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The adventures of Ramona: the punk rock girl (part 5)

As those thoughts raced through my head, James came out from the garage door, looking sun tanned and smiling.

“There’s my favorite punk rock girl! I’ve missed you all summer!”

Those few words got registered in my head, left to be analyzed by me for later.

“Hey”, I said, stepping out of the car, forcing a smile. “How was your summer? Did you bring me back a seashell like you promised?”

Last spring, James had the crazy idea to just ditch everything and go to California. A super crazy idea, but he was 20 years old and he could do whatever he wanted. Leo and me were really jealous. James got to leave our boring city and go somewhere else while me and Leo were stuck here being bored.

Actually, Leo could have gone with James, since he’s 18 years old already, but he decided to stay with me here. I’m still 17 and have to wait until April to turn 18. Then maybe we could all runaway together. Maybe.

“Of course I did!” said James. He then took me in his arms and swirled me. I didn’t have to force my smile anymore, I was laughing.

James took out a beautiful seashell necklace from his pocket and put it around my neck.

“Thank you, it’s beautiful” I said. I went over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey, I hope you got me something too!” said Leo, pretending to be annoyed.

“How could I forget about you, brother?” said James laughing and giving him a brotherly hug.

I don’t know why but it was so weird, looking at both of them together like that. I’ve known both of them for so long, I care so much for them.

“Hey Leo, why don’t you go get Ramona’s surprise ready?” James voice broke my train of thought.

“What surprise? I thought it has something to do with the band?” I said.

“It does” said James with a smile. “Let’s go inside while Leo gets your surprise ready”

1 ♥ / 1 week ago

I’m the weird girl who wear her big black boots when it’s +20 degrees outside and who keeps encountering soul mates on public transportation

Today, as every Friday of the week, I went for a 2 hour of maths tutoring. And, ever since my dad’s car got stolen, I get to take the bus and the metro way more often, and most of the time I don’t mind (unless I’m really tired or just in a shitty mood).

I didn’t really think about what I was going to wear, I mean I was going to maths tutoring, not to a party. So I just grabbed a pair of old jeans, a t shirt, a kangaroo sweater (never wear those when it’s +20 degrees out AND you have a coat over it!), a coat, and since I went outside this morning and it was chilly, I decided to wear my big black autumn boots (very bad idea).

I skipped school today. We didn’t have any classes anyway, we just had to go to this mandatory walk thing and I begged my mom to call the school and tell them I had way more important plans, like studying for my maths finals and eating bad food.

So of course, my hair looked like crap, but since I was going to maths tutoring, I didn’t bother doing anything to it (always do something to your hair if you’re planning on stepping out from your cave and going to the outside world populated by the male species, always)

To get to my maths tutor, I first have to take a bus which will get me to the nearest subway station. So I took the bus. I sat down next to this 12-13 year old looking girl who was chewing bubble gum and making balloons and reading a book that I might have found super interesting when I was 12. No cute boys in sight. Until, 5 bus stops later. This little gang of 4 or 5 guys got on the bus and one of them was super tall and super handsome and I couldn’t stop thinking “OMG, I finally found my soul mate, now we just have to look into each others eyes and he’ll love me!” Of course, that was so not the case. I immediately went into the Awkward Public Transportation Nina Mode and I couldn’t look at them straight in the eyes. That’s how awkward I get. But, to my biggest surprise, my tall and handsome soul mate came to stand right next to where I was sitting, like just in front of my face. Coincidence or not, but I could hear every single little word him and his ~~kind of annoying~~ friends (one of them accidentally hit me on the head, it wasn’t really hitting, more like a surprise pat, but still really weird) were saying. The bus we were on passed by exactly next to my sister’s school and my tall and handsome soul mate said “Oh, my sister might still be there, maybe I’ll see her” (there was a bunch of kids playing outside, but I don’t remember if he saw his sister or not) But OMG, BOTH OF OUR SISTER’S GO TO THE SAME SCHOOL! So now I’ve made it my sister’s mission to find out who’s brother he is. And she has 1 month left to do so because next year she’s going to graduate and go to secondary school and I might never find out who my tall and handsome soul mate was!

Then, I had to get off the bus and when I got up from my seat, my tall and handsome soul mate didn’t have much space to move so he just stood there and I just had to pass through this tiny little space. And he saw my face and what I looked like and everything and my super purple back pack with the crazy stuff written on it with sharpie marker. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing, because I was really having a bad hair day.

