So, yesterday I witnessed the cutest grand romantic gesture that I’ve seen since my brother-in-law proposed to my sister. A boy came into my work with a bouquet of pink roses to ask Dee to prom! He called my boss a few days earlier to get him to make her a pizza with “PROM?” written on it in ingredients. The kid’s face was all red and the entire staff was looking at them, even customers were getting teary-eyed – I was practically bawling.
Who knew that kids today had the capacity to pull off such things? No offense to boys today but I thought romance was long dead. I think this little scenario reaffirmed my faith in kids and allowed me to believe that it is possible for them to turn into ladies and gentlemen.
Sometimes life CAN be all rainbows and lollipops, enjoy it.
The bf sent me this picture yesterday. He said he was sitting at a red light and knew I would like this license plate so he took a picture – I hope that’s not illegal .
He was right! I am a sucker for inspirational quotes, one-liners, cute slogans, and clever license plates – as you’ve probably noticed. I even like to end my blog with some profound words (or words that sound profound in my head and I hope they sound the same to all of you out there).
So, on this last Friday of March – when we are expecting 4cm of snow, I ask you WHY NOT TODAY?
Why not do something crazy? Something fun? Something relaxing? Something that you’ve always wanted to do? Why not go on an adventure – just get in your car and drive some place?
Why not today?
“Yesterday you said tomorrow. Just do it. ” – Nike
I’m no one important. I’m not famous. I’m not old or wise – in fact my 23rd birthday is a week away and I feel that I’m too young to say that I’ve lived. I work at a pizza place, I go to school, and I write – all of which I do part-time, the first of which is the only one I get paid for.
But I think that everyone has the ability to impact and influence the life of another human being in a positive way. If I could choose to influence one group of people, it would be teens. Sure they’re scary but I think I’m close enough the their age to remember what it felt like – being young and free (or as free as your parents let you be).
If I could speak to an auditorium full of high school students I would start by saying, “I’ve been there – not decades ago, but recently”.
I’ve been made fun of for being smart, fat, and ugly – which lead me to become shy and always conscious of my weight. I’ve smoked and I’ve drank – neither of which I enjoyed. I’ve lied to my parents and to my friends to get out of doing things, or to do things I shouldn’t be.
I’ve been scared to speak up.
I’ve gotten good grades and nearly failed a few assignments too. I’ve done things worth regretting and I’ve regretted not doing things. I’ve gotten myself into bad situations and I’ve learnt my lesson each time.
I’ve been there. Everything that happens in high school is temporary.
don’t be afraid to be the best or the worst at something
try everything that scares you BUT keep your moral compass in tact
pay attention in class but have fun
don’t be afraid to make mistakes
don’t make fun of people because you really don’t know anything about them
talk to your parents sometimes
learn how to fix relationships and friendships, work on them – don’t just throw them away
Explore and discover your passions.
Pain is as temporary as high school – make the most of it.
Yesterday I found this article on my Flipboard app – if you don’t feel like reading it, it’s about the best life advice from Jack Kerouac. I have never read any of his work but I did spend the last few minutes or so googling his bio and famous quotes.
I have two favourite quotes of his (that may even urge me to pick up a copy of his books).
“…we all must admit that everything is fine and there’s no need in the world to worry, and in fact we should realize what it would mean to us to UNDERSTAND that we’re not REALLY worried about ANYTHING.” – The Dharma Bums
How true that is. So many times in life we make ourselves worried, angry, or depressed. So many times we make lists in our head (or even write them down), we stress about saving money (or spending too much), we worry about how we look and what our future looks like, we make a Da Vinci’s code out of what someone says to us because they must have meant something more when they told you “You look great tonight!”.
When things are going great, we think of all the possible things that could go wrong. When things aren’t going well, we think of ways that they can get WORSE. Most times, we really don’t have ANYTHING to worry about – and yet we worry. We make ourselves sick with anxiety and depression for absolutely no reason. This needs to stop.
“UNDERSTAND that we’re not REALLY worried about ANYTHING”.
That is my second favourite quote. Read it again. It gives me goosebumps .
When I was in the eighth grade, my favourite english teacher (Hey Ms. Infanti!! ) got us to read the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Here’s a clip from the 2004 film version of the book – just so you can see what it’s all about.
