Great Expectations

       I've really been struggling lately with living my life by certain terms. There are people I work with who continiously tell me they live vicariously through me whenever I travel. Whenever I see them their faces light up when they ask "Where are you going next?" They tell me they wish they had lived this way when they were my age. My peers praise me for my courage and bravery, and it's my parents' bragging right.
      But I don't like travelling by myself. I hate it, actually. My dad can attest to the fact that whenever he drops me off at the airport, I'm incospiciously begging him to let me off the hook. And while I've been preached to numerous times recently by the aforementioned people about how I should live my life the way I want and not worry about what other people think about it, I never believed any of them until I spoke with a friend who actually lives that way.
      So now the question remains: what do I want to do? I can tell you a few things I don't want to do: I don't want to go to Asia. I don't want to go to South Africa alone. I don't want to spend all that money and time on a cruise to Antarctica without even knowing if I like cruises. What I want is to go to Disneyworld. I want to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I want to see London covered in snow on my birthday. I want to make music videos and movie trailers and I want to write stories that stir something in people.
       I want to have a YouTube channel and not worry about people I know IRL teasing me for it. I want to eat the cookie and not worry about caloric content (that one will take time) and I don't want to answer phone calls for a living. I want to be proud of the work I do. I don't want carpel tunnel and if I must have it I want to aquire it writing the next Chronicles of Narnia, not stuffing envelopes. I want to quit wasting away my time in a mediocre life waiting around for the extraordinary one to come.
      Steve Jobs once said, "Every morning I look in the mirror and I ask myself, if today was my last day on Earth, would I want to spend it the way I intend to spend today? If the answer is 'no' too many days in a row, I know something needs to change". Well, then it looks like it's time for a change.

Stupid Girls

       It's starting to dawn on me how vapid people think I am. At work and socially I find people are explaining the simplest of terms or experiences to me. Despite what I contribute to the conversation, I'm always the one people dumb things down for. This, of course, got me thinking.   
         I'm bottle blond, sure. I really like clothes - whatever. But does this automatically qualify me as a bimbo? At what point does a girl go from being bright to being an idiot? I'm wondering in measures of physicality (which I do consider a direct relation.) It seems that when a girl is a girl she is free to believe and aspire to whatever she wishes. She could be a scientist! She could be an astronaut! But slap some lipgloss and a bra on her and she's suddenly Malibu Barbie - and the closest she could ever get to a PHd is the lab coat in her closet. 

      I was born last and so I never got away with a childhood, I feel. When I would ask my Dad to listen to Radio Disney on long drives he would turn on Dr. Laura instead. I was learning a wider vocabulary and How To Deal With Your Mother-in-Law Moving In while most of my friends were jamming to NSYNC. Constantly spending time with a Grandmother with a genius-range IQ didn't really allow for me to enjoy ignorance either.

     Alas, because of the absolute misconception people apparently get when they look at me, I feel the need to walk around with copies of my resume and hand them to people who try to strike up conversation. "What's that? Yes, I have heard of 'humidity'. Experienced it, actually. See there? Been to New York City. During the summer months, no less." "I do know what sunburns are, as a matter of fact. I got a second degree sunburn in the tropics of Australia. Yes, I know how serious second degree sunburns are..."

      I know, what exaggerations. But yesterday someone asked me about San Fransisco and when I told him that I had spent a few weeks remodelling a children's school and working at a soup kitchen and spending a few days sightseeing, he took this to mean: 'No I've never been there; please tell me an in depth history of the city and where to best experience the sights'. C'mon people!

     I'll be honest: sometimes I give in to it. Nay - frequently I give in to it. It's easier to stand there and let people think a misconception than continuously prove them wrong. Let me tell you though, the girl who almost skipped two grades is not the one who needs a lecture on How To Heat Up Your Cappuccino If It Gets Cold.

But thanks.

Hello dear blogosphere,

     You have recruited another. I am quite excited for our future endeavors. There are a few things I ought to note before our relationship blossoms: Firstly I am very inconsistent. I cannot make promises about being up until 3AM typing up a post. I can't promise I'll update daily. I can't even promise weekly posts.
     What I can promise is passion. And thoughtfulness. Will there at times be absurdities and questionable statistics? Yes, there definitely will be. Will they be coupled with interesting topics and sub-par grammar? You betcha.
    My life is boring - this is certain. My mind, however, is just the opposite. Luckily for you, my mind and my thoughts are what will undoubtly fill this blog. I hope you're in for quite a ride.
     Until next time: peaches.