Maddison's Musings

Okay, so when I was looking through my Instagram and general photos, I literally found nothing of importance from January except selfies and sunset pictures, so let's pretend like this month never even happened. I mean, sure it snowed and that was fun but it wasn't something I did so I'm not counting it.

1. Did my annual piano competition and got a Superior, then we drove around my college campus for the first time
2. I got ordained online for shits and giggles

My mom wanted One nice picture so I gave her one and the rest looked pretty much like this

March

April

May

June

July

August

Allie X, the living legend herself

September

Banks put on such a show damn what a woman

PVRIS was also amazing fuck

October

November

December

All-in-all, I would consider this a fairly successful year. I'm already planning a bunch of posts for 2018, and I can't wait to see you guys then, but for now, stay warm and happy new year.

~Maddison

I refuse to believe that October is over in just a few hours. October is by far my favorite month of the year, not because there's a whole day dedicated to me, and another day dedicated to Halloween, but because everything tastes like pumpkin and it gets nice and chilly outside. Plus, Texas has had a surprisingly chilly October, which I adore. The high today was 50 F (10 C), and it was drizzly out, aka the best type of weather.

I haven't done much this October, but I have enjoyed the chilly weather. I spent the first two weeks having a crisis regarding getting older and still not knowing to do with my life, but I had a nice birthday regardless, and my mom decorated the house like the scene from The Office where Dwight and Jim forget Kelly's birthday (season 5 episode 16 and 17), so that was a fun surprise.



Besides the fact that I'm now 19, not much is new with me. October is my favorite month, but my mental health has gone to shit lately, so I'm hoping that turns around soon. I didn't even go to a pumpkin patch this month like wtf?? Anyways, colder weather is quickly approaching, so that always cheers me up, but we'll find out. This is really just a small update post so I don't forget to post anything this month, so it's a short one, but hey, at least I put something up. Anyways, I'll see you again some time next month.

Hello my lovelies how are all of you doing on this fine day? Okay, so technically I'm writing this October 1st, but since I forgot to write a post in September, I found a loophole that lets me act like I posted this in September. Wow, interesting story. Anyways, I have been in college for a little over a month now and I fucking love it. It's so weird that I finally like school again, but here we are, and I'm loving it, so I thought I'd write a little post comparing college and high school, because high school was a fucking joke, if we're being completely honest. And that brings me to the title: here are just a few reasons why college is way better than high school, at least in my own opinion.

1. You set your own schedule

Hate waking up early for class? Don't pick an 8 am. Only want to go to campus two or three times a week? Try mixing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes with an online class or two, or try mixing Tuesday and Thursday classes with an online class. I only go to campus MWF and I'm taking one online class, and I love it. Plus, my first class starts at 10 am, which is so much nicer than 8 or 9 am.

2. No bullshit

Professors are real with you. They see you as adults, not kids like high school teachers do. They expect  you to do your work and have it done by the deadline. They don't baby you. They hand out the syllabus on the first day of class and they expect you to read it and follow it. No more reminders that homework is due- you're expected to have it done since it's on the syllabus. I personally love this aspect, since I felt babied in high school. In college, your professors are real. My English professor is letting us curse in our essays. She spent the first five minutes of class the other day talking about pizza and how she once ate a whole pizza and drank a whole bottle of wine by herself in one night. What an inspiration. Also, all my professors want me to call them by their first names, something that never would've flown in high school, unless you already knew the teacher.

3. First real sense of independence

For most people, college is their first real sense of adulthood. Whether you live on campus or you commute, you start to see the world differently. I'm a commuter student, so I can't talk much about moving out or anything, but I'm sure those who moved out of their family homes are starting to feel more independent. As a commuter, I'm getting to know my way around the DFW area, something I never really knew in high school, since I would just drive five minutes to high school and 15 minutes to piano lessons. But now that I'm in college, I have a 45 minute drive to school on freeways and roads farther from home. I'm also at the point in my life where my family is finally letting me go to concerts by myself, so I get to drive to Dallas by myself and experience the city, which is so much fun. I'm finally starting to feel more like an adult.

4. Less busywork

High school was full of busy work. I feel like that's all I did, not just in high school, but my entire life in the public school system. In high school, I had so much homework that didn't even really matter- it was just there to fill time. Now that I'm in college, I only have homework that matters, and in class we just get right to the lecture without doing something ridiculous that has no value. I'm far less stressed about homework in college, to be completely honest, and I love it.

5. You're studying something you're interested in

In high school, we all had to take the same courses, with little wiggle room on fun classes that we care about. In college, you're studying something that you want to do with the rest of your life. There are hundreds of different classes to take depending on what you like, and you pick and chose at your own pace. Don't want to take math the first year? Don't do it. Sure, most universities have basic core requirements that you need to get done, but they have many options under the types of courses that you can take. It's wonderful.

