Gratitude and Thanks

My birthday was the day before Thanksgiving. Double alibi for overt sappiness.
November 21st was a pretty grand day, including birthday French toast, cupcakes, and cookies, eating out and watching movies. But moreover I felt the need to give some sort of Oscars-acceptance speech, thanking every person that's ever been in my life. Yes, even the annoying perverts on my bus that are literally the definition of world-suck, because they're the fuel for my short stories and my need to spread awesomeness in the world.
I woke up this morning on the couch after I'd watched a decent amount of John Hughes movies and my dad asked me how old I was. "84," I replied. "I just happen to look really good for my age. Old soul, Dad."
So now I'm listening to the hilarious commentary and advice of Ferris Bueller and trying to make a list of all that I'm thankful for, because at some age you just have to start getting really sentimental about things and people. I can't avoid it anymore. So...
A list of things I'm thankful for: 

-my family and friends, because they can appreciate my unique madness
-movies (Particularly of the comedic and Wes Anderson variety) & movie theaters
-excellent fictional characters
-words
-microwave popcorn
-New York City
-non-condescending adults/teachers
-Coke
-pizza
-music
-coffee
-J.K. Rowling, J.D. Salinger, and John Green for instilling a need to write and be madly in love with the world
And lastly the internet, because I can put my thoughts and endeavors out into the world without making eye contact. Also because I can stay in contact with people that are thousands of miles away.

Okay, I have to go eat lunch before I choke on all the love. Happy Thanksgiving, guys.

Thank you and Don't Forget To Be Awesome.

My Life is a Sitcom, Okay?

I can't remember a time in my childhood where my parents and I weren't watching sitcoms together. My early childhood spanned from the 90s to the early years of the new millenium, so we ended up watching a lot of Friends and Seinfeld at night. I think this early exposure to really excellent TV shows inspired a deep love for film in general.

I can't tell you how close the TV show Friends is to my heart. I know, that sounds really dramatic, but you have no idea how many nights I've spent eating ice creaming and yearning for those years when I'd live in an apartment in NYC with a bunch of quirky people. What's really special about Friends is that it doesn't  in any way romanticize or gloss over what life is like. That's what I love about all sitcoms-they're painting reality in a really sweet and humorous way. Now, I am a complete Chandler. I'm basically convinced that Chandler and I are the same person,"hopeless, awkward, and desperate for love". He's charming, witty, lovable, and goofy. It's a Chandler thing. Somehow my parents still think I'm a Ross.

Another TV show that I really love is The Office. Every character on there is hilarious and I would stand to work in an office if I were able to experience all the farces that these characters do. The parkour scene will always be a favorite of mine as well as the sweet relationship between Jim and Pam throughout the seasons. There are still days when I turn my face to the imaginary camera in my classes when someone says something unbearably stupid, Office-style.

There are always new comedic TV shows that I'm falling in love with: Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, The Mindy Project, amongst others. 

It's funny how many friendships of mine have started over a mutual love for TV shows, which I think is perfect. Great friendships and relations in general start from being able to laugh at the same things. I sometimes think that people want to seal my mouth shut with duct tape simply because of how many times I  make nerdy references (particularly to TV) in one day, but what can I say?

My life is a sitcom. 

Be The Change-TEDxYouth

"TED-ideas worth spreading". 

Through a night of networking with intellectual, bright young adults, listening to the eloquent speeches of high schoolers, and raiding the table of snacks, I had something of an epiphany. I like the word "epiphany"-that moment when an idea strikes you intensely and fiercely-but I don't necessarily believe in it. For me, ideas are things that gradually build up over time, but in this case, I'd never felt an idea hit me with such force.

I've always struggled with the idea of altruism. This is partly because I'm a little cynical and I have a hard time believing that people will do things solely for the benefit of someone besides themselves. Also because there's a certain sort of contempt that the word "altruism" displays. I've never been a fan of that holier-than-thou tone. But as I was listening to these teenagers talk about ways that they wanted to change the world, ways they were changing the world, my thoughts on altruism were changed. Maybe in giving people the things we never got, we can not only better their lives, but enhance our existence. 

I have a hard time talking about these things because of how vulnerable it makes me feel and the amount of sappiness I experience, but when you see someone just as vulnerable-well, I think that's liberating in a way. 

I don't want to get all philosophical here, because that would ensue an awful lot of vulnerability, but listening to those young adults speaking at the Princeton Public Library with such honesty and bareness was inspiring. Not only did it fill me up with that positive zeal that being around so many brilliant people does, but I got to meet so many interesting people! Each voice was so unique and special and I loved every minute of it. I also met a father who was from India who talked about how incredible it was to see the youth eager to change the world. He was always bobbing his head to music and nodded sincerely whenever the speakers talked. Possibly the sweetest person I've ever met. 

