What to do...

I spent this past weekend doing what else but... looking for/at colleges... again.  What a fun and exciting process that simply makes me want to tear my hair out!  It's not enough for me to have to sift through thousands of names of institution of higher education on databases, hoping I haven't overlooked anything.  From there, I have to see how expensive each one is, how selective it is, what my chances are of getting in, location, size, student comments, etc.  No, in addition to that, my parents have thrown a few more monkeywrenches into the equation (which already is of gigantic proportions! >:O ).  Earlier this month, my parents proposed to me the idea of attending a two year college to finish X-ray tech school (like my mom), and then, since I like brains so much, I should then go on to get a graduate degree in MRI-ing (and also going to community college and moving to UConn in my junior year.  [No comment])  

Here's where my problem lies.  I am a diligent little researcher, and I have easily found that an MRI tech makes a steady (and larger) income as compared to an English major.  So I figured, I can write the Next Great American Novel in my spare time, while comfortably living with my parents while I put several thousand dollars in my bank account in order to buy myself a better life later.  It sounded good (and I know this because my mom's fellow schoolmate who is almost twenty  years my mom's junior is living the same life, though she's not a "writer").  Then I thought, wait, I would be missing out on everything I've been feed about college since I moved to America.  But go to a real university, major in English, and who knows, become a technical writer (while I write the NGAM at home), will greatly depleat my parents' wallets and hurt the future of my own before I am able to pay off any debts.

So, I'm stuck in a place where I have no more information to go on, and I can't make an educated guess.  Or an educated decision.  The life of a college student has certain appeal, but because at seventeen, I have to decide the general direction of what I really want to do with the rest of my life, I don't know what to do.  Maybe I should skip the parties and get a steady job that would support my creative endeavors?  Who knows, maybe I'll move to Boston, and maybe there'll be time to attend art school to study fashion.  Then I can work for like, RL or Tommy or something.

Anyone else frustrated by the system we've been placed in?!

What a Delinquent.

After coming back to school, I've noticed I've been keeping myself on a steady (if not monstrously malnutritious) diet of milked-down coffee (loads of sugar, please!) and unparalleled stress.  And no, for those of you who may be reading this and are in my (Wellness) gym class, it's definitely not eustress.  It's not something I would advice other people to do, although I'm sure most people I know probably adopted a similar diet, perhaps replacing the coffee with tea, or soda, or whatnot.

 Anyway, this morning I was informed by a very informal notice (in small print, might I add, because I missed it at first), that if I did not pay the library the money I owed for other people's books (that they took from my house and forgot to bring back on time) and my own, I would be placed on the "delinquency list".  Now, my first thought was "Oh, no, anything but that!”  My second had less dramatics, as it was, "What is the 'delinquency list'?"  Like, am I going to be hauled off to a Saturday because I couldn't pay $2.95?  The grown-up library down the street just keeps tacking on change until my lazy self walks in one time to check out a book, and the librarian informs me I owe a hefty sum I could use to make multiple coffee runs.  (Yes, now you all know I have a habit of not returning books in a long time, so watch out.  I probably could have bought myself that new Macbook I'm salivating over sometime this year if I kept all that money--keep a tracking device on all the books you loan me!)

 But this got me thinking: Why is the school holding not giving me my report card or a detention if I don't pay back the money by tomorrow, when the first notice was given to me late last week?  And more importantly, why do people who forgot just once have to receive the same punishment as those who repeatedly “forget” (Too many liars?)?  Just because you would like to squash a largely irrelevent pest rebellion, doesn't mean all of the people who would gladly (I use the word loosely) oblige but sometimes forget have to suffer.  Really?  Really.  I know that the institution may be trying to prepare us for the "Real World", but I've been living in this World since I was born, and, yes, it's Real.  I can tell, because I not only have stress from school, I also carry on my concussion-ed head (another story) the burden of social interactions, parental interferences, overblown dreams and aspirations, and a dog who has to wee every five minutes (it's the medication).  No, I haven't learned everything, not nearly as much as I would like to, but I know I'm living in what you would call this "Real World".

New Post of the New Year

What about writing?

I think since the only thing I constantly have with me is my imagination (as silly as it sounds) and words and ideas find me almost anywhere, I think I'll dedicate this blog to writing and my surroundings.  I figured I should write about what I know, and I think I know writing (speaking of which, I labored over a pesky two-page paper for AP English for the past four hours, including the countless amount of times I found myself being sidetracked on the internet--hope it comes out alright).  

So, yes, writing.  This is the official start of something new.  We'll see whether it flies or ends up on failblog.com labeled "Blog Fail".  Wish me luck! ^^

A Little Rehab.

This blog needs to go off to rehab (what? All the cool blogs have already been).

I'm putting this little bugger aside for a little bit, while I work on my story (I'm aiming for novel length, btw) and research on what exactly makes a good blog.

Any suggestions?

Snow?

