20 Things...

For the third time around on this blog, time has come for me to simplify my memories into bullet points. Since that is right, kids, what you are reading right now is my annual birthday post, that, for some reason, was kind of a struggle to write this year, and I still hate it a little bit.

But, without launching into a long-winded complaint, here it goes. These are *some of* the 20 things that defined my life at 20:

At 20, I...

1. Was a Resident Assistant for Century Apartments.
2. ...And found it so amazing that I was rehired for another year!
3. Took a charter flight to Dallas. 
4. Learned how to cook pasta (and make grilled sandwiches).
5. Had an article published on me in USC News.
6. Took a trip to the NASA JPL lab.
7. Planned an entire trip to New York City on my own.
8. And then proceeded to go on said NYC trip with my roommate.
9. Marched the Rose Parade and performed in the Rose Bowl.
10. Started going to the gym regularly.
11. Got my navel pierced.
12. Got a paid on-campus job.
13. Got an internship (well technically, I got five, but who's counting?).
14. Made my own short films.
15. Filed my own tax returns.
16. Wrote a full-length spec script for a TV show with my Screenwriting class.
17. Subleased an apartment for the summer.
18. Was an assistant director on two award-winning short films.
19. Learned how to drive a golf cart.
20. Went on a road trip to Santa Barbara.

Note: Like last year, this is an edited list that doesn't *exactly* mirror the one in my diary, so some of these 20 things might feel a little forced/out of place. As always, my private life is private and some things should just stay off the Internet. Period.

So what does it feel like to be 21? Well, after spending three riveting days as a 21-year-old, I can confidently report that it feels just like being 20. Except now I can drink champagne and make my bad decisions completely legally. Not that I've made that many bad decisions over the past few days, of course, except maybe going on California Screamin' two times in a row at California Adventure yesterday. That was stupid. But yeah, 21 is just an age and a number, and all its connotations are social constructs. You don't become an adult overnight, it's a gradual process.

Adulthood is relative and only exists in the context of a society, and we all know I don't give a 💩 about societal expectations. I might be filing tax returns, I might be looking into buying a car (yes, I want a Mini, stop hatin') and I might have a regular laundry schedule (jk I don't), but I still throw bread crumbs at my friends at fancy restaurants and have an undying love for bounce houses. And there's nothing you can do about that.

Yet at the same time, I am 21 now and even though I don't feel it, things are changing. 21 is not that big of a milestone for me -- I turned 18 in Europe, so I've been through the whole "first time being carded" and all that -- but this has been my first birthday that I spent without my family. And this is the first summer that I'm spending without my family, and on my own. So, although my birthday isn't that big of a deal, this entire summer is indeed a transition period for me, and it does mark the beginning of something.

And that's where I'll leave it for now.

Here's a Snapchat screenshot, because I have nothing else to post.

19 Things...

That's right everyone, it is that time of the year! Today is June 8, 2016, the day before June 9, 2016, which happens to be my 20th birthday. Crazy, isn't it? I'll no longer be able to vote at the Teen Choice Awards. Not that I had done so in the past five years, but -- y'know -- it was good to have the option.

Anyway, once again, like last year, I wrote a list of 19 things I did that happened to me at 19, this time in chronological order. And once again, like last year, I've decided to post it on this little blog of mine. So here goes nothing...

At 19, I...

1. High-fived Dan Smith from Bastille! 
2. Spoke at a nationally televised protest for my high school.
3. Got my own bank account (lol) #adultthings
4. Moved to Los Angeles, CA.
5. Started college at USC, as a Cinematic Arts major.
6. Joined the Silks section of the USC Trojan Marching Band.
7. Started taking Russian classes.
8. Went to my first (and hopefully last) college party, which was scary af.
9. Swam in the ocean.
10. Traveled to Chicago (and San Francisco and San Diego).
11. Performed in the ucla (sucks!) pre-game and halftime shows (with Slash!).
12. Started the One Second(ish) a Day project.
13. Saw my idol/favorite artist, Patti Smith, live.
14. Worked as a script supervisor (and BTS photographer) on the Emmy* award-winning TV series CON (and was the only person not to miss a single day on set!).
15. Was selected to be a Resident Assistant.
16. Was interviewed on the radio.
17. Went to Disneyland.
18. Presented my work at a research conference.
19. Made the Dean's List (twice!)

