Do Something

So the school year is almost at an end (a little longer to go for all York U and highschoolers but not to long), and at times people are left wandering around, sitting and chilling with no real purpose. I tend to work away the summer and stress over balancing a full-time job and crazy adventures with friends. I almost always end up with that weird feeling that I've done so many things without achieving much of anything, so I thought of a few extra, simple things to do in order to feel accomplished and I thought I'd share them with you.

Save a little money and go somewhere random and adventurous. I know if you're in any kinda of situation similar to mine there isn't a day that goes by when you don't think to yourself 'oh crap what am I going to do for money...(after this year, month, week or even day)'. Don't beat yourself up cause you spent a little extra on an event or excursion. I'm not telling you to spend your money on some useless item you're never going to use, splurge a little on something for you like a manicure or a trip to the EX.
Put some money aside to go out to places and events once or twice a month. Anything over $45 is too much for my budget if it's more than once a month.

See what the city has to offer. I can only really give examples for Toronto but I'm sure all cities have similar things to offer. The other week I went to a presentation at a library it was about the Merril Collection -which is basically this huge collection of Myth and Sci-fi including texts from hundreds of years ago to 5 days ago. It turns out that Libraries all over Toronto (mainly downtown) have exhibits like these -pertaining to children's stories, biography, languages etc. If you find the right one you could spend hours at the library and learn something instead of sitting and staring into space.
The R.O.M if you are a student and you have id it's free on Tuesdays and if you aren't it's still a great place to check once every few years at least!
Just walk around downtown or in an area you don't live in. There is always something new downtown or at least something you missed the last time you were there. I classify myself as a city girl, I can't imagine living anywhere other than a city. The buildings themselves are works of art, you can find really old houses and government buildings that defined history but you can fine random, new and abstract buildings too. Downtown Toronto is split into certain districts such as the fashion district, it's really neat there are little statues of defining items (i.e a thimble and spool for fashion) through out the city.
Hop on a bus. Pay $2.75 and hop on the TTC or whatever you local transit is. Don't think about what bus you're going to take just pick a random direction and see where the bus takes you. You can stay on the bus the whole route and see a section of city maybe you haven't seen, or maybe you will finally see the rest of the route your bus to school goes after you get off. Get on the buss and hop off as soon as you find something interesting near by that you'd like to check out.

Stay at home and cook. Gather some of your friends and cook something new or at least random. Turn on the cooking channel and try to create what you see on T.V. I'm not really a cooking kind of girl so my best suggestion is to brainstorm hybrid's of food i.e Spaghetti Dogs : Make spaghetti and sauce and put it on a hot-dog bun. When you're done fooling around in the kitchen just enjoy your creation maybe play some boardgames.

Help others. Save some money or collect money from your friends and decide a charity to donate to. Hold garage sales and car washes for a good cause. I truly believe the best feeling in the world comes after you help someone in need. I plan to adopt an animal from WWF this summer. https://wwfstore.donorportal.ca/c-11-wildlife-adoptions.aspx

These are just a few time-fillers that I believe are easy to fit in, in order to have a productive summer that's fun as well. <3

Artist

I don't know about you but when I was a kid I had a few ideas of where I was going in life and I thought they were pretty reasonable.

