Haven't changed my pants

Did not wash my hair today

Mostly laid in bed

I heard this song for the first time when I was in a car on the way to a hike with a group of people I didn't know at all. I wrote down a few lyrics to look it up later. I also heard Handlebars during that ride, and both bring back happy (though confli ted because of the subject matter ) memories. That group of people ended up being my friend group during college so far.

The Power of Babel (John McWhorter) and a book of short stories written by the author of The Lottery.

Might need to contact a tattoo artist soon.

I live very close to my campus, so I just walk. I either walk or bus to pretty much everything else, besides some carpooling to weekly events. I have a bike but am not very experienced. I didn't learn to ride a bike until 10 or 11 and haven't done much riding off of trails. I don't know how to ride a bike on the road and am kind of terrified of cars. Hopefully this year I'll grow the confidence to bring it out and ride it downtown.

I usually just read on my phone (with Twilight installed to cut out blue light) in bed for half an hour, but that's probably not a good thing. If I'm having a hard time sleeping I try to tense up all my muscles from my toes to my head until I'm all tense, then release. If I do that 2 or 3 times I usually feel really heavy and tired and am ready to go to sleep. If I don't need to fall asleep right away, a podcast or two usually makes me fall asleep eventually.

My parents were very Republican while I was growing up. My mom has started leaning left due to some particularly bad republican politicians in our state (especially regarding their policies on education, since she's a teacher) as well as shifts in her stances on social issues. My dad (who divorced my mom quite a while ago) on the other hand is the kind of republican I hate. The only topics he seems to care about are gun rights and immigration. Wow he can be racist sometimes.

Then there's me. I honestly know very little about politics in general (and would appreciate any 101 style resources you guys have), but I know I'm not as far right as my dad and I know he'd kill me if I called myself a democrat. Libertarian maybe? I'm 18 now so I'll have to vote soon, but I feel like I understand very little.

I've rock climbed once and while I loved the puzzle of getting up, I absolutely hated going down and didn't particularly enjoy the heights either. I was told I might enjoy bouldering more, so I'm going to check out a gym nearby that offers it. How easy do you think bouldering is to get into? Hope your hand heals soon!

It's more of an interest than a hobby, but I love linguistics. Several years ago I read What Language Is by John McWhorter and realized that the questions I'd been asking about language were questions asked and (sometimes) answered by linguistics. I'm actually majoring in linguistics as well as Communication Sciences and Disorders. I don't think linguistics is a practical field for me at this time but I'm very lucky that I'm able to study it anyway, and go into a similar field (Speech Therapy in schools). I'm still holding out for the day that I can just get a PHD and become a professor..

I kept a journal semi-daily back in middle school, where I'd write about my day and various angsty musings. I continued keeping a journal into high school and college, but it's become a less regular thing. Sometimes I write daily (or more), but often I'll go weeks between writing. My journal is sometimes for deep thoughts, sometimes for writing down stories (fictional or nonfictional), and sometimes for to-do lists. I always say I'm going to start journalling more regularly, but I'm not sure if that's because I actually think it will help me, or because I'm holding onto the romantic notion that my journals are literature that will be read and admired years after my death, and therefore I need to write more.