Weird dream last night involving Taylor Swift and UMW

So as the title indicates, I had a weird dream last night involving Taylor Swift and UMW. The principle was that, since every year the UMW Philharmonic brings in a celebrity to perform with us (this year it's Kenny Rogers, next year is James Galway), apparently we somehow pulled of Taylor Swift coming to Fredericksburg and perform. This is notable for being odd for the reason that I have never listened to one of her songs before; maybe it's my sleep deprived brain trying to send me a message. Who knows. Anyways, apparently she played with us to a super packed auditorium. The weird part began after that. Like, apparently we suddenly got transported to a fairly outdoorsy, woodsy area that definitely was not Fredericksburg. If anything, I felt like it was Lynchburg-ish territory, but in the woodsy outdoors. Anyways, apparently I and some other unnamed, blurry friends of mine had to do some work on a pathway, and apparently it was also university mandated as well. And Taylor Swift volunteered to do work with us too. In heels. I'm not sure if she wears heels in real life. So we did our work and the like, and we were talking the whole time. Eventually, I got to talk to her one on one in private; I honestly forget what happened here. But for some strange reason, in the dream I got transported to a sketchy-ish, 1950's era garage, where I got paid for doing the job. And then I got transported to what I thought resembled part of New York city, where I was desperately running back to get back to campus and meet up with Taylor, all the while avoiding some guys who had seen my cash that I was paid with and trying to mug me. And then my alarm woke me up.

Conan does poetry again part 2: "Rainy Streets"

He was walking down the rainy streets
With his thoughts pouring down as hard as the drops of rain.
Everybody around him scurrying for shelter. Not him.
He was embracing the rain. Embracing it for the cleansing it brought to him,
brought to his life.
His mind was oddly at peace with the world.
He was experiencing a peace that he hadn’t experienced before-was this bliss?
To him, it was. The joy of nature’s tears relieving him of his sins, he felt lighter.

Conan does poetry again: "The Traveler"

He looked at the road ahead of him,
the long and winding road.
Oh the road that would take him to places he had dreamed about.
This was it. This was the time.

He had dreamt of these places,these magnificent places
in maps and pictures. He imagined the people he’d meet
in foreign lands.
He imagined the places he’d see, the experiences he’d leave with.
The souvenirs he’d bring back; his home was filled with them, oh yes!
The tales that would be told and shared, oh yes, the tales
Of the places he’d gone to and the things he did
All would be stored in his memory for as long as he lived.

But first, he had to depart on the road. The road towards all of this.
It would be a long road, that was for sure.
He knew that when he came back, he would return changed.
Change for the better.
      Because, he saw the world.

         Saw the beauty of it:
                       a vast, colorful world.

Obligatory St. Patrick's Day post

St. Patrick’s Day is today. Here’s a little thing in honor of it, and I apologize for how fragmented it is. Eh well, guess that's how my thoughts are for today.

So to start off, my name's Conan, which is a Gaelic name. So already, that covers anything Irish. Therefore, suck it wannabe-Irish-people-for-the-day. I also have my clover boxers on, which I bought in Ireland. This fact means that I have more authentic Irish-ness that most people today. I am also wearing my Welsh shirt too (which isn’t Irish but hey, we took a “ferry” from Ireland to Wales, so it’s the property of association). And then I could break out my Scottish kilt sometime today too. So in conclusion, I’m more in the spirit than you probably are right now for St. Patty's Day. Awwww yeah.

Anonymous act of kindness via Tumblr

As the title would indicate, well, it says it all. Here's my highlights of it, complete with the responses I've been getting back. Note that this is me asking questions on a friend's Tumblr.

Me: I think my life's biggest joy so far has been volunteering and making others happy. It's the best birthday or Christmas present one can ask for. I think of it like planting a tree or beautiful flowers-you give hope, care, and love to others and watch them as that grows into happiness in its purest form. And it's simply beautiful to watch happen. It's amazing.
"Wow. You are such an inspiration and I truly hope that you find the best in life. I completely agree, volunteering anywhere and just watching the people as their happiness grows is just incredible. It’s so beautiful, it’s why I love working with children so often. I want to make a career out of art therapy just so I can help people find happiness. :)"


The pleasure is all mine, madame. And I thank you for the huge grin on my face knowing that I've helped you.
"Someone certainly sounds like a gentleman/lady. :) And i’m glad you’re smiling. I love it when my followers smile. <3 It makes me even happier to know I’m the reason :)"

 This response literally made me beam. I can't explain the happiness I felt when I read it, but man, it's amazing to know how far kind words can go:
Personally, I don't see flaws in you, I see positive things, if that helps. In my eyes, you're spectacular.
"lkfjlkdsjlkas oh my goodness :) It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside so thank you. I’m working on self love. I realized if I can’t love myself how can I expect other people to? :) Im on the road to healing <3 Thank you so much."

