It's Friday! I wish I could express fully how stoked off life I am right now...and maybe that's the double shot caramel soy latte I had before class that's talking, but my neighbors are playing some cool music that is making me all the more enthused. I wanna get up and dance.
Here's a quick bit about my day, and then I'm off to eat delicious organic salad with a really wonderful person.
I just had a fantastic Core class discussion out on the Stevenson knoll in the sun about Gandhi, his letter to Hitler, and Nietzsche. After the discussion, my instructor Mr. Schafer asked us all to take a moment to be grateful for the beautiful view and the fact that we go to UCSC. Shouts of joy rose into the sky from our circle.
After class, myself and three other students wandered around Cowell and Stevenson colleges with Mr. Schafer, talking about inspiring books and learning a little bit about one another. I talked about the wonders of Thoreau's Walden and mentioned how Thoreau takes a chapter to describe an ant battle and how I wish I had the free time to observe life in such detail. One student mentioned that she's reading The Grapes of Wrath. I got really excited and told her to look for Biblical allusions, and then revealed the book nerd in me and told them how I wrote a research paper on the book in high school. But really, how could you not love Steinbeck? Inspiring book of your life topic came up. Of course I said Into the Wild. Mr. Schafer told us that he decided to start a new life in California after reading Into the Wild and subsequently reading Call of the Wild. I already thought Mr. Schafer was an awesomely enthusiastic teacher, but now that I know he was inspired by Into the Wild, I cannot wait to have more discussions with him. I am definitely going to ask for some book recommendations from him and I plan on wandering around campus with him on Fridays in the future. He calls it "Grove of Academia" and it's a chance to walk and talk about our thoughts, either thoughts on what we're talking about in class or about what's happening in our lives in general. This is the first time I've gone, and it definitely brightened my day. I love talking about books. Other titles and authors that were discussed: The Great Gatsby, Eat, Pray, Love, Vonnegut, and The Year of Magical Thinking. There were others that I wish I'd written down in the Moleskine notebook Mr. Schafer gave me. He has on many occasions in class pulled out his Moleskine to share something he'd written down in it. I sometimes carry a notebook and write down poems or little thoughts, but the notebook that Mr. Schafer uses fits into the pocket on your jeans which my notebooks don't do, so I'm really glad and full of thanks that he gave me his extra notebook. It's small, paperback, red, and simple and I cannot WAIT to fill it with thoughts. Ok enough writing about my day. I have to go live it, and I should probably go to the dining hall now...
Life is pretty rewarding today. I see meaning, I am inspired to read more authors, I am inspired to reread and explore deeper the books I have read, I am looking forward to spending some time with my friend M tomorrow at a cafe downtown, I'm hiking all morning tomorrow with some fun people, and life just keeps on being beautiful. Plus, it's sunny and January and I live in Santa Cruz. Basically couldn't ask for anything more right now.
:-D
I'll try to post more often. If I don't, it just means I'm living too fully to take time to write it down ;)
-- Green Gal
Here's a quick bit about my day, and then I'm off to eat delicious organic salad with a really wonderful person.
I just had a fantastic Core class discussion out on the Stevenson knoll in the sun about Gandhi, his letter to Hitler, and Nietzsche. After the discussion, my instructor Mr. Schafer asked us all to take a moment to be grateful for the beautiful view and the fact that we go to UCSC. Shouts of joy rose into the sky from our circle.
After class, myself and three other students wandered around Cowell and Stevenson colleges with Mr. Schafer, talking about inspiring books and learning a little bit about one another. I talked about the wonders of Thoreau's Walden and mentioned how Thoreau takes a chapter to describe an ant battle and how I wish I had the free time to observe life in such detail. One student mentioned that she's reading The Grapes of Wrath. I got really excited and told her to look for Biblical allusions, and then revealed the book nerd in me and told them how I wrote a research paper on the book in high school. But really, how could you not love Steinbeck? Inspiring book of your life topic came up. Of course I said Into the Wild. Mr. Schafer told us that he decided to start a new life in California after reading Into the Wild and subsequently reading Call of the Wild. I already thought Mr. Schafer was an awesomely enthusiastic teacher, but now that I know he was inspired by Into the Wild, I cannot wait to have more discussions with him. I am definitely going to ask for some book recommendations from him and I plan on wandering around campus with him on Fridays in the future. He calls it "Grove of Academia" and it's a chance to walk and talk about our thoughts, either thoughts on what we're talking about in class or about what's happening in our lives in general. This is the first time I've gone, and it definitely brightened my day. I love talking about books. Other titles and authors that were discussed: The Great Gatsby, Eat, Pray, Love, Vonnegut, and The Year of Magical Thinking. There were others that I wish I'd written down in the Moleskine notebook Mr. Schafer gave me. He has on many occasions in class pulled out his Moleskine to share something he'd written down in it. I sometimes carry a notebook and write down poems or little thoughts, but the notebook that Mr. Schafer uses fits into the pocket on your jeans which my notebooks don't do, so I'm really glad and full of thanks that he gave me his extra notebook. It's small, paperback, red, and simple and I cannot WAIT to fill it with thoughts. Ok enough writing about my day. I have to go live it, and I should probably go to the dining hall now...
Life is pretty rewarding today. I see meaning, I am inspired to read more authors, I am inspired to reread and explore deeper the books I have read, I am looking forward to spending some time with my friend M tomorrow at a cafe downtown, I'm hiking all morning tomorrow with some fun people, and life just keeps on being beautiful. Plus, it's sunny and January and I live in Santa Cruz. Basically couldn't ask for anything more right now.
:-D
I'll try to post more often. If I don't, it just means I'm living too fully to take time to write it down ;)
-- Green Gal
Thank you for stopping by and visiting me! I feel so honored that you are "following" me, especially since yours was the first blog I found and I found many others that I now follow from your list! They are all so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are feeling so inspired...That's such an awesome feeling! I hope you enjoyed your hike. I also went hiking on Saturday and it always seems to renew my spirit and give me a fresh perspective on life.
I really look forward to getting to know you better through your lovely blog. Wishing you a wonderful week filled with laughter, smiles, and even more inspiration! Blessings to you :)
~Jennifer