Note(s) to self

Take time to be silly.

http://www.hauntingart.com/Haunting_Art/Gallery.html#19 (For Richard)

Etsy is amazing.

I ♥ my best friends. (This isn't really a note to myself as it is a declaration that simply had to be made.)

No profound thoughts today. That's what happens when I get a healthy dose of vitamin D and sunshine on my shoulders.

♪♫

Dear the Names Kate + Katie

Dear the Names Kate + Katie

This made me happy.

I got back from NOLA yesterday. I definitely should have posted during my stay there. I should post about it now, but I'm preoccupied at the moment. Maybe later.

Maybe...

The Sage?

–noun

1.

a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.

2.

someone venerated for the possession of wisdom, judgment, and experience.

–adjective

3.

wise, judicious, or prudent: sage advice.

Dictionary.com

n. One venerated for experience, judgment, and wisdom.
adj. sag·er, sag·est

1. Having or exhibiting wisdom and calm judgment.

2. Proceeding from or marked by wisdom and calm judgment: sage advice.

3. Archaic Serious; solemn.

American Heritage Dictionary


For a while I was known as, or at least I considered myself as, a wise person. I think the second set of definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary is fairly fitting of my personality.
When it comes to other people's lives, a good bit of the time I know what to say, and a good bit of that time it's the right thing to say. Then there was a period of time when I felt like I'd lost my wise touch. Recently, I've been feeling like I'm getting it back (I'd been praying for it), but now I'm not so sure I want it. (They mean it-- be careful what you wish for...)

I realize that any wisdom I have is a gift from God, and I think that the logical, flowery words are the bow, and maybe a predisposition to thinking too much and over-analyzing are hidden within the package.

Right now I have the potential to be placed in an awkward situation, and if the need arises, I am going to have to nip said situation in the bud.

I just wish guys were smarter...

"Dating," and all of the cultural expectations entailed, is a learned behavior (well, more like a series of learned behaviors...).

Yes, all of the socially acceptable behaviors within a dating relationship are learned, not innate. Some people's dispositions give them a little bit of a leg-up, but all degrees of commitment and the actions that speak thereof are skills that one must acquire and practice.

I was a music major. I know about practice.

I was an education major. I know about practice.

It's basic psychology, guys (and I don't mean "y'all." I mean literal, male guys).

If you want to have a steady, exclusive relationship, you have to work at it. I don't care how special the girl is, the ability to actually commit to that one girl will not be magically bestowed upon you because she's "the one." (I suppose it's only fair for me to aim this at females, too, but I have a tendency to surround myself with girls who are, well, like me and don't struggle so much in this area.)

You have to make the decision that this is what you want, and then you have to just do it.

When learning a new behavior or a new piece of information, the best way for your brain and your body to do so is through rehearsal. Rehearsal should be consistent; it should happen for a small amount of time everyday. Much like rehearsing a performance, practicing a sport, or studying for a test, if you're serious about learning these skills, you can't wait till the last minute and cram. If you want to someday have that lifelong relationship with one person, you're going to have to start practicing little by little now.

Now, if this is not what you want, then you don't want a relationship in the conventional sense of the word. (Another subject for another blog: semantics.) From what I gather of current terminology, you want to casually date. http://casual-dating.urbanup.com/1942116, the first definition, thank you urbandictionary.com!
Let me start by saying that there is nothing at all wrong with that! To everything there is a season, and sometimes that season includes friendly, casual dating. It becomes wrong when you mislead someone into thinking that you want the other. It's not fair to the other person because deception never is. It's not fair to you because, well, deception never is. Having different, incompatible goals is a subset of being unequally yoked, in my opinion (and it's merely that, opinion). I am in no way saying that Scripture states this specifically. Here's what it does say:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
~2 Corinthians 6:14, ESV

I pose that having different goals for a relationship is, at the very least, analogous with being unequally yoked, and if you profess to keep to the Bible's teachings, you would agree that God says, "Don't do it."

If you're still trying to figure out your personal goals for a relationship with a person, I think that's the point of casual dating. Casual dating helps you to categorize relationships (in my case, with the opposite sex)--
1) Relationships you can live without,
2) Friendships, and
3) Potential romantic interest/committed relationship.

Once you find out in which category each relationship belongs, then you proceed with the appropriate behavior.

I'm totally babbling and just trying to sort out my own thoughts on the matter, but I genuinely do feel like this makes sense.

Am I the only one?

I would ask if I'm crazy, but we all know the answer to that...

Special “K”

Special “K”
Someone else had been wanting one of these, too!

