#marriedlife

I just recently discovered Eva Cassidy. I guess I'm behind the times; people have been mentioning her for eons. I've just been too thick to heed. Not since middle school have I been so immediately affected by someone's music. Aside from how sappy the whole thing makes me feel, this is kind of amazing.

Also, junior year is a real schlep through murky emotional and intellectual waters. And all for what, exactly? Mhm.

updates from Mo-Hi

I haven't updated this thing in so long. And it's not for a lack of material; so much has happened in my romantic, academic, and a cappella lives that I could go on and on for days. Not to mention the incredible wealth of stuff happening in the world at large. And Columbia is up to its same old shenanigans again, with professors assigning exams and presentations within the first three weeks of classes. I've joined the hive again for one more year.

the week in news...

My ride! (via Flickr)

This has been quite the whirlwind week. For one, I have a(nother) job that'll last me well into the spring. I'm officially working at the Office of the Director of Graduate Studies. My interviewer told me that I can a) gchat and check Facebook if I ever have downtime (uh...) and b) that he is officially sanctioning-- indeed, welcoming-- any humming that may be a result of my proclivity to song. This job is perfect (although I must say that I was quite startled to have Facebook brought up so casually in a professional setting). I start on Monday.

In other news, I have a red, Ross brand hipster-mobile, name TBA (any suggestions?), birthday gifted by the wonderful Kate Lovely. I rode it around Astoria and found that there is nothing quite as exhilarating or terrifying as bicycling in New York City.

Also, did some community garden-ing this weekend with Kyle. The earth is an amazing home.

I feel really good about how things are going for me right now, in spite of how poor I am and how much work I need to do to be quite where I'd like in life. But finally, I feel like I'm making some progress.

ess-KAH-pay

Aside from my childlike love of Finding Nemo, the title of this post is pretty apt due to the fact that I am making plans to return to the city ASAP. Sayonara, Dirty Jerz.

Zsa Zsa Zsu

I feel as though something's happened to my motivation and my feistiness. Has becoming a member of a two-some made me both treacly and indolent? I guess we all expect relationships to enable a certain amount of sentimentality, but I'm beginning to feel as though the heady, almost hubristic confidence-- my response to harbored bitterness-- that got me into this great, healthy relationship has evaporated in some of this summer heat. The thing is, being in a stimulating relationship has offered me so much in the way of emotional well-being and, well, general happiness.

So what the EFF is going on?

For example, I was recently asked to write an article for the World Daily News' insert for prospective college students and their parents, an immense and unexpected honor, clearly. Long story short, it's not getting published because of word counts and blah dee blah Asad's an idiot. But worse than that is just how absurdly simplistic-- and almost formulaic-- the writing was. When I edited the piece, I felt as though I was reading the work of some simpleton 9th-grade writer. Yeah, it was that bad.

Perhaps I'm not responding well to no longer being a teen. Perhaps being 20 disagrees with the Peter Pan in me.

I need school to start. I need to be in New York. I need to again experience the terror and the thrill of the hand-to-mouth student experience. I want to smell the stale (central) air of an East Village thrift shop. I want to be and avert clichés. New Jersey is both under-stimulating and deeply uninspiring.

Where's the fuckin' zsa zsa zsu?

ni ju

And just like that, I'm suffix-less.

mirror, mirror

If it really is one's reflected self with which one is truly enamored in love, than I've found the kind of rare, coveted dressing room mirror with the gentle lighting and ideal positioning that one certainly does not find nearly often enough. <3

- A