Letter to Best Friend

Dear Best Friend,
I've known you all through college. You were my first college friend. You always have it so together, even when you don't. You don't let other people's bullshit and drama get to you, but you do your own thing. I miss freshman year when we all would hang out and bitch about my roommate, or watch Animal Planet because I had the TV, and Kate was never there. We had the best prank wars going on. We put ALL of Phoebe's shoes in the ceiling. In. The. Ceiling. She didn't find her boots until near the end of the year. I remember I took Fatso and sent you a ransom text of him in my fridge. I could hear you yell from your room. It was hilarious. Also, you and Nicole wrapped me to my bed while I was sleeping. That was MY idea, and I still found it hilarious.

Then sophomore year we got to live together. That was awesome. I got to hate on Tyler, you threw stuff at him when he wouldn't let you(us) sleep. There were multiple threats of phone-into-river-throwing. :] I never regretted living with you. I built you that ship when you were gone one weekend. That was a fun time!

Junior year you moved off campus, and I started to see less of you. I mean we'd still have classes together so it wasn't so bad. I loved your house. The ruggers were a nice bunch of girls and I always felt welcome there. You got that adorable cat too! And had to flea bomb your house numerous times. The summer following we both applied for the same job on the school farm. You got it and I didn't. I was so devastated, I don't think you ever knew. I loved you, and wanted to be happy you got a job, but I was so mad I didn't get it. I started to hate you a little bit. It was a bit of love-hate. The kind you have with family.

This year you moved again, and first semester I had a class with you everyday! What joy. I had missed you over the summer. Jealousy still happened when you'd go to the farm with A or C or S. We kind of don't run in the same circles anymore. Sometimes I just feel like you don't need to be friends with me, you just ARE for some reason.

Anyways, that's just a very abridged take on our 4 year friendship.

Yours,
Abby.

I remember.

I remember always enjoying the fact that your best friend's name was Brooke too. I remember you were down to earth, funny and kind. I remember going over to your house, and you showed me your turkey feathers. I think it was from the first one you ever shot. You were a wonderful person, and I can't think of a single person that didn't like you.

I remember being in yearbook with you. It was a fun class, and you and Brooke, and Magenta and I, we always goofed off, but got our work done. I think the videos that you and Brooke made of you two lip-syncing in front of Magenta and I are still around, probably on facebook. I remember the senior bonfire, where we danced because Rob didn't want to. We laughed, and had fun celebrating high school together.

I remember the senior show we were in together. 30 Reasons Not to be in a Play. So funny. The entire cast was great, and you were a part of that. Going back through pictures from high school, I remember how fun, and happy you always were.

College came. You went to Husson, I went to UMO. We weren't terribly far from each other, but I didn't drive then. I remember taking a bus to Husson to see you when we were freshmen. I think it was the first and last time I was on the Husson campus. Since then, we really didn't chat much. I always figured there would be another time. I guess not.

I remember finding out you were gone. Even though I hadn't talked to you in ages, it still hit me hard. How could such a thing happen to such a good, kind, sweet person like you? I was in disbelief. That sort of thing couldn't happen to someone I knew. Every time I see your picture, it twists the knife in my heart, and I remember that I'll never get to see you at our class reunion. I'll never get to see pictures of your graduation on facebook, nor pictures of your future kids. Yours was a life cut too short.

Consequently, I want people to remember who you were, and how you were a beacon of light in every life you touched. I want people to remember to try to stay in touch with people in your life, because you never really know how much time you or they have left. And I want people to remember.

So I was thinking...

Today I got to thinking. Damn. I'm a junior in college, and all I've ever really done with my life, and I mean EVER really done, is go to school. From the time I was probably 4 or 5 years old, I've been in some form of school. Preschool. Then elementary, middle and high school. Now I'm in college. And looking forward a year, I'm almost done. And I have no idea what I'm going to do afterwards.

