Thumbin' My Way to North Caroline ♫

         And she embarks on yet another road trip! (Though I won't be hitch-hiking, as the title suggests.)

         Waking up with the sun tomorrow and headed down the East Coast to see some states I've never seen before.

         Looking forward to the stack of CDs I just burned, with classics...The Marvelettes, Beatles, Talking Heads, Jackson 5, Franki Valli, Tina Turner, The Supremes. And then some slightly more modern hits, Tom Petty, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Kooks, Michael Franti, The 88...and so much more.     

         My mother informed me that our diet will consist of diet coke and pretzels (I need to get my gluten levels up before my test next week. Ugh...) But I stocked up on some veggies, since I'm practically addicted to baby carrots these days.

         I'll be sure to update whenever I get wifi. If you don't hear from me for a while, maybe it's because I got stuck staring at the world's largest ball of yarn, or some other crazy pit stop down I-95.

         While you anxiously await my next post, listen to these... a few of my classic driving songs.

Because it's just so good. 

Becoming a bit too obsessed with this song this summer. 

 A bit of a downer, but I love it nonetheless

Got this one from the movie You Me and Dupree.
Pretty good, and definitely more upbeat than that last one.

OK, now I need some beauty rest. 

Ciao, 

TB

Keep Hold of Your Royal Flush

        He may have spoken truths. But just how true those truths were, she didn't expect to find out. First she thought in circles, tightly bound in the pits of her stomach. Then she let her thoughts run in lines again. She let them prance onto pages of notebooks and note cards. She signed them and placed them in envelopes, then hid them to be found as treasures later on. Mindful treasure that would serve as a document of history. Her face flushed when she read documents from years past; these too, will draw smiles one day.

        She isn't a fool. She believed in everything at first, because she had to. Then she realized how silly it is to latch onto the words of anyone else, because words are not solid. They represent, in their purest form, ambiguity. Interpretation. These qualities make language fun, but unreliable, and hurtful at times. She listens now, nods and smiles, but does little else. After all, life is a game of cards and she's been dealt a solid hand. But she'll be wise to hold onto her hearts until the outcome is for certain. She can't afford to gamble.

Stair Stepper (pt 2)

Continuation of a June 26 post: [Part 1]


          To say that 12 years of school can be put on one staircase would not be entirely accurate. For, within that time we make many little leaps. We leap from the dependence of our parents around age 10 or 11. At this time, we’re suddenly expected to feed ourselves and stay home on our own. We leap into the greater social world in high school. Society trusts us to operate cars, be hired into paid positions, and vote. Our hands aren’t glued to the railing, which moves at the same pace as the self-climbing steps (keep in mind, we stand on an escalator, not a stationary staircase). We are expected to rely less on that guard as time progresses, for eventually we’re on a stairwell with no glass protection around it, no railing to cling to. Nothing but years of airspace to fall into surrounds us in our adult years. Therefore, we must gain our independence early on, when safety nets still exist, to ensure our readiness. 

            As one might imagine, all of these stair-machines can generate a lot of stress in society. When you look at the steps your peers accomplish, at the ground your parents cover, at the levels your idols have succeeded, you feel pressured to walk faster, to climb harder. But when do your calves give in? When have you reached your final height? Is it even possible to reach the top?