Making Waves

I have a brother who waves at everyone. I used to find it silly and would roll my eyes when he made the small gesture to each and every car we passed. Sometimes I knew the passing vehicle and agreed that yes, that is someone we ought to acknowledge. More frequently I didn’t recognize the others at all, so I usually sat there wondering and sometimes worrying about my brother the waver.
I now know what my brother has known all along. People like to be waved at, so we should wave at them. I realized this only recently, after moving away from my hometown. I was raised in a delightfully small town and now live in a big city. Occasionally I run into someone I know, but most days I don’t. After only a week in my new reality, I found myself thinking a lot about my waving brother. I found myself wishing people around here were more like him. I wanted to be waved at.
Now conscious of my strange desire, my thoughts have continually been on the subject of waving, of exchanging greetings, of making smiling eye contact. Why do I miss these things? What is in a wave?
A wave is often thought of as a simple motion, either a greeting of hello or an indication of goodbye. The world typically reserves this signal for good friends or at least acquaintances. My brother taught me another definition of a wave to which anyone and everyone are recipients. This kind of wave (the best kind) is given in passing, often with a smile. It says, “I realize that you are here, and I am glad.”
I should not need to know someone to acknowledge them. People everywhere spend hours, days, weeks, and more without being noticed, or at least without knowing they were noticed. The world is big but it doesn’t need to feel so big.
I believe in waving just because. Just because that lady might have had a bad day. Just because that man might be new to the area. Just because that child might be lonely. Just because it might mean getting a wave in return.

(This is my first essay for my "This I Believe" writing class)

Suggestions?

Well, I'm 18 now. I've come to really enjoy the title of my blog though, and now I'm not sure what to do. I definitely couldn't just replace the 17 with an 18 because 18 is plenty of years, and I wouldn't yet be comfortable putting an only before it. Plus, when I log on to my blog I always sing the song after which it was named (naturally, not ritually). Unfortunately, eighteen has one less syllable than seventeen, which of course ruins everything. I guess I may need an entirely new title.

:(

I'll think about it and holla back lata. (maybe something in ebonics would be good... Yo A-dawg, help a sista out aaight?)

You have to be blasé about something.

That is one of those things I wish I'd come up with myself. A new found quote I love says, "you have to be blasé about something or else you'd die from overexcitement." It's funny, although it isn't true at all. If it were, I'm sure most of my friends would be long gone by now.

Recently our school put on a neon dance. I wore a bright blue dress with white polka dots that reflected nicely in the black lights. I even wore red lipstick. I was sufficiently fancied but I certainly didn't stand out. It was exciting seeing everyone in their limes and fuschias and the dance was probably one of the funnest I've been to. Brilliant streamers hung in the doorway, rainbow lights danced around the dancers, and glow sticks hung around our necks and wrists. High school is just so fun! I may or may not have thought.

True, it was a fun night. True, I shook it like jello made the boys say hello. True, I snapped my glow sticks and squirted people. True, it probably did stain.

What was interesting, though, were the other facts I came to realize that night. After the first x hours/minutes, it was surprisingly nice to see a jeans-wearing party pooper wander in; it was kind of lovely when the lighting system suffered a few minutes from technical difficulties; and it was rather refreshing to rest my eyes on the group of emos in the corner.

Basically, I learned from the dance that NEON isn't real life... and thank goodness for that! It was fresh and exciting and I really did enjoy myself, but everyday life, ordinary and unadorned, is much much better. So, thanks to those blasé ones, I didn't die of overexcitement at the neon dance. Phew.

Sometimes nonchalance can be as wonderful as the word itself.

let your communication be yea yea nay nay

Maybe the purpose of my blog will be to home these lame-o surveys that I pretend to hate but really LOVE. Since it's only you (Mom) and you (Alli) who read this, I think I will go right ahead and do this one.


RULES:
1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No.

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages or comments you and asks.

