Thursday thoughts:

The Jazz in June festival is one of the reasons why I love summer and I love Lincoln. It's an event held every Tuesday night on the green space behind the art gallery on campus. For two hours, 7,000 people show up to listen to music, socialize, or just relax. My friends from high school started going to Jazz in June a few weeks after I graduated. Some of us are still going, and along the way, new friends have joined the tradition.

Ellie is one of my original Jazz in June buddies. I was starting to introduce Ellie to our friend Melissa, but they stopped me and told me they already knew each other from somewhere else. Ellie and I are constantly finding out that we have some of the same acquaintances, and we've never met them at the same time or place. Ellie's theory is that our overlapping social circles prove that we have a lot in common and are drawn to the same types of people. In other words, we're not friends JUST because we shared similar experiences growing up (though that's a nice aspect of our friendship.) We could've parted ways after high school, but something bigger than a shared experience holds our friendship together. I thought it was a nice theory. I don't think it holds true for all my older friendships, but I see where she's coming from.

To the 20-somethings feeling lost: Sometimes you have to figure out what you DON'T want in order to discover what you really are looking for. This lesson is very applicable to dating and career choices. :)

I just finished reading I Am Charlotte Simmons, a book about a girl who is academically brilliant but is in way over her head socially when she goes to college. It's not as fluffy as it sounds because it addresses a ton of sociological and political issues. It also took me 10 days to finish because it's 638 pages and the writing is incredibly descriptive, which meant I needed to take a break after about 45 minutes of reading. Anyhoo, has anyone else read this? I want to discuss this with someone other than reviewers at Amazon.com. I suppose it could make some thought-provoking blogging material. :)