so that last entry was really intense

yeah. it was.

today i went to commencement for the graduating class of 2010. (i graduate in 2011)
it was so nice to see my friends recognized, but i was also sad. i really appreciate all of the people i met this year and especially this semester.

for me, last year at this time..i was just getting on my feet after my last round of treatment. i was just getting my life together, and i by no means have it together now.

however, i went from being a girl who was too weak to make it through a day of class, last fall i worked 45 hours a week and went to grad courses at night. and this semester i took 24 credits, all a's and one b, with an internship where we taught over 1,000 children, i did my first extensive research, which i presented at two conferences, nominated for an honors major, received approval/funding rights for a bphil, and i've been elected president of my university's spanish club.

all without relapsing, but not without struggling by any means. anyway..i can't brag this up to anyone else. i'm sad because despite all of this work. i have to continue working hard at a job all day and working nights during the summer while i bus from home. (i just moved out of my city apartment today) it's not my time to have a fun-traveling summer...which is really hard for me to accept since most everyone else i know is going somewhere. i feel like i deserve it a little for the insane amount of work i've been doing and where i've come up from..but i know that sense of 'entitlement' isn't right--i just need to take this time to keep working hard and reflect. butttttttttttttttt i'm still a little jealous ;o)

i love my friends and my boyfriend. i'm happy that they have these opportunities. i support them!

i think i want to upload my imaginary whirl-wind tour of the world all the places i love. that trip won't be happening this summer, but it will happen. i know i'm a dreamer, but i've already gotten to see a lot of the world with this attitude, and i'm not giving up...just for fun-sies.











this first one is my niece...one of my biggest goals this summer is to get to see her, since we've never met. i love kids...love them! our family's relationship with her parents (she's my cousin's daughter, actually) can be kind of difficult to maintain since they live pretty far away and are dealing with a lot of their own issues. we really don't have much in common, but i want to try to understand them better. they are my only biological living relatives other than my grandmother, who i love (!!!) and who is turning 80 this fall. another goal of mine is to visit her also. maybe with brookie (my niece) and her mom!?

solid.

another thing i will be enjoying this summer is.....







my uke! so far i can play somewhere over the rainbow and hey soul sister. i'm kind of not great at strumming though...so i need to work on it, but i've been playing less than a week..my boyfriend is an amazing uke player, and to be honest it's nice to have a few ukes to share ;o)


my computer is freaking out..so more on this later!

finals week

ugh.

so i'm laying in bed..this is probably the second week in a row that i haven't slept well hardly at all. I have two more final papers to write in the next two days. i'm exhausted mostly due to the graphic nature of the novels i'm writing these papers on...Yo, Rigoberta Menchú and Love, Anger, and Madness for paper one// Metamorphosis and the Hunger Artist Un señor viejo con las alas enormes.

Both papers basically have to do with the value of human life (in very different ways, granted) and imagination/subaltern speaking...the books are just so graphic that it's been exhausting.


i constantly fight between being not strong enough (crying, breaking down) to being too strong (the *i don't need anyone, get the fuck out* stance)...i always say that i'm embarrassed according to my bf..he gets really pissed at me about it too. i think it's because i have a deep sense of shame. it's the emotion i've experienced most of.

i think a lot of girls with e.d., even ones in recovery like me, have a deep sense of timidity/shame, especially victims of abuse and domestic violence.

i hate it when people insult my intelligence or don't even give me a chance to speak, it underlines feelings of inadequacy, unworthiness, and shame that i already feel.

for me, school has replaced my obsession with harming myself. it has given me something to strive for, and so i give it all that i have. i might obsess too much, but that's the thing about anyone who has had an e.d.....we set these perfect goals that we strive to meet and rituals that we will use to continue to reach for that goal long after most people would have given up..when someone belittles my intelligence, it makes me think that despite the demons i've overcome..that people can still see the weakness in me and judge me as a foolish person for struggling in the first place, or that they consider me to be lazy. i associate laziness with letting oneself go, which makes me feel fat and stupid and guilty. if they ever listened to my thoughts or knew any of my story, i still doubt they would even care.

my story to me, is something i remember in bits and pieces. i remember a lot quite vividly now; it disturbs me and is probably the reason why i haven't been sleeping..i used to not be able to remember at all most of my life until a certain point and it was very hard for me to create new memories because i was overwhelmed by PTSD and flashbacks..i also suffered from a mild form of dissociative disorder where i would completely check out of reality. time would confuse me, places would confuse me...the space my body occupied confused me the most. i remember doing everything i could to eliminate the area of space i took up. i guess starving, purging, SH, are all ways of trying to disappear. i think in my dissociative ideas..i thought of not taking up space as equivalent to floating away..i don't know where i wanted to go when i floated away, i certainly didn't think i was going to heaven..i think i believed that i might just evaporate into the sky. (that is one of my favorite stories by subcomandante marcos btw).


so why am i awake now while my love snores next to me ever so sweetly? i think it's because i wish he understood more. i think it's because i wish i was less selfish. i think maybe i should talk to someone i can pay per hour to listen to this shit...not a prostitute haha, just someone to listen to me. my memories are really intense, but i haven't slept well in weeks. and the intensity of my flashbacks only gets worse with stress..it's really hard to focus during the day on other's traumas in the books, and i dread closing my eyes at night, despite my exhaustion. i lay here and i just want to go run, i think about my body, i disgust myself: i try to sleep, i see faces from the past that i can't talk about to the person closest to me...it's painful. it is so painful.


i consider myself to be a survivor; my story needs to be told.

glam girls who can do anything..

My Essentials for the 2009 fall season

I'm tempted to write something serious or consequential about my recent fall from grace, my new crush, my penniless existence, or my complete state of unbelief and the apparent utter loss of a future. Instead, however, I'd like to revert back to focusing on my one, true love, fashion. Here are a few of my favorite things for the upcoming season. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. - LB






One passion, boots. I will never be over them.




Plaids and tartans, i have always loved this pattern, but I never knew how to wear it in a modern way..finally!!






Rip your stockings. I dare you. I don't know why, but i think it's so sexy a la Swedish street fashion.



Embellished military jackets. Enough said.



Classic leather jackets, in cream, grey, black, or brown, with innovative cuts and shoulder pleating, to be paired with skinny jeans, leggings, skirts or dresses.



Personally, I love a skinny jean. I think they look like rubbish on me, and I haven't gotten up the courage to wear them outside my apartment yet, but I have faith that I WILL this season. Also, I adore Alexa Chung, and I had to sneak her on her somehow--she is a fashion icon.




Guilty, I know; I put her on here again. My next love is high-waisted short skirts with a little volume paired with ankle boots.





Simple. Boots and tights.




Designer ballet flats.



Sexy Jimmy Choos.



more to come....