Seasons in the Sun

Serious case of frisson, guys. I've only ever heard Westlife's version of Seasons in the Sun, which I kind of enjoy but I'd never admit to liking in public. Anyway, this cover is a gem and I wish there were more pop-y Nirvana songs to listen to.

People I Aspire To Be: Lip Gallagher

I haven't watched the original Shameless but I have watched the US remake and Lip Gallagher is one cool dude. I'm not talking about the second season, during which he loses all his brownie points by acting like a total doof and an absolute idiot by acting like a total moron over the one character that seems to have zero redeeming qualities (it's a sore subject). During the first season of Shameless however, Lip was the coolest and the smartest person in the cast. I really value cunning people and Lip (along with the other Gallaghers) probably tops the list. He takes the SATs for other people. He runs an ice cream truck that sells ice-cream AND weed. He is so incredibly smart. And the best of all, he's a good brother. His relationship with Ian is melting heart worthy. Plus, his eyebrows! It looks like he's constantly scorning people. Perfect.

I don't know if I've talked about Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson but it's seventy different shades of beautiful (that doesn't really make sense, but it made perfect sense in my head). Peter Pan is one of my favourite books of all times. When I was eleven, I was pretty convinced that Neverland existed- okay, I wanted Neverland to exist so badly- that I wrote a letter and threw it out of my balcony and then stared at the sky mumbling "second to the right and straight on 'til morning". I also did that when I was six, after watching Son Pari, but we do not talk about such times.

The point I'm trying to make is that I loved Peter Pan. I loved Peter Pan for Neverland and the Lost Boys and Peter. I really didn't like Wendy at all and I never ever thought of Tiger Lily. But this book changed a lot for me. For starters, it's achingly sad. I mean, it's sad for a fifteen year old girl and you know she's going to be okay when she's eighty because we all get over the love stories we had when we were that age so it's actually kind of pointless but this was so sad and bittersweet. Tiger Lily is also one of my favourite female protagonists ever because she's smart and strong and she makes mistakes all the time and thus she's human and her story is sad.

My thoughts are reduced to garbled mumbling. Tiger Lily is a beautiful book. The author mentions J.M. Barrie and Francesca Lia Block as influences and that is such a dangerously beautiful combination.

Sometimes I think that maybe we are just stories. Like we may as well just be words on a page, because we're only what we've done and what we are going to do.

You guys! Also, the story is narrated by Tinker Bell which offers this fascinating perspective of everything on the island. And look out for Smee, who is probably the creepiest character in the novel.

How can I describe Peter's face, the pieces of him that stick to my heart? Peter sometimes looked aloof and distant; sometimes his face was open and soft as a bruise. Sometimes he looked completely at Tiger Lily, as if she were the point on which all the universe revolved, as if she were the biggest mystery of life, or as if she were a flame and he couldn't not look even though he was scared. And sometimes it would all disappear into carelessness, confidence, amusement, as if he didn't need anyone or anything on this earth to feel happy and alive.

I just came back from one of the best vacations I ever had (it was actually a Model United Nations but it felt more like a holiday) and I totally get the beauty of travelling without parents. I also think it's super important to acknowledge the important and happy things that happen to you, and be grateful for them. I would list out all those moments I was super thankful for, and all those moments that feel so magical now that I look back on them but in my case, writing these memories always takes away the... specialness of the moment. It diminishes the appeal and then I feel stupid for writing it down in the first place and suddenly the moment doesn't feel all that magical anymore.

I love Rookie, and Rookie is everything relevant. I especially love this month's Editor's Letter by Tavi. I especially love this part:

My goofiest-sounding secret is that I also believe in magic. Sometimes I call it God and sometimes I call it light, and I believe in it because every now and then I read a really good book or hear a really good song or have a really good conversation with a friend and they seem to have some kind of shine to them. The list I keep of these moments in the back of my journal is comprised less of times when I was laughing or smiling and more of times when I felt like I could feel the colors in my eyes deepening from the display before me. Times in which I felt I was witnessing an all-encompassing representation of life driven by an understanding that, coincidence or not, our existence is a peculiar thing, and perhaps the greatest way to honor it is to just be human. To be happy AND sad, and everything else.

This is super important. Like, let's paint it on your wall and read it everyday important.

I'm also on a quest to be a more accomplished person but I only go through this phase once in every three weeks and the only (productive) thing I've achieved recently is... well, nothing. Life.