心疼 - to love dearly.: April 2008

To all the Prefrosh kids,

"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand." -Old Irish Blessing

Yeah, I suppose that does sound more like something one would say at a graduation, but that's okay.

Prefrosh wasn't perfect. Harvard was more intertwined with the city (Cambridge) than I'd expected, there was quite a bit of aesthetically unappealing construction going on, and the distance between Harvardian buildings made for what seemed like a lack of community feel. Also, having been spoiled with experiences in nice dorms over summers past, I momentarily didn't factor in just how old was Harvard. One more thing, my fault - those past summer experiences led me to expect a more structured visiting program, so I was a bit bummed when certain lectures/events were canceled.

After I realized what sort of an environment Harvard really was offering, though, that it was giving us the real deal, that it wasn't changing its day-to-day plans to try to convince us Prefrosh to come, things got better. :) I Had fun meeting people and adopting them every once in a while into our group, and just walking and talking and exploring Harvard and the Square and the surrounding area, which is gorgeous at night when all the shops are lit up. Half the time we missed events we planned to attend, being super-late and lax and everything, but it was still cool. Good conversation without the the typical emotional barriers that come with meeting new people.

"If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth." - Mitsugi Saotome

Miss ya'll already, and hope to see you in the fall!
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One of my summer plans is reading. I'll probably get some titles from what fellow Prefrosh on the Facebook group are recommending, but here's what I have so far. Give me a title, and I'll put it on the list, with your name after the author's. Most of these are from NY Times and other random reading lists, but a few are personal recommendations.

My now-that-college-anticipation-and-other-ballyhoo-is-over reading list :)

Louisa May Alcott
William Butler Yeats
Robert Frost
1. The Small Rain - Madeleine L'Engle - Kimsa
2. The Coldest Winter - Daniel Halberstam
3. Seeing Things - Seamus Heaney
4. Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. Musicophilia - Oliver Sacks
6. Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner
7. Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond
8. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time - Jeffrey Sachs
9. The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court - Jeffrey Toobin
10. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression - Mildred Armstrong Kalish
11. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century - Alex Ross
12. Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
13. The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton - Carmen
14. Reason for Hope - Jane Goodall - JiaHui
15. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card - Joseph
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Summer plans in general - reading, violin, working out with RARE, crocheting, exploring life and hanging out with friends, job, dorm shopping, learning Latin+Spanish+Cantonese
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I've got Jordin Sparks' "Tattoo" and "I can go the distance" from Hercules stuck in my head.

"I have often dreamed of a far off place [...]
[Where] a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be

I'll be there someday, I can go the distance.
I will find my way if I can be strong.
I know every mile would be worth my while,
When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong."

The first part was written yesterday (4/14). The second, today.
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My title ("Meep") sounds like something Jason would say. Lol.

Anyhow, Elena wants pineapples. Not to eat them - she's not hungry at the moment - just to have them. She wants sleep and no school and certain mail from Harvard to come soon. Pineapples bring comfort, sleep brings escape, no school makes more time for personal reading and music lists, and the mail would complete college decisions for now. Security.

I usually don't write in 3rd person, but at the moment I want(ed?) to complain without (personally) complaining. Yeah, call it immature. Whatever. My frustrations are primarily rooted in the college decision-making process.

0037. Okay, I'll finish this tomorrow. Sleep in a bit. English notes? Whatever. Agh. Not my current priority.
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I'm very happy to say that the mail from Harvard part is no longer applicable. And because that piece of mail brought good news this afternoon, I committed to Harvard.

Funny. It's a relief to know where I'll be spending my next four years. Yay for a weight off my shoulders. May God use my new environment to mold me into the person He wants me to become.

P.S. Pineapples, sleep, and no school, however, all remain very desirable. :)