Out-of-the-box

So, my roommate Kathy was madly clicking on her "stumble!" toolbar last night and happened upon the cutest date ideas ever. Now, at this point in my life, I don't exactly have opportunities to use these ideas, but I will remember them for a later, more relevant time.

1. Go on a search for as many good climbing trees as possible, climb as high as you both can in all of them, compile photo evidence

2. Go to a major chain bookstore and leave notes to future readers in copies of your favorite books

3. Have her dress up as a ghost and you dress up us Pacman. Walk around downtown holding hands, and whenever anyone sees you two, pretend to be embarrassed, and run off screaming “wocka wocka wocka.”

4. Create photo evidence suggesting that you went on an adventure that didn’t really happen

5. Dress up as superheroes and stop at least one petty crime (ie. jaywalking, littering)

6. Build forts out of furniture and blankets and wage war with paper airplanes.

7. Try to visit as many people as you can in one night and turn as many things inside their apartment upside-down as you can, without them noticing

8. Go to the airport, get the cheapest, soonest departing flight to anywhere when you show up, and stay there for a weekend.

9. Write a piece of fiction together. Outside at a cafe. Ask strangers when you get stuck.

10. Dress to the nines, pretend to be married, and test drive very expensive vehicles at an auto dealership.

11. Do the lamest tourist thing in your area that you have both secretly wanted to do forever. Have an unabashed good time!

12. In the middle of the night, drive to the beach, so you arrive just as the sun is rising. Have a breakfast picnic, then fall asleep together. Bring a sun umbrella.

13. Drive somewhere unknown and have dinner in a city you’ve never been to. With fake names.

14. Go to a minor league baseball game under the stars. Tell each other stories about how bad you are at athletics. Randomly cheer for both teams. Eat lots of Cracker Jacks.

15. Go around the city with sidewalk chalk and draw hearts with equations inside on random things

16. Walk around a city and perform short silent plays in front of security cameras

17. Walk around the city all night and find a place to eat breakfast at dawn

19. Go to a restaurant and convince the cook to create something completely new for you.

20. Rent a movie you’ve never seen before. Set on mute and improvise dialogue.

Fact: some people are very, very strange

One of my co-workers disclosed a most disturbing fact to me today. Her son got married last Friday, and the bride, groom, wedding party--even the audience members--wore pajamas. Silk ones... but pajamas nonetheless. And get this: instead of flowers, there were Teddy bears. Lots and lots of Teddy bears.

Can you imagine a bride walking down the aisle arm-in-arm with her dad, wearing a nightgown and clutching a Teddy bear?

Heavens.

Oh, and the wedding "nightgown" was white. That's an important detail I almost forgot to include. What would this world be coming to if the bride didn't wear white???

Heeheehahahoohoohmmph

I have grease in my hair. It's Pantene's fault.

I popped The Da Vinci Code in my DVD player today, primarily to see the clips of the Louvre so I could point and say, "I'll be there in a month!!!" As the movie progressed, I became disgusted and turned it off. Self-flagellation is not exactly something I would like to watch, thank you very much, much less NAKED self-flagellation during which the camera has to expertly make minute movements to avoid indecent exposure of the actor. Yuck.

I have decided that I am the world's biggest worrywart. And I need to knock it off, or else... well, my life just won't be very happy, that's all. "Do not worry about tomorrow..."

I have resolved to someday belt out a tune with no regard to pitch or aesthetics while driving on a highway with my love interest (watch A Lot Like Love, and it will all make sense). Haha.




And now, on a somewhat heavier note: I'm petrified of this coming year, while also completely ecstatic about it. I'm scared that I won't have the money to pay for rent, food, gas, etc. You know, the basic necessities. I'm scared I'll have to ask my parents for money, which is the absolute last thing I want to do. But, at the same time, I couldn't be happier to be living with some of my best friends. I guess pretty much nothing in this life comes without at least SOME stress or worry. Oh well.

Bring it on.

Anticipating

One more day.
One more day until I move into my apartment with my three fabulous roommates!
This is going to be a great year...