I’m very jealous of the Nina Charlie who’s somewhere in a parallel universe who had perfect hair today and actually talked to her talk and handsome soul mate and they lived happily ever after.

The subway. Such a happy place with creepy looking people and subway musicians who really deserve way better than a subway crowd (some of them, not all of them of course). So I took the subway and oh mon Dieu!, who do I see? People from my school (they were probably on their way back from the mandatory walk thing). I don’t know if they were yelling Hi at me, or if they were just yelling because they were boys, so I decided to go into Awkward Public Transportation Nina Mode and listen to my iPod. Then I got off and I had to take the subway again but in another direction and I saw 2 of the 3 guys from my school who I saw earlier and I looked at them and try to say hello (because apparently my Awkward Public Transportation Nina Mode was off) but they had this blank stare so I’m guessing they went into their Awkward Public Transportation Mode and pretended they didn’t see me. Or they just tough I was a loser girl from their school who was dressed way too warm for +20 degrees and they just thought I was weird.

Then I waited for 4 minutes or so for the other subway to come. When I got in I had a seat (whenever I get a seat in a bus or in the subway I just get so extremely happy that I get to sit down!) and diagonally to the left there was the cutest boy ever. He looked a lot like that actor from that Russian soap opera I watched with my mom. In fact, I’m pretty sure he was Russian. He had a tight t shirt, ripped jeans and a sports bag. And most importantly, he had perfect hair, and a perfect chin. I know I must sound so weird and crazy for noticing a guy’s chin but his was just perfect. And his hair was perfect too. It was a dark blonde and it was cut short. So I just kept staring at him during the whole ride and we actually made eye contact like 4 times but I’m pretty sure my messy hair scared him away. And when he saw that I was getting off at the same stop as him he kind of made a weird face and started walking really super fast so I didn’t bother catching up with him. I just kept walking slowly and listening to my iPod.

FUN FACT: While I was walking to my maths tutor, the streets were deserted (which is quite scary and uncomfortable) and I saw a worm in the middle of the sidewalk so I decided to test if it was in fact true or not if we cut the worm in half, it would make two different worms. And it is true, and now I have worm blood on my boots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2 LONG HOURS OF MATHS TUTOR AND I FEEL LIKE I ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND ALL THOSE CRAZY NUMBERS AND THAT I’M NOT GOING TO FAIL MY EXAM YAY!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During my walk to the subway station from my maths tutor, I called my mom and talked to her during the whole walk because I was scared some creepos were going to attack me in broad daylight (it was sunny but it still was 7pm, the time when the creepos come out).

Then when I got to the subway I saw this couple and I couldn’t decide if they were cute or not, but I finally decided that they were because the guy wasn’t embarrassed to be wearing his girlfriend’s purse. How cuteeee

Nothing interesting happened on the subway ride. But then when I got to the bus stop shit started rolling. Not really but still. There was this middle aged crazy lady who wanted to cut in front of me in the line up to the bus and I really really hate people who cut in front of you and then act stupid about it like they didn’t realize what they were doing. So it was a very hard battle between me and the crazy middle aged lady, but I won and did not let her pass! Aha!

The bus was so full I literally had no spot to stand. Then I managed to get a place next to this guy with over sized glasses and super big headphones and this Asian looking lady. Then I saw this couple and the guy looked like a mix between Ryan Gosling and this ugly jerk guy I liked who wasn’t so ugly since I liked him a lot. The ugly jerk and Ryan Gosling mix was too short for me (and that annoying girl who was standing next to him was his girlfriend). But he was really gorgeous and the real Ryan Gosling should consider dying his hair black someday, I think it’ll suit him well.

Then, the Asian looking lady gave me her seat and I was happy.

But, when I got off the bus and was walking home these 2 creepy guys who looked like drug addicts and kidnappers were walking behind me, then in front of me and they kept turning back to stare at my face so I immediately went into Potential Kidnappers/Murderers Action Ninja Mode and walked home safely.

I’m eating a Vanilla flavored drumstick as I’m writing this and I’m really not looking forward to all the maths homework I have to do tomorrow.

Also, never wear boots when it’s +20 outside. Never.

1 ♥ / 3 weeks ago

my lab partner: the reason I get good grades

Science class. As if remembering all the formulas by heart wasn’t enough, we have to make lab experiments to verify our true scientific genie. A lot of people in my class can remember those long formulas as easily as if they were the days of the week. Sometimes I wish that was my case.

