Things I Learned
This year's list of things I've learned, outside of my classes.
-There's too much to be said in response to school shootings, and instead I always find myself mute
-How to effectively co-lead a large team of volunteers
-It is far more important to communicate what you're actually thinking/feeling than to pretend everything's okay, and this will often lead to strengthening, rather than ruining, your relationship
-Uber-short hair is awesome!
-No matter how mature you think someone is, or how well you think you know them, they may surprise you by handling disagreement in incredibly childish ways
-I love chocolate, but I have to limit that or I'll be broke
-The future is scary, but it's possible to survive it
-Even I cannot go an entire day eating nothing but chocolate and still feel okay
-Someone else needs to control the products of my uterus
-How to unintentionally guilt-trip someone (it sounds like an oxymoron, but it ain't!)
-How intimidating the prospect of making a family of my own is
-How to tell people "no" when it comes to my non-class time
-That it's not that I can't run, it's that I get bored with it very quickly
-That chai has caffeine in it!
-That the best way to get rid of dreadlocks really is to chop them, not to comb them out
-That having a friend touch my boobs is an eventuality, not a possibility, on any given day
-I actually can keep secrets
-It's possible to write a good research paper in under a week
-My body is no longer what it used to be, and I can't survive on four-hour sleeps anymore
-Alternative ways of expressing romantic love
-To enjoy what I have, rather than what I want to happen in the future
-That I can be incredibly critical and self-righteous, whether or not it's warranted
-It's possible to seriously use the line "I need you to trust me when I say this: I'm right and you're wrong" in an argument without insulting someone or being the critical self-righteous person I just described myself as...it's just a very very rare occasion that this can be done
-Shaving under the arms is overrated
-That I really shouldn't play "Never Have I Ever" with a bunch of liquoured-up QMers
-That going off the Pill, when you've been on it for four years, will really fuck with your head for a while
-That if you're honest with people about that, they tend to be much more patient and understanding than you'd expect
-Laundry isn't that bad, but I tend to leave it until it is
-How to abruptly reverse directions in figure skates
-What "Nuit Blanche" is, and how much I've been missing out on
-Swearing gets your point across, but a calm, frigid, controlled response is often much more effective (and much more intimidating)
-Living below the poverty line is a great excuse to take up socialism, or at least enforces a partial respite from capitalism
-I carry grudges too well
-Even at 20, fantasy fiction novels (like Brian Jacques) are essential to keeping me sane
-There's too much to be said in response to school shootings, and instead I always find myself mute
-How to effectively co-lead a large team of volunteers
-It is far more important to communicate what you're actually thinking/feeling than to pretend everything's okay, and this will often lead to strengthening, rather than ruining, your relationship
-Uber-short hair is awesome!
-No matter how mature you think someone is, or how well you think you know them, they may surprise you by handling disagreement in incredibly childish ways
-I love chocolate, but I have to limit that or I'll be broke
-The future is scary, but it's possible to survive it
-Even I cannot go an entire day eating nothing but chocolate and still feel okay
-Someone else needs to control the products of my uterus
-How to unintentionally guilt-trip someone (it sounds like an oxymoron, but it ain't!)
-How intimidating the prospect of making a family of my own is
-How to tell people "no" when it comes to my non-class time
-That it's not that I can't run, it's that I get bored with it very quickly
-That chai has caffeine in it!
-That the best way to get rid of dreadlocks really is to chop them, not to comb them out
-That having a friend touch my boobs is an eventuality, not a possibility, on any given day
-I actually can keep secrets
-It's possible to write a good research paper in under a week
-My body is no longer what it used to be, and I can't survive on four-hour sleeps anymore
-Alternative ways of expressing romantic love
-To enjoy what I have, rather than what I want to happen in the future
-That I can be incredibly critical and self-righteous, whether or not it's warranted
-It's possible to seriously use the line "I need you to trust me when I say this: I'm right and you're wrong" in an argument without insulting someone or being the critical self-righteous person I just described myself as...it's just a very very rare occasion that this can be done
-Shaving under the arms is overrated
-That I really shouldn't play "Never Have I Ever" with a bunch of liquoured-up QMers
-That going off the Pill, when you've been on it for four years, will really fuck with your head for a while
-That if you're honest with people about that, they tend to be much more patient and understanding than you'd expect
-Laundry isn't that bad, but I tend to leave it until it is
-How to abruptly reverse directions in figure skates
-What "Nuit Blanche" is, and how much I've been missing out on
-Swearing gets your point across, but a calm, frigid, controlled response is often much more effective (and much more intimidating)
-Living below the poverty line is a great excuse to take up socialism, or at least enforces a partial respite from capitalism
-I carry grudges too well
-Even at 20, fantasy fiction novels (like Brian Jacques) are essential to keeping me sane