A note to all 20-somethings: Whatever you’re doing, it’s okay.

Every time I get on Facebook, it seems that another one of my Facebook friends is getting engaged, posting wedding photos, or announcing that they’re pregnant. I see friends writing statuses about their new lives in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. I see friends making huge strides in their life. And that’s great! I mean, really. 

However, I see all of this stuff, and I automatically begin to size myself up against everything else that I see. Why am I not anywhere close to getting engaged? To moving away to New York or LA? Where’s my happily ever after? Is there something wrong with me? Why am I sitting here on a Saturday night re-watching the Miley Cyrus episode of Saturday Night Live with my cat? And, more importantly, why am I enjoying it?

I graduated from MSU, I landed an awesome job in my field of study, and I moved into an apartment in a cute town in the metro-Detroit area. On paper, everything looks great. On paper, you’d probably want to slap me in the face for being anything short of content with my current life situation. Trust me, I even want to slap me for how whiny I seem. 

I’m smart enough to know that you can’t get anywhere by comparing yourself to others. My dad tells me it’s because you haven’t read every page in their book–how can you even know? And I definitely agree. But it’s so much easier said than done. You take a look at what seems like everyone in the world around you getting on the right track, and you feel forced to look inward and question your own decisions, your current standing in life, and how you stack up. 

But you know, you just can’t do that. You just can’t, because you’re going to drag yourself down, and you’ll take everyone around you with you. 

I just want to send a message out there to everyone who is currently wading through this bog called “post-graduate life.”

I just want to say that it’s okay to be unsure of what you’re doing, to not know what you want. It’s okay to have a less-than-desirable job. It’s okay to still be living at home with your parents, or even mere miles away from where you grew up. It’s okay to be single, or to be in a relationship, to be engaged, or to be married. It’s okay to be pregnant, or celibate, or anything in between. It’s okay to think that you know what you want, or to completely change your mind. It’s okay to get unnaturally excited about buying a new bed for your cat, getting home and cracking open a new bottle of wine, and watching old episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch with your roommate. 

All of that stuff is okay, as long as you are okay with it. Guys, there is no pre-determined mold that we have to fit into. There is no pre-determined time table for significant events to occur in our lifetimes. We’re post-graduate 20-somethings, and most of us have no idea what we’re doing. And you know what? That’s fricken okay! 

Last week, I don’t think I could have written this blog. I don’t think I could have told you that I’m scared. And worried. And that I’ve been stress-baking to distract myself from the monotony of not knowing what my endgame is. 

But this week I decided that all of that, is okay. 

 

5 Reasons why I will drop everything to watch Good Burger.

I’m a nineties kid, and I LIVED off of Kenan and Kel and All That. So when Good Burger emerged, I was basically in heaven. Anybody else remember the bright orange Nickelodeon VHS tapes? They were the freaking best. 

Anyway, here’s a list of 5 reasons why you should just drop everything that you’re doing today, take a nostalgia trip back to your childhood, and just watch Good Burger already.

 

5. Sinbad’s role in the movie as “Mr. Wheat.” That fro, that robe, that shocking realization that it’s Sinbad under the fro and the robe after you haven’t seen the movie for about 8 years. And I guess it doesn’t hurt that his character was a total jerk. I mean, am I right?

 

4. The Burger Mobile. 

Come on, you knew you all secretly wanted that car. With the burger hood and the french fry windshield wipers. It was the coolest car of your childhood–and I bet it tasted good too.

 

3. Ed as “Grape Nose Boy.” Bloobity Bloobity bloo! You can’t hold back a smile when watching this clip of the movie. And I bet you can’t eat grapes without trying Ed’s…uhh…tactics. Or maybe that’s just me…

2. Googling what “Spatch” looks like now. I just did this right now, and I was freaking amazed. If you don’t remember–Spatch was the large, fly-eating bimbo that could barelyspeak two words. And now he just…well, take a look for yourself. 

 

1. Ed’s Ordering Speech. “Welcome to Good Burger, Home of the Good Burger, can I takeyour order…huh.” I can’t tell you how many times my brother and I would say this line to each other, and just die laughing. There’s something about seeing your favorite All Thatsketch morph into the greatest movie of your childhood, and already knowing the lines when you watch it for the first time…or the second time…or every time…

So comment, reply, share, and let me know why YOU love the movie “Good Burger.” Happy Sunday everyone! Oh! And get your Good Burger fill by clicking here. 

