Mirror, Mirror

Being a teenager is all about self reflection. That is, taking time out of your nonstop busy life to just sit back, relax, and check up on yourself. If you look into the mirror and see something ugly, that means you're not the person you truly want to be. If look in the mirror and there's really nothing that you want to change, then you've reached a point that you're the kind of person you've always wanted. This is not about physical appearance but the thing that lies beneath. Don't tell me you've never stood in front a mirror and struck some poses (it's called every day after I shower, morning boxer photoshoots) chanting "mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the most handsome of them all ... me." Time to get real.



Taking a shower is one of the few times during the day where I just have to recollect what's been going on and relax. It's literally ridiculous the amount of things I do on a daily basis. From going to classes, doing homework, clubs, blogging, TV watching, eating, and sleeping - there's not much time to just hang out anymore. The water just falls on your and I'm scrub-a-dub dubbing away and it's second nature. Everything gets washed, twice (it's all about the rinse and repeat people) and while my hands go to work washing away any of the man stench of the day, my mind gets to travel elsewhere I reflect on my life. I don't get stressed out, even though my life might be stressful as hell because I know I can always conquer any surmountable task I might face. It's one of those things that makes me, me. When I step out of the steaming waterfall known as my suite-style shower, and towel off doing the nakey twist and shout reminiscent of the Private Practice slow-mo scenes - I'm clean and refreshed. Ray J said it best, "no towel let it air dry" (but who really has time to stand around like that). I put on boxers that perfectly match whatever I'm about to wear, and I'm renewed. I stand in the mirror and just look at myself and smile. Why, because I'm the person I want to be. The kind of person I can be proud of. I know what my goals are, what makes me tick, and what's not acceptable. I embody all the attributes that truly matter to me like empathy, compassion, generosity, humor, intelligence, and pragmatism and I'm damn proud of it. Besides that if I'm standing in the mirror, I'm for sure checking myself out. Like dang, if I wasn't me, I'd for sure be all up on this. Nobody looks perfect, but when you're real with yourself and like what you see, other people will like what they see. College is the perfect place to figure out exactly what it is about yourself that should be shown more, and to do away with that petty cliquetastic high school attitude. Mirror, mirror on the wall who's the best looking inside and out of the all, no need to say it, it's me.



Saturday was one of those days that I'll never forget. Sam and I started out by getting free pancakes from the faculty in residence of our hall with the coveted "real" Vermont maple syrup. There were two handsome toddlers just being carefree, running around, playing and being exactly who they wanted - and it reminded me exactly how I'm supposed to be. Chill, kind, gentle, and always funny. This is why babies are the best, also because they're clothing freaking rocks (Mason Kardashian is a child model). We pack up our stuff and it's off to our IRA (Inter-Residence Association) Retreat just off the shores of Lake Champlain at Bishop's Booth Conference Center. It was a small group, probably 10-12 of us but it was so much fun. We started with classic icebreakers with a twist, like reading of thinks on an "I Am" list which was powerful within itself just to realize all the things that make us who we are - more than facts and memories, but emotions and stories. Then we played this game where you had to come up with songs with a specific word like fire, baby, or night and to prove we knew it sing the lyric. It was literally hilarious, you know my extensive knowledge of One Direction, and Jesse McCartney songs came into play, and it got everyone out of their comfort zone to sing in front of a group. From there we learned about our organization IRA and the important role we play on campus in ensuring residents have the best time possible. We discussed how to make our hall councils better, reduce the drama, and get things done. It was absolutely informative and a relaxed environment. From there, it was lunch time to make some bomb ass sandwiches. I piled it all on and made myself a "Tim the 'Toolman' Taylor" worthy man-wich. It was cool just to sit around and get to really know the people in the club on a more personal level. Back to do more activities with Grace, and Liz with planning the most inclusive and most exciting event. It's the little things that matter. Afterwards it was for sure din-din time. Moe's Southwest Grill delivered a buffet style ensemble of epic proportions. Massive burritos, sassy twitter tweets, and more club bonding made dinner memorable. Double sided Knight (our fearless leader and comedian extraordinaire), quirky and random VP, Jordan (who bears a striking resemblance to Drew Barrymore), pepped up and classic Sam just were too much to handle in our secluded middle of nowhere retreat. If I can't get cell phone service (and I get cell service everywhere then we're out in Boo-Fu). The group of us including soft-spoken and kind Andrew, driven Shawn, down to Earth Alex, generous Grace, compassionate Liz, and our sassy advisor, Jilliene, watched Baby Momma. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler with memorable lines like the "EVOO (I can't stand Rachel Ray) and Pam for birthing" made it a pretty good movie. Afterwards, it was the name game where we all wrote down names of easily recognizable people and played charades with it. I'm telling you everybody geeked out at some of the horrible descriptions that were given like me forgetting the name Jesus for the "son of the guy who created everything" or pudding and sweaters for Bill Cosby. Too much fun, and it was bed time, but not before a late night bro talk with temporary roommates Andrew and Shawn. Mirror, mirror on the wall, we're the bestest of them all.




