Be Prepared

I have four days worth of posting to do. I apologize in advance. You will get four different posts (not including this one). I will title each with the day that it should have been posted but wasn't. Bear with me, when I have wi-fi this will be easier for all of us.

F*R*I*E*N*D*S

Anna and I always joke about our lives being a sitcom.

Like Friends. But instead of being in a coffee shop and our respective apartments, in the DHS Theatre Department and our respective houses.  Let me also take this moment to reiterate the fact that this is a department that I was NEVER a part of.

I guess that makes me...Monica? Isn't she the only one that never worked at Central Perk? Even though I've always seen myself as a less whiny and annoying Rachel, and clearly Tina's OCD fits Monica better. 

But whatever. That's not the point. 

The point is that high school isn't real life. High school is the set of an overly dramatic TV show. Luckily, none of my friends had babies, and none of them got married, and none of them were Joey, but it's still the same basic concept. 

Rather than just being us, we spent all of our time playing the parts of the people that we thought we were supposed to be. We moved and molded ourselves to fit into the niche that we were assigned, and we convinced ourselves that we were comfortable there. 

And then we graduated. 

Graduation brought the realization that we didn't have to be those people, and that we didn't really want to be them. We quit pretending and started telling people what we thought and felt, and guess what?

We grew up.

And it was wonderful. I don't have to shave off pieces of my personality because it might make people mad. Yeah sure, I can't say everything that comes to mind (be grateful for that, people) because that would be dumb, but I don't have to deal with people that I don't want to deal with any way.

Don't get me wrong, I loved all of my friends in high school. But it's over now. And I'm not sad. 

I had fun. I didn't take anything to seriously. I enjoyed my life. And now I can move on. Yeah, sometimes I'll miss the football games, or the parties at Ariel's, or driving around in the country with Anna just because when the two of us get together we can't stop talking. I'll miss waiting for Maggie at random times of the day because we walk to class together every chance we get. I'll miss seeing Jackson in a dress. I'll miss having class with Tina (even though we both decided that that was a mistake), and I'll miss Will bringing me biscuits. Oh, and I'll miss Melbs trying to convince me that she doesn't love me. And Jena being Jena. 

But I have those memories (and lots and lots of pictures), and every one of those people made a lasting impression. 

The only remotely sad part is that all of the people that I know I won't miss, won't miss me either. 

But then I remember that I don't really care all that much. 

Because high school isn't real life. It's a bubble. A fantastic bubble of fake tans and lipgloss. Full of teachers whose opinions don't matter (and a handful that change your life), grades that should matter (but very rarely do) and friends. Friends that get you through the worst times of your life, and who help you figure out who you are. Friends that push you to be the best person that you can be, and then tell you that you have to go be that person. 

I am grateful for every person that I met in high school. Even the ones that I really didn't like. Each of you has helped make me who I am (so if you don't like me, you can blame yourself).

I am grateful for every life that bumped up against mine, and every shared experience. Even the ones that I was forced into (like going to prom. Thanks, jerks.)

I am grateful for every piece of advice that I heard. Even if I decided it was stupid and I wasn't going to listen. 

I appreciate every opinion, even if I don't agree. 

Thank you all, for making me who I am. It is my pleasure to have been a part of this fabulously fake world, and I hope to see at least some of you in the real one. 

MMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNHMMNHHMMNNH

That is numb-speak for "I can't feel my mouth and half of it isn't moving, what do I do??"

So. I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday. Really wasn't bad at all. I mean, my mouth kinda hurts, but it isn't as bad as braces so we'll say it's not that bad. 

The weirdest thing was the mouth paralysis. Apparently, they did a really good job with the Novocaine before I woke up, and they actually hit the nerve on one side of my mouth (which is what they're aiming for). So one side was completely numb, and they other side was completely....paralyzed. It was weird. Of course, as soon as my mom got off the phone with the dentist to make sure that this was just the Novocaine and nothing to be worried about, I could twitch the corner of my mouth. So I did that for like twenty minutes. 

I've eaten a ton of ice cream (thanks to my fabulous Mama and Anna/Jena/Miranda), had lots of mashed potatoes (thank you Daddy), named a gnome (thank you William), and slept on the couch with a teddy bear (thank you Lou). 

Probably the worst part is that my usual diet of meat, coffee, and peanut butter is now Jello, ice cream, and mashed potatoes. 

But really, that isn't that bad. 

Oh, except for the part where I still can't feel half my lip. That's a little strange. 

.......................................................

I feel like I should say something profound and meaningful that I've learned in the events of the last few days. But I've got nothing. No huge pieces of wisdom to impart. No life changing quotes that will inspire you. When life sucks, it sucks, and then it gets better. There is always someone worse off than you. And tell people what's going on in your life, they probably care. And if they don't care, tell them anyway; it'll make you feel better. Oh, and crying is good for you. Like really.

Oh. And drink lots of this.

The only thing I've learned this summer...

....is that I don't handle stress well. Usually, I'm not a very stressed out person. But when there is stress, I have no clue how to handle it. Like, instead of dealing with it, I just get physically ill. Not healthy.

Prayers for sanity, please.

Love y'all!

Cure-All

Having a bad day?



Not any more.

"What's the point of having friends if they're only going to die?"

This existentialist question brought to you by.......(drumroll).....THE FANTABULOUS ARIEL BAILEY!!!!

Is fantabulous a word? Not sure. Whatever, it is now.

So I made the mistake of actually pondering this question this morning as I was not getting out of bed. I mean, yeah sure, we can always say, "Well humans are social animals, so without contact with others  we'll die." Yes, that's true. But have you ever tried to figure out why we have the friends we have?

I hadn't. So I did. This morning before I decided to actually get out of bed.

Some of my friends make me feel important, like I'm the center of the universe and my presence makes them infinitely happy. Yeah sure, intellectually I know that all of their friends get the same ecstatic reaction when they walk in the room, but it doesn't lessen the emotional response to someone else's joy at your existence.

Then I have friends who make me feel inadequate. But not in a "you aren't good enough to live" kind of way. In a "you have so much potential, why don't you use it?" kind of way. I'm fairly sure these people don't know it, but they're the ones that make me feel like I'm slacking off, and cheating the world by not being as awesome as I could be. So then I work harder to be awesomer. They make me study harder, be nicer, be healthier, and generally get things done.

Then I have the friends that don't let me get away with anything. These are probably the ones that annoy me the most, and therefore the ones that I need the most. When I say "Hey will you get that?" they say "no." Not something I hear as often as I should. These people are the reason that I'm not always a total lazy bum. Though most of the time I still am.

I have friends who know me better than me. They're the ones that say "Don't do that, you'll regret it." or "The red shoes. If you're gonna buy shoes, buy the ones you really want." They don't let me talk myself out of, or into, things that really aren't in my best interests.

I also have friends who are more enthusiastic about my successes then I am. It makes me feel worthwhile, and like I have truly achieved something, whether it's something like cleaning my room, or getting into college. They freak out and jump for joy and happy dance with me, even though they don't have to.

Then there are the friends that don't let on that they're judging me. I always feel like I can tell them anything, and if they have an opinion about it, they don't let on. They're like diaries, letting me talk to them without really commenting or reacting in a way that makes me feel inferior or trivial.

And there are the friends that always have fun, that put me in a good mood, that can always cheer me up, that give amazing hugs, that provide intelligent conversation, that don't make me think too much, and that dance to horrible music with me.

That's why I have friends. Even if they are going to die someday. So, Ariel Bailey, there is the answer to your question (though Maggie's answer was funnier). I have friends because, besides my evolutionary hard-wiring, I need them to survive and keep me sane.