sunshine and puppies

since the last few entries were sort of whiney/bitchy, here's a happy one. things I actually like:

1. reading (my own books on my own time)
2. studying the following topics (without the pressure of grades and deadline): African studies, postcolonial studies, literature, theology, latin america, sociology, refugee and human rights issues, etc.
3. being a complete and total dork: my boyfriend and I have a book club-y thing together: we read the same books and talk about them. We'll be together over Spring Break, and have two more Vonnegut books to dig into, hooray!
4. babies. babies, toddlers, infants, little kids. love them. would nanny for free, except (a) I need the money and (b) it pays pretty well
5. freedom to do what I want, when I want
6. travel, other cultures. I've found that I'm pretty adaptable (no real culture shock anywhere I've been) and I love it
7. adventures and the outdoors (cruising down the Amazon on a cargo ship, trekking through the Andes, and hopefully soon: hiking up the NC coast from SC->VA, the MST, the AT, the PCT, moving to Eastern Europe, Mexico, back to Peru...)
8. helping others
9. my intended
10. learning other languages
11. traditional and tribal cultures
12. incessant blogging for Creative Nonfiction!!

Oh, and I've recently discovered that I LOVE Kurt Vonnegut. I've only read two books, but all the rest are coming along soon. I don't know that I'd ever want to emulate his writing... he's freaking nuts. But, he's brilliant. And, hilarious.

so yeah, I can do things other than complain. Fancy that!