Well, I'm 21 now.

My birthday was on Wednesday, and I started a tradition of sorts last year which involves sharing my small obsessions and thoughts with you all.  Because if there's a time for self indulgence, it is one's birthday, is it not?

1.      There are maybe ten songs that I've been listening to repeatedly recently.  I picked four and then put your names in parenthesis if you want to listen to something as you read.  The disclaimer, of course, is that I really haven't kept up with your musical tastes and I'm trying to fit a Rachael song into a non-Rachael box.  Look, I'm not Pandora (I'm proud of that dual meaning--the site! the Greek lady!).  William Fitzsimmons “So This is Goodbye,” (Derek) Bernhoft’s “C’mon Talk,” (Nicole) Angus & Julia Stone’s “Draw Your Swords,” (Rich) Passion Pit’s “Little Secrets” (Jason).

2.      Then there's what I currently consider to be my favorite song of all time-- Pink Floyd's “Wish You Were Here.”  It's magic, trust me.  Or listen to it.

3.      Tribal print.  There's not really anything else to say about this.  Fashion is stupid but if I'm forced to wear clothes, I like wearing tribal print.

4.      Feeding into that idea, I like looking like a liberal.  You know, cutting all my hair off, piercing my ears, etc.  Today I donned a Rosie the Riveter-themed outfit.  It may sometimes give people the wrong idea about my sexuality, but you can't have everything.

5.      This isn't necessarily a positive obsession, but I've been thinking a lot about post-grad plans and generally having existential crises in which I usually decide I'll either (a) drop off the face of the planet (as Rich discussed) or (b) get a creative-writing-related MFA.  Neither of which will actually happen.

6.      Oregon Trail--Speaking of things that won't actually happen, I want a Conestoga wagon and a good four to five months to spend crossing the country.  After graduation and before adulthood.  I actually have all the details of this figured out in my head, with help from Eleanor.  Now all I need is 100 grand.

7.      Cigarettes--As we (the royal we, naturally) discussed in the video, I'm still obsessed with the image of cigarettes.  I made Derek read my latest poem, "Cohesion," which I'm actually fairly proud of despite the fact that it mixes metaphors.  It's about smoking and lesbian sex, kind of.

8.      That obsession fits into my larger creative writing habits.  Intro to Creative Writing is going well.  I recommend Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” which is a prime example of a villanelle.  I'm also taking an advanced fiction class in the fall, which is exciting.

9.      First novels--when J.K. Rowling released that book under her pen name, a lot of people didn't believe that it was written by a first-time author because it was so good/mature/polished, etc.  I was thinking about this and realized that a lot of my all-time favorites are their author's first published novel.  Examples: Time Traveler’s Wife, Memoirs of a Geisha, Anthropology of an American Girl, Name of the Wind, perks of being a wallflower.  I just reread that first one and it's very good.

10.   My apartment mates--my apartment and its inhabitants are absolute heaven.  They threw me an amazing birthday dinner party this week, complete with an adorably-ugly layer cake and "slutty" brownies (three layers; chocolate chip cookie, then Oreos, then brownies--named as such because they're so easy to make).  They are also genuinely awesome human beings.  Heart to hearts abound.  This week my ladies dragged me to multiple concerts and it's been a whirlwind to say the least.

 

Our pretty home.

11.   California- thank all real and imagined deities I got to go home for spring break.  I have had major winter weather blues.  While we (Eleanor tagged along) were home, we hung out at my grandparent's, paid a visit to the infamous Cha, saw our old friend Tim (he's doing well), went thrift store shopping, got burnt on the beach, explored the Getty and went camping/hiking at El Moro.  Wow, did we do a lot of stuff.  It was an excellent respite from the B.S. of D.C.

The most epic selfie of all time.

12.   Girls--I'm really into the show Girls right now.  For those who haven't seen it (and I'm not wholeheartedly recommending it by any means), it's about girls in their twenties in NYC and the main character is trying to be a writer.  The quote that sticks with me from the pilot is "I think I might be the voice of my generation... or at least a voice of a generation."

13.   Wow, twenty-one things is a lot.  I find out about a national environmental scholarship on April 1st.  An extra $5000 would be pretty sweet, but it's really competitive and they basically only take one kid from each state.  So CA is not a good state to be from, since there are lots of environmentally-minded people.

14.   Crocheting my blanket--It's getting big, friends.  I already showed you a picture of it.  Just maintaining my status as an old woman at heart.

15.   Volunteering--Yay, community service.  On Tuesday I'll be returning to a writing workshop I did last month which creates a community for juvenile delinquents across the country.  It's been really rewarding so far, and I like reading their poetry.

16.   Sustainable transportation--Our school has this "Wonk" PR campaign which features ads of students as "[insert word here] wonk"--just something you're an expert at, like "Activism Wonk" or the examples below.  Anyway, I don't like the campaign, but I was trying to figure out what kind of wonk I am, because I'm not really an expert in any one thing.  I think the closest thing so far would be sustainable transportation, because I've done a lot of research into unsustainable transportation systems (think L.A.), which sheds light on their counterparts.  It's hard to reduce yourself into one word, though.

17.   Last year I talked about Brokeback Mountain and Blue Valentine.  This year's sub-happy movies: Place Beyond the Pines; Her.  I like both of them a lot, for different reasons.  Spike Jonze (the director of Her, as well as Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) is pretty awesome.

18.   Crepes--making them, eating them, thinking about them.

19.   Running/yoga--Yay for trying to be healthy.  Since yoga is for credit, I am conscripted into going twice a week to that end.  My roommate Rachel and I started working out together this week, so I've been running again.  Good.

20.   Not going to class or being productive.  That's all I have to say about that.  Hopefully I can slog through this semester, have a nice summer break, and come back ready to kick senior year's ass.

21.   This blog—can we please start posting again?  I miss you guys.

Until next time.
 -Rachael

They made me lay on their legs, I swear.