Wandering

Today is my niece Presley's first birthday and can I just say I am flabbergasted it has been a year since she came into the world. I searched for the post I made last year around this time and I saw the picture attached to it. It's funny to look at myself. In the past year, my hair has been 4 colors, I had two semesters more of school, I spent a summer working, and multiple other things. Life has changed a lot and I along with it.

Although I haven't changed a lot physically in a year, I have in every other way. I am more confident, know a lot more, and have learned a lot more about who I am. But, in turn, I am less sure of my future and am more of a wanderer than ever. Just today I've noticed how much of a wanderer I am. I am constantly moving my place of residency - home, dorm, and this summer, camp. I don't even really what I'm going to do even in the next week, let alone in a year or four.

As you all know, I need a schedule. I need to know what's going on, but being in a theatre production and various other activities makes my schedule hard to predict. I'm becoming more frustrated with my life because of this fact. I need to know what is coming next and what my destination is and what my ultimate goal is. Let's just say I'm wandering all over the place.

But isn't that part of the adventure? The adventure of college - even life in general - is to feel uncomfortable and try new things. George Watsky last Friday told us that this was his last college show because he was moving onto play music instead. "I was getting comfortable with it and I figured I better move on," he said because he said life is about trying new things. Maybe that's what I'm missing - new things. I am certainly uncomfortable enough, but I don't really have anything new going on. I'm wandering around in a desert right now when I could (and should) go wandering in a big city and explore what it has to offer.

So here is to wandering and trying exciting things! Getting lost may happen, but at least I'll figure out a new path and new ideas and new adventures.

Peace!

-Nicole

Stories

I am currently writing from the Maize, the burger-joint we have here on campus, enjoying a strawberry banana smoothie. In about an hour, I will be entertained by George Watsky. I know Watsky mainly from his slam poetry, which is powerful, emotional, and funny. Slam poetry has a ton of variations, but it almost always revolves around a story and the stories are often very powerful and ridden with emotion.

My classes this semester seem to be about stories. In my religion class that focuses on interfaith, stories is what makes connections and builds bridges. Stories make people real and it puts a face on things. Psychology statistics often uses in-depth examples of people. My cognitive psychology focuses a lot on memory and what enhances it; stories help in remembering the information and one often pays attention to a story over a lecture. Finally, on the first day of my classical mythology class the professor said, "Things are best told through stories." I think he meant it in terms of mythology, but it got me thinking.

Our life is a story - we are writing it every day and we are the main character. But we also are the supporting character in someone else's life story. Heck, we might even be the antagonist. Our actions dictate what role we take up. And depending on what our story contains, our story might be told for a really long time. And I want mine to be very epic and for people to find adventure, love, pain, and acceptance within it.

Peace!

-Nicole