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2003-12-27 @ 1:03 a.m. : >>
The Girl With The Red Lollipop
Well, I am in Los Angeles now and I have not found her (the girl with the red lollipop).
I have instead however found a different girl - one who is quite unlike either the girl with the red lollipop or the one who is an exchange scholar in Oregon, and who I had quite forgotten existed.
I am currently reading 'The Nurture Assumption' by Judith Rich Harris. Although I do not entirely agree with all that Harris says (her overall argument is that parents have no influence on how their children turn out), she makes some excellent points. One of them is about the human tendency to behave differently in different social contexts. Parents, for example, are often amazed to hear that their usually badly behaved child is a little angel at school.
There are many, many me's. The girl with the red lollipop is just one of them (and happens to be the one I like the best). The girl I am now is the girl I become when with my family. I do not like her particularly.
Anybody who observed me with my family would probably not believe that I left home just a few months after I turned 18 to move to the other side of the world. They possibly would not even believe that I am capable of surviving alone. I have slipped so completely mindlessly and effortlessly into being dependent on them again for everything. I even let my mother help me unpack my suitcase, which is rather crazy considering the number of times I have packed and unpacked it alone. This behavior is so automatic in fact, that I have found it takes real conscious effort to change it.
The girl with the red lollipop, I suppose, belongs to Brighton and to the company of her friends there. Bringing her to Oregon would probably prove very difficult. I believe she will be back in June though. I hope so anyway.
The Girl With The Red Lollipop
Well, I am in Los Angeles now and I have not found her (the girl with the red lollipop).
I have instead however found a different girl - one who is quite unlike either the girl with the red lollipop or the one who is an exchange scholar in Oregon, and who I had quite forgotten existed.
I am currently reading 'The Nurture Assumption' by Judith Rich Harris. Although I do not entirely agree with all that Harris says (her overall argument is that parents have no influence on how their children turn out), she makes some excellent points. One of them is about the human tendency to behave differently in different social contexts. Parents, for example, are often amazed to hear that their usually badly behaved child is a little angel at school.
There are many, many me's. The girl with the red lollipop is just one of them (and happens to be the one I like the best). The girl I am now is the girl I become when with my family. I do not like her particularly.
Anybody who observed me with my family would probably not believe that I left home just a few months after I turned 18 to move to the other side of the world. They possibly would not even believe that I am capable of surviving alone. I have slipped so completely mindlessly and effortlessly into being dependent on them again for everything. I even let my mother help me unpack my suitcase, which is rather crazy considering the number of times I have packed and unpacked it alone. This behavior is so automatic in fact, that I have found it takes real conscious effort to change it.
The girl with the red lollipop, I suppose, belongs to Brighton and to the company of her friends there. Bringing her to Oregon would probably prove very difficult. I believe she will be back in June though. I hope so anyway.