Spring Break

     Spring break started, for me, this past Thursday. Given the usual irregularity of plane tickets, it turned out that leaving early would save me a couple hundred dollars in airfare, so I sacrificed a day or two of work in order to get the lower prices. The flight was bumpy as all get out, but at least it didn't snow, rain, hail, sleet, freeze, or otherwise get delayed. Sometimes, that's all you can ask for.

     The past few weeks have been pretty stressful with graduation looming over me. I try to be one of those people who plan ahead and are prepared for anything, so having an abrupt end to the entire way of life I'm used to is a bit unnerving. This weekend helped that no small bit, just by my gentleman and I being able to find an affordable place to live. It's not our dream place, of course, but since I don't have a job lined up yet (and therefor don't know where I'll have to commute to or what my income/ budget will be), we opted to err on the safe side. Still, it's a nice, open place that is roughly the square footage we were looking for, and in a gorgeous neighborhood with lots of walking/ biking paths, so no complaints!

Russian Fairy Tale

     So this week in the fairy tales class, our assignment is to write a Russian fairy tale of our own. Unfortunately, we were given a pretty strict set of guidelines to follow, and told we'd be marked down from either missing or adding components to it, so there's only so much originality that could be had. Regardless, here's my Russian fairy tale. Pardon the simplicity, and enjoy!

Ivan the Bold

            In a certain time and a certain kingdom, there lived a poor farmer who had three sons. When the time came for the farmer to die, he called together his three sons. To the oldest son, he gave his house. To the middle son, he gave his farmlands. But when his youngest son, Ivan the Bold, stepped forward, the farmer had nothing left to give. “You must go out into the world, my son, and make your own fortune,” he said, then turned his face to the wall and died.

            The older brothers were sorry to see Ivan go, because he was a very hard worker, but Ivan simply said, “Farewell, brothers. I will go out into the world to seek my fortune, and when I have found it, I will return home!” Without further ado, Ivan the Bold walked out into the forest.

FTP 45 - Winning or not

     As we come up to St Pat's Day, the Irish dance community typically goes insane. There is so much to do, between booking shows, shuttling people around, getting routines down, learning new steps, making sure everyone knows what they need to do, etc etc. Not only that, but pretty much immediately after it's over, it's time to start preparing for feisanna (competitions) and class shows, so all semblance of calm goes out the window. Being a pretty snarky person, especially when I feel I've been unjustly snarked at to start with, I always try my hardest to remember this lesson in these days.

     And, of course, any other time of the year when other people are under a lot of stress and mistakenly choose to take it out on the undeserving. Sometimes, it's really just best to shush and walk away. Not always, but sometimes. The trick is knowing when...

Recognition

     The end of February was, in a word, awful. It was one of those times when all the little things go wrong, so there's no one thing to be mad at. Instead you're plagued with incidents like stubbing your toes, dropping papers, spilling food on yourself, inconvenient parking spaces, hitting every single red light possible, not sleeping well, being chronically late despite starting out early, all that sort of thing.

Yeah, one of THOSE times...

     The crowning point, for me, was the homework for my Russian Idioms class. On a rotating schedule, each student has to research that day's topic and give a powerpoint presentation on it. Usually, this consists of about half an hour of translating the appropriate section of the textbook, a bit of research online, and a quick construction of 5-6 slides that highlight the information and finish with a question or two. For some reason, I decided to check out my section earlier than usual, and was utterly baffled to realize that it consisted of a broad and extremely generalized overview of the European and Russian political, social, and philosophical arenas in the early 20th century, all of which culminated in three very expansive idioms. I emailed the prof, asking if he really wanted this entire overview, and he eventually replied with, "Yes, just give background for the idioms, you'll be fine."

FTP 44 - Feedback

Something I still struggle with:

Amazing how no matter how awesome the day was, all it takes is one little negative comment to drag you down. I've gotten to the point where I don't focus on it and obsess over it, but it still just sits in the back of my head and bugs me. 

P.S. Keep this in mind the next time you're tempted to take out a bad mood on someone who doesn't deserve it... you might be that one bad comment that ruins someone's day. Just a thought.