Time Flies, Time Dies

I can't believe that it's already the middle of February already! O.O
Normally this would be the point where people would comment on how "it seems like just yesterday..." and I was honestly going to take that route, but in all honesty, even though the time is flying by, it still seems like it's been months. And yes, I am completely aware of the contradiction in that statement. I've been so busy in the last few months, but at the same time it feels like all I do is sit on the couch or on my bed and stare at the TV or my computer watching Netflix; I don't even read that much anymore. But between my Extended Essay for IB, college applications, and general homework and tests, the time really has passed.
       I would like to announce that I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH MY EXTENDED ESSAY!! As in I don't have to look at it again...ever. It is out of my life. As much fun as I had listening to all the music and learning about the political atmosphere of the 1960s and how it related to the music, I'm so glad that I finally got at least that portion of stress off my shoulders. Despite all the headaches that went along with preparing it however, I really am proud of the finished product. I think that it was a fairly well-written paper once I finally remembered how to write a freaking research paper. I know right?! How could I forget! I used to be pretty damn good at it and for some reason actually enjoyed it. Yea, I was a pretty weird kid...not that I'm any less weird now :p. But pretty much the whole problem was that in IB you don't write research papers, you write commentaries and essays. Once I got back into the swing of things, it turned out pretty damn good. And now it's gone!!
       As for college, that's yet another monstrosity I've been dealing with for like months now. I know everyone is going through pretty much the same thing, but I have no idea how they deal with the stress sometimes. o.O Anyway, I applied to five colleges and got accepted to all five, although I wasn't so sure that I would actually be accepted into the last one, they took long enough getting back to me. -_- I applied to the U of M Twin Cities, St. Catherine University, Hamline University, Gustavus Adolphus College, and Augsburg College. My top two choices are St. Catherine's and Hamline...mostly because they both offered my the most money :P
I went on a Hamline over-night last weekend and it was certainly interesting. I got to see some of campus life which was pretty fun; we even went Swing dancing!! At first I was a little reticent, since I didn't know how to do the steps and I hate just sitting there like a bump on a log. However, some of the members of the swing-dance club took the group of over-nighters into the hall and taught us all how to dance! It was so much fun! Although my partner never smiled.But overall it was a fun experience and everyone was very friendly and the program was very informative.

Last night into today I did my overnight at St. Kate's.  Wow. My mind is completely blown. I didn't think that the experience would be much different than Hamline. I've heard people talk about how they fell in love with their first choice and really felt a connection, but I hadn't felt like this about any college and so I was just expecting to enjoy myself, but nothing more. Boy was I wrong. The people there were so friendly and welcoming and just all around cheerful and fun. My hostesses were both English majors which was a lot of fun and the whole evening was one big nerd-off. We literally sat on the dorm floor and told anecdotes and laughed our asses off . :p
We even went on a night tour of the campus, exploring the buildings with unlocked doors. It was really fun...especially O'Shaugnessy. The campus is absolutely beautiful and even though it's situated in the middle of St. Paul and is flanked by two busy thoroughfares, it was almost silent. The quietness amazed me. Similar to the feeling of Hamline but somehow more so, I felt like I was in another world. Even the dorm made me feel more comfortable. Hamline's dorm was very clean and modern and very nice. This one however, I stayed in Crandall, was pretty small and looked like a 70s apartment building...which it essentially is. I loved it! haha I'm not sure exactly what that says about my personality. The dining room was much less cafeteria-like and more like a restaurant with a bunch of little round tables..it was nice. I really enjoyed the classes too. But I think the most important thing was the contrast of how I felt during the whole trip. At Hamline as the night and following day progressed, I started to feel slightly panicked and not wanting to commit. However at St. Kate's it just felt right and I was way more comfortable with the idea of the future, which was a new feeling.
At first I was freaked out about going to a school with only girls, but in all honesty, I didn't really notice the lack of masculinity there today, and I really like the idea of a school that is essentially built around female empowerment.
Wow this is really long,.... O.O
Ok I better sign off, but suffice it to say I think I've found my future! :)

Slán go fóill,

B

Cosmic Questions

Sometimes my brain goes off on weird tangents, and through this random method, sometimes I come up with rather interesting inquiries.

What I came up with the other day was Why do humans feel like they need to be with someone?

This line of thinking wasn't born out of depression, more an observation of the world.

All the romantic movies out there revolve on "finding someone" and it seems to be a condition of the world.
 One of the first things that popped into my head was the scientific argument. It's evolutionary. Survival of the species and all that. It's ingrained in our DNA to find someone in order to pass on genes and ensure future generations. That made sense when the human race was hanging by a thread and needed every possible candidate. But what's the excuse in this advanced day and age? We don't actually need someone else to survive. You'd think that over time we would have evolved to the point where we no longer feel like we have to create more little humans...the world is overrun as it is! Maybe it's that we're social creatures. But what makes us social? What fuels the need to be with someone? The right someone.