Since the beginning of my life I have always wanted to be an artist. Nothing famous, nothing glamorous just an artist. I would picture myself with a little beret, an easel, with a pallet of colours in my hand and just standing by the windowsill painting my life away. This was a dream I could have back then because when you're in Kindergarten, things like money, the bills, supporting a family never once crossed my mind. The fact that I wasn't exactly a talented painter or at the time colour-er ( my easel was my colouring book), wasn't even apparent. If I believed long enough that I would be a painter, it would happen.
If my memory is correct my best friends Johny wanted to be a bank-robber and Ella something girly like a ballerina. Amanda wanted to be a cop but looking back on it I guess we all just fit the stereotypes for our personalities. Johny always got into trouble, Amanda always bossed around and had fits if we didn't obey, while Ella acted like a princess and never got into trouble.
It was so simple then, the question of what we wanted to be when we grew up. If you asked us what we planed to do with our lives once we were out of school there wouldn't be a second pause between your question and my answer: artist.
I'm not sure when that dream vanished -did it vanish? It might just have been misplaced but I doubt I'll ever find it again. I think all the years of struggling in elementary school, to try and match the skills of my peers in art class might have set me back a bit but I still can't pinpoint the exact moment I gave up being an artist.
I'm also not sure when I decided to try acting. Ellie my mother, says it was when I was 7 and played Mama Bear in the school play. She says I came out and said 'being on stage is the best thing in the whole world' -I was right then, it is the best thing or at least one of them but I don't really remember it.
I think it was my 'depression' (I say that world loosely I wasn't clinically depressed just unhappy -what 7th grader wasn't unhappy) that lead me to focus on acting as a career. I hated my middle school and acting (more Wexford School for the Arts Drama Focus Program) was my way out! So I worked really hard for the 2years in order to make it to Wexford and I wanted to be an Actress.
I later decided although I love acting I didn't want to spend my life chasing dead-end jobs so ironically I decided to pursues being a writer. I love writing, I want to write children's stories and perhaps even have a column in a magazine or something but I'm smarter enough to know I need a plan.
I'm not giving up on writing or even acting to be honest, I love those things and I believe I can still be a writer but I need a career I've been considering a few things but I can't have a desk job and I don't want to be a teacher. I believe teaching is a highly respectable job and perfect for some people and most definitely I know the world needs teachers but it's not for me, I have my reasons and no matter how many people tell me I should be one I don't want to.

ICK! When did life get so complicated??? -The question of a lifetime I know.

My friend Shirley said the scariest thing the other day. "We're almost 20, if we're not in L.A by the time we're 20 what are we doing with our lives?" It's like too late to make it. I know logically that the fact that we're going to be 20 is irrelevant to anything in life but a tiny tiny portion of brain can't help but scream 'aaaahhhhhh she's right'.

What to do, what to do??????
I know I'll figure it out sooner or later...

Song of the Month

So every generation has a song that reaches to everybody. I don't mean a band like THE BEATLES or a song that defines the year's events like WAR just a simple song that everyone likes. I think that our song might be Bittersweet Symphony preformed by The Verve.

So I suggest you check it out and here are the lyrics:

"Bittersweet Symphony"

" 'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life

Try to make ends meet

You're a slave to money then you die

I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet yeah,

No change, I can change

I can change, I can change

But I'm here in my mold

I am here in my mold

But I'm a million different people from one day to the next

I can't change my mold

No, no, no, no, no

Well I never pray

But tonight I'm on my knees yeah

I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah

I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now

But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now

No change, I can change

I can change, I can change

But I'm here in my mold

I am here in my mold

And I'm a million different people

from one day to the next

I can't change my mold

No, no, no, no, no

I can't change

I can't change

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life

Try to make ends meet

Try to find some money then you die

I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

You know the one that takes you to the places where all the things meet yeah

You know I can change, I can change

I can change, I can change

But I'm here in my mold

I am here in my mold

And I'm a million different people

from one day to the next

I can't change my mold

No, no, no, no, no

I can't change my mold

no, no, no, no, no,

I can't change

Can't change my body,

no, no, no

I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

Been down

Ever been down

Ever been down

Ever been down

Ever been down

Have you ever been down?

Have you've ever been down?"

So what do you think? Is it a good song or just a piece of crap? Twitter me with the answer twitter.com/AmeliaR_N

Anyway whether or not you like the song, it seems to fit my life this month. April 3rd was my birthday so it has included many parties already but in just 7days it has also held a lot of unnecessary melodrama, Bittersweet Symphony just defines my life right now.