I like coffee

So if you ask anyone that remotely knows me at all or has perhaps interacted with me in the past once, or maybe people that just see me walking around every now and then, they will tell you that I like coffee. I love coffee. It's so good. When it's cold out, you put some milk and cinnamon in it and it warms you right up. When it's cold out, you put it on ice with some caramel flavoring and it's the most refreshing thing you'll ever taste. That being said, I am usually not just a general "coffee" lover. Ever since I was independent enough to go out and get my own coffee (November of my junior year in high school when I got my license), I pledged die-hard loyalty to Starbucks. I went multiple times a day. I became good friends with the baristas at the one near my house, and the saddest part of graduating was getting my last iced coffee from my friends at the Starbucks down the street from my high school. When I decided to attend Penn State, I already had the two State College locations of Starbucks mapped out in my head (actually, there's a third on North Atherton by Target, with a drive-thru!) and visited the one on Garner St. the morning of my FTCAP in June. Thus began a new era of my relationship with coffee. Throughout freshmen year, a time of unfamiliarity and change, my iced lattes were the only constant in my life. I missed my friends at the Jenkintown and Flourtown Starbucks back home, but I was getting closer with my new pals at the State College locations every day. Scott is my favorite.

But college is a time for change -- a time to question your beliefs. I was hesitant when my friend forced me to try Dunkin Donuts for the first time. My world was shaken when I discovered that I loved it. I've gone back three times since Sunday, and back to Starbucks only once. Though I have changed in several ways since I started college, my imminent conversion to Dunkin Donuts may be the most drastic.My friends think so, too, according to the feedback on my most recent and pretentious mobile upload (right). My relationship with coffee in the past year has really made me think about how much I too have changed in different ways. Through all the different things I've had to deal with and question in myself, I've been drinking coffee at least once a day. There are probably serious health repercussions for this habit, but it's sentimental and I'm keeping up with it. I could be spending my time on money on worse, right? ... Right?

Go your own way.

Books are good stuff. Just ask these rapping raisins or this assonant aardvark, Arthur. Even textbooks, which have been central to our American education and contain facts, formulas, and anecdotes that enlighten us beyond our own imagination, are cool because sometimes you can return them for cash. Badum ching. I have always had a special place in my heart for books. My first word was, "Hush," because my parents told me what the old lady in Goodnight, Moon said every night. My library card was taken away in kindergarten because I had six overdrawn Amelia Bedelia chapter books. The only adult truly capable of disciplining me was Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. In second grade, I tore through my entire box set of E.B. White novels about pigs, swans, and mice. The summer before eighth grade, I read The Catcher in the Rye in two days and still harbor a little bit of a crush on Holden Caulfield. Although I can think of at least a dozen other books with which I feel a deep, nostalgic emotional attachment, my copy of The Way of the Peaceful Warrior is my most prized possession.

The book that changes lives? Kind of a lofty claim for a tagline. But, for me at least, this book lived up to  that. The summer of 2009, I was spending my summer alone at my shore house after a miserable junior year of high school. I had been an avid fan of singer-songwriter Jason Mraz for several months (don't judge--his live stuff is totally different than what you've heard on the radio and AMAZING) and enjoyed reading his blog, Freshness Factor Five Thousand. One post featured a list of books he had enjoyed and suggested, and with nothing better to do, I drove to a bookstore and picked up a few. Way of the Peaceful Warrior was one of the books, and my life has never been the same since I turned to the first page.
I think my favorite thing about books is that every now and then, there's a sentence or paragraph that just hits you in the gut and heart and head all at the same time. The words kind of vibrate off the page because they articulate something you previously could not, or reveal a truth you never even knew you knew. Way of the Peaceful Warrior is literally full of words like that--exactly what I needed to hear, even if I didn't want to hear it. Written by Dan Millman, it's a partly autobiographical novel about a college student who meets a gas station attendant who takes him on an enlightening journey of personal growth. Although it got a little New Age-y at times, it taught me to take responsibility for my life, my emoitions, and my actions. I had spent a tormenting few months prior to reading the book fearing that I would never know happiness, and this book taught me that, "Happiness is not just something you feel, it is who you are." Life literally opens up for you when you adopt this, and many other principle featured in the novel. Some people say it about the Bible: I am who I am because of this book. Life stayed exactly the same, but my perception of it got exponentially awesome-er after I finished this book. I even won VIP tickets to a Jason Mraz concert the next week, and got to meet him and watch the show from backstage. And yes, I got him to sign my copy of Way of the Peaceful Warrior. 

Best. Night. Of my life.

So my advice today is to go find a book that's going to change your life. It doesn't have to be this one, although I highly recommend it. Just keep an open mind and read on!