not me, but y(o)u

I guess I always knew it would never work out, but the thought was nice. We had our moments and I wish we still talked everyday like we used to. But then it all ended and I took a backseat in your life. I put up with the times you were a complete asshole and the times when you and I just seemed to click, but it’s done now. The memories will last, but will you remember?

ellykoko:

Dear Class of 2010,

This will be my last entry written specifically for you; beginning with the launch of our new site in early September, I’ll begin focusing on the future class of 2011. I hope that you guys won’t be strangers; stay in touch either in person (come visit us!) or online (please drop by the blogs from time to time and say hi).

As you begin your college experience, and I prepare for my 10-year college reunion, I thought I’d leave you with the things that, in retrospect, I think are important as you navigate the next four years. I hope that some of them are helpful.

Here goes…

1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.
2. Call someone you love back home a few times a week, even if just for a few minutes.
3. In college more than ever before, songs will attach themselves to memories. Every month or two, make a mix cd, mp3 folder, whatever - just make sure you keep copies of these songs. Ten years out, they’ll be as effective as a journal in taking you back to your favorite moments.
4. Take naps in the middle of the afternoon with reckless abandon.
5. Adjust your schedule around when you are most productive and creative. If you’re nocturnal and do your best work late at night, embrace that. It may be the only time in your life when you can.
6. If you write your best papers the night before they are due, don’t let people tell you that you “should be more organized” or that you “should plan better.” Different things work for different people. Personally, I worked best under pressure - so I always procrastinated… and always kicked ass (which annoyed my friends to no end). ;-) Use the freedom that comes with not having grades first semester to experiment and see what works best for you.
7. At least a few times in your college career, do something fun and irresponsible when you should be studying. The night before my freshman year psych final, my roommate somehow scored front row seats to the Indigo Girls at a venue 2 hours away. I didn’t do so well on the final, but I haven’t thought about psych since 1993. I’ve thought about the experience of going to that show (with the guy who is now my son’s godfather) at least once a month ever since.
8. Become friends with your favorite professors. Recognize that they can learn from you too - in fact, that’s part of the reason they chose to be professors.
9. Carve out an hour every single day to be alone. (Sleeping doesn’t count.)
10. Go on dates. Don’t feel like every date has to turn into a relationship.
11. Don’t date someone your roommate has been in a relationship with.
12. When your friends’ parents visit, include them. You’ll get free food, etc., and you’ll help them to feel like they’re cool, hangin’ with the hip college kids.
13. In the first month of college, send a hand-written letter to someone who made college possible for you and describe your adventures thus far. It will mean a lot to him/her now, and it will mean a lot to you in ten years when he/she shows it to you.
14. Embrace the differences between you and your classmates. Always be asking yourself, “what can I learn from this person?” More of your education will come from this than from any classroom.
15. All-nighters are entirely overrated.
16. For those of you who have come to college in a long-distance relationship with someone from high school: despite what many will tell you, it can work. The key is to not let your relationship interfere with your college experience. If you don’t want to date anyone else, that’s totally fine! What’s not fine, however, is missing out on a lot of defining experiences because you’re on the phone with your boyfriend/girlfriend for three hours every day.
17. Working things out between friends is best done in person, not over email. (IM does not count as “in person.”) Often someone’s facial expressions will tell you more than his/her words.
18. Take risks.
19. Don’t be afraid of (or excited by) the co-ed bathrooms. The thrill is over in about 2 seconds.
20. Wednesday is the middle of the week; therefore on wednesday night the week is more than half over. You should celebrate accordingly. (It makes thursday and friday a lot more fun.)
21. Welcome failure into your lives. It’s how we grow. What matters is not that you failed, but that you recovered.
22. Take some classes that have nothing to do with your major(s), purely for the fun of it.
23. It’s important to think about the future, but it’s more important to be present in the now. You won’t get the most out of college if you think of it as a stepping stone.
24. When you’re living on a college campus with 400 things going on every second of every day, watching TV is pretty much a waste of your time and a waste of your parents’ money. If you’re going to watch, watch with friends so at least you can call it a “valuable social experience.”
25. Don’t be afraid to fall in love. When it happens, don’t take it for granted. Celebrate it, but don’t let it define your college experience.
26. Much of the time you once had for pleasure reading is going to disappear. Keep a list of the books you would have read had you had the time, so that you can start reading them when you graduate.
27. Things that seem like the end of the world really do become funny with a little time and distance. Knowing this, forget the embarassment and skip to the good part.
28. Every once in awhile, there will come an especially powerful moment when you can actually feel that an experience has changed who you are. Embrace these, even if they are painful.
29. No matter what your political or religious beliefs, be open-minded. You’re going to be challenged over the next four years in ways you can’t imagine, across all fronts. You can’t learn if you’re closed off.
30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it’s work doesn’t mean it has to suck.
31. Don’t always lead. It’s good to follow sometimes.
32. Take a lot of pictures. One of my major regrets in life is that I didn’t take more pictures in college. My excuse was the cost of film and processing. Digital cameras are cheap and you have plenty of hard drive space, so you have no excuse.
33. Your health and safety are more important than anything.
34. Ask for help. Often.
35. Half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at any given moment. Way more than half of you will be in the bottom half of your class at some point in the next four years. Get used to it.
36. In ten years very few of you will look as good as you do right now, so secretly revel in how hot you are before it’s too late.
37. In the long run, where you go to college doesn’t matter as much as what you do with the opportunities you’re given there. The MIT name on your resume won’t mean much if that’s the only thing on your resume. As a student here, you will have access to a variety of unique opportunities that no one else will ever have - don’t waste them.
38. On the flip side, don’t try to do everything. Balance = well-being.
39. Make perspective a priority. If you’re too close to something to have good perspective, rely on your friends to help you.
40. Eat badly sometimes. It’s the last time in your life when you can do this without feeling guilty about it.
41. Make a complete ass of yourself at least once, preferably more. It builds character.
42. Wash your sheets more than once a year. Trust me on this one.
43. If you are in a relationship and none of your friends want to hang out with you and your significant other, pay attention. They usually know better than you do.
44. Don’t be afraid of the weird pizza topping combinations that your new friend from across the country loves. Some of the truly awful ones actually taste pretty good. Expand your horizons.
45. Explore the campus thoroughly. Don’t get caught.
46. Life is too short to stick with a course of study that you’re no longer excited about. Switch, even if it complicates things.
47. Tattoos are permanent. Be very certain.
48. Don’t make fun of prefrosh. That was you like 2 hours ago.
49. Enjoy every second of the next four years. It is impossible to describe how quickly they pass.
50. This is the only time in your lives when your only real responsibility is to learn. Try to remember how lucky you are every day.

