hello there,
it's been a while (does anyone who reads my blog watch Brooklyn Nine Nine? You know whenever someone says something unrelated and Jake responds by saying "the name of Amy's sex tape", that's what I think of every time I start one of my blogs with "it's been a while", because we all know this blog ain't seeing a whole lot of action (inappropriate joke, i know, i'll see myself out)(i'm going to hear about this)).
So...
"Maren, do you still have a blog?"
"Maren, you haven't blogged in a while"
"Maren, why don't you blog anymore?"
These are things I have been hearing lately. It is quite nice to know what people take note when my blog has been quiet. I see you 5 viewers and I hear your cries. I am back. For how long, well, with me we all know that's a crap shoot. My ability to produce blog posts is, to say the least, not. I have no ability in the art of blogging. My abilities include getting distracted, procrastinating and binge watching Lie to Me on Netflix (spoil alert, the show got cancelled well before it's time, which results in a terrible ending, and me going through harsh withdrawal symptoms). To be honest, I've been struggling with ideas about what to write about. Every time I sit down at my laptop and pull up a blank post my eyes glaze over and I essentially become unable to form coherent thoughts, let alone sentences. Very encouraging position to be in for a student studying media communication and journalism.
Speaking of being a student, that is something I've been attempting to do a lot of lating. Studenting. Also, emphasis on attempting. A synonym for failing (in this context). Not literally failing, I like to think I scrape by enough to well avoid an actual fail. However, I am currently doing online courses which is code for I have an excuse for only working three days a week but the truth is I do everything and anything to avoid actually doing any school work, so really I'm just a part time youth worker, full time avoider of all things academic related, wannabe university drop out. That's the actual description on my resume, which you might think is unprofessional, but I'm getting a degree in Sociology and Media & Communication, so it's not like I'll actually be able to find a job to hand a resume out too anyway, so I can say whatever I want to on my resume. Solid life choices Maren. You know when you're talking to teenagers as they experiment with their independence and you say "make good choices", as though by saying that you're in any such way going to positively influence their lives, well, they should say that to you when you're picking your major at university. "Make good choices" (basically, don't study the social sciences cause that's not actually a job). Yet 4 years a university under my belt, and here I am; Reading about the incestuous relationships among the Nayar people of India in my brand new study nook that I thought would inspire me and fuel my desire for further knowledge, when all it did was become a foundation for piles of abandoned papers and research articles I am supposed to read but by no means plan on it because as soon as a syllabus says "No Final Exam" you can bet on it that I'm thinking "Apply Minimal Effort". But! On the plus side, my new desk has a succulent on it, in this cute little studded milk glass that my dad arranged for me (he's nice like that). What I didn't realize though, was that my succulent would grow. I kind of, for some naive and dumb reason, thought they stayed cute and adorable and little, regardless of the fact that it's a plant and it's doing exactly what plants are designed to do, which is grow. It would be nice to apply it to some sappy metaphor, like how it's growing as I grow my overall understanding of our social world, but if that were the case, my succulent would be very dead, because all I've learned so far is that Nayar women have multiple husbands, which I find mind blowing because I can't seem to find one. Clearly, they know something I don't (it's probably that guys find blogs a turn off and that blogging about the love lives of women in tribal communities is the worst form of blogging).
Anyways, the point of this blog post was to fill all you anxious folks in with the recent happenings of my ever so exciting life. Please, refrain from jealousy, you too can own your own succulent and pretend to be intellectually stimulated while you sit at a desk designed to promote focus and learning that does neither of those things. But in sum, my days are currently filled with a mixture of guilt and freedom as I revel in the fact I don't actually have to go to school and have four days off each week to do as I please however the immense guilt comes in knowing that every moment I'm not actually doing the school work, I do in fact have to do, is another moment that education is creeping in to my summer and my "free time" is actually not free time, I'm just choosing to occupy time with activities that allow me to avoid school work.
Needless to say, I was well due for a blog post, and I apologize that this is what you were stuck with...
So if you have any tips for motivating people that hate being inside and sitting still to do their homework, I am all ears (also, I have tried doing homework outside in the sun, it was FANTASTIC, I managed to nap and get an solid sun burn that will DEFINITELY be turning into an awesome tan any day now). I'm also going to start posting a few of the adventure days I had in May and if you have any awesome day trips or local venues that you think I should check out and blog about and photograph let me know, I'm excited to use my "freedom" for trying and seeing new things!
-mo