I have been having too much fun over the past few days, and I am afraid the fun is only going to continue! I think I am going to like being a graduate... (spoken like one suffering from true naivete...) Ü

Limbo Land

Sorry, self (since I am doing this blog for myself), that it's been so long since I've posted, but I have been working hard to finish this race I started five years ago. Yesterday at approximately 3:20 I walked across the stage at Coleman Coliseum to receive my certificate of participation in graduation from the University of Alabama.

I say that I've graduated, but I really won't know that for sure for about ten more days. lol
I do have one of my final grades for this semester posted (A+, eat your heart out). But until then, I will behave as an unemployed college graduate.

That's not completely true. I have a summer job (I need another one or two), and am pretty sure I have options for the fall. It seems like I should be worried (a lot of other people seem to be concerned about it), but I'm not. Maybe I am still coming down from the high I've had over the past four days, but I know that somehow, some way, things are going to work out.

I say that I am in Limbo Land, but I am not just wandering aimlessly. I have three main objectives:
1) Earn and save money.
2) Apply to grad schools.
3) Perform.

And ya know what? I think this may be the most fun I've had living in a while, and I am excited about it!

"She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main."

This past weekend I went to the Alabama All-State Choral Festival, and below are the texts from two of my favorite pieces performed by the Middle School SSA choir. Above is an excerpt from Anne of Green Gables I read while sitting underneath a tree atop the steps of the Wright Center for the Performing Arts. *le sigh*

Will there really be a "Morning"?
Is there such a thing as "Day"?
Could I see it from the mountains
If I were as tall as they?

Has it feet like Water lilies?
Has it feathers like a Bird?
Is it brought from famous countries
Of which I have never heard?

Oh some Scholar! Oh some Sailor!
Oh some Wise Men from the skies!
Please to tell a little Pilgrim
Where the place called "Morning" lies!

(Morning! Morning! Where does morning lie?)
~Emily Dickinson

Omnia Sol (Let Your Heart be Staid)

Somewhere far from nowhere, I grew both strong and tall,
Longing to become, but knowing not the path at all.
But the footprints of the winter melted to fields of spring;
One last embrace before I cross the threshold: To life we sing!

O stay your soul and leave my heart it's song,
O stay your hand, the journey may be long.
And when we part and sorrow can't be sway'd, remember when and let your heart be staid.

Omnia sol temperat,
Absens in remota.
Ama me fideliter,
Fidem mean noto.
(Latin: "The sun warms everything, even while I am far away. Love me faithfully, and know that I am faithful" from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff)

Weave the dance and raise the chorus, grieve no more.
Through the strength of Orion find refuge from the shore.
Let courage be your oar, let passion be your sail.
Wisdom and truth will guide your deep heart's yearning, though all travail.

O stay your soul and leave my heart it's song,
O stay your hand, the journey may be long.
And when we part and sorrow can't be sway'd, remember when and let your heart be staid.

Omnia sol temperat,
Absens in remota.
Ama me fideliter,
Fidem mean noto.
Omnia sol temperat,
Ah
And when we part and sorrow can't be sway'd,
Remember when,
(Remember when)
And let your heart be staid,
Be staid.

Psalm 25:5

(ESV)
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long

Psalm 145:16

You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

P.S. The ad in the middle of this post really aggravates me...

Taking a break

Temporarily cluttered house
Small Town, Alabama

I am taking a break from trying to incorporate Miss Evangeline Travers' musings into those of my own, because, quite frankly, they all tend to deal with men and marriage and today is not a day to be filled with such silliness. Rather, it is filled with other silliness.

I went to CHOM today to work a birthday party that had apparently been canceled, which was actually just fine with me. To justify the drive into town and to clear my head, I went to River Road Park, gathered my planner, fresh journal, and iPod, and walked to my favorite bench.

Well, where my favorite bench used to be. At first, I might have been perturbed, but I knew it was only a matter of time. My favorite bench happened to sit on a cement slab on an overhang at the edge of the Black Warrior River. The drop-off has been eroding away for years, and the good people of PARA or UA (or whoever is in charge of the park now) finally decided having a bench here was a safety hazard. Now, all that's left is the cement slab jutting out over the Black Warrior. So, after convincing myself I wasn't going to fall to my death only to spend my last moments alive as a biohazard, I settled down on said cement slab and had my time.

I spent my time regaining my bearings on the weeks to come, soaking in the cool, fresh air and sunshine on my skin, and journaled for as long as I could stand the pollen. When I could no longer smell the water (which was rejuvenating, even for the Black Warrior), I packed up and walked back to the car. Even though I couldn't smell the water anymore, since I left the park, it's felt like I've been trying to breathe underwater.

Came home and leisurely cleaned out my car, and now am itching in general and itching to clean and rearrange my room.

Alas, when I took a break to blog (ha), P.S. I Love You came on, chasing the heels of A Walk to Remember.

O, Evangeline, I can't escape it!