At the beginning of the event, we were asked to write down a dream of ours. It could be something small or something really grand, but it needed to be a dream we were committed to making happen. I decided my dream would be to change at least one person's life. Now, that sounds like something you'd read in a self-help book or hear in a rom-com, but I really meant it. I think we're constantly impacting each other, even in the smallest ways. I really love that, the idea that if we can all spread a little positivity, we can change the world. Did you know that one smile can cause the same amount of brain stimulation as eating 2,000 bars of chocolate? Not only that, but smiling is something contagious for humans. In theory, one smile could impact someone's life. 

In conclusion, TEDxYouth was a fantastic experience, what with the endless amount of donut holes and "light snacks" they were serving. We also got to hear an amazing a capella group sing a Regina Spektor song. REGINA SPEKTOR. A snazzy jazz band played for us too. It was perfect and left me feeling inspired and ready to write and have a coffee.

Revolutionary Voices reading

Ronak Trivedi giving his speech

How to Charm Your Teachers

As I've stated before, I'm currently writing a novel, which is scary and fun and chaotic. But mainly fun. Sharing writing is a nerve-wracking endeavor but, just like writing itself, feels so good after the coffee drinking-esque nervousness subsides. So here is a small snippet of chapter seven in my novel which is, as of now, still untitled. Enjoy. Or not. No pressure.

7. How To Charm You Teachers

I don’t know if I’m like, the Hermione Granger of my school or something, but all of my teachers adore me.* Like this morning, I was walking in to get some coffee from Dunkin Donuts and I saw my old tenth grade English teacher, Mr. Smyrna. If I hadn’t seen him, I would’ve made my way to work and sat through another boring day, listlessly checking in books. But when you’ve charmed a teacher and they see you in a coffee shop a year later, you end up staying behind half an hour and chatting with this humorous, unfairly handsome man.
There are a few pointers that I’d like to share with you to get to this point.

• Read books. Lots of them and especially the ones from the classic section. Teachers dig it when their students are lounging during class reading a copy of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Just make sure you've got a twentieth century American classic in hand, otherwise the lounging part is counterproductive.
• Be a respectful, studious wallflower. This one is pretty obvious, I mean, what teacher wants their students drawing caricatures of them and talking about last night’s episode of Jersey Shore in class?
• Even though you want to be respectful and studious and whatnot, you have to learn to walk that fine line between being coquettish and cheeky and being Daniel Tosh. You’ll learn as you go.
• Stay a little while after class and talk to your teacher. It could be a question about the assignment, a remark about how amazing their new haircut looks (although you should use this one sparingly, as they know how to spot out empty compliments which this one mostly likely will be), or a conversation about how wonderful Roger Ebert’s tweets are. Once you engage with your teacher, they’ll know you’re a sweet and saucy intellectual with fine taste that enjoys talking to elders.**
• Finally, be me. It’s that simple. This will one hundred percent guarantee you to win the heart of every teacher you meet. Every. One.

*With the exception of my French teacher. What can I say? French is hard, and she’s an angsty teacher that writes poetry in a notebook that's bigger than her head. And also my freshman history teacher, the one that wore Winne the Pooh sweaters-What do you mean Wikipedia isn’t a reliable source of information?!

**What? This isn’t you? Now would be a great time to fake it if you want that 4.0 GPA, honey.

Day 125: I wrote a novel once

I wrote a novel at age thirteen, what did you ever do?
You know when you're watching the Olympics, gawking at these teenage world-class athletes, thinking What the hell am I doing with my life? Yeah, not me. Because I wrote a novel last year at age thirteen and that's enough to make me feel more accomplished than a gold medal-winner in London.
I'm doing this crazy thing called NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. That's right, a month dedicated to writing a 50,000 word-novel in 30 days. What's more is that November is my birth month. Happy birthday to me.
So I'm sure you're just dying to know what I'm writing about, aren't you? Here is the premise:

Audrey is an observant, opinionated, and witty 16 year-old, working at a public library. Through her time working as a librarian there, she discovers the beauty of human relationships, missed connections, and working with very eccentric people. As an aspiring writer, Audrey catalogs her insights and experiences each night at midnight over coffee with her boyfriend, Michael and her best friend, Stella, soon realizing that these small trinkets and conversations she's having with people are leading to an interweaving mystery all of its own.
This is her story.

Intriguing, no? It's a very memoir-meets-fiction-meets-mystery novel type of deal. I resist all labels and genres. So far I'm doing swimmingly, at over 2000 words on day one and documenting ideas and inspiration sources in a nifty journal of mine. It's fun and insane and stressful and exhilarating all at once, which is why I love writing so much.
It's weird to think that in less than 30 days I'll have a novel. Brain 'splosion. And hurricane Sandy almost interfered with that. Don't frak with the Trinster.
Also, I've been writing small couplets and poems lately like this one:
Seventeen, sexy, severing you soliloquy.
They tell me that I'm wordy,
That lisps are for the nerdy.

Not sure where that one is going, but I like it. Pretty brill, right? Happy November, kids and Don't Forget To Be Awesome.