In conclusion, kind words DO go a long way. And it gives me great pleasure like to other to be able to make others happy; if I can make others happy, then I'm happy!

Where to find me

In case you miss these posts, my school blog (csmeeth.umwblogs.org) is occasionally updated as well as following me on Twitter @CSmeeth. My school blog is used mainly for academic-related thoughts, but I try to make it fun. As for Twitter, it's my random, non-academia-related thoughts and the like. Get at me, peeps.

First semester reflections from sophomore year

(Sorry about the lack of content for a while. I've been busy as well as blogging on my school blog at csmeeth.umwblogs.org.Anyways, here's the update.)
So the first semester of sophomore year is over as of yesterday, and man did the time fly. As cliched as this sounds, especially since I’m a veteran student here at UMW, it seems like the other day that I was moving in to Eagle Landing. It definitely feels like a long time ago since I moved in only to run smack dab into that overhyped storm of ours and to lose power for several hours. Anyways, I can’t believe that I’m halfway through to being halfway through my collegiate career. In honor of that, I’d like to take a look back at the highlights of the year so far.
- Moving in and meeting my roommate and the suitemates for year two. They’re a great bunch of guys, and I can’t wish for better.
- Moving in and having the power go out an hour after I’d arrived, and since we were on first floor nobody was there. I’d like to thank Nina and her friends for providing us with something to do in that time.
- Realizing that Harry was a far, far better roommate than one of my two ones from last year.
- Finding out that I had two members of the tennis team as suitemates.
- Realizing that I was a sophomore in college, with the cliched phenomenon of questioning where the time went.
- The epic Mario Kart/Super Smash Bros./Mario Party sessions we’ve had, as well as the first Mario Kart tournament I’ve been a part of.
- "Suck it Birdo"...then at the very end getting lapped by him/her/it/whatever the hell it is.
- "Look mom, I can fly!", followed by me getting hit and then run over and then being knocked out of bounds.
- Establishing how much of a useless moron Funky Kong is. Yes, I'm still mad about his lack of prowess in both Mario Kart and Mario Super Sluggers. My god do I hate that useless piece of shit.
- Getting game-winning, walk off three run homers off of Mark to come from behind and win. Though I'm now 3-4 against him, and I almost had another comeback of my own, but alas, it wasn't enough as I eventually lost by one run to lose the series against him.
- Running out to GameStop when NHL 12 and Skyrim came out, and being judged, in a good way, for doing so. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
- Year two of the UMW Street Hockey Club, and the awesomeness that we’ve had so far. No seriously, we have our own version of the Stanley Cup-the Eagle One Cup.
- All the stupid things we’ve said and subsequently coined as the phrases in our room. We “roll how we do”, after all.
- All of the stuff we’ve done in our room that made first semester as quirky as it has been.
- Our living room couch being where both Alex and Mark brought girls back. Use your imagination as to how they used it.
- Segue: waking up at 10 AM on a Monday morning to hear a guy and girl having pretty loud sex in the room next door.
- ATTENTION: The walls in Eagle Landing are not, as they claim, soundproof.
- The laughs we’ve all collectively shared.
- The awesome people I’ve met so far this year.
- Getting away with doing even more texting in the back corner of the band room for Symphony…and knowing that at the end of the year I’ll get paid for doing so. Life is good.
- Being fortunate enough to play with great musicians in the concerts we’ve had so far.
- The lucky moments where something awesome happened out of nothing.
- Our infamous moment where we played Mario Party at 1 in the morning, thanks to Mark being super drunk and insisting that we play. We ended up not beating him because of *bleeping* Birdo, who got insanely lucky. I may still be mad from that.
- Learning in ways in which we didn’t care to about how exactly soundproof the walls in Eagle Landing are.
- Learning that Poptarts may/may not be a way to serve as a pickup line.
- All the random conversations that we’ve had after German class.
- Being able to talk about the English Premier League, and talking smack about Man. United and Man. City. It’s all about Chelsea FC anyways.
- Meeting the greatest people while volunteering.
- The amazing satisfaction when you look at what you’ve accomplished when volunteering. It’s an amazing feeling!
- Finding out that you’re not the only person with a flag of Bhutan in their room. Thanks, Tonto!

There may be things that I left out here, and come to think of I’m pretty sure I’ve left out a ton, but this is all that I can remember for now. Hey well, here’s to another semester of making memories at UMW!