Tag: growing up

Breaking Standards, Savoring Irony

Leave a comment

hands free

They say we are young and restless, but some days that’s not how we feel. We are lost in a sea of loans and bills, looking out at the stars with all their glimmering cheer. We dream of places far away, our thirst unquenched, our fears unlisted.

We want to go places but we know we can’t fly. We are tied to the puppeteer, but we always want to dance. Time is unknown, just something we’ve heard of.

We are easily inspired with a fleeting desire that gets lost in the city lights.

– Cristina Nogueras ©

city lights

 

Photo Credits:

http://enjoythefood.tumblr.com/post/69846548946

http://parisfog.tumblr.com/post/69743392968

Advertisement

On buying houses and other things I am not ready for…

Leave a comment

I keep saying I’m poor. I know this is an exaggeration, true poverty implies the absence of many things that I am truly blessed to have. That being clear, I need to coin a new phrase for my financial state.

Anyways, last night I was watching House Hunters for the first time. For those of you who do not know, House Hunters is a TV show from HGTV in which people are looking to buy houses, rent apartments or anything along those lines. Let me tell you, I know nothing about real estate.

I’ve been really lucky with finding my past three living arrangements (in New York City and in Hoboken). Well, lucky minus the fact that one of those places flooded. I’ve been happy with my first choices during the hunting process and I’ve been lucky to have everything approved when needed. I obviously rent my place. I am in no way ready or even capable of purchasing a home.

While watching House Hunters, instead of feeling inspired like my roommate did, I felt a wave of panic cursing through my body. How do people have thousands and thousands of dollars just laying around ready to be invested into a property? Oh yeah, I guess it’s called saving and making good life decisions. Well, I’m sorry that I’m too busy trying to pay off my student loans and trying to make it in New York City.

Conclusion, if I’m purchasing any property soon, it will be a plastic house for my future puppy… and even that is a far stretch.

5 Things I did NOT learn in college

Leave a comment

It’s been a year and a half since I graduated college. Let me tell you, it was not the easiest of transitions. Doing the whole grown-up thing is not easy and every month when I have to pay my student loans I can’t help but think of all the things I did NOT learn in college. Sure, I got an awesome education, but sometimes it’s about the little things. I can keep a list going on forever, but here are a few of the things I did not learn in college.

1. Who to CC in an email – Carbon copying in an email is a hidden art (Yes, Carbon Copy is what CC stands for). It takes real skill to get it just right. When used properly, CC can become the sweetest form of passive aggressiveness you can use.

2. How to do my taxes – Seriously, I need to give away more money… why? Thank God for TurboTax. I would not have survived my first taxing season without it and would have probably ended up in jail.

3. How to manage people’s expectation of hanging out every single day – “I’m sorry, I can’t do happy hour every single day and no, I can’t hang out every single week with you either. I have other friends and honestly, we are not that close anyways.” It’s hard to stay in touch with people, even if they live in the same city than you do. There’s always a lot going on and even though you wish to meet up with people all the time, there’s just not enough time (or money). How do you manage people’s feelings and your sanity? I did not learn that in college either.

4. How to save money – Don’t let this one be confused with “how to eat frugally”, that one I got down in college pretty easily and I’m still practicing it today (thank you Campbell’s). I’m talking about straight up saving for life, like for puppies and stuff. I thank my lucky stars that I found Mint.com, keeping it real and crushing my wanderlust dreams one personal budget report at a time.

5. How to cope with 10 vacation days a year – This one is hard and honestly, I’m still working with it. Make the most of the weekends? Spread your vacations throughout the year? Print out a beach landscape for your desk? Not really sure what’s the solution for this one, suggestions welcomed.

Feel free to comment and add on more things to this list. I know college was great, but let’s face it: it’s a tough world out here.

Monday Terrors: I’m not getting any younger…

Leave a comment

It was a Monday night. Happiness meant taking a shower with a new shower gel that was on sale at CVS, life was good. I was casually shaving my legs when I found what I’m pretty sure were little veins near the area of my knee. Yes, little veins like the kind you see in people that are old (no offense).

I FREAKED out. I had already found a strand of white hair a few weeks back, but this was twice as horrifying. Is this normal?! I started to see my life flashing by, memories of my youth slipping away from my fingers, and not just because they were soapy.

That’s it, I’m old.

