I'm not going to be posting over break, as I'll be traveling around the country. I'll leave you with something I wrote over the summer that you may have missed. I'll be back Jan 20th!

College as a Puddle

You know that feeling when you are alone in the world? Yeah, sure, you know people and have friends, but overall, it’s you for yourself. There is no organized friendship like high school, and no structure. This is what college has been like for me so far, and it is very easy to get lost in such a puddle.
Self-motivation is key for college-bound frogs, in addition to self-confidence. There are no parents to wake you up at 7:30am (although some may opt for an alarm clock), and nobody cares whether you come home at night. Somehow frogs meet, drawn together by a common interest, living situation, or classes. The frogs you meet have a great impact on your stay in the puddle.
Our hero was, and still is very fortunate regarding the frogs she has met since her arrival in the puddle, 2 years ago. She became acquainted with many frogs, until meeting those who she is close to today. These frogs are very special and unique. One is sure she is a bunny, despite her living in a puddle. One is documented as much older than his heart and spirit are. Another is always happy, and yet another is the best roommate one could wish for. One is old at heart, and another is obsessed with a near-by puddle’s basketball team. All these people make the puddle worth living in.
When moving to the puddle of college, self-confidence is as vital as lily pads. This is especially true when the puddle is competitive. Frogs come from a variety of backgrounds and places, and all have different achievements under their belts. In the puddle, they aspire to maintain their over-achievers status. This can be tough for uncompetitive, or less competitive frogs.
All frogs want to feel good about themselves. The self-confident frogs can put up a tough front; they know what they are doing and where they are heading and how they are getting there. Sometimes it seems that they do not need friends; they know their path and can follow it alone. Other frogs are less confident, and seek out other frogs to share advice and support with. These frogs may know their final destination, but not the way there. They may also have no idea where they are headed in life, and just enjoying the journey. Frogs who have had similar experiences tend to become close, as they can relate to each other’s hardships and lend a helping hand.
Every frog finds a few close buddies, who have a much stronger impact on them. These are frogs whose opinions are highly valued, more than the average puddle-mate. Such frogs hold power over their friends; the ability to make them feel at the top of the world, or as lowly as the mud at the bottom of the puddle. Less confidence frogs can become quite frustrated if surrounded by over-critical, self-confident frogs. They are sure of themselves, but when confronted by more ambitious frogs, are weakened.
This is what can make living in the puddle painful.

Line Starts Here

A line can represent every frog in the puddle. Every line starts at some place and is headed to another. When looking at the collective of lines, you get a picture similar to the underground or metro.
Some lines that originated from very different places ended up in similar directions, and some that started out near each other find themselves worlds apart.

Some of these lines meet, if only for a few stops. This is what makes life interesting. One day you are swimming along by yourself, and the next you are running parallel to another line. You spend a few stops together, and then move on. Whether you ever meet again is up to fate (i.e. the engineer who planned the subway system).

These interactions can be fascinating. You find that you and the other line have so much is common, you share experiences from the track, but suddenly all this comes to an end and your ways part. It’s bound to happen because what’s the point in having two lines follow the same route?

The lines rarely realize the pattern they are stuck in. They continue to run, collide and separate from each other, never questioning. They look forward to the place where they meet a good friendly line, and later feel the pain of their inevitable separation. From within this pain, they hope to never see that line again. The contrast between the good and bad stops is unbearable. They almost wish to divert their tracks to avoid this line in the future. But before they can do that, they collide again and the pain of separation is forgotten in the midst of joy.

There is one line that is currently struggling with such issues. This line squiggles itself into letters to express itself, and does so most often when it is separated from a particular line. The words of anger mix in with words of longing, and this line finds itself very confused. These two lines came from opposite sides of town, and are increasingly heading towards locations miles apart. Yet those few stops they share are beautiful. The line’s happiness peaks, and it cannot understand its previous anger towards the other line. It delves into the moment, later hating itself for falling victim to the pattern again.

Uncontrollable Laughter

2 nights ago, our hero took an outing to a nearby puddle. It was a fancy evening, and our hero found herself dressed in her finest (and most uncomfortable) clothing. Many important student frogs came along, amongst them leaders and members of other groups and a few prominent names. They young frogs were all seated together and the far end of the dining hall, and were enjoying a delightful meal when the roll call began. While some of the young frogs are quite important in their puddle, they are almost insignificant in what is generally called the “real world.” Some “real” important frogs were present, amongst them a recently elected assembly member and her husband, who just happens to be the kleptomaniac frog from the previous entry. As his name was called, the student frogs did their best to smother their laughter, barely containing themselves. Much to their amusement, giggles instantaneously escaped from the other 900 frogs in the crowd. At least amongst these 900 wonderful people, there was a consensus regarding the leader. How many of the will actually turn out to protest… I guess not to many, as they are already hard at work with another cause. But it’s good to know how the “real world” feels about mayors who steal newspapers.