Dream Girl and Years Later

I sat in front of my acting for non-majors class after my improv listening to my professor critique me. He asked me "Have you ever had a girl you liked a lot? A dream girl?" This question was supposed to help me create a more emotional scene without the intention to throw my mind in a frenzy.

I can say I have liked a girl so much to the point where I can identify her as my dream girl. I remember the day I met her. I was playing basketball with my friends at a park during my freshman year of high school when she walked by. My friend called out to her and asked if she wanted to bring a volleyball and play with us. She lived nearby and said okay. That was the first time I met her. Didn't give off a good first impression since I am terrible at volleyball. Lucky for me she went to my school. I happened to walk by her in the hallway weeks later and we sort of recognized each other. We confirmed that we met at the park once.

It all unraveled from there. I remember writing a Valentine's Day card for her my sophomore year. I remember panicking all day before I finally gave it to her at the end of the day. Our lockers happened to be near each other. I knew she wasn't interested in me. But I still gave her that card. We didn't speak much afterwards. I sort of moved on, but she was still in the back of my mind.

I don't recall talking to her at all my junior year. I never had any classes with her (and I never did in all four years of high school). But we did have ninth period free our senior year. We hung out with a group of mutual friends every ninth period on Tuesdays I believe. I was pretty sure she forgot about the Valentine's card or at least didn't care anymore. Though I say I got over her, I still liked her. I remember she was having a difficult time with prom. She was waiting for this guy to ask her. I gathered up my guts and asked her if she would go with me if he didn't ask her. She gave me this amazing smile and said yes. Though I felt bad since this guy is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and I want to apologize to him for the pain I've caused him even after all these years. He wanted to go with her but he didn't want to burden her since he couldn't dance. She's an amazing dancer. Anyways, I ended up going to prom with her and that will probably go down as the biggest highlight of my high school life.

I wanted to ask her out. But she fell out of contact afterwards. Half the blame should go to me for not trying harder. But things happen. We still keep in touch now and then. She has a boyfriend now. And I am truly happy for her.

I can now say I have gotten over her. Sure, deep down in my heart, she will still be my dream girl from high school. I will always hold on to that. Even after all these years. But the clock is ticking and my mom won't stop nagging.

So when my professor asked if I ever had a dream girl, I just nodded.

Mornings and Happiness

Not a morning person? Neither am I. I'm impressed by people who can wake up early and not be a grouch. For me, the morning starts when I have to get up (unless it's 3 PM...then my day is just lost). I rarely have good mornings because I try to get in as much sleep as humanly possible. I time everything. I give myself the bare minimum amount of time to get to class (or wherever else I'm going) to ensure I get the maximum amount of sleep that I can.

With that said, it's no wonder I'm a grouch in the morning. I hurry myself to the point that I need to rush to places (habit of a New Yorker?). At those moments, I cannot tolerate anything or anyone inhibiting my journey to said destination.

All that aside, here are some tips I have found to be helpful to myself to have a great morning that carries out throughout the day:

• Reward your stomach and taste buds. That's the least you can do for wrenching your body out of your nice, cozy bed and into the frigid air outside of your blanket. Normally I don't have breakfast due to the lack of time. I indulge in double the lunch to make up for it. But breakfast is amazing when it's not cereal and milk. I've had the pleasure of having waffles with ice cream today. I apologize Elizabeth for not mentioning this while I devoured my waffles. But a warm waffle goes with ice cream like ketchup on eggs. IT'S DELICIOUS. While the coldness of the ice cream is still fresh in your mouth, drink a hot cup of coffee. You can thank me later.
• Reconnect with good music. I usually just listen to the same playlist on my iPod while I go wherever I'm going. That's basically just house/electronic/dubstep/anything that makes me want to dance. However, there are days when I decide to just hit shuffle on all my songs. I surprise myself with songs that come up. While I was walking back from class, one of my favorite songs of all time came up: "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson. Instantly made me smile.
• Listen to new songs. Enough said.
• Smile. It's free therapy. Someone told me you can improve your mood by just smiling. It's true. I get happy watching other people be happy. When someone else is genuinely smiling, I smile too. I watch videos of soldiers returning home to an unexpected family. Everyone bursts into tears of joy and I'm smiling like an idiot to myself. It makes me happy to be a human being. That or watching Jamar Rogers' reaction when Cee Lo turned his chair around for him on The Voice. Happiness can be contagious, even if it's through a computer screen.
• Most importantly, don't rush yourself. It's nice to just walk at your own comfortable pace and enjoy the things around you. When you're in a hurry to be somewhere, the journey becomes that much less enjoyable. You're constantly worried about the little things that can delay you. Go to sleep earlier so you can wake up earlier.

I really need to follow my own advice, especially on the last one there. But I'm a procrastinator. I work most efficiently against the clock. Old habits are hard to break.