Random Ramblings Edition #2: Life Quotes

**This post was initially written in March 2012 and was updated over the last few weeks.  Enjoy a flashback to freshman in college Kat.**

Confession:  I have a slight obsession with quotes. 

Many times when I'm feeling a specific emotion I search for a quote....sadness, happiness, excitement, remorse, anger, remembrance, etc.  Here is a compilation of some of my favorites:

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

"Tough times don't last, but tough people do."

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." -J.K. Rowling

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." -Dr. Seuss

"Reach for the moon, even if you miss you'll still land among the stars."

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." -Winston Churchill

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." -Winston Churchill

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." -Abraham Lincoln

"I'd rather choke on greatness, than nibble on mediocrity."

"For what it's worth...it's never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be.  There's no time limit.  Start whenever you want.  You can change or stay the same.  There are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people who have a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you're not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

"If you want to change things, you can't please everyone.  If you do please everyone, you aren't making enough progress." -Mark Zuckerberg

"The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have." -Sheryl Sandberg

Have an outstanding weekend.
Kat

Thoughts on the First Week of Summer

I was REALLY excited to go home for summer this year.  To chill, relax, run, sleep way more than normal....but right before I left school and continuing into my first week of summer I have come to a couple conclusions:

1.  This summer is not so much about the hellos as it is about the goodbyes.
2.  People grow. And change. And .....
3.  I'm not going to have an actual summer.
4.  At this point in the summer everyone has hit cruise and I'm still pulling off of the brakes.

Conclusion #1:  This summer is not so much about the hellos as it is about the goodbyes.

Saying goodbye to my friends from school was exceptionally difficult.  We've gone through a lot together...lots of amazing moments and a few hard times.  Living together definitely brings another level to a friendship and I'm so grateful that I was able to bond with so many people.

While saying hello to all of my friends from home has been nice, for me it has been greatly overshadowed by the fact that at the end of the summer I will be saying goodbye for a lengthy period of time.  Yes.  I'll be home for Thanksgiving.  I'll probably be home for part of winter break.  Maybe, I'll be home for spring break.  But I don't think I'll be coming back for the summer.  Chances are great that this is the last time that I will be spending large amounts of time with people from home.

This is my last summer at home.  My last opportunity to strengthen my relationships with the people I grew up with.   My last time to create bonds and get things straight.  To in a way find closure in relationships.  After this summer all of these relationships are up against time.  We move in the direction of Christmas card friends, checking up only with important news and or a yearly Christmas update.  It's kind of depressing that the relationships that I've been fostering for the last 19 years hinge on the next 3 months.

Conclusion #2:  People Grow.  And Change.  And .....

A lot of the people that I've grown up with have changed.  It isn't bad or good change.  It's just change. They've had different experiences then I have.  They have new sets of friends that have influenced them.  They hang out with different people and value different things in friendships.  I've come to realize that I don't have any control over these situations and it's best to accept what's happening and move on.  Another thing that has influenced me this summer is that I no longer care about the people who don't care.  If people want to make and effort to hang out, then I'm willing to hang out with them and make the effort back.  However, I'm not going to go out of my way to contact people who don't care.

Conclusion #3:  I'm not going to have an actual summer.

I finished my last final on Thursday, June 7th at 5 pm.  Caught a flight home at 9:21 am on Friday, June 8th, and was in the office from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, June 9th.  My normal work schedule (7am-3pm M-F) began the first Monday I was home....meaning that unlike everyone else who got 3 to 4 weeks to chill and SLEEP before starting their summer jobs, I went directly from school to work and then will go directly back to school in the fall.  I'll be moving back into NU on the Saturday after my last Friday of work (I think we're at 78 days?)!

Complaining but not really.  This is real life.  No more long breaks where you chill for endless hours and spend a whole day deciding what to do just because you can waste that much time.  That's for spring break....duh (and middle/high schoolers).

Adulthood here I come.

Conclusion #4:  At this point in the summer everyone has hit cruise and I'm still pulling off of the breaks.

All of my friends were home for a good 3-5 weeks before I even finished my last final.  Meaning that they've all caught up with each other, talked about their year at school, and are utterly bored by sitting around for hours doing nothing.  ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE SHINY AND NEW TO ME!!!  I want to lay in my bed for hours sleeping.  I don't care about staying out until 3 am in the morning because that's what the school year is for!  This is summer.

People have started to get a little restless.  College is a constant experience where every moment is something new and exciting.  Being at home is chill.  Everything is familiar and you can only enjoy the calm and quiet for a little before it gets a little tedious.  I'm not at that point yet, which is a stark contrast to lots of my friends from home.

Keep it chill.
Kat

Life Analysis: Swimmin'

SKIP TO THE BOTTOM FOR ANALYSIS.