Be yourself. Create. Inspire, and be inspired. Grow. Laugh. Learn. Love.

Welcome to some of the best years of your lives.

-B

(Source: quae-sum-ero)

university-bound:

fishingforcolleges:

Tomorrow is Ivy Day.

You may be freaking out. You may be like, “I got this.” You may be indifferent.

No matter what, listen to these words:

You are meant to go to the school you belong at.

Tomorrow may go the way you wanted it to, and it may not. Be at peace knowing that on May 1, you’re going to say yes to one of the schools that has said yes to you, and that this marriage between intellectuals was meant to be. Because, ultimately, that’s what this is. It’s like a national Bachelor show that is actually constructive and beneficial to society. You’ve been flirting with these schools for so long, hoping you can catch their eye. Now, one or many of them will make an offer of marriage, a beautiful proposal of admission.

Be excited about it. This is a major turning point in your life. But, know this. The school you end up at does not determine your amount of success in your life. It’s all about what you make out of college. Every school has a plethora, a treasure box, of amazing resources. It’s up to YOU to pursue these opportunities. So, no matter what happens tomorrow, be excited that you’re going to end up at a treasure mine somewhere.

If you’re accepted tomorrow, then wonderful. Celebrate! If you’re not, celebrate the fact that the choice you have to make in May has become easier and that you’re one step closer to the school you’ll find happiness at. Most of all, celebrate this: You’ve spent the most agonizing past few months selling yourself to these schools. You’re worn out, and you feel cheap. However, you’re about to get amazing offers from schools that are groveling on the floor to obtain YOU. That’s right, YOU. You are so special and some school out there is ready to help you harness that specialness in you. So go out there, get your acceptances or rejections, and embrace it all. Best of luck to you all in the next week and beyond that you all end up at the perfect schools for you!

perfect. just perfect.

food for thought. the world is full of opportunities, but it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with those opportunities and how you’re going to let them define who you become.