(BTW, posts about the second half of this list are in progress)

So yep, there you have it (OMG, I had those exact words last year and totally didn't remember). Pretty adventurous year, I must say. Although I slightly altered this list from the one I wrote down into my little notebook, because who really wants to read about heartbreaks and awkward elevator rides and former friends who drink wine out of Starbucks cups in Glendale coffee shops, but anyway, I digress-- Let's try again: although I slightly altered this list and replaced a few very personal details, it's a pretty comprehensive one, and I can confidently say that this was pretty much the first year when I didn't take forever to think of things I hadn't done before, and when I didn't need any filler points, because those are terrible and obvious.

BUT, to end this post on a more positive note, this year has hands down been one of the best, if not actually the best one of my life. I finally got to live the life I had been dreaming of and working towards for over five years, and I couldn't be more grateful. Wait what. Ugh melodrama, gotta up yer game, Layra. Tis not yer style. OK, I think this is a sign. A sign to stop writing. So bye. See you all when I'm 20. Farewell. Over and out. Seriously, though, see you soon, everyone! Thanks for sticking around and not leaving this blog a ghost town!

Also, here are some photos, so you guys don't strain your imagination too much:

  

(16) On the radio.                                       (17) Disneyland w/ MLA and SaRAh

(6) The Holiday Bowl Parade with the band.

(14) My Script Supervisor Name Tag

(15) My RA Selection Decision

(18) My Research Paper Abstract

(2) Not my best look, but hey, that's me! On TV! In defense of a good cause!

(13) Yes, I actually saw Patti Smith. It was all real. AND I ran into Fabi <3.

(10) Yours truly, in Chicago (feat. random kid who color coordinated his outfit with mine)

*College Emmy

Late June Update: Birthday Fail, Finishing High School and Weekend Getaway

It has come to my attention that there are people who actually read this blog. Real people, living and breathing human beings. People who actually care to read about my boring life or maybe have nothing better to do, but it doesn't matter either way. Because when there are people willing to read, I'll have to give them (or, well, YOU) something to read, meaning that I have a good excuse to write a new post! So here goes...

Where did we leave it? Oh yes...

1) My Birthday

My mom and I decided to start the day with English breakfast - yes, I miss living in England that much - at my favorite restaurant. As it usually is, however, they'd run out of sausages and the rest of my sausageless breakfast was ice cold and my toast had fossilized in the making, so it didn't quite live up to my expectations, and you guys, I'd been dreaming of that breakfast for years. And although it might not seem that bad as of now, this was just a foreshadowing of the impending disaster.

Me and da food.

I don't know when taking photos of food became my thing, but at least it looked good.

After subtly wrapping my toast into a napkin, we took off to see the Sziget Eye, a rip-off of the London Eye in central Budapest and a best alternative I found to a theme park, since the theme park in this city has been notoriously closed down, with all its rides taken to the wasteland and melted into tramway tracks (I'm not even kidding, Budapest looks like a bombing site because of all the tramway extensions). Though based on my experience the last time I was there, it was all for the best. We bought two overpriced tickets, politely smiled when they mistook us for tourists, and living up to that, took photos we will never look at again, of the city we see every single day. After that, we had overpriced ice cream, my mom went home, I met up with one of my friends, and we went to Starbucks to study for our finals.

Moi.

I guess since I won't look at the photos, you guys could. Sorry for the bad colors, taken through glass and I couldn't bother with editing...

Boring Ferris wheel.

And thank goodness we did, because while we were peacefully sipping our vanilla frappuccinos on the leather couches, a F%*!@&G HUGE hailstorm had hit Budapest. And it hit it hard. There was pebble-sized ice everywhere. The streets were flooded. The wind was tearing out umbrellas from people's hands. Everyone was frantically searching for shelter. It was the apocalypse. After waiting half an hour in the tram stop for the storm to die down, however, I decided that I was either walking home or freezing on the spot, so I took off my platform sandals and walked (swam?) home barefoot. Yay.  (and this is where I plug in a Skins reference) 

And that's it for my 19th birthday.

2. Finishing High School

Part 1 - Finals: Ugh. If you didn't know already, in Hungary, school leaving exams have two parts: one written and one speaking test. Our class had three days to do the speaking tests, with thirteen people - including me - on the first one. And since with a very faulty reasoning they declared that the best come last, I was the very last person taking the exam that day, meaning that I was in school from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., frantically trying to revise everything I'd learnt in five years and thus probably annoying the poor parents who volunteered to make sandwiches. Soz mom.

