The Harsh Reality

Personally, becoming seems like an exaggerated and fancy way of saying refining. Realistically speaking, I can’t just wake up one day and decide to “become” something or someone and expect it to happen – its more likely that I’ll decide to refine my workout routine to actually include the working out part.  For example, if I had to pick out a particular moment when I’ve had to refine myself, it would probably be when I realized that I would be going off to college next year. The person who I am now (without a doubt) doesn’t stand a chance at surviving on my own – no seriously, I can’t be trusted with a microwave – but the person that I strive to become is someone who can cook and take care of herself. I can’t just decide that I want to emulate my mother’s spectacular cooking skills and somehow magically gain them, instead I’m spending as much time in the kitchen as physically possible to learn the skills that I need to.  I don’t think there’s ever going to be a simple way to s...

I’ve had my fair share of drama in life but waking up to see Santa get run over by a (lot of) reindeer was not how I expected my night to go. I was just in the middle of my 74 ½ step nighttime skin care routine when I head the loudest thud on my roof. I wasn’t surprised considering the fact that I live in a shady neighborhood where kids play with crocodiles, so I just assumed it was one of those strange events. Until the sound started moving towards my chimney. Now, if that was actually a croc, I didn’t want it in my house. So, I did what any sensible person would – I ran outside, took off one of my shoes to throw at those little gremlins, and lo behold what do I see? A fat man in a red suit, looking like he just escaped prison, trying to fit into my chimney and right above him, levitating like they were possessed, 8 reindeer and a sleigh. Like any reasonable person would, I demanded the man come down to have a quick chat about trespassing. Now this is where things get a little confusi...

One of my all-time favorite Disney movies is the story of Aladdin – I was always left awestruck at the idea of a character like Princess Jasmine. She represented, to me, the ideal woman. One who was beautiful, smart, and cunning enough to trick Jafar. Looking back at it now, I can’t help but feel like Jasmine was a character with so much wasted potential simply because she was a woman. I’m pretty sure everyone knows which scene I’m referring to when I say that the portrayal of Jasmine near the end was oddly sensual for a kid’s movie – the red outfit paired with the overly exaggerated dance moves were all enough to have me bristling and on edge. I couldn’t help but compare her to another, very much so real, figure: Marilyn Monroe. A true diamond in the rough, she filmed 29 movies in a 16-year time span and yet there are only two things that people remember her for. The first is her iconic skirt image – I don’t think I need to elaborate on the sexualized nature of that image, but I wil...

Where I’m from, there’s this little strip of beach where no one goes. Night after night, I would traverse the same untouched sand and would look up to the same stars shining down at me. On those lonely nights, the very ocean seemed to rage against the confines of mundane life, screaming like a wildcat to be set free. Other nights, it kept me company in silent, warm waves like a tamed house cat. I liked to believe that small part of the ocean was mine to command how I wanted to.

Welcome back to the new school year! I’m just as excited to be here as you are (hint: sarcasm exists). I guess I lied a little when I said I was signing off for the last time in my previous blog post. Talking about the past, having Mrs. Knudson yell “live in the present” as I walked out of my second hour was not how I imagined Friday was going to go. I have to give her credit though since the line haunted me enough to go back and watch Kung Fu Panda at 1 am on Saturday. By the time Master Oogway finally got around to saying his famous lines about the present being a gift, I was half asleep in a bowl of ice cream. The way I look at it, the present is an illusion of the past. The reason we have sayings like “the present is a gift” and “everyday is a new day” is because we as humans absolutely abhor the idea of being flawed. Sure, we write passages and poems about how flaws are beautiful, but at the end of the day, we still judge ourselves and others over everything. Its why we sometime...

This year has been such a wild ride – both in terms of my classes and my friends. I think the best way to describe it would be to say that there was some drama and there was some trauma. Honestly though, I’m really thankful for so many people for getting me through the school year. First off, my parents. I have no words to explain how grateful I am for you guys. I know I don’t ever really tell you this but thank you so much. Thank you for keeping me accountable with my classes and grades (cough calc cough). Thank you for making sure I ate whenever I forgot to because I was studying. Thank you for forcing me to get involved with things other than school, which led me to making new friends and experience things that I would normally not. You guys are such an inspiration for me and who I want to be. Of course, I can’t forget my friends. Angie: thank you for keeping me company in chem and just for being your regular spontaneous self. You’ve literally kept me grounded all year with your...