So This is the New Year...

Here it is. My final semester as a student of ANY sort at Arkansas Tech University in the wonderful (*sarcasm*) town of Russellville, Arkansas. I have what feels like a huge project in the form of my thesis looming before me over the course of the next five months. When I really stop and think about it, though, there's really not going to be that much to it. The hardest part is going to be motivating myself to actually to the literature review for my proposal. Designing and conducting the research is actually going to be fun and interesting. I'm looking forward to interacting with individuals in a research setting once again. I'm particularly excited because I'll actually be addressing research questions that interest me as opposed to questions developed by professors. Either way, research = YAY. I'm also waiting for word for the University of Washington's Social Psychology PhD program. I'm really not counting on getting in, not because I have no confidence in my abilities or my achievements, but because it's a highly competitive program and a lot of students want to study there. I'm just ready to know, one way or another, whether I'll be continuing with school this fall or getting a job in the real world. Either way, I'll be in Seattle, so it's sort of a win/win situation.

Speaking of Seattle, I now have a plane ticket that will be getting me there on May 22. My friend and I are flying up that weekend for a 10-day stay in which we will HOPEFULLY find a place to live. Of course, we have to have a little fun while we're there, especially since she's never been. That weekend, Memorial Day weekend, the Northwest Folklife Festival will be taking place. It's a huge gathering of folks from all over, full of art, music, dancing, food, beer, and many other sorts of craziness. It's held at the Seattle Center (in the shade of the Space Needle) and, best of all, it's FREE. So we'll be spending some time checking that out. While at the Seattle Center, we may check out the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum and maybe even the Space Needle. Kris isn't so keen on heights, so I don't know if the observation deck would even be enjoyable for her. I also hope to make it back down to the waterfront, have some tasty fish & chips from Ivar's, feed the seagulls, visit the awesome aquarium. On the 29th, we'll be taking a ferry to Bremerton, renting a car, and heading out to explore the Olympic Peninsula. We'll be visiting Port Angeles, Forks, and La Push. I can't wait to see the beaches again. I miss the rocks and driftwood and sand so dark gray that it sometimes looks black. I also look forward to seeing the Hoh Rainforest once more. So much green and trees with trunks many times wider than myself. All in all, I'm just excited to be getting out of Arkansas again and back to the Northwest, my absolute favorite part of the US.

It's unbelievable to me that in six months, I will no longer be an Arkansan. It's definitely a happy thought and I've been planning for this, hoping for this, wishing for and wanting this more than just about anything else for several years. It's just a crazy feeling, ACTUALLY seeing all of that planning and hard work toward a goal coming to full fruition. Knowing that I, Chelsea Liddell, will be getting the hell out of the south. Knowing that Seattle really is REAL... I've been there...twice... but sometimes my memories of it seem like a dream, as though a place that great and people and culture like that can't really exist. A place with multiple music venues, record companies, recording studios, a view of TWO mountain ranges and a gorgeous body of water, located only 3-4 hours from the Pacific Ocean, Canada, AND Portland, Oregon, and responsible for producing both Death Cab for Cutie AND Fleet Foxes HAS to be too good to be true. But I'm moving there. In six months. I will have a home in the city I've loved for more years than I can remember. An actual place to go at the end of the day where my dog and all of my things will reside. I won't have to get back in a car or on a bus or on a plane and return "home" to Arkansas. It's always felt rather backwards for me when I leave Seattle... as though "home" is there and leaving it kind of tugs at my heart and stomach a bit. Watching it disappear behind me has always left with a sort of sad, hopeless feeling, knowing that what awaited me at the end was Arkansas, the place where I was born and grew up, where the people I love and cherish live and will probably never leave, but also the place that I outgrew in so many ways too long ago. On two occasions, coming back here has both hurt some unseen part of me and, at the same time, made me more determined to step out and do something with my life. You only get one of them and there's no sense in spending any more of it than you have to in a state of unhappiness. If you can create positive change within your own life, there's no reason not to. Seattle is the change I want. Seattle is where I feel I need to be right now. I all but hear it calling to me, exercising some unknown and invisible force on my being. And, with all of that being said, I'm literally counting down the days... with big green 'X's on my calendars. Only a thesis and six months stand in my way.

I bought a blue and gray plaid, soft, cotton, button-up shirt at Old Navy on Saturday for $6.49, the kind that looks as though it could have already been worn for a while before I picked it up and decided to give it a chance. The kind that just looking at it hanging on the rack made me think "Now THAT is a comfortable shirt." I look like a big nerd in it, but I also look more like myself wearing that shirt than anything else I've owned in years. It's quickly becoming my favorite.

My new laptop rocks my face off. SO much better than the other one I've had for almost seven years. The poor thing's battery was shot, requiring it to be plugged in if you wanted to use it for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. The new one holds all of my music, unlike the old one that had only a 20GB hard drive and required an external drive to hold my songs; this was quite inconvenient if I wanted to travel with my computer and have my music available. At that point, I just really didn't even see the point of having a laptop. I'm glad I talked myself into spending the money on a new one. Not a bad investment.

What I'm currently listening to and LOVING:
*Owl City- "Maybe I'm Dreaming" (The lyrics to "Saltwater Room" are enough to make me teary-eyed...SO GOOD) and "Of June"
*Iron & Wine- "The Shepherd's Dog" (check out "House by the Sea" and "Boy With a Coin" if you don't listen to anything else on the album)
*The Killers- "Day & Age" ("Human" is AMAZING)
*The Bravery- the song "Believe" (with which I have recently been reunited... I couldn't find my copy of the single for quite some time. Thanks, roomie!)
*Death Cab for Cutie- "Transatlanticism" ("New Year" makes me want to give life the finger. "Tiny Vessels" gives me chills with its incredibly straight forward lyrics. "We Looked Like Giants" makes me long for someone to be free with. The title track, "Transatlanticism," makes me ache inside. So much honesty on that album. I wish I could convey feeling in such an understandable way. Ben Gibbard stands alone.)
*Rilo Kiley- "Under the Blacklight" (I first heard "Silver Lining" in a live recording sung by Ben Gibbard. He did it justice, but the original is outstanding. "Close Call" is also worth multiple listens.)

To end on a funny note...


I could survive for 1 minute, 3 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor


Thanks, Kris.

It's lunch time here in the Behavioral Sciences Department. My leftovers are calling to me from the fridge. Hopefully, I'll update a little sooner this next time. Two and a half months is too long to go without blogging. I miss it.

Peace.