From time to time, when tensions are high or I can sense a pervading uneasy energy, I do a little meditative exercise. Usually, it is a visualization or relaxation ritual; something easy to refocus my mind.
As exam time draws near, I will begin to show you some more advanced techniques for meditation and you can use it however you see fit.
So, in preparation for that, this week's blog will have you contemplating your "happy place" either real or metaphorical or imaginary. Please answer the following questions.
Where do you like to go to escape from the pressures of your life? (It doesn't have to be a real place).
What is your best childhood memory? Describe it in detail.
Where and when do you feel your absolute best? Why?
What is the most soothing sound you can imagine?
Which colors affect your mood the most? How do those colors affect it?
When during the day do you feel the most at ease? Why? What is it about that time of day that provides comfort?
I'm definatly looking forward to these meditative exercises Bunj, because my anxiety always seems to get the best of me. But I guess simply contemplating my "happy place" for now will do. :)
ReplyDeleteEverytime I'm upset from whatever it is, annoying boyfriends, friends, parents etc. I always seems to pop in the same movie, Fever Pitch. For those who have never saw this movie it's about this guy (Jimmy Fallon) who is crazy obsessed with the Red Sox and he meets this girl (Drew Barrymore). Long story short, he will eventually make the biggest decision he has ever made in his entire life, choose her over the Red Sox and they fall madly in love. The End! :). Of course that two sentence summary does not do the movie justice. It's not just another love story to me because it's hilarious. I LOVE Jimmy Fallon. But anyway, whenever I'm stressed or upset and my anxiety is just too high to bring it back down, I watch this movie. I've must of seen it a million times, but it never gets old. It calms me down and I feel happy again. I think movies in general do this for me. So where do I like to go to escape from the pressures of my life? The movie theater. I guess a good escape from my reality is diving into a make believe fantasy of entertainment and happy endings.
I probably have the worst memory of all time so getting a fully detailed childhood memory from me might be a bit hard. What I remember most about my childhood, eventhough its not quite over yet, is being closer to my family, especially my dad. I remember beach days the most. They were my favorite. I don't know how old I was, I just remember the overload in sunscreen he bathed us with and the boogy boards we loved to paly with. It was fun. We barely talk now, so the most bonding time we get is when a game is on. I'm really close to my mom though. But we still don't have the "family bonding" like we use to. I have five brothers and sisters on my mom side and I only seen two of them regularly (including Kayla, which doesn't really count I see her every day). I remember every Sunday was Family Day. And we'd ALL go out wherever, and have the best time. Now I don't know the last time we were ALL in the same room. So my best childhood memory? Family Days. :)
I know I've said in a previous blog, I'm not great at anything. I don't have some amazing talent that I'd feel my absolute best doing. And that was my initial take on this question, when or where do you feel your absolute best. But the more I think about it the more ways I think to answer it. I know I feel really good right after I've just deeped cleaned the entire house, and that feeling lasts as long as the house stays clean. Mess gives me anxiety and I can't take it. But the feeling of relief and cleansiness I guess soothes me. But on a greater scale I feel good when I'm with my baby brother and cousins as well. They mean the world to me. Everyone always jokes that my baby cousins are my own kids because I'm always with them and when they are around I'm always taking care of them. And when it comes to my baby brother, you'll never meet anyone cuter. He's four now so everything he says is just adorable and every weekend there is no place i'd rather be than with him.
Music. Any kind of music, minus any hardcore screaming, soothes me. I go to bed with the radio playing, I wake up and get ready with the radio playing, I'm constantly singing every and any song etc. But I never really thought about the way colors affect me. I like calm, neutral colors. They relax me. No neons or blacks, they're too showy or dark. So hand me the test on peach paper with 104.9 playing low in the background and I'll get a 5. :)
ReplyDeleteDuring the school day, I feel most at ease in Math. No I'm not in any special course that'll impress some big college, it's simple pre-calc. Not honors either, just CP Pre-Calc. And I love it. It's a relaxing class. I get homework everyday frequent tests and quizes, but I never have to worry about gettin stress or anxiety from this class. It relaxes me. And I'm good at it. I understand everything given to me and when I don't I'm not afraid or intimidated to ask a question. I'm actually the go-to preson in this class and it feels good. On the weekend, it's Saturday morning. When everyone else is sleeping, I can just sit on the couch without any worry about what's due the next day and I can relax. It's a soothing alone time that I desperatly need when I get too stressed. If only I could take the test on my couch Saturday morning.
I agree with you with the music thing. I love falling asleep to music and waking up to it. And I liked how you said the music is playing low in the background. Every time I do homework or something, I almost need music playing in the background.
DeleteI feel as if I’m always stressed out. And then, when I’m stressed, I stress out about being stressed. It’s terrible. But, this blog really got me thinking, and now I realize, maybe I’m not as stressed as I think I am.
ReplyDeleteWhen I’m feeling extremely stressed out, I find myself picking up a book. I love to read because it helps me escape reality. I enjoy completely immersing myself into novels, or book series, even news articles. I will sit on the computer, and scroll through different news topics, reading everything that catches my eye. Before I know it, two hours will have gone by. I’m really addicted to book series. I’ll have a book fetish for about a month, before I move onto a new series. Sci-Fi and fantasy books are usually the most intriguing, because I am able to escape into a world completely different from my own. Though sometimes, I do enjoy whiny young adult books, because I like to laugh at the ridiculousness of teenage conflicts. It helps me forget about what’s currently bothering me in my life.
My best childhood memory; this is going to be a little hard. My childhood was perhaps the best time of my life. I was so happy. Always so happy, about everyone and everything. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that carefree fun little girl, but that was way before I saw the destruction and death the world had to offer. Anyway, my happiest childhood memory was during the summer, I was about 7 years old. My whole family had gone to New Rochelle, New York (We used to take huge family trips before all my cousins and siblings got a life), just to vacation. That day we had gone sailing on the boats, and that night went out to dinner. After dinner, we all went to a huge arcade. I swear I’ve never seen an arcade this huge! And to a seven year old, I was in heaven. My cousins, sisters and I spent the whole night running around the arcade (our parents were around, but we felt as if we were alone and independent) just playing games. I convinced my cousins to go on bumper cars about 20 times. After the arcade we went to get ice cream and spent the rest of the night playing hide and go seek in the hotel. Needless to say, that night stands out in my mind, because it was one time in my life where I didn’t have to worry about anything. As a child, I would worry so much I’d have anxiety attacks. They were really bad, I’d get hives and it’d be difficult to breathe. So that memory, was the one time where I remember not having a panic/anxiety/worry-wart attack.
This is kind of weird, but, I feel my best when I’m in the kitchen. I like to cook, but I like baking even more. My mom and I cook dinner together every night and we talk about anything and everything. I like cooking because it brings people together. The best times are during the holidays when family is around, and we all congregate in the kitchen and just talk. I’ve realized that when I bake my friends goodies when they’re feeling down, it always cheers them up, which in turn makes me happy. I like to make people happy. I like to make people laugh, and I often times neglect my own happiness for others. I hope to one day, stop, and focus on myself for once, but right now the greatest joy comes from seeing someone’s face light up when you make them their favorite dinner, or their favorite dessert. (I’m currently making Nutella Cupcakes for the golden child aka Gwen) In the kitchen, my mistakes aren’t dire. If I miss a step, I can always go back and add an egg. Or if the pan starts overheating, I can simply take it off the stove. It’s nice to know that I have everything in control, and I can directly see what I’ve messed up and what I haven’t. In life, you don’t always know directly how your actions will affect something, and that’s a scary thought for me.
ReplyDeleteThe most soothing sound is by far the ocean. In the summer, I lie on the beach, and block everything out and listen to the waves crashing against the shore, with seagulls cawing in the background. The sound always offers me comfort. I don’t know why the sound of the ocean soothes me. It’s just one of those noises that relax the mind.
There are a lot of colors that affect my mood. Bright neon colors piss me off. When I see people wearing bright sneakers, or a bright shirt, it angers me. It’s weird but the color is just so irritating. I guess because I feel like if that color was a person it’d be constantly screaming or talking very loudly, and people who are extremely exuberant and enthusiastic kind of…annoy me, it’s too much for me to handle. I enjoy the color blue. It’s calming. But then again, blue is generally related to calming the mind, so maybe my brain is just hardwired to think blue should relax me and so it does. Hmm…
I like the evening. Particularly around 7 o’clock. At the time, I feel like my body is starting to relax after a long day. I’ve stopped running around, I’ve eaten dinner, and most of my homework is completed, and I’ve studied for a good hour. At 7 o’clock, it’s usually when I find myself knitting, or reading another chapter of the book, or searching for new recipes to try out, possibly even writing in my journal about my day, or continuing my What I Need To Do Before 25 List. It’s just all in all a relaxing time. In the spring and summer, the sun isn’t quite yet starting to set, but it’s getting there. And I love that time. It’s my favorite time in the summer; I sit outside and stare at the sky, loving to see the world just right before the sun goes down marking the end of another day.
If I ever need to get away from the pressures and stresses of life, I turn within. Sometimes no matter how many miles you put between yourself and your problem, the stress is unchanged. If tensions become too high, I close myself from the outside world, and travel deep inside. Whenever I have bad thoughts, wether they are real or imagined, I put them in the bottom of the drawer and open up the top drawer. That’s where all the happy thoughts are. At first the top drawer was empty, but now that I’ve been using this more often, I think I should get a bigger drawer.
ReplyDeleteMy best childhood memory is not a specific memory, but a collection. When I was a little kid, my mom would pack me a lunch and send me into the woods behind my backyard. Even though the land is only about six or seven acres, as a little kid, it felt infinite. Every time I went out, I found or did something I had never seen before. Times have drastically changed, but sometimes when I feel the pressure, I think about those memories and mix things up like they were back then; always unpredictable and filled with lots of adventure.
I feel my absolute best when I’m traveling. Whenever I’m someplace I’ve never been, surrounded by foreign customs and sights, that’s when I’m at my best. Sometimes it’s an uncomfortable feeling to be in a place of unknown, but it’s when I feel the best. I also feel my best after the last swim race of a year. After months of excruciating work, when I finish that very last race and realize the future is completely open, that’s when I feel my best. I suppose it’s because I have a full understanding of all the things I can do (because I don’t have to swim anymore). Another time when I feel my best is after a long day of work when I go surfing. Spending hours upon hours on the beach can be a headache, but when it’s all over and I’m in the water free from all responsibility, that’s another time when I feel my greatest.
Perhaps this is because of outside associations, but the most soothing sound I can think of are steel drums. It’s slightly odd that the pounding on metal might be my source of auditory comfort, but it is. My Pandora radio is always on something having to do with reggae. Steel drums reminds me of the beach, a place that I love. So naturally, it calms my nerves in times of crises.
Color must be one of the most difficult things to explain in words. My favorite color is blue; it just pleases my eyes, and everything sees to look better in blue. But reds, like when the rises, and pink, like when the sun sets, are also colors that can affect my moods by instilling an emotion of awe.
I enjoy how you found a good side in the color red. Most people (including myself) see red as bad and anger, GRR. But you see it as the sun rising, which is truly a beautiful scene. It makes me feel the same way as you explained, "by instilling an emotion of awe". (By the way, check out my first paragraph.)
DeleteThe time of day when I feel most at ease is the second I wake up. When you wake, anything is possible, and there is no limit to what you can accomplish on any given day. Besides, I’m never tired when I wake up. I don’t understand the concept of “going back to sleep”, because I’ve never done it (I know, I’m a total weirdo). When I wake up, I’m wide awake and ready to go. At the start of the day, there’s so many things that everyone can set out to accomplish, and that’s why it provides me with the most comfort. The worst feeling is going to bed, knowing the entire day was completely wasted. It’s impossible to think that when you first wake up. Maybe it’s all because I get ridiculous amounts of sleep, but whatever it is, the moment when I wake up is the most comforting.
ReplyDeleteKendall- You’re comforted by Math? I can only imagine what Bunje will think when see reads that. I’m only joking though, I can understand why you feel comfort in it (sorta). Were all different, so even though math is the bane of some, I’m glad you find comfort in it. PS, I’ve never seen that movie so I’ll need to get on that.
Nyamekye- Your description of you and your mom in the kitchen is adorable. I know that might sound weird, but you did an excellent job in describing it. Your description of the ocean was also very descriptive and I would completely agree with you (expect the flying rats, I hate them). By the way, fun little Psychology fact you might want to know, the number one thing people with general anxiety disorder worry about is…. themselves worrying. We all need to do a little more relaxing.
The first paragraph of this reminds me of a quote from Walden about how Thoreau like the morning most because he took no part in creating it.
DeleteYou really are a total weirdo. I have to hit my snooze button at least twice before I get up. Of course, you get to sleep at like 3 PM or something, you responsible child you! Anyways, I can agree with your stance on travelling. There's something about long bus rides or flying in a plane that isn't like anything else. And new places are pretty cool too.
DeleteGeorge: If I could I would steal the life force out of you so that I could enjoy waking up. Anyway, I also like your description of your childhood memories. It's the simplicity of those times that really makes them special. I think only at times like these when we are so busy that we can look back and appreciate those times.
DeleteI think everyone finds peace best when in solitude. My mom complains because I spend too much time in my cave. But when I am up in my bedroom, I am not “hibernating” as she calls it; rather I am letting myself unravel after tedious hours of work. The first thing I do when I get home is go upstairs and change from pants to gym shorts—something a little more comfortable. Then when my homework is completed, I lie upon my bed for a few minutes, close my eyes, and transport myself to a fantasy world. I’ve had a very powerful imagination since I was a child and have established a wondrous world in my head. I rarely recall my dreams so I often resort to taking a trip to my imaginary palace of solitude every once and a while. And as I take reign as emperor of my little land of relaxation, I transfer myself to a state of bliss and awe.
