"Originality is the art of concealing your sources."

Words. They have always amazed me. When I was younger, if I was lacking in reading material I would read cereal boxes, the Sunday comics, or even something from my dad's bookshelf until I obtained more books. I have been writing ever since I can remember, and have always been fascinated with the study of Literature. I write down quotes from song lyrics, movies, television shows, and books. I have a table covered in them, more hanging on my wall, and even more in notebooks. So today, a list of a few from the past few years.

"Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." -C.S. Lewis

"If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can't know better until knowing better is useless." -John Green from Looking for Alaska


"The imagination is not a state; it is the human existence itself" -William Blake

"But there is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power." -Alan Paton from Cry, the Beloved Country


"You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness." -Jonathan Safran Foer from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


"When did we see eachother face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out." -John Green from Paper Towns


I could add so many more, but I will leave it at this. Read, and find your own quotes to inspire you and make you think a little more than usual.
Night,
Becks

"Smile! It irritates people."

I can't tell you if it's the weather, or the fact that WinCon 2011 was amazing, or maybe the grass is getting a little greener on the quad. But something has me walking around campus with this goofy grin that I can't seem to wipe off. Sometimes I realize I'm smiling and start laughing, thinking about how silly I probably look, but it doesn't matter! I am loving every minute of it. So, for now, a few things that have made me smile in the past few days...

Good music. On the drive home from Winter Conference, my car-buddies and I constantly alternated ipods, picking random songs. It started with a theme of songs that make you want to cry, went through an oldies stage at some point, and even had a segment devoted to Usher. Needless to say, it was FANTASTIC!

Nature. While at WinCon, the weather was nothing less than perfect for hiking. We walked around behind the waterfall, and that is one of the greatest places to be. Very awe inspiring.

Literature. Right now in my American Lit class we are talking about Modernism. I smile at the thought of reading new (to me) short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, two of my favorite authors.

Popsicles. No explanation should be necessary, but I'll tell you I ate my first popsicle of the year while walking to the quad this afternoon with a dear friend of mine with the prospect of a glorious hour in the sun on my mind. Life doesn't get much better.

Relaxation. Now this hasn't happened yet, so who knows if I will get any rest, but I am looking forward to getting everything I can out of my first weekend in Tuscaloosa in over a month! I have been out of town for some great adventures, but I am ready to see what my current home has to offer this season.

Now, go find something to make you smile,
Becks

And Now for Your Feature Presentation

Growing up, I didn't watch very many movies. When I got to high school, I felt behind on all the good ones and I've been catching up ever since. I have made many lists of movies I need to watch soon, though I have never made it through any of these lists. But I made a new one on the way to RUF Winter Conference this weekend (which was an incredible weekend by the way!!) and I am determined to actually make it through this one... and here it is.

-Brick
-Pie
-Teen Girl Squad
-Science of Sleep
-The Royal Tenenbaums
-The Godfather
-Memento
-Lost in Translation
-There Will Be Blood
-The Shining
-Reservoir Dogs

Hopefully I'll be successful.. but we'll see about that!

Here Comes the Bride

I spent this past weekend in Destin, FL for my cousin's wedding. Needless to say, I absolutely LOVED getting to spend time with my family. It is a rare occasion that we get to spend time with our cousins, and they are pretty amazing people, so it was great to catch up with them and enjoy Sarah and Brian's special day! At the same time, my sister is engaged so I seem to be surrounded by wedding plans. While I am most definitely not one of those girls who has a binder full of ripped-out magazine pages of wedding ideas, I have thought about a few things recently. My main concern is the music. Music can make or break a reception, and I've been to a few that weren't so fun because the playlist was trashed at the last minute. The music this weekend was perfect, and it made me think, what will I want played at my wedding? So here it goes, a short list of songs that will for certain make it onto my wedding reception playlist.

"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the Darkness
"Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley
"Amor" by Ben E. King
"You Make My Dreams" by Hall + Oates

I realize this list is short, but it's not like I actually need to know this anytime soon, it's just fun to think about! Maybe more to come as Abby's wedding approaches.

