Things, Part 8: Things I've learned from my parents and why they've actually been pretty decent. :P

I don't feel like teenagers give their parents enough credit. And I can't speak for all of us, as a group... wait, is 18 still a teenager? I don't know. I said something jokingly about picking out the shirt I was wearing from the grown-ups section and my mother gently told me that I am a grown-up now. WTF?????(!!?)

Anyway, looking back, I realize my parents did a lot of stuff for me that I never really appreciated until now and they taught me a lot that I never really noticed until I looked at it. um... that was grammatically awkward; moving on...

1. My mother played us classical music before we were born. Like to her belly. That sounds weird, but I've read a lot about "the Mozart effect" or whatever, and seeing as my sisters have like genius levels of IQ and I actually am literate in music, I think it might have been effective.

2. She played games with us when we were little. Like, to make us eat our veggies, we pretended that we had a castle in our stomach and we had to eat a variety of food to give it color. It worked.

3. My dad shared his music with us as kids. I never appreciated it until I thought about all the music and movies and stuff I want to share with my kids. It must have been really cool for him to see us loving the stuff he loved too.

4. He used to sit us all down and read us books, like Pony Pals, and then Harry Potter. Almost every night, it was like our treat at the end of the day, just hearing him read to us.

5. My parent never let me dye my hair weird colors. I used to be pissed at them about it, but now I realize, what I wanted to do would have actually looked really, really stupid.

6. My mother always told me when I needed to wash my hair before I went out in middle school. It used to drive me insane but I'm glad she prevented me from looking like a diseased hobo.

7. She also gave me all of her old stuff from the 70's and 80's that she doesn't wear but doesn't want to throw out. That's pretty cool. The whole generational full circle thingy. I hope my kids are gonna ask me for my lame clothes from the 00's and 10's. (what are we gonna call those decades?)

8. My dad taught me how to use computers from a young age. I used to steal all the balls out of the mice, and he wouldn't get mad at me for it. that was pretty cool, cause I frickin' loved those things and I didn't get why he couldn't just stick his finger in there and use the mouse that way. Anyway, I think the early exposure to technology is pretty key to adjusting to it. Even though I'm techno-illiterate, my sisters are literally now into rocket science.

9. My mother made me stay in Girl Scouts. I hated it, but it's actually given me some useful connections. Without doing my Gold Award, I wouldn't have met anyone at the museum I intern at and probably wouldn't have gotten that internship. Also, I wouldn't have gotten noticed by Oceana, and would have gotten all those other awards, and might have had a harder time applying to college.

10. I'm glad that they fought with each other and handled it. They almost got divorced several times. But I'm touched; the reason they both stay together, they tell me in confidence, is so that there's a stable household for me and my sisters.

11. My dad always says that women who have good relationships with men have had good relationships with their fathers. so he works hard to always be there.

12. My dad just works hard. Yeah, he's a hypochondriac and complains all the time, but he really works his butt off so we have money to do marching band and horseback riding and get iPods for our birthdays. Me and my sister, just this year, we've probably spent... 3400 dollars on marching band and drum line. That's a lot.

13. They always said to me, wherever you are, if you call, we'll come get you. I admire that.

14. They also always said, we don't care what kind of shit you do and what illegal substances you try, as long as you do them at home. Being a teenager(?), I don't like that, but I admire it. They're trying to let me have some freedom while trying to keep me safe.

See at this age, I see what they're trying to do, and I appreciate it. But it's tough to tell them. Telling them I've appreciated what they've done makes me leaving a conclusive thing. I don't want to hurt them because we're actually pretty close as a family. I don't want their marriage to start falling apart after one of the peacemakers goes. My dad will be heartbroken to lose his little girl. He gets really unreasonable and lovey-dovey and stuff a lot. I'm actually getting kind of bitchy and trying to not be around more so they'll miss me less when I'm gone. Perhaps it's not the best strategy.

But anyway.
I'll admit it. They've been pretty decent. Can't complain. :P

Things, Part 7: More stupid little things that make me happy

1. Singing in the car.
2. Thinking about aliens.
3. Long walks.
4. Looking for four leaf clovers, finding them, and brushing off everyone's amazement ;)
5. The B Dorian scale.
6. The first four hours of wearing high heels.
7. Folding paper cranes.
8. The feeling you get when you sit back to look at something you just cleaned/worked hard on.
9. Mindless video games.
10. Starcraft.
11. Doctor Who.
12. Text messaging until I fall asleep.
13. Getting away with breaking rules.
14. Tea.
15. Springtime.
16. Sitting on the back deck in the sun.
17. Cherry-themed accessories.
18. Soft blankets fresh out of the dryer.
19. Lava lamps.
20. Constellations.
21. Water sparkling and glowing in sunlight.
22. The green haze that fuzzes over trees in spring.
23. Telescopes.
24. Tardis-themed things.
25. Strings of lights.
26. Giggling and being embarrassed, but then having someone tell me it's cute.
27. Watching awkward, happy couples.
28. Bubble wrap.
29. Pokemon.
30. Listening to a really good song for the first time.
31. Rediscovering an old favorite thing.

