Long Time Gone

If you were really smart, you'd know that the title of this blog is the title of a song. 

And if you were even smarter, you'd know that the song was sung by the Dixie Chicks. 

Personally one of my ultimate favs. 

I haven't blogged in an extremely long time, and I can't decide if that's me trying to make it interesting or just being lazy. Either way, I've been a long time gone. 

It's a brand new year. BRAND NEW. We are pretty lucky that some things magically become new in our lives - (years, weeks, days). It doesn't even take effort. You can sit on your butt and experience something new without even trying. That's the beauty of time. But for 2014, I'm not planning on sitting on my butt (well, like, not all the time). Here's my short list of plans for 2014:

1. I'm going to get the heck out of my Spanish class because I thought I could skip Spanish I and take Spanish II, but that was a joke. I was the girl in class who had to ask what the professor was saying. 

2. I'm going to become less "white girl". I really need to stay away from the Ugg boots. They make me feel like I'm wearing potatoes as shoes. 

3. I'm going to have a kick butt job over the summer. Whether it's working for a cruise line or in a national park, I want to do something awesome. 

4. I'm going to appreciate where I am. I spent a long time hating Truman State University. I didn't think it was the school for me, but now things seem to be coming together. I think this is where I belong. 

5. Finally, I'm going to be myself. This doesn't seem like a hard thing to do, but it is because I don't even know who I am.

I think one of the phrases I used often over winter break, especially New Years, was "I don't need no man". AND IT IS SO TRUE. I spent so much of my high school life dating boys and never getting time just to discover who I was and who I wanted to be. So, now it's time. Brand new year, and not a brand new boy.  

I just want to live to feel alive. That's the ultimate goal - feeling like you're meant to be on this Earth. 

I hope your year is full of great things that get you off your butt. Get groovy my people - it's 2014. 

And as the Dixie Chicks would say, "I caught wind and hit the road runnin'"

Catch some wind and hit the road to a glorious fabulous life. 

Xoxo,

Olivia Leyette

- you thought I was gonna say gossip girl 

Necessities

Here's something new: I'm appendix-less!

For those of you who don't know this feeling, I'm sorry.
Over my midterm break (thank you to whoever caused my appendicitis while I didn't have classes) I had an appendectomy and spent too many hours thinking I would not be able to continue on without such a useless organ. I thought I would come back to school and be helpless, but here I am doing just fine. My friends made me cookies, I got "Get Well Soon" cards, and when everyone asks how I am doing I proudly show my scars and tell them I'm gonna be okay.

The crazy thing is that no one really NEEDS their appendix. It's just a pointless organ in the human body. People literally depend on it for nothing, so what's the big deal? Sometimes I like to joke and say I feel so lost without my appendix but in reality I'm one step closer to the best me that I can be. I'm literally getting rid of the unnecessary things in my life; and the more I get rid of the more room I have for the necessities.


love, love, love.

 - Liv

Where'd All the Good People Go?

Okay, first things first:
1. If you haven't heard Jack Johnson's song "Good People" click here.
2. If you live at least 10 min from a state park and haven't visited it, you're wrong. It's a beautiful day. Go now.
3. One bug was harmed during the writing of this blog. I accidentally chewed it up because it magically found it's way into my McDonald's sweet tea.
4. You might not agree with what I say, and hey that's okay!


I am currently sitting on a peninsula at Thousand Hills State park in Kirksville, Mo, surrounded by a lake and tall trees with juvenile bald eagles soaring above my head. This scene is what inspired the message below:

I am a firm believer that beauty is everywhere. It is in the wind (Pocahontas reference). It is in people. It is in the world.
We, human beings, live in a world full of beautiful things, but obviously we have to survive and to do so we must destroy. No matter how many times they prayed to the spirits, Native Americans still cut down huge sycamore trees for canoes. The tree huggers in New York are walking on destroyed ground covered by a concrete jungle. Destroy isn't necessarily a negative term here, just truthful. This destruction of the beauty around us MUST remind people to appreciate. So next time you flush the toilet (average 3.5 gallons per flush) be appreciative that you aren't pooping in the woods wiping your butt with poison ivy.
My optimistic outlook may not convince you, whoever you may be, but you must know that YOU belong to this world of beauty. There is stress and hardships all around you, but somewhere nearby is a beautiful reason for living. Given the chance to belong here, it is your duty to appreciate the beauty in your life, whether it be the ground supporting each step you take, or the kid who sits next to you in class and looks off your paper making you feel a little bit better about yourself.
Now, I'm not an environmental psycho or tree hugger, but I do not think it's right to waste beautiful things without appreciation. I'm also not much of a believer in a higher creator, but I am a believer in myself. I believe I can create a beautiful life from the beautiful things around me, and I believe you can too.

So to answer the question (spoken in an Albus Dumbledore voice):
 appreciate people, for then you will have found the good.


bah dum tsss.

My life without AC

I live in a dorm with zero air conditioning.
Please, take a second and imagine that. It's almost 90 degrees. Everything is sticky. 

Literally, everything is sticky. After I get done typing this, I will slowly peel my arms from this sticky desk and then keep living my life while trying not to touch myself because my entire body is sticky too. 

