Creativity.

I read somewhere that the part of your brain responsible for creativity is the same, or right next to, the part of your brain that causes schizophrenia. They concluded that all creative people are a little bit crazy because of this. It's been long enough that I don't have the article anymore, but I'm sure if you do some creative googling you can pull up a similar study.

I'm on medication for anxiety & OCD, which I've discussed before, but I've noticed something lately. Mostly I get ideas for my story when I'm alone - laying awake at night, or when I'm walking by myself around campus, anywhere I can be in solitude and let my imagination go. Lately, though, I've got nothing. No new ideas, and no motivation to expand on the ideas that I do have, no drive to work on the story I've already started.

A lot of times on TV the characters on medication stop taking their drugs because they don't feel like themselves anymore, and now I can totally see where those characters are coming from - I can only assume they are based on the experiences of real people.

I need the medication, it keeps me from being out of control. I hated the way I felt all the time when I wasn't on it. But I miss the creativity. I used to make characters who had so much depth that I felt like they were the ones writing the story, I was just putting it into words. I made whole worlds for them to explore, or just set them loose in this one.

I don't write my stories anymore.

In my modern US history class we're studying 1919-20 and did you know, they used to give out cocaine and heroin to people as medicine? That was before the days of the FDA but it makes me wonder what they'll discover about the stuff I'm on in 80 years. Will they look back and say, "Wow, I can't believe they gave so many people these medicines when we know now how dangerous they are, the long term effects of these drugs are terrible!"? I worry that I'll never get that creativity back.

On The James

This is the James River. This was taken from my neighborhood. Look at that view! I can't believe I live here. I can't wait til Phoebe lives here with me and we can walk through this area every day; it is so gorgeous.

Say what you want about Newport News, a lot of people call it "Bad News" - but it is beautiful if you know where to look.

My roomie is awesome

Meemaw: I thought tonight would be a good night. We could go to Danny's or, uh... What's it called with the sandwiches? And they make it however you want.
Libby: Subway?
Meemaw: No, don't worry I will think of it. ((Laughs for about a minute.))
Libby: Okay! Well let me know, we can go wherever!

Five minutes later...

Meemaw: SUBWAY!!!!!!!

Twice in one week that's a record

It's Friday and I'm bored. Thanks to Tricia at Spoke for the questions!

1. How many pets do you have? Two horses and 4 dogs. Monty and Monty are the horses - I'm not kidding, and the dogs are Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, and Hero. I don't have a picture of all of them together, but that's something I should work on. Technically, one of the horses belongs to my mom and three of the dogs belong to my parents. The smaller Monty and Phoebe are mine :)

2. If you could switch places with someone for a day who would it be? I never know how to answer this question because I am sure that other people's lives aren't as glamorous as I remember. Jessica Simpson? She's gorgeous and talented and has money and I'd love to spend a day in her shoes. Literally, she designs shoes and they are awesome but I can't afford them. I love to try them on though. She's not very well liked though, and I'm not sure I could handle the kind of criticism she receives. I can't think of a single person that I don't come up with a big objection to being. Am I taking this too seriously?

3. What is your favorite money saving tip? I'm not a great saver. I mean, I save, but only because I don't let myself go shopping or think about things that I want but don't have. If I make up my mind that I really do want or need something, I buy it. So I guess, just be smart about your purchases.

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up? I hope David and I have a lot of boys and they love baseball and they get his athleticism and good looks and my intellect. If they're girls I hope they love ponies and get my hair. But even if they don't I know we'll love them just the same. Would it be awesome if one of them grew up to be a professional baseball player? Hell yes. But I'm not going to force anything on them.

5. What is your favorite quote? Wow, I have so many. Here are a few of my favorites.

"Go back? No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!" -Excellent life advice from Bilbo in the Hobbit by Tolkien

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places." - Ernest Hemingway

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." -Douglas Adams

How I Met My Nemesis

Picture this, if you will: I'm lying in bed, enjoying an episode of How I Met Your Mother before I go to sleep for the night, with all of the lights off. When suddenly, I hear this whooshing sound, and into my face flies... something big and alive.

Naturally, I start screaming, because it is essentially pitch black in this room and I have no idea what is going on - I'm sure I woke Meemaw up. I manage to turn on the lights and see what is obviously the biggest, most evil grasshopper of all time (OF ALL TIME!) perched happily on my computer screen.

Now, I am not one to kill bugs. This is the number one reason I will never, ever live alone. I have to have someone around to kill the bugs. But this situation called for drastic measures, and I knew I must kill the bug.

Problem #1 - It is enjoying the computer screen. I can't kill it and risk shattering the screen.
Problem #2 - I don't like bugs and want nothing to do with this.
Problem #3 - This is clearly the most evil creature that has ever lived, and this is going to be one epic battle.

So, onward to problem number one. I begin finding small things I can safely throw at the grasshopper to (gently) encourage it to vacate the screen area. Balled up pieces of paper, small things like that, which it ignores. Okay, I can handle that. I chuck the top from a sharpie at it, and hit it in the back.