Like for any other school, we each get assigned a lab partner who will be there next to us every time we look through the microscope and weight something. A lot of people get annoyed by having to share the equipment with someone else, but I am more than happy for oh so many reasons:

a. if something breaks, we both have to pay, so instead of me paying 50$ by myself, we each pay 25$ (luckily this never happened and I hope it never will);

b. I’m not going to be the only one with the wrong anwser, there will be two of us!;

and c. two brains is better than one.

I know, I know, these are all selfish reasons, but why else do they assign us a lab partner other than the fact that the school can’t afford to buy 30 microscopes?

Needless to say, I got lucky this year and my lab partner is:

a. super into science;

b. knows what he’s doing;

and c. we always get goo grades!

It’s like I won the lab partner lottery ticket!

This year, before the Christmas holidays, we had a lab exam. We had to do it with our lab partner because we had to share the equipment, but we weren’t allowed to talk (obviously). I, being the awesome science girl that I am, accidentally poured a bit too much of that liquid I don’t remember the name of, and we didn’t see the color of our mixture change. That was the most important part of our experiment, to see the color of the mixture change. My lab partner got really mad at me, but I told him to calm down, and went to ask the teacher for some more of that liquid stuff. Of course, the anwser was no. We had a huge problem over here, and it was pretty impossible to solve. So we decided to just write random answers and hope for the best. And it worked! The random answers we wrote were the right ones and we got a super cool grade! It’s like the science lab gods heard our prayers of desperation!

But really, if it wasn’t for my lab partner, I’d get bad grades.

1 ♥ / 1 month ago

dyeing my hair pink this summer

I don’t really now when the idea popped into my head, probably sometime last year, but ever since then I’ve wanted to dye my hair pink.

At first I only wanted to dip-dye it, then I only wanted pink streaks, and now I want to dye all of it pink.

I want to do it during the summer because I want to enjoy it as much as I can without the nasty comments and weird looks from people at school. And also if something goes terribly wrong, well people from school won’t be able to see it and laugh about my stupidity.

I want to dye it semi-permanent because I’m not quite sure if it’s going to suit me well and I don’t think I’m ready for a long term commitment yet.

While in your teens, I think it’s the perfect age to experiment and try new things like dying your hair a different color, or dressing a certain style because a lot of us won’t have the opportunity to do that once we enter our adult lives.

So if you’re a teenager and you’ve always wanted to try something unusual, go for it! (as long as it’s not to dangerous)

Also, if anyone has any suggestions or advice, please tell me!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of people with pink hair. I’m going for the color in the first and last picture.

Who said pink hair wasn’t beautiful?

1 ♥ / 1 month ago

Love: it the romance over?

While in line for The Pretty Reckless concert, I found out a few things about my fellow classmates that really made me wonder: Is romance over? Is it all about blow jobs now? That’s all people seem to do nowadays.

Growing up as a child, I was really innocent to all things sexual. Up until 4th grade I thought that babies were made by sending a wish to God and he’d grant it by putting a baby inside your stomach. Silly I know. Finally, in 4th grade my friends explained to me how it actually happened. I remember not believing them for a while, but then realizing that what they said did make sense. Why else would my parents tell me to close my eyes whenever we were watching some movie? Those people were making babies! Or at least doing the making the baby act without actually making it because that was also possible.

Up until grade 7, sex was the forbidden word. Anyone who said it must be super brave, or super stupid. I remember that it was when I started secondary school that I found out all the meaning to all those words and gestures. My friends were the ones who told me what a boner was, what a g spot was, and all those other things your 13 year old self could never imagine thinking of. I remember being disgusted by that new knowledge. I mean, how could people enjoy licking their boyfriend’s/girlfriend’s genitalia? That was gross! And talk about unsanitary! But a lot of things made sense, and I didn’t feel left out whenever someone made a dirty joke anymore. I made quite a few myself!

Sadly nowadays, a girl can’t eat a banana or suck on her lollipop without getting weird looks from people. People can find an ulterior meaning to whatever you say. We were eating cake could be translated to We were having sex.

The point of this post being: is love all about sex? Am I the only one who stills believes in finding your soul mate and holding hands and long romantic walks on the beach, the love notes and everything? Because I still think that blow jobs are disgusting (and unsanitary). Maybe I’m not mature enough to fully understand the whole meaning of love or relationship or feeling good or whatever. Maybe as I get older I won’t find any of that licking business disgusting at all. Maybe I’m just not mature enough. Who knows, maybe love doesn’t even exist, maybe love is only that feeling you get when you’re having sex and enjoying it. Maybe love was a feeling imagined by writers, poets and artists, who wanted to make our world a better place. And us humans were so in love with the feeling of love that we decided that it was real. Anyone understands what I mean?

