when we used to kick it
Song of the Day: Back in the Day – Missy Elliot feat. Jay-Z
My grandmother used to say “You’re only as old as you look.” When I was a teenager, I was always being mistaken for someone much older than myself. Even my current partner, who is ancient, thought I was much older than I am when we started going out. I’m hoping this trend will reverse as I actually get older and form a kind of bell curve so that one year I’ll actually look my age, and then keep getting younger.
Aside from appearances, though, I’m feeling older. I keep remembering all the late nights and packed days in college. I’d stay up until 4am every night, watching music videos. My best friend and I had a rule freshman year that we couldn’t go to bed without seeing Toxic by Britney Spears on late night MTV. We’d go get philly cheesesteaks at 2am. Then we’d run around to class all day and I’d draw for 6 hours and cut tiny shapes out of colored paper and glue it all back together.
Now, it seems like I never get half as much done in a day that I used to. Is that true? I can’t tell if school is just so compartmentalized that it seems like you’re doing a shit ton of stuff everyday. But seriously, with all the time I spend cooking, eating, washing things, dressing myself, sleeping and snuggling, it’s a wonder I ever do anything else.
It’s not only time that seems to have gotten away from me. I’ve undergone this weird transformation in the last year. Maybe I’m just out of practice, but I remember being able to drink a bottle of wine by myself over dinner in Paris. This was after happy hour and before pre-gaming to go out dancing. Man, when I think of all the substances I was able to tolerate at that time.. and I was always testing my limits. I’d wake up in a hotel room in Spain covered in sand and sore all over and think, “Oh god, what happened?”
Now I am lame. I can’t drink anymore, though I often try, especially when I have PMS and I’m all fiery inside. But man, that two and a half glasses of wine at my mom’s house last night made my head light up and zonked me out. I can’t get really drunk anymore without spending the next day puking my guts out. Ginger ale and saltines are my new favorite foods.
Even coffee gets my delicate little constitution all riled up. I can’t drink half a cup before I have a belly ache and my head is as twirly as a sparkly baton. And my herbal remedies just put me right to sleep! What’s a lady to do? All my fun vices no longer fulfill my brain’s love for free-thinking escapism. My body is practically forcing me to be healthy. The hell?
With all my recreational activities down the hole, I must find something to fill the void.
