if all else fails:

you know those parts of town you pass through on the way to somewhere else? when you look out the window and say 'Jesus Christ! who lives here'? well, maybe one day, YOU will. 

if all else fails and your life starts to derail; your dreams are shattered; love life is on the rocks- you can ALWAYS pack up and run away to some tucked away no mans land like reseda or something! 

get a job at Starbucks (they have a health plan!) and start fucking all the dude employees you work with! start having an affair with the 18 year old boy who lives in the apartment next door and teach him what it means to be a man who can provide a woman with something that will ACTUALLY makes her HAPPY: A BACK RUN AND AN ORGASM! i DON'T recommend doing this 'till you're like 40 or something. but, it's important to be aware of ALL your life's options. 

when you get fired from Starbucks and are running from the cops because the neighbor boy, you've now been informed you were molesting, is ACTUALLY 16- you can buy a bus ticket to Lancaster or watsonville or something. start selling fruit on a corner and only wear light denim, jean short, cut offs. on the weekends, swim in a lake, drink beer or mike's hard lemonade and fuck the complete ANTITHESIS of your former 16 year old lover: Enrique, the Latino heart throb of the area, who promises to teach you Spanish while he makes love to you.... but never gets past "you're pussy is so wet". oh well. 

I won't resort to any of this unless I end up miserable and in turmoil cuz my life is in ruins. But until then, I'm good. No need to go there. Just a passing thought that runs through my mind whenever I end up in the valley- usually only when I'm SUPER DEEP in the valley, on ventura blvd in like woodland hills or something. xoxo

if only:

if only someone could promise us that all our craziest dreams and desires would come true; that everything would work out in the end.... and that we could rest assured that it will all be OK. but they can't. who knows what will happen between now and the time you die? that's the thing that some people actually LIKE about life. it's a constant surprise. a gamble. but that's also what others can HATE about it! 

it's why some people take their own lives. they reach their breaking point. they hit their limit of 'not knowing' and they give up. they feel hopeless; think life is too hard to go on living because they're unhappy, unfulfilled, and can't continue living with the possibility that they may NEVER be happy- that their dreams may NEVER come true. and in the blink of an eye, they are gone forever. having died at their own hand. there is NO need for this to happen. but it does and it's tragic. so, it's important to look at the thought process that could cause this dark hole of hopelessness, and avoid it at all costs. 

we live in a world where phrases like 'you never know', 'just when i least expected...' , and 'who knows?' run wild. and they're true! you never know what's coming for you around the corner... good OR bad. just as quickly as you could contract herpes, you could win the lotto. and all you can do in the interim is live your life, be nice to your friends & family, try not to be such an asshole, maybe make people laugh if you don't mind, have a laugh yourself, and work towards making your dream become realized. letting it be bigger than just a thought inside your head. 

but before you can do this, you have to KNOW what it is you WANT. do you know? when you figure it out through thinking/writing in an unlined journal... brainstorming like a kuh-razy person, that's ONLY the beginning. every day, do at least ONE thing towards achieving your dream/goal. even if it's as simple as 'i wanna be a chef' and going to the supermarket to grocery shop or signing up for a cooking class (and hopefully actually going). 

all of this will help towards moving your life in an inspired, focused direction. giving you things to daydream about and aspire to having/being! but if you feel trapped in a moody, super sad hole of despair...... do ANYTHING you can to perk yourself up! NO, NOT drugs- smoking- or binge eating (and by binge eating, i mean BINGE EATING: like eating an entire pizza in one sitting by yourself. or emptying the contents of your entire fridge into your stomach)!

INSTEAD, how about seeing a movie by yourself; getting a small popcorn and peanut m&m's or red vines? have a vanilla soy OR nonfat milk latte (your call)! i mean, if you were ALREADY planning on killing yourself ANYWAY, why would you feel guilty about having a treat?! it's like looking at life from a whole new perspective! try reading the tabloids for free at the supermarket, going on a walk.... anything! even a bubble bath and calling a friend/seeking help from a profesh could change everything. you can even e-mail me. you see, getting so emotionally low can actually give you a whole new lease on life! if nothing matters, than you can be brave, and fearless, and choose to LIVE and not let others affect you! 

so, just cheer up. after all, the beautiful thing about life is, even if you're not feeling your best right now....there just might be a happy surprise lurking just around the bend. i love you! xoxo

the blind leading the blind PART 9:

1. live every day eating like you're about to be photographed naked by Ryan McGinley the next day.

2. don't be an idiot. save your money!!! open a savings account! put half of what you make in your checking and the other half in your savings. you'll thank me later! think ahead! the younger you are, the more thankful you'll be later!

3. it's bad manners to drink out of a glass/cup/mug with a spoon in it.

4. wood does not absorb electricity. Unless we're talking about a dudes wooden dick and the electricity of a woman's vagina. in this case, wood will totally absorb electricity!

5. metal absorbs heat. If you leave your spoon in your tea/coffee/soup, it'll get cooler.

