18

In high school, I thought 18 was a magical number. Since I have a summer birthday and am very young for my grade, turning 18 meant that I was a month away from college. 18 meant that I was an "adult." Both of these things were a little scary, but intriguing and exciting at the same time. December 18th is my best friend's birthday. Although 18 turned out to be a year extremely different from anything I could imagine, it turned out to be just as exciting (both good and bad) as I had thought it might be. So with such good feelings about the number 18, I had no problems with deciding to take 18 hours this semester. One week in, I can say this much: maybe I made a huge mistake. Maybe I thought I could handle 18 hours and I will fail miserably. But maybe I can do it. Maybe I'll have to stay up late a lot, maybe I'll become even more dependent on caffeine to get me through the days (and nights), but maybe I'll come out of it successfully. Either way, I can already see myself changing. In high school, I did barely what I needed to get by. Extra credit was not my type of thing, and neither was studying for tests. Clearly I did not slack off too much, since I did get into a good school. But I was completely unprepared. So I did what I had always done - barely enough. This semester things have changed. I'm actually caught up on the reading... even a little ahead! And although I get so overwhelmed when I look at all my course work at once, when I take it step by step... it almost seems... achievable. My classes:

Symbolic Logic I ~ So the LSAT has 2 logic sections on it. Since Trinity does not have a pre-law major (only a pre-law focus in the political science department), you take classes from all over the board. Such is the life of a liberal arts college. But anyway, taking a logic class is supposed to improve LSAT scores and hey, who could say no to that? I was a little scared at first. I mean, this is really mostly a class for computer science and math majors. But I'm actually kind of good at it - it's a lot of puzzle work, sort of.

Classical Political Thought ~ Basically, I'm tired of reading about Socrates questioning everything. However, it will be interesting to see how his views play out into the future... aka now.

African Experience ~ Super interesting course about african history and what modern africa is up to. I don't know very much about Africa, so I'm excited to learn.

The Individual in World Politics ~ Never in my life have I felt like I was where I belonged AND like I was way out of my league at the same time. But this class should be really interesting. I'm reading a book for it about world health, and I'm researching President Sarkozy (the president of France)

American Literature: New Realism-Moderns ~ This class goes by so fast. Hemingway is pretty depressing (so far we have covered a really sad break up and some deaths) but I don't get bored. It's so interesting.

French Civilization ~ I would love to be fluent in French (I'm getting there...) and hopefully this class will help. Although the professor sometimes goes on mini-rants, it does offer comic relief at the end of my longest days (4 classes on tuesdays and thursdays!!)

So we'll see how they go. And how I go. Hopefully I can do this. No... I WILL do this!!!

Disneyland Lied.

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
-Nelson Mandela
After these past few days, I can safely say that Disneyland is wrong to claim it is the happiest place on earth. In my opinion, it is Camp Balcones Springs. I went down there on Tuesday for a counselor reunion, and the moment I stepped out of the car, all the second thoughts I was having about working there a second summer vanished. This is where I belong. It was so great to be reunited with close friends and just spend time together and relax. Tuesday we ate dinner, worshipped, and stayed up til about 2 in the morning talking. Wednesday we had a devotional, played 3-Ball (a game played on a baseball field involving a kickball, frisbee, and softball), and had lunch out by the lake. After lunch, a few of us drove out to the ropes course because we had missed it. That night we took a hay ride out to Lake Travis and watched the most amazing sunset. The sky literally looked like it was on fire. After dinner we worshipped and hung out more. We played knockout a lot (a game played on a pool table involving the 8 ball and the cue ball) and it got extremely intense. People legitimately got injured. Thursday we woke up, had a devotional, ate brunch, and then it was time to say goodbye. This wasn't very hard to do because I knew I would see these people soon. I'm just so excited to be going back this summer. I'm only going to be there for the last 2 terms, or 5 weeks. I wish I could be there the whole summer, but I really need to get started on building up my resume and getting an internship. UGH growing up. Why can't the real world wait?

My Year in Music

As I've said before, I define stages of my life through music. I honestly don't know what I would do without music - it's a definite passion of mine. So rather than reflect on everything that I've been through this year - there's just way too much - I thought I'd look back on what albums I listened to throughout the year

January
Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees (specifically, Tonight I'll Take What I Can Get)
Boys Like Girls - Boys Like Girls (Five Minutes to Midnight is quite excellent, but I rocked out to the whole album)
February
Holiday Parade - This Is My Year EP (Driving Away. SO GOOD.)
Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope (Come On Get Higher)
March
Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism (Sound of Settling, but they're all amazing)
The Spill Canvas - No Really, I'm Fine (The Truth Is, All Over You, but the whole album is incredible)
April
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans (They're all so good, especially Soul Meets Body, Crooked Teeth, A Lack of Color, I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Marching Bands of Manhattan...)
Joshua Radin - We Were Here (Closer, Star Mile)
May
Punk Goes 90's/Pop/Crunk - So many random songs that are incredible
Dashboard Confessional - So Impossible EP (This EP can only be enjoyed when listening to all four songs in order, since it tells a story, sort of.)
June
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs (Long Division, Pity and Fear)
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static (All At Once, If I Had Eyes, What You Thought You Need)
July
Relient K - The Birds and the B-Sides (All of it is so good)
Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory (Attractive Today)
August
Jack's Mannequin - The Ghost Overground EP (The Resolution)
Any/all music that was played at Camp Balcones Springs at any point in the summer
September
Jack's Mannequin - In Valleys EP (Cell Phone)
Jason Mraz - We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things (I'm Yours)
October
Jon McLaughlin - Beating My Heart (so good)
Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne - Let It Rock
November
The Academy Is... - Fast Times at Barrington High (About a Girl, Paper Chase, Coppertone, the entire album is incredible)
Citizen Cope - The Clarence Greenwood Recordings (Son's Gonna Rise, featuring Carlos Santana)
Any/all music played during all events surrounding the club tennis tournament in Harlingen
December
COLDPLAY. anything and everything coldplay. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
High school favorites discovered on my old computer (such as Bones, by The Killers)

I can only hope 2009 has just as many incredible musical moments.