When it was finally my turn, I had to draw two envelopes, and both of them ended up being the number 14, which is my lucky number so I thought I was all set. And, I mean, partly I was right, but although I did do well in Literature and History - my analysis of post-modernism in contemporary Hungarian short stories and my explanation of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was spot-on - I completely bombed Grammar and Linguistics, as I could not say a word on the types of compound words. My teacher kept saying that "I must be tired" because "I knew it on the test". Just for the record, we were never tested on compound words.

But I guess her confusion with what she had and hadn't taught only worked for my advantage here, as I got almost maximum points. As I found out, the lowest percentage I got for a leaving exams is 90% (History writing was a b*tch), which is a crazy good percentage, especially since our marvelous government (notice the irony) made leaving tests extremely difficult this year, so that no one will get into university and everyone will have to do horrible menial tasks allowing them no time to think and thus creating a mob so easily influenced by demagogic promises, political rant over.

Fraaaahndz after we got our certificates (high school diplomas?) and an unsolicited copy of the Constitution of Hungary.

More fraaaahndz.

Me leaving the school building for the last time ever, holding my 6" 

shoes that I couldn't walk home in.

Part 2 - Senior banquet: Basically a huge and fancy dinner, which marked the last time we spent together as a high school class. That's it really, there's not much to say about it. It was held at an all-you-can-eat cafeteria. Some people were overdressed (ahem, me), some people were underdressed (ahem, Zsolt and his Bermuda shorts). I wish it had been more memorable, but it just wasn't. It was the last couple of hours we ever spent together as a class - and of course I cried, but as we all know I always cry - and it was quite underwhelming and anticlimactic.

I had no good photos of the banquet, so here's a rare selfie you guys never wanted to see. And yes, that's my bra strap.

3. Weekend Getaway

My dad decided that for the last time before I leave to the US of A, we should spend some quality time together with his family, and determined that the best place for that would be Győr, a city northwest Hungary. It was meant to be two days of water parks and hot tubs, but yet again - as it always is - that didn't happen. Instead, we spent our time walking around town, eating bad pizza wrapped in blankets, playing squash without knowing the rules or how to even use the equipment, and taking photos of potato bug statues in the middle of nowhere. And midst all that, even a random dog started following us around. FUNFUNFUN

This is how you abuse the "Exaggerated colors" filter on your camera.

That moon there is why I should have taken my tripod with me.

Potato bug statue. #sointeresting

My dad, verbatim: "Lilla already wasted an entire roll of film on the storks."

A church and power lines and the "Exaggerated colors' filter.

18 Things...

On the evening of June 8, 2009, the day before my 13th birthday, I started a little tradition. I wrote a little overview on my past year, and entwined it with my outlook on the next year. Then, to finish it off, I wrote a list of 12 things I did at 12. This was a pretty simplistic list, including buying my first pair of heels and falling in love for the first time, but it since it reflected my 12-year-old personality so much, and - let's admit it - was a pretty good idea, I decided to continue with it.

Although I consider the little reflection of my 18th year a little too personal to post, here is the list of things I did at 18:

18 things I did at 18:

1. Go to a music festival (two actually!)
2. See the Arctic Monkeys live
3. Get a drastic haircut (5" is pretty drastic for me...)
4. Get the ear piercings I'd wanted for the past 8 years (I was a hard-core 10-year-old) and get a disapproving stare from my mom every second day
5. Take the night bus for the first time (lol)
6. Have a graduation ball (a.k.a. prom)
7. Write and give several speeches (prom/graduation)
8. Have my senior portrait taken
9. Come up with an idea for our class tableau!
10. Create a YouTube channel (no videos yet, hey, gotta leave something for next year)
11. Write my best film analysis yet, on Holy Motors
12. Apply to university
13. Get accepted to my two top choice universities! (And six others)
14. AND get a full-tuition scholarship to USC!!
15. Travel to Los Angeles
16. Take final exams
17. Graduate high school (AND get the 'Student of the Year' award!)
18. So, erm, it's not what you think, I promise, but I'd like to keep the last one private ;)

There you have it! I know this is a forced, silly and repetitive list, but it's not that easy to think of 18 things that were unique to one year of my life. I think there are some pretty big things on there, which I'm incredibly proud of, and the rest, well, life is about the little things they say...

