Day Twenty-Five

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So as a Long Islander with an affinity for internet-based message boards, I kind of like being right. Probably a little too much for my own good. It doesn't help that I was raised by a woman who justifies her arguments with, "No, really, I saw it on 1000 Ways To Die." This is something I need to work on. 

One thing I never, ever get tired of being wrong about, though, is people. I love when they exceed my expectations. I love when they shoot down my premature judgments, and when they turn out to be the dead opposite of what I thought they were all about. It's a constant reminder that we don't know someone else's story. We don't know what they've been through, or where they're going. We sure as hell don't know their motives, and their heartaches, and their strengths--at least not at first glance. 

But if we were to listen, or to give second chances, or to look into their eyes rather than at their imperfections, maybe we could start to understand their motives and their heartaches and their strengths. And, arguably the most significant thing of all, maybe we could start to understand how they're not really all that incomparable to ourselves. 

• Show two people how much they mean to me

(1). Greeted three separate people with hugs today; not something I typically do (it's usually a passing, "Hey, how're you, cool, later.") but I always feel really, really appreciative when someone takes the time to stop and hug me. Bitches People love hugs. 

(2). Called a Mr. Phil to see how he's doing, because he's currently stationed in California and I miss the hell out of him. He's just informed me that he "reads this blog while he poops." Awesome. You guys just tuck that into your subconscious as you continue on down the page. 

Help out a stranger

So I was herpderping along in Finn the Hyundai  and I came across this bitchin' parking spot right in front of the sub. But then there was this dude behind me who had obviously planned on parking there, and it was all rainy and stuff, so I kept herpderping along and let him take it. 

• Live instead of sleeping thinking

Went on an impromptu adventure in the aforementioned rain to find a carrot cake for Clarisse's friend's birthday. I hadn't thought that carrot cakes were a particularly obscure desert choice, but turns out that the bakeries around here only sell it by the slice. Go figure. Stop and Shop ftw. 

Adorable. 

• Do something good for myself, by myself

Stopped the abandoned-responsibilities-for-three-days-and-now-I'm-screwed onslaught of homework to watch a half hour of documentary clips. Reading that sentence back to myself, I'm realizing I should probably get a less-productive vegging activity. I'm a borderline pathetic human and an even worse college kid. 

• Write here and write elsewhere

Affirmativex2.

• Make a conscious decision to leave my comfort zone

So today in my contemplative thought class, we all had to participate in a walking meditation. Now it's all fine and dandy to sit in a class full of twenty-some-odd students in complete silence with your eyes closed, but it's a completely different matter when those same twenty-some-odd students are trudging single-file baby-duckling-style up and down a hallway at .2 miles an hour, passing classrooms and getting dirty looks from the secretaries whose desks unfortunately happen to face the door. You could sense everyone's discomfort, because hey, we looked like assholes, but I put a genuine effort toward giving no thought to it and emptying my mind. Obtaining both mental and physical peace whilst enduring death-glares is no easy task, but I managed for a second or two there. 

• Take three pictures of three beautiful things.

(1). See above.
(2). See below. 
(3). See this addiction that severely needs to stop. Especially now that I feel like a massive tool+hipster (toolster?) for having taken a picture of my food. At least your retinas haven't been burned by a  filtered photograph that was either taken with Instagram or whilst inside a lightbulb. You're welcome.

Meditate

See above, baby duckling style. Ahhh yeah. 

• Look up at the sky 

The sun was trying really, really hard to come out all day, and then around one-thirty it gave in to the rain. It's been pouring since, but I was able to snap this guy beforehand. Few things I love more than witnessing a struggle between natural forces. Yeah, it reminds us that we're not the only things subject to suffering. But it also reminds us that there's always a reconciliation period; a calm both before and after the storm[s]. 

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