I think I need some perspective. Just saying that, I feel like the creepy food critic in Ratatouille, but it's true. When I examine the things that I get worked up about, and compare them to the problems other people are facing, I feel super lame. How can I spend so much time worrying about finding the "perfect" college, when so many other people older than me aren't sure if they'll ever graduate high school? How can I spend five minutes with my mom debating whether or not we really need the BJ's sushi, when other people might not even eat this week? It especially hits me when I look back at past upsets, and realize how unnecessary they were. And yet I still get stuck in the same cycle of fretting over something else. Am I a worry wart? I hope not. Because being around other worry warts drives me crazy. Anyone reading this, do me a favor. Next time I start blabbing about some "issue," or "having a moment," or even nervously fidgeting, just give me a nice smack across the face. I can take it.

UB - A Diamond in the Rough?

Yesterday I visited University at Buffalo. Upon arrival at the campus, I was totally turned off. It's this enormous school of about 40,000 students, and it certainly isn't beautiful - lots of huge brick buildings and parking lots. Also, everyone was talking about how gorgeous the weather was, when it really wasn't that great - just nice as compared to the constant precipitation and low temperatures that they normally have to endure. At the dance audition, the facilities were small, most of the other dancers auditioning there were not very talented, and some of the things they asked us to do seemed kind of ridiculous (we had to improvise a dance to boogie music). Then we toured the dance department with the most boring person ever. I fell asleep during the presentation preceding the general information tour. Then, out of nowhere, things turned around! We had this incredible tour guide who had the greatest things to say about UB. His main theme was that you can make a big school small (by forming smaller communities within it), but you can't make a small school big. He is only in his third year out of high school. He already finished his Bachelor's at UB and he will have his Master's in economics by the end of this year - he has already been accepted to four law schools for the fall. Plus he swims recreationally, is on three intramural soccer teams, and is the face of the student section at all basketball games. By the end of that tour, I was pretty open-minded! Then I saw their Zodiaque Dance Company perform, and I was convinced that this school should definitely be kept in the running. They weren't the most technically proficient dancers, but they were having so much fun. I found myself not even critiquing their skill, because they performed so well. That's really rare - for a dancer like myself to be lured away from checking out other dancers' technique.
They have over 100 majors and three campuses. I love that amount of options, because I'm so indecisive about things. And oh yeah - out of state is tuition is $13,000. That means I might actually be able to afford grad school.

My inspiration for this week's post is my best friend, Emily Kauffman. Let's hope this doesn't turn out sounding too sappy. We haven't known each other forever - only about seven years. And at first, we found each other a little weird. But we got to know each other better through a mutual friend, and one day, the carpet people took over my house and I had nowhere to go, and Emily was the only friend who could take me in. We bonded over games like makeover madness and trampoline photo shoots. That was sometime in junior high, and now she's a freshman at Ithaca College.
We fight a lot. Our other friends used to joke that we were like a married couple, but they stopped after they got the picture that that simile sort of repulsed us. We don't have much in common, but I think we admire each others' differences. Emily is the perfect example of someone who loves life. She's super impulsive and unpredictable (more predictable to me, and she hates that, but still pretty unpredictable). Sometimes she gets frustrated when I take things too seriously, and sometimes I get frustrated when she won't take anything seriously, so I think we serve as each others' reality checks.
Surprisingly enough, Emily's going away to college didn't really change the nature of things. It stinks that I can't just bike over to her house anymore when I'm bored, and sometimes I just can't relate to any of her college experiences, but when she comes home, it's like we just saw each other. And whenever I feel the sting of not having her around, I just check my phone and there's usually a text waiting to make me laugh.

The ridiculousness of academia was a recurring theme in my thoughts today as I was bombarded with an especially hefty amount of information and work. I realize that this opinion is both circumstantial and biased, but that doesn't mean that there isn't some truth to it. Some of the things that we are forced to study really are applicable to our lives. This is true for some career aspirations more than others, but, for example, none of us can say that after we graduate, writing will cease to be a valuable skill. However, estimating a series of numbers in ten different ways and finding bounds on the limits of our approximations, and testing convergence and divergence of a function's series, well that is just an unnecessary headache. The benefits: perseverence, a sense of logic, a contribution to both the graphite and the notebook industries. But is it worth the sheer misery induced in so many calculus students? Another example is Death and Dying. There are some very valuable life lessons to be learned in that class, and the perspectives of different existential philosophers are certainly interesting. But why must we write and be graded on a paper about it? I guess what I'm noticing is that as we advance in school, our different studies are taking one of two directions: either they are preparing us thoroughly for our future (for example, ap physics for engineers, or foreign language for those who want to travel), or they are becoming less and less applicable to it. Now, I suppose I could just get over it, live in the moment, and try to remain interested in our lessons, no matter how much future value they hold, but sometimes, I really just don't want to care about calculus.

A Military-supported Movement

There are several factors of the current protests in Cairo and Alexandria that amaze me. First of all, it was started by the youth, particularly students. The revolutionary ideals and spunk of this age group is nothing new after the world experienced the 60s, but I can't remember the last time they united an entire nation of all age groups. This proves just how valid and noble their cause is, if the clergy, elderly, and mothers are all following in the words of these young people. Also, I am surprised at the size of the movement in comparison to the frequency of violence. Although chaos in the form of looting and destruction ensued after the fall of security police, I have yet to hear of shots being fired across enemy lines, or bombs going off in large crowds off people. This can only result from everyone being on the same side - everyone except one man. Finally, I love that the military has agreed not to use force against the protestors. They were created under the government, and yet they are putting the people before the power. I hope Mr. Mubarak bites the bullet (not literally), swallows his pride and cowardice, and steps down as president, because that is the only way this movement can end as peacefully as it started. Injustice, in this case, is intolerable to all.