Benchmark

            I've just newly turned twenty two. Crazy huh? Right now I'm trying to get the energy to work out a little at two in the morning while chatting with a cute Asian guy who completely shot me down when I flirted with him for funsies. BUMMER. Hahaha, I guess that's just how my love life is right now being in such a sad state of affairs. My birthday was pretty low key and a big mess at the same time. I stay up watching a whole season of Avatar: The Legend of Korra like a little nerd and then wake up at three p.m. I then have to travel to my parent's house and rear end an Indian guy. Crap. This guy calls 911 and it takes an hour and a half to settle everything instead of the few minutes to get things over with. Anyway, being one year older kind of feels like I need to be a responsible adult now. Like I need to get my crap together now. Hopefully that works out. Also, hopefully, I get better at talking with dudes because with my track record I'm getting pretty tired spending time with Hands Solo and Pamela Handerson. Lol wut? Did I just say that?  Stay classy San Diego.

-C.C.

The Whirlwind Trip

         Europe was a blast. A real whirlwind. Going to England, Scotland, Wales, Greece and Turkey was just amazing. Then a daytrip in Montreal too! Life was pretty sweet for that month and a week or so. I was actually due to go to Italy and Spain too, but a part of me is a bit glad that it fell through. Some highlights of the trip were crashing a Scottish wedding in Scotland, where dudes were singing "Call Me Maybe" in their amazing accents, going to the Greek Islands of Mykonos and Santorini, getting ripped off by a Greek nun, and meeting somebody who actually knew the Beatles BEFORE they were famous. AMAZING.
          Before the Europe trip, things got a bit rocky with my chemistry final and my twenty five to thirty page paper. After that disaster combo, for some reason my parents couldn't find my graduation gown. The day of my graduation, I literally had to find a cap, gown, and tassel in order to graduate or I would be barred from walking my own graduation. Crap. Long story short I found that stuff and walked, which really led to an awesome day. However, I still hadn't packed for my trip to Europe which we had to leave for the very next day at ten in the morning. After staying up the whole entire night, I still have to drive to the airport an hour and a half away where my parents will be. Uneventful? Not quite. I am so tired from everything I have to park and fall asleep in a suburb off the highway. I wake up an hour before I was supposed to meet my parents and my cars refuses to start. Thank God a random old guy helped me jump my car or my whirlwind trip to Europe would be a whirlwind fail. I finally get to the airport completely exhausted and ready to sleep on the plane. Too bad the plane has a bunch of awesome movies to watch, so naturally, I have to watch them and when I get to England I'm just dead. Sucks to suuuck.
        In other news, I get back from Europe and I've learned a thing or two about myself. Just things like how my actions have consequences and that I have to step up as an adult. Also...Red decides to facebook message me again because he's horny again. Well Crap. This time, I'm a lot less inclined to resist. I know this isn't good for me but I kind of want to just go for it. I know I haven't done anything with anyone before...but would it be so bad to just hook up with him a bit? I'm playing this game of trying to wait for the right one and being horny all the freaking time. I'm a mess

P.S. FINALLY, a relatively short post. Also, I'm freaking tired. Small victories.

-C.C.

Europe

       It's almost eleven thirty in an Athens hotel and my cross-country trek through Europe is almost at an end. It's been pretty fun and just wonderful. There are so many things I have to write down before I forget.  However, it's getting pretty late so really I can't elaborate as well as I would like. That may be a blessing in disguise since if I could, I'd type eight paragraphs worth of text and really that's just too much. There has been so much going on in my life and thinking about everything just brings chills down in my spine. We've gone and done all the touristy things like visit the landmarks like Big Ben and the Parthenon and eaten everything we could in sight. I'll have to post all the amazing, funny, and interesting things that have happened in my life thus far. Some tidbits include crashing a Scottish wedding, being ripped off by a Greek nun, and coming out to one of my cousins on the trip.

       I feel like this trip has helped me mature a bit more and I've had the time of my life in addition to learning a few life lessons. The only thing I'll share today is something that was just really awesome for me since I was just very receptive and ready to hear the message that I was hearing. In the morning our tour group woke up early to head to the ruins at Delphi, where the oracle would give their prophetic messages of the future to come. The guide there was really a step above the others since she sat us down to have us really take in the nature and the ambiance of the ruins around us as we soaked in the morning sun. She told us to imagine the many huge ruins around us housing forests of bronze statues and sculptures of ivory and gold. She gave us great detail of not only the religious but political and cultural powerhouse Delphi used to be. She told us of how great generals and kings of legend would come to hear the words of the oracle. Its words being that catalyst for conflict or the salve for political quagmires. 

       What was interesting was how our guide delved deeper into a more philosophical dimension of these facts and really carved out some meaningful messages out of what she said. At first I was a bit put off. I wasn't expecting this nor was I that receptive at that time of day. Somehow though, her message did resonate in me when she ended her talk. She talked of how open minded the ancient peoples were and what messages we can take away today. How people from different religions would come to Delphi for religious purposes as well, and come back combining the good ideals from both Greek religion and theirs to create something better. For example, some people who believed in Amun-Ra would come back from Greece and decide to create a combination of ideals and create Amun-Zeus. Crazy. Delphi was a place of exchanging goods and ideas. Surprising how it seemed people respected each other's ideas and religions so much. 

        I think what was the most important message to me was how sometimes, when you went to the temple, Apollo had to decide whether he wanted to give you an oracle or not. Sometimes, you would wait all this time and wait in all these lines and you'd get rejected. It was thought that if you weren't given an oracle, you already had all the things at your disposal in order to make your own decisions. The messages from the oracle themselves would be a take it how you will sort of thing. The message may be insightful and perceptive only if you took it the right way but if you saw what you wanted in the message it was useless. In addition, Delphi was not only a sacred site for Apollo, the god of light, truth, and order, but for Dionysus, god of wine, parties, and excess. It's just a great contrast since the god of Order Apollo, who had a plaque that said "Nothing in Excess" would be worshiped next to the god of good times for all. Our guide related these things to how even though there was an oracle there was still a good amount of human will in these things. We could either take a message the way we wanted or not. We could either worship to different gods standing for different things. She said how in the end, we are still masters of our own destiny and we have choices that we take how we want. In this really ever changing part of my life, I really think this message required myself to think about where I am now. Maybe all I've just said is a load of crap. But long story short, I'm been having the time of my life, but at the same time I've been trying to soul search and really make some changes inside of me for the better. Changes that are long overdue and I need, because I'm not a child anymore. My actions have consequences. And my life is just beginning. It's exciting, scary, and full of potential. I don't want to make a bad decision and miss out. But yikes, all this adult stuff is so serious. I still have my inner child inside of me giving a bunch of good kicks. And that's good, because that's what makes my life interesting.

-C.C.