Who said cat trees were only for cats?

Before leaving for her internship abroad, my friend Nicole bought her little monkey - Keto - a giant cat tree. Needless to say, Keto wasn't the only one excited about the cat tree's appearance...

Then we decided to confirm the sturdiness of the cat tree...

many failed attempts...

not quite...

And then...SUCCESS!!! Keto, Amy, and Nicole share the cat tree in utmost bliss.

Tomorrow...

I will be teaching an interview committee (of what I believe to be 3 people haha) how to play a Samba (Brazilian dance music). The group I am interviewing for is called Adventure Learning Program and basically functions as a student organization that holds workshops and ropes courses, and facilitates ice-breakers for other organizations/groups/classes - basically anyone who needs to get the creative juices flowing and to help groups of people work better together by leading them throw alternative learning activities. When I first heard about the group it reminded me of my job duties as a former Community Adviser at SCSU... at least the part entailing thinking outside of the box & planning/facilitating activities/meeting new people (which is the part I liked about that job). Today I was browsing in the store Art Gecko & came across some fun instruments... claves, a thunder stick, agogo bells, shakers and something with hallow nut shells that clink together and sound like a waterfall of sorts. Super duper fun! The rhythms I will be teaching come from what I remember of my World Drumming Ensemble last fall at SCSU... here's a little taste of what we did there :)

Traditional First Day of School Picture

My mom has traditionally taken a back-to-school picture at the start of every new school year (as I'm sure yours did, too)... so to hold up the tradition I took a picture of myself before heading off to my first class AS A SENIOR! (disregard the fact that it's not my last year of school, regardless of this status).

So far, I'm very happy with my classes, Chinese is posing an intellectual challenge & the rest of my classes seem interesting enough, with stellar professors (they are either getting crazier with age or I'm just more in-tune with each professor's bizarre/quaint personalities than I ever used to be). Anywho, off to my Abnormal Psychology class!

CHEERS!

Thoughts?

"Happiness and unhappiness are, after all, just the same. You shed tears when you laugh and also when you cry. And, besides, they imply one another: happy now, unhappy later; unhappy now, happy later. The reasonable, prudent, "Wise" man strives not for happiness, but for a tranquil detachment which frees him from this endless oscillation between gratification and frustration."

-Clifford Geertz

I would love to get a discussion going on this! Is striving for happiness in life just setting yourself up for disappointment (since "good" is only good in comparison to "bad")? Is so-called tranquil detachment of a wise man worth being absent from the flow of ups and downs in life? Or does striving for happiness in life hold more meaning than being constantly joyful feeling? (Such as "striving for happiness" meaning not holding yourself back from doing what you want to do, despite the ups and downs that may come along, for example). Thoughts?!?! (Heidi!??!) :)

Truth: I hoard books

And these were only the ones that were due back today, I currently have 17 more library books occupying my bookshelf. I LOVE BOOKS!!! :)