Being a college-ian is having a very strange effect on me.
I think it’s the fact that when I was in primary school, to my naive mind, college seemed impossible to get to, but now I’m actually here. I’m attending college. The supposedly impossible has already happened. It’s still slightly awkward. It’s not easy to feel like yourself when the company you keep is bursting with intelligence and/or talent. Everyone seems to be outstanding in some way, looks or otherwise, besides yourself. I’m not emo-ing! I know that with some time, I’m going to find a routine and slip into it, and then everything will be okay. It’ll all happen in its own time and way.
But I’m not here to talk about college. I’m here to talk about what being a college-ian made me do today.
The day was being boring. It all started with me opening up Windows Live Writer and finding out that I had nothing, for the second consecutive day, to blog about. So I shut the laptop and went outside, and instead of reading like I planned to (see my Twitter) I ended up doing something else. Something I can say I’m proud of doing.
(I’m kicking myself for not putting it on the list before so that I could cross it off and make it look like I’m making progress.)
Crazy as it seems, I did what I did for the sake of having something to talk to the world about.
But anyway, I took my bike out. And I rode it down the hill, screaming.
…
Don’t give me the look. It is something I’ve always wanted to do. If you’ve ever ridden a bike down a steep hill, you’ll know how exhilarating it feels. It always made me feel like screaming! Only there were always people around, and it always made me feel idiotic. I’d clamp my mouth shut and scream inwardly.
But joy is not something that should be suppressed. It should be EXPRESSED! It just felt wrong to keep the scream inside.
I told myself I’d do it today, just for the fun of it.
I got to the top of the hill and nearly chickened out. There was an Indian lady and two kids standing by the road, and further down, there was a Chinese lady walking with her 7-year-old daughter. Behind me, there was a couple taking a leisurely stroll. It was bad enough that I was going to be screaming pointlessly, there were also going to be witnesses to it. But then again, what’s the point of doing something cool (in my opinion anyway) if there’s no one to see it?
So I kicked off and rolled down the slope. I picked up speed, and then I yelled, as loud as I could,
“WOOOOHOO!”
The Indian lady got a shock. I started laughing and waved at the two kids, then at the Chinese lady and her kid. I’m not completely sure what they thought of this batty 17-going-on-18 kid in her bright flowery shorts riding down the hill screaming like a mad person. But they waved back, and I supposed that says something. I was laughing then, and I laughed all the way home. I was still laughing when I told my sister about it.
She just gave me the look, and that made me sober up, but only a little.
I FELT SOOO GOOD :D
So I only rode down a hill screaming, but in that, I did A LOT of things. I did something I’d always wanted to do but never thought I’d do. I did something I was scared of doing, and I did it alone. I didn’t need anyone to “teman” me being stupid. I made my own day! It is now my opinion that everyone should try riding down a hill screaming out loud, once in their lifetime.
It’s okay to revert to being a kid once in a while. It’s okay to forget about having to maintain your image and think about all your goals and your future and everything you have or haven’t achieved. And while we’re on that, it’s okay to not be what our society defines as pretty, talented, smart and outstanding. It’s okay to feel mediocre. Life’s about what you do. Get out there and make it special.
Being a college-ian is having a great effect on me.
It makes me feel like I can do anything.
