Reverb10: A Look Into the [frightening] Past

December 17 – Lesson Learned What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward? (Author: Tara Weaver)

This comes with a little story. Growing up in the ridiculously competitive suburban town that I did, I developed a sort of backwards, strange complex of inferiority. Since nearly everyone came from well-to-do families, nice houses, and forward thinking parenting, almost all of the kids were go-getting intellectually (of course there were slackers, but not the general population and most certainly not the popular kids), this gave me a bit of a complex. I had good test scores, I loved reading and writing, I took AP History and Literature, I liked learning (mostly), and I wanted to do well in school. I was terrible at math and science, even when I tried, which was almost always. [PS I'm currently convinced that I'm the math version of dyslexic, like number dyslexic. I can't put numbers in the right order or repeat them correctly, it's really disconcerting. But I can add and multiply better than I ever used to...on the up-side I guess). Despite all of the aforementioned information, I graduated high school with a GPA around 3.3 (I don't remember these things, I have better stuff to worry about these days), a pretty good SAT score, and got into a good college. But I just barely graduated in the top half of my graduating class. Because of these facts I always thought I was a smart person, but never thought that I was a very intelligent, very creative thinker. This is going to sound masturbatory [I'll take any excuse to use that word in writing. Any] but over the course of the past year I've realized that most people are dumber than I am. The world isn't like the bubble that I grew up in, the world is full of unmotivated, unintelligent, uninspired, uninteresting people and I am not one of them. Just because I don't really remember what mole day is celebrating (other than my friend Sarah's birthday, and she'd be happy to tell you what mole day is, I'm sure) or how to factor an equation does not mean that I'm not a very intelligent person. I realize that this whole answer makes me sound like a douchebag, but it's coming from a good place, I promise. I really thought that I was not very smart growing up because everyone around me was a self-flagellating overachiever (no offense) so I feel better about myself now.



December 18 – Try What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)


I want to try saving money in 2011. I know people say this all of the time, but I really want to do it. The past few years have been building years, but I need to start saving now. There are things that I want to be prepared for and I don't want to feel like a college student every time I check my Citibank balance. So maybe this means less luxury items in 2011, or maybe it just means working more, working harder and working through more social "obligations", but I think that's a good thing. Everyone here knows I tried stand up in 2010 and it went well, so no more words necessary.

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