life should be...

...more like this....

...or like this....

I'm working on remembering the good times. The good people. The good situations. Because right now, frustrating papers, frustrating people, and frustrating schedules are going to be the end of me. 1 day until the weekend, 6 days of classes, 14 days until graduation.

snippet

Liliana pushed the dress into the corner of her closet and shut the door. She had moved on in life. She had asked for a normal life, and she needed to stop thinking of the past life. It was the past, after all.

"Let's go!" Lewis called out from the kitchen. She came out and noticed him standing near the door, his hand on the handle. He turned and pulled his hand away. "You're wearing that?"

She looked at her black suit pants and red sweater set. "What's wrong with this?"

He laughed. "Go put some jeans on."

"Stop making fun of me," she protested. "You don't know how hard this is for me."

"Whatever," he shooed her into the bedroom. "Just put some pants on, we're only going to Applebee's."

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter weekend my friends.

When peace like a river attendeth my way;
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say:
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed his own blood for my soul!

My sin, Oh the bliss of the glorious thought -
My sin, not in part, but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Oh my Soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll.
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul!

it must be true

I got that letter in the mail today, the one about exit interviewing for loans. Along with it was a lovely statement of the loans that I need to pay back. And it was only for about half the loans that I have.

My heart stopped. I had a sad look on my face. Mark hugged me and offered to burn it for me.

I must be graduating. That's a scarier thought than I had anticipated.

6 random things

(I stole this from numerous people, but it sounded like fun!)

1. When getting ready in the morning, I dance to Latin music, even in front of the mirror while blow drying my hair.
2. When I get angry or frustrated or stressed, I clean things. The kitchen is usually the cleaning area of choice.
3. I regularly watch a Spanish telenovela (technically, a soap opera) since I watched it with my Costa Rican family all last semester.
4. I listen to Black Eyed Peas music.
5. If I could be anywhere in the world, it would be in an indigenous island off the coast of Panama.
6. Baseball season marks an exciting time of the year for me - it means baseball watching with my dad and it feels like more worthwhile watching than anything else on TV.

There they are. Your turn.