So now I'm home for the holidays, after bidding St. Louis adieu until commencement in May. I managed to return safely to NC after a harrowing 14+ hour drive, moving all my shit back with m in preparation of Singapore for the spring semester. :D Party on, dudes. Last semester is going to be so much more about food and drinking and traveling and seeing people than it is about law. But I've totally earned this, right?
Strangely, perhaps, the nostalgia hasn't hit me. It might yet, or it might wait until I'm actually back in the Lou in May before plaguing me with fond memories. I will miss seeing the people there while I'm in Singapore, of course, but for the most part I am just excited about being in a new part of the world.
Though I'm not even thinking that far ahead right now. Right now, I am focused on the holiday cruise I'm going on tomorrow with family! We're leaving out of Charleston and headed down to the Bahamas for five days. A sunny and warm Christmas, I hope, to go with the sunny and warm winter I'll be spending in Singapore. I am all up for this. Cold weather, I've had enough of you, thanks. I will not miss the cute coats and scarves all that much.
After I get back, I'll meet up with M and A at least, then be just productive enough to wrap up some last-minute things and pack for Singapore.
For now, I am looking forward to sunshine and fruity alcoholic drinks. Happy holidays!
Showing posts with label the holiday season. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the holiday season. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sunday, December 6, 2009
i freakin hate not having a car
Thanksgiving was really, really nice an reminded me that I love my family so, so much. I miss them. I am so grateful for them, and all my friends. I got a slight cold while I was home but I've mostly recovered from it - a two or day thing, that wasn't too bad. Drank lots of fluids and slept - definitely helped. Now time to hunker down for exams, right? Ugh. I should stop being lazy and actually go break out my Christmas music - maybe it'll distract from the doom and gloom.
Did my Christmas cards a few days ago! Should be sent out this week, with appropriate postage. It's ridiculous, I only send cards to Extended Family and my favorite online people, so my cards are all over the place: 12 US, 9 international [4 Canada, 2 Philippines, 1 UK, 1 Singapore (usually more, but J came back to the US for uni!), 1 Australia (usually more here too, hmm) - could potentially send 2 to Korea too...]. No one at law school gets cards because I see them every day, haha, and we are just not ~sentimental~ like that, I guess. I don't know about other people, but I love Christmas cards. Email will never beat out snail mail. ♥ I am sentimental, it's all good!
Spent the past few days (sort of) outlining Transnational Litigation and some time today going over Censorship & Free Expression. I don't plan on taking that until Friday though, so I have more time. I should...review some Korean, I suppose. My oral interview's tomorrow. 저는 한국어를 몰라요... 저녁에 연습할 거예요.
Papercut. D:
Did my Christmas cards a few days ago! Should be sent out this week, with appropriate postage. It's ridiculous, I only send cards to Extended Family and my favorite online people, so my cards are all over the place: 12 US, 9 international [4 Canada, 2 Philippines, 1 UK, 1 Singapore (usually more, but J came back to the US for uni!), 1 Australia (usually more here too, hmm) - could potentially send 2 to Korea too...]. No one at law school gets cards because I see them every day, haha, and we are just not ~sentimental~ like that, I guess. I don't know about other people, but I love Christmas cards. Email will never beat out snail mail. ♥ I am sentimental, it's all good!
Spent the past few days (sort of) outlining Transnational Litigation and some time today going over Censorship & Free Expression. I don't plan on taking that until Friday though, so I have more time. I should...review some Korean, I suppose. My oral interview's tomorrow. 저는 한국어를 몰라요... 저녁에 연습할 거예요.
Papercut. D:
Sunday, December 7, 2008
is it fear that drives us?
I could take this time to complain about law school again, and how I feel completely unprepared for my exams, but why reiterate the same old same old? I should take on a more positive, proactive attitude. I can handle this. I will take my exams and do well on them.
Or just, you know, get the median. Whatever. At this point, it's hard to keep upbeat and hopeful about the entire ordeal. At this point, I just want a job.
The hardest thing is that my parents will only ever see and care about the grades. It will always be about rank.
I'm trying to do Christmas cards to cheerful (sometimes Christmas) music in an effort to keep my spirits up, but I'm not entirely sure it's working. I'm not sure when the holidays have lost their spark for me this year. I blame law school, honestly; it's sapped me of joy, creativity, energy, etc.
It would have been better to have been a science major coming into law school. They're better at step-by-step logical analysis and have the advantage in the IP field. Sometimes I feel like everything I've done in my life is pretty much worthless.
Oh wait, there I go, being negative and pessimistic again...
I have to keep fighting. Keep trying. A part of me knows I can do this. I can take my exams and pass them, get a job for the summer, come back for another 2.5 semesters, get a secure job. I know I can. I will have a future.