Giggle

I dressed up today. I dressed up in a black "teacup" dress with a red sash tied around my waist. I wore high heels and felt like a princess. There should be more days like this one.

H20 on two different continents

I am a self-proclaimed water connoisseur. In other words, I'm super picky about my water. I can detect even the slightest hint of a foul taste; this usually happens when I drink out of public drinking fountains. I often wonder to myself if the water has been traveling through sewage-infested pipes or something equally disgusting.

My water must be ice cold. Lukewarm water just doesn't quench my thirst. But if ice cubes are added, the water often takes on a faintly metallic flavor. So I get my water from a refrigerated Brita pitcher or directly from the refrigerator itself. Even then--at least in the latter case--it isn't always cold enough.

So, tonight at my college group, the speaker mentioned that he had recently returned from Africa. While there, he had seen a young girl holding a water bottle. In that bottle was poop-colored liquid mixed with bits of grass and who knows what else. This sight humbled him considerably and made him think about how ridiculously privileged he--and all other Americans, really--is in comparison to those poor Africans.

I feel so pampered and ungrateful...

A hardly necessary post

I use the word "hardly" entirely too often. It has become a habit. But I like the word too much to stop using it, even if it is a bit excessive. "Hardly" sounds so old-worldy but modern at the same time. Very grown-up and literary. It is a magnificent word, and it has been neglected over the years. I'm working on reviving it. Stay tuned.

Coming from a girl who hates coffee

Snuggled in a plush armchair and sipping my blueberry creme frappuccino, I feel very grown-up. My shoeless feet are tucked into the crack between the cushion and the armchair. I have carefully arranged half of my hair into a sophisticated clip and allowed the rest of it to cascade down my shoulders in all its curly wildness. A flyer for Seattle's annual Bumbershoot festival lies on the table next to me, thoroughly perused.

The blueberry and chocolate flavors have faded and now nothing but whipped cream is traveling up my mangled straw. My friend, Mollee, is ordering her drink, and I sit lost in thought.

I don't drink coffee, and every time I leave a place that serves it, my hair smells faintly of coffee beans. An hour later, I'm still absentmindedly sniffing handfuls of hair to see if the odor has faded. Yet, I find myself meeting friends at these places, due to the cozy, friendly atmosphere--and due to the fact that, unlike me, most people actually like coffee.

Being in college, I've found that "coffee dates" like this are practically an expectation. From no one in particular; it's just what you do when you want to escape school and chat with a friend. At first, it wasn't my favorite way to catch up with friends. I could think of a bunch of places I would rather go than a coffee shop. But the relaxing, collegiate feel won me over after a while.

Mollee ambles over to me, her drink in hand, and I smile reassuringly at her as she apologizes for keeping me waiting. I'm excited to talk to her. We haven't talked since the beginning of the summer, and a lot has happened since. Perfect coffee shop talk.

Realizations

I never understood
what was meant by
"when he's happy, I'm happy"
or
"when he's sad, I'm sad"

But, oh how I comprehend it now.
Perhaps more than I ever wanted to.

His frown makes me want to cry.
Either that, or I must find a way to make it better.
Now.
If I can't make it better,
I join him helplessly in his melancholy.

His smile.
Infectious, endearing, hypnotizing, vibrant.
Better than a thousand brilliant sunrises.
All disappointments of my day are gone.
And I am undeniably happy in that moment.

I never understood
how one could
drown in one's tears.

Now I do.
Because I have.

They come like torrential downpours.
They hover at the corners of my eyes
threatening to spill over at the slightest provocation.
A word, a song, a picture, that familiar voice,
all equally painful, equally debilitating.
For weeks, my cheeks are delicate and raw
irritated at the constant flow of salty tears
and incessant dabbing of tissues.
Is it possible to be on the verge of tears
for months on end?

There are 87 keys on my keyboard

This always happens to me. I sit down in front of my computer, resolving to rid myself of this itch to write, and... nothing comes. Nada. Zippo. A big fat wordless void.

Big fat wordless void, you have bested me tonight. But I intend to fill you with grandiose verbiage as soon as I can. So there.