Points of View
Being a teenager is all about your outlook on life. People say that things always look better from where you're standing, but when you take a closer look most everyone has it just as hard as you do. The "As Told By Ginger" theme song comes to mind, "someone once told me the grass is much greener on the other side." Well unless you're lawn of a life is like that Big Sean "Dance (A$$)" but like "grass, grass, grass" I'm pretty sure as teens we've all got a lot in common. No need for envy or jealousy, it's just your point of view. *This is part 3 of a 3 part series on outlooks, check out parts 1 & 2 here, "Frame of Reference" & "Matters of Perspective"
Spring Break this year kind of came out of nowhere and just happened. After that train ride, I was all of a sudden in Northern Virginia. Monday morning after blogging up a torrential downpour of wordplay (good gosh I'm a writer), it was time I silence the stomach and get some food. I get the keys from my cousin and her credit card, and it's out of the gated community and to the Wegman's in the town center right outside the community. Thank goodness her car is exactly the same as my dad's or else I'd be a total mess. I haven't driven since winter break but it's not that difficult, I just hate driving. I park away from all other vehicles and my parking job is more than crooked (don't judge me). Into the grocery store for my decidedly favorite pastime. I truly love grocery shopping and this place was like the ultimate place, so much food and so many kinds of everything. They had all the kinds and variations that are rare and I was just overwhelmed with happiness. I was driving my cart like a pro and cruising the aisles stocking up on my favorite foods and drinks. From my point of view, that ish was totes out of control. I swiped and was on my way. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove over to Dunkin' Donuts where a maple frosted (I liked them before I went to school in VT) doughnut and some munchkins are devoured by me in the car like a harboring addict, so embarrassing. Back to the house where the task of putting the car back in the garage is at in. I go slowly up the driveway, adjust and just go for it and I made it with no scratches or dents. The rest of the day it was just eating and watching more episodes of Greek while I recovered from sleep deprivation. From this point of view, I'm pretty sure my life's looking good right about now.
Tuesday morning comes and since I've got my arsenal of groceries stocked I pull a Curtis Stone surprise and make myself some breakfast. I get into a fight with the blender on the notion of actual crushing up the contents of my Jamba Juice smoothie like what is this "Baby Mama"? Pre-sliced baguette pieces and pepperjack cheese and I'm good to go. Andrew finally wakes up and we're tasked with driving all the way to Woodbrige (BTW, I thought it was just a neighborhood full of Ghanaians, come to find out it's an entire city). He has this little device that lets you play your ipod on a radio station channel and so we're blasting music and flying down the roads. This is one of those completely teenager moments just cruising with the jams. We get there and purchase some authentic food from the Ghanaian restaurant there because it also happens to be Ghana Independence Day. Another 45 minute trip back to Gainesville and we eat and rest a while. We change into some semi-athletic wear, and head on over to the tennis courts where the match of a lifetime is about to go down. You all I know I haven't got my Tommy Rebredo on since December and I've always never played on an outdoor court. It's whatevs, we take our sides and the match begins. I go up 4 games to straight before Andrew wins one. Then the dude starts cheating. Every time I'm about to serve he starts yelling nonsense like a crazy heckler and breaking my concentration. There's these high school kids on the basketball court next to us being their classically rebelliously privileged selves and skateboarding (oh they're so rad, dude). Then they climbed the basketball hoop and started pelvic thrusting upon it. I'm sorry that's just weird, who knows what they were thinking, darned kids. For the duration of the set I'm caught off guard and end up losing, and you know I was more than disappointed afterwards. I hate to lose, but to due to dirty tactics will receive no sportsmanship from me, lol. It's back to the house to shower and work off the stench of defeat. It's totally TV time when I catch up on Lab Rats and watch the shocking spring finale of Jane by Design. Dang, that ish cray. From my point of view I would say it was successful day of fun.
