"Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97: Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience, I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty
of your youth; oh never mind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you cant grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked.
You're not as fat as you
imagine.
Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as
trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing
Don't be reckless with other people hearts, don't put up with
people who are reckless with yours .
Floss;
Don't waste your time on jealousy
sometimes you're ahead, sometimes
you're behind...the race is long, and in the end, its only with
yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away
your old bank statements.
S t r e t c h .
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your
life the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don't. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you'll miss
them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children,maybe
you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your
75th wedding anniversary what ever you do, don't
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either . your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can, don't be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, its the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance;
even if you have n o w h e r e to do it but in your own living room. Read
the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do NOT read
beauty magazines,
they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know
your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for
good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come
and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize
that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don't expect
anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out. Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
its worth. But trust me on the sunscreen."
Holland Thus Far
So far I've been really busy with school and whatnot to be posting (sorry) so I'm going to catch you up now. School is really hectic even though I only went for 3 days a week this term. Every week we have to write a full essay, read 3 chapters and whatever random assignment my other teacher (whom I call "Sergeant") decides to assign. It makes things more hectic when you leave things a little longer than maybe I should ...
Photos of my canal-side school are coming soon, I'm on my week off.
My mother recently went for Russia leaving me with my, now 15 years old and apparently an adult by his standards, brother. Wow was that fun ... it's not that I don't love him, I tell him I do whenever I leave, even if we're fighting, but he can be a handful ... especially when grocery shopping for. I never thought it was possible for a fridge to be "empty" when it's full of food. I learned quickly that the fridge was empty if there wasn't something he could be eating in a maximum of 2 minutes. I filled the fridge with many quick made meals.
On my mother's return I cleaned the house and allowed her to come home to things like this :
I know my mom will always be happy when she comes home from Russia to a clean house and flowers ... all the rest is secondary. Also here's a picture just for Laurie, it's out of our front window on a Sunday morning:
This place is amazing and I'm so happy that I have my family here to share it with. England on Thursday.
Weekend Wisdom- Sunshine, Peace, Love
Back on track
In the last 2 weeks I've learned a lot:
I have the most unattractive bunch of relatives I've seen and not all of them are opposed to incest ... gross.
Doing an across the world move is not as easy as I previously thought.
Time changes suck and are near impossible to get used to.
Buying books online is much easier then looking for English ones in a Dutch country.
and finally, road trips determine how much self control you actually have and how difficult it is sometime to hold your tongue.
I have made it to the Netherlands and I've managed to unpack the first bunch of things I brought over and ordered all my school books. Soon after arriving here I realized one thing; I adore mom's new boyfriend ... he's so cool.
My grandmother decided to come for a visit from Edmonton ... the same day we arrived ... for a month. She is a really sweet woman and very generous but there's a certain issue with volume control that is hard to ignore when one is in a car with her for 3 days ... nonetheless I reminded myself that she means well and we all love her just the same. She's also a huge fan of minatures ... *shudder* ... which brought us to this place:
No, giant people are not taking over the Netherlands ... this is part of an entire miniature exhibit of the Netherlands ... fun right ? Well to some maybe ... me not so much.
We also went on a 3 day road trip, we went from our little home in the Netherlands through to Brussels, Belgium then on to France where we stopped in Nancy and Metz ... among other placed then to Germany where we spent the night in Dusseldorf . On this road trip we stopped for McDonald's in Belgium, Mexican food in France and Italian food in Germany ... oh how we adapt. We did do and see a lot though, here's some of the things we saw :
All in all it was a good trip ... except for a specific shoppe in Luxembourgh.We were walking along and I saw a gorgeous jacket in a window display, decided to go in ... that was the biggest mistake in life ... she gave me a medium to try on and it was WAY too small ... well there's the first ego hit. When I asked her for a bigger size she told me that was the biggest size they carried ... OUCH. Needless to say the rest of my family got quite a kick out of this ... jerks.
