On Lessons I Learned From TV

TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal.

Marina and the Diamonds has it right.  (Side note: Way to be real world for totally not recognizing my Halloween costume.)  I have spent way too much of my life watching television and feeling all the feels.  But thinking back on it I've realized I've learned some interesting lessons.

Things TV Taught Me:

1.  It's Never Lupus.  Except when it is.  Any House fan out there probably knows this.  It's like the fundamental rule of House.  I think the real takeaways from this, though, were that a) it's never as bad as it could be and b) no trope is safe from subversion.  Because it's never lupus.  Except for that one episode where it was totally lupus.
2. Don't Mess With the Girl Who Can Kill You With Her Brain.  River Tam is smarter than you.  She's a better fighter than you.  Also, she can kill you with her brain.  This crazy lady from Firefly is probably the biggest reason to never break the heart of a smart and emotionally unstable girl.  She will find you.  She will kill you.
3. When You're Sad You Should Stop Being Sad and Be Awesome Instead.  Okay, so it's not usually that simple.  But I have to give Barney Stinson some credit for this one... Sometimes the best way to get past being sad is to just pretend that you're not sad, force yourself to go do something fun, and let the fun make you actually not-sad.  Be awesome instead.  Also, a more important lesson from HIMYM: more people should suit up.  You look really classy, and I love that.  Also NPH is a god.
4. Even If You're Completely Nuts, Good Friends Will Love You Anyway.  Okay, so this isn't based off of a quote, but seriously.  Sheldon Cooper.  Gregory House.  Donna Noble.  Real friends love you for who you are, even if that means you are an absolute psycho sometimes.
5. Fictional Characters Are Better At Their Jobs Than Real People.  Jed Bartlet.  That is all.
6. And finally, it doesn't matter if it's non-canon, inappropriate, incest, against their sexual orientation, squicky, or if it involves inanimate objects, bending of fictional universes, or time travel.  Somebody Out There Ships It.

So all those hours watching TV on Netflix totally weren't wasted.  At all.  I promise.

I enjoyed this post, and while I was writing it, I started thinking of examples from books and movies, so there is a decent chance there will be future lists based around books and movies.

Your Favorite Couch-Potato,
Rachel Leigh

On the Best Advice I've Ever Gotten

On of the best pieces of life advice I've ever gotten was delivered to be as part of a speech the summer when I was 13 years old.  It was my first summer at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth at their site at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.  Our then site director, Bret, was discussing the CTY Honor Code.

The Honor Code was kind of all-encompassing -- be tolerant, do your work, go to class, don't lie, don't break stuff, don't have sex anywhere at any time because you're all 16 or younger and we don't want to explain that to your parents, etc.

But the good advice that I got came when Bret said he wasn't going to read us the whole Honor Code because it boiled down to one thing: "Don't. Be. A. Jerk."  Before you do something, think about if it's something a jerk would do, and if it is, don't do it.  All the other rules, he felt, naturally followed from this one.  Making trouble for the RAs meant being a jerk to the RAs.  Not respecting someone's religion, sexuality, etc, meant you were being a jerk to them.  Not going to class made you a jerk to your instructor.

And it makes sense.  This rule is kind of fundamental -- just don't be a jerk.  We usually know what makes us a jerk to somebody, and it's a good, simple rule to follow.

I'm reminded of this because of a struggle my friends who are still at CTY are going through, trying to hold on to some traditions that the administration is trying to ban.  My heart goes out to them.

Wishing you a three-tiered layer cake of Safety, Learning, and Fun
Rachel Leigh

On Things You Shouldn't Do in Public

Darling readers, if you're friends with me on Facebook or, god forbid, follow me on Twitter (in which case, I'm sorry), you know that I have a really low tolerance for people who can't seem to understand simple rules about what is and is not acceptable in public places.

Today, I was on the bus, which is a place that I find myself a few times a year as I travel back and forth between my home outside of Philly and my home-away-from-home in Richmond.  I could rant for days about the stupid things people do on the bus, but I think I'll cut it down to a few things that I really think should never happen on public transportation.

1. If there are children or old people on the bus, I don't want to hear you cursing somebody out or dropping the F-bomb every other word.  It's just not classy and, in addition, is offensive to old people and probably scarring to little kids.
2. Headphones have a purpose.  Their purpose is to allow you to hear your music/movie/video game without making everyone else have to hear it too.  Use them.  Also, if you are using them and I can still hear your music, you're using them wrong.  And probably causing serious aural damage while you're at it.  Good job.
3. There are things that I'm pretty sure you should just NEVER do in public.  Watching porn comes to mind.  Or, if you're the man behind me on the bus, consider that the bus is probably not the best place to conduct what only could have been a drug deal and a booty call.  Not smart, not classy.

I mean, I can't be the only person in the world who doesn't expect to be offended for an entire six hour bus ride.

Stay Classy, Public Transit,
Rachel Leigh

On College

Vague title is vague. I couldn't think of a better one.

Hello my darlings. As you probably are already aware, last year was my freshman year of college. Over the summer, I worked at a College and Career Adviser's office as an intern. Between that and the number of my friends who were just graduating and now headed off to their freshman years, I got a lot of questions about what advice I would give to incoming freshmen.

What I found funny was the fact that most people seemed surprised by the fact that my first two pieces of advice were "Do your homework between classes" and "Don't wear a lanyard."

But those two pieces of advice (and a few very similar rules) are what allowed me to survive my freshman year, and actually really enjoy it. So, I guess this post is about the rules of being a freshman. (Blame TheCollegeTownLife.com for the fact that I've been thinking about this.)

1. Do Your Homework Between Classes. Or on weekends. Or early in the afternoon. The point is, do it when you have time and are already on a roll. I very rarely get overwhelmed with my workload, and I can say I attribute that to getting my work done when I have time. Plus, if your work is already done by 5 o'clock in the afternoon, there's nothing stopping you from joining your friends downtown, going out for the night, or vegetating watching television later. You have the time if you're willing to make the time.
2. Reward Yourself. College is hard. Sometimes you need a little motivation. Many long hauls in the library or unpleasant assignments have been made a little easier by promising myself that "If I finish this, I can get sushi for dinner" or "I've been working so hard, I deserve a shopping trip." Small rewards tend to make a huge difference in my motivation to get things done.
3. Don't Wear A Lanyard. Or an absurd amount of school memorabilia. Don't walk around asking for directions. Basically, don't do things that make you stand out as a freshman. People tend to have a problem with freshmen. Honestly, most of us are jealous of how relatively easy your workload is and how much time you have ahead of you (also of the fact that pretty much any stupid decision can be explained away by letting people know you're a freshman). But people do tend to treat you differently as a freshman, and life is a lot easier when you don't do things that draw attention to the fact that you are one.
4. Do What Makes You Happy and the Rest Will Follow. Friends? Extra-curriculars? Going Greek or choosing not to? Major decisions? These all seem like major stress factors, and they're all certainly decisions and milestones you will have to reach. But if you start out by trying everything that sounds interesting and doing what makes you happy, then finding friends who have similar interests, joining clubs, rushing or not rushing, and declaring will all come a little bit easier (and will be a lot less stressful).
5. SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK. This is college. You're kidding yourself if you think something doesn't need to be thrown off the boat. There is only so much time in the day for eating, sleeping, studying, hanging out, working, getting involved, volunteering, and anything else you need to do. Something's gotta give. I suggest sleep. Full-on insomnia is never a good thing, but save the mid-day naps for breaks, weekends, and after exams.

I guess that's my tentative advice for freshmen.

Sophomorically Yours,
Rachel Leigh