"One Day" by David Nicholls

I've decided to begin writing reviews...might help me get an internship. Because what the world needs is more of my opinion.

Anyway, my review of One Day...no spoilers here!

Reading “One Day” by David Nicholls was like reading a novel about myself, and likely everyone else who has ever gone through college, fell in love, fell out of love, got a job they hated, succeeded only to immediately fail and vice versa. Whether you had an angsty, “the world is so screwed up so let’s listen to Rage Against the Machine and quote Ani Difranco” sort of phase, or an “Im going to drink 30 PBR’s every night and have sex with everything that moves” phase, or even if you didn’t have the guts but considered the idea for a moment...you will find yourself reflected in this book. Whether you’re just out of college or you haven’t been there for many years, you will connect to these characters on an intimate level. Where most love stories fail to recognize the characters as individuals and often focus on only what these characters are together, “One Day” follows the journey of Emma and Dexter through a lifetime of failures and success apart, while the reader gets small glimpses of what they could possibly be together.

For much of the book you’re wondering if these two characters will ever finally wake up and realize just how perfect they are for each other. You want to scream at Dexter “get your head out of your ass!”. But as Nicholls develops these two character in such an honest, true to life way, the reader starts to wish for them to discover who they are as individuals. We realize that maybe they aren’t perfect for each other, as much as we hoped they would be. Perhaps perpetual happiness together is an unlikely ending to this story. The happy ending that we wish for suddenly becomes not about Emma and Dexter seeing the light and falling into each other’s arms, but about them recognizing the light within themselves and sorting their heads out as separate people.

This is not a cheesy, weepy love story...I did shed a tear or two (who am I kidding, my rough outer shell was pierced to the heart and I cried like a baby). Though this is a story about two people who truly do love each other, it is more a coming of age story about how we continue to grow throughout our lives even as we become adults and think we’ve seen it all. It is a story that reminds you that life goes on, even when it seems impossible or you wish with all your soul that it wouldn’t.

“One Day” is a beautifully written, hilarious, smart story about two relatable, real people who just happen to have their paths cross. From lovers to best friends to enemies to possible lovers again, these two characters reflect a mirror for each other...they are what is real in a world where everyone has ulterior motives. It’s not the kind of love you yearn for out of fairy tales, and it’s not the kind of love that consumes you...it’s the kind of love that really exists in the real world, the kind of love that makes long, strong marriages..if you’re brave enough to grab hold of it. It’s the most real thing we can hope for, and for Em and Dex it’s all we can wish for that they take advantage of it.

Play it loud enough, it'll keep the demons away

The following is a list of songs that I love. They’re those songs that no matter how many albums you have on your ipod, you always come back too. I’m not claiming that they’re all fabulously skillful pieces of music (I don’t know enough about music to argue for their complexity or skill level)...I’m just saying that they all touch me every single time I listen to them. They’re those songs that you actually stop what you’re doing and pay attention to.

In no particular order...

Needed You Tonight- Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals

The whole song captures me but particularly Ben letting loose on “violin is my instrument of choice, it recognizes the paaaaaaaaaain in my voice” gives me goosebumps every time. (Arguably one of Harper’s best albums, in case you were wondering).

Honey Bee- Tom Petty

This song is just gritty and dirty and I love it. I particularly love Tom Petty at the beginning “alright here we go...this is a little number called give me some sugar little honey, natural, bee”. This song just makes you wanna grind up on the nearest human being. Not to mention, Petty may be old as dirt but the guy still rocks it out at his concerts, some of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

Narcolepsy- Third Eye Blind

So, yeah, I’m a 3EB junkie and this is one of my favorites. I particularly love “I read dead Russian authors volumes at a time. I write everything down except what’s on my mind” I particularly love when they break it down to half time towards the end.

Piano Man-Billy Joel

The reason I love this song is because A. it’s awesome and B. you can be in a bar anywhere in the world and turn this song on and everyone will start singing. Some of my favorite moments have been surrounded by friends and strangers a lil’ drunk and belting out this tune. “Yes they’re sharing a drink they called loneliness, but it’s better than drinking alone.”

Rosalita- Bruce Springsteen

One of my fav’s...I just love this song. It’s upbeat and it’s The Boss, what’s not to love?

My favorite part... “Well tell him this is last chance to get, his daughter in a fine romance, because the record company Rosie, just gave me a big advance! And my tires were slashed and I almost crashed but the Lord have mercy..and my machine she’s a dud, I’m stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey.” Plus he was 23 when he wrote this album...what am I doing with my life?

Hour Follows Hour- Ani DiFranco

I think Ani D is an excellent lyricist and this song really show it. It’s beautiful. I love the whole song but the part that really grabs me is “We can only hold so much is what I figure, try and keep our eye on the big picture, the picture keeps getting bigger. Too much is how I love you, but too well is how I know you and I’ve got nothing to prove this time only something to show you. I guess I just wanted you to see, that it was all worth it to me.”

Rain King (Live)-Counting Crows

One of their best recordings. This song is perfect and the transition to the Thunder Road cover is seamless.

James Taylor-Fire and Rain

gorgeous song. some of the best lyrics ever written.

Anyone wanna shout out any songs that hit them like a ton of bricks?

Walk tall...or baby don't walk at all.

