whim

my parents are infamous for their whims: a trait i have (begrudgingly) inherited. several years ago, my dad assured us that his new pumpkin-orange ford ranger was his "going to jesus truck." four years, eight cars, three recreational vehicles and one house later, my dad is interviewing for his fourth "retirement job" and I am perusing seventeen different types of graduate programs with unabashed abandon. i'm telling you this in part because i believe (hope) verbalizing that i am conscious of my own flightiness will somehow diminish its recklessness. you know, 'a crazy person never thinks she's crazy' logic. at the same time, you will find me more likely to say "fuck it. i'm 23." now, than ever before. and i consider that one of my new favorite personality traits. this evening marked the beginning of a large west-coast retreat i have been preparing for over the past few months. our speaker tonight graduated from yale law school and spent six years writing about his classmates. luckily for him, his classmates were a group of law students who successfully sued presidents ghw bush and clinton, freeing several hundred HIV-positive haitian political refugees from detention at guantanamo in the early 90s. (they were also on npr this morning fyi: http://kuow.org/programs/weekday.asp). the story itself is fascinating, but i was struck most by one of the attorney's comments that the cornerstone of their success as students was the ability to ignore everyone else's conception of "what is possible." wow. i think our conceptions of "what is possible" oftentimes keep us from "what is ACTUALLY possible," and i'm certainly not immune. which explains why many of my whims remain whims. i am now thinking of seriously pursuing a degree in journalism. and will not rest until i've convinced myself that columbia is possible.