But what if I never fall into the category of most people and keep searching for my soul mate without never finding him and leading a life of misery by not believing that love does not exist? That would be too sad.

For now, I’ll keep thinking that romance does exist and isn’t dead. And someday I will find my soul mate and we’ll hold hands while walking on the beach.

2 ♥ / 1 month ago

Is it time for me to give in to the world of make-up ?

For all those who know me personally, you know that I never wear make-up, I only put on eye liner 2 times in my life, and the only time I put eye shadow and blush on, was when I was performing on stage for the talent show and school plays. The only make-up products I own are my mom’s old mascara and eye shadow, a pink gloss I both at the drugstore that I only apply on Christmas, New Year’s and birthday parties, and a never ending collection of chapstick.

I don’t know how it happened that I’m so anti make-up. Ever since I was a little girl, my mom would be telling me that if you apply make up when you’re young, as you get older your skin is going to turn wrinkly and old before you reached the age when your skin is supposed to turn wrinkly and old! So the only make-up I applied was chapstick.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this post, other than I’m a 16 year old girl who doesn’t know how to apply make-up. Whenever I put make-up on (or someone else does it for me) I always feel uncomfortable and kind of out of place, and I feel like washing it all off asap.

My mom always told me that the natural look was the best thing. That make-up was for old women who wanted to cover up their wrinkly and old skin.

At school, the girls around me started applying mascara to their eye lashes when we were only in 6th grade. At first, I was extremely envious. Why couldn’t I have pretty eyes like that too? My mom told me that I had to wait, that one day I’ll be carrying mascara in my purse and applying it in the girl’s bathroom during the lunch break too, but when I was older.

I often feel left out in the conversations my friends are having about the latest Covergirl mascara or lipstick or whatever. I’ve always felt alienated to the world of beauty products. The only beauty products I use are shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, facial cleaning product and chapsticks. And the occasional mascara, eye shadow for special occasions.

I guess I’m glad that I didn’t go through my preteen years worrying about applying the right amount of eye shadow on my eyes and that I didn’t turn out like the cake faced girl we see so often at school (not that if you use make-up products you are, it’s just that some girls don’t fully understand the concept of make-up and think it’s like paint).

Of course, now I understand the concept of make-up, or what it is to me anyways. It’s to embellish your pretty face by accentuating on your best features. It’s also like jewelry, so us women (and sometimes men) can feel pretty inside and out! And we’ll use it when we’re old and our skin gets wrinkly.

I don’t know how I’ll feel about make-up in a year, in 5 years, or in a decade, but right now I know that even though I’d rather only wear chapstick, I think it’s time to learn the proper names of all the brushes and beauty products. I am a young woman after all, and I’d be quite embarrassing if in 5 years I’d be getting ready to go on a date and not know the proper amount of eye shadow to apply.

This isn’t a post saying not to wear make-up because you’re already beautiful and blah blah blah. I mean it’s true, but we all feel beautiful in different ways. Never wear make-up and feel pretty, or wear make-up and feel pretty, it’s up to you. Just don’t over do it. Even if make-up does make you feel pretty, that cake face won’t look good on you. And what about all those chemicals?

3 ♥ / 1 month ago

My first rock concert: the day I saw The Pretty Reckless

When I saw that The Pretty Reckless were going to be performing in my city, right away I called my friends and told them that we had to go. We were all super excited because a. we don’t go to concerts that often (for some of my friends it was their first concert ever!) and b. it was THE PRETTY RECKLESS!!

For me, it was my second concert, my first one being Hilary Duff at the Dignity tour. The two concerts were very much different.

The Pretty Reckless were playing on Friday, at 8pm and the doors opened at 6:30. With my friends, we decided to get there at 4:30, so we could get better seats, because it was a standing up concert, so no seats were assigned.

We got there at 4:30 and a line was already forming. We waiting until they finally let us in at 6:30. It was very long.

When we got in, we immediately made out way next to the stage, trying to get the best spots. That was pretty hard, since a lot of people who had VIP tickets already got in and were occupying the front rows, but we still managed to squeeze in and be in the 7^th row!

Again, we had to wait until 8pm, for the opening act to get on stage and start playing.

