After finally buckling down and finishing Things Fall Apart paper, I only have one pesky little exam until I am free of Gen. Ed. History! Hooray!
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote about this ability of the Italian people to find pleasure in doing nothing, la bel far niente, just relaxing. I can't bring myself to do nothing nothing but I've recently taken up reading out on my sunny deck. But today I didn't want to read something too substantial. 

So to celebrate my momentous achievement, I sat outside and read all the magazines that have been piling up on desk. I recently got fed up with all fashion magazines so I've been on the lookout for a replacement. I've always wished they would conglomerate all magazines and then you could select topics online that fit all your interests and a customized magazine would be sent to you. So then I could get my fix of travel articles or British soccer or news from Washington without having to buy fifteen different magazines.

Well, that hasn't happened yet, but I have found some winners. 

1. RELEVANT magazine. I had a couple friends who always read this and recommended it to me and thus far I've been really impressed. It is a Christian magazine yet it avoids that "we only report on explicitly Christian things" isolationist attitude. They have stories about bands, books, the state of the world, etc. 

2. TIME magazine. Its fairly slanted, but they have gorgeous photography and its a good capsule of whats going on in the world. The Economist is better, but...its summertime. I don't have the energy for that.

3. NYLON magazine. Technically a fashion magazine, but its their music issue, always great new bands. Also Florence Welch, of my dearly beloved Florence + the Machine, graces the cover this month.

4. Random catalogs from my mom's stack of mail. Dorm shopping!

5. Psychology Today. The cover caught my attention, since I'm a wee bit paranoid I'm a narcissist (and I often find myself romantically attached to them). Its a pop psych magazine, not a journal or anything, and they have interesting articles.

6. Us Weekly. Total guilty pleasure. I just like seeing what celebrities are up to. Really, I just like hearing about other people's lives (including my friends), like most of us. 

Oh, also, currently I'm working on having less of a materialism bent. That's why I'm reading loads of magazines. Yep.
Listening to:
The Gardner--The Tallest Man on Earth
King of Spain--The Tallest Man on Earth