minute thoughts 3.8.16
Thoughts while practicing hand-lettering while on a procrastination grind during dead week
1. My favorite English teacher in high school told us one time: "The opposite of love isn't hate. It's apathy." And I think about that all the time. It's an especially good thing to remember when the people you love drive you absolutely nuts. I think as long as they're able to provoke some kind of emotion in you, it means you care about them to some extent.
2. I'm approximately 627,516,380 years late to the party, but I FINALLY watched Mad Max: Fury Road and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Both of them were amazing. Really visually stunning and thematically awesome, but also highly provocative. I loved Mad Max for the heart-pounding chase scenes, fascinating religious ideology, and portrayal of females in a post-apocalyptic setting, but Eternal Sunshine was something else. It examined memory and its inherent faults, which I've always had a soft spot for because of my dad. But I was also intrigued by the way memory's malleable qualities were exploited in the film; I think about this a lot ever since my friend pointed it out while he was reading my book, which mentions memory-altering drugs (thanks Harold). It's so interesting because we as people are shaped by our memories, but so many of them are unintentionally false, like the Brian Williams controversy or the danger of false eyewitnesses. They turn out to be things we imagine but have convinced ourselves actually happened, things we create. And as a result, our reality is nothing more than what we accept to be true; sometimes it contains very little truth.
3. This is one of my favorite videos in the history of ever. I've probably watched it 50+ times and it's still hilarious. I think about it at the most inappropriate times and I still laugh; it has legitimately ruined my life. Also unrelated, but if anyone hasn't watched John Oliver's roast of Donald "Drumpf," you need to immediately.
4. It occurs to me that in four short months, I'll be an alumni of not only UCSB, but also of AKPsi. And while I'll dearly miss everything about UCSB, AKPsi has not only been my family for the past three years, but it's also contributed the most to my professional and personal development throughout my time in college. I'm impatient to leave Santa Barbara and start my life, but I've always said that AKPsi is such a unique environment—it's like a business in that it pushes you to fulfill your potential, and strive for things you'd never dreamed of before. But there's also the brotherhood aspect; you're surrounded by 60 of your closest friends who all want to see you succeed. I don't know if I'll ever find something like that again.
5. My new favorite way to waste time: /r/MakeupAddiction on Reddit. Holy moly.
6. Microsoft's #MakeWhat'sNext video for International Women's Day. Cute, a little cliché, but inspiring as usual (with a clever message: "Not everything is man-made"). And yet, not even the tip of the iceberg regarding to female potential in society, particularly in STEM fields. One year ago: My post on Half the Sky in honor of International Women's Day. If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it! It's an interesting and very intelligent documentary, and Nicholas Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn are extraordinarily talented.
7. I recently found this Disapproval Matrix, and it really put into perspective the idea of "constructive criticism."
8. Okay, so I tweeted this but it deserves way more attention: Scientists actually modified a cotton candy machine to spin templates for WORKING ARTIFICIAL ORGANS and if you don't think that's cool, you can get out.
9. I tend to fall in love very easily, not necessarily with people, but with the way they think. I admire people whose thought processes are far more sophisticated or analytical than mine, people who are endlessly curious, people who willingly remove themselves from the rhythm of life to just stop and reflect. There are some people who simply have beautiful minds. And that's why I honestly really like talking to people, not just to talk, but to understand. There are some people I could listen to for hours, some people whose brains I want to study under a microscope. I am always enamored by elegant articulation, and I always just like hearing people explain their stream of consciousness.
10. 50 Of The Happiest Feelings (these are the normal, Tumblr-esque ones, but does anyone have those really neurotically satisfying things? Like watching cakes being frosted or drawing a perfect swoop with a really nice pen)