Kissed any one of your Facebook friends?--- YES
Been arrested? --- No
Kissed someone you didn't like? --- No
Slept in until 5 PM? --- No
Fallen asleep at work/school? --- Yes
Held a snake? --- No
Ran a red light? --- Yes
Been suspended from school? --- No
Experienced love at first sight? --- YesokaynotreallyIcheatedoops
Totaled your car in an accident? --- No
Been fired from a job? --- NO
Fired somebody? --- No
Sang karaoke? --- Yes
Pointed a gun at someone? --- Yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? --- Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? --- Yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? --- Yes
Kissed in the rain? --- No
Had a close brush with death (your own)? --- No
Seen someone die? --- Yes
Played spin-the-bottle? --- Yes
Sang in the shower? --- Yes
Smoked a cigar? --- No
Sat on a rooftop? --- Yes
Smuggled something into another country? --- No
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? --- Yes
Broken a bone? --- No
Skipped school? --- Yes
Eaten a bug? --- No
Sleepwalked? --- No
Walked a moonlit beach? --- Yes
Rode a motorcycle? -- Yes
Dumped someone? --- No
Forgotten your anniversary? --- No
Lied to avoid a ticket? ---- No
Ridden on a helicopter? --- No
Shaved your head? --- No
Played a prank on someone? --- No?
Hit a home run? -- YES!
Felt like killing someone? --- No
Cross-dressed? --- Yes
Been falling-down drunk? --- No
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? --- No
Eaten snake? --- No
Marched/Protested? --- No
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? --- No
Puked on amusement ride? --- No
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? --- No
Been in a band? --- No
Knitted? --- Yes
Been on TV? --- No
Shot a gun? --- Yes
Skinny-dipped? --- Yes
Caused someone to have stitches? --- No
Eaten a whole habenero pepper? ---No
Ridden a surfboard? --- No
Had surgery? --- Yes
Streaked? --- No
Taken by ambulance to hospital? --- No
Passed out when not drinking? --- No
Peed on a bush? --- No
Donated Blood? --- No
Grabbed electric fence? --- No
Eaten alligator meat? --- No
Eaten cheesecake? --- Yes
Eaten your kids' Halloween candy? --- No
Killed an animal when not hunting? ---
Peed your pants in public? --- Yes
Snuck into a movie without paying? --- No
Written graffiti? --- Yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? --- No
Think about the future? --- YES
Been in handcuffs? --- No
Believe in love? --- No
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? --- No

Well that wasn't very fun at all...

All the Lonely People

Woops I think I'm the worst blogger ever. Tonight I was feeling like I ought to write something though, so I decided to do it on here. I am just lying here in bed with some Beatles songs running through my mind. Sometimes I pretend I've come up with a particular lyric myself, and I imagine rambling it off in an ideal moment, causing people stop and think my!
Yes, I would tell the insensitive one, "well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool," never minding the flimsy cool/fool rhyme. If my friend was down on her luck I would tell that little darling, "here comes the sun, and I say it's all right." And I'd love to somewhere quote one of my very favorite Beatles' songs. "Yesterday love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday." I would gladly have my heart broken if it meant coming up with a line like that.
Or sometimes, I actually am tempted to quote a song or a book or a movie and never confess that they are not my own words. I consider the popularity of the source and try to determine the chances of my audience's already having heard the line. Will they think a minute and say, "wait, didn't Mary Stolz write that?" How embarrassing. I usually end up keeping quiet - definitely the smartest choice.
I guess what I'm saying is that I anxiously await the day when I will naturally utter a phrase that reflects my wisdom and experience. I would even be satisfied with much less than that. Simply verbalizing anything at all eloquently would make me happy. It's something I rarely experience but I do know it must be nice.
I am no John and I'm certainly no Paul, but someday I'd like to say as much as they did in such few, but beautiful, words.

