Girl Meets Worm: Red, White, and Asterisk

So, today is Tuesday, one of the two days that I have to go to work this week (score!), and I’m using my time to blog, because I’m super bored, and because I can get away with this as I think I’m the only person in the office.*

*Seriously. It’s so lonely.

While I’m wasting time, there are three things in particular that I want to discuss:

1) Girl Meets Worm rules,

2) my birthday (wooo!), and

3) the 4^th of July

So, without further ado, here we go.

1) I guess the general rules and regulations of Girl Meets Worm have been fairly on whole. Jazz and I discussed them at the beginning before the creation of the blog, but then never actually voiced them in print. That said, when we set all this into motion, we never imagined that within the year we’d both be leaving the United States for an extended period of time.

Girl Meets Worm is kind of like Fight Club, in that it has a very short list of rules. (The first, however, is not “do not talk about Girl Meets Worm,” because contrary to what our viewership shows, we actually do want people to read this.) Basically we left it at a) post whatever you feel like, and b) do it within one week of the other poster, or you owe our mutual bff most def, Captain Morgan, lunch next time you see her. We each get one saving throw a year, meaning that there’s one instance where we can forget to post on time without having to take the punishment of spending money on someone other than ourselves. After that one, it’s curtains.

In addition to this, we’re also allowed to post as many times as we want in between our required weekly posts, but because we’re both so busy, this is a rare occurrence.

So, anyway, to bring Girl Meets Worm into the current standing of our lives, out-of-the-country rules are different (uh, also “out of the continental United States,” since PR technically belongs to us). Due to time changes, traveling, international classes, lack of internet resources, and all that fun stuff, Jazz, you’re allowed to miss your “deadline” sans penalty. That said, keep us updated, bitch!

Next topic!

2) Hell yeah, my 21st birthday!

It was great.

I’ve been told that because I remember everything it was a huge failure as far as 21st birthdays go, and this may be true, but really, the best birthday present I could possibly have gotten was to not spend the duration of the night throwing up, so… basically this was just perfect.

In short:

My family sent me cards (and money, chyea!).

I went shopping.

I got a free shot glass at the liquor store!

Emily made me a birthday cake. From scratch!

We got dinner at the hippest bar in town.

Followed by karaoke.

It was my birthday, so everybody bought me drinks.

A stranger gave me a hug for my cover of Bohemian Rhapsody. (Which, by the way, was rather terrible.)

I got home late and got to sleep in the next morning.

THREE DAY WEEKEND!

So I had a good time. And here’s a photo:

Roomie Love

Next topic!

3) The time honored traditions of the 4th of July.

I know I’m not alone in thinking that celebrating the 4th of July is a pretty silly, almost arbitrary holiday, especially these days.

I mean, what do barbequed cow products and fireworks really have to do with the signing of the Declaration of Independence? *

*Answer: they make it crazy fun.

This is a stupid holiday, and yeah, there’s a lot wrong with it when you think about the twisted ideas of “independence” in the country.

But this weekend I learned that nothing makes one appreciate one’s limited culture when trying to explain it to foreigners.

For 4th of July this year, I tagged along with my friend Emily to a rodeo, at a county fair, with our R.A. friend Graham and a van load of Japanese exchange students.

I’m pretty sure the rodeo is one thing that’s completely unique to the continent of North America. And it’s one of so few things we as citizens of the United States* can claim as our own “thing.” *

*Other things include baseball, the jitterbug, and widespread obesity among children.

Also, yes, I realize they do rodeo in Canada, but I hold to it that we did it first.

So anyway, the rodeo in all its steer ropin’, bull ridin’, cow wranglin’, pig racin’, barrel jumpin’ glory, along with the carnival and its fantastic spread of only fried and/or grilled food, most of it covered in sugar or butter, and the fireworks, flag waving, and general good-natured, drunken disorder was quite a bit to have to explain to our exchange students.

And why is that man doing that?

But of course, they totally loved it.

And actually, looking at it through new eyes reminded me that while Americans are loud, overbearing, ridiculous, and our patriotism gets kind of annoying, especially next to our political turmoil and contradictions, damn do we know how to have a good time.

Plus, once you get past the irony of that “freedom for everybody” statement, you can’t help but notice that the 4th of July somehow brings people together as we celebrate living in the same place. There’s a very distinct “togetherness” that hovers around, even if we’re all strangers. Even if it’s just for one day, everybody smiles, laughs with each other, and we all gather around elbow to elbow to watch a bunch of colorful combustibles explode a couple hundred feet above us.

So, in short:

Fireworks? Awesome.

Fried food? Awesome.

Bonding with strangers? Awesome.

Watching dudes get kicked around by animals? Awesome.

Celebrating the birth of our nation in the most “us” way possible, and showing a confused group of 15 kids from another country? Hilarious.

I had a great 4th of July, and I think a little bit of that back-country patriotism is rubbing off on me, because today I can’t help but feel like we live in a pretty alright place.

And that, my friends, is what we call a healthy dose of optimism, and the conclusion of my post.