I'm so excited--my mom is coming to Utah for my next chemo appointment which happens to be an LP (lumbar puncture) so it will be especially nice. Aren't mothers great?

Opera. The new love of my life. I just saw Mozart's Il Nozze de Figaro and oh-my-heck is all I can say. Wow. And that's just from a relatively small fry performance. I can't begin to imagine Opera at the Met in New York... Just...wow. There are no more words. Go see an opera. Go. Stop reading. Just go.

For my Anthropology class midterm, I get to write a paper on inner and outer beauty and how they relate to each other. Tonight some awesome guys to whom I will be forever in debt, came over and we had a nice little powow. I think I have enough material to write five midterms, but I think I'll probably just write one ;0)

And so obviously, I've been thinking a lot on this topic lately. What is beauty? How is it that a person can literally evolve from being absolutely beautiful, and within five seconds of speaking become so unattractive, or vice versa? What do you think of the "world's" concept of beauty vs your own? What is your standard?

I have gained a completely new perspective on this just over the past two years. My concepts of beauty have radically changed and I feel like an entirely new person. It's not often that people get a chance to change so wholly, but I'm one of those. Being bald was hard. My hair was such a security blanket to me. I lavished hours of time washing, drying, straightening (not because it was curly), to make it "perfect." All gone in less than five weeks.

The funny thing is that "before," I received compliment after compliment on my hair each day. Now, it's the same. In fact, I believe people tell me even more than they used to that they love my hair. But it's not because of the $100 and two hours I spent at a salon. It's just curly, fun, natural and ME! Before now I never would have thought that curly and short could go together and be beautiful.

Yes, eventually when my hair is long enough I will try straightening it some days and leaving it curly the next. I'm not going to neglect my hair just because I know it is temporary. It's just my obsession with it that has changed. My beauty or lack thereof no longer revolves around my hair. I'm happy with it short. I'm happy with it not California blonde (although it may get back to that stage naturally...if only it were summer!!!). I'm happy with me.

A while ago I decided to stop reading the news. Instead of feeling informed and enlightened after "catching up" on the world, I would just feel depressed and helpless. Well, that was a bit selfish of me. What if I was living, well, pretty much anywhere else in the world? For starters, I probably would not even still be alive. What a great thing is modern medicine...and the insurance to pay for it!

To illustrate better what I am trying to say, click here: http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html; http://www.wfp.org/english/.

I'm sure you are wondering what exactly propagated this little rant? I'm sure you've heard about the crisis in Burma. If not, look it up on BBC news. It is hard to think that somewhere in the world such atrocious things are happening (Darfur, for example), but they are. Please, pray, fast, light a candle, donate money to a reputable institution, sign a petition, there are so many ways to "make the world a better place." Let's all do our best to help in whatever capacity we can, and whomever we can most effectively reach out to, whether that be the oppressed in Burma, the hungry in our own nation, or even "just" the lonely grandmother down the street.