These things I have accepted:

I feel like making a list, and like a little introspection. So here goes.

1. I want to be eccentric. It's allowed here. High School was good time to learn how to mold the dough, now I get to decide what shape it will be. And I feel like violating norms and breaking social groups. At the same time, I feel like a quiet, unwatched life is not a bad thing.

2. I will not like school. I don't know why. I love learning. But University is no different. Maybe it would've been different with tutorials at Oxford or tiny, intimate classes at Reed. But maybe not. I will happily read articles and academic books and listen to lectures on my iPod as I walk, but I don't like class times and homework and the regimented joblike feel of it. If I'm not producing a product, I don't need to be efficient. Learning should be as inefficient as possible, because how else will you stumble on new things? That's a slight exaggeration, but not that much of one.

3. Learning a new language is going to be a massive struggle for me. At least in an academic setting. For Chinese I don't have the discipline to really get on it by myself. And I know I'll regret it. But it's rote memorization at a very basic level and that's really difficult to commit to. I'd say "learn a language" cd/tape/iTunes audio might be the way to go, but I might just tune out. Worth a try.

4. For whatever reason, I'm always going to do the confidant thing. Schedule blocks of time to listen. It's a nice closeness thing once in a while, but not constantly.

5. Balance is not necessarily for me. I was going to say, "I need to find something outside drama", but not really. I love it when I have it. And then I love it when it's over. That's not a bad way to live, if a bit of an exhausting one. Downtime also gets me going creatively.

6. It would be good to have a day a week where I put the computer in a desk drawer and leave it there. No internet (email, blog, tv online, facebook, blogs...the list goes on). Have an afternoon blocked out to go to a coffee shop and read something I like.

7. I have been keeping in better touch with people at home this year, especially on Skype, especially since Jordan. For whatever reason, I think that trip clicked something in me that said, "you can have friends here, AND at home". And that's a very good thing.

8. I go to bed far too late.

9. I want to throw weekly, or fortnightly, parties. Because it's a good way to hang out with people you don't know well until you know them well enough to actually hang out. There are loads of people I'd like to see more but would feel awkward asking on a personal basis.

10. It's the modern day, I have an information IV drip. Try to hang out with interesting people, look at, listen to and read interesting things. Fail miserably. Damn you internet.

11. If I spend that much time on my computer, I should really know (research) how to use it. If I spend that much time on the internet, I should be using it rather than the other way around. This doesn't mean spending less time. This means creating collective story blogs, doing cybertheatre, taking advantage of youtube and facebook as creative tools. The internet as performance art.