meant to be.

Today {thus far} has been an extremely good day. It has included:

Wearing a skirt
Actually doing something cool with my hair
Using a gigantic umbrella in the snow/rain
Free overly sugared yogurt from McDonald's
also ZIP FIZZ
Writing stories during music theory class with Sabam
Wind in my face
Actually understanding what went on in Chinese class
Cool battle wounds from awana games practice to examine during music theory
Trying to sight-sing little brother's violin music and failing
The oh-so-beautiful feeling of NO SCHOOL TOMORROW

What I Do When I'm Supposed To Be Writing A Speech.

Pardon the disheveled sort of look. It's late at night. Aforementioned speech may or may not be posted for the public to view.

Alright, here's another song from Taylor Swift. Again. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I really couldn't. It's just too cute.

Best of all, it's unique, and original. There's no break in the story for singing, or any face-melting-stage-dancing or anything like that. It's like she's human, for once.



ALSO THERE IS AN ASIAN MAN WITH A BANANA.

Christmas is finally here.

Despite the fact that I'm one of those Christmas-begins-the-second-thanksgiving-is-over-or-sometimes-earlier kind of person, I persuaded my brother to try an experiment with me this year.

Objective: See how long we can go without putting up the Christmas tree.

Our theory? Parents only do this for their kids. Once we're old enough to reach the top of the thing, if the kids don't take initiative, it won't happen.

Our prediction: We'd make it to Christmas eve before they noticed the tree wasn't up.

However, this process nearly killed us, and we finally just went up to the attic, drug the tree down, and put it up.

And now, it can really be Christmas.

Best use of time ever? I think yes.

Um. Story of my life?

This photo very accurately (and very sadly) describes my life right now.

I should fix this. Really.

You know what's cool?

Having a job.

And paying for stuff yourself.

:)

Before today becomes our yesterday.

Tomorrow, my friend Paul and I turn 18. It's a golden birthday! Wheee!! We've always had fun having the same birthday.

But only just now, we were mourning our last hours as children. It was rather pitiful. (I, being the girl, was far more pitiful...)

It just sort of occurred to me that the rest of my life is lived in adulthood.

Call me naive and childish, but yes, I did just realise that.

And it makes me think -- there really is no going back.

10 years from now, I will still be me - not some magically transformed person who changed ages. The things I do now will become who I am later.

People say, "treasure every day, because it could be the last you've got."

And while I'm still young and have my whole life ahead of me, it sort of makes me realise how much each day really is a treasure. Because -- really, this is...IT. Pretty soon I have to go to college. I have to move out. I have to live on my own....for the rest of my life.

I'm starting to realise more and more what people mean when they say that the teen years are a launching pad for the rest of your life.

Because really, the "rest of your life" is the majority of your life. Childhood is such a very, very small part of your life.

As some random song that's played on the radio station goes,

"This is the first day of the rest of your life."

It's weird, but it's actually kinda true.

Isn't growing up weird? It never stops happening. I keep thinking I'll hit some happy medium and be the same for a long time. But clearly this is not the case.

I have two more years left before I go to college. That's two more years of my family as I know it now. Am I treasuring it while it lasts?

Do I push my little brother off when he wants to hang out with me? Am I listening to my music when my older little brother wants to talk to me? Do I ignore my dad when he wants to tell me something, or my mom when she wants help in the kitchen?

Even now, I look back at my days of being 8 years old and thing "those were the days."

But what's to stop me from making these days "those days?" Will I look back on these years with joy? I want to.

I want to remember the way my brothers laugh when I tickle them, the way my mom smiles when I surprise her, the way my dad goofs off and teases me. I want to treasure every moment while it's here.



Teach me to number my days
And count every moment before it slips away
Take in all the colors before they fade to gray
I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

When it's all said and done
No one remembers how far we have run
The only thing that matters is how we have loved
I don't want to miss even just a second more of this

Slow down, slow down
Before today becomes our yesterday
Slow down, slow down
Before you turn around and it's too late

It happens in a blink
It happens in a flash
It happens in the time it takes to look back
I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life
It happens in a blink.

Notice.

Starting Monday, I shall begin school.

Like, actual, real life, take-your-books-in-a-backpack-school.

Like, you get homework.

And teachers.

And classrooms.

And you have to drive there.

...

Homeschooled much? =P

Anyhow, I'm super stoked, and hopefully you'll hear of my adventurings later on. But it might be awhile till I post, just...to, you know, notify you of that.

This is what I do in debate.

We're nerds, asians, debaters, and we've been at speech camp all week pretending to act mature under the cleverly disguised title of "super-varsity." What can we say?

Check it out on Shorty & Shrimpy's blog. :D

Mission: Accomplished

LIFE GOAL GUYS:

Tie the cherry stem into a knot with my tongue.

Status: Completed.

Aren't you proud?

No?

I didn't think so. But I had to share my delight with you anyway.

Music [confession] of the Week.

Yeah. We'll put it that way.

I'm not usually one to give the pop country singer Taylor Swift a shout out (aside from this song), and I'm not really obsessed with her (nothing like Tenth Ave or Narnia or Jane Eyre or anything...::grin::) ...nor do I believe it's generally a smart idea to sing things like "all you're ever gonna be is mean" and "you're just another picture to burn" to people you fight with. Harbouring anger isn't a good thing.

I also have this like...automatic bias against celebrities that the general population is obsessed with. People put you in boxes based on who you listen to, and I generally prefer to be in the "celebrity haters" box rather than the "fangurl" box. The fan population worships the celebrities far to much. And it's pointless.

She does, however, write very well....very extremely well. She's kinda especially good at writing love songs.

::ahem::

ANYway, you know. They're...love songs. The music videos are amazing, but they all basically say the same thing. Nice, but mushy. Kinda frivolous and shallow sometimes. "Baby just say yes" gets a little old.

But for some reason this one is just AMAZING. I love it. I don't generally say so much about her music videos, but I love this one. And because of it I've been listening to her music all week. Maybe it's because it's set in a library with a lot of old books, maybe it's because her outfit is awesome, maybe it's because I feel like I can identify with it, maybe it's the...oh, it doesn't go into words. That feeling of frustration, of not being able to do anything. The song just says it.

"I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how...I've never heard silence quite this loud."

Tell me what you think, if you dare to hit the play button.



ps - today I'm graduating. Mmhm.