Airports, Personal Space and Claustrophobia
I’m typing this from above the beautiful province of Alberta. It’s easy to remember why I dislike airports so much every time I enter one. The loud children running wild, the older ladies who over-dress for a flight in 6-inch heels and huge, dark sunglasses, or the crazy man who sits there babbling to himself in a foreign language all by himself. The thing that irks me the most is the people who think they’re superior to everyone around them, the woman who has been assigned to row 12 but chooses to weasel her way to the front of the line after rows 27-38 have been called. It makes one want to say “if you honestly think you’re that important then you should pay the extra money to get into executive class instead of getting in everyone else’s way”. Honestly, it makes zero sense, when you think about it, we’re all taking off on the exact same time. The only difference between sitting in the tightly fitting plane and the open terminal is a feeling of severe claustrophobia.
Besides those minor annoyances I actually quite enjoy the terminal, so long as there’s a Starbucks and enough seats at the gate to relax and breathe prior to being launched into the air in a tin can full of strangers. I don’t really enjoy the random people who decide to joke around with you, talk about their travels, or inquire about “why a young lady like myself is traveling all on her own”, I’m aware that I look like I’m 14, however, I’m not totally incompetent. I’m jut excited to be moving one step closer to my new home, my new life and my new school all in the quaint little country of Holland. Although it’s quite the nerve-wracking experience, moving across the world by yourself at 18, I’m feeling quite nostalgic and adventurous, grown-up even.
west ed
Today we visited the infamous West Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America, 5th largest in the world, founded by two brothers from Iran in 1959. You can Google it, I did. We skipped the water park, bungee jumping, hotel, amusement park, underwater adventure and mini golf, however, we did catch part of the Sea Lion show ... really ... what is the point of all this in a mall ? Why do malls need an Ice Rink ? Well I'm absolutely in love with all that I obtained today, just some basic staples necessary for any wardrobe, and a pair of sunglasses.
The highlight of my day was not a new item but a new friend. Waiting in line at the sandwich stand I was contemplating what to choose from an array of panini sandwiches, I decided on the Panini Napolini. This sandwich had sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers, zucchini and cheese. The adorable lady in front of me asks me if it was spicy because it sure sounded good, she then ordered the same sandwich and went to the till to pay, the poor man working there thought we were together and went to punch in our orders together ... I picked up on this and quickly corrected him, she perked up and offered to pay for my sandwich ! I had to decline her offer, my mother taught me well, I could not accept something from someone who I've done nothing for. Instead, she kept me company while we waited for our food, she told me about her many grandchildren, her daughter that lives in Amsterdam and owns a brownie shoppe (tee hee) and her most recent knitting project. Listening to this woman speak gave me a sudden feeling of deja vu, my grandmother is also this sociable and also chooses to tell many stories to random strangers.
All in all it was quite a productive day, thank-you for the gifts mom, and, despite my rigorous work out at the pool last night, it was the shopping that made me sore ... funny how that works isn't it ?
the pool
Laurie and her friend talked me into doing a workout, in the water ... they presented this idea to me as I'm semi-conscious on her love seat cradling my MacBook and attempting not to drool on the keyboard. So I drag myself downstairs and pick out a bathing suit ... unfortunately the one I happened to choose was missing a cup, I found this out after I got to the pool. The instructor was an adorable woman who was the most intense lady I've ever met, she was running, doing high kicks, jumping up and down and, instead of saying "at your own pace" she said "FASTER!" it was kind of nice. I don't think I've physically endured that much pain while working out, I know I'm going to be aching tomorrow, that will be fun for Sarah to deal with while we're shopping.
Laurie was the epitome of a graceful, limber water nymph. She wanted me to let it be known that she only cried once, as opposed to my zillion mental breakdowns from mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.
One thing I noticed while changing was how comfortable some women are with their bodies ... despite my greatest attempts to avert my eyes, I couldn't avoid the inevitable. All I could think of was the time when I was little in the gym bathroom and commented on an exceptionally large woman's "big butt" that was right in front of my face due to my height at 4 years old. It was a fun night though that was topped off with a trip to Shopper's Drug Mart where we almost had to sleepover due to it's 9:00 pm close time ... then we rushed over to DQ for ice cream to numb the joint pain.
All in all it was a productive evening.
