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| That's right folks, in just a few short days I will be walking across a
stage wearing a very unflattering gown and ridiculous square hat that
is sure to ruin my perfectly coiffed hair while fighting a losing
battle against a tassel which is surely only there to make all of these
supposedly well-educated adults look like ignorant kittens as we
playfully (or angrily) bat it out of our faces. And as this moment
approaches, I must tackle many very important questions that face all
college graduates:
1. Will I ever find a job?
2. How will I make enough money to eat?
3. Will I have to live in a portable ice shanty on Wisconsin Avenue?
4.
If I can afford two portable ice shanties, set them up side-by-side and
rent the other one out to another recent college graduate can I call it
a duplex?
5. If I can call it a duplex, does that make me a landlord
and mean that I have to draw up some sort of lease for my next door
shanty neighbor?
6. If this does make me a landlord will Jenny and
Mike show me all of the necessary tricks to being the greatest shanty
manager/landlord that I can be?
Yes folks. These are all
questions that recent college graduates must face. But while it's
slightly frightening to be thrown out into the world on my own, it's
time. While I'm not going to pretend like I am suddenly going to turn
into some very serious adult who only worries about deadlines and the
financial bottom line, I will say that it is high time for me to go out
into the world and see what I can do. So to all of you who read this, I
thank you for keeping me sane through these crazy college years. Lord
knows without my friends I would constantly be in my over-stressed,
somewhat unpleasant state that, thanks to all of you, only comes out
every once in a while. Ending college is a bittersweet time, but it's
time for me to grow up. Besides, we all know that I'll more than likely
be back in school someday once I figure out what the hell to do with
these three seemingly unrelated areas of study. And when that time
comes about again, I hope all of you will still be around to make sure
I maintain my sanity. | | |
| Alright folks, you're getting a xanga exclusive post. Try to hold in your excitement. Basically, I would like to publicly show my distaste for the new "feedback log" that xanga has introduced. For starters, it's creepy. Do we really need to know exactly who visited our site and how many times they did so? Secondly, it's just one more thing to make people feel bad. Now I'm the first to admit that my xanga is basically dead and that I only put effort into it by importing posts from my other blog. But it still doesn't make me feel good about myself when the feedback log says that no one has visited your site and that the only people that have in the past week are not actually people but search engines or the occasional wayward internet surfer who stumbled upon my xanga by mistake. Seriously xanga, what is the deal? Alright, I think that about sums up my rant for this evening.
P.S. Happy Birthday to my favorite ex-roommate Rachel Cornelius!!
P.P.S. If you ever wanted to know what bipolar disorder is like either have a bipolar roommate like I do or read the book listed above. Fascinating stuff. I'm almost done with it. She's a brilliant writer.
I'm done for real now. Goodnight.
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| I'm not perfect.
Okay, I'll pause a moment as you regain your composure from that inevitable large shock-filled gasping breath you just took in.....
Alright, now that you've regained your composure I'll explain. I just finished "Devil in the Details" by Jennifer Traig (fantastic book) in which she humorously explains her life-long battle with OCD and her strive to be perfect. While I will not pretend that this book has suddenly led me believe I myself suffer from OCD or can even entertain the notion that I completely understand the outstanding nature of her compulsions or her battle with anorexia, I can see some of myself in her.
Here is something I have really never talked to anyone about. When I was younger I felt the need to do things that I didn't really understand. Why was it that I had to take exactly 10 sips, no more no less, from the bubbler? If I bumped my left side against something, why did I then also have to brush that item with my right side to "feel even?" To this day I always break numbers down in my head until they cannot be broken down anymore. I incessantly type out words in my head and at times feel compelled to walk at a certain stride, making sure not to step on any cracks. I like to blame my need to watch my feet when I walk on the fact that I just don't walk very well, but that's not necessarily the case. You may be saying well, maybe you're just a little neurotic. Maybe it's just a little quirk you have. And I agree. It doesn't interfere with my ability to do everyday tasks and I function reasonably well in everyday society. So what's the problem? What's the real kicker? I used to think, and sometimes still do at times, that if I don't do these things it would somehow cause disastrous things to happen. This was increasingly reinforced by the fact that when I did do them bad things didn't happen.
But sometimes I don't think about these things. Sometimes I break the ridiculous rules I have set for myself. And you know what? Nothing bad happens. Everything is okay. No one dies. My world does not come to a screeching halt. I can get by without breaking down the number "39" into "13" because both numbers are divisible by 3. Doing these things doesn't make me perfect. I'm perfectly imperfect. And that's okay.
p.s. As I was writing this post the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley came on my i-tunes. Not very reassuring to hear someone constantly say "I think you're crazy" while trying to reaffirm your own sanity. Coincidence? | | |
| All of this snow reminds me of all of the crazy/unsafe things we used to do as children in the snow. Like sledding. Always an unsafe choice. Someone was always getting hurt or stuck in a snow bank. Or if you were me you'd get to the bottom of the hill and have trouble getting back up to the top. Being "handicapable" is not always so advantageous. But I digress.
Because I went to a tiny perocial elementary school out in "the sticks", we did things like take a half day off of school to go on a school-wide sledding outing. We also did things like take entire days off to go rollerskating or hold our annual "LLS Olympics." I clearly learned a lot during elementary school. It's a wonder I can tie my own shoes.
But anyway, the annual sledding trip always seemed to end in tragedy. As if Adam running full-speed into an electric box wasn't enough to put the kibosh on this annual Lebanon tradition, I finally solidified the beginning of the end when I sledded off of a man-made “sledding jump” which knocked the wind out of me and gave the teachers a good concussion scare. It was pretty awesome.
Side note: One winter I decided making a snowman was too normal for me so I made a snowduck, complete with ducklings trailing behind. Best snow animal ever.
Speaking of sledding, the other day I saw facebook pictures of people sledding on recycling bins, lunch trays, and other assorted plastic items. While these items by themselves make for an amazing sledding adventure, the amazingness was only heightened by the fact that all of these itemse were clearly stolen. Jenny, Johnny, I feel like this could possibly be the winter version of urban kite flying. Maybe we could call it pilfered sledding or something. Who knows. We will work on the name at a later date.
Enjoy the snow everyone!! | | |
| Because this is a somewhat Christmas-related post, I thought I would start off with a Christmas-inspired title. Think "The Little Drummer Boy" written in past tense. But I digress.
Anyway, I was just informed that the 16-year-old girl who played Mary in that new movie "The Nativity Story" is pregnant. Out of wedlock. Oh the irony. I think I would claim immaculate conception. I mean, maybe she just got that into her role. Crazy. Oh Christmas. | | |
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