I thought this semester would be my most laid back yet. I'm only taking 16 hours, 6 of which are just introductory classes that I'm doing for fun. I didn't commit to too many extra-curriculars, so that I'd have plenty of free time to absorb the onset of Senioritis. And yet, my schedule is filling up faster than ever before. Each day in my planner is a mass of black, pink, purple and blue things I need to remember to do. It's crazy.

On top of that, I've been having trouble sleeping. I don't know why, I've never had it before. It only just started at the end of last semester. "Ah ha!" you think, "you are certainly feeling the effects of subliminal worries about Life After College." But it's not true! I'm actually at the point where I'm very excited to graduate and go travel for a while and see what's out there, job and grad-school-wise. Additionally, I have been very honest with myself about the worries that I do have. Plus, it's not like I can't go to sleep because I'm up worrying about something. I just can't get to sleep. And then when I finally do, I wake up way before I have to and can't fall asleep again. I don't know why this is happening, but it needs to stop. I have a lot to get done, and I need to be well rested to do it.

Posted by Daphne Karpel at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OMG! It's my last semester of undergrad! That's so weird. My classes this semester are:

1) Popular Culture in Early Modern England
2) The New Testament
3) French
4) Capstone Seminar (for my Communication major)
5) Magazines in America

So far they all seem pretty good. But I have to admit that a lot of my focus right now is going towards preparing for Life After Graduation.

Anyway, yesterday my roommate, Catelyn and I went to this really cool glassblowing studio called Dragonfire. Here are some pictures from the demo:

Oh that? Um, that's just MOLTEN GLASS being twisted around a piece of slightly less molten glass. Let's take a closer look.

See?

The best part was watching them make a conch shell. It was beautiful and amazingly realistic. I didn't get a good picture of the final result of this one, but here's another that was made earlier:

So that was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

I would like to close this entry with a quote from my former roommate, Stacey, who I am chatting with online at the moment. Stacey is a year older than me and currently in law school, and therefore full of sagely wisdom. I was freaking out to her about how/when/what to do after I graduate. "Travel? Job? Grad school eventually? I'd love to travel, but I'd need money, which I can only get from working. (Or, I guess, robbing a bank?) But if I really want to travel for a long period of time (months), then I should do it before I get a job. Or maybe just get a temp job for a few months to save up and then go to travel? And then get a real job? What should I do?" I went on like this for a while, and then Stacey said:

"Well, I don't know, life isn't a formula. You can do it anyway you want."

Which made me stop and reconsider everything. I think I had been operating on the assumption that there was a single Right Way to go about planning everything after graduation, and that it was up to me to figure this way out. But it doesn't work like that.

Back to homework! Although there's an adaption of Northanger Abbey on TV right now...

Posted by Daphne Karpel at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spent all of last summer interning in Los Angeles, so I haven't seen many of my high school friends since this time last year. It was so fun to see everyone again!

I actually saw Jackie (second on the left) this summer, because she was interning in LA as well! But for the most part, seeing high school friends during college breaks go something like this:

"Eeee!!!!!!!!!!!" *hug* "Oh my god!!! You changed your hair!"
"Hi!!!" *hug "I know! I just went crazy one day"
"I like it!"
"After the boy and I broke up I just needed a change"
"You broke up? Why didn't you call me?"
"You were in Israel!"
"Oh right..."

(note: this is only a sample conversation, it didn't actually happen)

Keeping in touch with high school friends takes more effort when you're in college. You actually have to plan all your get-togethers, instead of being able to count on seeing each other everyday in school. But it is definitely worth the effort, unless you didn't actually like your high school friends.

Here we are at an alumni function held by our (former!) high school last week. All the current students looked so little! It was very weird.

And then I spent the rest of my time watching TV with my cat.

Well, not all of it. I also did some important things, which include:

- putting up the Christmas lights all by myself! (go me!)

- mastering two new recipes: a Basque chicken dish and a very complicated Waldorf-type salad. I also tried out a Jambalaya recipe, but managed to completely mess it up for reasons that are too stupid to admit.

- arranging and conducting informational interviews with people in the Bay Area publishing industry. I did two over this break and sceduled a few more for Spring Break. I highly recommend doing as many informational interviews as possible with people in industries you are interested in. They are a great way to gain insight and help prepare for getting a job after college, and deciding when or whether or not to go to grad school.

Posted by Daphne Karpel at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)