It's Such a Fine Life

It's not often that I have a day that is just SO good that I just have to write about it. Today was one of those days. My life isn't perfect--my love life is a bit lackluster; my GPA for this semester is currently worse then it's ever been (let's see if I can change that by the end of the semester); I don't know exactly where I'm living next year; I could stand to loose a few pounds and gain some muscle mass. But despite all of this, I am so happy. I have been blessed beyond what I deserve. Seriously guys, God loves me. He loves you, too. :)
Anyway, here are a few things that happened today that made today an exceptionally good day.

1. I bought the Adobe Creative Suite which includes InDesign, Illustrator, and PhotoShop. FOR $235! Actually it was less than that because my parents paid for part of it as my birthday present (FYI, full price is around $1000). If you haven't used any of these programs, you don't really understand why this is a big deal, but if you have, you know that a world of document design and photo-editing is at my fingertips. I feel so empowered. No longer do I have to cater to the hours of the Mac Lab in the JFSB. No longer will I create mediocre, center-aligned flyers. No longer must I use the limited photo-editing options iphoto provides. Everything I create from now on can be a masterpiece of design.

2. I found a plastic egg in the middle of the grass. I was walking by myself through the grass by the HFAC when I spotted it. Of course, being the dork that I am, I picked it up and exclaimed rather loudly, "I found an egg!" and then looked around for a response from the nobody I was with. The most I got was a weird look from a guy who was walking by a few yards away, but I was excited regardless. It had a sudoku puzzle, a piece of chocolate, and I cute note inside it. :)

3. Here's the kicker, guys. After this lovely egg incident and a few great conversations with good people, I was sitting outside in the sunshine (did I mention the weather was PERFECT today?) when I saw that I had a new message in my email inbox. It was from my professor, the director of the Humanities Center, and the subject read "Eliza R. Snow Fellowship." A couple weeks ago, I was one of about 20 students from the college of humanities that were nominated and interviewed for this prestigious position. After reading the subject line, I knew this email would either offer me the position (a slim chance) or tell me I hadn't been chosen. Though I hoped I would be chosen as one of two exceptional students from the whole college of humanities, I certainly wasn't expecting it (I mean what are the chances, seriously). By the subject of this post, I'm sure you can tell what's coming: I was offered the fellowship! Let me just explain what this entails:

• A full-tuition scholarship (on top of the full scholarship I already have)
• The chance to plan exciting events that explore interesting questions and bridge the gaps between disciplines
• The opportunity to work with some of the best scholars in my field (and other fields)
• A better chance of getting into the grad school of my dreams

Basically, this fellowship is going to open doors for me in my future, not to mention how fun it will be (I love planning events, and I love exploring new ways of thinking, and this fellowship gives me the opportunity to do both).

All in all, today was an exceptional day. May you all have many days like this in your lives. :)

And now for a couple songs that describe how I'm feeling.