But it wars with the other part of me that says not good enough and points out how much easier it would be to just give up.
I won't give in though. It has less to do with my strength or my courage or my determination, perseverance, or ability to overcome obstacles.
When it comes down to it, I keep going because I'm too afraid to stop and to fail. To have nothing and be nothing.
So let's keep fighting.
Didn't I used to have more cheerful entries? It's hard to tell at this point.
Or just, you know, get the median. Whatever. At this point, it's hard to keep upbeat and hopeful about the entire ordeal. At this point, I just want a job.
The hardest thing is that my parents will only ever see and care about the grades. It will always be about rank.
I'm trying to do Christmas cards to cheerful (sometimes Christmas) music in an effort to keep my spirits up, but I'm not entirely sure it's working. I'm not sure when the holidays have lost their spark for me this year. I blame law school, honestly; it's sapped me of joy, creativity, energy, etc.
It would have been better to have been a science major coming into law school. They're better at step-by-step logical analysis and have the advantage in the IP field. Sometimes I feel like everything I've done in my life is pretty much worthless.
Oh wait, there I go, being negative and pessimistic again...
I have to keep fighting. Keep trying. A part of me knows I can do this. I can take my exams and pass them, get a job for the summer, come back for another 2.5 semesters, get a secure job. I know I can. I will have a future.
But it wars with the other part of me that says not good enough and points out how much easier it would be to just give up.
I won't give in though. It has less to do with my strength or my courage or my determination, perseverance, or ability to overcome obstacles.
When it comes down to it, I keep going because I'm too afraid to stop and to fail. To have nothing and be nothing.
So let's keep fighting.
Didn't I used to have more cheerful entries? It's hard to tell at this point.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
all in or all out
Oh my god, do I love Google or what? First, there's Google Labs that allows me to add my Google Calendar and Docs to Gmail, which makes my life. Then there are the awesome new themes, because I am all about color-coding my life. But best of all, Google has a To Do List feature that I can add to my iGoogle homepage. I think I'm too thrilled for words: Google, you have totally won me over to you for life.
It's that time of year again, too: time to break out my Christmas music. I love the holidays; they're the saving grace of finals period. The music keeps me sane throughout all the studying and the stress and the panic. Oddly enough, I've also brought out my Disney music, which is relentlessly cheering and leaves me with the urge to rewatch my favorite Disney movies again.
I'm back to owning six versions of Carol of the Bells; last year, I had at least twelve, possibly fifteen. I still need to acquire Sleigh Bells, though.
This music keeps me happy while I outline and write my memo. It makes me so much less likely to get to the point of being so stressed out that I snap at people or am unreasonably unapproachable. I like to think I'm generally in a good mood (unless I feel like tacos; but I guess I am more prone to that than to getting angry or confrontational).
I'm an unmitigated sap, and I'm okay with that.
It's that time of year again, too: time to break out my Christmas music. I love the holidays; they're the saving grace of finals period. The music keeps me sane throughout all the studying and the stress and the panic. Oddly enough, I've also brought out my Disney music, which is relentlessly cheering and leaves me with the urge to rewatch my favorite Disney movies again.
I'm back to owning six versions of Carol of the Bells; last year, I had at least twelve, possibly fifteen. I still need to acquire Sleigh Bells, though.
This music keeps me happy while I outline and write my memo. It makes me so much less likely to get to the point of being so stressed out that I snap at people or am unreasonably unapproachable. I like to think I'm generally in a good mood (unless I feel like tacos; but I guess I am more prone to that than to getting angry or confrontational).
I'm an unmitigated sap, and I'm okay with that.
Friday, December 7, 2007
you're the only one i want
I meant to make an endeavor to rediscover my holiday spirit last night but studying for today's Philosophy exam took precedence over listening to Christmas music and writing Christmas cards. Now that I've more or less completed my studying, I turned to trawling the internet for Asianified Christmas songs that would put me back in the spirit of things. I have a 526MB folder of Christmas music in English and instrumentals (15 versions of "Carol of the Bells" - why, yes, it is my favorite holiday song, why do you ask?), but despite importing it back into my iTunes mid-November, it did very little to sweep me away with the usual holiday cheer.
There's just something about Kpop songs that makes the most traditional Christmas songs so much more fun - probably because I am on a huge Korean music kick at the moment, but I love their (attempts at) English, the mandatory rap break, and how utterly poppy everything is. I've always been a pop girl at heart and I'm no longer afraid to admit it. I don't like most hardcore rock, metal, alternative, emo, punk, whatever music. Some of the songs aren't bad, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule: I'm a cheesy pop music lover and it's good this way. I like it loud, cheerful, fast-paced, fun to dance to. Even better if it happens to be Christmas-themed.
