because I read out my essay last week, I don't have to do a final presentation for the class. I can just not show up on April 3rd. And if all goes well with the future assignments, I'll just keep my A. JESUS, I am SO FREAKING GOOD at college.
Which brings me to my next point. I've been figuring out the classes I'll be taking for my short term class in April and my Fall classes. So far I have three choices for my Short Term:
-Theory and Practice of Writing and Tutoring (Exactly what it sounds like.)
- Naming Jhumpa Lahiri: Canons and Controversies (Analyzing a writer's work.)
And for my Fall Term:
- Environment, Human Rights, and Indigenous Peoples
- Intermediate Chinese
- Reading and Writing Poetry
- Cultural Anthropology
If all goes well, my earliest classes will be at either 11 or 12:05. By the way, I've decided I will be majoring in ES with the concentration in Environmental Culture. I will be minoring in Chinese and finally, concentrating in English. Everything is looking up and I'm getting all my requirements (which interest me) done.
Yep, yep. College is super fantastic and next year is looking good because I'm living in the "Music and Culture" house which also house my best friends Taylor and Matt with other awesome people. It seems I'll be rooming with a girl named Hanna, who I know nothing about but people say shes nice. I'm hoping she'll be a good roommate, and I'm sure I'll be able to deal with any issues I might have. The only part of next year I'm not looking forward to is losing a lot of awesome seniors I spend time with and not being a freshman anymore (I like knowing I'm only in my first year of college). Otherwise, YES SOPHOMORE YEAR.
Also, I don't know if you guys are involved with or supporting the KONY 2012 "campaign", but if you are you should get a full view of what's actually going on. The truth resists simplicity, dearests. Read it:
- Nicole
I liked this. I'm jealous that you're only taking four courses next fall. I'm sure they'll be as hard as my five classes. But I'm still jealous.
ReplyDeleteAnd good link. I posted it on a girl's wall who was freaking out about the KONY 2012 being awesome and I was like "mhmm, sure" and put that linky on so good job.
I've decided I'm taking on a dual major with Environmental Studies (not Science; it's a B.A. instead of a B.S. and it is more social sciences versus hard physics and stuff). So we can be buds about that.
When is your spring break?
April 14th-22nd, but I'm not going home. You?
ReplyDeleteYou probably just know more Christians than members of any other religion because I know someone that continuously posts obnoxious (from my perspective) rants on how everyone hates Muslims and what they actually do and yata yata yata its annoying and they aren't Christian, they're Muslim.
ReplyDeleteBut who cares! Because we'll be going to hell anyways! Woo least trusted group in America!