My first day of graduate school...my first day at the University of Kansas.
At 8:45 this morning I locked the door to my apartment and turned on my iPod. The Beatles' "new" Love album was my soundtrack of choice. To the tune of "Get Back" I embarked on my journey.
At 9:00 this morning I was cursing the sun with every sweaty bone in my body. My water bottle was half gone and I was only half way to class. Sunburn was imminent.
At 9:20 I arrived at Smith Hall, my home for the next 2 years, drenched in sweat and excited to start my Religious Perspectives on War and Peace class.
At 10:30 my professor had already dropped the "n" word, I'd met 20 great students who I look forward discussing the course matter with, and my four hours of sleep was catching up with me.
At 10:50 I strolled out the door of the beautiful icebox that is Smith and met Gabriel and we proceeded to walk back towards my apartment as I stripped down to my tank-top on the way. It was too damn hot.
At 8:45 this evening, 12 hours later, with a successful Pier 1 shift almost behind me I sat in an "Easy Rattan Chair" facing the window watching a gorgeous storm roll in to Lawrence as the rain poured down. Life is beautiful.
8 comments:
So... that building is my favorite building on KU's campus. Whenever I used to drive through campus, I would stop to see the stained glass and Moses. It sounds like the class is going to be interesting! Aside from the heat, it seems like you had a good first day! :)
Life is indeed beautiful, I came to that conclusion again today as I have done so almost every day for the past several years. That lightning was pretty amazing.
Your new color scheme is pretty beautiful too. :)
Does your Pier ! sell woks and stir-fry sauces? I wish I had gotten into that when I was in grad school. So healthy, easy to do, and one pan, one dish clean up. But you have to like vegetables.
The first Pier 1 I ever walked into was in San Francisco, 1967. Love was in the air. And we had this new kind of store with all kinds of cool stuff from Asia. We would hang the cheap batik cloth (bedspreads) from our cielings for an instant exotic tent effect. So funny now.
Would you happen to be aware of the iChing, Book of Changes?
Hooray for the feeling of la vita e bella.
I'm happy for you. And I can't wait to see you next, so let me know when next week! :oD
Carly- We don't sell woks or stir-fry sauces, though currently we have some great salsas and bread mixes. A wok is on my list of things to buy for my bachelorette pad because I love stir-fry and you're right about how easy and healthy it is.
My knowledge of the iChing is limited...for a long time I thought (like most Westerners) that it was simply some sort of fortune telling system. I know it's more than that, but I have yet to encounter it in my studies.
You make trek from Smith to KU every day? And you WALK? Wow. :P
L:I thought to ask, because you are into interconnectedness and nature which are the basis of the Book of Changes, more comprehensively than any other philosophy.
The iChing is probably not what you heard. The oldest religious manuscript in China, written by mystics three thousand years before Christ and based on mathematics. Contributed to by Lao Tzu, Confucius, and dozens of other serious scholars, it is the basis of Chinese wisdom. It just happens that they constructed it to be learned in bite size pieces, in synchronisity with events, which was a favorite idea of Carl Jung. He also wrote the introduction to the best translation.
Keep it in a pocket. Perhaps when you are ready......ask me any questions. artsockeye@aol.com
Lindsey! I was catching up on some of my reading, and I saw the Buddha Diaries' review of your blog! It was so great! Congratulations-- every word was true!
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