It was the perfect book to read before going to high school and I am grateful for having read it. Last week I decided to pick up a copy at Chapters to reread it. I think it resonated more with me now than it did when I was fourteen. I think that it affected me more than I ever cared to realize and on more than one level.
There are countless remarks said by Melinda’s art teacher, Mr.Freeman that may have even inspired me to keep writing.
- “This is where you can find your soul, if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you that you’ve never dared to look at before,” – Mr.Freeman talking about Art class (Pg 10).
- “When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time,” – Mr.Freeman (Pg 122).
If you knew me when I was a kid, you’d know that I was very shy and immensely quiet and I am certain that if I hadn’t started to write I would have never found my voice. Dance, sculpting, painting, drawing, sports, music, baking, cooking, writing, are all extensions of YOU. They are all ways in which you can express yourself, ways you can discover who you are. Art and creation are that powerful. Speak proves that and I hope that my book does too.
I’m not going to sit here and say that I am 100% like Melinda’s character or that my high school experience can even parallel hers but I was definitely as quiet as her. I wonder if my parents thought I was weird. I wonder how much it hurt them that I couldn’t talk – not to them or to anyone. I wonder if they know that it wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to talk to them, I was just afraid…
“Maybe I should start talking to Them, maybe a little bit. But what if I say the wrong thing?” – Melinda talking about her parents (Pg 127).
…afraid that I would say the wrong thing. I felt like if I kept my feelings inside, my sadness or insecurities, they would eventually disappear. With other people I was always afraid that my opinions were wrong or that I would upset someone by them. I was always afraid that I would get made fun of or that I would be challenged. I was made fun of a lot and was always afraid to stand up for myself and I didn’t want to tell my parents – I didn’t want to seem like a baby.
So, I kept it inside and started writing. That helped. Creation is a great outlet but it wasn’t until I got really bad anxiety and a migraine so severe that I threw up at school, that my parents told me I HAD to talk to them more. I had to let out my feelings and I did. I’m still shy and a bit passive sometimes, but I have a stronger and more powerful voice than I ever had before (that’s what over 10 years of writing and learning to talk to people will do to you).
The bf planned a few days in Niagara this weekend to celebrate my birthday early.
We started the drive off with some good tunes. It’s hard to cruise in your CRUZE when you need to wait 30 minutes for a train to end – thank goodness it was beautiful out. When we got to Niagara, we almost got stuck in an elevator, and upon trying to enter Fallsview Casino to make a dinner reservation at Ponte Vecchio – we realized that the bf’s ID expired (what a nut he is! ). To top it off, we checked the weather forecast and saw nothing but rain and cold, rain and cold – YAY!
See, so ugly out there ...
Instead of After freaking out and feeling frustrated about our weekend, we decided to make the best of it. So, we woke up Saturday morning with a positive attitude, got dressed, and trekked outside in the wind and rain – of course we had to stop at the souvenir shop to buy an umbrella and a heavy sweater for me. After that we walked over to the arcade and spent about three hours acting like fifteen-year-olds and playing skee ball. It was probably the best three hours of the trip, not just because I completely kicked the bf’s ass in skee ball, but because we got to feel like little kids again.
We ended up giving our tickets (all 700 of them) to a family with two young boys - the look on their faces was priceless. Hi family, hope you got some great prizes!!
We ended our Saturday hanging out with a few friends that came up for the night. I couldn’t have asked for a better very-early-brithday celebration. Thanks bf and friends!
—
Life NEVER goes as planned and if you’re like me, you still get frustrated when it doesn’t.
BUT as long as you’re with great people nothing else should matter,
not the weather, not an expired ID, and certainly not crappy food at a restaurant.
This morning while I was having a peanut butter and chocolate chip muffin, I checked Facebook to see what was going on. As I did so, I couldn’t help but wonder why I even still have a Facebook account – sometimes it seems so trivial, so silly – and then I saw this status:
Get up and live!
It was posted by a girl that I went to elementary and high school with and I found myself suddenly happy that I had her as a friend (on Facebook and in real life). Thanks for your status update today, Sarina – those four little words made a profound impact on my day and the attitude I went to work with. Get up and live! Such a simple command/idea/mantra.
Get up and enjoy your day.
Get up and DO SOMETHING that you love, with someone that you love.
