Slanted Rays

Hello! I keep on being too busy to finish this blog post. As time has passed, my life has continued on, leaving me with an increasing number of thoughts to write about here. Prepare yourself, dear reader, for a long and relatively optimistic blog post. This Thanksgiving break was my first Thanksgiving without my immediate family. While I ultimately chose to stay at Soka for the Thanksgiving holiday, it was impractical to return home because of circumstances outside of my control. Initially, I thought "Oh, yeah, this will be totally fine! I'll work on Capstone, maybe do some academic work...". Then, Wednesday afternoon hit and I thought "Now what?". I spent Thanksgiving Day cleaning my room and relaxing. I missed the smell of the turkey, the constantly playing Thanksgiving Day programming, and time with my family. Fortunately, my Thanksgiving turned around when I went to dinner. I spent two hours eating American Turkey Day classics and chatting with my fr

Hello, friends! Clearly, I have been unsuccessful in keeping this blog updated regularly. I am very busy and rather exhausted. Here are a few lighthearted snippets from my life recently: -         Laugh Toast Intolerance, the sketch comedy club that I am a part of, had our first live show last Friday. It was an overall success! I am grateful for all of the people who came to watch, and everyone who laughed at our jokes. -        I am rehearsing for a play! I cannot say that I am doing mind-blowingly well, but I am doing my best to learn my lines and blocking. -        My American Experience class went to Disneyland on Sunday! We went to learn about political socialization in the United States, so it was educational and disheartening as well as fun and wholesome. -        My Capstone (i.e. senior project) is well underway! I am writing about medical gatekeeping of the transgender community, and how it is replicated by gatekeepers within the trans community.

An image from Soka University of America at sunset. The image looks over a large balcony with a tree in front of it and vines along the walls. In the background, there are trees, mountains, and residential halls. Hello! I have been going through it . The Terrible, Horrible, Not Good, Very Bad thoughts that maybe I am an awful human being who has repressed their evil tendencies down so deeply that even they sometimes forget about their demon-like nature have returned in full force. Everyone asks me about study abroad and post-graduation plans. I want to give them the answers they want ("Study abroad was great! I have a plan for my post-graduation life, and I am excited for it!") Instead, I have to give disappointing answers. ("Study abroad had its ups and downs. I don't really have a plan for after graduation.") I am frustrated about having spent all this time in college only to be as sad and confused as when I started. I wish I was really passionate about

The view from my new dorm room's window. There are three tall, groomed cypress trees placed at intervals along the photo. In the background, there are tan residence halls with prominent windows. It is a bright, sunny day. Hello! I am writing this blog post from my very cluttered new dorm room. My plan for September is to blog at least 3 times/week, but any consistent post schedule I had planned has been foiled by the chaos of moving back into Soka. I think we'll try Wednesday/Friday/Sunday, and then regroup if that plan is unsuccessful. This is a video of all of the boxes, clutter, and genuine chaos that made up my room yesterday afternoon. Since then, I have made some progress on cleaning/unpacking, but much of that progress has been a result of shoving most of my stuff in my shelving unit. Despite the stress of returning to school/setting up my room again/unpacking all of my stuff, I am so glad to be back! On study abroad, I often found myse

Hello! I hope that you are all doing well! This month, I set out to write a blog post every day, and, if you are reading this blog post, I have succeeded in that goal. I imagine that future blog readers will not want to sort through 31 days worth of consecutive blog posts in order to figure out which content might be most interesting to them. So, hopefully, this post can act as a launchpad, and allow you to explore whichever blog posts from this month might capture your interests. Here is a roundup of this month's blog posts. I am including a short summary of each blog post, and who I think would enjoy each post. Tarot Reflections from the Yurts of MFC : I include snippets from my daily tarot draws while I was working as a counselor at Mountain Friends Camp. Ideal for people who like tarot, summer camp, or both. Desperately Trying to Hack My Sleep Schedule : I talk about the different methods that I have used to improve my sleep, how well they have worked, and whether I