Lately--mainly after I've come back to school from spring break--things have been very different for me. I've realized that my problem with this school isn't the fact that I am socially inept or socially awkward or anything like that, but rather the fact that I simply don't enjoy being around the people here because they don't offer me anything new or refreshing. I was very bitter about it for a long time because I thought that there might be something wrong with me, because everyone who went here seemed to be in love with this school. But now I'm not so upset about it because I've realized that the problem isn't my fault. I made a mistake in coming to this school, but I'm glad that I did because it's helped me to figure out what I think would make me happier, which is to be surrounded by new culture and compassionate people. As I've been discovering this, things have been a little better in way, because I've stopped caring about what the people here think of me. I wear what I want, I don't feel self-conscious if my hair is greasy, I've stopped bothering to wear makeup and most importantly I've stopped being so polite to everyone here because some people just don't appreciate or deserve it. I'm not saying that every student who goes here is mean or a bad person or anything like that, but for the most part, the best way that I can describe the student body is a group of high schoolers who are trying to pretend like they're in college by being accepting and open, when really they're still too used to the segregated cliques and unwritten social customs of high school that they don't even realize how they haven't changed or evolved.
So basically I have no idea what I am going to do next fall...I might go here for the first semester and then transfer to a new school for the spring semester, or I might go to PSU in the fall and then transfer to a different school, or I might take a gap year or a gap semester...I just don't know right now, but I'm trying not to stress about it. And SPEAKING of stress, I don't know if you guys listened to my show today, but I talked about something called Transcendental Meditation which is this amazing thing that I've been researching a little bit over the past couple days. I learned about it when I was watching this movie called "Man on the Moon" about Andy Kaufman (who I'm developing a big ol' fan girl crush on) because he was supposedly really devoted to it. It's incredible. It was developed in the 70's by yogi Ravi Shankar and it's used by a bunch of famous people like David Lynch (there's actually a video of him talking about it on dat youtube that's really interesting), Oprah Winfrey, The Beatles and I'm sure a bunch of other people. I'm going to be really bad at explaining it because it's really complicated and I don't even fully understand how it works, but basically it's a way to experience a state of pure consciousness, which is awesome because what it does is let's your mind find it's own natural path to happiness rather than being controlled. (I know that probably makes no sense but I'm really bad at explaining). Also, it supposedly raises your IQ because--and I think this is the coolest part--it allows the left and right sides of your brain to communicate with each other, and what that does is allows you to utilize a larger percent of your brain power. Cause you know how you only use like 10 or 15% or something of your brain? This let's you just use more of it, and this raises your IQ which is cool, but what's more amazing is that it allows you relate better to other people, and makes you more compassionate because using different parts of your brain helps you to rationalize situations. I know it might sound kind of ~fishy~ and/or ~drug induced~ but another cool thing about it is that it's recommended that you don't use drugs of any kind if you practice TM because it clouds your brain and makes it more difficult to achieve pure consciousness. Also, fun fact that my dad told me today, yoga is based off of TM! Anyway I think I really want to try it, maybe this summer if anyone wants to join me...you take four consecutive classes (you're supposed to be able to master it in four days) and then after that you're supposed to meditate twice a day. I'll post some links at the end of this so you know I'm not making it all up...heh. I feel like I'm coercing you guys to join a cult. MEDITATE WITH ME OR DIE.
Another lil' thang I've been majorly into as of late is Gogol Bordello. I've always liked their music but I recently watched a documentary about them called "Non-Stop" and it fucking blew my mind. It was amazing and the lead singer, Eugene Hutz, is probably one of the most incredible people/musicians ever. So. If you wanna get down on some gypsy punk, listen to them. I think all of you have Start Wearing Purple but you should look up Through the Roof 'n Underground and Alcohol and Immigrant Punk. Those are my favorites. And that concludes this long-ass post.
Sophia, apologies for basically repeating everything from my letter on here! I am excited to get yours. As always, I miss you and love you all very very much. Here's a link of Yogi Maharishi Mahesh talkin' bout TM. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc-A49r2F0w Here's another video of a very peculiar man also talking about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjT831cjaUY and here's David Lynch talking about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvB-faw1WvY
Love Elaina