ReplyDeletePerhaps my best child memory is of myself in the fourth or fifth grade—I’m not quite sure. But this is okay, because this memory is rather a collection of memories. These memories are simple yet peaceful. These glimpses into the past are of myself and Mike (Giovinco) just simply sitting on his trampoline in his backyard just hanging out, telling funny stories, and using our crazy imaginations. This was a time where we used to just go outside and “play”. This was a time where are brains were not used for Calculus but for fabricating stories and games that stretched the very fabrics of our imaginations. This was a time where we just had fun, and were not restricted by the rigor of our schedules. Indeed it was a happier time.
It’s probably a little weird, but I feel my best when I’m at the bowling alley. And it’s strange to say this because it wasn’t until a week ago that I was at the bowling alley for the first time in about six months. At one time I was extremely proficient at bowling (I was scoring around 200 on average for a stretch) Last week I squeaked out a 130 after a horrendous game of 67. It was safe to say I was a little rusty. And it was at that moment that I realized that I haven’t truly relaxed myself properly in quite some time. I was rusty at the art of relaxation. But what is it about bowling that brought me peace and made me feel at my best? I think it was the power of being able to knock things down—transfer my energy into a great and accurate force that alleviated the tension I previously held. Stepping back on the lanes gave me a needed boost of life to say the least.
I love your first two paragraphs, usually i try to substansiate such an ambiguous opinion as this, but thats really all I can say. But my parents think the same thing about me in my room.
DeleteSome people like to say that the best sound is rather the lack of sound (silence); and I can see why as in our busy lives we rarely encounter unadulterated silence. Some people have cliché responses such as the sound of birds chirping or the waves in the ocean. These same people might also tell you they enjoy long walks on the beach but everyone is entitled to their own responses. But I’m going to offer up something a bit unorthodox—the triumphant sound of a congregation of powerful laughter—the type of laughter that burgeons from the source of a hysterical joke or a hilarious circumstance that sends the room into a fit of merriment. I believe I’ve said it many a time over the course of these blogs that comedy and laughter are equivalent to my personal fuel source—it really is what gets me through the day. And I can’t even imagine a life without knee-slapping chuckles, hardy laughs, or bellowing hoots and hollers. When a room bursts into tears from laughter, nothing pleases my ear more. I want everyone’s face to hurt from laughing so hard.
ReplyDeleteAt first I had some difficulty because I don’t often think in colors, but then I recalled something that happened earlier on today. It was during a double period of chemistry. I wasn’t feeling so hot even though the temperature said otherwise. I wasn’t quite on my game so I kept loosing focus. It was during one of these lapses in concentration that my head directed itself in the direction of the tree right outside the classroom. Almost immediately my attention locked in on the bright green ocean of fresh, new leaves. The color of this congregation of foliage filled me with a sense of peace and tranquility, and I instantly transported myself in my mind to a towering forest where I lay softly upon the ground staring up at an inferno of greenery. It was extraordinarily beautiful, but after that minute instance I came back to reality to solve a few chemistry problems.
There is a time in the morning around 5:30 where sleeping feels like the best option to me and it becomes so easy to simply drift away into slumber land. The prospect of choosing this period as the most endearing is hampered only by the inevitable fact that school time is fast approaching and I can’t slip back into sleep because of the fact. So I offer that the most relaxing period of the day is lunch time. It really has a lot going for it—friends, food, laughter (I like laughter), and now the bonus of using electronics. Overall, lunch time is the brief moment out of my day that everything I’m worried about instantly disappears for a short while—a haven of sorts.
That description of laughter was beautiful. And I'm feeling pretty deprived because I haven't had a really good laugh in awhile. Or maybe I've just been laughing a lot, and been taking it for granted. Either way, it certainly is a beautiful sound.
DeleteAh. Life! Life, the world to be more specific, is a beautiful place. I’m not talking about people though. Landscapes and wind and the sun, it’s all beautiful. On Saturday during the Asian Awareness trip a group of friends and I went to a photography exhibit. Schuyler and I saw this breath taking scene of mountains and a rainbow. The only way I could describe it was beautiful. That’s where I am most comfortable. Not hiking down a mountain after a rain storm, but in nature. To be honest I am sitting outside right this very moment. If I could I would be outside all the time. In the woods where I live it’s mostly quite. In the background there are bugs and birds and my neighbor’s farm animals. It’s an oasis. Really the outside world is the most cathartic place I know.
ReplyDeleteGiven the circumstances of my childhood I had to grow up very fast. Most kids did sports and played outside and stuff like that, but I never got the chance to. So my favorite childhood memory is happy on a sad note. About a week before my… I want to say seventh birthday, my mother was admitted into the hospital. From the looks of things she was going to be in there for a very, very long time. There was even a chance that she wouldn’t come out. All I wanted for my birthday was for my mother to be home and with the rest of the family. The day before my birthday my dad dropped my sister and I off at my grandmother’s house and said he would be back that he had errands to run. He came home about two hours later with my mother. That was probably the best gift that I was ever given! Because of that, it remains one of my favorite childhood memories!!
This kind of ties in with my first paragraph. I feel my best when I am alone. A big part of who I am is being around people. I enjoy listening and talking and analyzing. When I do my homework outside, or take a shower, or walk around my front yard, I am calm. I don’t have to worry about GPA or how sick my father is. It’s me, my music (I listen to a lot of music) and solitude. I have a chance to gather my thoughts, take a deep breath and stretch, go for a jog or do whatever else I think would relax me. Most of the time the only place I can find this solitude is outside (for some reason my family is afraid of the outdoors so they don’t usually bother me!).
Now for the sounds! I love noise; rain, birds, cars, dogs but especially voices. That probably sounds really creepy, and I accept all the hate! Anyways, I love when people sing; especially people who can’t sing. For instance, Mimi sings in Latin and people tell her to stop and stuff like that, but I love it. She has no training and not very good control or pitch, but she does it anyway. When I am outside I prefer to listen to music. All kinds of music: from Celtic to English folk to 80’s electronica: I love it. So many of the bands that I listen to suck, both instrumentally and vocally but that’s what makes me love them even more. I find the human voice to be powerful and beautiful. Aside from singing, I enjoy the sounds of Weymouth. A freaky quite mixed with animals, screaming, gunshots and speeding cars: its home!
My favorite color is green and it always has been. When I see the color green I can’t help but feel a little more secure inside. Sometimes I make grammar mistakes on purpose so the green squiggly line comes on my screen. If I am distraught over something, I look at a green pebble that I have and I instantly feel better. There is something about all of the different shades of green and I don’t know why, but it’s almost soothing I guess you could say. I can’t say that any particular color adversely affects my mood. I don’t like certain colors, but they don’t make me angry or upset…
ReplyDeleteI feel most at ease at night. During this time, my family is together. In addition, all of my homework is usually done by like nine o’clock. That is also when I take a shower. All of the stress and hatred and fear seem to evade everyone around me right before bed. My house is quite and calm and everyone is relaxing. When my family s in bed starting to fall asleep ether the radio is on or you can hear the animals roaming around outside. My house smells good, like fruit or candles. My blanket is really soft and warm. Well that might be because I sleep with four blankets…. Anyways, life is good at night right before I fall asleep!
George: I also love to travel and explore new places. I haven't had the pleasure of going to Europe or really anywhere, but I still enjoy it. I was and still am considering going to college at some point outside of the United States. My mother often tells me that I was born to leave and explore. There is an amazing feeling when I do or see something new!
ReplyDeleteIt’s safe to say that this year has been one of the most stressful, and exhausting years of my life. Through all of my falls and defeats, I’ve managed to rise again only partially bruised. And I don’t know how, but here I stand, just as optimistic as I was starting out. I try not to let the upsets in my life shake me. There have been far too many opportunities, and most likely equally many to come, so it would only make me appear weak if I were to back down now. I don’t know if I truly have a “happy place”. When I’m upset, I withdrawal within myself, like a turtle. I lose myself in my mind and try to ease myself with happy thoughts or memories. Nobody else can do it for me; I can only heal on my own. In other situations, I release my emotions in sports, whether I’m tearing it up on the boat or serving myself into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look back on my childhood, I feel especially blessed. I grew up in a pretty big family, and though secluded in the ‘backwoods’ hick town section of Mays Landing (AKA Laureldale),I grew up beneath those towering trees, and to me, the world was my oyster. Life was different back then, and somehow when I reflect on it, it seems like yesterday and a million light-years away at the same time. I don’t know how that’s possible, but it is. When you’re a young child with big dreams, you believe in yourself, others believe in you and you’re seemingly invisible. When you’re a child, lacking the concept of reality only ensures the beauty of the innocence in your life. Anyway, there are so many beautiful memories I could pull from the crevasses of my memory. One I remember is from a vacation to Moosehead Lake, Maine. We used to pack up and drive 12 hours to our cabin on the lake; My parents, sister, brother and I. Matt and I would squish together in the very back and share and a red and black checkered blanket and Gameboy. On one day of the vacation, we all got our bathing suits on and waded through the lakefront. The water was clear and glassy, but freezing cold despite the heat of the summer. There were giant boulders sitting solemnly in the water a ways down the lake. As the sun began to set, my brother and I decided to venture out towards them. We braved the cold depths of the lake and climbed upon the boulders that once seemed comparable to the trees when we were so small too. We danced atop them and the world suddenly seemed no bigger than the lake that we were temporarily living around. Life itself seemed no more important than those moments spent devouring the last moments of sun. I’m actually starting to cry while typing this, how lame am I? :’)
I feel my absolute best when I’ve just won a crew race or tennis match. It’s a simple explanation really; when I’ve invested so much time and effort into a particular thing, the result can either go one of two ways. In the better of the two, it’s success. Unadulterated triumph that nobody could take away from you. I love this feeling, I thrive off it. I use this feeling to motivate my efforts, and stimulate my drive. Victory is a guiding force in my life. Additionally, I am soothed by many sounds, from ocean waves to the pitter patter of rainfall. The sound that puts me most at ease, however, is the sound of wind outside. Not the whining kind that whips and not the violent kind that seems to tear the air, just the shaking of the leaves and the gradual pickup of breeze. It calms me and though this sounds silly, it reminds me that I’m alive. I have never considered colors affecting my mood. One of my best friends can’t stand the color red because it gives her anxiety. I never understood it, because I love all colors. I’ve always had trouble picking a favorite color too, because I find them all so magnificent in their own way. For the final question, I’ll be going in a route that probably every student will identify with. I am most at ease at night, when I’ve showered, completed all my homework, and I’m laying in bed. It is the least stressful part of my day, and on tiring days (I.E every day), my favorite part of the day is crawling into bed at night, and relaxing my body and mind. I feel most at peace drifting off to sleep. It’s something I’m looking forward to right now…
ReplyDeleteIt was warmer than usual the other night. It was a Saturday, so of course, I had the next morning free to sleep in. I left my house at about one or two o’clock in the morning. I rode. I rode towards the river, by the trestle in Mays Landing. I passed through a couple red lights on my way. The street lights did little more than direct the empty highways. I rode through a trail and found myself standing at the foot of the trestle. Here, a train, headed for some Midwestern state, once barreled through carrying some cargo off of ships from the Mays Landing Harbor. Now, it’s a popular hangout for fisherman and druggies alike. They were all gone now. It was the river and I. I sat on the dilapidated tracks and just let go. Never had I felt so connected to the world around me. It’s here where I felt myself truly lose it. I gave myself up and just let go. This was my meditation.
ReplyDeleteDuring my childhood, I found myself in a few situations that gave me the same feelings as the trestle did on that spring night. I have a bit of a repressed memory towards my childhood, but there are a plethora of moments that still stick out in my head as the most important in shaping who I am today. My best memories from childhood consist of skateboarding around Mays Landing with Brian Camey and just building random things around his yard. Most of my life has revolved around some aspect of extreme sporting, and this point was where my love of skateboarding burgeoned.
Consequently, I feel my absolute best while on my bike. To me, there is no greater feeling than that of cruising around town. The sound of rubber on asphalt accompanied by the cooling breeze is euphoric. In addition, my most pleasing sound can be found here. Actually, it’s a combination of sounds. Basically, all of the sounds of BMX combine to form the ultimate cacophony in my mind. The screeching of tires after a successful maneuver, the gentle rasping of greased hub and gears, the clicking of a cassette, the tick every time a new length of chain comes in contact with the sprocket, and so on.
Colors also have the ability to effect the way I feel. I’ve always associated green with happiness. Nature’s cool, and a lot of that stuff is green, so I guess that makes green cool (no pun intended?). Green relaxes me. It makes me feel chill and good about myself. Red, on the other hand, seems to make me feel tense. I read somewhere that red is supposed to have that effect on people. It’s supposed to be the color of seduction and a bunch of other nonsense. Either way, red makes me uneasy.
Finally, I love waking up. In the summer, I like to go for bike rides or walks really early in the morning. Around six o’clock, where the dew still clings to the grass and a light fog lay over the town. That’s my favorite time to be alive. Something about the possibilities of the coming day, the thought that I have the power to do whatever I want, makes the morning the best time of day. Consequently, breakfast is my favorite meal. I’m a sucker for anything containing bacon, maple, pancake, or eggs. The relationship between my favorite time of day and my favorite meal is quite convenient actually. It makes morning doubly special.