I'm mind-boggled.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Hey peeps!

I just thought I'd say hi, since I'm trying to kill time during Latin class :p

First of all, want to hear something funny? In Latin, we have to research songs to translate from English to Latin for a project. Anyway, while searching for a good candidate, I came upon a translation of "Baby Got Back". The Latin is good, but the real gem is the English back translation...if you need a laugh, read this...I almost fell out of my seat! :p

I'm so nice, I'll even link it for you:  http://quislibet.livejournal.com/164084.html

Anyway, so Life has definitely been interesting lately. It's so weird being a Senior. I have to keep reminding myself every couple of days that this is actually my last year here. I don't feel any older, or more mature, the way I've always assumed Seniors feel. But then I guess I've seen first hand how immature Seniors can be. :D  It's also the fact that I look at my fellow classmates and having known them for four years now, they don't look (significantly) different or even act all that different..in the sense that they are still themselves for the most part. It's kind of disorienting, when I step back from everyday life and say to myself, "Next year we'll all be different places, living out the paths that have been set before us". It makes me nostalgic...even though it hasn't ended yet. It's even got to the point where during the weekend, I almost want to be back at school just because I want to spend more time with the people I've just gotten closer to. But I'm hoping that even after we all split up, I'll still be able to keep in contact with people. :)

Other than the looming hourglass, the most chaotic things in my life have been IB crap and college stuff....both of which seem to want to rob me of my sanity. what with projects and deadlines. Plus  being a teenager with raging hormones doesn't help all that much.
Well I am going to force myself to go write..so bye!

Slainte,
B

Is College Worth It?

So in my higher level Economics class, my teacher has us read articles each week and respond to them in a forum-style. Anyway, this week's articles were on the validity of a college education and the trends in fields which students tend to major in.

The two questions that my teacher asked as guiding concepts were: "Is college worth it?" and "What should people study?"


My post read:
My response to the second question? Students should study exactly what they want to study.

This topic is continually at the back of my mind, and I brood on it every time someone asks me what I want to major in. On the one hand I would love to major in Creative Writing and be an author when I'm older. However on the other hand, being an author can be a not very lucrative profession, and unfortunately money does kind of make the world go 'round. This train of thought for a while pointed me in the direction of the sciences such as Biology or Neurology which I also have an interest in...however, I don't really like math all that much. And while it might be easier for me to find a career in these two fields, I don't think that I would necessarily be happy. And therein lies the most important part. It's important to study and follow a path which one is interested and enthusiastic in. While money is important, happiness is more important. It's better to study something you love rather than study something which you might come to despise at length.

However, it is also necessary to consider the realistic angle. In my case, it's maybe not the best idea for me to major in Creative Writing with the goal of being an author (as a primary profession); but there are other careers which incorporate writing and/or English which are more stable with more availability. So while it's very important to take heed of where your interests lie, it is also important of where jobs are realistically and be able to use the skills you learn to your advantage.

The first question is a much thornier concept. There is need of clarification as Raven pointed out, worth it to whom? This is really a case-by-case question. For some people it might be worth it to go to college for different reasons. It may be that for some people the costs and debt incurred by going to college are outweighed by the experience and the knowledge gained. Or by that same token that the costs are outweighed by the value of the career which higher education allowed someone to get. However to some people these costs may not be worth going to school for four years and thus foregoing money that could be earned in those same for years. It really is a subjective question.

Sorry for the weird formatting,

B

The Moon's A Harsh Mistress

Hi everyone!

Yes, I know, it's been awhile..yet again. I've just had tons to do, what with the start of the new school year, etc.
On that note, today concluded the sixth day of school. And in the last week alone, I have learned some valuable things. Probably the most important thing I've learned is the effects of excessive caffeine and the discomfort of caffeine withdrawal. Here's what happened:
       Last weekend, I went to this new little coffee shop with some friends. One of my friends and I got their before the other girl and we ordered drinks. I ordered this drink that looked good, but failed to realize until later that it had a good size serving of espresso in it...not those tiny little cups. Then when my other friend finally showed up, I figured we would be there for awhile, so I decided to try something else. This one apparently also had espresso. Then later in the evening I was at a sleepover and had a can of rootbeer. Since I had to be up early, I made the decision to stay up all night...with the help of Channing Tatum and a can of Redbull.  The next evening I was writing a paper that was due the next morning, so I had a can of Coke. Then periodically through the night I had sips from a two liter of Coke. Then monday morning, to stay awake for class, I had a Redbull. In the space of 48 hours I had about as much caffeine (if not more) than I would usually have in a week; this combined with about 3 hours of sleep in that time period. Now my body is majorly complaining because I have no caffeine in my system....talk about killer headache. Never doing that again.