It is so incredibly easy to let others define your successes and failures. We let what others define as a success—a report card of straight A’s, an aced test, an acceptance to a prestigious college—become what we deem our successes. We let flaws engulf us and tear us down. But in the end, it’s up to us to tell ourselves that we will have our fair share of wins but we will also have our fair share of losses. There may be the few lucky individuals who will experience more wins than losses, but trust me, they will experience their downfalls at some point. We live flawed lives. There will be times when we work our asses off to achieve some goal, and we will have missed it by a long shot. And you know what? That. Is. Okay. We will undoubtedly have taken away something from the experience and it will have shaped us somehow in some form. So don’t beat yourself up if things don’t work necessarily work out. Move on. In the end, you’ll look back, connect the dots, and realize that everything has worked out for the best. Don’t Panic. 

callmeirony:

Bold what’s true about you

I am a cuddler.

I am a morning person. 

I am an only child.

I am currently in my pajamas.

I am currently pregnant.

I am left handed.

l am right handed.

I am ambidextrous.

I am a little shy around the opposite gender.

I bite my nails.

I can be paranoid at times.

I enjoy folk music.

I enjoy smoothies. 

I enjoy talking on the phone.

I have a car.

I have/had a hard time paying attention at school.

I have a hidden talent.

I have a pet.

I have a tendency to fall for the “wrong” guy/girl.

I have all my grandparents.

I have been to another country.

I have been told that I have an unusual sense of humor.

I have or had broken a bone.

I have caller I.D. on my phone.

I have bathed someone.

I have changed a diaper.

I have changed a lot over the past year.

I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color.

I have had major/minor surgery.

I have killed another person.

I have had my hair cut within the last week.

I have mood swings.

I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.

I have rejected someone before.

I like the taste of blood. 

I love Michael Jackson.

I love sleeping. 

I love to shop.

I own 100 CDs more or less.

I own and use a library card.

I read books for pleasure in my spare time.

I sleep a lot during the day.

I watch soap operas on a regular basis.

I work at a job that I enjoy.

I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free.

I am wearing socks.

I am tired.

I love to paint/draw/sketch/sculpt.

I consume at least one alcoholic drink every month.

I have/had:

Finished college.

Smoked cigarettes.

Ridden every ride at an amusement park.

Collected something really stupid.

Gone to a concert.

Helped someone.

Spun turn tables.

Watched four movies in one night.

Been broken up with.

Taken a college level course. 

Been in a car accident.

Been in a tornado.

Watched someone die. 

Been to a funeral.

Burned yourself. 

Ran a marathon.

Your parents got divorced.

Cried yourself to sleep. 

Spent over $200 in one day.

Cheated on someone. 

Been cheated on.

Written a 10 page letter.

Had a best friend.

Lost someone you loved.

Skipped school.

Gotten in trouble for something you didn’t do.

Stolen books from the library. 

Been in a mental hospital.

Watched the “Harry Potter” movies.

Fired a gun.

Been in a school play.

Been fired from a job.

Taken a lie detector test.

Swam with dolphins.

Attempted suicide.

Written poetry.

Read more than 20 books a year.

Gone to Europe. 

Loved someone you couldn’t have.

Used a coloring book over age 12.

Had surgery.

Had stitches.

Taken a taxi.

Had more than 5 online conversations going at once.

Had a hamster.

Dyed your hair.

Had something pierced.

Gotten straight A’s.

Been handcuffed.

My hair is naturally the color:

Light brown

Medium brown

Dark brown

Blond

Black

Dirty blond

Strawberry blond

Multicolored

Red

My eyes are:

Brown

Dark Brown

Blue

Green

Hazel 

Light brown

People sometimes label me as:

Slut

Boyish

Colorful

Ugly

Nerd

Other (smart, stupid, asshole, antisocial, etc.)

Some of my biggest fears are:

Spiders/other insects

Slimy things

Dying

Doctor/Dentist appointments

Hospitals

Needles

Disease

Being alone in the dark

Heights

Small spaces 

Oceans/large bodies of water

Holes

Large animals

Small animals

Open spaces

Lightning

Tornadoes

I have:

A friend with benefits

A laptop in my room

A television in my room

Good grades

My own car.

Married parents

because I’m bored 

(Source: herestorightnow)

breathe-here:

azumari:

laugh-addict:

when you’re watching your favorite show and they mention the place where you live or somewhere near it and your just like

^accurate description of bakersfield tho

(Source: unseenmadeseen)

you, me, cups of tea, good books, and old jazz playing in the background as we sit inside Barnes & Nobles on a rainy day.

that sounds like a perfect day to me.