Please speak well of me

Dear The Weepies,

Thank you for making good music.  Just thank you.

I've had such a procrastinating evening.  I came home.  I worked on the 1500 piece puzzle I got for my birthday (it's honestly the first puzzle I've ever voluntarily attempted).  I ate dinner.  I made brownies.  I tried to read for my online course, but the document is 47 pages long and I can't find a good study groove.  I wish I could go to Paynes and get lost in learning. 

I keep waking up feeling like autumn.  Like I could just jump in my car and drive around the back roads of Indiana with the windows rolled down and the music cranked up, breathing in the scent of changing leaves.  Maybe for the rest of my life whenever the weather cools and scarf season begins, I will remember my 5 falls in Upland.  The other night I made Judy's curry dish and so many things came back to me.  MuKappa retreats, late nights in the Souphouse, fall break trips, and everything I loved about fall semesters.  Truly, I could not have asked for better friends.

I've been away
a year and a day
you recognize love
after the fact
you did what you did and that was that
dont say words that you dont mean
when I'm gone please speak well of me

looking back now
I only wish I had been kinder
did I ever know love?
did I ever know love?
and could I have been blinder?
dont say words that you dont mean
when I'm gone please speak well of me

dont hold back 

~The Weepies 

Fall.Retreat.2008.

Thai Smile leftovers = awesome
Burnt mouth from mate´ = not awesome

Fall Retreat '08 was this weekend, which of course prompted another round of the "what-am-I-doing-here?" game. Yet, I am still alive and I am not done here yet. Ask me what it's all about, because I'm learning. I went to the beach twice, making up for the years when I didn't get there at all. I should go to parks more often, just to walk. I want to live in the wilderness for a while and have some real hardships. Life feels too fluffy now in some ways. Anyway, I believe good times were had by all. I saw some tears, which are not always bad. Instead of sitting out the waltz like I had planned, I ended up dancing it with four people. Back in Upland, there is plenty to do, so I shall continue with that.



PS. I'm watching How I Met Your Mother. I feel like long lost friends from this summer are back :-D

Hawaiian Pizza

Sometimes I get the feeling that my role as friend to many of us from an international background is to protect them from the people who will exploit their very existence as internationals in order to "raise support" for some heartbreaking cause or to satisfy an ignorant mind.

Just a though. I'm not really mad about anything, but I don't think that less than 3% of our student population should be responsible for making this school a more diverse and internationally flavored place.

I'm working steadily on my Theory Notebook: Marx. Almost done with the questions section- well I need to be by the end of today, and then the rest will get done tomorrow and Thursday morning, I suppose. There's a pesky book report for my IS due tomorrow and in general my senior thesis stuff isn't really going anywhere due to the notebook. I started tutoring yesterday and that's pretty much a blast. I really need to brush up on 8th grade Algebra...

MuKappa is going better than any other year I've been on cabinet. The retreat was awesome and because of a strong start to this school year, I think all our activities are going to be well-attended. I had this idea last fall about people, on cabinet anyway, going out of their way more to have activities and do the facilitating of good times thing on their own without cabinet needing to approve and complicate everything.

Let me tell you, that was one frustrating fall. I'm not sure if it was people on cabinet, or the Soupies, or what, but I felt like most people on cabinet weren't willing to do stuff like that and I appeared like all I ever did was think about MuKappa. It was so discouraging, especially around the time of the Princess Sleepover. BUT this year is going much better. I'm able to do things like Root Beer Float Fridays and the Souphouse is doing all kinds of stuff, and the Princess Sleepover has evolved into something pretty great with a Warriors Night attached.

All right, enough procrastination. For the next 40 minutes I will ponder nothing more than:

How does Marx differentiate use value, exchange value, and surplus value? What does Marx mean by the “fetish of commodities?”

and

According to Marx, what is human nature? Alienation? Dialectical view of History?

Tired, happy, and full.

Happy 30 days since the last time I wrote :-P

I just got back from the MuKappa Fall 07 Retreat and it was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Ben, the former le dictatur, came back with his wife and a few other old friends; it was nice to see them all. Now for shower, homework, and sleep. I very much want to reverse the order.