So. What was my list?
1) Religion/career
2) Peace Corps
3) SNF
4) Paris
5) Pictures
Religion/career. The following conclusion came about through various conversations with my dad, my grandma, and Paxton. I've concluded that my current negative feelings toward religion and Christianity are due to a character flaw, namely, my need to figure everything out immediately and on my own terms. In high school, I wanted to come to the perfect conclusion on religion and spirituality, get it all figured out and nailed down and made into a list, etc. And then when I couldn't do that, when I came across things that I couldn't explain, I got frustrated and pissed pissed pissed off, and gave it all up for a lost cause. I tried too hard, and the result is that I am... disenchanted, to say the least.
As that relates to my career/what I'm going to do with my life, I need to not repeat that mistake. Like Dad and Grandma said, I need to just wait for it. My fear in doing this is that I'll lose ambition and goals and direction, and I'll end up working at WalMart because I stopped trying to succeed, or something. Like if I don't worry, then I won't succeed. But I guess all I can really do is succeed at what I'm doing right now, and take opportunities as they come.
So that's my new philosophy on... what I'm going to do with life. We'll give it a try, see how it works out.
Peace Corps. In a similar vein, I've been thinking a lot lately about the Peace Corps. I think the ideal situation would be to graduate, take a year and work/save money and prepare to leave (take a language course or two), and then leave the next autumn. I think it would be really cool to go to Morocco or Senegal, the northwest coast of Africa, and help with business/community development there. Be a liaison between small business owners and the government, plan events in the area, help in schools and hospitals, stuff like that. And my French (though limited) would come in handy there.
We'll see, though. Just something I've been thinking about. A lot can happen in two years.
SNF. SNF = the Scottish Nationalist Party. I actually meant to type SNP, haha. For my British politics class, we have to write a longish paper on any topic we want that relates to British Politics, and I want to research the SNP. I think it's really cool that Scotland hasn't really ever been conquered, and I find the whole nationalist movement interesting. I'd like to see why they want to be independent, learn a bit more about their history (and the history of the UK), and determine whether or not their independence is a possibility, and what effect (popularly, economically, etc) it would have upon the UK and the EU. Our proposals are due next week Wednesday, so I need to get on that (and narrow down my thesis/argument a bit). I want this to be a good paper. Like one I would feel comfortable submitting to something. Which reminds me: I need to add a #6 to the list above: Jack.
Paris. It looks like I'm going to Paris after all (I'll email you with more details when I have them, Mom and Dad). Kat and Andrew Mead (people from Hope) are going the end of October through beginning of November, that weekend. So I'm going to try to meet up with them for a few days; I think it'll be a fun time. Better than going to Lille by myself, anyway. Must look into Eurostar tickets/cheap airfare/stop at the STA travel place. And for Barcelona too.
Pictures. I took some pictures today of city life (hence the entry's title) and thought I'd post them just for fun. It's been awhile since I took pictures just because I thought it was a sweet angle or an interesting photo, haha. So it was fun. Here they are:
Well this one isn't very cool, but I like the signs for the station. Reminds me of the signs for the Metro in Paris (not that I've ever been there.)
It would have been cooler if that GUY in the GREEN JACKET hadn't walked right into my picture. But this is the South Ken station, the eastbound Piccadilly line platform.
Industrial. I wish it wasn't blurry though.
So that's that.
Jack. I received an email from ISA (International Studies Association) a few days ago saying that they have formally accepted our paper proposal and we're on the schedule for the presentation in March. As I had still not heard back from Jack after I sent him the draft in August, I emailed him to see what was going on. He replied, said that he had forgotten about the draft (bleh), but I'm still a coauthor, and there's no need for me to go to San Francisco in March, but he can arrange for Hope to pay for my travel if I want to go. So that's kind of cool.
Thoughts on the coauthorship: Cool that I'm a coauthor on something. Nice for the resume, for sure. However, not cool that I'm a coauthor on a piece of shit. Like if anyone actually reads the paper, then they won't be all that impressed after all, haha. Which is why I emailed Jack back and said I'd like to do a final edit or two when I return to Hope in the spring. Try and clean it up as much as I can, at least so it's not something riddled with grammatical errors and... logic flaws.
Thoughts on the convention: I probably should go, just to "network" and meet people. However, I feel like I'd be out of my element. Like I'm not a political science major, and I don't even know that much about International Relations yet. I would like to meet people, but then I run the risk of making myself look like an idiot because I am ignorant of... things. Plus the thought of a weekend with Jack is just... bleh. I'd want to bring a friend, hahaha.
All in all, an interesting little development. I'm surprised that ISA even accepted it, to be honest.
But I think that's it for the night/past few days.
Tomorrow: Youth Culture 10-12:30, Senate House library for political science research/homework 1-3:30ish, French 4-6. And this weekend is going to be nuts. Brandon's birthday is tomorrow, so we're going out, the girls want to do karaoke on Friday, so we're going out, Saturday is Sonja's birthday, so we're going out, Sunday and Monday are recuperation days, and then Tuesday is Mike's birthday, so we're going out. Bleh. And I have a field trip and a (free, IES-sponsored) Mexican dinner on Saturday. Crazy! At least I'll have Sunday and Monday for sleeping and... reading, probably, haha.
Goodnight all!
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