Saturday, May 23, 2009
Home
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Perspective.
"No matter how low you consider yourself,
there is always someone looking up at you
wishing they were that high."
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The year of silence
Thursday, May 14, 2009
A letter to me.
"Tears splash on to my keyboard now. I am perhaps happier now than I have ever been and yet I cannot but recognize that I would trade all that I am to be you, the eternally unhappy, nervous, wild, wondering and despairing 16-year-old Stephen: angry, angst-ridden and awkward but alive. Because you know how to feel, and knowing how to feel is more important than how you feel. Deadness of soul is the only unpardonable crime, and if there is one thing happiness can do it is mask deadness of soul."
The writers of The Frisky then prompted readers to write their own letters to their 16-year-old selves. The responses were astounding - so many people penned their own letters, revealing heartache, pain, triumphs, success, but one thing was common among all... the idea that things will get better. So, I thought that this experiment could be fun to do blog-style. I wrote a letter to 16 year old me and I'd like to share.
Dear 16-year-old Virginia,
You live in New York City! Don’t laugh at me… you do!
Know that it’s cool to be smart. Soak up all of the knowledge you can - read the books for English, some of them are actually good! And, it will help keep your stress levels down about those "pop quizzes"! Understand that even though you’re not in the “popular” crowd now, your crowd will be the one a lot of people envy after college. Those friends you’ve had since elementary school will still be the best friends you will ever have. Understand that no matter what is done or said, they will always be there for you. Use them, rely on them - they are your strength. And, be there for them in return.. always.
I know you feel like you have to please everybody all of the time - but, realize that it's okay to upset people sometimes. There's no way to make everybody happy - just make yourself happy - the ones that matter will be content with just that.
The family is the greatest thing you will have in life - the relationships (and friendships) you build with them are priceless - you’ll find they’re actually really cool.
You’ll like your sister, eventually. Yes, really.
When it comes to relationships, I wouldn’t want to stray you away from what actually happens because valuable character building occurs during those times - but trust your heart. Stay attuned to the red flags and most importantly, don’t punish yourself for something you couldn’t control.
In college, go crazy - Go out and have fun, stay up all night, drink too much, and make friends with everyone you meet. That way, you won’t feel like you wasted 4 years of precious time waiting for your life to start. Start now.
Though I can’t say that “everything is perfect now!”—Do know this: you are coming into a time in your life where things will be confusing and nightmarish, but you are stronger than you think. Laugh often and surround yourself with people you love. If you do that.. nothing can go wrong.
You’re cool, but don’t dye your hair so much - you’ll ruin it.
Love,
The cooler, 23-year-old, you.
So, now I challenge you, few readers - what would you say to your 16-year-old self? Feel free to leave your letters in the comments, or email them to me - I'll post them anonymously if you so choose.
Monday, May 11, 2009
...it will make your skin crawl
Friday, May 8, 2009
Apartment Mess
While I had considered staying in the apartment for another year, mainly as a reaction to not wanting to move my stuff AGAIN, my decision was definitely made yesterday. I will not live in this apartment after September. I still don't know if I'll be leaving New York City, but I'll definitely be moving out of this place!
Yesterday morning, I was awakened by a "drip-drip-drip" sound. Since it has been raining for over a week (some days with some pretty strong storms), the sound of water isn't that unusual. Once I came closer to consciousness, I realized that the dripping sound was coming from INSIDE the apartment. I quickly got out of bed to determine what the problem was and it didn't take me long to find it - there was over an inch of yellow water on the bathroom floor. The water was coming through the ceiling in 4 different places. After calling the emergency maintenance line (who, by the way, aren't very nice!) someone finally came out to determine what the problem was. Apparently, the man living upstairs decided to do some laundry in his bathtub, overflowing the tub and bursting a pipe between the floors. Perfect.
After they stopped the water, I went to work after I was promised that someone would be coming by to clean up the standing water in our apartment. When I got back that night, no one had come to the apartment and I had a HUGE mess to clean up - I used basically every towel I owned to get the water up out of the floor, and then had to take all of the towels (plus 50 pounds of water) all to the laundromat to wash them.
To make matters worse, I got back to my apartment only to find my closet racks had collapsed - leaving all of my clothes in the floor. (sorry for the crappy camera phone picture, my camera was buried under the mess) I had to move all of my clothes into Carrie's room in order to get the hardware pieces out. Now, I have to figure out how to get my closet rack back up (or something back up) so that I can store my clothing! It's definitely going to be interesting, with no man in my life to play "handy man", I'll be doing it all by myself. I don't want to spend a lot of money fixing it, because I don't plan on living in this apartment in 4 months --- uggghhhhhhh I guess I'll be spending time at Home Depot this weekend...