To-Do List

There cannot be a crisis next week.  My schedule is already full. –– Henry Kissinger

Music

I've often wished there were a soundtrack to my life that warned me of impending danger and harmonized with me on days I felt like singing.  Then I would know by the base tones and minor chords if I was about to answer a test question incorrectly or spill my coffee down my front.  I would "avenge" my homework to the movie theme and, while exercising, The Pirates of the Caribbean would blare.  Jaws would play when my sister snuck up behind me and BBC's Sherlock when I curled up to read.  And Anastasia's music box would send me to sleep.  And in rare moments, when I would just sit and breathe, all would be quite silent.

The Same

It is fun to be in the same decade with you. –– Franklin D. Roosevelt

Call Me Old-Fashioned

Handwritten letters are going out of style, and it's obvious why: typing is so much easier.  Your hand doesn't cramp, and your words are faster; erasing is irrelevant, just press delete and it's as if it never existed: no ghost of your mistake imprinted on the page.  What's more, emails and texts reach their recipients in minutes; letters could take days, or even weeks, so that the information is no longer fresh and the receiver is left behind.  Letters are old-fashioned, and maybe that's what attracts me to them: I've always been a fan of modernizing tradition, keeping it true to its roots but repurposing it for the desires of the new age.  While I understand the drawbacks to using a pencil over a keyboard, and (as you can see) tend to use the latter more myself, a word drawn by hand, in my opinion, has more character and integrity than a standardized font on a bone-white computer screen.  And now that typing has become the norm, written word carries all the more weight: the intended reader must mean something to the writer for him to take the time to cross all his own t's and dot his own i's.  In all, writing with your own hand is more personal than using technology to try and convey your thoughts: screens don't stain and crease, every letter matches every other one, and a part of you is removed from your message.  So, though I will admit I prefer typing for its convenience, it can never replace handwriting.

As Dreamers Do

I wonder how many wishes a star can give. –– Winnie the Pooh

A Child's World

I like to collect bits and bobs, storing them in old cookie tins and woven-wood baskets, so that on days I am alone I can entertain myself with endless treasure hunts.  My favorite discoveries are plastic maze toys from my former dentist's office, halloween keychains I never hooked to backpacks, dull crayons of ludicrously named shades: when I find these, I can be a child again.  At only seventeen, most would still consider me a child, but while I still have the luxury of being provided for and protected by others, my current world of e-textbooks and college essays is a far cry from the infinite hours of Sesame Street and sword fighting with Jack Sparrow figurines I occasionally long for.  I appreciate the powers and abilities I gain as I age, but my stored bits and bobs remind me to never forget the advantages of a child's world.

A Mere Moment

Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke. –– Hermann Hesse