NaNoWriMo Day 4: She said Yes (to the dress)!

This article is going to be slightly one friend-centric, because I love her (and I spent almost the whole day with her yesterday). So, I’m going to tell you a story for the backstory to make sense:

Back in early-ass 2016 (like literally the first few weeks), your girl was trying to bake things which weren’t just muffins with different berries each time. One of her friends asked her if she wanted to bake with her and her friend. (she – me, her – friend, her friend – friend’s friend; because I’ve started this third person rollercoaster and I can’t get out.)

Your girl was nervous because this was clearly their tradition that she was taking part in. Also, the fact that they’d been baking for more than a year and she had just started was clearly intimidating. She sucked it up and said yes. One sunny Saturday afternoon, she got into the friend’s friend’s car, and the rest is history. (I’ll stop now.)

We started baking almost every weekend (well, not anymore), and made quite a few good desserts. If you’ve seen pretty macarons, cheesecakes, and pies on my Instagram (here), they’re the reason why.

Going forward to the actual day I’m supposed to be writing about…

Day 4: She said Yes (to the dress)!

I started writing Day 3 on my friend’s couch while she went out for a run, but not before she showed me the best thing.

Look! (It's so nice to have a proud friend)

She has this adorable Cornish Rex called Yoshi, who is the best cat ever. It was almost like he knew that I wouldn’t be seeing him again for a long time because he was so cuddly. I literally could not write my article because he plopped himself in my lap.

I had to move my laptop from the desk to the couch right next to me, and awkwardly write till he jumped off my lap.

He’s an adorable cat, who’s as cuddly as a dog, and knows how to do 6 different tricks – sit, stand, fist bump, turn around two ways, and jump through the hoop. (Can you see how proud I am of him, even though he’s technically not my cat.)

We went out for Starbucks and Thai food (Can I just say, how much I am going to miss Si Lom? It gives you at least 3 servings for $12.95 and all of the food I’ve had of theirs is so good).

Also, don’t have the Caramel brûlée latte if you don’t like too much sweet. I was slightly gagging by 

the end of it due to the caramel syrup. But hey, holiday drinks #ftw.

I made my friend watch a video created by an Indian stand-up comedy channel, and I realized that culture does shape certain things that you grow up in. (I mean, I already knew it, but it’s more evident when you’re with another person who grew up with a different culture than yours.)

For example, subtitles don’t always explain context or lingual metaphors. There’s a part in this video where they show the Mum bleating. But, you would need to know that goat in hindi is bakra, which also is a word used for someone who can be duped easily. Similarly, there was a funny joke about the son being a pilot, because he helps his dad’s money fly (paisa udaata hoon). But, you’d have to understand the implicit meaning where ‘paisa udaana’ is another way of saying that you waste money.

I would love to write a blog article about how such metaphors are so deeply ingrained into the way you think that it’s so different to explain context to a person who’s never been through the same. *records in blog ideas diary for another day*

Today had a purpose, and that purpose was getting a wedding dress for Janie (Congratulations again!! <3)

Cute (isn’t it?)

We reached right on time to go look at the dresses, and I realized some crucial things:

1) All I know about weddings are from movies.

2) No, you aren’t handed champagne when you walk in.

3) You don’t get free cake either, which you then sit on by mistake and ruin thousands of dollars.

4) You do get to ring a loud bell when you’re done.

5) You cry after your dress and before swiping your credit card to pay for that exorbitant dress. The wedding market makes loads of money on everything I bet.

Another thing I realized is that the wedding dress shop people are good at marketing. That’s not exactly a compliment.

My friend had a certain budget for her dress, and she had stated the same to the person who had gotten out dresses for her. But, the person had brought out one more dress which was amazing (and the one she finally chose), and it was technically over her budget.

But, here’s the thing, we noticed that only after every one of us fell in love with the dress. It’s not fair. (But also, she looks like an angel, so it’s worth it? – no picture because spoilers!)

I’m one of the bridesmaids for the wedding and I can’t be happier. I also essentially bullied her into making me the ‘You can do this’ person, or as I call myself, ‘her personal Shia LeBeouf”.

That’s another thing. Wedding planning is so stressful. When to-be Brides are called Bridezillas, I’m confused now, because them getting upset is warranted? There are so many details to be coordinated, from the people coming to the wedding, to wedding clothes, right down to the color of the invitation cards. Although, luckily for Janie, she’s meticulous (more than me!!) and has a whole spreadsheet with proper details, so I have faith in her.

Once that was done, we drove through I-75, where I saw this gem:

I then went out with another friend to celebrate my job/say good bye to me since I’m leaving in the next ten days. *screaming internally*

As we started talking, she complimented me on my writing. I’m still learning on taking compliments, because I usually reply with a self-deprecating comment, but I realize that such comments don’t lead the discussion anywhere useful. Thus, I’m trying to be bashful, yet thankful to people who raise my belief in myself.

Our discussion quickly spawned into talking about guns, meat, and transphobia (not necessarily all together). It led me to realizing something important about myself.

Somehow, most of my discussions about topics such as these have been in situations where I found myself to be the educator, since the other person knew little to no information about certain things, while I knew a little more. Due to this, I’ve never had conversations where it’s not about one person converting to the other viewpoint, but just discussing their own viewpoints.

It’s a good thing that I’ve realized this issue beforehand, because I get super emotional (not in the I’m about to cry way, but in the way that I have too many feelings about all my thoughts) and super loud. Thus, realizing that you can have decent conversations about some topics and not get into a figurative fistfight is an epiphany to me, indeed.

Talking to Lindsey made me realize that having such discussions makes you deeply think about why you have a certain opinion. It’s not you laying down to accept the other person’s opinion without any fight, but it makes you critically think about your own opinions. It’s something which I want to work on, because sometimes I don’t know the difference between my opinions and opinions that have been formed half-heartedly on the basis on what others have told me.

I ended the night by talking to a friend, and we were discussing how I am as a person when I’m ready to … crash. I get super wordy and start rambling about anything that’s in my head, which is basically me losing my word filter.

My friend said, “Oh, we all have seen it before.” It was a funny statement that stuck in my head, because my friend was referencing the friend group due to whom we met, although I don’t talk to about 80% of that group now, while my friend still does. It’s just a weird sentiment, which is something I might think more about in the future.

Also, I don’t like coming home late at night or being exhausted late at night, because these posts take about an hour to write, and about 30 minutes more to look through for errors and add media. I’d much rather finish it in the night, because on Day 5, I’ll be talking about (spoiler alert) how I spent most of my morning writing this blog post while also browsing Tumblr.

I shall leave you with this song, which has been stuck in my head (also this version because I absolutely adore Jonathan Groff):

Funny anecdote: My sister saw a glimpse of a new Netflix show the other day and thought one of the people in the show was super familiar to her. She then remembered that he was in Glee and covered Bohemian Rhapsody and was proud of herself. I’m proud of her too, except the only thing I like from Glee anymore is their first few season music covers, and the wonderful fandom that gave me friends like Sare, Maria, Juju, Irem and everyone else <3

Leave me a comment (Constructive criticism, remarks, opinions for future posts, everything is welcome!)

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