February 21st

February 21: love

I wasn't sure what to do for this one until I got home from class and checked the mail. I had this card from my mom with a picture of Bobama on it...just because she'd never sent me anything at my apartment before. I have a really outstanding family.  

    

February 20th

I finished catching up on my photo-a-day today, and I found Drake Field, so now I have a more accurate picture for wonder. Today it snowed, and everything was icily beautiful. Days like this don't happen everyday...or even once a month. I'm glad I got to see the U of A blanketed in snow once more before I leave.

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February 17: settle

Over the past few years, it has come to my attention that selling insurance is a way of "settling" in life. (Unless that's what you wanted to do originally.) I don't want to settle for anything short of my dreams...I just need a bit more time to hone in on exactly what my dreams are.

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February 18: world

J. William Fulbright. This man epitomizes my dreams. He opened the way for me to even have a hope of going to Europe next year. People like Fulbright who came from humble beginnings, but distinguished themselves inspire me and encourage me to persevere in my studies.

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February 19: wonder 

Yes, I already did this one, but now I have a photo of an actual airplane.

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February 20: evil

Evil is a concept difficult to define. I considered this for a while before going with a gun for today. I almost took a series of pictures of good things in an attempt to define evil by what it is not, but I decided to go with this. 

So why the gun? Yes, I am liberal and in favor of stricter gun controls, but I don't believe that every gun should be taken away from every person ever. I support more education and limiting gun purchases to those that can be used for hunting. Guns do, however, symbolize war. Guns are used to kill other people. Guns can accidentally kill people if misused. I know this can be said of other things, which is what makes evil so hard to define. Guns don't do exclusively evil things, which lends itself to the conclusion that most things can be utilized for nefarious purposes. 

Lenten Photo-a-Day

Lent has become more important to me over the past few years. Last year, I started going to church in Fayetteville during Lent, and this year I'm really excited for this season. I'm using it as a time to better myself and reflect on the past four years as I prepare for major life changes in the coming months.

It's almost a full week into Lent, but I just discovered this photo challenge for Lent, so I decided to begin it late. I already caught most of the ones I missed, and I'm planning to capture the other two today or tomorrow.

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February 13: Who am I?

Humans define themselves using words. Therefore, there seemed to be no better way to demonstrate who I am than by taking a picture of part of my book collection. The words contained within these novels can define me, as do the experience of reading and contemplating their stories.

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February 14: return

The word return has two common meanings: to go back someplace and to give something back to its owner.  The most common return in my life is returning materials that I've borrowed from either the public library or Mullins.

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February 15: see

My vision is very important to me! Without glasses or contacts, I am virtually helpless and incapacitated. I suppose that's a good sort of spiritual parallel - we need help to see things in our lives.

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February 16: injustice

Injustice is a common problem in the world. However, finding a way to capture it in a photo was a bit daunting, so I chose this symbol of injustice. 

Many students struggle to pay for their collegiate education. Even more drop out or do not attend due to this high cost. It seems ridiculous that the athletic department can accrue enough donations from alumni to build a new workout center for the football team when people are unable to utilize the University for its true purpose, education, due to tuition and other costs.

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February 19: wonder

There is nothing that is guaranteed to turn me into a squealing eight year old more quickly than flight. Airplanes seem magical to me. I don't understand why man thought he could achieve this, and am still completely stunned that it was achieved and is accessible to everyone with government ID and a few hundred dollars. As such, I'm in awe of birds and how banal something so incredible must seem to them.

(Birds do know how to use their skill of flight well, however. It was almost impossible to get a picture of one when I was walking to my car today.)

This is my go-to look.

I identify with this as well. But not all the time.

Fun fact about me: I don't engage with drama or ultimatums. You get that one for free, internet.

How I'm going to bid my friends farewell at graduation

This way.

Downton Day!

Hello, non-existent blog devotees! I'm watching Downton Abbey right now, and since I got an angry tweet last time I live-tweeted it, I'm going to blog it!

- Oh Thomas. Grabbing a guy's hand does not make him like you.
- Mary and Anna! My two favorites in one scene!
- Lord Grantham kinda deserves Cora's Wut.
- "I'd like to call her Sybil." Oh Branson, you're going to make me cry.
- "I do not speak much of the heart because it is seldom helpful to do so."
- "You know the trouble with you lot? You're all in love with the wrong people!" Mrs. Patmore speaks the truth.
- Daisy & Mr. Mason may be my favorite part of the show. It's so sweet.
- Bates, I don't like you! Go away!
- O'Brien, are you trying to sabotage Thomas? I like it...
- GRANNY! You are the puppetmaster and I aspire to be as wonderful as you when I grow old.

Not Watching the Super Bowl

Yesterday was the holy of holies. It was Super Bowl Sunday. To celebrate, I ate junk food while watching New Girl. Then I studied for French. Then I watched Blade Runner. (I'm not sure how I feel about that movie. I wanted to get to know the replicants better.)

But the topics on everyone's twitter and facebook pages were Beyonce and the blackout. Most of these posts were annoying, but people had no way of knowing that their clever thought was not original. Being a 21 year old girl who didn't watch the game, I naturally have many opinions about these topics.

1) Beyonce
Her drummer is my sister. MOTS, Cora. Also, I didn't need to watch this to realize that Beyonce would be amazing.

(The internet wants me to change "Beyonce" to "Bey-once." The internet has been watching SNL.)

2) Blackout
If you have never been to New Orleans/the Superdome, then you are missing out! It shows that having money doesn't prevent a place from being creepy and decrepit! The blackout didn't surprise me. In retrospect, I'm surprised that this didn't happen during the 2011 Sugar Bowl.

On Friday, my applications for the University of Kentucky (my top choice!) and George Washington University were completed. When I got the e-mail telling me that, the theme from Metropolis started playing in my mind...and because it's 2013 and instant gratification is what my generation is all about, on my computer as well. Metropolis is such a good movie! I can't quite describe why I loved it so much besides basic terms (J'aime la musique. J'aime la intrigue. Alles hat mir gut gefallen!), but everyone should watch it.