A lot can change in four years

People have told me that I’ve changed a lot in four years…you know, I really don’t see it…. (ha. hahaha. ha. ha. ha.)

Anyway (DRUM ROLL PLEASEEEEE) here it is, the first of many posts reflecting on the fact that I have mere months left as a student at Michigan State University. I intend to keep this post short and sweet (I know, you’re all rolling your eyes and laughing at me right now) and share some important things that I have learned from each of my four years here as a student at MSU. 

Freshman year: Freshman year was such a big one for me, because going away to school was such a big deal. I’m a homebody, and freshman year I was homesick constantly. But what I learned is that it’s important to get involved, and find something that you love to do, where you are. I started a blog, I tried out for two a capella groups, Sideshow with the MSU telecasters, and the Spartan Brass–and those decisions helped shape who I am today. 

Sophomore year: Sophomore year, I learned that pushing your limits helps you to grow. That year I joined the Spartan Marching Band, I switched into a new major,  I reached out and landed a job as a social media intern for MSU, and I made a ton of new and wonderful friends. Unlike freshman year, (and even junior and senior) sophomore year was a breeze.

Junior year: I would say that junior year had tested me–and my boundaries– the most. Junior year I struggled, I stressed, and I lost myself a little bit. But I learned that if you take a step back, stand up for yourself, and do what you love, you’ll be able to find yourself again. I started playing the ukulele, I took a week and visited my grandparents in Florida, I started taking more walks and, I called my mom more. 

Senior year: While this year is not quite over yet, I’ve found that I have learned the most in these past few months. But the most valuable thing that I’ve found is that you can always find happiness. I mean, you can’t let EVERYTHING get you down! This year, I searched for (and landed!) a post-graduation job, found a place to live next year, and started looking for new cars… but being me, I still found reasons to freak out and dread my future post-college. So I thought about what I used to do that made me happy, and I started doing those things again. I’m beginning to take dance classes again, I’m blogging and writing in journals, taking more pictures, and reconnecting with old friends. I feel awesome, confident, and hopeful about whatever is to come. 

So if you find yourself feeling introspective, I suggest you take a look back on the last four years of your life–you may be surprised with what you find (and, what ugly face you can dig up from your photobooth archives, ha!)

 

 

I’m Pretty Ugly

I’d like to thank Beyonce for my first online popular blog mention. Or rather, the photographer who captured the beautiful Beyonce making incredibly atrocious faces while dancing during her superbowl performance. Now, pretty girls taking pictures of themselves taking disgustingly ugly faces is an online phenomenon. 

Personally, I think the meme is a great way for girls to have fun, be goofy, and let their inner-ugly out! I mean, we don’t have to be pretty all the time, right?

Earlier this week I posted on the subreddit linked above, as a joke, to have some fun and mostly to see how gross of a face I could make. Well, today I got a tweet here where I was told that my face may be posted on Heavy.com’s blog about the new internet phenom.

WELL LO AND BEHOLD, THERE WAS MY PRETTY UGLY MUG RIGHT ON THE SITE. It figures. Of all the things to get noticed for, it’s for one of my ridiculous faces. However, I totally can’t complain. I am incredibly flattered they chose to feature my face! They like me, they really like me!

GUYS, DOES THIS MEAN I’M FAMOUS?!

Why I Fail at Mondays

It’s about 9:40am, I have a class in 40 minutes across campus in the Auditorium (1. Why I even decided that taking a class that was a half-hour walk away from my home was a good idea, I will never know) and it’s incredibly icy outside. So I, being myself, decide that it would be a stellar idea to drive my car to the end of my street, park it, and then walk from there–cutting at least 8 minutes off of my walking time. (2. That’s actually not such a bad idea.) However, I go to unlock my car, and the locking mechanism makes some gut-wrenching whirring noises, and grinds to a halt. I fiddle with the key-fob and put the actual car key into the lock. (3. How primitive, right?) However, the handle lies limp, and I’m locked out of my vehicle. (4. By this time, it’s about 10:00am, and I’m frustrated.)

So I do what I always do when I don’t know what to do–I call my mom. I’m frantically telling her that I broke my car, and I either have to go get it fixed or just buy a new one all together. (5. By this time in my life, my poor 12-year-old Honda had run into some major trouble more than a few times.) She tells me to go inside and boil some water to pour over the handle.

(6. Duh.)

