Beyonce’s on Obama’s iPod?!

clintons

Ahaha.

If you haven’t yet, check out this nifty guide to the candidates: New York magazine’s “The 2008 Electopedia.” For those of us who really want to get down into the nitty gritty of the prospective presidents’ personal lives, this is where it’s at. Unless you are happy to perform an intensive Google search of your own, you can learn a whole lot of new things about the senators, like say, their relationship with their parents, their relationship with their offspring, their first job, their first love, their fashion sense, taste in music, their sleep habits, health problems, diet, their preferred mode of transportation, and my personal favorite: how they did in college.

OK, so maybe these aren’t exactly decision-determining factors when it comes to choosing a candidate, but it sure adds flavor to a race that’s losing its taste faster than a stick of Juicy Fruit gum. And who knows, maybe Hillary’s church attendance might be just the thing to affirm your vote.

Apparently it’s entered my subconscious

Last night I had a dream that I was back in fourth grade with my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Lasko, but all my classmates were college friends. And in my dream, we were taking a test, and I probably should have aced it, hands down, but for some strange reason, I was having a really tough time with it. One by one, my friends turned in their tests and there I was, still trying to answer the questions. But it was a lost cause. I went over the time and had no choice but to turn in what looked like a five-year old would do to a 1040 EZ form. I might as well have written my answers in Chinese characters. I knew I was doomed to fail.

I have to say, that is probably one of the most depressing dreams I ever had. And why do I share this? Not that it’s an accurate reflection of how the end of the semester, my last semester ever, is going, but I think that it’s a good wake-up call to finish the year, and my college career, strong. Now that the weather is actually nice and the countdown to graduation has shifted from weeks to days, it really does get harder to focus on the remaining items on the syllabi. The only things I see are my friends and all the memories we still have to make before we leave and go our separate ways. Even the job search is on hiatus…for now, at least.

Where do you find the balance of spending as much time possible with your college sweathearts and maintaining the GPA that’s kept you on the Dean’s List the past seven semesters? How do we keep in mind the importance of our liberal arts education when senioritis is in full gear? Is it possible to stay motivated til the very last final? It’s like priorities have slightly changed in the past couple weeks for all of us, and last night’s dream is a tap on the shoulder to take a peek at my planner for once this month. After four years of hard work, now is not the time to “let the pieces fall where they may” so to speak. I’ve never been one to just do the bare minimum to get by, and by the looks of my nighttime subconscious, I need to step it up before it comes to that. Just two more weeks, and we’re outta here. Oh gosh.

And now, some recent pics:
indian
Maria and me

indian
Finally, good Indian outside of London

breeches
Amanda and Heather by the Breeches

in the breeches
Me and Amanda walking in the freezing Breeches

friends

spring fling
Some of my ladies at Spring Fling

dj
Matt Wells DJing/dancing

sheep
Maria and sheep at Spring Arts Day

pony
Heather and pony

goats
Maria and goats

goats 2
who tried to eat her

Some things never change: (unmet) freshmen expectations

Now that we’re seniors on the verge of graduating, my friend Maria and I are starting to compile a list of things that, four years ago we expected by now, but have stayed the same since freshman year. This list includes:

-Not engaged
-Still using Messiah email as our main one
-Still looking for a job/don’t know what we want to be when we grow up
-Same number of friends on Facebook
-Never did have that lunch or get that coffee
-Never got “creeked”
-Never had a date to any Messiah dances
-Still haven’t gotten that tattoo

Haha, these sound so depressing, but…regardless of these things (there were so much more too), we wouldn’t have it any other way. These past four years at Messiah have been nothing short of an adventure.

The final stretch

Murphy’s Law goes into full force at this point in the semester, right after spring break, when the papers and presentations are happening faster than you can cite your sources and the job search is getting more and more real, taking up unbelievable amounts of each day that passes. For example, the one time I lose my voice this semester conveniently happens the day before I have my first phone interview for a magazine in NYC. Also, the weekend I planned to visit my friends at IU (B-town, Indiana) just so happens to be the same weekend the Compassion Forum. I’m sure the Secret Service will greet me with a warm welcome back on campus.

As the end of the semester draws near, things aren’t slowing down, and apparently neither do the emotions of a second-semester senior. One minute, all I can think about is the countdown to graduation, and the next, I’ll be wishing that I had some more time here than mere weeks. At the last Coffeehouse, my friends and I scanned the audience of mostly underclassmen and we realized that we have both recently been wondering if we could do it all over again, would we? By “it,” I mean the whole college thing. Knowing what I know now as a senior, what would I do differently if I could re-live these past four years? What about myself would stay the same? What social groups would I be a part of?

It’s impossible to change the past, but the future lies just ahead, and what we do with it can alter a lot of things. Graduation is just as exciting a time as starting college, and though I may not always believe it, at least this chapter ends with the beginning of a new one.

Back to life, back to reality

Things that just recently became apparent to me:

-My spring break tan will last for another week or so if I’m lucky
-Spring Break 08 is my last spring break EVER
-My friends and I will be screaming “Spring Break 08!!!” at the occurrence of anything remotely exciting or college-y until the end of the semester
-I have a midterm tonight
-I’m decidedly trying to be more motivated, and in some sort of second-semester senior miracle, it’s actually working. Thanks to Journalismjobs.com, Mediabistro.com, Ed2010.com and a bunch of other career resource sites, I’ve created more cover letters and sent out more resumes and writing samples in a three-week period than this entire semester combined
-My motivation in other areas like homework and papers remains the same (nonexistent…eek!)
-I might get to chat it up with the next President of the U.S. at the Compassion Forum in a few weeks thanks to Swinging Bridge connections. At least we’ll be in the same room
-Check it out: 7 more weeks of undergrad.