Mutual Admiration?

As I was walking down Memorial Drive today after a class at the Tang Center, I looked out across the river at the Boston skyline. I realized that none of these buildings existed more than 300 years ago. 

And yet in Europe, they have buildings that are well over 1500 years old that have such great intricacies (e.g. St. Peter's Basilica). 

I know our generation treasures the architectural innovation and beauty of these long-standing structures, but would the architects and commissioners from back then appreciate our modern architecture? Would they find it too simplistic or austere for the amount of money they take? Or would they be dazzled by the shininess and space each of our buildings shapes? 

Just a thought...

(Photo from The Mathematical Tourist)

Capture the Rapture.

It's amazing how some artists can capture the scenery in a beautiful city with watercolor and pen:

from BBC's Tim Baynes

from SketchAway by Suhita

from David Hohn's Blogspot

from Miki De Goodaboom

and this high-speed sketching - very efficient:

from SilverMere by Barbara Philip

Not exactly a scenery, but I'm going to do something like this for my trip to England

(it'll be a good incentive to not bring too many items if I'm drawing everything I bring!):

from Drawing+Hand

W.O.W.

W.O.W. = What. Obvious. Wonders.

It's crazy how blessed I've been these past few months. 

Two big (I know - kind of cliche) things I'm very very thankful for:

- I am interning with Google this summer! (And had the problem of deciding between that and GE, a company I've wanted to work with for a long time!) 

- I am studying abroad at the University of Cambridge for my junior year! 

This is one of those opportunities I never dreamt taking, and now that it is becoming a reality, I am in awe. My heart literally starts freaking out every time I think about it, and I'm pretty sure I'm banned from the topic around my friends because I've exhausted it into annoyance. 

So now I've just been compiling a Google Doc Bucket List based on places I want to go to and activities/foods I want to try!

Now allow me to freak out about this on my blog for a while (betches, it's my online space!): 

holy carp*, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, 

 holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp,

 holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp ♥

I deserve neither of these opportunities, and yet they're happening. I feel like the luckiest most blessed person in the whole world. 

I feel like Ron here. Ooh, or Cam. Better yet, this winner here. (I still love SNL.)

But in all seriousness, I am so grateful and undeserving of the blessings around me and I hope I can remind myself of how good my life is as the semester rolls in.

*see this blog post

And just for kicks:

Journ•all: The Ultimate Travel Journal

Check out this shiny BABY.

 

This is two of my friend's and my MIT 6.470 Website Competition entry for this year! I'd never made a website before, so this was a great experience.

Is it sad that the thing I'm proudest about is the name? Just kidding, I'm pretty happy with the outcome considering we didn't spend too much time on it. We should have, but it's IAP, and we decided to also explore the town and be normal college students every once in a while :)

A Little White Castle

five slabs of holy jaw-dropping goodness.

photos from de zeen

Life is Soft

Blood Bond

How do you know how to love?

How do you know to hold the boy next to you while he cries for the first time in his life?

How do you know that’s what you’re supposed to do?

Who puts the words in your mouth when you finally find your daughter two counties over after a long fight?

Look back to the time when you were there

Stop and feel the softness

Look up and know you’re home.

Perfection is not sharp, it’s soft

it’s the softness that covered me when I was down

under with the demons

I was my own worst enemy

But she was there and he was there

and their lights they gave to me.

I was bare and cold, they gave me a fire to burn

How do you know how to love?

How do you know to scream out to the boy at the station, telling him not to go?

How do you know that’s what you’re supposed to do?

Who puts the words in your mouth when you look up and have to answer your son’s defeated eyes?

Look back to the time when you were there

Stop and feel the softness

Look up and know you’re home.

Note: 

This was mostly inspired by "Blood Brothers" by Ingrid Michaelson 

and "Riversong" by A Fine Frenzy

Happy Birthday to the Non-President

It's my 20th birthday today!

I'm trying this new thing (we know how that goes...) where I try to act like I'm a year older than I am so that I have a year to prepare for my age next year. 

Wow, that sounded so much stupider once I wrote it out explicitly. I swear that sounded mature and brilliant in my head. 

Things I want to try doing:

1. Get the little things right:

- Send emails when they come to mind

- Reply to emails when I first get them!

- Regard money as a tool.

2. Take advantage of my life:

- Get serious about my education and practical about how I want it to benefit me in the future

- Invest more in my friends - show them I care every single day :), even when I feel like absolute carp*

- Talk to my parents more when I'm home and absorb all the advice and share with them my stories

- Take care of my body: Eat smart (healthy but delicious), Run hard (make it burnnn), Feel happy (worry... never) 

- Keep things in prospective: A balance of "what's one year next to the rest of your life?" vs. "live today like it's your last" 

3. More to come as I think of them!

*I really like the idea of inverting "crap" to "carp" -- it's one of the weird ideas I come up with and think it's brilliant, even though everyone else thinks I just misspelled "crap"