I suddenly lost interest.....i will write again tomorrow or thursday

Happy Full Harvest Moon!
Slainte,
B

So fill to me, the parting glass...

Sometimes I see Ireland as just a place I want to return to someday.

I've been away so long some of the longing as dissipated. But then there are those days where it's like a physical ache in my gut, the pain of being able to listen to Irish music, look at pictures of Ireland and watch movies of Irish people and not actually being able to go there and experience it for myself. 

Sometimes it just hits you.

This past weekend was the Irish Fair of Minnesota. Now, I hadn't been to the Irish fair in like ten years. The last time I was there, the only thing I remember is that I was excruciatingly bored. I remember I couldn't wait to leave.
This was completely different.
I'm not sure why I never thought of it before. I love the festivities at the Landmark center every St. Patrick's Day; not because they're overly grandiose, in fact they're rather small and can be kind of a pain in the ass, but because on St. Patrick's Day all the Irish in Saint Paul gather to celebrate their Irish heritage. Irish Fair was no different. All those people there to listen to the music, drink Guinness and celebrate coming from such an amazing place. I felt so much as if I belonged among the crowd i ended up going all three days. :)
The first two times were at night which I think I prefer because for one thing it was cooler, but for another, there is so much more scope for the imagination under the stars listening to penny whistles and bagpipes.

On Sunday however, I went in the afternoon with a bunch of my friends (versus going with my dad the other two evenings). I noticed that (at least until the end) the Fair was not quite the same. I mean, obviously with different people the experiences are expected to be different, but this was rather distastefully so. It did however lead me to realizations about myself as well as my friends. I realized that when I think of Ireland, it is always surrounded in Mist, Myth, and Magic. That will never change for me. The problem with going with friends to the fair was that they don't share the same connection with Ireland that I do....and it has nothing to do with heritage. I have come to the conclusion that in order to feel the way I feel, you have to believe in magic. Like really believe in magic. It may sound like I'm completely off my rocker, but with Ireland I feel like anything's possible.
Anyway, at the very end of the fair, things definitely took a turn for the better. After the last music group finished their set on the Mainstage, there was what they called a Scattering. All the musicians that had performed at the fair all weekend then got up on stage and they all together played a few songs. Two of them were so beautiful they had me in tears. Honestly, I was doing okay until they brought in the bagpipes...
I never wanted it to end...
The two songs were:
The Wild Mountain Thyme (Will Ye Go Lassie Go)

and
The Parting Glass (which they played in memory of someone who had died who had dedicated his life to the Irish fair)

ok,.i'll stop now
love and peace and always,
Slainte,
B

There Were Roses

I find myself in recent weeks once again contemplating the religion. 
Actually, this isn't much of a surprise since it seems as if a good portion of my time is spent meditating on this topic. In the past three years my opinion on the matter has changed and 
evolved many times.


In 2008, fresh out of nine years in a Catholic grade school, I went searching for new things, primarily Wicca. I don't even really remember why I got interested in it in the first place, but I think it was because I read The Mists of Avalon (if you haven't read it and like Arthurian legend, I would strongly suggest this). Although it has been confusing sometimes, the last three years of looking at new religions and looking at my birth religion with fresh eyes has really helped me to make more clear to myself what my beliefs are. I discovered that although having rebelled against it for  the past three years, I still cling to the roots of Catholicism and Christianity. However, when I was researching Wicca and Celtic paganism, I saw many Many parallels with Christianity which made me revise my earliest conceptions. Many things that I've been taught since my early years I take for granted as truth, but I tend to worship the feminine side of the Trinity which the Church conveniently ignores. My patron, for lack of a better word is St Brigid because she is the Christian embodiment of the pagan goddess Brigid, daughter to Dagda. 


One thing I really hate when people slam the Catholicism is when they take for granted that the Church is the religion. The religion is the religion, the Church is just the twisted interpreter. The religion itself is not the problem, it's the people who mess up the translation and then spout their mumbo jumbo as "The Word of  God". 


It's even worse when religions have the audacity to say that they are the "one true religion" and their god is "the one true god" which incidentally I don't believe in. I don't believe that there is only one true god, just many faces of one higher being. Which I guess is leaning more toward agnosticism but whatever.  Evidence to back this up can be seen throughout history among the earliest deities. For example, Aphrodite was the goddess of love in Greece. Venus was her counter-part in Rome, and Ishtar in the Middle East. All named differently and probably depicted differently due to cultural differences, but representing the same aspect of the higher being, just personified.


I don't understand why people can't just agree that there's someone up there pulling the strings and doling out karma like nobody's business, and just move on with their lives without the violence.


this song tells of all the troubles caused by religious non-acceptance:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVlIV9dqVXA .


Anyway, not exactly where I originally intended to go with this, but o well, ramblings are ok. :)
Sláinte,
B