I Took No Pictures Today

Catherine,
Romance and other things that tug at the heart strings come your way as a new cycle begins. Disputes could escalate today unless you make a concerted effort to avoid them.

It is weird how scarily accurate my horoscopes have been... It sounds promising enough. My journey to Italy begins in less than four hours. I am nervous/scared/excited. I know no Italian. I know nothing about the area. I know that I've underplanned, but I hope that does not take away from the experience.

The last two weeks have made me more weary about leaving. I miss everyone already, and I do not know how I will get through that time without speaking to my friends regularly.

In less than four hours, I will be without my phone for six weeks... Wish me luck. No doubt I'll need it.

Leavin'... Never to Come Back Again

Catherine,
Fondness and appreciation for the past and for your roots in life take on greater importance for you now. Home and family matters will require special attention. Extra time spent with those who mean the most to you will lead to tremendous satisfaction. Your family's personal growth, as well as your own, should take precedence over your career.



I'm leaving the day after tomorrow and won't see my friends and most of my family for almost six weeks. I have not spent more than four and a half weeks away from home since the second semester of my freshmen year of college. In the span of six months, my life has changed dramatically. I'm almost certain it will be different when I return as well. The only thing guaranteed in life is change, and I'm hoping that my past experience with change will help me through this.

I'm not sure what to expect of this trip. I will admit that I have not properly prepared for it. I do know that it couldn't have come at a better time. And I hope I use the time to grow and move away from everything that has been plaguing me, rather than letting it take me back to square one.

My Greatest Fear

I've developed a fascination with capturing moments in my life, creating memories almost instead of living them. I hope they aren't passing me by...

Twenty-One

Catherine,
Romance, the arts, and other of life's pleasures seem to take center stage.




I'm still learning how to balance everything in my life to prevent the lows. Nonetheless, this past academic year has been everything I wanted it to be. I met new people. I rekindled old friendships. I got involved. I stayed focused. I went out. I learned new things. I made so many memories...

At this point, I've realized that no matter what happens or who walks out of my life, I will continue to have a whole network of fun, wonderful friends who prove time and again to be my backbone, the shoulders to cry on, my partners in crime, the reason I step back once in a while and realize just how lucky I am.

Dear Void

I know our friendship has changed for good, and I am not sure how it can function in a different way. You have been one of my best friends, and it's weird not turning to you. Even the few times we have talked, it felt different. I'm not sure if you noticed it, but I did. Despite what anyone says, it probably is better this way. I pretend I don't care, because somehow I think it makes me stronger. I miss you. But I hope you're happier without the drama.

Waste Your Potential for Only $40,000 a Year!

The wasted potential on this campus (and perhaps all across the country) continues to frustrate me. College is called "higher education" for a reason, and I feel that if your ultimate reason for working towards a B.A. is to get a job then you are seriously wasting your time and money. A liberal education should influence you to start thinking critically about the world around you and about the person you are becoming. The highlight of your time in college should not be your high tolerance. I'm not saying people shouldn't party, but there should be a better sense of balance between your academic education and your social life.

By the time you leave a university, you should have a better sense of who you are or who you want to become. You should be excited for the challenge of finding out what you want to do with your life now that you have 16 years of education under your belt. You should be confident that you can stand out above the rest because you found something you are passionate about and have a vague idea of how to implement that into your work.

Finding your passion doesn't mean that you stop complaining about things. It means that you have something tangible, something personal, that gives you purpose and negates the bad experiences of a bad class or a bad roommate.

If you haven't had at least one extracurricular activity or class every semester from which you walk away, knowing a little bit more about yourself, you should consider transferring.

Slacker

Catherine,
The best part of today is that you don't have to do anything that you don't really want to do. Go over the original game plan and make sure you are still on track. You are having a hard time keeping the target in sight, and a stray bullet will lead to serious consequences. Ask other people to go away if they are infringing on your space.

Everyone who is doing college right is busy right now. That fact is particularly why I hate when people answer "busy" when I ask how they are doing. You aren't special. You're just like everyone else who goes to class and finds other uses of their time afterward. Let's just say.. if what you do completely defines who you are, then I feel sorry for you.

I was wondering when it would happen though. Procrastination has caught up with me. I remembered at 2:00pm today that I have a midterm at 3:00pm tomorrow. Unfortunately, that bit of studying only adds to the three other papers I'm worried about for a 5-day span of time. And the beauty of it? I realized that I can do it, because I've had ten years of practice. Really, though, procrastination and me? Best friends.

Ah, the life of a student.