musings from doheny...

No matter what mood I'm in, two places can make me instantaneously happy. One is where I'm currently sitting, Doheny Library, and the other is the view of downtown L.A.

I know we had a 3 day weekend, but when I woke up this morning I was still very tired. I've had a cough the last few days and I just haven't been feeling 100%. Anyway, I knew one of my classes had been canceled today, so I would have a 3 hour break in the afternoon. I planned on coming home to fix lunch and take a nap, but as I was leaving for my morning class the maids showed up. They usually stay for about 5 hours and I don't like being in their way while they work. Long story short, I am not taking a nap. Instead I am in one of my favorite places on campus, Doheny Library, and decided to attempt a blog post.
I know what you're thinking, "Poor Taylor and her maids..." but we actually got them for free! This semester our apartment complex needed units to tour for people interested in living here next year, and we volunteered our apartment. We figured we had a bit of an advantage over other apartments because we don't have a hookah or bong anywhere. Management approved it and now they provide weekly maid service and at the end of the semester they will provide a deep clean for our carpet! It is amazing, to say the least. Supposedly we are going to have tours through our apartment throughout the week, but we've only had one tour and it lasted all of 5 minutes while we continued watching When Harry Met Sally.
Our apartment is on a bit of a lucky streak. When we returned from winter break, our gas on our stove had been turned off. We used it all of last semester, but when we started talking about it, we realized no one was responsible for the gas bill. When I called the gas company, they informed me that the account had been closed back in JUNE! I told her we had continued to have gas through December and she replied, "Well, I guess you had free gas for a semester." Awesome.
Well, this past week was my birthday. The big 22. So far I hate it. Jasmine, one of my roommates, has her birthday the day before mine, and another roommate, Jennifer, has hers a couple weeks before. We celebrated together in one big party on Thursday night. It was our first party at the apartment this year, and aside from being closed down by campus police at 1 A.M. (maybe that was the end of our lucky streak), I think it was quite a success. I've made really amazing friends at USC over the past few years, and it was fun to celebrate with them. Props to my white friends who made it out... parties at our apartment can often feel like an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. ;)
In other news, one of my best friends just got engaged this weekend! I've accepted the next few Valentine's Days of my life will continue this way with my friends getting engaged. I'm so excited for her, and I love her fiancé! They are really great together. Their wedding also means I will be in Hawaii in December. Sweet. I look forward to the next coming months as she picks out her dress and plans all the fun details. I'm a little sad I'll only be able to live with her in Utah until December, but at least we will still be in the same place after they get married! We have tentative plans to go out to Utah in March for a few days to look for places to live. I'm happy I'll be able to see my sister at BYU too.
Anyway, I guess I should get studying.

postsecret

My favorite PostSecret of the week...

highlight of my week...

This past week I went with the softball team to see the basketball team play against Cal. It was a really great game that came down to the last second! The best part was seeing our quarterback Matt Barkley at the end of the game, though. I love USC football and I'm sad I won't be in the student section next year, but I'm excited for the potential the team has in the next couple years!

personal creativity

The other day my occupational therapy professor gave us a list of how to enhance personal creativity. They may seem silly or simple to you, but I just thought I'd share.

How to enhance personal creativity:

1. Try to be surprised by something every day.
2. Try to surprise at least one person every day.
3. Write down what surprised you and how you surprised others.
4. When something strikes an interest, follow it.
5. Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to.
6. Do things well. Anything done well is enjoyable.
7. To enjoy something, increase complexity.
8. Take charge of your daily schedule.
9. Make time for reflection and relaxation.
10. Shape your space. Take control of your environment.
11. Find out what you love and hate about life. Especially pay attention to the people you're around and how you feel when you're with them.
12. Do more of what you love and less of what you hate.
13. Develop what you lack.
14. Shift from openness to closure. Be open and receptive on one hand, but focused on another.
15. Aim for complexity.
16. Express what moves you.
17. Look at problems from as many ways as possible.

do not fear what you don't really know

... and I really don't know anything about blogging.

I will be the first to admit I read and openly mock many of the blogs out there these days. It has taken me a long time to get to this point where I feel comfortable starting one. Talking it over with my sister, we agreed as long as I didn't go on endlessly about headbands with huge flowers and how much I love Anthropologie and how much money I saved this week at my favorite thrift store, it was okay. Now that I've successfully offended a few people, I'll get started.

One big reason I wanted to start a blog was because of various people back home who I don't talk to as often as I used to or would like to. I love reading about what they're doing and funny things that happen to them. Let's be real, I'm a student. My life doesn't consist of much more than studying, eating, and sleeping, but hopefully this blog will keep those close to me updated on the highlights that happen along the way.
The second reason I'm doing this is because I'm taking a Occupational Therapy class this semester (recommended by my occupational therapy friend who reads and mocks blogs one hundred times more than I do) that is a creativity workshop. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I registered for the class, but so far I really love it! I feel like majoring in neuroscience for the past three and a half years has kind of cut off the blood flow to the right side of my brain and stunted my creativity. So far this class has really helped me to value creative expression in myself and in the world around me. I guess I'd like to also keep this blog to talk about the things that inspire me. There you have it.