1) The house has become infested with fleas.
2) The house has been flea-bombed twice, however the flea population is still flourishing.
3) The flea exterminator people came to the house, but told Kalvin and me that we have to leave the property for 3 hours. Probably to look through my panty drawer and masturbate on my bed but that's beside the point.
So, we decided to be productive students and go to Starbucks to study and drink autumn beverages. Perfect opportunity to do my statistics homework that I have been putting off.
Aaaah, I have my venti hot mint tea in hand, I have connected to the free wifi, life is great. Except I FORGOT MY STATISTICS TEXTBOOK FOR WHICH I NEED TO DO MY HOMEWORK ON ACCOUNT OF THE HOMEWORK QUESTIONS BEING IN THE TEXTBOOK AND I CAN'T GO HOME TO GET IT BECAUSE ITS A BIOHAZARD.
So instead, I'm going to make a list of things I like. And things I don't like. It was Kalvin's idea. Part of a self-identity thing and all. In no particular order...
Courtney's Top 20 List of Things She Likes
1. Small, cute, furry animals of the baby variety. Particularly pigs, sloths, horses, puppies, kittens, porcupines, giraffes, goats, lamb, and pandas.
2. Flowers of all varieties, but especially sunflowers and daisies and roses.
3. Rain and everything that comes with it. The way it sounds, smells, and looks dripping off of the trees. I love to stand in the open doorway while it's raining and ponder my life while I watch it. Something about rain just makes me feel so good.
4. Ice cream. Godddddd, I love ice cream so much it may or may not be a problem. Peppermint ice cream, coconut ice cream*, coffee ice cream, cheesecake ice cream, strawberry cheesecake ice cream, pumpkin ice cream**, green tea ice cream, salted caramel ice cream....EVERYTHING. This is also synonymous with froyo and sherbet and frozen treats in general.
* Coconut is everything. This almost needs its own number. In fact it will get its own number.
**Pumpkin is also everything. It's so versatile and perfect. I would also like to declare that I LOVED pumpkin and had it ALL the time before Buzzfeed made it a "basic white girl" fad. Which angers me because now when I make all of my pumpkin delights in the fall, it's sooooo basic. Whatever.
5. Coconut. It's weird saying that now because I feel like I'm saying my name. This is because Larry refers to me as "Coconut" 87% of the time. So it kind of is my name? But it's only my name because I LOVE COCONUT SO MUCH. Which is weird, because as a kid I hated coconut flavored things. But now I absolutely must own everything and anything coconut. Not only does it taste heavenly, but the actual coconut plant itself is a miracle food. You can do everything with it. You can use it's oil, sugar, meat, water, milk; turn it into butter, use it in cooking and baking, and use it for cosmetic purposes, too! And the best part is that it's one of the most healthy foods on the earth. It's the jackpot of all jackpots.
6. Going out to places in which I can wear a pretty outfit and put make-up on. This includes date nights, going out for drinks, lunch dates with friends, venturing to DC for activities, concerts, holidays, family gatherings, or traveling anywhere really. This is because I have spent 90% of my life in a leotard or workout clothes or yoga pants.
7. Being cuddly and cozy in bed with cuddly and cozy PJ's and cuddly and cozy blankets and pillows. Bonus points for Netflix, hot tea, ice cream, a book, and my boyfriend. I will also include cuddling with this, because it's the best. I can't imagine anything better than the feeling of holding and being held by the person that you love. That's because cuddling releases oxytocin in your brain which makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and more connected to the person you're cuddling with. I'm an oxytocin junkie.
8. Adventurous and slightly dangerous activities. Skydiving, bungee jumping, galloping on horseback, doing handstands on ledges, climbing things, roller coasters, etc etc. Oh yeah and flipping on a four-inch beam. The higher the height and the more dangerous the danger, the better. However, I do not fall into the realm of recklessness. I'm not about to jump into shark infested waters with an open wound for fun, but I would if I were in a cage.
9. Traveling and seeing new places. If there's an opportunity, I'll take it. This mostly means that I find a good deal online for a trip and make it to the "check out" area, and then realize that I have no money. But I do have a physical list of the states and countries I have been to and plan on filling it as much as possible. Wanderlust.
10. Being good at things. This one is interesting and I may be reaching an "aha" moment here. I asked Kalvin if listing that makes me a vain person (he's sitting right across from me making anatomy flashcards) and he said I should write "doing things I'm good at" instead. But that's completely different, and I prefer the former. Being good at things means that I want to be good at everything I try, and avoid things that I know I can't be amazing at. On the other hand, doing things that I'm good at means that I am okay with not being good at some things, but I just enjoy the ones that I am good at. Also, I think it's important to note that I immediately deem things that I'm not good at as things I don't like. And the same is true for the opposite: anything I'm good at, I decide that I like. But I realize this isn't the way it should be. For example, I enjoy racquetball, but I'm terrible at it. I just tell myself that I don't like it so I don't do more of it. Also, I'm great at gymnastics...or was great at gymnastics...but did I truly like doing it? Did I? My old therapist thinks I need to ponder this question very hard. Maybe I just didn't like the brutality of doing it as a sport. But the art form of gymnastics? There's nothing better.