So what is this?  Snow?  That means Christmas, right?

(Yes, this is going to be about Christmas).

Here's the story:

While being terribly bored earlier this morning (school was miraclously cancelled--who woulda thought?), I was looking at the mail from yesterday which contained several coupon-bearing store catalogs--you know, the ones that are from like, supermarkets and local stores?  So I came upon Walmart's catalog-magazine thing and their holiday slogan is apparently "Christmas costs less at Walmart".

That made me laugh.  Here was tangible proof just how consumer-y Christmas has become.  Why does Christmas have to cost anything?  Because Santa doesn't really make toys up at the North Pole?  It's probably because (Christians) people forgot why we even celebrate the holiday.  I'm not sure how consumer-y Hannukah or Kwanza are or what other kinds of celebrations cost, but it seems like people think that if they spend December 25 without opening presents and indulging each other in material things, it will just not be the same.  Or maybe the TV just entices people to buy, because materialism is human nature, and once it starts, it is one of the most difficult habits to break.  I'm trying to kick the habit myself, which is why I didn't ask for anything from my family this year--we'll see how that goes.  

But going back to the whole "Christmas costs less" thing, perhaps we should take that as a sign to spend a little less on lavish seasonal parties.  I can't speak for other people, but I see the same issues of spending in my own Polish, Catholic family.  My parents both grew up fasting on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, spending it at the church and with the familia.  They've tried to instill this tradition in my sister and me, but it took me all of almost ten years to realize that I should respect what is traditional (until about the age of six or seven, of course I did whatever they wanted me to).  My extended family seems to have been sucked into the swirling vortex of spending, throwing out money on things they don't really need to give, ever though I love them all the same, and who knows where they managed to get the money (they seem to be living a life of wealth when there is little wealth for them to sit on.  I'm sure they're not the only ones; i.e. "BIG FINANCIAL CRISIS").

The feeling of Christmas and the holiday itself should cost pennies, if anything.  We should look at gifts as extra things that come with the territory, but not things that should overpower the meaning behind December 25th.  I'm not trying to preach (I'm sure it sounds like it), but I would like to point out that Toys-R-Us, Walmart, the mall, and Abercrombie (or other high-priced clothing "boutiques" that leave you heavily intoxicated with perfume) don't sell happiness on their shelves--or if they did, it would probably break your bank account, because hey, who doesn't want to profit?

If you look past the gift wrap and sparkles and want to better someone else's life, do something useful with your time: volunteer.

Happy Holidays--because we're not "one-size fits all", are we?--and to people who may read this and react to that greeting like my father would, Merry Christmas!  

It's Britney, Besch.

My mom wants me to do homework, but since I'm not coming to school tomorrow, I'm going to rebel for once in my life, and not do it.

SAT here I come!

So yesterday, slacker-itis caught up with me, and that Britney Spears thing was on, so I watched it.

That's right, we're switching the topic.  Is that okay with you?  Yeah, didn't think so, everyone loves a good Britney story nowadays.

Well, except for me.  While she was going through her premature mid-life crisis, I could care less, only because the media made it seem like everyone cared.  And you know what?  I bet half the people I know didn't care.  At least for a little while.  So when I started watching the show, I wasn't amazed at how she felt about her life--of course she always had a fairly large magnifying glass over her--but I never saw just how bad things were for her.  And I liked the fact that I could finally say, "Yes, she's not stupid."

The media most definitely made her look that way, even though they didn't have to say it right out.  They must have been foaming at the mouth for the next crazy thing she did.

And you know what happened?  I started to like her again.  I wouldn't say admire her in a role model-y sort of way, but I liked seeing how her life was and hearing what she thought about what she went through.  I felt bad for laughing at her last year at the MTV VMAs.  I think a common reaction after watching that special was, "Wow, that must suck."

Some parts, of course, I had to laugh at her mistakes.  And then I took it back, because I reminded myself that no matter how distant I was from her, she deserved to prove herself of something before any judgement on whether to listen to her or not was made.  Which did happen, and I just sorta listened and watched in fascination.

It made me rethink my wish to be a musician.  Maybe I'd stay Indie, if it ever happened.

Personal Side Note!

Yes, I like my new Nirvana tee a lot.  Thanks for asking, they're really cool.

Now that I got that out of the way, I would like to take the time to write a personal note about the plight I have taken personally, that's right, folks, the plight of the author.  I had a brilliant brain-storm last night (I hate that phrase, but there did seem to be an unforcasted storm up there last night).  I finally dug myself out of the dark, brooding, depressing hole of "WRITER'S BLOCK".  The name is fitting.  Sometimes I feel like I hit a brick wall blocking my way.  Fun, eh?

Aaanywho, I put most of the (figurative) puzzle together, and so did my character, and I'm so excited to write, and I'm just so excited, and I'm thrilled, and....

I don't have time to write.

I love my life.

I just took the time out of English blogging to blog this, blog.