Much love,
Becks

Procrastination.

Right now, I have a copy of Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences sitting beside me, with a stack of notebook paper covered in words I do not fully understand. Currently, as you can tell, I am ignoring these ever present reminders of what awaits me in the morning. That's right, the first test. I am fear-stricken at the thought. Somehow, no matter how many first tests I take, I never seem to get over my nightmare that I will show up and be blown away by the complexity of the questions. Or maybe I will have studied the wrong material. Either way, it is never as bad as I imagine it will be. But I still sit here terrified. To lighten the mood, I'll put up a list of firsts that may also be scary, but end with much more bliss than a potential A+.

Your first bike ride. You remember. Being young, someone took you outside and removed the training wheels. Your heart skipped a few beats as you sat down. They held onto the seat like your own personal safety net, then all of a sudden you were flying! Yes, you may have fallen down and scraped your knee a few times, but you also had a first moment of independence.

Your first drive. You're in the driver's seat, with excitement pulsing through your veins. Ok, so your mom is in the passenger seat, but YOU are the one with the steering wheel in your hands and the pedals underneath your feet. If you were like me, you may have been overconfident in your abilities, but either way, you begin to control a vehicle that is capable of so much more than you alone. You are holding something very powerful, and it makes you feel free.

Your first night at college. Maybe you sat in your dorm with your awkward roommate whom you'd never met, and hoped they enjoyed the tv show you were playing on repeat. Maybe you went to some crazy party and saw things you never thought would happen. Maybe you broke some rules, maybe you even got in trouble, but for the first time you were the one making all the decisions.

I don't know why this ended up feeling like a "rights of passage" list, but I guess many of our firsts are things that we see as exciting when we receive them, and only later do we realize the responsibility we have just been handed. But for those first few moments, you feel invincible.

Off to study,
Becks

Caffeine Injection, Anyone?

While I enjoy the aroma of coffee brewing in the morning, I must not lie and say that I solely drink my cup of joe for its delicious hazelnutty flavor. Without my morning (and often afternoon as well) dose of caffeine, I do believe I would be back in bed by six or seven every night. Lately, I've  felt as if I would instantly fall back into a deep slumber if I let my eyes shut, even after my usual two cups. So, even the strongest of brews cannot overcome a complete lack of sleep. Over time, the body will take over and ignore the chemicals we try to control it with. For now, I will leave you a list of good reasons to go without sleep. Although I do recommend a day or two of recovery for every sleepless night.

Climbing the silo. If you don't know what this means, either you have never lived in Tuscaloosa or you just didn't know the right people when you did. I won't try to fully explain this statement, just know you are missing out on an interesting climb and a great view of the city.

Riding bikes before sunrise. In my formative years, I broke the occasional rule or two (sorry Mom!), and one night my friend and I were both still awake at four in the morning, with no signs of sleepiness. So what did we do? Naturally we rode bikes around the neighborhood for an hour or so. Though this may sound boring or silly, there is nothing better than the feeling that no one else is outside. It's like you have the whole world to yourself.

Watching the sunrise. Ok, so I've never stayed up with the intention of seeing the sun's rays peek up from the horizon. But I have unintentionally been up until that magical hour, when the whole world seems to go from black to misty gray to different shades of pastels until finally it looks like daytime. You may think, why bother with the late night when I could just watch a sunset? Well, my friend, then you are sadly mistake because the two look drastically different and watching the world light up can change the way you see it every day.

Conversation. You know those people you feel like you could talk to all day and still not run out of things to say? Well they are the best company on late night adventures, but no adventure is necessary to have a great conversation that keeps you out of bed. I can't even begin to count the number of times the B.R.E. and I have stayed up much later than we intended just because we were engrossed in a new song we heard or something we had learned that day or maybe we were just laughing at our own weirdness. It's these moments we won't forget when we've lost all recollection of that 8 a.m. lit class.

Off to find some much needed slumber,
Becks