So, if you don’t feel like muddling through six hundred words of my meditations: I like Mays Landing, skateboarding, riding bikes, the color green, and mornings.
If there was a like button for these posts id like this one. But I find myself a little jealous of the fact that you were able to experience that moment on saturday, that was really beautiful. I feel like i just don't take advantage of enough opportunities that come my way to experience the simple things.
DeleteI LOVE THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. Not to get all langy, but I loved the way you described that, I felt it. I wish I had a moment like that, it seems so relaxing and peaceful. And I'm a big proponent of peace. I think I may be a hippie.
DeleteWhere do I like to go to escape the pressure of life? Hmm. I go to a few places, and none of them are very specific, but they all share a general theme. All of those places are warm. I don’t like the cold and avoid it as much as I can. I like heat and the sun and palm trees and the beach. So when I go to my “happy place” I usually go to a beach. There is nothing better than sitting on the beach reading my favorite book, or walking the coastline. I sort of think of clips of different places I’ve been to that I have fallen for. One of the specific places that I try to think of is North Carolina. I’ve spent every summer there, on the same street, in the same house. The house is right on the beach, and to me, there is nothing better than sitting on the 3rd floor balcony, overlooking the ocean on a late afternoon after a long day at the beach. It takes my breath away every single time I’m there or every time I think about it. I immediately feel better just thinking about it. I can feel the breeze tickle my skin and the warmth on my face as I write this right now. I wish I was there. </3
ReplyDeleteI can’t pick just one about childhood. They’re all so special to me so I’ll name a few. The first one is from when I’m in preschool. I remember that my mom was walking me into preschool and I saw another mother who refused to pick up her child and hold her when she was upset. A wave of sadness came over me and I turned to my own mother and asked her “Will you always hold me Mommy?” as I choked back tears. I was about three or four at the time. Then my mom told me she would always hold me and protect me. That has stuck with me. It puts a smile on my face just thinking about it. It’s so simple and only has a couple lines of dialogue, but it has always had so much power to me. The next one has to do with my dad. I think my dad vowed to not raise a bratty, girly girl. He only wanted one child, and I happened to be a girl, so I think he made a goal to make sure I got into sports. Some of my earliest memories are watching baseball and football games with my dad. This is actually kind of funny now that I think about it, but every Sunday afternoon I had to go to “football school.” He made me sit in my living room as he taught me the rules of football, and about different players in the NFL, past and present. He even gave me quizzes, which meant absolutely nothing, but it included different statistics, players, positions, teams, etc. I even had a folder for it! I still have it. I laugh out loud every time I look through the papers in it. I was around eight at the time. There is another memory that involves sports and my dad. One New Year’s Day night, University of Miami and Florida State were playing each other in a bowl game. University of Miami games are kind of big around my house because my dad went there. Anyway, I was nine at the time of this game and it ran really late into the night; I’d say about midnight or so. It’s not very late now, but at the time it was a HUGE deal. I got to stay up late on the first night of the year watching college football with my dad. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that night. Those were some of the happiest times of my childhood. I got to talk sports and be with my dad. I still enjoy both of those things, but now I understand it more. I think my dad achieved his goal. I love sports and watch them to the point where I lose sleep over them, and cry when my teams lose. I have so many more, but these were the ones that came to mind first.
I feel the best when I finish a good book. There’s just something about losing yourself in someone else’s life, even for a little while, that is so amazing to me. I get lost in books and then I start obsessing over them. I will start thinking about what that character is doing right now and what they will be doing later in life. I start looking stuff up on the internet about the book. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I can close the last page of a great book. I also feel the best when I’m in control. I like to have that control and I can know where things are going. I don’t really just wing anything. It can make me uptight at times, but I like knowing that I don’t have to depend on others to get a job done. I also feel my best after I improve in a track meet. If I can get a personal record at a meet, I feel great. I know all of my hours of pain and work have paid off. I’m doing better at what I have been practicing. I can see results, therefore I can leave feeling satisfied with what I have done and proud of what I have accomplished. Winning is also nice.
ReplyDeleteThe most soothing sound I can imagine is the sound of the beach. There is nothing more pleasing to the ear than the crashing of waves mixed with the cawing of seagulls. Another sound that soothes me is reggae music. I’m listening to Buffalo Soldier right now and it’s calming me down. I don’t feel so overwhelmed when I listen to this kind of music. It reminds me of the beach and summer and Jamaica and heat and the possibilities that summer brings. Those are all things I love.
Okay, colors. I like pink. I’m pretty sure everyone knows that. There is always something pink on my body or I feel off. It can be an entire outfit, or just a headband, or toenail polish, but I always have it on. It makes me happy. It’s the color of the sunset and sunrise. It also reminds me of Barbie, which I have a slight obsession with. I like to write in pink when I can, and I eat pink flavored candy. It doesn’t matter what type of pink it is, because I like them all. It reminds me of girly things like Marilyn Monroe and purse sized dogs. It basically just makes me excited and happy.
I feel the most ease at about 4:45PM. This is roughly when my dad comes home from work and we usually sit in the living room and talk about each other’s day. This is when I can get everything off my chest that has been bothering me that day. I talk about the enjoyable things and I talk about how I want to just punch some people in the face. He doesn’t judge, he just listens and sometimes throws in some advice when I can’t make a decision. I feel completely comfortable with him and I know I can just have him one-on-one at this time. I don’t have to put up an act and filter what I say. I just say it.
Janel: I like the fact that you love green so much. It made me giggle about the green squiggly line, but in a good way! I think it's really cool that you're attached to a color. It made me feel a little less weird about my attachment to pink. So, thank you for that. (:
ReplyDeleteKendall: Fever Pitch is such a good movie! Anyway, I didn't think of putting a movie as the place that calms me down. I have two or three movies that I put in when I'm really upset that calm me down and immediately make me feel secure and safe. I really liked the way you approached the question.
ReplyDeleteI don’t get many opportunities to escape from the pressures of my life, but when I find them I just like to take the time to relax. When one of these moments emerges in my life I take one of three options: reading, video games, or music. I read adventure books because they offer me settings that are hardly imaginable and extraordinary characters. While taking an AP English class forces me to have a higher reading ability than most others my age, I still like to read books for a teen audience. When the main characters are close to my age I can relate to them more, and it becomes easier to lose myself in the story. Video games, however, are the much easier alternative. I just need to turn on the game and then it practically plays itself. Despite the lesser amount of effort, I prefer a video game with an intriguing story. I’m not just a Call of Duty junkie like most teenage boys; I like to play through a good narrative. Music is a good way to escape, too. Music can put me in a happier mood or even take me back to a younger, simpler time in my life.
ReplyDeleteMy best childhood memory would have to be from middle school. I was skateboarding with three of my friends: Lorenzo, Stephen, and Gary. I’m still good friends with Lorenzo but I hardly talk to the others now. Anyway, as we wandered the neighborhood, we found an awesome driveway to skateboard on. The patio steps were long and concrete: perfect for skating down. There were no cars parked, so we figured no one was home. We all took turns attempting to do tricks down the steps and skated up and down the pavement. Then an old man came to the door and began to yell at us. Stephen fell on his skateboard and on his butt. His face was priceless. Then he got up and yelled “RUN!” The man yelled out “That’s it! I’m calling the cops!” and walked back inside. We all picked up our skateboards and made a run for it down the street. When we got far enough away we began walking along the side of the street in case we had to hide in the bushes. We all made it back to Lorenzo’s house alright, so we just assumed that the old man never called the cops. Either way, it was quite the adrenaline rush. This is my best childhood memory because I didn’t have many other instances where I did something stupid with my friends and got away with it. It is also an experience that I don’t think I will ever be able to have again. I’m not going to say “you only live once,” as it has been recently common to say, but rather “you’re only young once.” You are still young, fellow AP Langers. Enjoy it while it lasts.
I feel my absolute best when I’m at one of my friends’ houses, sleeping over and having a good time. I love my family and all, but I just relate to my friends so much more. As a young artist once said, “they’ll never understand.” The time of the day where I feel my best is late at night after I finished all my homework. An accomplished day of hard work is a reward in itself. That’s not something you hear most teenagers say, but I admit that I am lazy at heart.
I have a small sound-making machine that is meant to lull a person to sleep. There are settings like ocean waves, rainfall, and heartbeats. Although I don’t use it, the most soothing sound to me is the rainfall setting. Any graceful sound of nature is soothing to me, especially when it’s not made by a machine. A fan serves the same purpose when I’m trying to fall asleep, but it is not natural or as soothing as the rainfall.
ReplyDeleteI don’t much pay attention to colors, but I’ve been told that colors affect your mood whether you recognize it or not. I’d have to say that the color of baby blue affects my mood the most because it is the color of my bedroom walls. My bedroom has always been baby blue, since I was living in the room in a crib. The color gives me a sense of intimacy and familiarity, and it calms me down or makes me happier.
This last question is the easiest to answer. I feel most at ease when lunch rolls around because it’s means that my school day is pretty much over. With a tenth period lunch, I only have two classes afterword: gym and computer graphics. The former requires no mental effort and minimal physical effort, while the latter is chock full of Oakcrest’s worst students (I don’t know how Tom and I make it through that class). My four AP classes are all in row, and the last one ends right before lunch. Lunch is certainly my safe haven of the day because I just get to sit down and relax with my close buddies.
Matt:
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it, green kind of relaxes me too. I hate when all the trees and grass begin to die. But when they're all green and leafy, it's refreshing.
George: I loe travelling to place that I've never been. In fact, I'm always kind of hope to get lost. There's just some type of rush that goes through me. Getting lost in a place I've never been is exhilirating, just as long as I find my way back.
Janel: It's funny, I've been reading through the blogs and I feel like a lot of us feel most relieved as the day comes to a close. I feel like it's refreshing. I give myself a pat on the back thinking that I've made it through another day without freaking out.
Dan: I have a sound machine too! It has 20 different sounds and I used to fall asleep to it every night. It has everything on it, from city street to babbling brook. I always found the heartbeat one creepy. It made me feel that there was a murderer in my room or something. I would feel like it was "The Tell-Tale Heart" part dos. Whenever I used the sound machine though, I put on the thunderstorm setting. You are so right about the sound of rain. It's so calming and can easily lull me to sleep. I wish I would have put this in my post. It's one of my favorite sounds ever, especially on a late summer night.
ReplyDeleteThis year has been the most stressful year of my high school experience. Not just because of Lang but just because we are so near the end. There is so much to get done and so much to worry about, but we have such little time to figure everything out.
ReplyDeleteOkay well I know this is a little weird but when I get really stressed out I close myself out from the rest of the world and daydream. I go into my future and live the life of my future self. I live as a happy, independent physical therapist that has an amazing and stress free life. My biggest stress being that I have to help babysit the 600 kids my child-lovin sister has. I picture that woman looking back at this time in her life and think to herself “It was worth it, everything that happened, happened for a reason and it brought me here.” I picture that person and I feel my body ease. It makes me feel like “every little thing going be all right”. (That song always helps too.)
Hmm…My best childhood memory? I have so many! I think my favorite one has to be my 11th birthday. We have this little tradition in my family on birthdays. My dad always brings an ice cream cake and the birthday girl’s favorite food. But that year my dad had to work on my birthday. My cousin and I thought it was going to be another boring day. (My cousin’s birthday is a day after mine and her parents didn’t really remember so she was at my house.) My older sister realized that we were upset and asked my dad for money and she planned out a day that I will always remember. First she made my older cousin take us to the beach and we rode the waves then she bought us ice cream on the boardwalk. Then when we came home she had bought us a dining table full of Chinese food (our favorite). After we were full off of food she brought out the ice cream cake. It was a really small one but it meant the world to us. That wasn’t even all! She used the money she was saving up to buy me a yoyo and a really big water gun and bought my cousin a doll and a purse. Then at night we had a movie night and watched all of our favorite cartoon movies. (Mulan, Anastasia, Little mermaid, and Lion King.) After that year it became a tradition. Every year on whoever’s birthday, we get together and do the same thing. And to this day my cousin and I still celebrate our birthdays on the same day.
I feel my absolute best on the tennis courts. That is the one place where I just feel like I have succeeded most. I went from the bottom of the team to top 10. It has also provided me with great memories and even better friends. Every time I walk on to the Oakcrest tennis courts I think about everything that has happened on those green and white squares. Like our little games that we play together. Or watching Trina fall because she was running from a bee, that’s always fun. (Seems to happen a lot) Or even how we break at the end of practice. I love how we get together and yell inspirational Yoda quotes. The team is not the only reason why I love the tennis courts. When I start playing I feel so relaxed, all my problems just disappear. I feel happy, calm and just great.
The most soothing sound for me is the sound of people talking and laughing. I know that’s weird but I just like knowing that everything around me is okay. Knowing that no one is arguing and the all is right with the people around me makes me calm. I don’t really have a color that I favor over other, I like colors. But I think lighter colors like baby blue and white are colors I prefer when I need calming. It makes me think of the sky and just makes me feel good. I think bright colors annoy me sometimes when I am stressed. They are just too bright.
I absolutely love night time. Knowing that the whole world is calmly sleeping around you and watching the still night sky is just so amazing. There is no noise and no irritating light, nothing but you and the quiet darkness. That’s probably why I don’t like sleeping at night. I don’t want to waste the night.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteConnie: I think that is such a great memory that you have from your childhood! I don’t think you’re lame at all for almost crying. Thinking about moments from just a great time in our lives makes us all a little sad.