However, there are stickier things than CHall room 5101. For example, all of the sticky situations of this world. Like eating asparagus: do you want the pleasure of eating it so badly that you'll let everyone smell your pee tomorrow morning in the community bathroom? Or maybe your professor said something really hilarious and you want to laugh but no one else is laughing.. do you start the laugh hoping others join in or sit back and find a different way to brown nose? We all have our fair share of them, but what happens when the decision can't be made. College is a whole new world (que Jasmine and Aladdin) and my mom isn't here to help me. Which I am extremely sad about, but then again glad that I'm being forced to do things for myself. 

Seriously, what happens now? These sticky situations surround me. They surround all of us. We all wish for an easy way out; someone to tell us what to do, how to live, and which Frat house to party at. This free life is eating me alive. 

The real answer to the sticky situation is to do what will make you happy. Sometimes- only sometimes- we human beings have the right to be selfish. If we weren't selfish: how would we love, live, or learn? Today, make a decision. Choose happiness. Get out of your sticky room. Embrace the unairconditioned life; it's making you do things for you. 



Signed,
Olivia Leyette

Summer Reading

Some colleges assign summer reading, and most students don't read it. Well, I just completed my summer reading about two minutes ago as I sat on my rug in my unairconditioned dorm room.
The essay was titled "Of the Wings of Atlanta" by W.E.B. Du Bois; and let me tell you- I barely understood any of it. However, there was one specific part that made me think "okay, now I know why they make us read this." Here is the quote:

“The function of the university is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a centre of polite society; if is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment from which forms the secret of civilization.”

How fitting. We all want to go to college for the degree and eventually we earn the degree and get a job and live in this demanding world, but the things we learn at college will be much more than the classes we take. Already, I have learned that if you go to a party and need to take your key, you should just attach it to a pony tail and wear it around your wrist. What college professor is gonna teach me that? I know, there are so many other things I could use as an example but it is something every freshman girl needs to know. So if you are reading, please take the tip.

Above all, I am excited for this new adventure. I'm ready to learn life and to find my place in this society. I'm ready to go to my Truman class and have no idea what the essay is about except for this quote. So thanks Truman, for making me read this essay, because I was able to write a whole blog about it. You go Bulldogs! 

Pocahontas

I'm a big fan of Disney, especially, the princesses. My top four favorite are Mulan, Ariel, Pocahontas, and Repunzel and I feel like I need to explain why.

Each princess has a particular quality I admire. 

Mulan: Bravery

Not only does she pretend to be a man to fight for her father, but she also takes on huge risks to find herself as a human being. 

Ariel: Curiosity 

To be knowledgable we must first be curious, and that's exactly what Ariel is. She is eager to learn and know more about the new world. She may have made a dumb mistake, but that mistake allowed her to discover new things. 

Pocahontas: Adventurous 

Pocahontas is smart and always up for adventure. She enjoys nature and everything it has to offer. She is risk taking, especially with her love affair with John Smith. 

Repunzel: Hard-Working

All her life she has lived in a tower with an evil lady whom forced her to work her butt off. Repunzel has to clean, cook, and provide for herself. Once she leaves the castle she does all that she can to save not only herself but her new hottie Flynn. 

So there you have it. Sorry that I'm not much a fan of the lucky Cinderella, naive Snow White, or helpless Sleeping Beauty. We all have our own opinions though.

For a long time Pocahontas wasn't on the list, but after watching the movie last week I changed my mind. 

Pocahontas was forced to accept change, and not only does she accept the change - she embraces it. She finds love and acceptance from it. All of which are things I am hoping to do while I experience the huge change of COLLEGE. I just want to belong, while soaking up all the knowledge I can. I want to take on every opportunity and then maybe over time I will be able "to paint with all the colors of the wind".

Facebook

I got my wisdom teeth cut out of my mouth on Tuesday, and since that day I have done nothing.

When people are forced to lie around their house they might watch TV, spend time on social media, or finish off a whole gallon of ice cream. I was able to do all of the above in six days. 

This morning I actually spent time on Facebook, and I went all the way back to view statuses I posted in 2007. One of the statuses I posted in 2010 was "take me to a place where love is like breathing" and I thought that one was pretty good. 

In 2010, I didn't know that my future would be full of love and friendship. In 2010, I didn't even know MASC (Missouri Association of Student Councils) was a thing. In 2011, I went to MASC camp for the first time and found friendships that lasted. I found true friends that would love me for who I am. In 2012, I became a JC (junior counselor) at camp and started in on my senior year. I became a part of a program called Earth's Classroom that allowed me to discover the beauty of nature. Finally in 2013, I graduated with a class full of people that I wanted to escape and became the head JC at camp. All of these experiences have led me to a place where love is like breathing, but that place is not camp, the outdoors, school, or even my house. That place is everywhere. 

Everywhere you go there is love and beauty. You just have to find it. You can't sit back on your couch watching HGTV and expect life to hit you in the face. You have to get out. Meet people. Discover the new. This world is where you belong. Love and appreciate what you have including the people around you, and I promise one day you'll be able to love like breathing. 

So thank you, Facebook, for allowing me to reflect on my past and be grateful for this world I belong in.