Homebody Survival Kit

With super typhoon Yolanda looming over us, it is the wiser option to simply stay indoors. If you're not one for just staying at home and enjoying the confines of your own room, it's probably my job to advise you on what to do to keep yourself entertained. This is, of course, because I am a veteran stay-at-home kind of person.

Before any violent reactions, I am not actually going to "advise" you, rather just share with you what I do at home that makes me not want to leave the house at all. It might help your situation of not being able to leave your own house in preparation for the impending storm.

1. Read a book. Reading books will allow you to travel to different places for awhile (while you can't yourself); it will allow you to live an adventure with the words that you devour. Personally, I'm rereading my favorite novel - Why We Broke Up, penned by Daniel Handler. If you haven't read it yet, you should, along with The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. They're both easy reads which would definitely help you pass time.

2. Have a movie marathon. In your favorite genre, preferrably. And if you're into chickflicks, let me just plug in my favorite chickflicks that YOU SHOULD SEE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THEM YET: Stuck in Love, This Means War, 50 First Dates, Leap Year, and Just My Luck. (Two Chris Pine movies because Chris frigging Pine!!!)

3. Have a series marathon. Not all that different from the second one, but with the free time cast upon you, it is definitely a good time to catch up on your favorite TV series or maybe begin watching one you've been meaning to. *cough* New Girl *cough*

4. Take long naps. School sucks the life out of you. And it steals your time for naps. "Nap when you can" - that's the motto. NWYC is not as catchy as YOLO, of course, but who would really refuse a good nap?

5. 8Tracks. If you haven't discovered this wonderful, wonderful music version of Narnia yet, then you'll be thanking me. This website gives you access to free playlists made by people all around the world, and there will surely be tons of playlists to suit your taste. I never regret spending time on the site as it is there that I've stumbled upon some of the best songs ever written. Go on, child, 8Tracks awaits.

Drowning

In every storm there is bound to be a silver lining, just as in every silver lining, there is (or had been) a storm. What I've learned in my eighteen years of existence is that nothing is ever completely good and nothing is ever completely bad. There have been numerous times when I've felt that the bad outweighs the good, when I neglect the good because they seem to have been trumped by every bad, sad, mad feeling in the world. But that's the thing - no matter how tough things may seem sometimes, you have to keep holding on; to keep fighting for what little good there may be. After all, in letting go of the bad, you will also inevitably let go of the good that comes with it.

And I can't. I can't let you go. Even if it means that I have to shed tears more often than I'd like to. Even if it means I have to suck up my insecurities and put my faith in what you say; in you. Even if it means that I have to deal with all the pain that comes in a package-deal with the wonderfulness that is you. (Cue in sarcastic "well that escalated quickly" coupled with necessary eyeball rolling.)

Because nothing is ever completely bad and nothing is ever completely good. You give me both, and I want both. No matter how overwhelming the storm may seem sometimes - in a sense that I feel as though I am drowning - the silver lining in you, in us, is worth the temporary struggle.

You are still, and will perhaps always be, my lifesaver.