ReplyDeleteKendall: Your blogs are always so sweet, but anyways I love that movie! I mean it was a little cheesy but Jimmy Fallon is the funniest guy known to man. Okay maybe not, but I am madly in love with him. I watch late night with Jimmy Fallon every night haha.
Dan: I used to play video games all of the time when I was younger, especially ones with stories. I felt like I was living the lives of the super heroes. I could escape from my world and instead save an imaginary one.
Dan- This isn't entirely directed at you because many people mentioned the same thing, but do you think "escaping" the pressures by playing video games or listening music is really a healthy alternative? These strategies are a great way to ignore the stress, but do they really solve anything? And aren't they really just a waste of time? I try to avoid video games and music as much as possible, just because I know there are "more productive" things to do. Just wondering how you and some others felt.
ReplyDeleteDominique: Your comment was funny beacuse last night I was going to comment about your pink obsession but I ran out of time! Anyways, I am not particularly fond of the color pink but a lot of people I know are. Pink seems like the color that you can't just like, you have to LOVE it! I also wanted to mention how much I hate the cold. You had said how where you go to escape has to be warm. I agree. If it's cold I can't seem to be comfortable or keep my concentration!
ReplyDeleteMimi: For some reason I felt surprised when you wrote that you like to cook. I don't know why. I know somewhere along the road we have talked about cooking and baking, but it stuck with me. I miss when my mother and I used to cook dinner together. There is something about a kitchen that makes people (at least us) feel at home.
I think ill go backwards with these questions. Just about the only I time I feel at ease is during the night time, specifically the wee hours of the night. I’m alone, there’s no noise, no one tries to talk to me, I can think, and I can get work done (yes homework, studying, reading, practicing, basically everything that I need to get done on any given day). The ideality of this time is the lack of distractions and the overwhelming solitude is what I think makes this so relaxing for me. I absolutely hate when people talk to me when I’m trying to do things and I’m almost always trying to do things.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think colors have as much effect on me as sounds do. But I find very neutral colors relaxing, nothing to bring. No neons obviously, and really bold colors are too loud for me too. But I mean depending on what other noises were around. If I were given two choices; 1 to do my homework in a neon pink room with absolute silence versus doing my homework in the middle of the hallway at Oakcrest between 3 and 4/5 Id most definitely go with the former because sounds imply curiosity. A neon pink room is just that, a neon pink room, but the creeking of the floor as someone walks by or the crunch of someone chewing in the kitchen, or the sound that a person makes when they recline into a couch. All these things stir questions in my mind: who is talking, who just walked by, what are they doing, whos eating in the kitchen, what are they eating, can I have some, jeez id like to stop doing my homework and recline in a couch like you are, don’t you have work to do, your room is awfully dirty you should clean it. And the thoughts just keep going.
But anyway. I like nature sounds: crickets are probably my favorite, next to birds, the breeze. I really like the sound of the ocean. Sometimes when I do my homework I listen to the Yoga Pandora station, it usually plays soothing sounds. I found that since the school has initiated this pilot program for cell phones, its somewhat relaxing to walk in the hallway and listen to the Yoga station.
Although I’ve sort of already said this, I’m most comfortable at night in my room. Like I said people don’t try to talk to me then and there, usually.
Im not really good with childhood memories, but I remember actually having a mental “happy place.” So ill describe that place. It was something like a savanna, there was a lot of that really tall toasted brown grass the kind that bends and flows with the wind. This grass when on for miles from what I can remember, it was only interrupted in one place where there was a tree. This was the only tree I could see, and I never went anywhere in this place except under this tree and in the small area around it that couldn’t have been more than eight or ten feet in diameter. The rest was surrounded with the grass. The temperature in this place was always warm, and not just warm, it was the warm feeling that you get after being in a cold place for a long time and you walk into somewhere heated and your simply overcome with warmth. Sometimes when I imagined it there was a rock that was just the perfect shape for sitting, it was like a cartoon come to life because the color was a flawless grey that wasn’t patchy and the rock was never cold. The sky was blanketed in the color blue that only comes around in the very beginning of the summer and the whole sky is imbued with a slightly darker shade of what I feel like Crayola would call “sky blue.” And the sun was always big, in a position like just after sunrise when the whole sun has been revealed.
But bringing myself there always comforted me.
For some reason, I find the sounds of the Oakcrest hallways rather ambient, and I don't really mind doing work in them. And that hot pink room? Sounds like a personal hell for me. But we all have our different perspectives, especially with what sights and sounds affect our mood. I do really like that you brought up that comparison though.
DeleteOlivia:
DeleteGoing backwards? Such a rebel. I think your happy place is very...different. When I think of Savanna, I think of Africa. And that often times makes me sad. But the way you described it, is beautiful, and I would love to visit sometime!
Similarly, I had a "happy place" when I was a kid. I still have a "happy place", it has just evolved as I grew older. In this place evrything seems perfect to a tee just as you described. It is a fanciful escape from society and the troubles of life. Having an active imagination is a great thing.
DeleteActually nyamekye i'm what they would call a "badd ass." :) but im sorry you cant visit. I never imagined anyone there any of the times that i saw it. so unfortunately that wont be an option... sorry.
DeleteI see that your "fat drama lard self" began to creep in when all those questions were coming to mind ;) Hahaha, I don't know how you like crickets though, they're the type f creature that I just feel as if you'd hate. Whenever I hear them at night the question comes to mind "Why won't they just shut up?" just as if they were cats fighting outside or something to that effect, but aaaaaahhhhhhhh well!
DeleteWhenever I have homework I REALLY don’t want to do, I do part of it, then reward myself with a break. Yesterday (Monday, in case you’re reading this on Wednesday) I sat down and just did the essay we had. It turned out pretty well too, but that isn’t the point. Afterward, I spent about two hours doing absolutely nothing, because I felt so accomplished. But I don’t think I played any video games. I just talked to friends and browsed the internet. The thing is I can’t play video games unless I’m not under pressure. I have to have done everything I needed to do before I can sit down and shoot up some aliens or make potions or learn how to land the stupid plane in the flight simulator. So I don’t necessarily go and play video games to escape pressure, but I play video games when I’m not under pressure. The only thing I can comfortably do when I’m under pressure is reduce the pressure. There’s really no place I can go where it isn’t nagging at me.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have to answer this question with some important event from before I was ten years old. That’s what my childhood is to me, considering I’m only sixteen. But I’m still in my childhood. You know why? Because New Jersey still thinks I’m not good enough (or old enough) to be anything other than a minor. Anyways, my best childhood memory would have to be a cruise I took with a friend the week before high school started. If I went into great detail about it we’d be here all day, so let me cover the basics. We left from Seattle to hop on a cruise ship to Alaska. Every day we did something different, whether it was whale watching or Yukon exploring or glacier sight-seeing. And it was great. I had more freedom than my parents ever allowed me, in a place 1000 miles (give or take) away from home, and I was with my best friend at the time.
It’s hard to forget about the pressures of life. I know you’re all dying to ask me, “What pressures Cole? You’re sixteen, living under a roof, with plenty of food and drink, and all the electronics and books you could ask for. What’s the problem?” Well, I’ll tell you what the problem is! I’m making a big deal about everything for no good reason. I’m pretty sure if I don’t get into my dream college I’ll still get a nice job with good pay. Or maybe not? I really don’t know. But that’s the future. Now is now, when I only have to worry about school, and I know that the pace I’m going at is satisfactory. I could put more effort into it, but I like where I am right now. And it’s at those moments, where I realize I really shouldn’t be worrying, where I like my position in life, when none of these pressures REALLY matter, that I’m happiest.
The most soothing sound I can imagine is a permanent marker scratching across the surface of a notepad.
Everyone and their mother knows that colors can be related to certain emotions. Red makes you angry. Blue makes you calm. Green makes you money. And so on and so forth. But I’m thinking in shades. Specifically, weather shades. If it’s light out, I’m not nearly as happy as when it’s cloudy. And the dark trumps all. Winter is awesome because it’s just dark all the goddamned time. I’ll be significantly cheerier while the sun is obscured.
After school I have to walk about 10 minutes or so from the bus stop to my house. This sucks sometimes, because all I want to do is sit down and relax. So it makes the feeling all the better when I actually open the front door and let the comfort of home embrace me. And when I get home, I do absolutely nothing. I procrastinate to my heart’s content, without a care in the world. I just got done with school, so I can take a break with no regrets. Of course, this no-regrets phase can leak into the latter part of my day, where I actually need to get work done. But that’s not the point. The point is, as soon as I get home I’m care free, and feel fantastic, because I still have more than 12 hours until I have to go to school again. Of course, this feeling is only better on Fridays.
Cole:
DeleteI have to disagree with you. I hate the sound of markers on paper. It's almost as excruciating as cardboard and styrofoam rubbing together!
Cole: I think we make up a small group of people that love cold weather. The time when it's dark and silent. I know what you mean about the feeling of getting home at the end of the day. It's a time where you can just let go and unravel. Relax.
DeleteSilly Cole, money isn't an emotion! So uhh...why the soothing sound of a marker against a Notepad? I just thought that was interesting. I can completely agree with that whole last paragraph! It's just amazing, I don't care how much work there is to do later and the pressure you're under, but it is just amazing to come home and take a mental break. So I get you there.
DeleteTo escape from the pressures of life, I go to New York City. The specific place where I feel most at ease is Central Park between 57th and 59th street. I take a seat down on the bench, take out my iPod or call up my cousin to chat. It’s probably the most relaxing place ever. I bask in the sun, watch people from all around the world walk by me, and observe artists draw portraits of people. This is where I am fully at peace with myself. There’s not a worry on my mind. The last time I was able to do this was during spring break. A break is a break. We need that time to replenish our mind, body, and soul. I don’t want to worry about homework, tests, etc. during that time. I know I’m unable to go to New York as much as I want, but I achieve my purpose every single time I visit.
ReplyDeleteChildhood memories are some of the best. Life was carefree and easy. From second grade to sixth grade, I would stay with my grandparents at their apartment for the whole summer. My grandma, grandpa, and I always took a walk outside after dinner. We would walk a couple laps around the neighborhood and I would chase the beautiful fireflies. My grandparents would talk to me about everything life has to offer. My grandparents have played a pivotal part in shaping who I am today. They’ve given me confidence, motivation, and hope as a child. I’m forever grateful and blessed that I was raised by people that cared about me in a healthy environment. So I want to say that I’m glad I had a true childhood. Some children aren’t as lucky.
I feel my absolute best when I accomplish something that I’m passionate about. It’s certain things that I’ve put all of my effort into and I’m proud of the result. There’s nothing more rewarding then that.
I enjoy the various sounds of nature. Birds chirping in the morning and the sound of crickets through the crack of my window put me in a calmer mood. Furthermore, I do enjoy the sound of many people’s voices in harmony. When everyone is having a good time and enjoying themselves in a crowded room or at a local park, this makes me happy.
Colors do play a part in affecting my mood. I’m a fan of light colors, whether it’s lavender, sky blue, or light green. Green is probably the color I enjoy the most though. It’s the color of nature and something about it is very relaxing and inviting. I’m not a fan of the color red at all. Especially dark, blood red creeps me out. I know red is usually associated with love, but I prefer pink and purple.
I feel most at ease during nighttime. Usually from dusk to whenever I go to sleep. Summertime nights couldn’t be more soothing. When the whether gets warmer, my dad and I take usually take a walk around my neighborhood after dinner around 9 or 10. I enjoy this quality time. We talk about family, future plans, and other things that happen to us throughout the day. At night, I forget about all of the pressures of the day and hope for a better day tomorrow.
Am I the only one that doesn't like crickets? But after reading your childhood part, I wish I talked about fireflies, because they are the most fascinating part of my childhood...heck, I still find them fascinating. And thanks a lot for not liking red Amanda! You know you still like gingers though!!!!!
DeleteI have a love affair with snow. There is absolutely nothing in this world that has ever made me happier than the sight, the smell, the feeling of snow. Sometimes in the winter I sneak out of my house at two or three or four in the morning, while the snow is still falling, and while it’s still fresh on the ground—before anyone can muddle it or shovel it or kick at it angrily while tossing down some salt. I’m not sure what it is about those moments that fulfills me so deeply. Maybe it’s the time of day. I love being awake at that time of night when it seems that everyone else in the world is sleeping. Or maybe it’s the way the streetlights cast their dim orange glow upon the brilliant white universe around me. All I know is that when I’m out there, with the snowflakes landing on my nose, and the fluffy white blankets somehow keeping me warm, there’s no place I’d rather be.
ReplyDeleteIn most of my happy places, I’m alone. But there is one vital exception: tennis. When I’m playing tennis it doesn’t matter who my audience is or who my opponent is. I’ll never be as comfortable and as mentally empowered as I am when I’m on the court, even at my worst. Because in that dimension, no one else exists. It’s just me and the ball, doing our crazy dance. Even when I miss a step or lose track of the tempo, I have the power to start fresh with each new point, the chance to immediately and constantly improve. Tennis is a game of growth. After every match—win or lose—there is instantaneous growth, and that progression is one of the deepest sources of happiness in my life.
