Practicality? ...scoff

Should you ever give up your dreams for any reason? What if it's so impractical, you can't imagine how to succeed? Should you abandon them then due to practicality? Maybe. I hope not. I once had a professor who said if your plan seems obtainable, then you're not dreaming big enough. I always try to keep that in mind when people tell me my dreams are impractical. Screw practicality.

Next Chapter

At the beginning of this month, I graduated from college, culminating my 17 year journey of education. Over the course of two days, I walked across a stage, shook hands with the dean, marched into a stadium, sat in the sweltering heat, and shortly thereafter received my degree, a BA in Philosophy.

In the weeks leading up to graduation, there was a little excitement but mostly indifference. I don't think I really had the time or energy to be excited. I finally submitted my thesis on April 6th and defended it two days later. It was about 23 pages long and it took everything I had to complete it. It's still not fully complete because I need to do a few revisions but nothing major that would hold up my grade. I passed the oral defense which was actually my senior comprehensive exam and the paper itself with an A. What a relief right, not really, no time to enjoy it because all my grades were due by April 22nd, so I had about 2 weeks to complete 7 papers and 3 exams. Although sometimes it really felt overwhelming, apparently, it wasn't too too much to handle because I finished the semester with a 4.0 and graduated college with a 3.79 cumulative. So now I have alumni status.

In the past three weeks since I left school, there's still indifference and not much excitement. My plan is to take a year off before I head to grad school for architecture. Back to architecture, how many people saw that coming. Anyway, I've been chilling in Philly trying to get used to the idea of not having to go back to school after this summer is over. Although that doesn't mean I won't be working and keeping up with my studies. I have time now to return to things I love that I couldn't do in between my reading and writing major. I've been reunited with my art supplies. I'm spending this summer and year off working on my portfolio and trying to knock the rust off my old tools. This should bring a lot of peace to my soul compared to the stress of all that writing. I'm looking forward to it.

April Beauties

This weekend, I had a blast with my friends. We're always together during the week and the weekend, but this weekend something was different. Our usual weekend routine consists of going to the mall or to the movies and follow that up with dinner out or chilling at the crib playing wii or board games. Sometimes we mix it up and go to a play or musical and really enjoy the change of scenery.

This weekend was one of those times we did a total change of scenery. For the first time in a while the weather was beautiful and really accommodating to enjoying the outdoors. It definitely made lose focus whenever I was indoors, hindering my work efforts. So instead of being cramped up inside, we went outside Friday thru Sunday and enjoyed the weather.

We went to see the Cherry Blossoms a few times, we walked around Georgetown, and we sat outside on the restaurants' terraces and had go food and conversation. (We played laser tag and went to the movies too, but that doesn't count because it was inside.)

My friends are the greatest, this weekend wouldn't have been the same without them. Here are some April beauties we captured together.

Beautiful Tulips


Beautiful Butterfly and Blossoms


Beautiful Friends

Wanderlust

My wanderlust is beginning to get the best of me. Everyday I dream about being somewhere else, traveling the world and documenting it with my pen and trusty camera. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel I'm in now; however, I'm stuck in traffic and time is moving ever so slowly. I can't help but wonder, "Will I ever get out?" I see those emergency exit doors every ten feet offering me a chance to escape and begin my travels now, skipping this impeding traffic. I could hop out and abandon my vehicle, but what's the point when I'm so close to the exit? I might as well suck it up, scoot along, and continue to daydream about my destination after I exit this tunnel.

Dare to Dream

I want my escape from reality to become my reality, my possibilities to become my present actualities, my dreams to become my truth.

I have a plan.

I have so much to learn :-)

New Ventures

I think I want to start a new blog/website that isn't so personal. It would have a theme and more of a focus than this one. I acknowledge the fact that most of my posting here is random, but that can be excused somewhat because of the nature of this blog. Most of what I say is kind of irrelevant to the general public because I'm just talking about how I feel and what's going on in my life at the moment and not discussing something outside of my inner circle. For that reason I want to do something new while still maintaining this here glimpse into my world. I hope I have something meaningful to add to the interwebs. I'm thinking about maybe a sketch and photoblog where I capture the world around me and share why I think its beautiful. It would be kind of like finding beauty in everyday life, in ordinary things. What do you think? Any suggestions?