working in a lab, and some books

2012 is already off to a pretty rockin start, I must say. I received a work study award, for one thing, which means I get to work in the anthropology lab here on campus. I went in this morning and got it all settled, and I'm starting as soon as I get put onto the payroll. This also means I get to cut down my hours at Starbucks. I do like being a barista, but let's be honest - Starbucks as a corporation is kind of soulless. And I'd way rather be working on something relevant to my future career as a not-barista. Not to mention, I get to wear normal clothes! (That's definitely a good thing.)  Plus the lady who runs the lab has already proven to me that she's pretty much a bad ass.

I have also successfully completed two books already. Yay!

First:

Yoga for a World Out of Balance: Teachings On Ethics and Social Action, by Michael Stone. There are something like 75 quotes from this book I'd like to post here, because it was really insightful and kind of blew my mind. Stone's focus on nonduality and the interrelatedness of all life really helped illuminate the yamas, and I would definitely say I feel more equipped to use them as guidelines in my life. And it was just really nice to see the Yoga Sutras from a nondualist perspective, because everything I've read about them has been from a dualist perspective, which really doesn't sit well with me. Not to mention, he consistently tied everything into an ecological perspective, which was highly valuable and very well expressed. Should you be interested in delving a little more deeply into yoga philosophy (but not too scary deep!) this is a good place to start.

Second:

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. Holy creepy weirdness - but there's a reason it's a classic. The character development and use of language is phenomenal, and it left me feeling really emotionally...weird. But not in a bad way, necessarily. It just puts you into the mind of a total creeper, and you can totally identify with him as a person (which I think is a valuable thing, but you may disagree).