March Editor's Note

If you're anything like me, this is probably how most of your free time is spent:

You sit down at the computer desk. You open up your Firefox browser and type in "www.fa...". The rest pops up automatically, you've been there so many times. Welcome to Facebook! You enter your e-mail address and password (if you haven't previously checked the "remember me" box) and log in. Your news feed is full of fascinating new developments: Sally and Mike are now in a relationship (Sally 'is thinking about him <3...'),>since when do they hang out?), and a little hurt that you haven't even had the option of RSVP-ing via mouse click to the bash. No time for hard feelings though, you have 7 new notifications begging for your attention: Someone has just compared you with their friends and thinks 'you are more useful.' Thanks? Linda commented on your status. Ray commented on your status. Linda commented on your status. Ray commented on your status. Can't they just move this conversation to their wall-to-wall already? Kevin tagged a photo of you. I'll look at that later. Cute Boy wrote on your wall. Must read now.

You know how it goes. Sometimes the web excitement stalls for a few days and life becomes pathetic and meaningless, but usually Facebook brings just enough delight to get us through a boring Saturday afternoon, or just enough leisure to reward us for tackling that Chemistry homework. Facebook is there for us when we have nothing better to do (by our own definition, of course). Unfortunately, that is not the only time our dear friend is available.

Maybe I am an exception. Maybe I am the only one who finds that blue and white home page more attractive than that blue and white Math book. Maybe I am the only one who opens the internet to do some research to find that, out of habit, I've already typed in www.facebook.com without even thinking (well, since I'm already here...). Maybe I am the only one who eventually just made Facebook my homepage to save time - because obviously I'm all about using my time wisely. Maybe I am the exception, but most likely I am not. There is no denying it, I am addicted to Facebook. So, I am going to try very hard to do something about it. Thanks to the administration, our school no longer accommodates the temptation, and I am glad! Now it's in my hands to set some more boundaries in my own life, and I encourage you (you know who you are) to do the same. Facebook isn't a bad thing, but at the end of the day, having a thousand virtual friends doesn't really make you friendly, having 10 new notifications doesn't really make you more informed, and having a lengthy wall-to-wall doesn't really constitute an actual conversation. Facebook can be a good thing, but it's not the only thing... so log out already. :)

Am I gonna have to make up a title for every post??

I love sleeping in because by the time I wake up, the furnace has already been on for a few hours and my room is toasty warm. Though I live in the cold basement, the vent in the room above me is blocked, so the hot air flows down bountifully. This blessing becomes a problem when it's time to clean my room. The temperature is fine for lying in bed, but a bit too warm for cleaning. The result is frequent disturbances to my work mode, as I make my way back and forth and back and forth, shutting and opening and shutting and opening my window to maintain a comfortable temperature. Such was the case this morning. I allowed myself to become annoyed, wishing I didn't have to keep on with this procedure.

Then I realized how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be annoyed of my furnace in the first place. Because I felt awful for being so selfish, I spent the rest of my cleaning time thinking of things that I truly am grateful for, but that I typically acknowledge as burdens rather than blessings. Here are a few things I came up with:

1. I'm thankful that I can walk to school in the bitter cold.
2. I'm thankful that I can carry around my heavy backpack (4 books for chem!).
3. I'm thankful for the boys who wear way too much cologne. There probably are worse things the hallway could smell like.
4. I'm thankful that I have lost a lot of volleyball/basketball/softball games. I'm not the sore loser I once was.
5. I'm thankful for mean people who show me how I never want to act.
6. I'm thankful that I won the nerdiest award of "computer whiz" in my high school. At least people thought of me...?
7. I'm thankful that I frequently get locked out of my house... because I am more grateful everytime I do remember my key.
8. I'm thankful that I don't know how to flirt. It makes keeping my standards much easier. haha.
9. I'm thankful that I have a wimpy little voice. It's nice that people listen to me by choice and not because they can't help it.

I guess it's a pretty good life I have! Whew, It's getting a little hot. I'd better crack a window... :)