choosing a college major: or how to fly by the seat of your pants I’m almost 33 and still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. [...] When I applied to college, it asked on the application what our intended major was. It wasn’t binding or anything, I guess they just wanted to know my general intention. I wrote “history”. I chose it because I liked it as much as “english” but it was harder (for me) and I thought I shouldn’t pick something that was too easy. I’m not saying that makes sense. I’m just saying that was my thought process at the time. (Click here to continue reading.)
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because we’re all adults here, aren’t we? Imagine someone hurts you. REALLY hurts you. Then for a while it’s all drama and ugly and crazy over-the-top
how-could-you-do-this-to-me
and you-don’t know-me
and you-should-have-known-I-hate-red-onions-in-my-salad
and I-wish-I-never-met-you
and can’t-you-tell-the-truth-about-anyfuckingthing?
and you-have-my-favorite-hairclip-you-asshole. And then mercifully that psychodrama stops, finally, because it’s just too awful and you can’t concentrate on work or even play and NO, dammit, I don’t want to eat anything, I *told* you I’m not hungry and just how long can a human being go without more than four hours of consecutive sleep before they go batshit bonkers anyway? (Click here to continue reading.)
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attention whore manifesto My name is Maria, and I’m proud to be an attention whore. This is not a passive-aggressive post. One could certainly interpret what I’m about to say as a thinly-veiled response to a particular person or incident. It’s not. It’s me trying to put into words a chain of thoughts that’s been rattling around in my head for months now.
I’m troubled by the very notion of an “attention whore”. I think that we – myself included – have thrown that phrase around too freely. Generally speaking I’m a huge fan of hyperbolic turns of phrase. If you’ve been following me for more than ten minutes, you know this already. I’m the kind of person who refers to moderately awesome events as “epic”, without irony or compunction. I do this because over-the-top is my communication style and has been since I was nine. It conveys – accurately or inaccurately – the intensity of my thoughts and feelings. My experience has been that people either love or hate this about me. The feast or famine nature of my social presence is not for everyone, but it is what it is and I’m not about to apologize for that.
I love language with every ounce of my soul, but it is not sacrosanct. It is a living, breathing entity and it’s going to evolve, with or without our approval. But I digress.
My penchant for linguistic fruitiness notwithstanding, I find the attention whore construct and attendant shame to be distracting and dishonest. Here’s the thing: There’s nothing wrong with it. I humbly submit that the very act of creating a personal blog, etc. is narcissistic. If you wanted to create in a vacuum, you’d be communing with your Moleskine and merely lurking on the internet. (Click here to continue reading.)