To add a little more spice to this dramatic scene, I’ve been watching a show called Fringe. This TV show presents some pretty crude scientific experiments with graphic images of poisonous slugs and unnatural human reactions to chemicals and all that cute stuff. Why I keep watching this show is beyond me, but that’s the second thought that went through my mind when I saw the little veins. “I’ve been experimented on and now my body is truly reacting to it!”

After a few minutes of freaking out and talking to myself like a crazy person, I went on with my life. A few hours later, I realized the little veins were not that marked as before and it looks like it might have been a combination of hot water and my imagination. Yes, that is my medical analysis of my situation.

So there it is, life is short and we are not getting any younger. Have fun, eat yummy food and invest on your 401K.

Was Rome really built in one day? Is the world really my oyster?

Leave a comment

Patience.

Patience is a virtue.

Patience is the science of peace.

Rome wasn’t built in one day. (How long did it actually take? Hmm.)

I’ve noticed that time is passing by quicker now that I’m established at work and it’s been a year and a half since I graduated college (seems so much more far away). That’s both a good and a bad thing. It’s great because I can see results faster in some areas of my life and things that I look forward to also arrive quicker. It’s bad because that means opportunities can also pass by too quick for me to notice them.

Right now I feel like the world is really my oyster, whatever that means. I want to embrace every single opportunity, yet I scramble to focus on finishing an article. I want to be a triple threat and I’ve realized that I need patience to be able to achieve everything and anything I’m currently thinking of.

Why am I so impatient?

I did not learn French in one day, it took four years worth of classes. Yet, I downloaded an application to teach myself German and I got frustrated after three days. What’s up Cristina?! Also, why German? No clue, just felt like learning German one day.

Patience.

That’s all I need. That’s why I keep writing here, overflowing these pages with my rambling thoughts and rookie photography attempts. Baby steps of a 23-year old, that’s what I should have called this blog.

Patience, young grasshopper, patience.

Butterflies don’t live that long

3 Comments

Growing up is tough.

You need to improvise every single day. There’s no instruction manual, no chicken soup for the soul… it’s all ramen. It’s like you know what you need to do, what the right path is, but the process of realizing it and coming to terms with it is a whole different story.

It’s easy to lose perspective or lose sight of the road when there are so many distractions around you, so many other lives around you happening simultaneously. It can be scary, and I’m not saying that just because it’s almost Halloween.

You learn to smile and talk to people, lives connect and your network of people grows every day. But at the end of the day, who’s there for you? Who will come help you kill an unidentified bug at your apartment, who will help you choose that gift you can’t decide on, who will happily receive all of your careless selfies, who will answer the phone when stress overwhelms you?

As we grow up we become more like social butterflies, we fly around all colorful meeting people all over. But think about it, butterflies don’t live that long.

Who’s gonna be there at the end of the day?  

The thrill of the ride: “Toto, I have a feeling I’m not 10 anymore”

2 Comments

sixflags

Maybe I’m getting old.

I know, I’m being ridiculous, I’m only 23 years old. The best years are yet to come, right? That’s what people keep saying so I’m gonna hold on to that.

Last weekend I visited Six Flags Great Adventure and after about five years, I got back on a roller coaster. Maybe it was that the first roller coaster I chose was a little weird since you had to stand throughout the ride or maybe it was that I’m getting old… but it was NOT pleasant. I kept feeling pain in my back, I was anxious and I thought I was going to die. I kept making up scenarios on my head of my safety bar being released and me jetting out to the sky and landing flat on my face.

What is wrong with me?

Not that I was this fearless little girl before, by no means. You are talking to the girl that used to be scared of electrical stairs, believe me there’s a story behind it, I had my reasons. But at least before I would think less of the consequences and focus more on the thrill of the ride.

Now, if you are worrying about me thinking that this poor young lady threw away her money at Six Flags, don’t you worry child, I had a blast. I made a little mantra telling myself that it was going to be alright, that if everyone else was doing it, why couldn’t I? I also released all of my worries and enjoyed the ride for what it was… a thrill.

I think riding roller coasters should be a form of therapy. You can scream without being judged (well, at least that’s what I want to believe), you can let go and enjoy the thrill without worrying about anything else because for that short period of time, you are suspended into the air, part of a wave and you don’t need to control anything… you can be free.

Sounds amazing and liberating right? It is, until you get out and see your picture on the screen and notice you looked more like a frightful chicken than a human being.