Stay tuned for another year of craziness, everyone!

I love you all!

I'm Alive and Such

You guys might have noted that I've been quite lax about posting recently, so I'm here to let you all know: DON'T WORRY. I'M ALIVE. I'M NOT IN JAIL. YET. Now, I don't exactly know who I'm addressing here, since my blog has approximately zero readers (at least none that I'm aware of) but if you happen to be lurking this site once in a while, and if you've started wondering about my whereabouts, well, I'm here. I'm here, it's just that most of the time I usually post when something significant happens and, let's face it, nothing has happened in the past few weeks. At least nothing blog-worthy.

But if you've actually read up to this point, I might be able to gather some minor happenings for you. Such as:

1) I attended my grandma's 80th birthday and, though I'm not too keen on family gatherings, it went very well! Everyone was super nice and my cousin from Paris was there and I absolutely love her and I hadn't seen her in ages so yep, that was fun. Plus, delicious cake as always.

2) I drove on my own in the middle of a STORM!!! Yes, this happened about an hour ago and if you can't tell, I'm very proud.

3) I met up with a friend of a friend who is now a friend, and I bought a pink glittery skirt. Now, you should know that I don't wear pink, I don't wear skirts, and I rarely wear glitter. So I'm quite concerned, as it is, most probably as I don't know whether this is a perfectly normal style evolution, or whether I'm subconsciously transforming into one of my friends, which would, if you know the circumstances, make perfect sense. So I might call a style psychologist and consult with her on the issue. Style psychologists exist, right?*

4) I watched a documentary on Nat Geo about a cannibalistic serial killer and proceeded to have a really morbid nightmare about murdering someone and have a dog eat his head. Then I read this article written by a Penn Criminology professor and found it really intriguing (is this word even used nowadays?) and did I tell you yet that I want to double major in Film AND Criminology? BTW, I have morbid dreams on a daily basis, no need to worry. I'm just a bit paranoid and think way too much into certain things.

5) I wrote my Common App essay, and have a very good feeling about it. I've actually written three, and each one started out of the other, and each one morphed into an answer to a different prompt but yeah. My advice to Common App essay writers: don't stick with one prompt and consider the deal sealed. I've also worked on a couple of supplements and the Penn one is giving me nightmares. You know when you've got all the content, but just can't form it into a coherent text? Welp, that's happening.

6) I've studied some A-Level Sociology and have done some ACT prep, but clearly not enough. In fact, that's what I should be doing now.

So, that is all I can think of right now, and erm, I don't know. I'll let you all (I still don't know who I'm talking to) know when something less mundane happens. I've got two tickets for this big music festival next month, so I'll definitely write about that. Yep. I think I should get back to ACT Math.

Take care and such.

*I was hoping style psychology would be something I just made up, but no. It actually exists.

So HOW does it feel?

Yesterday, I turned 18.

I attempted to remove my birthday from Facebook to see who remembers it anyway, but failing that attempt, I decided to accept my fate with quiet resignation.

And it all went well at first: "Hey, happy birthday, congrats!" Press 'Like'. Write 'Thank you! :)'
And then, the people who knew better than that, and texted me: "Layra, happy birthdaaaay!! Loves" Write back, thank them. Tell them I love them more, because I do.
And then, the people who actually called me: "Happy birthday! You're finally 18! That's so great!" Thank them. Tell them they're the best.

And I was happy, you know! I was touched by all the kind wishes and the people who took the time to call me, and I was genuinely content, and that was when this happened:

"So HOW does it feel to be an adult?"

Because really, how do you think it feels? Because being 18 years and 3 hours old is SO much different than being 17 years and 364 days old, isn't it? Because I'm already sinking into the ground from all the responsibility that encumbers me! Because I'm already soaring into the sky due to my newfound independence! Because I'm already filling out lottery tickets and filing tax returns! Because you must, you absolutely must ask this question!

So, since you've asked, I'll answer, but I'm going to have to disappoint. I feel the same as before. My mom still makes my breakfast, my grandpa still accompanies me while driving, and I still break the rules by buying tickets to over-18 movies.

Oh wait. That's no longer breaking the rules. Damn.

...

PS. Is it even POSSIBLE to remove your birthday from Facebook? Is it? IS IT? This is important!