It's terrifying, to say the least. How are we supposed to know what to do after 16 years of education? You can be told what it's like, but I'd be willing to bet that it's nothing like how any of us expect it to be. That's always how it seems to turn out. In the 6th grade, we were told that middle school was going to 'kick it up a notch', then that high school was even harder. That the teachers wouldn't be there to hold our hands. And yet, I found that it was quite not the case. Teachers continued to care about our education. They wanted us to do well. I can think of a few that truly wanted to teach, and to have all their students excel. My physics teacher was one of the most inspirational teachers I've had. So was my American History teacher from high school. They were both so involved in getting their students to think, but I digress. When we graduate from high school, everyone tells us that college is going to be ten times harder than high school was. But in reality, it isn't. It's just different. Some of the professors couldn't care less whether or not you do the homework, or pass the tests or even if you come to class. But some of them do. Some care greatly about their students' successes. There's more time in a college student's life. And I know that I for one can't always handle that. I get bored and restless. I sometimes even miss high school. Ha, what a notion.

College is what you want it to be. You choose your classes, you choose the amount of effort you put in to your education and you choose whether or not you see it through to the end. Then when it's over, what do you do? I don't know yet. And it's scary not knowing where I'll be going in a year. But I'm hoping that wherever I go, I'll be happy in it and hopefully it will have something to do with my major. Otherwise, it would seem that I've wasted 4 years of my life, won't it?

I guess that's all for today.Or tonight rather. Maybe tomorrow will hold more answers.

-A

Update!

Hey everyone.
And by everyone, I mean the few people that actually read this. :P

I know it's been quite a while since the last time I posted something here, and for that I'm sorry. I've been moving around a lot and internet hasn't been as reliable as it used to be. All that aside, I've got some fun stuff for you!

I've been on imgur a lot lately, and I found out only today that it's pronounced imager, not im-jur. Who knew? I also found out that to get into the gallery, you have to share your image, and get people to load the image in their browser. So...Click my links!
http://i.imgur.com/68bFJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2nBnu.jpg
and
http://i.imgur.com/a2oMN.jpg

Now that that's all over, I'd like to take a moment, and ask you to share this blog with your friends. And if you have any feedback on the overall 'design' (and I use that term loosely, I know this is hardly a well thought out blog with an overlying theme), feel free to comment here or talk to me directly about it.

My how the years have flown.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you just start to realize how far you've come in life? I mean I'm only 20 and I feel like I'm getting old. People I went to elementary school are starting to have kids and get married. It's ridiculous. But I guess that's just how the world works these days. The world we live in today is a strange place. It's ever-changing and it's kind of terrifying in a way. No one knows where we're headed as a nation, as a society or as a planet. When we were kids, we didn't really know or care. It wasn't a world of cell phones and internet. It was a world of go outside and play kickball, or read a book. When I was a kid, I'd play outside til y mum yelled for me to come in, or I got too cold from the snow. I'd go to the library and take out as many books as I could, and read forever. And if one of my friends called, it wasn't for any reason other than to just say hey. And 'just saying hey' would turn into the funniest 2 hour conversation about nothing. Those were simpler times. And I for one, miss them. 

December!

Whoa. It's December again!

So November went by in a breeze of words, punctuation, sleeplessness and a few snow flurries. And to be honest, I didn't finish NaNoWriMo D:

So, you know. I've failed you. But that's okay, because we both know that I'm darn awesome anyways. ^_^

I've also started a different blog that is more situated towards comics that I hope to draw and those take-a-picture-of-yourself-everyday-cuz-you-think-it-makes-you-so-cool things.  Keep an eye out for it.
Link: BOOOM!

NaNoWriMo!

AHHHH! We are just shy of 12 hours before the official beginning of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo! How very super exciting. I knew you'd agree. This year, I'm making a deal with myself, that if I can finish this 50,000 word novel in November, I'mma get it bound into a manuscript. And it'll be awesome.

Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped, and what not. I also know that I'm going to go at least mildly crazy this month, but that's a-ok with me. The first week is gunna be a toughie I think, because I have three tests this week, and one next week. O: I'll manage, I always do.

Lastly, if you'd like to make a donation to the Office of Letters and Light, there's a link somewhere around here.
 Oh look! Here it is!

Any questions or ideas? Leave them in comments below or find me on Facebook.