18 rules for living

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
   1. Respect for self
   2. Respect for others
   3. Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Credited to the Dalai Lama here...

Hope!

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep...I will ask you to join me in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand...It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."
-President-Elect Barack Obama 11.4.09

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,"

said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.

-From The Tao According to Pooh

Just in case you're interested, today for breakfast I had an egg and cheese english muffin sandwich (sam-itch) and pumpkin spice flavored coffee. It was a good day :)

I kinda dig New England...

I spent today living in Star's Hollow from Gilmore Girls. Seriously.

I got breakfast and coffee with some friends at a little bakery/coffee shop, walked around downtown during their fall festival.

I also bought a hat and a book...both very exciting. Pictures to come. Of the hat, probably not the book.

The leaves are about done changing color, but there is still a tree here or there that takes your breath away. And I have a pretty much continuous urge to jump in a pile of leaves.

Outside of my little TV dream land, I saw one of the kids I worked with last year today at a service project. He moved a couple towns over to live with his dad, so I hadn't seen him since I've been back. He's shot up several inches and his voice has lowered a pitch, but he's still acts in the same lovable but always-getting-in-trouble way. I'm so glad he is doing well!

That's all I got. I hope all your Saturdays may be as wonderful. :)

Where I'm at...

This song's been stuck in my head all week:



Music snobs, suspend your judgment :) The songs about two people meeting in a bar, but I like the chorus:

If she wants to rock she rocks
If she wants to roll she rolls
She can roll with the punches
Long as she feels like she’s in control
If she wants to stay she stays
If she wants to go she goes
She doesn’t care how she gets there
Long as she gets somewhere she knows.

I'm a big fan of rolling with the punches at the moment. Things are going well...I'm learning a lot about leadership and planning and how much easier some things are the second time around (school isn't nearly as intimidating as last year and we have some amazing kids in our after school program!). Some things still make me mad, some people are still frustrating. But if I want to rock I rock...

Physic major's in an art show!

It was too weird...

A couple weeks ago I entered a drawing to an art contest sponsored by Blue Moon Brewing Company. The only guideline was that it had to have the Blue Moon logo in it somewhere. Anyway, I got chosen as a finalist for the Boston regional show. On Thursday, we went down there to a swanky show and got free beer...

This kind of stuff doesn't happen to physics majors!

pictures...

This is my team!!!Yesterday I volunteered at Farm Aid...the longest running benefit concert in the states. It supports local and family farms, started by Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp. Pretty amazing.
This is my teammate at Farm Aid making bio-diversity projectiles (balls of seeds and clay that we can plant in the spring).
And this is my volunteer station...sorting through the trash, compost, and recycling to make sure people got it right! Cool for the first hour, then it got a bit smelly...

This was another volunteer event we did this week. We staffed transition areas on a 200 mile relay race. And we got to wear funny hats.

And did I mention that I made it on the cover of Rolling Stone?