The first band we saw, called The Hollywood Kills were amazing! They were really funny and we could see that they wanted to be here and they liked what they were doing. Plus, their songs were really good! They were signing autographs at the end of the show but the line was way too long and it was getting close to midnight so me and my friends had to leave :(

Then second act, Courage My Love, were okay, but I didn’t really like them. They looked like one of those “Paramore” bands with the big bangs on the side and the hair and the eye make-up. Not really my cup of tea.

Finally, a little before 10, people started chanting “Taylor! Taylor! Taylor! Taylor!” because we were all tired and exhausted and we wanted Taylor to come and sing!

At 10, The Pretty Reckless came on stage and the screaming was crazy! I had to shut my ears multiple times because I was afraid I was going to go death. Next time, I’m bringing ear plugs.

During the opening acts, the crowd wasn’t too crazy. No one was pushing anybody, everything was wonderful. But, when The Pretty Reckless came in, this little group of girls who were standing right in front of us went mad crazy. They started pushing everybody around them. A lot of people were giving them what the fuck stares, and pushing them back, and yelling at them, but they just kept going. That’s when me and my friend got separated from the rest of the group. We wanted to get as far as possible from the crazy bitch group and still be able to enjoy the show, because as soon as they started pushing people I thought “Oh crap, my mom was right, I am going to die here.”

Then, this big bald guy came in (I’m still not sure if he was a security guard or if he was just enjoying the show) and started pushing those crazy bitches back. And, at some point in the show, they left.

Of course, while this crazy people pushing was happening, I was all eyes on the stage (and on the crazy bitches of course!) Let me just say that Taylor is so fucking beautiful in real life. She is so tall and so thin and looked so fragile. She reminded me of a dead zombie princess rock girl. She was amazing. She didn’t forget her lyrics, her voice when she talked to us saying that we were the best city ever was so fucking beautiful! I still can’t believe that I actually saw her in real life, (even thought she was a few feet away) the whole concert felt so unreal. If it wasn’t for the pictures and videos that I took, I would have thought that this was all a dream.

At the end of the concert, I didn’t even notice them leaving the stage because the crazy bitches came back and kept pushing us again (my friend even got hurt, when we came back to her house she had a big bruise on her leg). The guitarist started throwing their picks to the crowd, and my friend actually caught one (yes, I am still extremely jealous that she caught the pick that Ben Phillips threw). And my other friend caught red shorts with Pretty written on the butt that they were throwing to the crowd before the show.

Then, we were slowing making our way to the exit door, laughing and talking about Taylor and the opening band The Hollywood Kills. My friends left taking the subway, while me and my friend who got bruised were walking back to her house (which was 5 minutes away from the concert venue), talking about how this whole experience was surreal. In the end, we calculated that we spent around 8 hours standing. Our legs ached so much that when we got to her ho use, we just drank lots of water (because when we came to the venue, they confiscated our water so we could buy the water they were selling and so we were thirsty the entire time. At the end, my friend found a stray water bottle on the floor and we all drank it.) and then immediately fell asleep with our ears still ringing from the loud music played at The Pretty Reckless show.

I still can’t believe we saw Taylor.

The pick my friend caught at the end of the show.

The stage.

The Hollywood Kills.

The lead singer of The Hollywood Kills.

Taylor Momsen.

4 ♥ / 1 month ago

The adventures of Ramona: the punk rock girl (part 4)

That’s why sometimes I was their band’s drummer. Yeah, I could also play the drums.

We’re going to be late. We were still driving and there was 7 minutes left before the final bell.

“Relax” said Leo, “you worry way too much. We’ll be there on time.”

“I’m never eating lunch with you again.” I said, knowing it was a lie. Leo was the one I always ate lunch with. Sometimes with James too, back when he was still in high school.

“Yeah, we’re not going to make it. What do you have last period? I have French, wanna cut?.”

“Why not?” I replied, not giving much thought to it. I had arts, and the last thing I wanted was to listen to our teacher whine about pastel colors.

“Cool!” said Leo excitedly, “Let’s go to James’, so I can show you our little surprise!”

“Whatever, just bring me back to my house before 5. My parents said they had something important to tell me.”

“It’s 1 o’clock right now, so for 4 hours, you’re all mine” said Leo smiling.

“Yeah, yeah, just make sure we stop at the 7Eleven” I said, looking out the window.

“I thought you stopped” said Leo.

“What?” I said, not looking him in the eye.

“I thought you said you stopped smoking” said Leo, looking angry.

“Well, what I do or don’t stop doing isn’t any of your business.” I said

“That stuff is going to kill you” said Leo, looking at me.

