A Year in Review

So, it’s really bizarre that my life motto this past year has been from a MADtv sketch. But I honestly think that this mindset is part of why this last year has been so fantastic. The phrase “You said it, and then you did it, and then you got it!”

Which is really bizarre of course.

But it applies. My high school career? I did well, but I didn’t do excellently. Part of that was because my high school [and the area I lived in for the past five or so years] is ridiculously academically competitive. In our senior issue in the school newspaper that I worked at, there’s an entire column to students going to Ivy league schools. Some people at my school get upset when they have to go to upper level UC schools. We basically have our own school hierarchy set up where we judge each others’ worth harshly by where they’re going.

So coming from a place like that had me in a bit of a funk when it came to academics. I’m more confident in everything else that I like to do than academics, which is ridiculous because I’m capable.

And that’s what I realized this year. I’m capable of succeeding. Everyone is. I just needed to follow the steps in that motto. I want it? I do things for it. I get it.

In high school, I stopped at “I want it”. I wanted that perfect GPA. I wanted that role in the play. I wanted the layout editor position for the newspaper. But honestly? What held me back is I didn’t work as hard for it as I should have.

And that’s not a lack of “I did it”. It’s a lack of “I want it”. I didn’t want any of those things enough because I didn’t believe that I could get it. So I didn’t work for it. This year, I’ve been reevaluating what it is I really want, reaffirming that it is indeed what I want, and focusing on it.

Because once I know what I want, I can get it.

So this year, with this new mindset, I’ve been kicking ass. This year, I’ve:

- Gotten straight As two semesters in a row.

- Earned a residential life job.

- Earned a teaching job for next year [related to the reslife job].

- Stuck to my values.

- Worked out 3-5 days a week.

- Lost 10 pounds.

- Never missed a day of class.

- Met a ton of wonderful people that I hope to see again.

- Written two full-length plays and a one act.

- Scheduled four readings at school of my plays for editing.

- Secured two undergraduate research jobs.

- Found a feasible plan to graduate in three years with two degrees.

- Reworked my tentative plan for my career trajectory.

I’m happy. I really am. I just need to keep focusing on what I really want.

I need to stop being so worked up over doing things because other people will judge me or because it’s what other people want. I’ve been trying to succeed academically in high school because my parents wanted me to and because my school was so competitive.

But now? I want to because I want to.

And I’m confident that this reevaluation is what’s going to help me make next year just as fantastic as this one was.

The Benefits of No Longer having a Roommate

I can sing all the parts (including instrumental) of Bohemian Rhapsody in different silly voices and no one immediately around me can judge me.

Score!

New Favorite GIF?

It’s just so wonderfully bizarre.

So close to being back in lovely California

Home Stretch?

LET’S KICK SOME ASS!

First Reading of ‘Somewhere Nice’

I didn’t think it was going so well [especially since I basically wrote it in three days] but Brian and Grace both told me it was their favorite of the pieces I had shared with them.

Better than Villa? Granted, I’m biased towards Villa, but it was an insane compliment.

And Hannah told me it reminded her of Death of a Salesman, which is always a compliment, even if from a layman.

For my future ego-boosting, Grace was Brenda, Dane was Lloyd, Garrett was Todd, Hannah was Alice, Caitlin was Jane, and Brian was Harvey. Lisa was also there and watched.

The Stupidest Argument That’s Everywhere on the Internet

“You think she’s unattractive? Let’s see a picture of you.”

“You think he’s a bad singer? How good are you?”

“You don’t like her books? You must be Faulkner.”

Yes, because you know it takes an expert in any given field to know when other people aren’t good. Only musicians of the respective genre can listen to other artists of said genre and have opinions about it. Only the most beautiful people can have opinions on standards of beauty etc.

This makes so much sense. This is why I listen to jazz music and physically cannot distinguish good jazz music from bad jazz music from good country music because I neither play the saxophone nor the guitar.

‘Mole Station’ and ‘Hippo Campus’ should be cartoons.

A dark and gritty CSI-esque show featuring a band of screwed up cartoon moles solving cases surrounding sexual abuse and other sexual crimes.

Four cartoon hippos get into a prestigious and affluent secondary school and must deal with a mixture of academic, social, and scandalous problems.

I’m really tired.