I did not think this plan through and as it turns out, this was a horrible decision. Mr. Grasshopper gets pissed and starts zooming around the room again, in and around my personal bubble, as well as up to the ceiling and into the window, before finally coming to rest high up on my curtain.

This is clearly no ordinary insect, but a grasshopper mastermind the likes of which had not previously been met in this world.

I surveyed the room around me, looking for any possible weapons I might employ against this worthy foe. Then I saw it - the glass and pitcher Meemaw had set out for me in case of emergency. Well, really it was in case I got thirsty, but it was the perfect plan to capture this little sucker and get him out of my life once and for all. However, in the middle of my strategizing, Mr. Grasshopper gets bored of the curtain and zooms straight into me again.

I scream, the glass goes flying, and I hit it with the pitcher, which cracks and a part of the handle breaks off with a loud CLANG as I start to shriek again. However when he comes to a rest this time I am prepared, and manage to trap him in the pitcher. Ever so carefully, or rather, really quickly so that he doesn't escape and kill me, I put the glass on the pitcher like a lid and go downstairs to exact on my revenge on this midnight assassin. Creeping down the basement stairs, I take off the lid from the jar and prepare to release him into the wild Newport News area where he shall surely be eaten by a bird and I will be able to rest in peace. However, instead of flying out the door as I intended, he flew downstairs into the darkness of the basement, where he remains currently, zooming around as he plots and schemes how best to attack me once more.

And that, kids, is how I met my nemesis.

Ancient History

I'm a History major with a Latin Classical Studies minor. Do you know what that means?

I have like 6 papers due this semester, as well as 16 texts for 4 classes. That's not an exaggeration. It's a lot of reading, and a lot of studying & reviewing because it's a lot of information. And a lot to remember. But it's really fascinating.

Lucky Day

I would like to start this off by saying, ever since I upgraded to the 3GS almost a year ago, I have taken amazing care of my phone. It has a variety of protective cases. I don't really let other people mess with it. That thing is expensive! How many people are going to toss out a couple hundred bucks to get it fixed if they break it? Not many. So typically, no, you can't play with the iPhone. (I'm actually even more possessive of the iPad!)

Anyway, anyway, anyway. Today I have dropped my phone twice already, once onto the pavement in the parking garage and once on the floor of the bookstore. It thankfully landed face up both times and I was spared the ordeal of having to pay to replace a shattered screen.

I took this picture the morning of my last ride on Monty. Shortly after which, my phone took a tumble from my pocket onto the ground from up on my horse. Since it was wearing the bright pink iPhone case, it stood out well against the grass and I didn't have to search for it long, and that one is really, really well padded, so there wasn't any damage, but seriously.

I NEVER drop my phone and then this weekend I guess I have been careless with it, I am out of control!



You'll notice a trend with the pictures I take. I'm obsessed with looking through something - walkways, bridges, tunnels, the lane that leads out to open pastures - etc. Love it.

5ive

Remember that band? 5ive? "Baby when the lights go out..."
No?
Well I loved them when I was 12!

Anyway.
I haven't done 5 Question Friday (um, Monday) in over a month because life has been so crazy for me. I'll post some real information about my life shortly, but I had a chance after class today to do this and it was fun. Not as cool as Tricia's from Spoke, which was a vlog. That's a video-blog. It was awesome.

Here are my answers!

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so, what are they and how did they come about?
Like my dear friend Tricia, the name everyone calls me is technically a nickname. Libby is short for Elizabeth. I don't have many other nicknames - people call me Libs a lot, which is pretty straightforward. When I was at VI it was 'ibby (Libby without the L) because that's what the riding coach called me. But it's been years since anyone called me that.

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?
Technically, I have an older brother - he's 10 years older than I am and so essentially we were both raised as only children. We lived together for like 2 years only (He's a half brother) and I was too young to remember it, so I really am an only child.

3. In a movie about your life, who would play your signficant other?
Seth Rogen. David is way, way more attractive than Mr. Rogen, but he has the same laid back personality, the same charm, & Seth seems like such a nice guy which is just like David. And since Seth is a stoner (or plays one in the movies) he always seems to be relaxed and happy. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that my boyfriend is NOT a stoner. He's just a naturally relaxed person, which compliments me perfectly because he helps me to calm down. I'm such a high stress person that I need someone who is going to tell me to chill when I am over reacting. David is also incredibly funny, and Seth Rogen movies are some of my favorites because the man is hilarious. Anyway, I can't think of anyone else I would cast as David in a movie. (Tricia picked Mark Wahlberg for Derick, do you think Dave is going to be disappointed in my choice?)

By the way, I would be played by Rachel McAdams. Fo sho.

4. What is currently your favorite song?
"Got Money" by Lil Wayne and T-Pain. DON'T JUDGE ME!

5. Are you currently saving for anything?  Is it a big or small purchase?
I am saving but with nothing specific in mind, I have no money, and no job, so I am just trying to not buy stuff. Does that count?