In my frantic morning state, I completely disregarded that fact that, huh, MAYBE, just MAYBE the locks on my car had frozen overnight, and they were struggling to work through all the ice and the cold from last nights leftover precipitation. (7. Sometimes, I can be really thick.)

Well by this time, I’m beyond late for class, and I feel downright poopy. But I decide to spend my new-found free time wisely, by writing this blog. 

Happy Monday errybody! Have you ever had a sucky Monday? Please share–because misery loves company! 

My Search for a Sticker

I voted today in the first presidential election of my life, and you know what? I feel pretty good about it. I drove all the way home to Clarkston, Mi to vote this afternoon with my parents, and I was really excited to cast my vote and exercise my right as a US citizen.

So, most of you know that when you cast a vote on election day, you get an “I voted” sticker. These stickers have been quite the conversation piece today on Facebook and Twitter, because a lot of students here at MSU had to vote absentee– and a sticker isn’t included with their ballot. (I know, right? Let’s make that change for the next election!) Well, because I traveled home to go to the polls with my parents, I was really excited for my sticker–only to discover after I cast my vote that my polling station was fresh out of them.

Now maybe I got a little sad and a little whiny, and maybe a girl who was 11 or so standing at the door of the church gave me her “I voted” sticker because she felt bad for me. Regardless if that happened or not (it did, it totally did) I am not ashamed! Because to me, that sticker isn’t just a small adhesive piece of paper, it’s a way to personally broadcast that I voted today, and that I made a difference!

I missed being eligible to vote the last presidential election in 2008 by about 8 months (bummer, right?) so being able to showcase that I voted was really really important me, as I know it was to a lot of others as well.

So what if I bummed the sticker off of the child….

 

Why you (and everyone else) should just get on Reddit already.

As a self-proclaimed social-media-guru-in-training, I try my best to have as many social media accounts on as many social media platforms as possible (for research, you know? and mostly because I’m probably obsessed.) However, for some reason I put off getting an account on Reddit for a very long time. Well folks, a few weeks ago I finally caved. And after some time and some careful consideration, I feel confident in letting you know that Reddit is seriously, without a doubt, incredibly, awesome.

For those of you that don’t know, Reddit is a link sharing site, and could be considered a mix between tumblr, stumbleupon and twitter— but with a much more simplistic and organizationally understandable interface. Also, for those of you that don’t know, Reddit will suck all of your free time up, and is filled with content from tons and tons of college boys (and SOME girls.) It’s also where a lot of information gets shared FROM. So all you hipsters out there–if you get a Reddit account, you can really say that you saw it first.

Not yet convinced? Check out this adorable and awesome subreddits and let me know what you think. And for all you redditers out there: What’s your FAVE subreddit?

reddit.com/
r/aww
r/puppies
r/spongebob
r/msu
r/michigan
r/funny

College.

As of late, I’ve been having a few moderate freak-outs about my future. I’ve been spending a lot of time staying up way past my bedtime, picking apart my resume and biting my nails down to the quick. I’ll be graduating from MSU in about a semester and a half. I’ll be entering the real world. And guys… I’m sort of terrified.

So I’ve been doing what I usually do when I start to have an anxiety attack: I took a look back at some of my old blog posts, and I stumbled across my old tumblr. I discovered a post (click here to see it!) that I wrote during my first few weeks here at State, and I realized something. I was 10x more terrified transitioning from high school to college than I am right now.While reading the post, I started wishing that future me could write a letter to past me, and tell me that everything was going to be okay (that makes sense, right?)

And while I realize that’s impossible, I figured I could at least write a blog post telling all of you what I would’ve told me when I first started my life here at MSU. Because that’s basically the same thing. So here goes:

Freshman vs Senior year

Past Tay,

I just wanted to let you know that everything will be okay. I know you’re freakin’ out right now, and that won’t ever change–but you’ll be fineeee.  You will find your footing here at MSU–actually, you’ll find your footing in so many places here, that you’re going to have to pick and choose which ones you want to stick with. You’re going to meet all sorts of new people,  try all sorts of new things, and you’re going to laugh (a lot.) You’re going to grow up a bit here at MSU–just enough to make you responsible, but not enough to make you boring (don’t worry.)

Yes, you’ll still call your mom everyday (you’ll even start to look more like her), and you’ll never unlock the secret to getting to class looking as good as you did when you left your room. Also–you should just stop searching now, because you’re never going to find any chocolate chip cookie that tastes as good as the ones from  Clarkston High School a la carte, but that’s okay.