11. Being freshly groomed. Fresh manicures, fresh pedicures, fresh haircuts, being freshly shaven, being freshly showered, getting facials, the works!
12. Giving people massages. I mainly mean Larry when I say that but I enjoy massaging athletic bodies in general. Not only do I love examining and feeling their musculature, but I just like making people feel good.
13. Crafting. This sounds odd, as I don't really craft. But I like to craft. As a kid I used to draw and paint and make pipe cleaner/tissue paper flowers and embroider all the time. And even today, when I go through Michael's, I feel like a kid in a candy store. I just like to make things. But refer to number 10 as to why I don't - I never feel like I'm good enough at it to devote my time to it. I plan on changing this with a particular Christmas present that I'm making for Larry. We shall see.
14. The Holiday Season. For me the holiday season starts the day I can wear long pants or a sweater and ends when the Christmas Tree comes down. Although I don't entirely value what Christmas has turned into these days - a competition of who has the most money (or at least that's what Christmas means in my family) - I do value what the holidays force us to do, which is spend time together and bask in the love we have for each other. It gives me hope: hope that one day, my whole family can enjoy the holidays together again. But every year since the divorce, I have been disappointed. And I wind up being terribly sad that I have to go back and forth between houses and keep track of who I had dinner with the previous year so I can switch it around the current year. It makes things even more complicated that I have a boyfriend because I want to spend the holidays with him. His family is a steady, uncomplicated, loving presence and makes me feel warm and welcome. And my family makes me feel uncomfortable, pressured, and sad. And when I want to spend the holidays with Larry, they get even more upset with me and say that my priorities aren't in order. But why would I choose being pulled back and forth between parents when I can spend my day in a place where I feel loved and welcome? But still, I get so excited for wrapping presents and the big holiday meal and listening to Christmas music and making New Year's resolutions. It's the best! Oh, and I like to have a pair of corresponding festive socks for every holiday, too.
15. The moon, the stars, and the universe. Our world is so fascinating. And scary. And mysterious. And absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I wish I would spend more time in nature and less time buried in things that don't matter.
16. Writing. I remember in second grade, we started class by responding to these one-sentence prompts. For example, "the girl walked into the room to find that the entire jar of cookies was..." and we had to finish the story. The entire class wrote a paragraph, maybe two. But my pencil went flying, and I'd turn in a 4 page short story to Mrs. Bartenhagen. I was constantly making up stories, and Kelly even asked me to tell her stories at night. Making up stories was the only way I could get myself to fall asleep at night. In high school, I started writing poems, and then starting journaling. Pieces of paper were the only things that I could tell my problems to. Then, I won the national writing contest in 11th grade. And I had a gymnastics blog in high school that my mom's publisher wanted me to turn into a book. I have a lot to say. I like writing.
17. Photography, and each stage of it. I appreciate the skill and knowledge it takes for the photographer to capture his or her vision, and I love being the subject. I would actively pursue modeling and acting if I could get over my debilitating shyness. I feel vulnerable and all I think about when a picture is being of me is how gross my stomach looks, or how deformed my nose looks, and so forth. And finally, I love the product - the way a picture can capture the stunning beauty of human beings, or nature, or whatever.
18. The human body. God, it's amazing. So perfectly designed. And capable of so much. It's crazy to think that while we're doing something simple like...reading, so many chemical reactions have to happen at the speed of light for you to be able to make meaning out of what you're seeing. And then there are all the other systems that are going on, like your digestive system constantly working, breaking down the food you ate yesterday and pulling each compound from that piece of chicken to use for energy or other metabolic processes. And then there are the nerves and the heart and the kidneys and the lymph nodes and the little organelles in each little cell of your body working so hard to keep everything going. If one system is off, the whole thing goes down. It's a machine. A constantly working machine. And everything you do contributes to how well it works. That's why I have a passion for nutrition, and exercise, and all of that health stuff. You have one body for your entire life. Respect it.
19. Daydreaming about my future. When I can't sleep, I plan out my future kitchen and all of the cooking tools and utensils I'll have, or imagine being proposed to, or my wedding, or giving birth to my first child, or performing on stage, the list goes on and on. I always catch myself smiling.
20. Dancing. It's my language. It's my emotions expressed through movement. It's the only way to see deep into my heart and soul. And that's why I prefer to do it alone, because for someone to watch me dance would be completely exposing myself to them. It's a very precious thing. But nothing gives me chills quite like hearing a piece of music and visualizing me dancing to it, telling a story. And that's the problem - it often doesn't make it past the visualization phase. I don't do it. Is it because I'm afraid to expose myself to...me? I don't know. But I want to dance. I want to tell stories. I want to perform. I want to show people. But for some reason I can't. But it is so much a part of me. I cannot listen to a single song without seeing a dancer in my head dancing to it. No matter how hard I try. Every note in the song is a movement. I just want to dance.
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