My big sister

When I finally arrived at Milledge Avenue in the college town of Athens, my sister Kelly made me close my eyes, then threw open the door of her new apartment and gave me the Grand Tour of all two rooms. It was tiny, but charming. It had high ceilings, brightly painted walls, and lots of artwork (half of it her own). Kelly has a little black kitten appropriately named Pollux—for the Greek god of mischief and mayhem. I’m convinced that he has a split personality. He has his endearing, cuddly moments, but the rest of the time he is liquid energy. He could spend hours chasing his toy mouse or an earring that he knocked off the bathroom sink.
Needless to say, Kelly and I had some girl-bonding time during the weekend. We did our nails, watched old episodes of Alias, and talked. When I told her I had gotten a blog, she started laughing and asked incredulously, “You’re a blogger?!” At my nod, she demanded that I blog about her without delay. Life goal, I suppose?
Kelly is 5 years older than me. She’s a semester away from graduating from UGA. She got engaged this summer to her boyfriend Tyler, who I already love, and named me her maid of honor. Despite our age gap, we’ve always been close. When we were little, she doubled as playmate and second mommy. She taught me how to back dive and ride a bike. Now that we’re a little older, she’s more of a best friend than a mom. I can’t imagine my family without her, and I don’t really feel like trying.
Well, there you are, Kelly… You have now been blogged about.

Technology

I am not a technologically savvy person. Let’s just get that out there. I know the basics about computers, but if anything goes wrong I’m lost. However, despite my ignorance, I have a healthy respect for all the advantages it brings us.
Obviously, there’s the easily-accessed information. No more poring over stained library books until your eyes burn. But my favorite feature of technology is the communication. It all started with email—online letters. Before our western world knew what was happening, out popped chat rooms, facebook, and skype. My 7th grade health teacher scared me out of chat rooms with horror stories about cyber-stalkers. But of the others, I am a devoted follower.
Just yesterday, I was sitting at home thinking up every good excuse to put off my homework, when I remembered Skype. Minutes later, I was sitting at the family computer “video-calling” my sister Angie. She has lived in Anchorage, Alaska for 4 years, and with a distance like that, we can’t visit more than a few times each year. While we talked, she held her 6-month old daughter up to the camera so I could see how much she’s grown. We couldn’t talk for long— you can’t procrastinate forever—but while we did, we saw each other face-to-face. That degree of connection would have been impossible just a few short years ago... Long story short, I love the 21st century. And much as I hate viruses and technological dead-ends, it’s worth the head-ache a million times over.

Cambridge Lesson

There's something exciting about starting from scratch. Of course, when it comes after a ruined batch of cookies or dead-end writing assignment, it can be a little disheartening... But aside from that, new beginnings have an appeal. I've lived in the same town since I was three, but I like to daydream about moving somewhere new. I'd be somewhere completely different, surrounded by people who didn't know me yet, and I could be anyone I wanted. I could create a whole new identity—like make-believe, only the game doesn't end when the dress-up box shuts.
Well, it looks like I'll be living here for a while yet, but I did get a chance this summer to start at square one. I flew across the Atlantic to Cambridge for a three-week camp. While I didn’t reinvent myself, I did get to experience new things with lots of new people. I made some great friends while I was there; we nicknamed ourselves the “Hufflepuff Gang”. Being together all day every day, you can become surprisingly close, even after just three weeks. Looking back I can see that it’s the everyday things that make up life and relationships. All of my favorite memories from the trip are of the most ordinary things—walking to the market, playing Frisbee, going for early-morning runs while everyone sane is still asleep. Live for the little things. You’ll be surprised how much they matter at the end of the day (or trip, as the case may be).