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ejridener

~ "This above all; to thine own self be true." – Hamlet, William Shakespeare.

ejridener

Tag Archives: personal

30-day writing challenge: Day 24

25 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by ejridener in Challenge, College, Life, Uncategorized

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Tags

challenge, College, friends, high school, personal, television, The Office, writing

Day 24: Write about a lesson you learned the hard way

You always hear adults say “enjoy it while you can” as you’re “struggling” through high school. The first taste of real life is choosing which college you’ll attend when you graduate. I don’t know that I really took the time to enjoy those days as I should have.

I hated high school. It’s not exactly as if I had a stereotypical misfit story but it was close enough. I wasn’t sporty because I have no coordination and trip over my feet walking. I didn’t dress like every body else because I hate bright colors and I listening to the type of music that is best played at an eardrum rupturing level. I was in the “smart” crowd and most teachers liked me because they never had to keep and eye on me.

Now? I started working a week before my freshmen year of college started and have been going like the Energizer Bunny ever since. The first semester of college was rough and I remember sinking onto the couch on my few days of no school or work and passing out mid-text to my boyfriend at the time. I did well that semester and the ones to follow but there are times, oh there are times, when I feel like my head will explode from the amount of school work that’s piles up. I’ve found I function best with roughly four hours of sleep.

Andy Bernard, "The Office."

Andy Bernard, “The Office.”

I wish I could go back to those simpler days and enjoy having time. Now when I want to catch up on a television I’ve missed a few episodes of I have to plan it carefully around an essay’s due date or an exam. If I want to hang out with friends the situation becomes a play-offs style game of phone hockey where the victory is finally finding a day, two weeks later, when everybody is off from school and work.

I guess learning things the hard way is what makes you appreciate those things so much more. Now all I have to do is figure out when the good old days are happening so I enjoy them while I’m still there.

30-day writing challenge: Day 23

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by ejridener in Art, Challenge, Travel, Uncategorized

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Tags

abroad, art, cat, challenge, dog, future, goth, personal, rescue, Tim Burton, writing

Day 23: A letter to someone, anyone

It’s a high school cliché to do this but why not? I’ve decided to write a letter to my future self seeing as I’m young and full of ideas and dreams that will likely fall to the wayside when life gets in the way.

Dear Future Self,

I swear if you turned into a square I will be so pissed.

Remember when things were much simpler? Back in the day in elementary school when you chose your friends based on whether they liked NSYNC or The Backstreet Boys? When you didn’t have to worry about bills? When you dreamed of traveling the world and taking enough pictures to fill a room’s worth of photo albums? Or when you swore to be the eccentric aunt who taught her nephew how to draw and cling to imagination because at the end of the day that’s one of the few things that we will always have.

Taken right after I had the dark teal peek-a-boo highlights put in.

Taken right after I had the dark teal peek-a-boo highlights put in.

Hopefully, you didn’t forget. I do hope you’ve traveled the world and filled each of the 22 slots in your memory card carrying case. I hope you choose friends based on whether they watch Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. I hope you don’t worry about bills because you always pay them in a timely manner rather than at the last second. Finally, I hope Austin receives a scholarship to an art school because his talent and passion is so great.

Mostly, I hope you’re happy. Maybe living somewhere you’d never thought you’d visit or working for a magazine you’d thought was out of reach. Maybe there’s a guy, maybe there isn’t. But there better not be any cats; I forbid you. Rescue a dog.

Consider this a wake-up call from the ghost of your former self. The person looking through the window during a thunderstorm. The dreamer whose only surgery has been wisdom teeth removal. The student who hates partying and only drinks when curled up in front of her Macbook. The aunt who declares Wednesday a no-go for working because it’s the day she spends with her little man. The artist whose hair is black with dark teal peek-a-boo highlights. The Goth who goes to the grocery store looking like a Tim Burton character because she loves to turn the J.C. Penny loving housewife’s heads. And lastly, the writer who types for life.

Stay weird,

2015 Emily J Ridener

P.S. Seriously, if you have a cat there’s no hope for my future.

30-day writing challenge: Day 17

18 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by ejridener in Challenge, College, Life, Uncategorized

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Tags

academic, Aquarius, behavior, challenge, heritage, honesty, Irish, loyal, personal, physical, writing, zodiac, zodiac sign

Day 17: Post about your zodiac sign and whether or not it fits you

I’m guilty of being one of those people who will click on the Facebook posts boasting “What does your sign say about you?” and “Are you the correct sign?” mostly because I laugh at how I usually can fit into more than one zodiac’s description. I was born in the beginning of February therefore am an Aquarius. I looked through a few different zodiac sites and settles on Zodiac Signs Meanings (real original, huh?) and have screenshot the breakdown of “Aquarius Sun,” “General Behavior” and “Physical Features.”

Screen Shot 2015-06-14 at 4.08.16 PMSimple? More like complex.
Honest and loyal? I would say so.
Artistic and poetic? Please refer to a previous post about wanting to originally going to art school.
Highly intelligent and unhappy? Well, I belong to a few honor societies, have a drawer of academic certificates and am gloomy rather than unhappy.
Unlucky and unsuccessful? Hm, my “luck of the Irish” seems to be null and I wouldn’t say unsuccessful seeing as I’m a great student.
Medium height and rare faculties? I am a bit vertically challenged and definitely go to the beat of my own drum.

Screen Shot 2015-06-14 at 4.07.53 PMI’d say I’m a strong-willed, honest and systematic. Orderly? Please, I have folders for my folders. I do have a dry sense of humor and tend to try and see things from other’s perspectives. People don’t think I’m a loner; I am a loner, no thinking required. Yes, I also stay far away from the crowd but I don’t think I’m egotistical, if anything I have a low self-esteem.

Screen Shot 2015-06-14 at 4.08.04 PM

My Facebook photo, taken just under a year ago.

My Facebook photo, taken just under a year ago.

Yes, I have a high forehead (thanks dad) but there is nothing “chiseled” about my features. Oval face and average height but far from a slender figure. My eyes are a light blue but I wouldn’t say they have a dreamy quality and my nose is not exactly what I would call average. I don’t have dimples or inflated eyelids.

At the end of my assessment of the qualities/traits of being an Aquarius I’d say zodiac signs are worth a grain of salt. I know some people put a lot into it and that’s fine but I don’t think I’ll be checking my horoscope daily and living by what it tells me.

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