Love is. . .

Love is joy. Don't convince yourself that suffering is a part of it. 

Paulo Coelho

Realest Thing I Never Wrote - Bey Edition

We teach girls to shrink themselves
To make themselves smaller
We say to girls
“You can have ambition
But not too much
You should aim to be successful
But not too successful
Otherwise you will threaten the man”
Because I am female
I am expected to aspire to marriage
I am expected to make my life choices
Always keeping in mind that
Marriage is the most important
Now marriage can be a source of
Joy and love and mutual support
But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage
And we don’t teach boys the same?
We raise girls to each other as competitors
Not for jobs or for accomplishments
But for the attention of men
We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings
In the way that boys are
Feminist – the person who believes in the social
Political, and economic equality of the sexes

-Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (sampled in Beyonce's "***Flawless")

Realest Thing I Never Wrote

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 11.29.12

"Growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change." -- Clary Fray from Cassandra Clare's City of Ashes

Realest Thing I Never Wrote - 10.22.12

"If you're miserable, make a choice. If you're still miserable, you can choose again." - Martha Beck

Realest Thing I Never Wrote: 10.6.2011

To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow—this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.— Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love

This.

Realest Thing I Never Wrote: 03.27.11

The truth is I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't.       

                                 --Marilyn Monroe

Realest Thing I Never Wrote: 2.28.11

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. 

~ Author Unknown

I really needed to hear this...Don't you love it when the Universe gives you exactly what you need???

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 1.10.11

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours." 

-- Ayn Rand

Realest Thing I Never Wrote: Exam Edition

One of my girlfriends and favorite bloggers, Sesh sent me this screen cap of her computer background, it says: "We are going to make it through this year if it kills us..." Now that TRULY is the REALEST thing I never wrote. Nice to know I'm not in the grind alone...

Now back to this Decedents' Estates. Note to all my readers: MAKE A DAMN WILL. Intestacy rules (when someone dies without a will) are stupid...and a bitch! Help out the lawyer who has to deal with it and keep your family from fighting--EXPRESS YOUR WISHES ON A PROPERLY EXECUTED WILL. :law student rant over:

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 11.01.10

There are actually things happening in my life (besides procrastination, unemployment, and stress), however my brain has yet to process such happenings--thus no posts. However, this song by Robyn pretty makes my life these days. "Indestructible" Enjoy.

"And I never was smart with love
I let the bad ones in and the good ones go
But I'm gonna love you like I've never been hurt before
I'm gonna love you like I'm indestructible
Your love is ultramagnetic
Not again it's taking over
This is hardcore
And I'm indestructible"

Realest Thing I Never Wrote. 10-07-2010

I have been pretty devastated by the recent suicides of gay teens over the past month. While there are about a million things I have to say to LGBTQ youth (or any bullied child) and I have some especially choice words for their bullies, but I thought this pretty much expressed my sentiments:

"Dear America, when you tell gay Americans they can't serve their country openly or marry the person that they love, you're telling that to kids too, so don't be f*cking shocked and wonder where all these bullies are coming from that are torturing young kids and driving them to kill themselves because they're different--they learned it from watching you." 

-- Sarah Silverman, Comedienne

To learn more about how you can support the LGBTQ community check out The Trevor Project or the It Gets Better Campaign.

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 08.11.2010

No sleep
Today
Can't even rest when the suns down
No time
There's not enough
And nobody's watching me now

When we were children we'd play
Out in the streets just tempting fate
When we were children we'd say
That we don't the meaning of
Fear, fear, fear,
Fear, fear, fear
We don't know the meaning of...

When we were children we'd play
Out in the streets just tempting fate
When we were children we'd say
That we don't the meaning of
Fear, fear, fear,
Fear, fear, fear
We don't know the meaning of...

Wish I didn't know the meaning of...

--One Republic, "Fear"

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 08.03.2010

"I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't." 

--Marilyn Monroe, actress-singer

RTINW: "Eat, Pray, Love" Edition

So for probably the past year V has been telling about this book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I had heard of the book...I vaguely remember seeing the author on Oprah but I remember not being particularly interested in reading it. But then V told me this book was amazing and she kept insisting and insisting that I read it. So over the past few weeks I finally read this book...and damn. I love it.

Reading is a passion of mine. A hobby of mine. But also a skill. Give me a Harry Potter book and some fruit snacks and I can knock 600 pages out in 24 hours. But with Eat, Pray, Love it was almost like a good meal...or good sex. I wanted it to last forever. So I savored it. I'd force myself to stop reading it, just so I wouldn't finish too quickly.

So in honor of this book that I am now in a co-dependent relationship with, I thought I'd share some of the realest things I never wrote but am SO glad that I read:

1. "In desperate love, we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place."
2. "People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it."
3. "Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."
4. "I don't want us to take anything from each other."

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 4.21.2010

No I'm not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind but...
I just can't sleep on this tonight
Stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't
But honestly won't someone stop this train

--John Mayer, "Stop This Train"

Realest Thing I Never Wrote 3.31.2010

Everything around you is changing
Nothing stays the same
This version of myself is not permanent
Tomorrow I will be different
The Energy Never Dies
Energy cannot be destroyed
Or created
It always is
And it always will be
This is The E.N.D.
And the beginning...

-Black Eyed Peas, "Boom Boom Pow-Intro"

The Realest Thing I Never Wrote 3.16.10

...I learned that dreams don't work without action. I learned that no one could stop me but me. I learned that love is stronger than hate. And most important, I learned that God, does exist. He and/or she, is right inside you. Underneath the pain, the sorrow, and the shame.

--Roseanne Barr, comedienne, actress, writer

The Realest Thing I Never Wrote 3.4.2010

In your life you meet people. Some you never think of again. Some you wonder what happened to them. There are some that you wonder if they ever think about you. And then there are some you wish you never had to think about again; but you do.

- Kevin Arnold, "The Wonder Years"

The Realest Thing I Never Wrote 2.24.10

My world it moves so fast today
The past it seems so far away
And I squeeze it so tight, I can't breathe
And every time I try to be
What someone has thought of me
So caught up, I wasn't able to achieve
But deep in my heart the answer it was in me
And I made up my mind to find my own destiny
I look at my environment
And wonder where the fire went
What happened to everything we used to be
I hear so many cry for help
Searching outside of themselves
Now I know His strength is within me
And deep in my heart the answer it was in me
And I made up my mind to find my own destiny
And deep in my heart the answer it was in me
And I made up my mind to find my own destiny

--Lauryn Hill, "The Miseducation of Lauryn  Hill"