Hmmm...

OK, so the world is really F'd up. No, this is not the first time I've noticed, but it wasn't until Darius and I had a random conversation relating the government to the TV show "Survivor" that I realized that the world is not only F'd up, it annoyingly shitty and selfish. Haha- great description, I know.

As we were talking about relationships between countries and the concept of "Allies", I started to think how similarly cut-throat "Survivor" and the political relationships of the world are. They are similar in that, no countries really care about the success of other counties for unselfish reasons. It is all in an effort not to "lose". I also thought it was weird that, just like in the show, groups of allies aim to destroy or conquer other groups of allies. And while they primarily hope to defeat their enemies, they also hope to achieve superiority over their own allies in time and eventually "win" or increase their power.

Just a silly observation, but I did find it interesting and depressing that the world's politics are not all that different from a crappy reality TV show.

In other news, I am not currently a fan of school right now either. Not that I am ever really crazy about school, but I am one of those "front-row" people who participates and actually really enjoys learning. What separates this semester from the rest is, not only is it my last and I am generally feeling burnt out, but because I am a Journalism major, I have a required minor that adds an extra semester to my degree. It is killing me to know I could be done right now if I belonged to almost any other major! I am spending hours upon hours writing papers and doing projects about hotel management, hospitality quality, and hospitality law... none of which have anything to do with my future aspirations... Well, I guess it is better than facing the depressing job market right now...

On an exciting note, I have to promote the idea and practice of the "relationship vacation" that Darius and I invented! As two fiercely independent people in a three and a half year relationship, we were both beginning to miss our days of abundant "alone time" and decided to take a week apart without phone calls. We just wanted to spend that time with our friends and just doing whatever we wanted. Ever since we took that small time apart, everything feels like it did the first few months we were together! We realized that we were putting too much emphasis on togetherness for our young ages, and needed to take a step back and enjoy each other as something special and separate from ourselves and our individual lives.

This discovery of separate togetherness has completely changed the way I look at relationships... they no longer seem scary or unrealistic, they just become a positive addition to my life. Not something that defines me, just something that makes me happy and inspires me to be better. It is so cool to be with someone who thinks "out-of-the-box" when it comes to relationships. I feel really lucky. Talking through this and coming up with a plan that actually worked had made us both smarter and appreciate each other so much more. I hope that any of you in relationships reading this will remember that, no matter how much you love someone, you should never lose all of yourself in your significant other. In fact, the more of you you keep, the stronger the relationship will probably be : )