gone country

for the third year in a row, I have ventured to texas for christmas to visit my maternal grandparents and various auxiliary family members. I know when you think of texas, you imagine big hair and cacti. you are misinformed. the texas I know is deep woods, deep fried, and deep(ly..dammit) conservative.

however, as "fish out of water" as the situation described may appear, I enjoy texas for many reasons.

1) the smell - living in new york and growing up in los angeles, I have been exposed to so many varying degrees of scentitude that I have become immune (meaning my brain ignores them) to most smells for fear of acridity. but there is something about texas that makes me open my button nose to the fullest experience of the sensory function. it smells wet and green like fresh rain. leather. wild. comforting. nothing like the two metropolitan locations I call home.

2) the food - as strapping, hunting men, my uncle and cousins "use" everything they kill. I have abandoned the contempt towards their choice of past time based on the following taste experiences: spicy venison sausage, chicken-fried backstrap, jalapeno-stuffed bacon-wrapped chipotle-raspberry-glazed venison. I would not go as far to say that I would buy a firearm of my own -- I won't even spend $500 on a purse, let alone a contraption that will surely make me look like an ass.

3) sense of discovery - part of the reason I like travel in general is just watching and absorbing the new culture of a new place. though the discoveries are not as high-brow as most other locations, the sights nevertheless evoke my amusement and interest. exhibit a - a sign outside a feed store "we have bibles and guns."

I enjoyed the time spent with family.

more catch-up - as I approach my final (final) semester (final) of college, the doom I expected to impend appears to be absent. I don't know if it's denial or if I'm actually ready to enter the "real world."

read "diary of a bad year" by coetzee. finishing "lolita."

go see revolutionary road, please.

it's good to be back.

no, really, I'm still here

m. vandenburg, as she hands me the bluebook for my (very-last-exam-as-a-junior-in-college-) postmodernism final: so, I see we've returned to the land of the living?

this query was obviously in reference to my half-existence as a person (well, student) for the preceding weeks because those were the weeks that led into the 114th annual varsity show, "morningside hates," which is (from what I hear and I am not ashamed to brag brag brag about), what wikicu calls, "the best and most well received varsity show in recent memory." not that I needed that reassurance, but it was nice to see that the work we put into this show was enjoyed (and not just experienced by) the thousands of people who saw it.

scary things:
- I'm a senior? this is the last summer that will lie between school years -- you know, summer in the sense where you go to camp, go on service projects, go on family vacations, and later where you have internships. no, as of may 2009, summer will be those three months of sunshine spent in captivity as functioning member of society and the working world. I couldn't be happier to be spending the summer at a paid internship that is actually related to the field I plan to explore after I graduate almost exactly a year from now.
- david cook won american idol 7. not that I'm hugely into reality television (the apple fell pretty far from the tree in that respect ... hi, again, mom) or anything, but it's frustrating to see the clearly more talented david archuleta lose a competition that's about finding the next new talented artist.


not scary things:
- I'm rereading (FOR THE FOURTH TIME, OKAY ... okay I've read the first 100 pages three times before and never made it past the quidditch world cup) harry potter and the goblet of fire. there are some very important people in my life who feel it is the most important thing I can possibly do with my time. what began as an attempt to humor/appease my best friends transformed into my actual desire to consume (furiously, I might add) some truly enjoyable recreational reading. I love the first three books of the series, and my attraction to the not-so-perfect alternate world and well-developed characters (that rowling loves and I appreciate that) will likely lead me to finally finish the series. won't those friends be proud
- I only have to move TWO times this summer!! and the second move is only upstairs!! so long, reslife hell!!

there will be more later, I promise. here's to summer '08!