I seem to be struck by an awful case of childhood amnesia at the moment, so rather than describing the happiest moment of my earlier years, I’ll try to illustrate, as best I can, the single happiest moment of my life, which coincidentally, happened not too long ago. It was this past Thanksgiving. I, with my parents and two older brothers, was visiting my sister and her husband in Texas. Eating Thanksgiving dinner with my family wasn’t the happy part. It was when we all decided to drive to the beach afterwards. More specifically, it was when, upon pulling up to the shore, I leapt immediately from the car and sprinted into the distance along the shoreline. My parents shouted something at me. I wasn’t listening. With the warm breezy air kissing my skin, I kept running. It must have been a mile or two before my legs finally surrendered to the aching, and I slowed to a walk. Maybe it was the way the clear black sky seemed to reveal every star in the universe, or maybe it was the way I had finally escaped my overbearing, suffocating, overanxious family, or maybe it was just the endorphins. But at that moment, with my lungs fighting not to collapse in my chest, everything seemed so perfect. Of course it wasn’t. Back at home, I was losing touch with my closest friends, my parents were closing in on me, and was dealing with horrifying, unfamiliar dramas in every facet of my life. I met self-doubt at every turn. But it didn’t matter. Because through it all, I experienced the happiest realization of my life: there is a light within me that will never extinguish. As long as I have an independent mind and a beating heart, I’m set for life. I won’t need to rely on anything or anyone to make me happy, because true happiness comes from within.
And so, with seventeen years of thought behind this definition, I’ve finally come to understand what happiness is. Or rather, what it is to me. Happiness is movement. It’s not the act of moving; just the freedom to move, the reassuring knowledge that, if you ever need to, you can just get up and run. Happiness is solitude. Not constant, emotional, total solitude. But occasional physical solitude. It’s having a place to be alone for a while, at least until freeing the cluttered mind. And happiness is acceptance. It’s accepting that the hideous mass of drama and stress and turmoil that surrounds you is life. And that’s just the way it is. So why not learn to be happy about it?
Ted: I totally forgot about the sound of laughter! But I agree with you wholeheartedly. Nothing lightens up the tension in a room better than a laugh. Your description was great.
ReplyDeleteConnie: Your childhood memory was heartwarming. You’re not lame at all because I’ll admit, I started crying when I wrote my memory as well. I wish we could all experience those memories again, but I’m sure we’ll have great ones in the future.
Kendall: I’ve never seen that movie and I need to get on that. Jimmy Fallon is awesome. Your movie response to the question was an interesting read. I agree movies are a great escape from reality and they can certainly be inspirational.
My happy place is anywhere on my longboard. I love just taking my longboard out and riding. I don’t need music and I don’t need a friend to ride with (even though I would prefer having one). All I really need is my board and a street to ride. In the short amount of time I’ve owned my board (I call her Ariana) I’ve found that it is really relaxing and fun to ride. I love the feeling of growing speed as I go down a hill, and I love the feeling of wind brushing past my face and combing through my hair. I love just leaning back, and letting the board do all the work. I love the slight leans you do to turn, and I love how smooth it feels when you push and become one with the wheels almost. However, I obviously have to have a backup for rainy days. This backup is my bed. I love my bed because of the warmth and safety. My bed is the only thing I own that no one else uses. It’s mine, and no one else’s, and I love that.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite childhood memory was tough to think about, and I found that it wasn’t a memory at all, but more of a time period. Every summer until I was about 5 or 6, my mom worked at a deli in Avalon, New Jersey. So every morning, instead of sending me to day care, she would take me down the shore and sit my on my grandmoms shore house sofa. I would watch TV until my grandmom woke up, and we would make breakfast together. After breakfast, we would go down to the beach so she could lay in the sun while I dug holes or played in the ocean. It’s a shame I spend less than half of that amount of time at the shore now.
I think I feel my absolute best when I’m about to fall asleep. You know that feeling you have of pure bliss in between sleep and consciousness? That feeling of drifting off, feeling your eyes get heavy, thoughts turn to a blur, and a smile on your face? That’s when I feel my best. I feel like for a very short amount of time, all stress just fades away, and I’m free for any thoughts I want. I don’t have to worry about school or work or girls or student council or sports. All I have to worry about is that amazing feeling before I drift into a well-deserved sleep.
Well, the most soothing sound I can think of kind of goes against everything else I’ve said. On one hand, I love the sound of the ocean. The waves crashing against the shore. It sounds like peace (if that’s possible). On the other hand, though, I really feel comfortable and soothed when I listen to a song with the heaviest bass as loud as possible. There’s just something about playing hip hop so loud it knocks things off the walls that soothes me. Everyone else complains about how it’s shaking your insides and how it’s not music it’s just noise. However, I feel that the feeling of the bass shaking you, and you almost bouncing, is you becoming one with the music. I feel that that is the exact feeling of letting the music be a part of you. If you accept it with open arms, you’ll love it. If you reject it, you’ll be a complainer. Oh and I love a snare drum. Just saying.
There are 3 colors that give me feeling:
ReplyDeleteSky Blue - Peace. Sky blue makes me feel relaxed, and happy. I feel less stressed and I feel like I’m welcomed.
Red - Anger. I think this anger is brought on because when I see red, I think about my phone dying, or my computer dying. Or closing something like you do on the computer. I feel like red represents rejection, and I really don’t like the feeling of rejection.
Purple - Happy/Goofy. The color purple just makes me feel really relaxed, like a slow song with nice rhythm. It makes me feel like my eyes are slightly closed, and my thoughts are empty, and I can just chill.
Finally, during the day, I feel most comfortable in the shower in the morning. It’s like I’m finally waking up, and the water is bouncing off my skin, warming me up. I feel like I’m coming back to life when I get in the shower in the morning. I could stand in the shower for hours if I had the time. I hate baths, though. I feel grimy in baths, I feel like showers always bring fresh water, and the beating on my skin is like a little massage.
When the stress of dealing with certain people—my mom is absurdly bitchy today, she snapped at my Dad for wanting to donate a children’s book earlier, and she wouldn’t even accept my excuse of menopause—I usually play piano. It lets my mind relax as I focus on tempo, or maybe sometimes I think as my fingers move along with muscle memory. I can play as loudly as I want to when I when I’m infuriated, or as softly and painfully as I want when I’m crying. This usually works if I want to communicate some sort of mood to my parents. When sad I’ll play “The Scientist” “Stairway to Heaven” “Sound of Silence” “Desperado” and “Fake Plastic Trees”—I especially love the ending lines in this last one:
ReplyDelete“It wears me out, it wears me out, it wears me out, it wears me out
If I could be, who you wanted,
Yeah if I could be, who you wanted
All the time, all the time…”
I play these particularly slow when I’m depressed. If I’m two miles beyond pissed I’ll play “Paint it Black” because though it is technically a sad song, it makes for a good key pounder. I may also play any of the previous songs, “Moonlight Sonata,” or something. I don’t specialize in angry piano songs, but you’d be amazed at how the happiest of all major songs could become violent in fortissimo with some minor shifts in tempo.
Part of the reason I sleep so much on the weekends, besides the obvious lack of sleep during the week, is just I love the escape of sleep. Some people call it wasting the day away, but it’s as relaxing as can be. After 10 hours of sleep or so, you can practically control what you dream about each time you roll over. Each half hour increment of dreaming is a new adventure, only to be interrupted by lunchtime. During the week sometimes I’ll go outside in my stream, though I must say the thought of ticks are wearing on me a bit, and my feet (and recently my hands) don’t feel as impervious to holly leaves as they used to. Also, apparently there are a pack of coyotes in my neighborhood. Ahrooooo. But hey, it’s never stopped me before.
I adored the two trips I took to Kentucky where my uncle Fudgie lives. He’s the epitome of Tom Sawyer grown up. The plane ride to Tennessee was bearable as I read Jurassic Park II. The two hour car ride up to Kentucky was lengthy in the dark with my Dad’s siblings idly chatting. I can remember the repulsive spell of the house when I first walked in. It was so altogether overwhelming that I refused to eat dinner (it was probably the smell of a farm animal they home-cooked straight off the farm) and walked to the adjoining room to cry in silence. But their beagle Lucy was friendly, and Hoppy is my all time favorite dog. He’s ridiculously loyal and would follow you around all day. He likes boat rides or sitting next to you when you’re fishing. His tongue is speckled with maroon splotches across a standard pink dog tongue. He just showed up one day, a vagrant dog. They think he’s a mix between a coyote and a domesticated dog. How could I hate coyotes with him around? The smell of my uncle’s cigarettes never bothered me. It somehow accented the rugged Kentucky air. The walks across their some 500 acres were a refreshing change from the constant New Jersey Pine Barrens. The sight of Illinois across the river, the walk down the Trail of Tears, they were worth the tick bites.
ReplyDeleteBest is a tough word to really run with here. I’m probably happiest in the giddy and giggly sense when I’m hanging out with friends, but happiness isn’t necessarily best. A Spring day, sunny, sixty degree weather, by the stream after completing some feat—whether it be a tough test or an afternoon run—that’s probably when I feel my best.
The most soothing sound is somewhere between the sound of frogs in the Spring and Summer and the first movement of Moonlight Sonata. Movement two is happy sounding and movement three is like, ten thousand inversions played at the fastest speed possible. I’m fairly sure nobody knows Moonlight Sonata for those movements anyway.
Colors, I love colors so much. Whenever I’m particularly stuck during a paper, I’ll change the background color from whatever I had already set it as. Immediately it will alter my mood and get me typing again. Blue is probably the most soothing color, but I have a thing for green. Green is life. The green of the Earth is all plant life, and the vivid nature of it makes me feel at home.
I feel relaxed after Chemistry is over. Spanish IV is when I struggle to stay awake during the first period I-just-woke-up woes and the shoot-me-now-this-is-so-easy-and-boring tribulations. Lang is, you know, Lang. Not exactly your stress-free class, not that I dislike it. Plus it’s second period and that’s just not a class you can get into. Chemistry as a subject I like, but the class itself is so serious I’m never at ease. But study hall, if I have it, that’s when I can relax. The conversations are always entertaining. Calc afterwards I’ve committed myself to not paying attention, so the notes passed are always entertaining. Then it’s lunch, gym, Cervi’s, then music comp. By 12:00 p.m. I’m just generally feeling good. And once I’m home and I have some 7 hours or so before I retire somewhere between 11:30 and 12:00, that’s a pretty great time.
Dan: I love all three of your relaxing options. And I remember all of our conversations about how it’s important to stay young, or at least enjoy it. Your story reminded me of when I accidentally broke Nicole’s pinky. I’m not sure that’s going to be as funny if it happens again when I’m older. I mean, how many adults are going to try to jump over somebody’s leg while running down a bus? And I love the sound of fans and rain at night! Sometimes even if it’s chilly, I’ll turn the fan on a low setting. But nothing beats the rain, although I love the sound of peeper frogs in Spring.
ReplyDeleteDominique: That story with your mom is so utterly adorable. I actually felt like I was going to cry, but then again my emotions are screwy right now. Jeez, both of your stories are adorable. I can remember watching sports with my Dad, and he was the one who got me into baseball. But it was more inadvertent than like your Dad. I think I more vowed not to be a girly-girl. The book thing I understand, but I find it more dreadful when I can’t let a character go. And when I close the book, I just feel alone and depressed.
Ted: I wish I had the attention span to stay in a fantasy world for any extended period of time. I’m curious as to whether or not this world you have could be translated to a book or if it’s more personal. And knocking things down is lovely. I’ve seen something where somebody gets an old useless car and people pay like, 50 bucks to all get a bat and smash it to pieces. It’s not exactly knocking things down, but it sounds awesome.
Cole:I definitely know the feeling of laziness that comes with accomplishment. I've done nearly nothing tonight since I finished typing up my essay. Also, I think you'd be a perfect fit for northern Alaska, where the sun is almost nonexistent for like half the year (or something like that). Plus, it's super cold there.
ReplyDeleteDan:I can totally relate to the feeling of getting kicked out of places for skating/BMX'ing. I love that adrenalin rush of running away, even if you aren't really running away from anything.
George: I'd like to take an opportunity to talk about steel drums. They're awesome. Opportunity taken. Anyway, reggae music makes me feel summery. Every time I'm driving around with my mom, we listen to Marley and the Wailers. Always a beachy, summery, awesomey feeling.
THIS IS PATRICK'S BLOG
ReplyDeletePATRICK DURR
OHHH yes I was in need of this blog, I'm definitely stressing as the days get closer and closer to death week. Ok, *breathes in air* let me meditate, oooooooooooooooommmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!
Ok , *blows air out* now where was I??? Oh about to answer some questions. Ok well my happy place, isn't really a place its more like an ideal, a time period, its the delightful place that we all learn from and base our future decisions on; the past. Whenever I think of the past, (specifically my past) it's like a calming shower washes over me because I'm thinking about the happiest moments of my life, which is weird for me because I always use to say that my childhood failed in comparison to other peoples. Yet by looking back on things in my past I found this feeling to be completely untrue. Now as I get older I appreciate the experiences of my past even more and that appreciation often turns into me feeling happy and relaxed about things all over again. I often find myself thinking of the past when I need a pick me up from my foul mood, saying to myself “remember the time when...(insert random moment here)” which often brings me back on my feet. I know people say that “its best to move forward and not think of the past” but by not contemplating the past and just focusing on the future, it makes you lose parts of yourself because we are all defined by our past (there no getting away from that no matter how much we try), so its good every once in a while just to reflect back (you might even fine that the past is the best tool to help you prepare for the future, in fact it is the best tool).
Now because my happy place is the past, I often reflect back to the best moments of my childhood and I have so many calming memories that I would like to share with you all but I'll just try to pick one and detail it to the best of my ability.
THIS IS *MORE* OF PATRICK'S BLOG
ReplyDeletePATRICK DURR!!