I do wish that I could tell you that these next three years are going to be a breeze–they’re not. There will be ups, but there will be downs. There will be hard exams and classes that make you want to rip your hair out. You’ll cry… a lot (I mean, what else is new!) But you’re going to come out on top– I just know it.

Hang in there, kid. And enjoy the ride.

-Future Tay

Ps. That vlog/blog idea that you’ve been thinking about starting? Yeah, you should probably get on that. ;]

My Final SMB Preseason

I don’t know if I’ve ever told any of you this, but I never had any intention of joining the Spartan Marching Band. I didn’t really enjoy marching band, I wasn’t ready for it, and I thought it would be too difficult for me to do. I did, however, have every intention of avoiding the footsteps of my father and brother, Justin. I wanted to forge my own path and do something incredibly different with my time at MSU.

Jus, Dad and I after a game.

And so I didn’t join the band, not my freshman year at least. And I can tell you now, as I’ve ended my last preseason as a member of the Spartan Marching Band, that I really wish I hadn’t decided against auditioning for the band my freshman year. I really wish I had one more year to spend here, because three years in the SMB is just not enough.

It’s not the marching rehearsals– sweltering hot and exhausting– or the music we play, the bruises we get, or any of the things that we do, really–although I can list off a number of traditions that we have that are truly worth all the work that we do. It’s the people that I’m surrounded with. The people that choose to commit themselves to this band, and it’s the things that they do to show that commitment. I not only have met some of the greatest, smartest, coolest people in this band, I have forged bonds that I have no doubt will last a lifetime.

Before our Freshman Dress Rehearsal this past Sunday, I found myself getting a little emotional (surprise surprise, I’m actually tearing up while writing this), and so I did what I usually do– I called my parents. The conversation had barely began and my dad and I were both bawling our eyes out on the line. I was remembering my freshman dress three years ago, and he was remembering his about a million years ago (right, Dad?) and apparently we just couldn’t get a hold of ourselves. He told me he was proud of my brother and I for joining the band and pouring our heart and soul into it, and I told him I was proud of myself for joining something that I never thought I could do, something that meant so much to him and Justin. The SMB has really helped me grow up.

All that being said, even though I’m an emotional wreck about this 90% of the time, I’m determined to make this last season of mine in the SMB the best I’ve ever had. I’ve got one more year to share with all of you, and it’s going to totally rock. Also– GOOOOOOO STATE! BEAT THE BRONCOS!

5 reasons to unplug your afternoon

Yes, I understand the irony. I’m writing a digital post about getting away from the texts and the Facebook and the Internet. A post that I put up on the Internet and blast to my social media pages. Yeah whatever. That’s not the point.

The point is– I had a rough day today, and I made the executive decision to turn off my phone this afternoon/evening and “unplug” from the demands of the internet-world that I frequently live in—something my Dad has suggested I do, multiple times. So thanks Dad, it was the most relaxing evening I think I’ve ever had. And I’m going to tell you all why you should try and unplug more often.

1. No distractions. This afternoon, I got to be 100% where I was. I wasn’t thinking about what to tweet or text or Facebook next. There was no phone buzzing in the distance during dinner to call me away. It was awesome. I got to talk to the people that were actually around me, not the ones that live in my phone.
2. No anxieties. I always keep my phone figuratively tethered to my side. I fret about timely texting, saying the right thing in emails, and being 100% informed about everything all the time. All that worry was GONE the second I hit that power button.
3. No battery loss. Seriously. This is the first time in ages I haven’t had to give my phone CPR by the end of the day. It still had 75% battery life by the late evening, when I turned it back on.
4. No obligations. When your phone is off, you have an excuse. You don’t have to do anything. You didn’t get that text message, or that email, or see that Facebook post. You didn’t see anything except what’s beyond the screen.
5. No noise.  No worries about being impolite during a conversation, a movie, or a performance. No worries about how loud your phone is or which apps are giving you what notifications and what noises they’re making. No worries about anything.

So, I dare you. Take a few hours and transform your phone from the smart wonderful thing it is into a simple lump of metal and plastic. Take the media out of social media, and just be social. Just for an afternoon. Try it, and let me know what you think.

Also: Props to K for going days without her phone, even if she didn’t really have a choice. I can last an afternoon or an evening, but never a few days. I’d be going crazy.  MAJOR props. You go girl.