“Well maybe I want to die.” As I said those words, I knew I didn’t mean them, and I wanted to take them right back, but it was too late. Leo put turned the radio on and didn’t bother talking to me anymore. He was driving towards the 7Eleven.

It’s not like I didn’t want to stop. I did, but I just couldn’t. I had my first cigarette when I was 16. James gave it to me. It was during the summer. Me, him and Leo were hanging out at the park, talking. Then, James just took his pack out, took a cigarette and lit it with a purple lighter that had Daisy (with a hear on the i) written on it. I was so mesmerized by how easily he inhaled and exhaled the smoke. He must of noticed me looking at him, so he offered me one. I took it. At first, I didn’t know what how to do it, end ended up coughing a lot, but then he showed me and soon, by the end of the summer, I was doing it just as swiftly as him.

Leo didn’t think I was going to take up on that bad habit. At first I didn’t even want him to know about it. But eventually he found out, and has been trying to make me quit ever since.

“We’re here.” said Leo, stopping the car, “don’t take too long.”

I got out of the car and made my way quickly to the entrance door.

“Hi, could you give me a pack of Marlboro’s please” I said, reaching for the money in my pocket. “Oh, and I’ll take this bag of skittles too.”

I put the pack in my pocket as soon as I had it in my hands. As if Leo would be any less mad if he didn’t see it. At least I got him skittles. I couldn’t wait to put a cigarette to my mouth. I haven’t had one for 3 days. 3 days. That’s the longest I’ve been with no nicotine. I would have gotten my pack sooner, but I couldn’t do it without my parents finding out about it. Yeah, my parents had no idea that their little Ramona was smoking. I’d rather have them find out after graduation.

“Hey” I said, opening the door and getting into the car, “I got you skittles.”

I knew that Leo couldn’t stay mad at me forever, even if I was still smoking. He took the skittles bag out of my hand, ripped it open and popped a few of them in his mouth.

“I’m still mad at you” he said, chewing, “You can’t change my mind about that with a bag of skittles.”

“I know”, I said, “but for now this will have to do.”

We were getting closer to James’ house. Leo was soon pulling into his drive way. A part of me didn’t want to go in. I just wanted to stay here in the car with Leo, drive around with the radio on full volume, blasting some song old people hate. But the other part was urging me to step through the door, and see James and talk to him. Even though I said I’ve started to see the failure in him, along with everybody else, I still cared. I wanted to ask him where he’d been all summer, if he grew a beard, if he got my emails, and why hasn’t he answered them, if he saw the beach and the waves, and if he brought me back a seashell, like he said he would. I don’t think I’ll ever stop caring.

As those thoughts raced through my head, James came out from the garage door, looking sun tanned and smiling.

“There’s my favorite punk rock girl! I’ve missed you all summer!”

Those few words got registered in my head, left to be analyzed by me for later.

0 ♥ / 2 months ago

The adventures of Ramona: the punk rock girl (part 3)

I don’t know why but in that moment I felt extremely happy, listening to The Strokes and driving to a diner with my best friend. I just couldn’t stop smiling.

[…]

I really felt truly happy.

In a few minutes we arrived at the diner. Inside it had a really old vibe, it even had a jukebox! After a quick look at the menus, Leo ordered a cheeseburger with extra fries and a strawberry milkshake. I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry so I just ordered some onion rings and a coke.

“Onion rings? Just onion rings?” asked Leo loudly, “No wonder you always look so pale!”

“Shut up Leo” I said as the waitress was bringing our drinks.

We didn’t take our time to eat. Leo kept urging me to finish faster because he wanted to show me something back at school before our next class started. He said it had something to do with his band. Yeah, Leo was in a band with our friend James.

James graduated two years ago. When he was a senior, he took me and Leo under his wing. He’s the one who gave us our first joint and our first beer. He snuck us in to our first underground concert. He was our mentor. Although right now I didn’t see him as our mentor anymore. He turned out to be the kind of guy your parents said you’d turn out if you cut classes, got drunk all the time. A lot of people saw him as a failure. Me and Leo were the only ones on his side, encouraging him in whatever crazy idea he had, but these days I started to see the failure in him, even though I really wish I didn’t.

James and Leo were actually a duo. They wanted to be a band but could never find a drummer. Whenever they did, the drummer would quit after a few practices or James would kick him out, saying that he wasn’t good enough. That’s why sometimes I was their band’s drummer. Yeah, I could also play the drums.

0 ♥ / 2 months ago

slut.

When you hear “OMG, Stacey did it with Chad at his parents’ cottage!” You think “Stacey is a slut.”