When I was little (around 5 or 6), I remember my mom waking me up from my early morning slumber every other Saturday to pay a visit to the laundry mat (you know the one near the McDonalds and CVS and where cousin Mario’s use to be). I would drowsily get washed, brush my teeth, and hop in the car around 9:30 AM so that we could make it there in time before crowds of people started to file into this cramped little laundry mat. Immediately, when we got there I would help unload a megaton of clothes from the car and place them on the table closest to the door because I didn’t feel like dragging the heavy clothes any farther. Usually, as we were bringing clothes in I would pester my grandmother to let me go use the change machine to make quarters so that we could use them for the laundry and so that I could get those little detergent boxes out of the machine. After my job was done getting the quarters and detergent I would usually retire to playing around in the laundry carts, wheeling myself around until eventually I got bored and another kid arrived. During my childhood I wasn't as shy as I would eventually turn out (because you know as a kid you'll play with anyone) so it was easy to make friends with the other kids that would come by. If someone was there to play we'd make a game with the carts or we would go outside on the hill between the car wash and the laundry mat creating games, rolling down the hills and climbing trees ( I was really an adventurous little kid). Time would always fly by so fast as I was having the best time of my life with the kids who I would only know for approximately 2hrs( because we were always done around 11:30) and then I always had to say goodbye to the friend I had just made. After that I was able to go to the Mcdonalds right across from the laundry mat(the days I use to eat McDonalds food) and I would always order the Mcgriddle if the breakfast program was still going (the only perk of finishing laundry at 11:30).and then return home ready and waiting for the next Saturday laundry mat trip to come. This may sound like the most boring memory and you were expecting something more exciting however, you'd be surprised that it is the simple memories that are the best.
When I think of a soothing sound to go along with this best memory it would have to be the sound of laughter just because soothing about laughter is contagious, it livens up the mood and creates a sense of exuberance. Furthermore, I pick laughter because whenever I reflect on my favorite memories laughter is somehow involved in the experiences. In addition, I just music as a soothing factor for me however, the sound of laughter and music are kind of on a equal footing as to their soothing qualities. Speaking of soothing, I generally associate the color blue as the color that will generally affect my mood. If blue is present in anything usually i'm in a very upbeat energetic mood ready to have fun. Suppose this is why a good majority of my clothes are blue because subconsciously I'm thinking about this. However then I wonder what the color black does to my mood because a good majority of my clothes are black, in fact a good majority of my clothes are of dull color as I am told but for the most part I seem to be a happy person which kind of contrasts the stereotype associated with dull colors. Huhhh??? I guess I'm just weird.
My favorite time during the day is nighttime during the school year because that’s the time now usually when I just sneak out into my car, turn on the radio and listen to music for a little while before heading in and going to sleep or just stare into the black silence and just relax for a while after a long day. During the summer the afternoons are the best because that’s the best time to just go hang out with someone, its not to early and yet its not to late, so you've had sometime time to rest and are ready to add some excitement into the summer day.
PATRICK'S COMMENTS!!!
ReplyDeleteHira: Well we definitely are different, but yet somehow the same, as you look to your future self to seek comfort and ease stress I seek the past. Yet we both seek periods of time that are way out of our reach. We find comfort in what could be and what use to be, which is a common trait that those who feel stressed turn to wishing that it was the future already so that we don't have to deal with the stress or wishing it was the past when the stress wasn't present.
Dan: Dan do you really have this machine you speak of?!? That’s so cool, I always wanted a machine like that so that I could fall asleep to the ocean waves or something because I've heard its a very relaxing experience and makes you have good dreams but I’ve never had the chance. Plus I kinda need to fall asleep to noise, its just the way I operate so I was thinking instead of falling asleep to the TV as I always do I can use this machine instead and probably waste lest electricity. Ugh but I guess for now I'm just gonna keep failing asleep to the T.V and have a bunch of weird dreams.
Janel: Well I'm not going to say that I don't like the sounds of nature because I definitely do but I guess there are certain sounds of nature that I can't stand. In fact one of my facebook statuses awhile back detailed why I didn't like the sound of nature. I posted something like “I know why I don't like being a transcendentalist because the constant bug/cricket “errrrrrrrrr” sound is annoying” . I think I told you the story of how I went in the back of my house into this swamp area just to get some air and peace of mind but that sound was so penetrating it just annoyed me. I am much rather soothed by the sound of ocean ways or failing rain then bug sounds and farm animals. I guess I'm not truly a mountain man. P.S I wish I went on that trip.
When I need to relax, I go outside. It’s nice when no one else is around and I can just ride my bike around my backyard over the dirt, grass, and brick. I like the feeling of the wind and the quiet ticking of my bike spokes. My thoughts flow freely and I just can’t help feeling so.. relaxed.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, my best childhood memory was my love for Pokemon. When I was little, Pokemon was my life pretty much. My brother and I watched the TV show constantly and we’d pretend to be Pokemon trainers as we played with our large collection of Pokemon merchandise. I played Pokemon Blue, while he had Yellow version. I still love Pokemon now, even while many other childhood fans of the franchise criticize it now. When I play Pokemon, I still feel that joy that I felt as a child. I’m glad there’s people like me out there still. Today, Amber was playing Pokemon in school (thanks to the new electronics policy) when she burst out loud, “My Caterpie is evolving!” Both Schuyler and I let out a simultaneous “WOAHH” as we quickly turned to look at her Nintendo DS. I feel like when people talk to me about Pokemon, they touch my heart somehow. Recently, I had a long conversation with one of my distant friends about old Pokemon episodes and we discussed those that we remembered made us sad as kids. We’ve definitely become better friends since.
I feel the best when I have awesome conversations with my friends. This can happen anywhere, but the best of conversations usually take place when I’m over someone’s house. Being in one of those really good conversations is just so incredibly amazing to me. They make me feel so strangely content.
The most soothing sound to me is a lack of sound. But I guess that doesn’t really count, so I’ll go with the next best thing. I like the (usually) quiet swooshing of cars along the Black Horse Pike behind my house. I can only hear it from my room when there’s silence around me. The peaceful swooshing reminds me of the ocean, but it’s free of the sounds of annoying humans that always crowd the beach.
I like colors. Sometimes I say my favorite color is green, sometimes it’s red, magenta, yellow, or black. Colors, especially bright ones, make me happy. However, the one color that bothers me constantly is purple. Some shades of purple are fine, like pastel purple. But usually, the color purple brings me negative feelings. I don’t know why. The color annoys and sometimes angers me. My calculus textbook also happens to be purple, and that just makes studying calculus so much more frustrating.
I feel the most at ease at midnight. By then, all my homework is done (hopefully) and I can finally start thinking about that wonderful thing called sleep. Although I rarely get to have the recommended 8 to 9 hours of sleep, at midnight I am rest assured (oh how punny) that I have about six hours to do nothing but sleep.
Ted: Your second paragraph made me feel very nostalgic. I really miss being so simple, happy, and imaginative all the time. Growing up sucks!
Matt: Your post was very picturesque. Also, I like how passionate you are in BMXing. It’s just cool to me how you find so much joy in it.
Dan: I wrote about being at my friends’ house as well. I often feel like my friends are closer to family than my actual family. And having fun is almost a requirement when I’m over a friend’s house!
Hira:
ReplyDeleteThe way you described the Oakcrest tennis courts gave me butterflies. It’s true: so much has happened there. Soon to be four years of hard work, laughter, success, failure, friendship, and just pure bliss. It’s honestly one of my favorite places in the world, and when I’m there, even on those 105 degree days in late July, there’s nowhere I’d rather be. You know I’m not a very sentimental person, but when it comes to leaving the Oak, the tennis courts are one aspect of this school that I’ll definitely miss.
Nyame:
I know what you mean about cooking and baking. It’s so comforting to know that there’s at least one thing in the world you can control. You get exactly what you put in, only more delicious! Don’t even get me started on sci-fi. Isn’t it such a relief to think that there are other worlds, other dimensions, other realities, where life is just…different? It’s such a stimulating idea.
Emily:
I, too, love a good conversation. There’s just something so satisfying about walking away from an enjoyable human interaction. It makes a person feel connected, and that’s important. The anticipation of sleep is also one of the greatest feelings in existence. It’s so satisfying, so pleasing, and exactly how I’ll be feeling at the end of this sentence when my homework is officially finished. :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOkay I don’t have much time, so I’m going to go straight to the point.
ReplyDeleteSome people lock themselves in their rooms, some people pick up a book, some people simply close their eyes to escape; I go play tennis. Tennis, for me is more than a hobby or a sport—it is my escape, my drug that helps me leave the world. When playing tennis, nothing else matters, nothing but the ball, the racquet, and my opponent. I love to play and the people I play with. I love the blistering sun in the summer, the cool, uplifting breeze of the fall, the whipping wind in the winter, and the brilliant, warm spring afternoons that I practice in all year. I love everything about it, and doing it allows me to escape the world.
My childhood wasn’t very exciting, in all honesty. It also seems like every time I try to think of a good memory, all I can bring back are the bad ones, but I also believe that I had a pretty good childhood. My brain is obviously hiding something from me, so I will just think of a good memory from my past: meeting one of my best friends, MaryKate. From the get-go we were pretty good friends and we shared all of the same classes and I was one of the few people she talked to. She was always quiet, I was always obnoxious; we were pretty much polar opposites. I sat at her lunch table, acting retarded as usual, having a good time, never worrying about anything. I know this is pretty general, but I honestly cannot think of any one specific time that was great. Sorry.
I've never had to post two blog parts before...
I have never been a morning person, especially when I get less than four hours of sleep. However, I can’t stay up late without passing out (which is difficult when you get home at 9 very frequently like me). That rare day when I get a decent night sleep, around the middle of the day, becomes the best time of the day, high energy, fully aware, maximum enjoyment of being alive. Of course, placement is everything in many things that I am involved in (tennis, chess, drama, video games… pretty much everything). The location where I feel my best is surprisingly at the Oak. I feel my best because I am comfortable there and with the people around me, and the amount of time I spend there per year is tremendous, so I guess it isn’t really a surprise at all.
ReplyDeleteWell right now my dad is snoring right next to me because he had a long day, but that isn’t very soothing. Tennis, as I said before, is my escape and I can forget about everything and stuff. One of the things that I didn’t specify that I love about tennis is that loud pop when a person hits the ball just right and sends it with perfect pace and precision. I could record that, put it on my computer, put it on iTunes, sync it to my iPod, and play it forever on my little radio. I would probably sleep better if I did. I think I may love tennis too much… or not enough. Either way, I find the pop of a tennis ball to be one of the greatest sounds on earth.
Personally, I find red to be distracting. Red is an attention-grabber that I can’t ignore, but that’s not why I wear it all the time (I wear it because it goes well with my skin tone, but that’s a whole other story). Red is the color of passion, fire, emotion, energy, strength, and I find it awesome. My zodiac symbol is Aries, the astrological symbol of fire, which is associated with red colors. Okay, that didn’t really have much to do with this, but now you know I’m an Aries! Oh! Back to the topic. Red makes me feel good, brave, empowered, hyped, which is why I usually wear it on days that I am sluggish or slow. Out of all the colors, red is usually the one that evokes some kind of mental reaction, especially in the subconscious. I read about it somewhere.
I think just by reading the previous paragraphs you can probably write this paragraph for me and be mostly accurate. Tennis (no surprise there), happens on weekdays on the mid-late afternoons and on mornings on weekends. These times of day give me the most ease from my burdens because… well… I like tennis. If you don’t know that by now then you need to re-read the rest of my blog or I need to stop writing forever. To keep from repeating myself, I will elaborate on another part of tennis: the social benefits. I think 90% of the tennis team is in, or has participated in, Advanced Placement classes and/or participated in an activity that I have done. My friends overlap when tennis is involved. Tennis is where many of my friends were made, and I have created a great bond with the whole team (sadly, half of the team will leave this summer and I will have to lead the rest on my own next year). These people, whether they be little freshmen trying something new, or suave seniors coming back for the fourth year, I have bonded with them all, and because of this bond, I have developed a family amongst them, and, being among family, I am eased.
My pressure valve when things mount up is to take practice swings off of my batting tee, weather permitting. (No wonder I don't like winter.) I like it because it provides me with a couple mental options: if I want to take out frustrations on the ball, I can. If I want to distract myself by focusing on my mechanics, I can. If I want to swing freely and let my mind wander and search out new solutions to my problems, I can. When winter rolls around, this becomes impossible and I have to find other ways to escape, usually through music. Dancing ridiculously to some Beck or LCD Soundsystem has a sufficient cheering effect.
ReplyDeleteBest childhood memory? Has to be my last day in Cooperstown, when we played five baseball games in one day, starting at 9 and ending at midnight. I've never been so exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Even though we eventually lost to a team that pulled players from the entirety of Chicago, the feeling of general contentment was hard to shake. After a close victory in the second-to-last game against a team that was higher ranked than us, the insurmountable odds of the Chicago team certainly seemed more possible. After our ace surrendered a home run to a girl though, we sort of lost hope. (Yeah, there was a girl on their team, I don't know how they worked that out with the bunking situation.) The whole week was an idyllic one, centered totally on baseball; we watched games, played games, talked about games, it was basically the best thing ever. I loved every minute of it, even the last.
I feel my absolute best right before I go to sleep every day, in the moment my head sinks into the pillow fully knowing that I can finally retire into the bliss of unconsciousness. This is probably just an answer based on how the fact that my life is at a point right now where, even if I get lots of sleep, it still doesn't feel like enough in the morning. Oh well, woe is me. I guess it just makes my final retreat into that pillowy embrace so much more satisfying.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this question seems weird to me. Silence I guess? Maybe not total silence, more like the silence that is accompanied my a light breeze, or an occasional car driving by. Oh wait, these are the sound I fall asleep to, I really must need sleep. On another hand, any good music will also help me relax or distract me, but that also requires me to get into a discussion of what music is “good” by my standards, and I have enough opinions on that subject that I feel like I could not do them justice here.