6. Stop smoking! It'll make you REAL UGLY, REAL FAST. I'd almost rather you develop a sex addiction instead (with condoms of course). It would be less harmful to your health. I don't care if it's your nervous outlet, if you're addicted! Go to cvs, Duane Reade, target, your local pharmacy and get the patch! Then go to whole foods and buy two packs of flavored tooth picks. One cinnamon and one tea tree. Good luck. Haggy, wrinkled, smokers won't be allowed to read this blog any more. So get it the fuck together! there's no excuse to smoke anymore!

7. i know i probably shouldn't say this but i feel compelled to; you should start loving your body if you don't already. even if it's all gross and you're out of shape. EVEN if you're a binge eating maniac with so many flaps of fat you can't properly clean all the crevices and as a result you tend to smell sour and can't figure out why. i say you should like your body because it's the only body you're ever gonna have and it's yours! my mom used to tell me 'how's your body ever gonna change for you if you keep telling it that you hate it?' so be nice to your body. that includes taking care of it with what you put inside it, (food, liquid and boys privates includes, how you wash it, how you move it, etc.

8. you're ONLY allowed to have popcorn and peanut m&ms at the cinema if you're IN the movie that you're seeing. no exceptions. if you end up getting cut out of the film and you've already finished the treats and feel SUPER EXTRA guilty cuz your cause for celebration is now non existent- you better walk that shizz off fatty!

9. a SECOND on the lips, a LIFETIME on the hips. 

10. don't go in the ocean when you have your period. a shark will totally eat you. i live by this rule. be careful this summer. 

first love - part 4:

Felix and i went out for eight months. or did i just say eight, when it was REALLY only six, to make it sound more important than it was?I'll never know. sometimes i can lie to myself better than anyone could ever lie to me. cuz I'll believe it. 

under his influence, i tried drugs for the first time. THAT did NOT help what had ultimately began as a dream romance. I'm moody/crazy/and self conscious enough without the help of illegal substances. NOWADAYS, there's no way you'd even catch me smoking a cigarette! 

but ULTIMATELY, Felix and i could have never been together forever. i was too young. he was too young. we weren't a perfect fit in general, because we just weren't. but even if we WERE, there's no way we could have been at THAT point in our lives- because i don't think our brains were fully developed YET. mine probably still isn't. jk jk! or am i jk'ing?! life experience was lacking for both of us. 

i was fifteen by the time it ended, and though i have the small tendency to be a bit needy now - at FIFTEEN i was at the BEGINNING stage of my ride with full throttle neediness. i pushed Felix away. one night i suggested we break up, in the hope he would beg for me to take him back, shower me with love and desperation! but this was not the case. instead he just said 'ok'. 

i walked from his car onto my porch. i sat down on the bench outside and watched him, just sitting there in his car. we were both sad. it had mattered to him. he had loves me too. but it was too hard. and the joy was gone. that night was the equivalent of experiencing a death. 

i can still conjure the mental image of Felix looking at me from his car, and it can STILL make me cry if i let it. he'll always be the boy who taught me what love is supposed to feel like. and he'll forever be the boy who took my virginity... or more like the boy i happily gave it away to. xo

first love - part 3:

He was sarcastic and witty and I believed in him. He even wore nail-polish! He didn't care what anyone thought. And he was super cute. He was an American boy, but he looked like he was English Mick Jagger lips and a haircut like the Beatles. I think he had a beauty mark too. 

it went from me being completely intimidated by him, to the most intense first love i could ever imagine anyone having. hmmm. now that i think about it, I'm pretty sure i maintained my feelings of intimidation all through the relationship. fuck! oh well, hindsight is 20/20. live and learn. but he was too cool not to be intimidating! i'd rather that than some wimpy lame-o.

no one had ever made me laugh like he did. Maybe someone had- but they weren't a boy OR they WERE, but weren't as cute? either way, that's when i realized what it meant for me to be in love: HE MAKES YOU LAUGH SO HARD YOU HURT, HE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND AND YOU WANNA HAVE SEX WITH HIM! Felix made me figure out what my version of love is too?! wowzers! this guy was on fire! no wonder this blog post is so long. what power he had over me!

I think the person you call your boyfriend/the person you have on your arm, is a reflection of you. And he made me sooo proud that we were reflecting eachother. Yes, it was less complicated cuz I was 15. But in a way, it may have been more complicated emotionally. These were all new feelings. Everything was exciting. 

Now, in my 20's, not only do i have to worry about getting my heart broken or breaking people's hearts- I have to worry about paying my bills too!!! I like drama in relationships and I'm trying not to, because this only makes things harder for everyone involved- especially me. And WAY more complicated than necessary. I'm trying to learn that an uncomplicated relationship IS NOT a boring relationship. And that's one of the reasons I'm in therapy. But, yes, I think I always look at my first love as a barometer to gauge if I've found love. 

The dude I love HAS to make me laugh, be gorgeous, inspire me and have that secret ingredient that gives him an effortless cool. like he could be anywhere and people would want to listen to him, stand near him. The weird trick that's hard to find is this: I need him to chase me a bit, but not let me walk all over him. Cuz if he doesn't chase me and there are NO games at all- I'll get bored and frustrated and walk away. 

Love and looking for love and waking up in the morning excited about a boy or girl is universal. It's what songs and movies are written about. And the dynamics between men and women fascinate me. (to be continued....one last time!)