Ever had to snake a drain? Well, my Dad and Mom had to snake the drain in my shower the other day and boy are they pissed at me for not doing it myself. You see, my sister and I share a bathroom and BOTH of us have long, thick black hair – which tends to fall out in the shower. My Dad said that what he pulled out of that drain looked like a dead rat – sorry I know it’s too early to be disgusting but I promise I’m getting somewhere with this.
That rat (hair) in my drain, it kind of reminded me of fear (sometimes I think in metaphors). Imagine you, your life, your inspiration as the pipes. Imagine that rat as fear – blocking you from doing your job, living your life.
I always imagined fear as some kind of disgusting black rat with big yellow eyes, taunting me, saying “You can’t do it. You’re going to fail. Just give up.”
P.S. Please visit the Love of Reading website and “take a moment and join your voice with ours in petitioning the government to make childhood literacy a priority. Signatures will be collected and sent to the premiers and ministers responsible for education in each province”.
Every child deserves a library full of books in order to harness their own imagination and creativity. Every signature helps. Thanks
The title of this post was a question posed by my mom when we got to Upper Canada Mall today. To which my sister and I replied in unison “where the watermelons grow” followed by laughter and a enthusiastic high-five. Here’s where that came from – start at the 30 second mark.
Since that would have been a whole lot funnier if you were there, I’ll continue with this post and pretend as if that didn’t happen…
… So today I went to the mall with Mom, Sister, and Avoa. We went to Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket and with the wonderful weather we’re having today, I just had to document it.
See how pretty? I forget sometimes how much I love the suburbs and living “way-up-north”. On my way home from the mall it even crossed my mind that I would love to live in a small town, up north somewhere. Lots of land, peace and quiet. A big backyard to have barbecues with the familia. If you know me, you’re probably thinking:
“What the f***? Since WHEN do you NOT want to live downtown?”
The answer: I have no idea. Maybe I’m just growing up, or maybe I’m changing, or maybe it’s a combination of both.
I realized today that I got the idea of how I wanted to live my life and where I want to live by watching a whole-lotta chick-flicks. It’s easy to picture yourself living downtown Manhattan, in a chic modern apartment, with a steady income from writing when you watch Sex and the City. But let’s face it, my life isn’t a television show and to base your dreams and beliefs on what you see on T.V is just plain silly.
Don’t get me wrong here, I AM a writer. I will always write and it is the one career path I will follow, but maybe I don’t need to be the next Carrie Bradshaw. Maybe I just need to work on being the best Vanessa Grillone, I’m the only one of my kind after all. Maybe I just need to figure out what I want and what I believe in instead of following the dreams of others, or the preconceived notions of what I think I should be doing.
This whole growing up thing is tough and each day I am learning something new about myself. Each day I’m figuring out what I want to be and where I want to go. Each day I find myself thinking about the future. Each day I try to figure out exactly what I want.
All I know for sure is that I love to write and if I can bring in the bacon by doing that -
My boss also loves notes – in fact he likes to leave them scattered around the workplace. You’ll find things like a newspaper clipping taped to the lid of the rosemary jar that states smelling rosemary increases brainpower – to which he added ‘it is a staff requirement to take a whiff at the beginning of your shift” (or something along those lines). You’ll also find a note in the staff room reminding all staff that we are not to use our cellphones – even in the bathroom “the only thing that should be calling is nature, you don’t need your cellphones in the bathroom”.
My personal favourite is written on a whiteboard near the telephones:
“Good Music. Good Food. Good Friends.”
I love finding new notes at work and newspaper clippings that my boss wants us to read. The latest newspaper clipping was posted on the staff cork board – beside the weekly schedule to ensure that we all read it. The article talked about a young woman who was killed when she slammed into a tractor-trailer truck. What was the cause of the accident? Well she was texting her boyfriend. I hope that you read the entire article and take to heart Fortin’s message (I know I will) :
“At what time is a text or an email more important than life itself? At what point is something on your phone more important than the people that you love?”
So, although the notes that my boss leaves for us are meant to be funny, meant to make us think, I think the thing that we (as the staff) fail to understand is that he also means for us to learn something. It’s with newspaper clippings like that that he shows us that he cares for our safety (and can prove to us once again how stupid cell phones are ).
Hope you all have a wonderful, safe Sunday – although you probably will be in bed all day, recovering from St. Patrick’s Day hangovers
) got us to read the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.
). To top it off, we checked the weather forecast and saw nothing but rain and cold, rain and cold – YAY!