Okay, this is something I've thought about even less than the sound question. I don't feel like colors affect my mood, and maybe that's a cop-out answer but it's true. If I had to say something substantive about colors, I guess I get a certain jolt around Royal Blue, since I associate it with getting to play more baseball. My room has sky blue walls and a dark blue ceiling, it's supposed to look like day and night, but I have no idea whether that's relaxing or not because the time I spend in there is mostly when I'm tired and want to sleep and I suspect that tiredness may cause some bias in perception of relaxation.
ReplyDeleteComfort comes a few times a day, waking up and stealing a few extra minutes of sleep, the shower after baseball practice, and the peaceful moments before drifting off to whatever common metaphor I use to describe sleep (I refuse to pick a metaphor). The extra minutes of sleep in the morning have a sort of defiant splendor to them, they ignore what I need to do before school and allow me to take a short period for just me, before sinking into the throes of my spectacularly long school day. The shower after baseball practice ends that school day, and if I could take a minute to whine, later than any other sport ends their practices. Our coach has no concept of time, so 5:30 end times migrated back to 6;00 end times and 6:00 end times soon became 6:20 end times. Hitting the shower when I get home not only gets the dirt off and the aches out, but signals to my body that it can relax itself physically. The moments before sleep are occupied by the satisfaction of knowing my work is completed and I am ready to face the next day, after my short surrender to the workings of my subconscious.
Cole- I'm sorry, but I hate the sound of markers. They give me chills and I have to clench my teeth when I write with them, no idea why, but they do. Dry erase boards are another matter, however. I think opening your front door is subconsciously symbolic to you the same way my after-baseball shower is to me, it represents the transition from school to home, from rigid scheduling to relative freedom. It's the mental transition that allows your mind and body to finally relax, regardless of the work you may have or the stress you felt before or afterward.
Emily- Pokemon Red version was the first thing I ever bought for myself, I made the money running a lemonade stand and I can still remember to this day the thrill of opening the little plastic case to access the world inside. I remember tons of details about that game, I picked Bulbasaur, and since I had little idea what was going on it became the only Pokemon I had that I leveled up. I have really fond memories of that game that I'm sort of re-digesting now, and they taste pretty good the second time. Thanks for the nostalgia.
Kendall- Fallon is the man, just saying. Have you ever heard some of his musical impressions? They're incredible. I'm surprised a little by the fact that math relaxes you, because it never relaxes me, except when it's going smoothly. Even when I'm successful, it's usually because I'm frustrated by the simplicity of the work, and when I'm not successful I'm angrily hounding out my silly mistakes. I'd be interested to know what about it relaxes you, because I've never felt that way about it myself.
James: I'm glad that I'm not alone with the my-sport-relaxes-me thing. It would be sad if nobody else liked to do their sport enough to be relaxed by it.
ReplyDeleteEmily: I love going outside and just closing my eyes and letting the wind flow around me while I take a deep breath. Sadly, this happens not-very-often so I savor it when I do.
Hira: Seriously, tennis has been the best decision I have ever made in my life. A lot of my friends have been made at tennis, and tennis is so much fun!
Rachel: You're such a passionate writer. It's kind of inspiring. But you're not obnoxiously passionate. It's more nostalgic than anything, if that makes sense. But snow sucks.
ReplyDeleteConnie: I think you're the complete opposite of lame! Your description of your vacation and wading and splashing and dancing with your brother was lovely and made me smile to myself because that seems exactly like the type of memory I'd want to remember, too.
Kendall: I LOVE THAT MOVIE! Just saying. :P but I agree with movies being an escape. They're easily accessible and provide you with a sense of comfort and (in this case) comic relief. :3
It isn’t often that I’m relaxed (at least not recently). I’m always stressing about something – ranging from school stuff to family stuff to friend stuff to crew stuff. The last time I remember being able to close my eyes and drift off into sleep out of pure tranquility rather than exhaustion was my biennial trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Over the summer, my family and I drove up north in early August to the Seawall Motel, this homey little mom-and-pop place we stay at whenever we go to Maine, just outside of Bar Harbor on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of Acadia National Park. I can’t tell you what it is about this place; I’ve been there too many times to count and it’s not as if the nature scene is anything new to me (I live in the middle of the woods for crying out loud), but there’s something in the atmosphere there that I’ve never been able to find anywhere else on this Earth, and I can’t seem to get enough. It’s here, with the combination of the cool ocean air and warm summer sun, the picturesque mountaintops and glistening lakes, the whale-watching tours and off-the-beaten-path hikes, that I find myself in absolute serenity. It’s here where my “happy place” is.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t have a particularly exciting childhood. I’ve lived in the same house for the past seventeen and a half years with a remarkably uninteresting home life and no notable accomplishments to speak of, so my fondest childhood memory isn’t anything spectacular. It’s unusually sentimental, especially for me. Every few years – I don’t exactly remember how many, I was so young – my family on my mother’s side would have a reunion at Red Bank Battlefield Park. There would be great aunts and uncles and grandparents and third cousins twice removed; I don’t remember who most of them were, honestly. Most of them live in other states and I’m sure half of them have passed away. My great uncle (my mom’s mother’s brother) Marty is someone who I truly wish I saw more often but alas, he lives in Alabama. I haven’t seen him in two years and I miss him terribly. At one our family reunions, I was probably seven or eight, my parents packed my and my brother’s bikes so we could ride around the park. At this point in time, I still hadn’t taken the training wheels off my bicycle and while my brother and I were riding around on the sidewalks, my uncle Marty by our sides, he made a ludicrous suggestion: “Becca, let’s take those trainin’ wheels off!” Not wanting to disappoint him, I conceded and watched diligently as he unscrewed the two little wheels on either side of my back wheel, and then plopped me back onto the seat and said, “Trust me, kiddo. I’ve got you.” And I did. He kept his hands clasped on my shoulders and guided me along the sidewalk as I picked up speed. Being the chubby, fifty-something he was at the time, keeping up with me wasn’t exactly an option for him. He said, “Keep your balance, bud. I’m letting go now.” Before I could refute, the clammy heat from his palms lifted from my shoulders and I was off on my own, gliding along as if I’ve been riding for years. Of course, we don’t live in a movie. I crashed about thirty seconds later. But it was in that moment that I really felt like I could do it, and it was all because my uncle Marty believed I could.
I usually feel my best when I’m driving alone in my car with the windows all the way down and my music blaring. I feel free and in control; I feel untouchable, like I’m on top of the world. It’s the best feeling in the world because it’s so surreal, so uncommon, so perfect. Whenever I’m having a bad day or I’m not feeling well, I pray for it to rain. The pitter-pater of rain against my roof as I lie staring at the ceiling is the only non-medicinal fashion of making me feel better. I’ve never really put any thought into what color affects my mood, I suppose gray would be the number one color that can change my mood for the better or for the worse. Gray skies depress me, gray eyes intrigue me. On a daily basis, the nighttime is the most soothing for me. Not eleven PM nighttime, but more like nine o’clock because it’s (usually) when I finish up all my homework and I get a little bit of downtime to unwind and relax before I actually hit the hay. Speaking of which, that sounds like what I’m going to do now. Even though it’s past my nine o’clock cutoff. Oh well, goodnight all!
ReplyDeleteTo George: Based off of your first paragraph, I’m going to guess that introspection is one of your strong intelligences. If you remember, introspection was one of the intelligences from Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Based off of your third paragraph, I see that you seem to feel your best when you are doing some kind of physical activity, or it’s the result of physical activity. Your final paragraph reminded me of my favorite quote from Henry David Thoreau, which is “to be awake is to be alive.” Thoreau says that the morning is the best time of day because it signifies the beginning of the new day, and he wonders why people prefer viewing a sunset rather than a sunrise.
ReplyDeleteTo Matt: I’ve had a similar experience where nature and I just sit with each other and connect. It’s truly a wonderful feeling that I think we should all experience every once in a while. I like how both of our best childhood memories mentioned something about skateboarding; I guess such an activity is great for youth. Don’t get me wrong, though. BMXing is cool too. I have also read somewhere that green is one of those colors that leave a positive impression and red leaves a negative impression. Both you and George said that morning is your favorite time of day, which I must say I agree with. A morning person is the best kind of person.
To Bobby: I feel the same way about my bed, so you can imagine how I felt when my brother let his sweaty friend sleep in it while I was away. I’m really glad I read your post because it reminded me of the times when my grandmother would take me to the beach with my brothers. I also feel really bad about not spending much time at the beach anymore. I think last summer was the first summer I spent without going to the beach once. It’s a shame that your favorite moment is the twilight between consciousness and sleep because it is such a short amount of time and the feeling is hardly memorable. George told me how much he loves bass in music, so I’m sure you two would get along on that subject.
Where do I go to escape from the pressures of my life?
ReplyDeleteThe Internet, of course! The 'Net is my Matrix. It can take me anywhere; I can learn about whatever I want at whatever pace I want. Whether it's the shrinking death rate in El Salvador or the history of the flags of the world or what Octomom's up to these days, there's nothing I find more relaxing than learning what I want, when I want, at my own pace.
What is my best childhood memory?
Anything that can be said to have happened in my "childhood" had to have happened in my old home in Egg Harbor Township. Needless to say, I'm not really a fan of my deep past. If I had to choose one moment (which I have to) which I would consider the best, I'd say it was moving out. Leaving my history behind. Sure, it was bittersweet at the time, but - looking back - it was mostly sweet.
Where and when do I feel your absolute best? Why?
That moment when I ace a test that I was not confident about. Or when I ace a test that I WAS confident about. Really, I just feel great when things go my way. It's a nice change of pace.
What is the most soothing sound I can imagine?
I like the beach, for one thing. Any sound of nature, really, is enough to put me at ease. But especially the sound of waves. Not that I would ever be compelled to purchase one of those "Sounds of Nature" tracks to play while I sleep. When I sleep, I prefer silence.
Which colors affect my mood the most? How do those colors affect it?
I like subtle shades of blue, and perhaps reddish-purple. Anything brighter gives me a headache, I'm afraid. These colors make me feel relaxed, to say the least. ...I like driving past sunsets. There, I said it.
When during the day do I feel the most at ease? Why? What is it about that time of day that provides comfort?
I normally wake up with more than an hour before I have to get on the bus. That time I have to myself in between exiting my bed and entering the shower is the most serene moment of my day. It's the only point when I have virtually nothing to worry about.
James - You sure do know how to relax. But hey, colors and sounds mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
ReplyDeleteTed - TL; DR: Bowling sucks and trampolines are awesome. Anyway, congratulations on punching me in the nostalgia gland with this post, despite the fact that I was never really friends with you guys when I was younger.
Connie - We're all stressed and you're not lame. At this point in time, "lame" is just a state of mind. As long as a person has memories of all the awesome stuff they've done, nothing can hold back their coolness.
The place where I've spent the most of my time during the past 6 years of my life (since I last moved) has been my bedroom. I'm incredibly lazy, and spend the majority of my time in my bed watching TV and on my laptop. I do my homework in my room, sleep in my room, and play video games in my room. The only reason I ever leave is to get food. So, to get away from everything, I just go to my room. I hate when people go into my room, because for the most part, I just want to be left alone.
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that as of right now, I can't think of a "favorite" childhood memory. I'm not sure whether it's the fact that the memory has never happened (I doubt this is the case) or the fact that I prefer not to look toward the past. I'm not a fan of positively or negatively dwelling on the past. The only time where it may seem fit, is when the present isn't quite going your way, and you need to remember a time where you were happy.
I listen to music whenever I can. I always do it when I'm in my room and the TV isn't on. I actually get upset when I leave my headphones at home, I can't stand not listening to music on my bus or in study hall. For nearly my whole life, Blink-182 has been one of my top 3 favorite bands. They may not be the most inspirational, but their lyrics and the sound they create inspires me. My favorite sport to play is hockey. I love the fast pace action it entails and at any point, someone can score. I've been playing for about nine years, and have recently started playing roller hockey. I may not be the best skater to say the least, but, just playing hockey puts me in a great mood.
The most soothing sound I can imagine, is the whiny raw voice of Tom Delonge. He's one of the singers in Blink-182, and he has his own band, Angels and Airwaves. Though his singing has improved over the last couple years, for the majority of his career, his voice hasn't been one to brag about. I saw Blink in concert last August and it was one of my favorite memories (conversely to what I previously said) of the last few years.
I don't really believe in colors having a psychological effect on our moods. I just don't see why or how it happens, but that's why I'm not a scientist. I can see how colors can make us think of something in particular. For example, when we see red, we may think of an apple, or the Phillies. I love shoes, and I love wearing shoes that are "different" and unique. In doing so, I like bright colored shoes, and maybe they don't make me feel "happy" or anything. I love the feeling of having shoes other people don't have. Last year, I had a pair of my shoes stolen out of my athletic locker room. I knew I was one of two people in the school who had the same shoes as me. The day after the stealing, I was able to see the person wearing my shoes, and I got them back.
Days that I don't have homework make me feel stress-free. Even better, the feeling I get when I walk into study hall, and I don't have any homework to do, is incredibly. It provides a sense of ease and relaxation, and it makes my overall day, even better.
Kendall: Pretty cool knowing that someone else loves Jimmy Fallon. He's definitely one of my favorite SNL characters and I love his impersonations, you really have to check them out.
Matt: After thinking about it, green is probably my least liked color next to brown. I don't own a single green shirt and I don't like anything about the color. However, you did a great job of describing each paragraph, and your feelings towards each question.