Wednesday was one of those crazy days that you just look back and laugh at in retrospect. It all starts with a visit from my aunt before I hurry to get dressed for hanging out with my best and more bromantic friend, Taylor, who also happens to be in DC for his spring break. Andrew and I hop in the car and try to get to the Vienna station on the orange line of the DC metro but commuter traffic gets us stuck in our tracks. I'm chronically late as always when I get my farecard and finally board the train. I'm heading on into the city just people watching in my portion of the locomotive. I see crying babies, bbm-ing businessmen and identical twin male models - like the most random people ever. I get off at Foggybottom/GWU station and there he is, my Tay Jay. I haven't seen him since winter break and now we're both fraternity men. It's up the escalator and out to street level as we use our smartphones to figure out how to get to Georgetown. We're just walking along catching up, trading stories and falling back into place like we always do when we finally reach the bustling streets of Georgetown. We decide to just walk around and shop like all good preppy boys do. We hit store after store like the Abercrombie & Fitch (plaid for me), Vineyard Vines (colored shorts), and just reconnect. We make it midway down the streets when I realize we're like right next to Georgetown Cupcake from that TLC show "DC Cupcakes" but I'm sure the line would be out of the door. Nope, we get lucky and the line is more than manageable so we head on in and are just amazed that we're actually there. I get, Noah who was for sure on the best cashiers I've ever tendered money with at an establishment and retrieve my carrot cake cupcake. We sit outside and take pictures for proof before moving on. We even take a wrong turn into the random mall where it's bathroom breaks and direction asking for us both. We head back outside and we finally find the Chinese joint we've been searching for. It's literally a hole in the wall or maybe a cavern would be a better term. Harmomy Café we go for four seasons medley and white rice. Affordable food that was really really good, I'd recommend it if you're in the area. We're almost done with our excursion when I see a Jack Wills store. I'm like wait, that's the British brand that One Direction wears sometimes, I didn't know they had stores in America. It's my time to go crazy as we enter the lady where everything is better British. The place was exactly me and I'm just having trouble fathoming why I can't purchase everything in sight. Not to mention the staff is all good looking, and I think I was smitten with the delightful dame whose arm was in a cast and didn't have an accent but kind of looked like Samantha Boscarino. Like good gosh, why must they do this to me. Two of my favorite things, British/Australian people and preptastic clothing. It's a brand for university students and it's on the pricey side but totally within reason. That little detour made my day. Time's up for bro-time, so Taylor and I get on our separate trains and head "home." I just happen to get on the blue line instead of orange when I hear we're at the Pentagon. Fail, and I get on a train that's going the way, nope just another wrong train, for an epic fail. I finally get on the orange line, pass where we started and head into VA. From my point of view currently, my life might be a huge mess.
Exit the metro station and another teen just says hey to me and waves before walking away, completely random but absolutely heartwarming (teens unite). I'm moving towards the bus I'm supposed to get on when the kid comes running and ask for $6 since he ran out of money. I'm more than happy to help him out, Adam was his name, a smile is all it takes for me. I wait for the bus and ride from Vienna to Centreville, where I lived before I moved to Ohio. I have no idea where I'm supposed to actually get off so I ride to the end of the route. I google my location and figure out I'm literally two streets away from my old house. I decide to be spontaneous and walk the mile and a half to my old house. I check to see if my old neighbor is home and her neighbors don't even know her, unless she moved. I stand awkward on the street corner from my old house and I see the new owner holding her grand-baby. I walk over before she gets to the front door, and before I can come any closer to tells me to stay where I am and tell me what I'm doing there. Whoops, I guess I looked like a major sketchball just watching her for like 5 minutes, I explain I used to live there and who I am and she remembers my parents. We talk and catch up before I take pictures of the house and she even lets me inside to look at the changes her family has made. I couldn't belive it, it'd been 11 years since I'd lived there. She says some of my old neighbors still live there so I go and visit one of their houses. I'm telling you they were shocked to see me alright. I call a cab and chat with my childhood friend's parents before getting in the taxi and heading home. I fall asleep and wake up as we pull up to "home" and my bill is just $37.65, no big deal. Did you all know cabs take credit cards now? Whatevs, an amazing day and walk (literally) along memory lane. Back the house, these Ghanaian actors are shooting a movie, (true story people) with the boom stick, multiple cameras, lights and the entourage that goes along with it. I'm just tired as heck and head up to my room to just relax and browse the interwebs. It's then that I discover Jack Wills (that Fabulously British brand) has a competition to win a paid summer internship to live/work in Nantucket & the UK as a "seasonnaire" (lifestyle ambassador) and get $20,000 for tuition. I knockout at like 2 am but I've got one thing on my mind, summer vacation. From my point of view, it's amazing to see how far I've come since my childhood. I've really grown up apparently.
Being a teenager can mean totally different things based on where you stand. Whether your lifestyle is a Drake "YOLO" and party hard kind of thing, or a more reserved, carefree kind of adolescent excursion situation, it's up to you to remember that only you can be you. You make your own decisions and live your life. If you somebody else's life looks perfect, trust me, it's not. Enjoy your youthful life while you're lean and limber. It's just your point of view.
