Boop.

Recovery of self,

mind,

and body.

I finally feel fantastic and ready to take on the world with all that I’ve got.  I feel whole and humble.  Life is such a wonderful moment and I’ve had so many great experiences; this summer especially.  It’s like stepping through the door after a long trip with the realization: I’m home.  A sigh of relief- A steady heart beat.

Things happen when you least expect it.  Almost nothing goes as planned- I love that.  I try not to rely on plans to heavily, everything will work itself out in some way or form.  I’m constantly learning the meaning of patience.  I know it’s not perfect yet, but I dont need perfection to be happy.

It’s been a hell of a year.  So many things have gone down, I can’t even begin to explain so I wont.

Lets start new and focus on the here and now.  School is out for the summer and I’m ready for sunshine all of the time.  There’s many things to do upcoming weeks, like clean my room that seems to be cluttered with things that are not mine, and get ready for my internship, and hang out with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and hang out with friends I just saw last week…tough life, I know.

I feel like karma is on my side, finally, after a bumpy year of ups and downs… things are finally calming down and settling in.  I love my new school and new friends, everyone I have met this year has been unbelievably amazing and inspiring.  I tested my limits.  If I failed, I learned from my mistakes.  It’s been a year of awesome learning experiences, friends, and drinking.  I’m so excited to see what the summer has to offer… hopefully more adventures.

I love you, but the fact that you want me to write about the significance of religion in the Ancient Aegean is pretty much torture right now.

Couldn’t have you chosen a more interesting topic like, say, the evolution of pottery in the Aegean? Or the cyclopean walls? Pretty much anything else?

I’m so glad you’ve got my back.

Things are pretty fucked up, but no matter how unstable I am or you are, you’re still the support that keeps my framework in tact.

Thanks for soothing my anxious thoughts.

Thanks for the difference in point of view.

Thanks for just listening when I wanted to be heard.

Thanks for being one of my dearest friends.

A few weeks back, I sat down at a local coffee shop with some new friends.  As our conversation progressed, whilst attempting to also complete homework, the subject of the internet community Reddit came up.  We discussed it’s influence on the Rally for Sanity, Politics, Marijuana, Wikileaks… such things endorsed by the rising website.  As I turned back to my computer screen, someone mentioned something about an International Secret Santa the website was hosting.

Hm. Interesting idea.

The kind of idea you like, but you yourself would never actually participate in…right?

Right.

I didn’t really think much of it, although this group of new friends thought it was a great idea. They would all be participating.  I sat back and nodded along.

Well, as fate would have it, after about a week of prodding from my nerdy friends, they convinced me to sign up.  Okay, so what now?  Well, on November 26th, all participants were matched to someone.  My someone happened to be from Los Angeles, not too far from where one of my best friends live.  

Cool! I’m sending a gift to LA!

But what should I send? This person didn’t give me much to work with.  They didn’t like country music…or sports…but they loved video games, art, and writing.

To me, this is broad.

I brooded for about a week.

What if they don’t like it?

Eventually, I realised this person may not be so different from myself.

Writing. Art. Video games.  How can I cover all of those bases?

AHA.

I ordered my giftee a moleskin notebook.  Perfect for jotting down ideas (I was able to gather this fella was a struggling writer).

Next was a book filled with artists from the LA area- a book I have asked for this holiday season.

Third, since I didn’t know which games he may or may not play- I just gave him a 15 dollar gift card to Amazon (15 dollars covers one month of game time on WoW also).

It wasn’t much, but it was all I could give at such short notice, and with the excuse of being a poor college student.

Well, where does this story go?  Earlier today I received a notification saying my giftee had received his gift.  He then sent me this message:

I received everything today and suffice to say, it was one of the best gifts I have ever gotten. Thank you so much, you brought happy tears to my eyes. I made you this image as a token of my thanks

(accompanied by this image)

I started this thinking it would be a great way to connect with other people, and also to just participate in something on an international level.  What I didn’t expect was the reaction I received.  It made my night about ten times better, knowing this guy loved his gifts.

I hope they serve you well Chris, happy holidays.

When frats and sororities were relevant to real life? yeah… me neither.

is my moms birthday. I need to get her something….but what?

Is some snow boots & two books on Buddhism.

Since when did I become so practical?