we make our own sunshine, don't we dear?

"The only people for me are the mad ones..."
-Jack Kerouac

I am currently living in one of the most dangerous ends of London.  It's called Brixton, and it's been an adventure.  Thankfully I haven't actually been attacked,  but I've been followed around and harassed a few times.  And proposed to.  Lesson one: don't wear a short skirt and high heels whilst walking home at one in the morning.

The opening quote is especially meaningful to me these days.  I'm living with an incredible family, and the father is actually an author and expert on Jack Kerouac.  He's an intense but nice guy, covered in tattoos.  He spent four hours today being interviewed and photographed for a tattoo magazine, actually.  His wife, Adjoa, is an actress.  She just came back a few minutes ago from performing at the National Theatre in a raw play about sex, betrayal and (I think) incest.  The two daughters are extremely opinionated and, for the most part, worship me.  No complaints here.  I am borrowing this family and the room from my friend Jess, who is in Spain at the moment.  Lesson two: surround yourself with people you want to learn from.

The quote is even more pertinent because it was part of what Joel just read to me from the book he's reading.  Joel is my new boyfriend.  I've known him a year and a half, and this really snuck up on us.  I could say a lot here, but I'll leave it at this: I'm happy.  Lesson three: keep things simple.

Party

This isn't the greatest picture, but you can get the idea.  Joel is a musician, and he's from Australia.  It's great going out with someone who's been your close friend.  You can't pretend to be someone you're not.  It's all very dramatic, since Joel is one of David's close friends, but we've tried to be delicate about it.  Lesson four: screw the lessons, and screw the rulebook.  Life's too short.

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle, you see the blue center-light pop, and everybody goes ahh..."

After a day like today, I need to make a list today of all the things I'm happy about.  This is to prevent me from wallowing in self-pity and ending up an ingrate.

My parents: amazing, amazing, insane at times, but beyond supportive and encouraging--they're the ones who taught me to dream silly dreams.

My friends: My life's joy and lovely distraction. :)

Professors that help me, like Professor Caldwell, Professor Newman, Chancellor Ward and Andrei

The CFO I met today who was so encouraging about my business ideas

The fact that I AM going to London, no matter what

The fact that it's ACT LIKE A T-REX DAY

The fact that everything's going to be alright, that I really should not be asking for a comfortable, convenient situation but rather the character and strength to dive straight into whatever challenges are ahead of me

All the glorious adventure

My health

The weather

The uncertainties

My research grant being accepted

Hope hope hope hope hope hope hope hope trust faith prayers

God being faithful (despite our selfish selves, loss of hope, lack of faith, stony hearts, waning moon, ebbing tide and all that we wish this world would be)

The fact that God's torn me between two of the most beautiful places on earth: London and Malibu
London is legendary, of course, and Malibu is... well I mean even our parking lot views are stunning, look what I took today:

100_2478

This year has been really great so far.  I don't know what it is, but I've been loving keeping busy.  God's thrown a lot of unexpected things at me (like dropping one of my majors) but it's been an enjoyable ride.

I'm extremely grateful that I've had the chance to spend time with Ventura friends.  You guys mean so much to me it's ridiculous.  The more I consider life's possibilities, the more I realize that my days are numbered in California.  I love it here so much, I love the climate and the relaxed beach lifestyle, but I've always known that I'd move to another country.  I love my family and my friends.  I love my family, of course because I HAVE to.  And I love my friends because of this:

BFF!

Life's been good to me. I'm happy.

Resized pch

This is in response to both Shannon's post and the mind-and-buttocks-numbing boredom I am experiencing by sitting and studying for ages.

I have essentially been studying intensely for over a week now, since David left for Colombia (yes, the country) last Thursday.

By the way, David came to visit. And Kezia. And Will. It's been a great laugh, good reunion with good good friends. A bit heart wrenching, though. I miss my church. I miss church in general. I miss worshiping and being near God and having fellowship with people, that's what I miss.

I'm considering studying international law in London. I don't know where I would study it, or how that would work, but that's my goal for right now. Maybe even just to get me through this horrific week.

Back to theory, theory, theory, and facts about mass destruction and world politics. God save me.

David 306

I'm ready to be on the open road again, thank you very much.

Life has been busy, busy, busy. And it's going to get even more so soon. David's coming on Thursday. Yep, that's less than two days away! Oh dear. I don't know what to expect, but all in all I'm excited. :)

At some point we'll be going to Disneyland. Yayy Disneyland!

Show us peace.

Athens

I'm beginning Month # 3 back here in the ol' U-S-of-A. It's been going pretty well, I feel.

I've finally begun to get a better grip on my classes. I'm enjoying the intensive studying and all the new information that I'm learning. It's challenging, but it's exciting to consider what I can make of it all.

I feel very little need for any kind of boyfriend type in my life. I'm feeling rather content and balanced, for the most part. I simply have no time for anything else I'm concentrating on.

I'm finding it easy to exercise regularly, though I eat cake and cookies most days because my flat mates happen to be incredible bakers. Oh well!

Altogether, I feel good. When I miss London, which is of course daily, it' is beyond frustrating and borders on overwhelming, but it soon passes because there's simply nowhere else I'm meant to be right now but here. And I'm happy about that, for the most part.

The only thing that reeeally frustrates me is that I miss my church. I miss the worship, and I miss the fellowship and the people and the teaching. I miss connecting with God in that way, singing amidst a sea of voices. I'm essentially stranded here since my flat mates only go to church on campus or not at all. And instrumentless worship and exceptionally conservative preaching is simply not my thing.

So, that's my prayer these days. To find a way to a good church.

My classes have lately been proving quite thought provoking.

Aristotle explains this idea of telos in his book Politics. Your telos is your end goal. What do you want with life? Perhaps a decent job. Or, to be well-respected by your peers. Adventure, to make a difference. Perhaps occupational prestige. Maybe money. Why those things? He tells us to continue asking that question until we hit the bottom line. We want certain jobs because we want to have honour amongst our fellow man. But that's based too much on opinion, he says. Money's end goal is security and happiness, so that's not your telos.

At the end of the day, he concludes that we are all working towards this idea of eudaimonia, of happiness, healthiness and prosperity.

Healthiness and prosperity's great, but happiness comes from the people that we live with, in my mind.

Is happiness something you make or something you find?

So I went to go see Across the Universe. The plot and the acting didn't blow my mind, but the overall experience was great. I quite enjoyed it. Bono is in it, and you should go just to see him. He's the thing of legends, especially when he sings "I am the Walrus."

Things at Pepperdine are going alright. Classes are really hard. I enjoy them, they're interesting enough, but they are definitely challenging.

Went to Borderline with Jaclyn, Monica (her sister), and Mark. It was originally meant to have been more than just that, but everyone was quite busy last night. It was fun though, but definitely awkward at moments. Mark gave me a lift back to Pepperdine, and it really felt quite comfortable. We had good chats, but we both did acknowledge that it's always going to be weird. It felt like a load off of my mind when I got to the apartment, though. I think I've been feeling guilty about breaking his heart for the last eight months. But I know I did the right thing.

I haven't spoken much with Davy lately. We've been busy, the both of us. If he comes out it should be in November. Disneyland trips will clearly be occurring.

Next week I think I want to go to Venice Beach. I've never been there before. It sounds like my kind of fun!