My blog post question for the day is ... if you had to trade places with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? I might have given myself a hard question. Uhm, I would say Liam Payne from One Direction because we have similar personalities (quirky, offbeat funny, compassionate, genuine, and always classy) plus he can sing like nobody's business.
Spring Break this year kind of came out of nowhere and just happened. After that train ride, I was all of a sudden in Northern Virginia. Monday morning after blogging up a torrential downpour of wordplay (good gosh I'm a writer), it was time I silence the stomach and get some food. I get the keys from my cousin and her credit card, and it's out of the gated community and to the Wegman's in the town center right outside the community. Thank goodness her car is exactly the same as my dad's or else I'd be a total mess. I haven't driven since winter break but it's not that difficult, I just hate driving. I park away from all other vehicles and my parking job is more than crooked (don't judge me). Into the grocery store for my decidedly favorite pastime. I truly love grocery shopping and this place was like the ultimate place, so much food and so many kinds of everything. They had all the kinds and variations that are rare and I was just overwhelmed with happiness. I was driving my cart like a pro and cruising the aisles stocking up on my favorite foods and drinks. From my point of view, that ish was totes out of control. I swiped and was on my way. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove over to Dunkin' Donuts where a maple frosted (I liked them before I went to school in VT) doughnut and some munchkins are devoured by me in the car like a harboring addict, so embarrassing. Back to the house where the task of putting the car back in the garage is at in. I go slowly up the driveway, adjust and just go for it and I made it with no scratches or dents. The rest of the day it was just eating and watching more episodes of Greek while I recovered from sleep deprivation. From this point of view, I'm pretty sure my life's looking good right about now.
Tuesday morning comes and since I've got my arsenal of groceries stocked I pull a Curtis Stone surprise and make myself some breakfast. I get into a fight with the blender on the notion of actual crushing up the contents of my Jamba Juice smoothie like what is this "Baby Mama"? Pre-sliced baguette pieces and pepperjack cheese and I'm good to go. Andrew finally wakes up and we're tasked with driving all the way to Woodbrige (BTW, I thought it was just a neighborhood full of Ghanaians, come to find out it's an entire city). He has this little device that lets you play your ipod on a radio station channel and so we're blasting music and flying down the roads. This is one of those completely teenager moments just cruising with the jams. We get there and purchase some authentic food from the Ghanaian restaurant there because it also happens to be Ghana Independence Day. Another 45 minute trip back to Gainesville and we eat and rest a while. We change into some semi-athletic wear, and head on over to the tennis courts where the match of a lifetime is about to go down. You all I know I haven't got my Tommy Rebredo on since December and I've always never played on an outdoor court. It's whatevs, we take our sides and the match begins. I go up 4 games to straight before Andrew wins one. Then the dude starts cheating. Every time I'm about to serve he starts yelling nonsense like a crazy heckler and breaking my concentration. There's these high school kids on the basketball court next to us being their classically rebelliously privileged selves and skateboarding (oh they're so rad, dude). Then they climbed the basketball hoop and started pelvic thrusting upon it. I'm sorry that's just weird, who knows what they were thinking, darned kids. For the duration of the set I'm caught off guard and end up losing, and you know I was more than disappointed afterwards. I hate to lose, but to due to dirty tactics will receive no sportsmanship from me, lol. It's back to the house to shower and work off the stench of defeat. It's totally TV time when I catch up on Lab Rats and watch the shocking spring finale of Jane by Design. Dang, that ish cray. From my point of view I would say it was successful day of fun.