For those of you who don't know me personally one of the biggest aspects of my life for the last 10+ years has been swimming.  I started swimming when I was 4 or 5 and took swim lessons until 2nd or 3rd grade.  I always thought I would be a dancer, but when all my friends from dance started doing competition dancing and my parents wouldn't let me, I decided to put all of my time and energy into swimming.  At first I tried the whole do swimming and dancing but it quickly became too much.  In the beginning of 3rd grade my competitive instinct took over.  I hung up my tap shoes and ballet slippers for good.

5th grade was when it started getting a little more intense.  My relay placed 4th at the state meet which was a very memorable experience because we not only got to go up on the podium in front of everyone but I also got my first taste of what hard work could do.  Middle school and early high school summers were filled with 6:00-8:30 am practices Monday through Friday with doubles, weights from 2:00-3:00 and practice from 3:00-5:00 pm MWF.  During the school year I would go to practice before school at 5:30 and after my dad would pick me up with oatmeal in a thermos to eat on the drive to school.  After school I would go home and do my homework so that I could go to practice again in the evenings.

During the summer before my 7th grade year my parents decided that it might be a good idea for me to try out for the high school team.  My mom and I went to visit and I was a little intimidated by all the older girls.  I decided that I needed another year before I would feel ready to join the team so I waited and then joined the team my 8th grade year.  For some reason I joined the team a little late so I missed the first couple of meets, however at my first high school meet my coach put me in my first varsity race, the 200 freestyle.  I'm actually terrible at freestyle but I still remember getting 5th place and scoring my first point!!!

Junior and senior years of high school were when life and swimming collided.  Up until my junior year I had thought that I would for certain swim in college.  I really wanted the experience of being a collegiate athlete and I thought that swimming was the most important part of my life.  I not only trained a ridiculous amount those two years, around 20 hours a week, but I also met a really solid group of friends who were not swimmers who I am still really close with to this day.  My times also improved dramatically and I achieved my first set of speedo cuts in the 100 fly and 100 bk.

In the end I decided to not swim in college because I wanted a more classic college experience.  I wanted the opportunity to be involved on campus, and not be confined to just making friends with the girls on the team and the other athletes.  This has probably been one of the best decisions that I've ever made.  So far I've not only gotten to know some of the most interesting and intelligent people I've ever met but I have also met some of my best friends.  The people that I've met in college have really made my experience thus far and I'm so thankful to have them in my life.

I learned a lot in my many years of swimming:  time management, hard work, determination, preservation, setting goals, dreaming big, believing in the impossible, focus, courage, strength, discipline.  But more importantly I learned that while all those characteristics are important and have helped to make me who I am it is equally important to have great friends standing by your side and enjoying every moment of life.

MOST INCREDIBLE RACE I'VE EVER SEEN. #whyiswim #lessonsappliedtolife

Oh.  And a side note.  I'm still swimming.

JKS.
Kat

  

Serious Business.

Up until this point I have mainly used my blog to post about random things, like what I did that day or things that I like or don't like.  However, I want to change gears a little bit today and talk about a more serious issue.  When I originally had the idea to create a blog I wanted to include discussions on current events and issues prevalent to our society, with the goal being to inform and stimulate discussion.  This will be the first post of hopefully many to come on a "hot topic", with the topic being foreign aid.

I'm currently taking a class about ethical problems and public issues in our society.  During class we've touched on same sex marriage, the death penalty, pornography, assisted suicide and many other controversial topics.  The class has opened my eyes to a lot of opinions and views that different people hold.  I've always said that a lot of problems that our society faces cannot be easily solved because in many cases both sides are correct to some extent.  My in class discussion today on foreign aid made that blatantly clear....

An introduction to the issue:

Hunger and poverty are undeniably major issues in our world today.  According to the United Nation's Human Development Report 2005, over a billion people survive on less than a dollar a day while another 1.5 billion people survive on between 1 and 2 dollars a day.  That means about 2.5/6 billion or 42% of the worlds population live on less than $2 a day.  On top of this the population of those living in poverty is doubling approximately every 35 years, while the population of those living in wealthy nations is doubling every 87 years.

So, as human beings do we have a responsibility to help those who are living in poverty?  In many cases the living conditions of those living in poverty are brought on in part because of inefficient and/or corrupt political and business institutions, meaning that many people have no choice in what their standard of living is.  They're completely innocent.  But on the other side are handouts really the best way to stimulate a broken economy and improve the living standard?  One of the main arguments against foreign aid is that by giving handouts wealthy countries are discouraging people from trying to create a better life and become independent.  The classic proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," is automatically brought to mind.

Other interesting thoughts/questions on this topic.
-What determines a proper living standard?  Is it when people are no longer hungry?  Is it when people are capable of becoming educated?
-Should eliminating poverty in our own country be ahead of helping the poorest countries in the world?
-How can we stimulate economic growth in countries where corrupt governments are in place?
-Should developing countries be able to use unclean resources as a means to kick-start economic growth?
-Is limiting population growth a way to limit poverty?

Ready to chat.
Kat