Daylin
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
Daylin was my roommate my freshman year in college. I fell for her hard and fast, even though she scared me a little. Luckily, the scary ended early on and we weren’t interested in the same people (though we both did participate in hallcest). She was planning on returning to school for our sophomore year but unfortunately wasn’t able to, so I had an open double* my entire second year. (I had an open double my entire junior year, too, for the same reason but regarding a different person.)
We stayed in touch and after I graduated from college I moved to New York, where she lives, partially so we’d be able to see each other more often than twice a year. She’s the only lady friend I have who just doesn’t put up with any of my drama (and that’s a good thing!), so I’m glad to have her.
She’s my lovely. ^_^
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* An “open double” was/is, at least at my school, a dorm room meant for two students but that is only occupied by one student.
Bobby
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
Bobby… Bobby is one persistent SOB. We met (well, at least, I remember us meeting) in ninth grade Biology class. I was the one getting straight As, but he was the one who actually knew the stuff. We argued about evolution, among other things.
He fell for me. I don’t know when. We sorta kinda dated the summer after our senior year in high school; he says it was the best summer of his life (er… you’re welcome? ^_^;;). After I went to school in Pennsylvania, I cut him off. I was… not ready for… him… for his commitment.
But he waited, and when I came around and told him the bad things I’d done, he was furious, but he said, “I’m angry, but that will change. You’re my friend; that won’t change.” T_T
Man, that was humbling, to say the least.
Dave
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
I’ll be covering my (four closest) friends in order of appearance in my life.
I met Dave in elementary school. He was hanging out with his best friend at the time, DC, and I was with my best friend at the time, Alison. We were a year younger than them, and they made fun of us for playing on the elementary school’s swinging/hanging rings. Maybe it was because they were tall enough to reach them and we had to jump, or maybe it was because we weren’t ashamed of bucking the school rules (“No swinging on the rings! Hanging only.” Yeah, right.)… I don’t know the reason, but Dave and DC made fun of us and we taunted them right back.
After my fifth grade year (Dave’s sixth grade year), Dave moved to the high school campus and became a seventh grader. Alison and I were at the top of the little kid pile for a year as sixth graders, and then we, too, headed to the junior high as seventh graders—the bottom of the big kid pile.
We had an almost-relationship in high school, but things happened and I stopped talking to him (or rather, he stopped talking to me) for more than a year. After I graduated from high school (he’d been out for a year already), I headed off to college on the East Coast and we were able to reconnect.
If nothing else, we have a history.
“Friend”
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
I mentioned in “Definitions” that I have very specific definitions for certain words that apply to me. The word that is most often discussed is friend. My definition of friend is much stricter than, say, Merriam-Webster‘s definition, which is “one attached to another by affection or esteem; one that is not hostile; a favored companion.”
I might agree with the last part—”a favored companion”—over the others, but it’s still not exactly how I think of a friend. To me, a friend is more like a water brother, from Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. The book has the best simple definition of “Love” that I’ve ever read: Love is that condition in which the happiness of another is conditional to your own. That, to me, is a friend. Someone who’s happiness is conditional to my own.
A water brother is someone for whom I would do anything and with whom I would share all I have as unconditionally as I can. I’m only human, so “unconditional love” is practically a myth, but a water brother—a friend, for me—is someone for whom I’d try to love as whole-heartedly as I can.
Half way there!
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
The second quarter went a lot more slowly than the first one seemed to. I’ve got twelve more hours, but with this post at (roughly) 6 pm, I’m halfway done with Blogathon 2009!
I’m still tired, but I think the catnap helped some. I have to rearrange the eating schedule because we had lunch at like 3:30, so I don’t need to have dinner only three hours later! Maybe I’ll move it to like 8 or 8:30 pm.
Zombie Plan
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
Herein lies my “if zombies attack” contingency plan.
I had a plan when I lived in New York, and it consisted basically of: Get out of the city alive; head to Wilkes-Barre, PA; hunker down and wait for Bobby. I figure living in a city is the worst place to live if zombies ever attack, but what can you do? Someone has to live in the cities. If I don’t make it out, then oh well for me, but if I do, I should probably wait for someone who knows more than I do.
The plan here isn’t much different. The suburb of Los Angeles in which I live makes things a little bit more interesting, but really… a city is a city. The zombie plan here is:
Get out of the city proper. Head to Lancaster, CA, or Wrightwood. Hunker down as best as I can until one of two things happens. One, I figure out a better plan; or, Two, someone I know and trust comes along with something better than what I’ve already got.
Haha. I don’t really take the “You must have a zombie plan” people very seriously, obviously. I’ll probably end up being a zombie chasing them. BRAAAAAINS.
Love Where You Live
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
The half hour that I want to catch some winks has to be the one that BOTH my siblings decide to check up on me. -_-
I was in my high school’s Colorguard for three years. (I regret not taking it that fourth year, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.) When I was a rising sophomore or rising junior (I don’t remember which at this moment), the band director, Ms. Hamre, invited a motivational speaker to come talk to the band, Colorguard, and drumline during band camp that year. We moaned and groaned and complained about having some pep talk from someone who’d never marched drill—if you’ve marched drill, you know what I mean—but she was insistent, and the pep talk was had.
In any case, I don’t remember most of what the guy said, but I remember him saying, “Well, you guys have to march, right? You might as well want to march. If you have to, you might as well want to.”
It didn’t sink in at that time, at least not for me. But, I remembered the words, and eventually (read: years later) they began to make sense.
I lived in New York. I loved it there. I wanted to live there. But, unfortunately for me, I had to move home to Los Angeles because I couldn’t find work there and couldn’t afford to stay. But it’s no use for me to be bitter about it; I can be bitter for a while, I guess, but it serves no purpose. I had to let it go. I had go, so I might as well want to, right?
Since I have to live here for the time being, I might as well have a good time. Nobody likes someone who’s pining for another city. I mean, I want to go back, but I know I will eventually, so why complain?
If you can, love where you live.
