Shakespearean Fancies

Confession: I graduated as an English major without ever really studying Shakespeare. Of course I encountered bits in classes here and there; but with great regret, I never got the chance to take the famed Ralph Williams Shakespeare course (like Connie did - yes, I'm still jealous). Luckily for me, Professor Williams has been making these clips exploring the timelessness of Shakespeare's works in his uniquely dramatic flair. I hope to watch all of these at once when I'm done with school in about 2 months (ahh!).

You can find the whole collection here: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/archives?classification=spotlight%20shakespeare

Ingrid Michaelson's Skinny Love

If you couldn't already tell from this and that, I really love covers. Often times, I end up liking them more than the originals. This is an example of such a song.

Some side notes: I got free tickets and watched Ingrid perform live a few weeks ago with some classmates. Also, Debbie will be having this Ingrid song playing in her wedding ceremony by her future brother-in-law. It will be gorgeous and I can't wait.

Quotability

"But for us, it's different. Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

Carl Sagan

(photo of the East Coast from space by NASA)

Social Promiscuity

So I think the reason why I've been more and more infrequent in my posting, besides the obvious school responsibilities, is perhaps my increasing participation in the modes of social networking. I've joined the likes of Instagram (because of my iPhone) and Twitter (because of my classmates), both of which I am warming up to more and more. There's less of a commitment to quality idea-expansion and coherent, cohesive expressions of thoughts and sadly is thus easier to use during fly-by moments during the day.

However, if any recall, it was this very responsibility of developing and following through with ideas and thoughts that drew me back to blogging in the first place. Especially now in the constant barrage of transient fancies and attention deficits, I hope to continue this meager exercize of writing in complete sentences when I can.

Anyway, here is my long-winded and bashful invitation to find me on Instagram (parachutesandpatience) and Twitter (cschen08) where you will find surely the "quantity over quality"-type posts, but hopefully with more pictures and possibly slightly more witty one-liners than you'll find here...

"Got Heart" Ring

This is my first piece of "everyday wear" jewelery that I actually wear all the time. I bought this Got Heart ring on sale from a little East Village jewelery boutique, on kind of a whim during my winter break. Of course, only Helen could bring me to a place as quintessentially New York as Verameat. She, along with my sister, were integral in my decision. Having worn this ring daily for a few months now, I feel like it was a worthy purchase. This buying nice jewelery for oneself - perhaps a physically small item, but significant in a young woman's life. At least for me, it is a daily reminder of what I'm capable of, my independence to find my own happiness, and the recognition of my own self-worth.

Happy Monday to all.

Amazing Paths

Back from Spring Break (more on this later!) and I'm feeling wanderlusty already. These pictures are from an email my sister sent me. Gorgeousness.

(we drove through roads like this when we were driving to Yellowstone!)