The Lists that Govern my Life

Random Human: "So what is it you do again? Just keep learning German?" Me: "No, I already speak German. It's more like a study and analysis of LITERATUREPOLITICSPHILOSOPHYHISTORYCULTURETHEORY from the German-speaking peoples of this lovely world." Random Human: "....so what is it you do again?" Me: "I read a million books and write things. Oh and I make German puns like no one's business." Grad school is a strange place (potentially located in the fourth dimension) and I've come to realize that since I didn't actually know what Germanic Studies would entail when I applied to programs ( I know, I'm the worst. Insert public derision by other academics here ), most normal people probably don't know what the field "Germanic Studies" entails. Surprise: it's lots of things. The most general of categories are either  literature/culture and  linguistics within a language/area field. And I'm defini...

Once upon a time, a friend who loves puns as much as I do (I know, you didn't know this person existed) asked if I wanted to put on signs that said " LIFE " and hand out lemons and limes on BYU's campus. This was after I said we should catch ducks and go give " INTRODUCKTIONS " to strangers, so since clearly his plan violated fewer animal rights, we went with that one. For the most part, it was a great success and we felt good about life and people giggled and asked if they could take pictures of us and yeah basically this is something that is only acceptable on a college campus or in a Buzzfeed article. But here's the thing: people were delighted to receive citrusy fruits from us only because we didn't pelt them with 487 lemons and scream " BET YOU CAN'T MAKE THAT MUCH LEMONADE!! " Okay, that was too broad of statement. They were enchanted with our practical application of word play AND we caused them no harm by throwing ...

I was diagnosed with OCD ( Obsessive Christmas Disorder ) when I was a junior in high school, but I guess it started sooner than that.  In love. When I made my friends take a fake family Christmas photo. I remember going shopping with my mom not because I particularly liked buying things, but because December always offered beautiful Christmas displays and let's not forget the magic  holiday patterns  that fabric stores flaunted . I made my little brother sleep under the Christmas tree with me weeks before Christmas day just because the lights were oh-so-lovely. Making gifts for friends and family filled most of my spare time outside of homework and school. The skirt that started it all, circa 2008 And then came the skirts .  I think I sewed my first Christmas skirt when I was a freshman in high school. It was black with candy canes and I wore it on Black Friday and maybe two others time...

I am a very diligent journal keeper. Journaling and running usually keep me from bouncing around like a crazy cat lady who actually owns no cats. My past self always seems wiser than my present self--even though I'm pretty sure that I was an even dumber 23-year-old than I am a 25-year-old. But that doesn't mean 23-year-old, 21-year-old, and even selfish 17-year-old me couldn't write some profound things. This week's wisdom comes from April 2016 Claire. This Claire had red and blonde hair and was still working on getting over a hard breakup and only had a semester left of school but was doing pretty well all things considered ( read: about to burst into unprovoked tears of sentiment/nostalgia/healing/hurt at any moment but not as neurotic as Claire from March 2016 so we're on the up and up ).   In the midst of this healing, this Claire wrote about some concerns/worries/anxieties about the future. Because the future was a dark, scary place where she ...

I have come to the realization that I can be  creative to a fault.  In regard to human interactions that is.  Okay and pretty much every other kind of interaction (which includes...me interacting with kitchen appliances? Thought TBC) My expressions of  love, empathy, interest,  and  care  often show themselves a bit  eccentrically , but they are essentially representations of my feelings and thus of me.  I've never been a fan of "normal" ( because what does that even mean anyways? ) and I end up  adoring  people for their  quirks  and  oddities  because if we can't love others ourselves for those things, how individual can our love be? So this is me embracing my creativity--that talent that simultaneously confuses and amuses people (at least in theory). Let's look at some examples of "gifts" and and other "things" I have oh-so-creatively thought would make people smile in the past: ...