A Case of the Tweets

Today is Three Things Thursday. Here are three tweets that made me laugh out loud this week.

my heroes: the siblings at target rn chanting "cheetos! cheetos!" at their mom.

— Kelsey Williams (@kelseywilliams4) January 4, 2016

God: Welcome to Heaven, my son. Every question you have ever had, I can answer. Tell me, what would you like to know? Me: Did Adnan do it

— Josh Taylor (@dearfuturejosh) January 6, 2016

Watching a raccoon accidentally dissolve his candyfloss in a puddle has really put my troubles in perspective. https://t.co/fmoRaxTAlV

— Ryan Nelson (@RyanJohnNelson) January 4, 2016

The Spotlight Effect

On Wednesdays I reflect about something I've learned and laugh at how much of a dummy I used to be.

I used to think everybody noticed every little thing I did. I also used to think that it mattered. In high school, by senior year, I had finally pared down my close friend group to about six people who I really cared about. My small group of friends happened to be made up of obnoxious overachievers who were always tutoring, practicing instruments, or mentoring freshmen. So sometimes I actually ate lunch in the cafeteria all by myself. At the time, I thought everybody noticed and everybody was actually taking time to make thoughts and judgments about me and that those judgement actually determined something about who I was. I was just a dummy.

For my Fine Art credit during undergrad, I took a Creative Writing Class because I thought it would be easy. I signed up for the course section being taught by the young, hippie-like poet. I pulled the whole "math major totally out of my comfort zone" card several times, and my peers were very compassionate when reviewing my pieces, so it wasn't too bad. 

The only thing I actually learned from that course was from a tangent my professor got on one day. He mentioned that he had gone to see a recent movie by himself, and the whole class was like, "WHUT?! By yo-seff??" And he started laughing hysterically at us and ranting about our overwhelming self-consciousness. He challenged us to go to a movie by ourselves and go to a restaurant by ourselves. We were obviously shocked and horrified at the idea and through his laughter he explained the spotlight effect: "You guys, like, nobody cares. People won't think twice about seeing you all alone. You're not really that important to strangers. You're just really not that important at all."

That semester I went alone to a show at Eddie's Attic. I can't even remember who I went to listen to, but it was a packed house and I had to sit in the risers. The waitress came to take my order, and then pointed to the people seated above me, "Are you with them?" And I, embarrassed, said no. And the waitress walked away and literally didn't care that I was alone. She literally didn't care at all.

You Can Do Anything Good

There's a youtube video (I know you've seen it; everyone's seen it) of a four-year-old listing off everything positive in her life she can think of as quickly as possible. After she runs out of ideas, her immediate next thought is "I can do anything!"

You can do anything. I can do anything. That big daunting thing that's intimidating you right now? (For me, it's preparing a weekend-long sex-ed course for the preteens at church...) You can do it!!! The awesome people, places, and things surrounding you will always always always outweigh the scary, difficult "anythings." Count up your blessings a quick as you can, and I will to. Then we'll run around in our pajamas like four-year-olds yelling, "I can do anything good!"

Technology Week

On Mondays I'll set some goals for the week and I'll rate myself on completion of last week's goals. Last week I didn't have any formalized goals since I was out wandering in a blogless life. This week my goals are all technology related, because I desperately need to finally organize my digital life.

Here are my goals for 1/4/16 to 1/10/16:

1. Get all of my music from my old computer onto the new one. I got a computer in 2009 and it is dangerously close to dying. A couple months ago, Brian and I finally invested in a "family computer" that we share. The only problem is, I have not done a good job transferring my files to the new one. I need to get a move on before my old computer really does quit on me. Also, I'm excited to finally update my phone with the music I want on it.
2. Get all of my photos from my old computer organized onto the new one. All the same reasons as listed above, but also a key word here is "organize." My photos from high school and college are a jumbled mess on the old computer, so it may take several hours to sort them into folders. Yikes.
3. Organize my work computer. I've gotten into a terrible habit of saving everything onto the desktop at work. I'm going to organize all the lessons and activities I've written onto the shared drive so that even if it gets lost on my own computer, I can find it to reuse next year. 

My Favorite Story to Tell

I've decided on Sundays I'll tell a short story. For my first week blogging I think I'll tell the only story that people ask me to tell: how Brian proposed.

In 2014, Brian and I had been discussing that we wanted to get married, and we realized the timing seemed right to get married in 2015. We didn't have full-time jobs yet but we were confident we would both have them very soon. Late in the summer, Brian took me to a jewelry store to check my ring size, so I knew it was coming any day. I was a pretty annoying girlfriend and liked to give him a hard time that he wasn't acting fast enough. I was teasing him so relentlessly that he accidentally slipped up that he can "return the ring if he wants to." That's when I knew it would be so so so soon.

My three best friends from summer camp, Kelli, Lauren, and Anna, all live in different towns and they all conveniently happened to be coming over near my hometown for various (fake) reasons. We decided to meet up at a Cajun restaurant in Roswell for lunch on November 22. I had no idea Brian had set them up to this.

It was our first time reunited since Kelli had gotten married, and we loved catching up. After lunch they we're all like..."So... I have more time... y'all wanna still hang out? What do you want to do?" So sly. Such tricksters. Anna suggested we go get our nails done (which we have never done together before) and I instantly knew something was up. We went to my mom's favorite nail salon (she had recommended it to Brian, of course) and Anna paid for me, which was again weird.

Then they were texting and scheming and decided we needed to go (stalling for time) get coffee. We went to Land of a Thousand Hills, a cool coffee shop in the historic district. We sipped our drinks. Even though it was November it was really warm outside so we were pretty much sweating with our coffees. When we were halfway done with our drinks, they abruptly suggested we go to a nearby park to walk around and take pictures.

We pulled up to Old Mill Park (where Brian and I had gone on two or three dates our first year together), walked through the parking lot, and then (surprise!) Brian was waiting there to greet us. He took me away from my pals on a short little walk on the hill and led me next to the historic bridge. That's where he gave me a sweet little speech, got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and asked me to marry him! I said yes. My friends took pictures from afar.

We walked back to our cars and I was very obviously flustered and excited. Brian must've felt bad for me because he decided to warn me about the next surprise. He said, "Are you ready for the party? Both our families are back at the house." It was so great! I got back to my parents' house and everybody was ready to celebrate.

Brian knows me so well he planned exactly what I'd think is a perfect day: a fun afternoon with my favorite girls, an evening walk in the park with my boo, and dinner with the whole family.

No Idea

I love to read PostSecret. I post a reaction to my favorite secret each week. 

  

The secret on the left was mailed into PostSecret anonymously and, in my opinion, hilariously. It's the least personal secret anyone could possibly send in. It feels like a big deal to every individual but actually it's the smallest issue anyone can face. It's not even an issue; it's a blessing.

The "secret" on the right is by me. The photo was taken at my undergraduate graduation, when I thought I had finally figured out where my life was leading me. (I was wrong, thankfully.)

Foto Friday: High School Besties

My favorite photo I've taken from the past week:

These are my best friends from high school whom I see once a year if I'm lucky: Stephanie, Meredith, and Katie. We were inseparable. Marching band can do that to a group of silly teenage girls. We were all back in our hometown for Christmas (I'm the only lame one who actually still lives here). We found time to go "mall-walking for exercise like old people," which turned into "being obnoxious and loud in gross stores like Claire's."

We've changed and grown and separated but I can confidently say that 16-year-old-us would be proud and amazed of who we all are now.