I went on a nice photoshoot around Corvallis today. Instead of bringing my Nikon D60 I decided to just tote around my Nikon S8100. I have edited a good handful of photos and have made them my rotating site headers for this winter. There are now six headers in total. The more times you click around my site, the more chances you have at seeing each image. This does, however, exclude postings that have featured image headers specially attached to articles.
Hope you have a chance to see the new headers! Enjoy!
These days have been ridiculous — and by ridiculous I insinuate they have been neither good nor bad. They really have just been really busy. I have never been so preoccupied in my college life. Early mornings are dedicated to getting my swol on at the gym, and later sitting down with a couple of my best friends for coffee and great talk. Then it’s off to class, work, class, and finally work again. Different weekdays have slightly different agenda arrangements, but these are my recurring five days in a nutshell. And now helping out on a research project, I have to cancel various work shifts just to fit this participation in. Fridays are my favorite, not only because it’s the day before the weekend, but because aside from my one class I get to work a solid six hours. I love working at the Center and having a source of income from doing something I enjoy.
Not tomorrow, though. This has been a crazy weather week. With already a couple two-hour delayed start days on campus due to snow/ice, tomorrow marks the actual first day the university has decided to close because of the massive amounts of precipitation. The melted snow and deluge of rainfall has caused extensive flooding in Corvallis, swaying President Ed Ray to close the university for safety precautions. This is very exciting for students, but partially bittersweet for me because I want my work hours.
It just all adds to the complexity of this term. And so I figured this very moment can be ironically envisioned as swimming in a flood. Not only are areas of our city underwater, but my life right now makes me feel like one would feel in the middle of a flood. You’re on edge, trying to get from one side to the other yet worried if your quick departure from point A to point B is wielding unseen mistakes. I extensively plan my days out, have my calendar, agenda, and reminder notifications all on my phone. Everything would be all so different and challenging without my iPhone — I’ve never thought I would need to use it this much beyond apps, calls, and texting.
The term has just started. By each week’s end I am gradually more exhausted. I hope and think I’ll make it through okay. I always tend to perform better in school when there’s more pressure on me. Like my usual approach to things in life, I say bring it on and let’s live it up!
T-minus 23 hours left of this 365th day of 2011, and there’s no better way to ring in the start of 2012 than with some of my best friends. We’re tying the Windsors, pop’in bottles, and getting our class on tonight downtown at Urban Studio, a swank venue to be hosted by Liquid Productions.
I am so excited to finally experience New Years amongst Portland’s nightlife. While growing up I have enjoyed spending that turn of 12AM with my parents, but for the past few years I have always felt a significant longing to do something more. I had become really frustrated sitting on the couch, watching the TV coverage. Parents would go to bed, and here I’d remain watching a lifeless television screen. I needed more. I needed social interaction. Tonight… We will make up for all that we’ve missed. Let’s live it up!
We are like a makeshift family. We support each other, look out for one another, and learn to live happily together. It’s become such a great bond. But it will inevitably come to an end.
We are going to graduate and return to our hometowns. Though we are so close in proximity, it’s simply not the same. Over the past two summers and winter breaks, I’ve come to feel such a lonely disconnect — a feeling that I know I will probably experience again in short time. And I’m worried about it.
I’ve grown so close to the friends around me. I love them so much. They have been my total support — and every day I think about each and every one of them and the next time I’ll get to see them. When I walk up to their porch — and make that signature ring of the doorbell — and I hear Jordan’s voice, “Come in!” — I feel so happy. I feel like I’m seeing family. It’s something that I don’t want to take for granted, because I know the day will come when things will be so different — when we become separated by distance — like when all the children grow up and move out of the house. This is when I wish time could slow down.
Today is so drastically different than the life I lived two years ago. And I am so grateful to stand where I stand. But really I would not be here if it weren’t for the friends I have — who each, in their own special way whether they know it or not, have helped put a smile on my face and a feeling of belonging in my heart. They have helped me become proud of who I am — and to create comfort in the walls of their home or in the atmosphere of the very place our group occupies. They are my grand foundation, and I never want to let them go.
The past few weeks have really been an endless train. Each day is full from start to end – I don’t even know how I have been able to take a breath. School is like a thick head of hair in desperate need of a haircut… It just keeps growing and growing and I’m really looking for that chance to sit down and cut it back. It would be a lie to say that every day has been a good one; Truth is that some days, especially recently, have hit me hard. But I am surviving, and I will be okay. I just need to get things balanced — then I can redevelop my lifting strategy at the gym, re-dedicate myself, and work towards seeing further results.
Working during school is going great. I am surprised how painless it has been to manage both. I love the Hallie Ford Center. I sometimes feel too protective of it — like when students start slithering through the building and making themselves at home. One of the other few negative traits about me is that I feel compelled to please everyone — and that things need to be just right for them to be acceptable. This is slowly being curbed as I learn more about working and the everyday life at the Hallie Ford Center.
But it’s been a while since I’ve last written — so I thought I’d share something that has kept me pushing forward with my head up high.
You are who you are. Remember that you’ve made yourself to be what you are right now. Whether you are happy about it or not, staring back at your mistakes is not going to help you change. Your actions have already affected you. You will make more mistakes, so think about them now and live a proactive life that constructs you to be as you dream to be in the future. There’s nothing stopping you but yourself.
