A Tale of Two Kitties (Plot Twist: One of Them is a Rabbit)

If I were to give a State of the Union address during my Fall Break on Haverford Campus, I probably would have included my frustrations with my living situation. Here’s the thing: I was being completely spoiled by m wonderful mentor. She was letting me stay in her house, use her kitchen and her laundry machine (that was NOT coin operated), and generally exist in her personal area as opposed to my very empty hall in Barclay. The only catch? I was responsible for her two pets: a cat named Pip and a rabbit named Hector.

Aftermath of the Honeymoon Phase

They say that when you start a new relationship, there's a Honeymoon Phase. Basically, all relationships begin with this sort of courting mentality where both parties are attempting to be their better selves in order to impress the other. And for a few months, both parties are blissfully in love with the other because wow this new person is so great and I love this person so much.

And honestly, the Honeymoon Phase is one of the best parts of a relationship. It's fun and exciting, and getting to explore a new person is a whole new kind of adventure. But eventually, things settle down. You kind of understand the other person - you know their pressure points, their insecurities, you know about their favorite childhood pet and whether or not they like onions on their burgers. But one of the biggest changes that occur is that when people start to get comfortable with another person, they stop trying to impress them all the time. 

This is where the Honeymoon Phase can cause problems.

Lessons in Love from the Resident Hopeless Romantic

Hello there, beautiful readers that I've been imagining this entire time. Today, I'm going to talk about love. And I definitely mean the knock-your-socks-off, I-Wanna-Hold-Your-Hand ballad-worthy kind of love that begins with fireworks and ends with the rest of the universe.

Christmas Problems: Why this is my favorite AND my least favorite holiday.

Christmas. Even if you aren't Christian, you probably celebrate it at least a little bit. It has become the secular symbol of consumerism, and unfortunately, I am played HARDEST by the corporations who want my money.

My issue is simple. I simply have NO sense of money management when Christmas rolls around. It's absolutely ridiculous. Any other time of the year, I am hard-pressed to buy ANYTHING because I am the most frugal, penny-saving freak you will ever meet.

The Two Most Important Lessons I Have Learned

This past August, my life changed. I don't remember exactly what made me sign up for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES), but I do remember being excited about it for months on end. I remember getting other people involved, and I remember going into the official GISHWHES chat room and making friends with every poor, unsuspecting soul in there. (And for the record; I made TONS of friends that way and it was possibly one of the coolest parts about GISHWHES.)

The big week finally rolled around, and it was insanity. Night after night, I slaved away. I did things I never expected to find myself doing (which is kind of the point). I cried tears of frustration over making a bikini out of tea bags. I build Big Ben out of the books in our library. I made a pad and tampon giraffe with Tatiana, and then we put the fabulous thing in many strange positions trying to get the perfect photo to send to Misha.

And then, I hugged so many people, helping to break a world record of hugs. I sent complements to people I'm not terribly close to over Twitter. I wrote a letter to a soldier. I did things that just made me happy. I got so many responses with the Twitter complements; people I never expected to have much to say about me came back and told me that I had inspired them in one way or another or even just retweeted it. And that was it. I didn't get revered as a saint, I didn't receive any kind of amazing kindness or miracle or anything like that. But I honestly brightened some days. Maybe not everyone cared, but at the very least, I was able to be honest with some people who I didn't get to talk to very much and I was able to make some people smile. That was the best feeling, and I was pumped all day because of it.

That's the lesson I learned. Well, one of two important lessons that kind of go together.

1) You create your own stories. So many times, we lead boring lives. We have dreams of changing the world, or doing the impossible, etc. These dreams come from an early age, possibly at a time before we understand how hard it is to be special in a world where everyone competes for it. But I learned something about being special: it doesn't just happen to you. You don't just wake up an extraordinary human being with all kinds of facets to your personality that make others envy you. The truth is; most of us are boring. But that's totally up to us. We have the power to try new things, to travel, to hone our talents into skills, to craft new things, to learn new things. We have the ability to be people we never thought we could be. With GISHWHES, I was told to throw myself out of my comfort zone and to try new things. In doing that, I learned to be brave and ultimately, to move the things you never thought yourself to be capable of to the TOP of your to-do list. It was the best lesson I could ever have learned, and months later, I'm still doing just that.

2) The best way to be happy is to make other people happy. I swear on my life, this is the only drug worth having. "Happiness" is such a fragile thing; it will often not come all at once and once it does, it's easy to lose. But it is infectious. It is lovely and wonderful. It's like having the essence of Christmas morning in you. And so many people don't understand how to make themselves feel that. But I found the way, or at least the way that works for me. Make other people happy. Practice radical hospitality. The best, most fulfilling moment of GISHWHES was easy for me to pick out: the Twitter complements. It was because with such a simple act, something that took hardly ten minutes, I brightened some days. I felt good about myself. I was totally happy. GISHWHES encourages you to do everything you can to help others and to be the person that people need around just to spread cheer and make things brighter. My personal quote that I constantly tell myself is to "be the sunshine in someone's life". And it's difficult. Sometimes the last thing I want to do is have a smile on my face, but doing that usually makes me feel better, and maybe it makes other people feel better, too. I don't know. I might never know if the things I do truly make a difference. But I know now, because of GISHWHES, that the only way to make a difference is to try.

As my personal hero, Andrew DuCote / (Speiling) Peter Pan would say: Keep Adventuring and Stay Not A Grown-Up!

- Erica Kriner

The Youth Service Fund @ Spring Rally

So, if you haven't read my previous posts, then you might not know that I am heavily involved in my church. I have spent the past couple of years being the Youth Service Fund Chair over the Southeast District, and this past school year was when I finally got to plan this stuff out myself. And let me tell you - I had big goals.

Ideas and Activism

Imagine it: An organization that houses the homeless, puts them through a job-training course and finds them work. Or, in another universe, an organization geared towards helping kids find their passion - something to keep them away from alcohol and drugs and other things that they often do in fits of boredom or when they reach low points. These are my dreams; my causes that I am passionate about. And I have many others, but I feel like my organization could contribute much to these particular issues.

Self-Improvement and Deduction

Recently, I have decided that my goal for self-improvement is to work on things that I have always been bad at/never thought I could do. That is the thinking that spurred my endeavors into art, and look at how well that has turned out for me!