When you hear “Veronica is pregnant and she’s only 17 years old!” You think “Veronica is a slut.”

Some of you may think “I never think that”, but even if you didn’t think that about Veronica you thought about that for Jenny, or Caroline, or Tracy or some other girl because that’s what society teaches you to think.

Why would Stacey be a slut if she did it with Chad, who has been her boyfriend for over 2 years and who she’s in love with? Are we, girls, not allowed to express our love anymore without being called sluts? Your mom does it with your dad; does society call her a slut? No, even if she is doing the same thing our friend Stacey is doing.

And what about Veronica? Just because she’s 17 and got pregnant doesn’t mean she’s a slut. When your mom was pregnant with you, did society call her a slut? No it didn’t.

Society really needs to review their use of the word slut because I’m sick of people throwing it around for the wrong reasons. What if you were on Stacey’s spot: you’ve had a wonderful boyfriend for two years and then you decided to consume your love for each other and then people somehow found out about it and started calling you a slut. Are you a slut? You only did it once, with one guy.

And Veronica is going to be called a slut throughout her pregnancy but also will have a lot of remarks from people telling her that her life is over. Her life isn’t over. Yes, she is pregnant and her life is going to change but she is not a slut.

People need to stop calling people slut for no reason. Of course, we can’t stop using the word slut altogether because people will find other words, just as hurtful (like whore) to use instead.

Please be open minded and try to see outside of what society wants you to see. If that makes any sense.

Next time you hear “Stacey did it with Chad” or “Veronica is pregnant”, don’t think slut.

1 ♥ / 2 months ago

The adventures of Ramona: the punk rock girl (part 2)

I turned around just in time to see Leo running towards me with his unlaced Converse shoes, messy long hair, wrinkled Nirvana tshirt and his signature smile.

“Hey Ramona!” yelled Leo, “Are you ready for an adventure?”

“Sure I am”, I replied sarcastically. It was always all about adventures with Leo.

“That diner is going to be great” he said as he was opening the passenger’s door of his car.

“Sure it will” I said, climbing in and closing the door.

“Stop being so pessimistic Ramona. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet that Prince Charming that you’ve been writing songs about since the 7th grade.” said Leo laughing.

“Shut up!” I replied laughing and giving him a push. But, maybe Leo was right about the whole Prince Charming situation. Wasn’t it time for me to have a real boyfriend? To meet a guy who really cares? Sure I went out with guys before but they either turned out to be cheating jerks or they just didn’t understand me, so I always broke it off with them before it got too messy.

And yeah I did write songs about Prince Charming, or whatever. That’s what Leo called him anyway. I remember I started playing the guitar when I was 7 years old. I went to visit my grandparents with my parents and my two brothers and I found my grandpa’s old guitar. I haven’t stopped playing it ever since. I moved to the electric guitar when I was 12.

Writing songs and playing the guitar kind of lets me say everything I’m too afraid to say out loud. I remember I wrote my first song when this boy I liked a lot in 6th grade told me that I was too ugly and too weird and that he didn’t like me one bit. I remember writing at least 10 songs about him, but they were mostly in the I hate you and you suck and I don’t like you anymore because you suck so much style. I like to think that I write better songs now that I’m 16.

“What’s on your mind?” asked Leo. I was so deep in my thoughts I forgot he was here.

“Nothing, just imagining what my Prince Charming will look like” I said with a smile.

I’ve known Leo for practically forever. Our parents bought houses in a new neighborhood right next to each other and at the same time. I was about 2 years old and Leo was 3. We have been neighbors and best friends ever since. Everyone though that he was my brothers’ friend though. They all found it so unusual that we would hang out with each other so much, being so different. Leo was a grade above me but he had to redo freshman year when his dad died of a heart attack. That year when his dad died, Leo turned into a ghost, a zombie. I have never seen him so disoriented or uninterested with life. I guess that’s what happens when someone you love dies. When I started high school the next year, me and Leo were practically together in all the classes! He started acting like the old Leo again, but of course he never fully healed. He became more violent and something in him changed. I still can’t understand what it was.

I looked at Leo’s face as he was driving the car. He always had this concentrated and serious face whenever he drove it. I looked at his messy hair falling into his eyes. I can’t believe I’ve known this boy for 14 years now.

I shuffled though the CD mixes all over the car’s dashboard. Leo and I both loved music very dearly, but Leo was such a music freak. You could find any kind of music on his iPod. Finally I found a blank CD and I pushed it in the stereo. At first there was no sound but then the car filled in with Julian Casablancas’ voice, singing Machu Pichu. I don’t know why but in that moment I felt extremely happy, listening to The Strokes and driving to a diner with my best friend. I just couldn’t stop smiling.

