For those about to...

"You hate people!"
"But I love gatherings. Isn't it ironic?"

My life has taken a rather dramatic turn lately in that I no longer find my free time to be "free", but otherwise occupied. This is not an unfortunate change and in fact it is not unwelcome either. The idea that my time has been merely manipulated in order for me to see things in a different way has proven to be quite beneficial. Now some may ask what I mean by allusion to a shift in perspective so allow me to elaborate:
As someone who found herself with a great deal of free time at one point, I thought it necessary to occupy my time with a great deal of introspection. I thought about who I am to strangers, family, and myself. It is very clear that all of this thought has paid off in some way because now there is a certain level of confidence in my stride that was not there before. This confidence, however, does not negate my humility. You can be both confident and humble. It can be done. Oh yes.
In order for this feat to be accomplished one must first acknowlege a universal truth:
Everyone is different.
Say it with me.
"Everyone is different"
Good.
Now this is crutial because when observing others you must repeat this in your head because it allows you to remove yourself from the situation and observe. In order for me to save time, I will state my immediate findings here:

• Tools cannot be saved. Once a tool, always a tool. The only thing that can be done with them is appreciate the level of their tool-i-ness.
• A man may not notice when a woman is flirting, but women do. It is blaringly obvious, in fact. Now it is true that when a woman is flirting she may not be interested in the person she is flirting with, but the fact of the matter is she does want one thing: attention.
• Spoiled children get yelled at more than well-adjusted children and in my opinion, they generally contribute less to society. Please consider this before purchasing a BMW for your daughter's sweet sixteen.

Before I leave you for another undetermined period of time, please know that the Hannah Montana "Best of Both Words" song shares it's title with the porn Randall rents in Clerks. Yes, indeed.

It may be a New Year for you...

It's a brand new year. Not brand spanking new, no, but new enough. As a young person with so much time on her side and potential to take advantage of, you would think that my first new entry would be filled with hope. My head space isn't quite there right now, though. There are a few things that have happened recently and things are closing in that have robbed me of that. My next birthday is coming in quickly and to be perfectly frank: I'm not excited. Not at all. I'll be another year older and I don't have much to show for it. Not only do I have nothing planned for the big day (except that I have to be in school as usual), but memories of birthdays passed only haunt me. This all sounds quite melodramatic, I know, but there isn't any other way to describe it. I'm trying to keep things as close to the truth as they can possibly get. And just so we're quite clear about something: I tell the truth. I always tell the truth. The thing is, I get frustrated when people lie because to me this expresses a lack of faith in the other person. It says "I don't think that you can understand what the facts are and I don't believe you are able to handle it". My belief is that only someone who is extremely thick-headed would be foolish enough to believe they know what is good for someone else. Especially when it comes to the truth. With that in mind, I try to give to others this thing that I ask in return: Don't worry about hurting my feelings with the truth. I'd rather feel hurt than stupid.

Nineteen days and counting...