6. There's so many free resources

Okay, so technically, your tuition is paying for these resources, but it's not like you can cut them out of your tuition payment, so technically they're kind of free, at least in the sense that you don't have to pay anything when you use it. For example, my university offers six free hours of professional counselling/therapy each semester. They also offer six free hours of tutoring each semester. Students can also ride the bus/shuttle systems for free, use any gym on campus, and so much more that I haven't figured out yet. Each university is different, but check out what type of free stuff your college has, because chances are you're already paying for it with your tuition, so you might as well take advantage of that and use some resources.

Although these aren't my only reasons why college is better than high school, this is just a start based on my first month or so as a college student. I'm really excited for these next few years in college, as I'm finally excited about school again. I have some homework to do, so I should hop off, but until next time, I hope you're all doing well.

~Maddison

~Maddison

1. Visit Pike Place Market

2. Visit the Gum Wall in Pike Place

3. Moore Coffee Shop

4. Biscuit Bitch (Caffe Lieto)

5. Kerry Park

6. Pier 58/Waterfront Park

7. Space Needle (or Columbia Center)

8. Pike Street Press

9. View the Rainbow Crosswalks in Capitol Hill

Image Source

10. Mount Rainier

~Maddison

Source

How Pride Month is already nearly over, I have no idea, but I thought I would take the opportunity of the month ending to share some of my favorite things from the past month, but with a LGBTQA+ twist. Also, if you might recall, I wanted to make a Pride Chat post each Sunday of June, but I went to California last week and missed last Sunday, so I thought I could do it today and at least get four little chats out there. Without further ado, let's see what some of my favorite things are.
Note: This post contains affiliate links, which you can learn more about in my disclosure HERE.

Books

I grew up in a fairly religious household in Texas, so coming to terms with the fact that I'm not straight was a long and hard process for me. I think part of me always knew something was different. Many of my friends would talk about crushes they had on boys, and frankly, I just couldn't relate. I didn't really get crushes- or at least I didn't allow myself to say that I thought a girl was pretty. I've always fancied girls, but I never allowed myself to act on anything, mostly claiming I was interested in being their friend more than anything else. It's so strange to me now, looking back on old journal entries and whatnot when I would talk about a girl who I obviously had a crush on, but I would just keep saying what a great friend she was. But the truth was, even though I was so obviously not-straight, I never allowed myself to think I was anything less than straight. I went to church twice a week, had about ten different Bibles, loved the Lord, etc etc. Now, I'm not saying all Christians are homophobic, definitely not, but all the ones I knew growing up were, especially family members. Hell, even I was homophobic as a kid, which really fucked me up, considering I am definitely gay, but we'll get to that later. At one point during my freshman year of high school during one of the youth group topics, homosexuality came up and the church leaders literally said that if anyone was feeling gay they could come to the altar and they would try to pray the gay away, I shit you not. That same night, they even made us sign these little cards that said something along the lines of "I promise to follow Gods plan for marriage: one man, one woman, forever" or some bullshit like that. At that time, I was definitely repressing my sexuality, refusing to believe I was anything but straight. I didn't want to sign the card, but I had a friend who was looking at me expectantly, so I took the pen and signed the damn card. I don't think I've been to church since.

Welcome back to another Pride Chat, and get ready to fight me (maybe, we'll see). As a cis woman, I definitely have no right to talk about the experiences of non-cis people, but I can spread a little bit of light on the fact that they are in fact out there. For those of you who don't know, a cisgender person is someone who agrees with the gender they were assigned at birth. A non cis person can be non-binary (someone who doesn't identify with either male or female), trans, or any of the other gender identities out there. According to this gender masterpost on Tumblr, there are tons of other genders out there besides male and female.

Hello my loves and happy Pride Month to every single LGBTQA+ person on the planet, whether you celebrate openly or from the closet. Pride Month is a big one for anyone in the LGBTQA+ community, since for one month, the Gays™ are out and about and living life extravagantly, and I love it. There's something about Pride Month that just brings the whole community together and everyone feels good. For one month out of the year, we can finally feel normal in a heteronormative world. Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the Stonewall Riots in Manhattan in 1969, a turning point in the visibility of LGBTQA+ people in the United States. The last Sunday of June in the U.S. was initially Gay Pride Day, but the date is flexible- now stretching the entire month of June! The landmark Supreme Court Case Obergefell v Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the U.S. and its territories, was also decided on June 26, 2015, ending the Pride Month of 2015 on a positive note.