I am 25. Almost 26. A quarter century is a pretty damn good time to take a look back on all the things you've learned. Especially because most of them were learned the hard way. I do believe that there really is no other way to learn but the hard way. Pain and growth, they make us real people. So, these are some of the most important lessons I've learned in my 25 years.

1. "It is not advisable to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener." Ayn Rand.

2. It takes A LOT more effort than you might think to change yourself. It makes it all the more worthwhile to produce meaningful change. And that change can become an integral part of who you are.

3. The majority of people in your life only want you at your best. True friends are the ones who stay around when you're at your worst. They're the ones who can see your light through all your darkness.

4. There will be times when you feel like you can't go on, that nothing will ever be right again. Push through. The world will be so much more beautiful on the other side. And you will be stronger for it. As Beckett said "I can't go on. I'll go on. "

5. Gay men, just as much as straight men, like you better when you look good. For that matter, everyone likes you better when you look good. Whether they want to admit it or not.

6. To knowingly hurt someone is one of the most difficult things you will ever do.

7. We teach others how to treat us. "We accept the love we think we deserve."

8. Finding an end to something, laying something to rest, is an extremely difficult thing to do. Yet it turns out it is more painful to drag on that which should have ended long ago.

9. Emotion and the display of it, crying, laughing, hugging someone, human touch, these things are not weaknesses. Though society would have you believe they were. They require far more strength that being stoic.

10. There are some wounds that only time (and a lot of it) can heal. There is nothing you can do to rush the pain away.

11. It takes work to know yourself. The edict from Socrates "Know thyself", this is not a simple command. You must dig deep and venture into dark and frightening places to truly discover this. And the journey never truly ends.

12. The only person who can truly measure your success is yourself.

13. You will never understand why the masses choose the things they do, i.e. George Bush, The Jonas Brothers...The only thing you can do is keep an open mind and high standards and hope that others can see beauty where you can and vice versa.

14. People are the same everywhere. Generally, most want the same things, they just specify their personal desires.

15. Politics are a complete waste of time. They are not based in any sense of logic or rational.

16. "The world owes me nothing, we owe each other the world."

17. Even if you break everything. There is always time to rebuild. All we have is time.

That's all I've got for now. Perhaps I'll add more later. Anyone who reads this...what are the most important lessons you've learned so far?

Cancer? Say What?

My boyfriend has cancer. The “Big C” as Showtime so lovingly refers to it. Now before this happened I was under the impression that real people didn’t actually get cancer. Friends of friends talked about it, distant family members or people who I rarely saw and certainly never showed any signs of it. Cancer is just one of those words the government creates to scare you into trying whatever product they’re pushing as a “cancer preventer”. Well I’m here to tell you, it’s real. And it’s serious. Serious as a heart attack..or, as cancer, I guess.

he real bitch of it is that he looks healthy, feels healthy. He even started running and got himself into to great physical shape while the cancer was taking up shop inside him. Nothing has changed. He eats like a farm animal and drinks like a fish. But his body is destroying itself. And not slowly either. As my mom so eloquently put it, “cancer is a sneaky sun of a bitch.” Up until about 3 weeks ago there were no signs that anything was wrong, then a giant lump appeared in his neck. But still, other than bearing a slight resemblance to Quasimodo, he looked and felt fine. Despite reassurances that this probably wasn’t cancer, we found out that it was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We lovingly referred to his lump as “Larry” and would casually whisper to Larry that he stay right where he was and not spread anywhere else.

He was assured by doctor’s that he was a Stage II, mostly due to the size of the lump on his neck. Just to be sure they would conduct a PET scan and a CAT scan and a painful bone marrow biopsy. All these test were just to make us secure in the fact that his cancer hadn’t spread. False hope. The tests came back with painful results. His cancer is aggressive and they found it in his stomach, diaphragm, both sides of his neck, lungs, and at the base of his brain. This doesn’t make sense, I just can’t wrap my head around it. How does a perfectly healthy, 25 year old man develop such an aggressive cancer? Had he waited a few more months, had that lump not appeared on his neck...well let’s just be grateful for small miracles in times like these.

So now that he is classified as Stage IVA, we’ve discovered that the treatment plan doesn’t change, really. It just makes the whole thing a bit more serious and in the event that the treatment doesn’t work. He would immediately have to switch to a different treatment which carries separate risks in itself...as do all cancer treatments. Best case scenario now looks like he will be enduring 6 months of chemotherapy and (fingers crossed) that will be it. It doesn’t look like he’ll have to have radiation. He’ll lose his hair, he’ll be incredibly sick, but he’ll get through it. He will come out the other side and life will continue...perhaps differently, through a different lens...he will float on.

Foo Fighting Takes A lot Out of You

Literally the highlight of my day. All day all I wanted was a piece of pizza...I come home after a rough day at work, and my roomies left some for me.... ♥ them

Pop Tart Sushi?

Ok So I had a few pictures to choose from today but this was my favorite. A trip to pop tart world topped off an excellent day with Crystal. And yes, the rumors are true, they make pop-tart sushi.

Our trip also included a visit to Blockheads for $3 frozen margaritas!

Dear NYC,

You are amazing.

Love, Kayla

Day #2 Big Pun Condones Spaying and Neutering

What do Big Pun and spaying and neutering your pets have in common? This mural on 103 and 3rd.

Sorry I couldn't get the whole thing in, but trust me, it's weird.

Not to mention Big Pun's not so big arms...awkward.