Philosophy of Life

First, you have to love things. Love them unapologetically. Love them so much that it hurts, and you cry at four AM over everything and nothing at all. Love things that you can go to when you fail your math test, when the rolls at lunch taste way too much like carpet, when everyone is too busy to give you the time of day.

Have opinions. Have strong opinions. Know what you're talking about, though. There's nothing worse than talking to someone who doesn't know a hairpin from a pretzel. Share your opinions prolifically, argue over them sometimes. But know when to keep them to yourself. It isn't always the right time to fight every battle. It's okay to be wrong. Accept it graciously.

You're stuck on this earth with seven billion other people, and you probably will be for a while. Treat them all well. Maybe stopping and helping someone will make you late, but not stopping just makes you a jerk. Play with little kids, and don't treat them like vegetables. Talk to them like people, and listen to them like friends. If they hand you a toy phone, answer it.

Bend the rules sometimes. Some of them, anyway. Sort of murdering someone is not alright, but maybe smuggling food into your room to celebrate your sister's new boyfriend is. Just don't leave crumbs on the carpet, and don't spill the orange juice. It doesn't come out. Go with the flow, but know where you're going. Don't be a passive observer. Take action, do things for yourself because you want to do them, but be willing to go along with somebody else from time to time.

Work hard. Do your homework before the night it's due. Clean the toilet and be happy about it. Or pretend to be. Do your best. Really. Try your hardest, put everything you've got into it. It makes all the difference. It's okay to fail, but if you've given it your best, that's something to be proud of. Work with other people. Work alone. Organize yourself and stick to the plan, except when the plan needs to change, or when you don't plan at all.

Play hard. Spend all night watching soap operas. Buy a Spiderman coloring book and do all the word searches in five minutes, then color the sky orange. Color the sky blue. Color the sky however you want, because no one else owns that coloring book except for you. Eat pizza for breakfast and cereal for dinner. Eat nothing but ice cream, and get chocolate syrup on the ceiling. It happens. Build a kite that doesn't fly so much as bump along the ground. Go out with friends and go crazy. Stay in and read that book. Do what makes you happy, because there's never a better time to love life than today.

Don't hide yourself. If you like Queen and everyone else likes Taylor Swift, you go and listen to Bohemian Rhapsody sixteen times in a day. Maybe listen to a Taylor Swift song once in awhile. It couldn't hurt. Cry in sad movies. Cry in happy movies. Laugh at yourself when you trip over your own feet and land in somebody's ranch dressing. We've all been there. If you think somebody's cool, tell them. If you think you're cool, that's great. Liking yourself is a journey that can take a lifetime. Just don't take yourself too seriously. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. You don't have to put everything out on the line all the time, but do it at least once, then maybe once again. You might find it's a better way to live.

Wait. It's okay to watch the pot, it'll boil eventually. But it's a lot better to let the pot be and start chopping your vegetables, as long as you don't forget about it and let it boil over. If you're making chocolate glaze, watch the pot. Burned chocolate is not something anyone should experience. Let someone else go first sometimes. Sit at a red light and watch the other cars go by. It'll turn green soon enough. Read magazines in the waiting room. Walk slowly, and look at the clouds. There's a lot to be seen when you're not always in a hurry.

Be the best you that you can. If you love nineteenth century Russian history, learn about it. Get to know someone before you decide who they are. Stay up too late, sleep until noon. Don't sleep at all. Make real friends. Do what makes you happy, but do things to make other people happy sometimes, too. Enjoy today for everything it's worth. Live up to your standards, and don't change them just because somebody else has different ones. Fall in love. Fall out of love. Get your heart broken. Feel everything that life has to offer, and learn from it. Take risks, have courage. Things always get worse before they can get better. Surround yourself with good things. Be yourself, because there's no one else quite like you.

Live.

Admiration and Mutual Dislike

Dear Obadiah Stone,

Mr. Stone. I have been watching you for some time. Well, I suppose that you are at this time deceased, but before that occurred, I was watching you. And sir, I am not fond of you. In fact, I spent the great majority of your movie shouting abuse at you through my computer screen. I may be quite biased, but that is about the size of it. You are not my favorite human being, but I suppose that there must be something about you that I can admire.

Uh.

Your height is quite impressive. As a person of more diminuitive stature, I can appreciate the effort it must have taken to grow so much. The amount of vegetables you ate as a child was probably shocking. The way you made your underlings quake with fear? Priceless. I guess your subtle machinations within Stark Industries were rather well thought out. Lying to everyone for so long must have taken some planning.

Your cunning and ill-will toward mankind in general were astounding. That time you went to Afghanistan and stole the Iron Monger thing from under the Ten Rings' noses was quite intimidating. The cut of your suit was nice and evil. I mean it. You were made for this traitor business.

Remember how you kept trying to kill Tony Stark? Now, that wasn't okay with me. I love Tony Stark. Probably too much. However, I can appreciate the effort of your first attempt took. I don't have that kind of patience. The second time, when you snuck into his house and quite literally ripped out his heart? Totally evil. To be that awful of a person must have taken a lot of practice.

Well, Mr. Stone, you are a man of many varied and most unsavory talents, I must admit. Your devoted efforts to being a thoroughly dislikeable human being has paid off. I don't like you, Mr. Stone, and will continue in my concentrated disdain for the forseeable future.

Stay dead!

Yours,
Jessica Dowding