Impossibility

As a Phineas and Ferb episode so perfectly phrased it, "The only thing that's impossible is impossiblilty!"

When I started ninth grade, I was young and inexperienced to the torture that is high school, from menacing teachers, to piles of homework, to questionable cafeteria food, to every older student who took pride in being the worst bully possible. Yet, in my infantile mind, I was determined to see the positives and one silver lining shone out from all the rest. The hope. Every child endured the pain of each day of school, and they returned, day and day after. Why? Probably because it was illegal not to, but every student also had the hope that tomorrow would be a better day, a hope shining so bright you could see it on their faces. Of course, this was deemed impossible after a few weeks. But the students kept their hope in the face of impossibility.

The one thing I'll miss when I turn eighteen is my childhood innocence and my ability to believe. I relish in the possibility of strange new happenings, possibilities of the future. Every fantasy author, ever, knows that, and they write of other worlds and other times to feed our childhood innocence in the hope that it will last forever. Anything can happen, especially if it is deemed impossible. After all, nobody would have believed that we could send a man on the moon until it happened.

On mothers...

Half of us aren't nearly as grateful as we should be.

My mother's birthday has just rolled by, and it went unnoticed as most days are; it just came and went. Though I suppose there's a reason for that. None of us, not me, not my siblings, appreciated her much, for though she brought us into this world, she did little to make sure we stayed there. I doubt she'd notice even if all eleven of us wound up dead. My friend Meg, on the other hand, has a wonderful mother, who cares for all of her kids, no matter how unusual they may be. (I use unusual in the lightest sense of the word.) And so, every year, I ignore my mother's birthday, just as she ignores me, though I never stop thinking of the mother she could have been.

A very old, very wise person (I don't know who, exactly) said that friends are the family you choose. I happen to have the strangest friends on earth, yet they are the closest family I could dream of having. I suppose, though I am sorely lacking in the maternal department, my three slightly aging friends, who prefer to remain anonymous, are three replacements for my sub-par mother. They really are caring people, albeit old and difficult to communicate with. And I am grateful for the family that I chose.

 

The Truth About Being Tall

Truth is, it's very different up here.

Hi! I'm Calvin O'Keefe, and I'm sorry about being a little lax in keeping up my blog lately, owing to the fact that I've been out of town. Really far out of town. So please, please, hold off your anger towards me for a few minutes as I attempt to lessen your frustration with me, for the moment being. For the few of you who have wondered about my appearance, I am here to rant to you on a closely related subject: My being very tall.

You'll never fit in your bed. From personal experience, I have learnt that legs dangling from the edge of the bed provide for a very restless sleep.
You must play basketball. Not that I mind this very much, though I was originally chosen for the team solely because of my height.
Everyone is afraid of you. I will never understand why the human mind tends to confuse tall with intimidating.
You bang your head a lot. I will forever be convinced that the makers of doors and tables have a grudge against tall people.
You will never be taken seriously. Apparently, the status quo confines tall people to sports, as there is no way people over six feet tall can be in any way knowledgable.
But, even though life over six feet is far from glamorous, you know, deep down, that you are proud of your height and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

What to do when you have too much time on your hands...

Hi! My name is Calvin O'Keefe and I have way too much time on my hands, and if you do too, you're in the right place!

My family constantly ignores me, and a product of this is my ample free time, which I have spent banging my head on the wall, trying to ease my boredom. Over the course of a few months, I worked my brain overtime, trying to come up with something to pass the time, and after several hours of searching the internet, I was lucky enough to have a "Eureka!" moment while perusing Tumblr for the upteenth time. So here it is, the (probably) highly anticipated list of things to do when you're bored!

Start a blog! You can try starting a blog and filling it up with whatever knowledge you have acquired thus far. There seems to be some sort of passive pleasure derived from staring at a screen, counting the amount of people who have stumbled upon your words, or spilling your mind for the world to see. Whatever the case, blogging is definitely enjoyable, and I recommend Google Blogger for maximum enjoyment!*

*Sponsored by Google Blogger

Read a book! Though unoriginal at best, this method is time tested, and has brought enjoyment to many generations before us. Even in this age of technology, there is nothing compared to the exhilaration of being whisked into the world of a book. There are many genres to explore, like fantasy or science fiction, to name a few. Just don't read A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle. Just. Don't.

Procrastinate! Usually, when you have time on your hands, it means you haven't done your homework. The guilt that associates itself with not doing your homework when you have time is inescapable, unless you spend your time convincing your psyche that you have a perfectly good reason to not complete your homework. After all, you can't possibly start studying unless you find your studying pillow. Or organize your pencils from most orange to most yellow. Or wash the dishes. And buy a studying pillow while you're at it.