“You know”, I said turning my head to look at Leo, “Maybe life isn’t so hard, maybe it’s all going to be good.”

Leo looked at me smiling. “Of course it will. And if it’s not, you’ll always be there to write a song about it.”

“Number one song on the charts!” I said laughing. “A song for people like us.”

“A song for people like us” he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder to give me a hug.

Julian’s voice quietly faded, to be replaced with Pink Floyd singing Wish You Were Here.

I really felt truly happy.

1 ♥ / 3 months ago

The adventures of Ramona: the punk rock girl (part 1)

Being considered a “punk rock girl” isn’t easy. Most of the time it’s not even cool. 95% of the school population thinks you’re a weirdo who does drugs all the time. Your parents constantly try to change you back into that little girl with fluffy dresses and pigtails that you used to be, when you were 10. And your best friend, obsessed with photography, snaps a picture of your face every chance he gets. So, welcome to the life of Ramona, the punk rock girl.

That’s what I wrote for our short autobiographical essay in English class. My teacher, Mrs. Evans gave me a B- for lack of creativity and pessimism. Lack of creativity? Weren’t we supposed to write the truth? I mean, it is an autobiography.

When Mrs.Evans finished giving out everyone’s sheets, she gestured me to come over and see her. It was probably to tell me once again that I could do so much better and What was happening to me? and Did I have any problems at home? Lucky for me, the bell rang. I grabbed my things and walked out of the classroom as fast as I could. I was sick of getting the same lectures by teachers in practically every class. Yes I did have better grades last year, yes I did pay more attention in class, but my priorities have changed. I didn’t want to waste my senior year buried in books and studying. That’s what I did for the last 3 years of high school. It was time to broaden my horizons and try something new.

I walked to my locker to stuff in those useless big fat books that we never used. I looked around and noticed that no one was in a hurry. It was lunch time. I grabbed my jean jacket and stepped out outside to wait for Leo, my best friend, a self proclaimed photographer since this summer. After the first two weeks of school, the seniors had the privilege to eat outside the school grounds. And so Leo wanted to go eat at this diner he claims to have discovered. The diner has been there forever but we never had the chance to eat there because no bus ever passed by there, and none of us had a car. But, this summer, along with his camera, Leo got a car. It wasn’t brand new Lexus or BMW. It was a blue Jeep wrangler, Leo’s dream car. It had a few scratches and a few bumps but it could still drive as a fast as a new one and had a built in stereo. What more could you need?

I turned around just in time to see Leo running towards me with his unlaced Converse shoes, messy long hair, wrinkled Nirvana tshirt and his signature smile.

“Hey Ramona!” yelled Leo, “Are you ready for an adventure?”

1 ♥ / 3 months ago

my top 5 favorite clothing pieces,

in no particular order.

1. high waisted shorts/jeans/pants.

Here are the original high waisted denim shorts (that you can get at american apparel for only 64$ or you can find some at your local thrift store or just cut the legs of your old high waisted denim jeans, it’s the same thing really). They can go perfectly with any top!

Here are the original high waisted jeans (that you can get on shopbob.com for 150$ or again find some pretty decent ones at your local thrift store, no one will notice the difference!) Again, they go perfect with pretty much everything.

And here are some navy high waisted pants (that you can get at topshop for 76$ or again, you can search for similar ones at your local thrift store, you never know, you might just find them!) Pairing these up with a white blouse would be nice.

2. a band tshirt (preferably of your favorite band or a band that you actually listen to because if you wear a NIRVANA tshirt and don’t even know who the fuck they are then you shall be hated on for the rest of the night at that party that you were that shirt to.) You can buy them here or at your favorite band’s online merchandise store, or at a concert. Or maybe you can look through your parents’ and/or your brothers’ and sisters’ stuff and maybe you’ll find something cool there :)

3. a leather jacket.

Everybody should own a leather jacket. Because a. it looks good with pretty much everything and b. you look way cooler wearing a leather jacket and c. it’s a leather jacket! Of course buy a fake leather jacket because we all love animals and we don’t want them to suffer. I am honestly quite lazy to post a link to an online store to where you can buy a leather jacket but you all know how to use Google so just type “leather jacket online store” or whatever and you should find everything you need. Or again go visit your local thrift store and look through those boxes of old clothes your parents keep in the attic.

Johnny Depp