Bobby: Do you call your longboard "Ariana" because of the most beautiful actress on the face of this beautiful green planet?
Hira: I read Rachel's response to the part of your blog about tennis and it giving her butterflies so I had to see if it would work on me...It did! You captured the entire atmosphere flawlessly. I feel the same relaxation yet rush on the courts...it's our home :) <3
ReplyDeleteBecca: Laureldale? Boring?! PSH!! haha. I love how you added that your memory is "unusually sentimental". Your depiction of Bar Harbor was so beautiful (we both wrote about Maine, yay us!)...and I've been there too, as you know. It's good to have SOMEWHERE where you can be guaranteed pure relation. no matter how far it may be in actuality, it's only a dream away when you sleep.
Nick: Let's just say I wasn't surprised to find that, that "place" we are all trying to describe, is your bedroom lol. I respect it! I know that music is a big part of your life, as it is mine, so I was glad to see you describe it with some kind of figurative emotion :). Oh and way to completely not include a childhood memory! I'll write one for you...in 5th grade lunch we sat a table away with our backs turned to each other and we would occasionally talk. I sat next to Nyamekeye! P.S. Garret hasn't done his blog yet! oh no!
Haha, I remember sitting next to Nyamekye, but not ever talking to you. Sorry;)
Delete‘It started out as a perfect day. It would soon be an imperfect one, he knew, but just for these few minutes it was possible to pretend that it wouldn’t.’
ReplyDeleteI never ended up making a mental happy place, if only because I don’t generally like trying to plant gardens in volcanoes.
Madre de Dios!
Sakes alive.
I don’t like trying to avoid pressure; I try to prefer, given the choice, grinning and bearing it, even if my only solution is taking it right then and there. But whenever anything grows into everything, as it must sometimes for everyone, I like finding my favorite books I’ve already read and skipping straight to the end. A good ending is, perhaps, the greatest thing in the universe. Anyone who can burn a world into my mind and still close the wound has my greatest respect, and I always like going back and reading those endings just to get my own chance to reopen that wound and go back into that world, if only for a little while. Maybe I try to transmit the closure of that world into mine. I don’t like saying things like that, though.
I love finality. I can’t get enough of it. The doors close, the bolts shoot home, and it’s over. What else can you even trust?
Once during a summer break a couple years ago I stayed up all night, and it was beautiful. There in the long dark of the night it’s plausible that the day might just never come. I was playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. then — I guess it was the right game. There was a right song and a right lead-in, but mostly it was a right, interminable night and a right mind for it. Maybe it’s not my best childhood memory, but it’s one that will always be there.
I could hear my heart beat towards the end.
If you skipped the last paragraph, I feel best between 1 and 6 A.M., because that’s who I am.
The most soothing sound I can imagine is the night time noises of insects in summer, or the sound of cold velvety blackness in winter, where the trees rustle, or the sound of rain plinking from the eaves onto the ground.
I’ve always loved black. It doesn’t hold any expectations or make any demands. It represents the finality that I savor. All the other colors are transient; all the other colors try desperately to clog your senses in a way that’s almost cloying, but black clears all that out. It is the epitome of colors and it is The End, and also it is the color of nighttime and winter, things I love dearly. It makes me worry less. I hold white in high regard for many of the same reasons, and moreover the duality of white and black makes me feel good inside.
Hullo, Poe, nice to meet you.
At 2 A.M. there is no one outside except the wind and the one streetlight on my long road that still works, and you can walk in the middle of the road in absolute silence, unless the insects are fiddling. Is there really any place I could go, right now, with everything I have at my disposal, which could possibly be any more special?
Maybe, but I don’t know what it is.
Oh boy. I’m starting to feel redundant and predictable with these blog posts. It’s just the way in which I answer the questions, they always tie myself back to my after hours with drama...so yeah.
ReplyDeleteYou see, my exact “happy place” is drama. That’s why I joined it back in middle school and that’s why I stayed. Frankly, I think that’s why most people stay. I don’t know how the stage is capable of it, but just being able to stand upon a theater’s stage creates a balance in my life. It makes me feel as if...as if I was “home.” Performing on it gives me power, practicing on it takes my mindset off of life, but there is one unique time in which I enter a whole other realm. It doesn’t happen too too often, but when I’m on the stage, the lights are all down, the curtain partially closed, and it is only me in the auditorium, I am completely at peace where I can think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK__-qOI_Tg
This video perfectly portrays how I feel at that moment.
Oh God, I don’t know what to say about my best childhood memory. If you think I am a cheerful guy now, you should have seen what I was like when I was little. I think that one moment that wasn’t particularly special, but it will always be engraved in my memory is the night when Ted and I were in...5th grade and we sat up in his room singing smash mouth songs. I think that that could possibly be the first time in my life that I could remember total bliss. I felt a strong sense of brotherhood then, and it was great. It was late at night, and the lighting in the room gave a feeling of twilight. Twilight is my favorite time of the day. It was nice.
Okay, for question number 3 I’m not gonna cop out and say that I feel my absolute best on stage. I don’t even know if that’s true. What I do know is that I feel like I’m better than Michael Giovinco when I’m up on stilts. It’s strange. Being on stilts allows me to dance better, be funnier, improvise well, come of as charming, seem cool, and sometimes I even get girls flirting with me. I know, shocker right? When I’m up there in a wig and sun glasses and everything, people misjudge my age, especially when I”m performing in a place like Wildwood and Atlantic City with people who are in college. There’s something about this older looking me, that seems harmless because I’m in a bright yellow wig and I’m throwing in some cool tricks on my stilts that just makes girls kind of flirt with me. When I first started off, I felt that they were just sort of joking, but then i realized that they can’t really tell how old I am and there were a lot of girls that would follow me around for a while as I moved down the board walk and they would drag me behind for some pictures. Well, that’s just a me that I don’t get to be that often. It’s a me that I wish I could be like more often.
Hands down, the most soothing sound out there is the sounds of the caribbean, and when I say that I mean Jimmy Buffett music.Yes, I’m a proud Parrot Head. Sue me. The music of my favorite music artist of all time is true music though. He is the epitome of artists that know how to talk about the world and life. That’s why I like him. When listening to him, I get transferred mentally to a cruise ship and I sail away.
I believe it’s time to move back to theater. As a reference to my favorite musical, the colors that affect me the most are fire-engine red, kelly green, and butter yellow. The best way for me to show you what I mean hear is to show the song that I gain these colors from.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnZgjJIZ7aA&feature=related
Piggy backing a bit off of the video, there will be a ton of information in there about those specific colors.
As said before, the part of the day that I’m most at ease is twilight because of the lighting, it is signifying a part of the day in which everyone is slowing down. It’s almost like country music in a sense, just slowing everything down and taking it easy. I especially like it in summer when I can enjoy myself.
P.S. I had this done hours ago, but fell asleep before I posted it.
I like to go to sleep and dream. Any dream will do, bad or good. They help me solve problems for the most part. I love my dreams. I don't like how much time I waste sleeping though. Idk, I don't want to start rambling about my sleep though.. It's really hard to find a quiet place where I live. In my house, I have 13 noisy parrots to deal with. Outside, there's dirtbikes and quads racing up and down the street, cars going by, pigs snorting, chickens making chicken noises. I love peace and quiet but I really never get it. So, when I sleep, I block out all the noise. I get to live in a completely different life that my mind creates for me. It takes me away from myself and puts me in a whole new world. I really love dreaming even though I don't have too many anymore due to not getting enough sleep...
ReplyDeleteMy best childhood memory is the times I went camping. I always used to go camping with my grandparents. We would go all over until we settled down with a seasonal site at a campground. I really miss it there. I was always there and all of my friends were there. They stopped me from making good friends in school. They were my best friends and nobody at my school could be anything like them. I never had really close school friends until high school. I have a ton of them now. I also left that campground after freshman year. My best childhood memories were scattered in that campground. I cannot describe one memory in words. Campfires every night until 3 AM with friends, walking around after curfew, going to the boardwalk with them, bike rides, hayrides, dances. And my favorite of all, in the summer before 8th grade, my first girlfriend. We hung out every single day of the summer. We were friends since we were 9 and there we were, at 13, boyfriend and girlfriend. I stopped talking to my closest friends because of me going out with her. Jealousy really destroyed all of our friendships. I really wish it hadn't happened. Well, I'm starting to move away from best so I'll stop talking.
The most soothing sound I can imagine is the flow of water on the beach. Me and my girlfriend went to the beach every other day in the summer. It was so great. I skimboarded, like a boss. I boogey-boarded, like a boss. I built sand castles, like a boss. But, the sound of the ocean has always been soothing to me. When I used to have trouble falling asleep, I listened to it on my mp3 and it got me to sleep.
Blue colors effect my mood the most. They make me happy and joyful. Its my favorite color.
The part of the day I feel most at ease is when I get good sleep and wake up at the crack of dawn. As hard as it is for me to accomplish this, I love when it happens. I love when I'm wide awake at 6 AM. It is such a great feeling. I can focus the most and feel really smart and in control with my life. It rarely happens. Even if I do wake up that early, I usually fall back asleep or go to school. Blahhh I'm tired.... NIGHT!!
Okay, so I know this is a terrible answer, but I very often turn to sleep to escape from the pressures of life. Although my position does not change, it is a very actual escape. Dreams are a sort-of Narnia, where you can exist in a life parallel to your own, without ever actually compromising reality. Unfortunately, unlike the world in the wardrobe, visits to Dreamland eat up time the real world. I recognize this, but still cannot deny my love for sleep. Dreams are no supplement for living, but I fall into cycles of becoming infatuated with the many stories I experience first hand, and the sudden jolt of falling out of one and the comfort in somnolently drifting into the next. Yeah, so in doing this I’m completely ignoring what’s going on in my actual life, but the word used was “escape”, and that’s exactly what I do.
ReplyDeleteMy older sister asked for bunk beds for Christmas one year. I suppose they were cool at the time, which is why she wanted them. When asking for them, she thought they were going to be hers and only hers, and she probably envisioned all these awesome sleepovers she would have, and the freedom of choice between nearness to ceiling or floor. It never crossed her mind once she would have to share with me, but we were stuck in the same room together, and my father saw no sense in having three beds in a room of two people. So she got the top bunk while I got the bottom. And she ignored me for what seemed like an eternity while I tried to sleep on a bed I know I was not welcome on. One night though, in the midst of the tension and anger that was building in our room, I started listening to music on this radio I got for Christmas. It was a mock MP3 player made out of metallic blue plastic, but as long as I had access to music I didn’t really care where it was coming from. My sister walked into the room, and shut the door, avoiding my gaze. I had been sitting down on my bed, head slightly bent because otherwise it would be hitting the top bunk. As she walked over to her dresser, I ducked down even more, moving into a laying position. Shoving the side of my face into the pillow, I stared at the wall, analyzing the chipping of the blue paint that was only about a year old. Coincidentally, the Third Eye Blind song “Slow Motion” came on, and I heard the line “My sister’s eating paint chips again, maybe that’s why she’s insane.” I couldn’t quite understand what I was feeling , but my over active imagination came up with this image of my sister eating the paint chips off the wall because she had gone crazy because she was so mad at me about the bunk beds and at that thought I started to tear up and it took all of my being to suppress the sobs that were trying to escape my body. Even after the song ended, I felt terrible. That is, until about 2 songs later, when All Star by Smash Mouth came on. I heard my sister go “I LOVE THIS SONG” and she started singing. I was so taken aback, but my surprise was forgotten as I watched her obnoxiously belt the lyrics into a hair brush, and started to sing along with her. Any animosity between us vanished with the conclusion of the song, and she sat on my bed, and we listened to music together for the rest of the night. I’m not quite sure how we stayed up so late or what we talked about, but I do remember laughing. A lot. We literally laughed the night away, and I can’t think of a time I’ve laughed as much since. And laughing’s my favorite.
I kind of wonder often what my absolute best is. Regardless of what it is, I personally feel best when I’m with certain people, just hanging out. I can think of one person specifically, but who they are doesn’t really matter. What matters is that when I’m with them, I’m not really thinking about my actions or words or who I am. I just exist very effortlessly, which feels nice.
ReplyDeleteEddie Vedder’s voice is the most soothing sound I can imagine. I have this scene in my head that I think about, and it’s us laying down, just chillin’ (this is not a sexual thought in anyway, just putting that out there.) And we’re watching TV and the best part is that he will make little comments, or just let a chuckle out, and it’s those noises that make me completely at ease.
The Into the Wild album works just as well though.
Neutral colors are cool. I find myself attracted to them. I’m not sure why. I think they just make me feel comfortable, if that makes sense. My body reacts with a cozy feeling, if that makes sense. I haven’t noticed specific mood changes due to colors, but I do know that I respond better to neutral colored clothes, and they don’t give me headaches.
Over the summer, my sleep schedule gets pretty jacked up. It’s because I love being awake during early morning hours. between 2:30 and 5:30 am is the best. I think it’s because I feel as if I have the world to myself. Because there is this sense of loneness, everything I do feels different. I feel like I’m living a new life. Showers are more refreshing, music is louder, the air is cleaner. Everything feels better.
Nyamekye: You woman, you. Except not really, because you related it to family, and I admire your family in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteMikey:Woohoo with the same escape. I'm not crazy!
Schuyler: I want to thank you and curse you at the same time. Effing emotions. You cause them, create them, exhume them from me, I dunno. But I'm gonna tell you I'm crying right now and it's just about midnight and THATS NOT COOL MAN NOT COOL