Things I should be doing instead of watching baseball right now:
Packing for school
Laundry
Cleaning my room
Playing outside with the dogs
Riding my horse

But I'm not. I'm sitting on the couch and watching Zambrano throw lots of balls, preparing for a sweep from the Padres. I have four dogs sitting with me & I'm snuggled under my favorite blanket. Not a productive afternoon but I can't begin to explain how much I have enjoyed being able to relax a little since quitting my job last week; it has also given me more time to prepare for the coming semester, both mentally and otherwise.

I still have time to finish getting ready to leave; I did sleep for 12 hours last night and will pull an all nighter tonight if necessary.

I want to be here.

I haven't been to a baseball game since this was taken, in early June. I haven't had time; I've had other priorities and now the summer is nearly over and that seems like a serious oversight.

Every summer should have an excess of the following: horses, baseball, and friends.

The Difference Between Men and Women

This is how I would answer the following question:
Q: Is Nyjer Morgan playing tonight?
A: No, he got injured, I'm not sure what happened. I haven't seen him play for a few games now. I hope it's not serious! He is my favorite.

This is how a man* answers this question:
Q: Is Nyjer Morgan playing tonight?
A: No.
Q: Why not?
A. He's still hurt.
Q: What happened?
A: Hurt his hip.
Q: How?
A: I don't know.

It doesn't matter what the question is, it's just a difference between us. Men only want the minimum facts when they ask a question like that, so it's all they give you. Women want to know every detail about everything, so that's what they tell you- everything they know, plus some stuff that you didn't ask for, just for the hell of it.

*may or may not be based on an actual conversation.

Joey

Joey is our nine year old Golden Retriever. His favorite thing to do since he was a puppy is get dirty, we were sort of hoping he would grow out of it when he got to this age. No luck!

I'm Ready

Over the course of the last three days, my textbooks for the fall have arrived. It is unbelievable how many books I have- 5 classes, all of which have at least 3 books, 2 of which have 5. I went through them all and wrote my name on them, which took awhile, and I flipped through the pages of some of them.

I mentioned in my last post that I was itching to start studying, and I picked up Ovid's Metamorphosis and have hardly been able to put it down. It is really fantastic writing and I would recommend it for anyone who likes to read. I have it for my Classical Mythology class, one of the classes with 5 books. It seems this semester will be reading and writing heavy, a lot of work. But I think I am ready to go back, prepared for the workload and crazy hours I will spend studying. I intend to go to grad school in 2011 so I want to keep my grades up!

I've also dome some miscellaneous shopping in preparation. A nice new case for my iPad and another for my iPhone, as well as screen protectors for them both. And actually, we took my iPhone to the Apple store today because the battery life was so dreadful, and they ended up replacing it for free with a brand new iPhone 3GS! Neat. I have spent my night getting everything reloaded onto my phone and sinking some things onto my iPad.

But anyway, here are the reasons I am going to succeed at college this time around:
1. Having declared a major, 90% of the classes I am taking will be interesting to me, I have only a few random gen ed classes left to take, and even those won't be too bad.

2. I'm older, and more mature, so I am taking it all very seriously.

3. I've made a lot of mistakes over the course of my college career, more than most people when it comes to the academic side of them. I've learned from them, though, and I will be a better student because of it.

4. I have absolutely no doubt that I am attending the very best school for me. I've been to enough colleges to be able to sway that accurately and with confidence.

5. I won't have the distraction of dorm life to keep me up late, which always resulted in skipping class and not getting work done. I have my schedule set up so that I can spend a lot of time in the library between classes, and my 95 year old roommate won't be begging me to stay up playing Mario Kart at midnight.


Those are the big ones, I am sure if I really tried I could think of more. A little closer to when I leave I am going to post an updated version of the goals I have set for myself this fall.

Two Things I Love

"He studied Latin like the violin, because he liked it."
-Robert Frost, "Death of the Hired Man"

Two of my favorite things: Latin, and Robert Frost.

I'm sitting here on my bed with a pile of Latin textbooks, and I couldn't be more excited about returning to school this fall. As much as I'm looking forward to my history major, I'm looking forward to my Latin minor.

I have my Latin text from when I took the same class 5 years ago- they use the same one. Is it too early to start studying?

Also. I ordered textbooks for the fall today- I forgot how expensive this was. It's pretty ridiculous- college should be affordable so that more people can have the chance to go. Don't you want the young adults of our country to be well educated? I feel like that should be more important to the people making books for higher education, but I guess it is too much to ask for consideration in that regard.

That's a compliment

Obviously you shouldn't take much store in internet quizzes, but I thought this was a fun little one worth passing on:

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

King's "On Writing" is one of my favorite pieces and I do use it as a bit of a guide for what to and what not to do - if you like to write I highly recommend buying a copy for yourself.