Sunday morning included an in bed jam session to One Direction before, of course, being the last one dressed for breakfast  on the retreat- looking like this just doesn't happen. A plate of cantaloupe masterfully cut by yours truly and it was time for more IRA retreat information. The national conventions were the major topic of discussion for the day and it absolutely fired me up (Eric Christian Olsen reference, boom) to want to go even more over the top in the pursuit for hall council of the year. Could there be a presidency in my future, maybs yes, maybs no, we'll see. After learning cheers reminiscent of Bring It On, 1, 3 & 5 (the even ones are not good at all) it was time to design banners for the RHA (residence hall association) mascot, Marty the Moose. Events get planned and it's soon time to write heartfelt notes on name cards for everyone before loading up and heading back to campus. Uhm, hella legit singalong to classic in the sketchy yellow van anyone. It's back to my beloved dorm room to get my life back together and return to the college life, as in hardcore homework time. 5:30pm rolls around it's time to get our Hall Council together to put on our Super Bowl Kickback. We set up and people start lining up like a pack of wild animals. It was for sure our most successful event ever but things never go off without a hitch. I was literally astonished that the guys in the front of the line had the nerve to literally pile on multiple pieces of pizza, mountains of wings, ribs, fries, fruits, and veggies when there was a huge line of people hungrily awaiting their fare share. Truly inconsiderate, totally selfish and an unclassy move so we had to quiet the roaring crowd and make an announcement to limit people's food consumption. Some people just didn't care, and we ended up running out of food after a half hour. More pizzas were ordered and everyone was fully fed. Thanks to the power team to the Height's HC - Carolyn, Sammy, Ali, Lilia, myself, Jandro, crazy Jake, our ARD Kristine and our RA Kelsey. People were happy with the food but disappointed in the actual Super Bowl. Whatevs, I like Peyton Manning and Eli is his brother, so by association I was "rooting" for the NY Giants. Homegirl, Hailey G. was ecstatic at the win and the tears were flowing from Patriot fans faces, supes awk to live in New England. It was more intense homework time but not before an episode of House of Anubis. Then there was the great search for a vending machine which spanned 3 hall complexes. I got my Sprite with Sam, Cullen and Jandro and visited Nihad and Ardi in H&M. Weekend's over and the mountain of homework still remains, but I've got this. I'm me. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the cookiest of them all, we all are.



Being a teenager is all about understand who you really are. College is where people go to find themselves (or they "take a year off" to backpack across Europe - really who does that) and it's your time to figure yourself out as well. Life is knowing what you want and working towards it. College is a stepping stone into maturity and becoming the person you've always wanted. Mirror, mirror on the all - who's the greatest of them all, me, myself and I.



My blog post question for the day is ... what do you see when you look in the mirror? When I look in the mirror, I see myself, classic bags under the eyes, laugh lines around my mouth and an innocent look in my eye.

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