Friday, February 3, 2012

Growing up

When I was little, I believed that when I grew up, I would be like my parents. I would have acquaintences rather than friends; I would like complex foods, rather than one-ingredient foods; I would walk around very calmly and systematically get all my work done instead of running around following whims.

When I was in 6th grade, there was a girl who wore make-up. At first, I thought her face just looked like that. But then someone mentioned it. And I thought, why would she do that? We're not grown-ups! Then, in 7th grade, suddenly all the girls were wearing make-up. And I wondered, "Is now when we're supposed to grow up? But I don't feel like growing up right now." I asked the girls about it, and they insisted that they just wanted to wear make-up and wear those fancy grown-up-looking clothes.

And that was when I realized that I might never want to do "grown-up" things. I realized there weren't really "grown-up things" and "kid things". There were just things.

I like the Wiggles. And I think that other people my age "don't like them" just because they think they're not supposed to like them. The songs are repetitive, the skits are simple, and we are taught that as grown-ups we are supposed to like complex things. But if you realize that that kind of "growing up" is stupid and fake, then you're free to like whatever you want.

I like the Wiggles, and I also like George Carlin and Real Time. I like H2O and degrassi, and I like the cute little clothes in the kids section, and I like brightly colored shoes and I'm not interested in "neutral colors". I like to skip and run and play with bubbles and hoola-hoops.

I put off writing this post because I couldn't figure out a good way to get my point across. I don't think this is very eloquent, but, eh, you get it, right?

6 comments:

  1. I totally get it. To this day, I think that "grown up" books are boring as f*ck. You can't pay me enough to try and read books from adult sections. I still head straight to young adult, or just plain fantasy.

    I live out of home, support myself, pay bills, but I don't consider myself grown up.

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    1. Oh, yeah, I always read the kids and teens books! I like the occasional "adult" book, though. Have you read Looking for Alaska?

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  2. No, but I've heard of it. Is it good?

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    1. I really liked it. I felt emotionally connected to the characters.

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    2. Oh cool. I'll keep my eye out for it. Who's it by?

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