Bwuaaaaaaaaaaaak

It's almost finals week and I think I just burned myself while cooking, but I was so distracted thinking about a story that I didn't notice till just now. I'm making butter chicken... and normal chicken. It's so difficult cooking for a single person. I get a pack of chicken and I have to use it all! In just a few days, because otherwise, it goes bad. So I'll be eating a lot of chicken in the next few days.

I also learned how to make sushi! In a very Jenny way. First I actually put it all on the seaweed roll, but then I just mixed it all up in a rice bowl. So, we'll call it a success. Brown rice, cucumber, cream cheese (Philly roll), and salmon. Yum.

I should be working on my story now.. I have to edit 30 pages of material for my writing portfolio by Saturday. In addition to a ton of work and schoolwork. I am Wonder Woman Jenny now. I am going to graciously set aside my school work this week in favor of finishing this grad school application.

I will hopefully finish editing my chocolate story tonight and post it on here. It has no title yet. Titles are difficult for me. Probably because I talk so much, it's hard to find just a few words. But sometimes I come up with some really good ones... So we'll see.

Non-traditional Careers

"Go to college, a university, get a real job,"
That's what they said to me
But I could never live the way they want
I'm gonna get by and just do my time, out of step while they all get in line
I'm just a minor threat so pay no mind

Do you really wanna be like them, do you really wanna be another trend?

-Good Charlotte, "Anthem"

This flashback came on my Pandora today and reminded me of the fact of me not wanting a steady job.  I see people graduating with degrees in engineering or another science and I'm like- oh yeah, you're about to make a ton of money and be set for life.

Then I look at me with my dreams of writing a book and doing social/health entrepreneurship and wonder what on earth I'm doing. I do not have a steady job lined up and with the way my dreams are, I will likely not any time soon.But these are the only things that I am truly passionate about. I want money, but I'm not passionate about that. Never have been, and hope I never will be.

A gift, a curse, who knows. I am really hoping that it turns out to be a gift. It is hard to embrace, even so. All of the uncertainty, wondering exactly how I will make enough money to live on. It's a challenge that I think about daily. But to thine own self be true. We all have gifts to share with the world and I for one will not miss out on that just because I am scared.

I'm not the only one out there facing this, nor will I be the last. Jane Goodall went to live with the chimpanzees. That's pretty non-traditional. Steve Jobs was homeless (and, I imagine, barefoot) when he was just taking a calligraphy class at Reeds, and that completely worked out for him. Entrepreneurs all over the world have done this, authors have too, as have anyone who has made differences in helping people. It's always good to have a backup plan or a way to make money of course, but those who say focus on that, I say no. If I focus on that, where will my focus be for this?

Election Year: 2008 and 2012

I was just remembering back four years ago, when I was in Chicago with all of my friends on Election night. That was the month where we watched V for Vendetta a dozen times, so I was feeling particularly strong feelings about what I wanted in the government. I had no idea if America was finally willing to break racial biases and  vote for a (half-) black man, who of course had his qualifications. I was so happy when they did. It changed so much.

Everyone went to the rally, but I was so sick I couldn't have been in the cold for so long. Asthma problems and a very bad chest cold. Anna, thankfully (:p), was sick as well. The rally would have been a blast, and most of my friends were there, celebrating history being made and being with the Obamas.

But Anna and I were on the 2nd floor of SSV-North, watching the election in the lounge, sitting on the comfy couches. Campus was empty. People were either inside studying or at the rally. We were getting high on marshmallows and laughing and taking pictures. It was a 2-person election party.

I was just thinking of some important differences between then and now in my life... Now, I'm at home and too poor to afford cable with no clue how to hook an antennae up to get tv, so I'm reading on my laptop. But I'm not less satisfied. I have a treat of a mini mint Mcflurry, a good step over the bag of marshmallows and container full of medicine I had before. I don't feel as passionately about the results (okay, there's still plenty there), because there's a 50% chance I may be living out of the country next year, and a 90% within the next 5 years. And also cause I don't agree with either of the candidates that truly have a chance. For Election Year: 2016, part of me hopes I'm in a European country somewhere and cursing out the Republican in another language.

And then I start to think of some more differences, like I was in a field wholly unsuitable for me, yet almost on the mark. I hadn't even started writing my book yet, but I had been dreaming up the characters for about a year. I felt completely peaceful because I finally had independence  I was the happiest I have ever been. But now I have a hamster and a nice boyfriend and a half-finished book and a whole lot of dreams and plans and I KNOW what I want much more than I ever did back then. I have much more control and I'm a lot less... volatile person. So.... I call these four years a success for me personally. Plus I've been to Japan and France and Canada and soon, Israel! =D And travel triumphs almost over any other thing.

All in all, I hope Obama wins. I do not want to go back to the 1920s in women's rights. No, THANKS.

Why IIT was like Hogwarts to Me

Now that it's been a good long time since I lasted posted, way back during that haze of months where I got my wisdom teeth out and then got a terrible ulcer from the pain medicine... We move on to November! Remember, remember.

I miss IIT and I miss Hogwarts =P 

How IIT was like Hogwarts to Me:

1. Step right up tooooo Hogwaaarts!: I got a letter in the mail and was taken far away from home. It wasn't delivered by an owl, but we do have a bird's nest that's permanently settled right by our mailbox.

2. Ghosts, ghosts everywhere: Architecture students during review week. Engineers every other time.

3. Homework: Every week was like taking my O.W.L.s.

4. Friends: They made me feel like I was at home... Completely and utterly at home. It's amazing to be around people who are completely like you.

5. Life: Like Harry, I was pulled from a rather dull, unmagical world into a completely awesome one.

6. Architecture: IIT didn't quite have revolving staircases and talking portraits, but the MTCC does have some amazing hidden rooms and I love the orange walls. Snow drifted 6 feet high against that outside once... We built a tunnel. 

7. Magic: Lasers and biomedical engineering aren't quite magic, but I'll take them as close enough.

8. Voldemort= Finals. I always needed a rest in the hospital wing after that week.

In other news, life is exhilarating and exhausting. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do in life, but I'm starting to enjoy the journey. I'm a lot further along in what I want career wise. Not quite there, but I see now what I want. Now it's time to figure out what path to get there. =) 

I've been working two jobs- I got an English/writing tutoring one, too =)- and applying for graduate schools and etc. What else... Dreaming a lot.

Now, Detective Conan chapter 836 awaits =) And yes, I've read every single one. One truth prevails!