In Which I Expose Myself as a Leech and a Hipster

Marleen. Also lovingly known as Marleeny-Weeny.

The first new friend I made in this teensy yet alarmingly huge place I call a university.

She introduced me to her friends, and all of the sudden I had a group of very awesome people to hang out with.* It was miraculous. I didn't bond with a lot of people in my dorm... 'scuse me, residence hall (RA terminology) and it's quite possible Marleen saved my life. Without it I faced a long year of awkward social skills and few friends.

Marleen is also one of the coolest people I know. I liked her because she'd heard of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.** I thought, "this girl has good taste." Then she introduced me to about five million other bands and made me feel infinitely cooler. This girl was not a follower. I liked that she had opinions and personality. Before this I was torn between two styles. The one-dimensional sweet gal full of name brand clothing and pop music (or at least, that's how I saw it) and the slightly more punk, fashion-forward, hippie interested, indie music lover. That semester, I absolutely lived in the second.***

Before I mention these next few things, let me preface it by saying: Marleen was no-where near as lame as I was about these characteristics. Mine were trends I was picking up. Hers were legitimate interests and traits. She thought for herself, without letting other opinions influence her own. In trying to replicate this I went to an extreme. Another fault of mine, a tendency to replicate others, instead of create individually. And she was accepting enough that I felt confident enough to try these crazy things.

(Can we blame this on my inborn personality? An xnxx is in the middle of everything remember? So I tend to lean towards either end, depending on who I'm with because I'm comfortable with most everything. Average peeps. SO average.)

She was a part of my first college rebellion - hair dye. Mama C-roll hated that one. But with subtlety. "I just think your natural hair color is so pretty. Maybe we could do some highlights?" Read: that looks hideous and I think you're a jaded materialistic girl for doing it. Love ya mom.

And a part of my first societal rebellion - no makeup. Yeah who cares if I don't look good! All makeup is a tool to suppress women and impress shallow men! Boo! BOOOOOOOO!****

Ok those are kind of negative things. This is coming out to sound a lot worse than I wanted it too. But these stages I went through shaped what I am now and so they're important.
What I learned from Marleen (the simplified version, without psychotic, over obsessive perfectionist sierra):

1. It's ok to like things that other people are weird.
2. It's also ok to not wear make-up sometimes. You can still be attractive without it.
3. Life is more fun if you don't worry excessively about what others think. Go ahead, joke around with that person you just met, don't worry about a perfect first impression, don't take yourself so seriously.
4. There's more than one genre when it comes to music.
5. There's nothing quite like a good clever pun.
6. Study hard, play hard.

Overall it was the inspiration to be a little more confident in myself. Individual quirks are interesting, they help create a personality. And I did come away with an undying love for farmers markets, teevas, and all things in association with that. Hiking, dreadlocks, and weird people. I had these interests a little bit already, but I developed them that year.

We hiked. We listened to music. We played extreme jenga and went to a bonfire - where a gas can exploded and almost took my head off. Mom? I didn't tell you about that? Nevermind...)

Marleeny-weeny. I hope you get into that nursing program. I hope we keep track of each other. Thank you for being such a witty, down-to-earth, fun-loving, smart individual. I will miss your sass.




*a vaguely leech-like quality

**not very many people I knew had heard of that band at this point. Intro my hipster tendencies.

***I should specify that they're not mutually exclusive. I used to be snotty about it but I've matured. I realize that you can be sweet and a hippie. You can also be a punk and be one-dimensional. Now I LOVE EVERYONE, you're all great. I promise I'll only judge you a little if your truly favorite music comes from auto-tune and random rap verses in otherwise non-rap songs.

****Again, I'm no longer like this. Moderation in all things.