I love this state.

It's 83 degrees... in March. 

And for good measure, here's a video of my sister torturing geese by tossing twigs instead of bread.

I should write something.

I don't feel particularly eloquent and I haven't for several weeks now, but that may be because my brain power is all elsewhere. Here's a slice of life for me.

Past two weeks: Musical rehearsal after school until like 7.
Past five days: Musical performances.
And birthday. Which was decent. I feel no different being 18, really.
Tuesdays, Thursdays: Winter drum line practice.
Saturdays: Winter drum line competitions.
Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays: Work.
Wednesdays: Internship in downtown.
Friday: Meetings of some sort for internship or volunteer council.
Every day: AP classwork, studying, practicing, cleaning, etc.

Now, since the restaurant I work at is closed on Mondays, I get that day fully off, and today, i just went for a long walk with my sister and we came back and I introduced her to Doctor Who...
How the HELL am I gonna go back to that ^?  ughhhhhhhh.

Countdown until spring break: 10 DAYS
Oh but actually for the first three days of that, I'm going to AIA Championships with WDL. Um. Excited, but honestly, keeping up that hectic of a schedule for a year, I'm finally starting to burn out. My grades are slipping. There's a laundry basket in my room with clothes that have been waiting to be folded for at least a month. My room's a wreck. I haven't applied for any scholarships. I've forgotten about my Couch to 5K.

I'm out of brain power.

Tomorrow I'm going to be 18.

Holy shit.

Screw Lent.

Some days, I just hate everyone.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Weird revelation.

It took me four years to realize that arguably the thing I want most out of high school is probably to date a cute guy on drum line.

I am probably the shallowest person alive. 

There's A First Time For Everything 3: Waking up next to a guy.

This also is not as awesome as it sounds. Actually, it was me, him, and my friend in the same bed, and he just slept in the middle and her, being very flirty and closer (like that) to him than me, snuggled up to him all night.

Oh, this would take forever to explain but here, since I'm bored.

This weekend we had a winter drum line competition and had to stay two nights in a hotel. So the last night, after we had performed and all, it was like midnight in the hotel and I couldn't find my friend Kaitlin (the one who I was sharing a bed with). So I was like texting her to see where she was. But then I got all these garbled text message replies like, "lol i cn;t ewaon etpzxt rite now" or "vawodka iz hje bcest" So I kind of was like... what? I didn't think she was being serious.
And then she called to tell me that a bunch of the drum line guys had stolen her phone and I asked if they were drinking and she said, "haha not yet."

Update on where the chaperones were: probably sleeping. drum line competitions are so much chiller than marching band cause no one gives a shit. Of course there's no alcohol or whatever allowed and girls and guys can't enter each other's rooms.

So then I think they did drink maybe, but most of the guys in that room just randomly started awkwardly crawling into bed half naked, so Kaitlin and Brian left. Brian is the center snare; i've known him forever. He kind of liked her and they almost dated. It's just that Brian's a complicated character to explain and so is Kaitlin. This'll sound superficial, but he honestly just wanted to mess around a little and have fun, since it's senior year and he's going to Michigan (a longgggggg drive from here). And she was more into a relationship since she's so afraid of getting used. That's almost happened to her a lot. So obviously, it didn't work, but they're kind of... let's say beneficial. And, Kaitlin's really flirty and will snuggle up to almost any guy who will let her.

Anyway they came up to our room and we (and our four roommates) talked on the beds until like 3 am. And we started falling asleep. Then Brian got up to leave, but he came back a few minutes later because this annoying kid had taken his bed since he wasn't there and he was like, oh hell no I'm not snuggling up to him. So he snuggled up between two girls like a pimp.

It was a little awkward. I've known this guy since we were... oh, gosh, middle schoolers? and i woke up next to him in the morning.

Again, I don't have pictures. Cause that's creepy as fuck. This whole take pictures thing is not working.

Anyway, now to the slightly deeper part of this... i really want a guy who will pick me to snuggle up with. Someone not creepy, please.