One Year (plus a few weeks)

Can you believe it? It's been over a year since I've started this experiment in vegetarianism. I haven't faltered at all, either. It has ceased to be something foreign and new to me, and has become so natural that the reasons for which I started this have no meaning anymore, really. People still ask why I've done it, and I respond "discipline, primarily, but there are also environmental factors", but in truth, they don't even matter anymore. I am a vegetarian because I don't eat meat. I love it, and it's become part of my identity. I may go back to eating meat eventually, but I don't see it happening in the near future. If I can live at home for a month and not be tempted (no mean feat, I tell you), then it doesn't even register as part of a normal diet for me anymore. This, coming from a girl who used to LOVE meat, and started this planning on it lasting only the summer! I'm pretty surprised it was as easy and natural as it was, and is. But, as it is so fun and easy for me, I'm pretty certain the only way I'll go back to eating meat is on a whim. I don't think anything else will make me. Go vegetarianism!

EDIT:

Zavo asked me two interesting questions I thought I'd share the answers to. First, I honestly don't remember the last meat meal I ate. I know it was a special one, because I consciously chose to become vegetarian, and decided to on a Monday. I had been thinking about making the change for a few months at this point, and thought it would be easiest to start after moving to my summer place, with classes over and most of the stressers in my life gone. I want to say it was lamb curry, but who knows!

And since I don't know when I'll want to start eating meat again, I don't know what my first meat meal will be. An educated guess might be chicken wings or a cheeseburger, because those are the things I miss most. Go figure, right?

Commencement 08

Pictures courtesy of my uncle.



I finally (well, not really finally, because it came all too soon) graduated from Carnegie Mellon last Sunday. Even only a week later it feels like ages ago. The ceremony itself was incredibly well done, and the best I've witnessed yet. I was fortunate for it to be mine. Al Gore gave a great speech for our keynote address, but it was the surprise visit of Randy Pausch, finishing the Charge to the Graduates, at the end of the ceremony that made it immeasurably special:

Do I?

Do I have the courage to make myself vulnerable? Can I take the risk of exposing my inner thoughts and feelings to another, or dive into uncharted territory? Today at least, I think I proved not. Let's see if I can find it tomorrow.

Procrastination

No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to find the will to do my work. These are the only two days of the week I actually have deadlines, and I can't seem to make them. What is wrong with me??!! Perhaps it's the gorgeous weather.... or the fact that I'm a senior graduating in less than two weeks (grad school notwithstanding).... or the wonder that is Hulu. Whatever the reason, instead of doing my work I'm doing everything but. Hence why I'm writing for my blog, and not my ten-page paper, the rough draft of which is due today, or studying for my last final, which is tomorrow.

I think I'm just ready to be done, though the fact that I can't seem to do work consistently has me worried that I won't transition into the working world well. I haven't worked a true full-time job in several years, and I'm worried I won't be able to focus to do it right. I feel like it's gotten worse as I've gotten older; I used to be able to dive in and spend six hours studying. I actually remember working on Fridays and Saturdays, which I've refused to do since sophomore year. My hope is that it's just a disillusionment with college and college work, and that next year I'll be revitalized to make the final push to finish it, and the transition to a job will motivate me more. Will I really be able to go to a job, though, work 40-hour weeks month after month, with no change and fewer vacations to punctuate the passage of time? I guess I'll have to find out, but I'm very afraid of failing.

Yesterday was my last Soundbytes rehearsal ever. It felt anti-climactic, to be honest. It hasn't quite sunk in yet that I won't be singing with them anymore (or singing and performing consistently, woah). It'll be the first time since I was 13 that I won't be in a singing group of some kind, and it's not likely I'll join one for at least another year. Crazy thought. The transition has begun, and I'm more ready to let go than I thought I would be at this juncture (though part of that is because it was forced on me, I think). Still, it's really hard, and it will be a change for all of us, regardless of if that registers on them yet or not.

This has been a really random post, and you can probably see why it's been so hard for me to write my paper! I'm so ready to let go of all this pent-up anxiety over a ton of things, both conscious and subconscious.

New House is to be named!

I received an email last night that New House, the newest dormitory on campus, will actually have a name other than "New". While it hasn't been revealed, people are starting to wonder what it will be. The most interesting suggestion I've heard so far is Gore House, for Al Gore. He's this year's commencement speaker (très passionnant) and so it's possible for the announcement to coincide with his speech. I suppose it's fitting, given it was the first LEED-certified dormitory in the country and he is such an environmental activist. However, he really has no other affiliations to the university, so I find it odd that he would donate that much money for his name on a building at a college to which he has no connections.

Anyhoo, keep a lookout for that announcement. It will be weird to have New House under a different name. I lived there three years ago, and to all who lived there it will forever be just New House. And to think, the Orientation Leaders and Counselors will have to come up with all new cheers for the building.... ^_^