Back from another long hiatus!

(Kind of.)

It's my 25th birthday, and since I have a thing for square numbers, I figured I should write a post to celebrate. Lots of stuff going on!

I finished my first year of grad school and I totally rocked it.

I saw Denis for the first time in months pretty much as as soon as I finished with school - flew to Texas to visit for a couple days. We went to Dallas and Fort Worth. I feel that I should mention that the Fort Worth Museum of Science and Technology was quite possibly the worst museum I've ever been to. DON'T GO THERE.

My brother just got married last month in China, and I flew back to attend immediately after visiting Denis. (Being the jet-lagged, sleep deprived grad student I am, I am ashamed to admit that I fell asleep during the reception.) Nevertheless, I had a great time hanging out with my new sister in law, who is really close in age to me. It's hard to describe, but I've never had a sister and I think it's mindblowingly awesome that I do, now. Especially since we get along really well! It's like... having a friend, but one who HAS to put up with you, because you're related.

I lost my pole mojo when I fell off a pole while doing an inversion and hurt my back... I was too scared to get back on the pole for a month after. I've recovered for the most part though, aside from a little residual soreness. I even took my new sister in law to a pole class in Shanghai, which was a blast. (The high humidity in Shanghai made it easier to grip, I think, so I found myself going back upside down again.) I think I got her addicted to poling as well...

And possibly most excitingly... I'm starting on my wedding planning now. I know I've always said I didn't care about having a big wedding with the floofy dress and the bling-bling rock, but I figure a wedding is fairly important to at least HAVE so you can share your joy with your family and friends in the form of good food and drink. And if I'm going to do a wedding, by god, I'm going to do it RIGHT. So far I'm only in the preliminary stages of planning, but I've picked my photographer and picked a date: May 19th, 2012. And I've made appointments at two local bridal salons to try on some wedding dresses today. WILD, isn't it?! I haven't picked a venue yet, but this isn't going to be a huge wedding (<125 people, if that) so I want to do some place interesting, like a museum. Unfortunately the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is not open to personal events like weddings - trust me, that's the first place I checked.

Now for some cringe-inducing bits, which I think is an important part of any birthday ...

... I've been blogging for over TEN YEARS now. The thought of this makes me more than a little horrified right now. There are children that were born when I started blogging that can, like, talk and think for themselves and be perfectly functional, independent little beings right now. The thought of this seriously makes me feel a little vertiginous. So I thought I'd share some "wisdom" that I wrote on my (gulp) 15th birthday, TEN FRICKIN YEARS ago.

Things I learned (or at least reviewed) in my 14th year...
It's never easy to break up with a guy...

But they best way to get over it is to get another one.

Wait atleast 2 weeks between guys. Or it looks REALLY SUSPICIOUS.

To hell with looks, personality is more important...

But it doesn't hurt to have a good looking boyfriend.

No matter what you do, some people just won't like you.
...And the only thing you can do is to ignore them.

Friends drift apart after a while.
And there isn't anything to do, except make new ones.

Going out with someone, on an impulse, is a bad idea. A REALLY bad idea.

Never settle for less.
But settling for more makes you look like a greedy pig.

Trust your instincts.
But not too much.

Stress is bad, but it really helps when you're trying to do last minute work.
Extra-caffeinated mints are really useful when doing late-night homework.
Though, either way, your last minute work'll get you a C.
But some credit is always better than no credit.

It's pretty sad when the guy you like is 3 inches taller and weighs the same as you do.

But like I said before, looks don't really matter. And he IS a cute bastid. [Editors note: I don't even remember who the fuck I was talking about. Now I kinda wish I do.]

It's really fun to pretend to be a Satanist when those Mormons go door to door and try to pass out Bibles.

Every has an inner teenybopper.

The key to writing great poetry is using lots of obscure references and phrases that don't mean anything. Everyone'll think it's "deep"

Guys are easier to get along with, they don't PMS.
Anything is excusable by PMS, even murder.

Older brothers are suckers. They'll buy you almost everything.

You're not perfect. Period. There's no point in perfection.

Good grades aren't neccesarily indicators of intelligence.
Bad grades aren't neccessarily indicators of intelligence either.

Standardized tests tell you nothing, except how much attention you paid in your SAT course XD

Reading things over before you do them is a good idea.

Listening to people before you judge them is an even better one.

Sometimes the best way to work out things is to ignore them and hope they'll go away after a while.

How well you learn something DOES depend on the teacher.

Also depends on how well you try too.

Men are superficial bastards. Proof: Guys didn't start talking to me/noticing me till 8th grade, when I got my contacts :P

Sometimes, the nicest people are the online ones.

USUALLY, the nicest people are the online ones.

Blogging is fun.

Blogging can be used to say some very profound and deep things.

But usually it's just a huge long bunch of BS.

Like this entry.

It's always good to cut the crap, and be concise.

So I'll shut up now.

Here's to hoping that at age 35, I won't cringe when I read my blog posts from when I was 25. Though I have to admit, there are still some things I learned (reviewed) back then that I'm still learning (reviewing) now - especially that bit about doing last minute work. (Heh...)