Wednesday was one of those crazy days that you just look back and laugh at in retrospect. It all starts with a visit from my aunt before I hurry to get dressed for hanging out with my best and more bromantic friend, Taylor, who also happens to be in DC for his spring break. Andrew and I hop in the car and try to get to the Vienna station on the orange line of the DC metro but commuter traffic gets us stuck in our tracks. I'm chronically late as always when I get my farecard and finally board the train. I'm heading on into the city just people watching in my portion of the locomotive. I see crying babies, bbm-ing businessmen and identical twin male models - like the most random people ever. I get off at Foggybottom/GWU station and there he is, my Tay Jay. I haven't seen him since winter break and now we're both fraternity men. It's up the escalator and out to street level as we use our smartphones to figure out how to get to Georgetown. We're just walking along catching up, trading stories and falling back into place like we always do when we finally reach the bustling streets of Georgetown. We decide to just walk around and shop like all good preppy boys do. We hit store after store like the Abercrombie & Fitch (plaid for me), Vineyard Vines (colored shorts), and just reconnect. We make it midway down the streets when I realize we're like right next to Georgetown Cupcake from that TLC show "DC Cupcakes" but I'm sure the line would be out of the door. Nope, we get lucky and the line is more than manageable so we head on in and are just amazed that we're actually there. I get, Noah who was for sure on the best cashiers I've ever tendered money with at an establishment and retrieve my carrot cake cupcake. We sit outside and take pictures for proof before moving on. We even take a wrong turn into the random mall where it's bathroom breaks and direction asking for us both. We head back outside and we finally find the Chinese joint we've been searching for. It's literally a hole in the wall or maybe a cavern would be a better term. Harmomy Café we go for four seasons medley and white rice. Affordable food that was really really good, I'd recommend it if you're in the area. We're almost done with our excursion when I see a Jack Wills store. I'm like wait, that's the British brand that One Direction wears sometimes, I didn't know they had stores in America. It's my time to go crazy as we enter the lady where everything is better British. The place was exactly me and I'm just having trouble fathoming why I can't purchase everything in sight. Not to mention the staff is all good looking, and I think I was smitten with the delightful dame whose arm was in a cast and didn't have an accent but kind of looked like Samantha Boscarino. Like good gosh, why must they do this to me. Two of my favorite things, British/Australian people and preptastic clothing. It's a brand for university students and it's on the pricey side but totally within reason. That little detour made my day. Time's up for bro-time, so Taylor and I get on our separate trains and head "home." I just happen to get on the blue line instead of orange when I hear we're at the Pentagon. Fail, and I get on a train that's going the way, nope just another wrong train, for an epic fail. I finally get on the orange line, pass where we started and head into VA. From my point of view currently, my life might be a huge mess.
Exit the metro station and another teen just says hey to me and waves before walking away, completely random but absolutely heartwarming (teens unite). I'm moving towards the bus I'm supposed to get on when the kid comes running and ask for $6 since he ran out of money. I'm more than happy to help him out, Adam was his name, a smile is all it takes for me. I wait for the bus and ride from Vienna to Centreville, where I lived before I moved to Ohio. I have no idea where I'm supposed to actually get off so I ride to the end of the route. I google my location and figure out I'm literally two streets away from my old house. I decide to be spontaneous and walk the mile and a half to my old house. I check to see if my old neighbor is home and her neighbors don't even know her, unless she moved. I stand awkward on the street corner from my old house and I see the new owner holding her grand-baby. I walk over before she gets to the front door, and before I can come any closer to tells me to stay where I am and tell me what I'm doing there. Whoops, I guess I looked like a major sketchball just watching her for like 5 minutes, I explain I used to live there and who I am and she remembers my parents. We talk and catch up before I take pictures of the house and she even lets me inside to look at the changes her family has made. I couldn't belive it, it'd been 11 years since I'd lived there. She says some of my old neighbors still live there so I go and visit one of their houses. I'm telling you they were shocked to see me alright. I call a cab and chat with my childhood friend's parents before getting in the taxi and heading home. I fall asleep and wake up as we pull up to "home" and my bill is just $37.65, no big deal. Did you all know cabs take credit cards now? Whatevs, an amazing day and walk (literally) along memory lane. Back the house, these Ghanaian actors are shooting a movie, (true story people) with the boom stick, multiple cameras, lights and the entourage that goes along with it. I'm just tired as heck and head up to my room to just relax and browse the interwebs. It's then that I discover Jack Wills (that Fabulously British brand) has a competition to win a paid summer internship to live/work in Nantucket & the UK as a "seasonnaire" (lifestyle ambassador) and get $20,000 for tuition. I knockout at like 2 am but I've got one thing on my mind, summer vacation. From my point of view, it's amazing to see how far I've come since my childhood. I've really grown up apparently.
Being a teenager can mean totally different things based on where you stand. Whether your lifestyle is a Drake "YOLO" and party hard kind of thing, or a more reserved, carefree kind of adolescent excursion situation, it's up to you to remember that only you can be you. You make your own decisions and live your life. If you somebody else's life looks perfect, trust me, it's not. Enjoy your youthful life while you're lean and limber. It's just your point of view.
My blog post question for the day is ... if you had to trade places with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? I might have given myself a hard question. Uhm, I would say Liam Payne from One Direction because we have similar personalities (quirky, offbeat funny, compassionate, genuine, and always classy) plus he can sing like nobody's business.
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