What does that say about me? Your taste in music is supposed to reflect your personality, isn't it? Well, I assume it means that I have little patience for overly-tragic, sad, slow songs (again, exceptions that prove the rule, but on the whole, they tend to annoy me because I lose interest in the dwelling on heartbreak). It means I like to be entertained, that I like to feel good, and that I think focusing on the more cheerful things in life beats lingering over the bad things. It means I occasionally like to (pretend to) be more hardcore than I usually am, maybe displaying a side most people wouldn't expect (especially when I'm angry or frustrated). It means that I don't mind not being able to understand the lyrics to what I listen to, that it's the music and the beat that matter more (though I've realized knowing the lyrics to a song can really transform the way I understand or appreciate the song). It also reflects the importance I place on nostalgia: there are a few songs I would never like the way I do if they weren't attached to very sharp, specific memories.
I also tend to like songs more and more if I've heard good things about them, if I listen to them a lot, or if I really like the performances.
(OIn a completely different note, I've been typing so much in Word for final review and essays that it's become instinct to hit Ctrl+S every few minutes, which I've caught myself doing just now and also on AIM last night.)
There's just something about Kpop songs that makes the most traditional Christmas songs so much more fun - probably because I am on a huge Korean music kick at the moment, but I love their (attempts at) English, the mandatory rap break, and how utterly poppy everything is. I've always been a pop girl at heart and I'm no longer afraid to admit it. I don't like most hardcore rock, metal, alternative, emo, punk, whatever music. Some of the songs aren't bad, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule: I'm a cheesy pop music lover and it's good this way. I like it loud, cheerful, fast-paced, fun to dance to. Even better if it happens to be Christmas-themed.
What does that say about me? Your taste in music is supposed to reflect your personality, isn't it? Well, I assume it means that I have little patience for overly-tragic, sad, slow songs (again, exceptions that prove the rule, but on the whole, they tend to annoy me because I lose interest in the dwelling on heartbreak). It means I like to be entertained, that I like to feel good, and that I think focusing on the more cheerful things in life beats lingering over the bad things. It means I occasionally like to (pretend to) be more hardcore than I usually am, maybe displaying a side most people wouldn't expect (especially when I'm angry or frustrated). It means that I don't mind not being able to understand the lyrics to what I listen to, that it's the music and the beat that matter more (though I've realized knowing the lyrics to a song can really transform the way I understand or appreciate the song). It also reflects the importance I place on nostalgia: there are a few songs I would never like the way I do if they weren't attached to very sharp, specific memories.
I also tend to like songs more and more if I've heard good things about them, if I listen to them a lot, or if I really like the performances.
(OIn a completely different note, I've been typing so much in Word for final review and essays that it's become instinct to hit Ctrl+S every few minutes, which I've caught myself doing just now and also on AIM last night.)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
season's greetings
Today I realized that I am far less enthused about the holiday season this year than in previous years. I had a taste of the spirit during Thanksgiving break, especially Black Friday shopping, with the entire mall festooned in Christmas decorations, each store blasting holiday music as the food shops promoted seasonal goodies like gingerbread--but other than that brief foray into the holiday spirit, I've been sadly unexcited about Christmas. I have hardly listened to my Christmas playlist at all.
Possibly this has to do with the fact that I really just can't afford many presents this year, what with the crazy financial demands of Project Chonguk and law school. And there's that, too--law school. It's difficult to be swept away by the season when a priority worry is polishing and completing the applications to law school. The weight of responsibility, obligation, duty, and the like tend to drag down my typical holiday buoyancy.
Well, there's always after exams. (But isn't everything always after exams?) I'll give it a shot then, and may the season be filled with chocolate and peppermint, holly and jingle bells, and lots of Christmas cards.
I won't ask for snow, though, because there are lines of reality you just can't cross, even in the holiday season. Oh, North Carolina and its brown-gray-blue Christmases.
Better than no Christmas at all, at least.
Possibly this has to do with the fact that I really just can't afford many presents this year, what with the crazy financial demands of Project Chonguk and law school. And there's that, too--law school. It's difficult to be swept away by the season when a priority worry is polishing and completing the applications to law school. The weight of responsibility, obligation, duty, and the like tend to drag down my typical holiday buoyancy.
Well, there's always after exams. (But isn't everything always after exams?) I'll give it a shot then, and may the season be filled with chocolate and peppermint, holly and jingle bells, and lots of Christmas cards.
I won't ask for snow, though, because there are lines of reality you just can't cross, even in the holiday season. Oh, North Carolina and its brown-gray-blue Christmases.
Better than no Christmas at all, at least.
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