Dear Sixteen-Year-Old Thomas

Dear Sixteen-Year-Old Thomas,

Hi, this is your nineteen-year-old self. How are you? I want to start this letter by saying that, yes, you still write embarrassing super personal blog posts three years from now. You do not write as much on your blog, because college keeps you busy, but you still do. Congratulations: no admissions officers take the time to Google your blog and reject you because of it, so keep writing.

So I guess I will start on the whole college thing: you get in. You really, really do. You get into William and Mary, the University of Virginia, and the University of Pennsylvania. All your hard work pays off. Almost three years ago, you wrote this post about optimism, about how you would not let a B- in Physics Honors keep you down. Guess what: not only do you end up with an A- in the class, but you graduate high school and enter the university of your dreams: William & Mary. This might blow your mind, so feel free to take a moment and listen to Lady Gaga (you later get super into Ariana Grande and her song “Break Free,” but that can wait) or read a book.

Even bigger news: you escape your mother. No, not 100%. You still have to go home and see her, you still have to put up with her mood swings over the phone. But for the most part, you leave. You highlight your hair, you wear whatever you want, you study all the subjects you care about, and you have your freedom. At college, you feel the happiest you have ever been.

But I want to tell you some bad news.

I Just Turned Four

I lied. I turned 19 in May. But yesterday marked this blog’s four year anniversary, so say hallelujah for four years of Thomas’s thoughts, tangents, and tantalizing posts!

Obligatory anniversary selfie! I look so old. Almost like an adult or something.

As I always say, thank you to all of my readers, commenters, followers, and lurkers for your continued support. Even though college has taken its toll on my posting rate, this blog has now exceeded 630,000 views, 5,000 comments, and 460 posts. But as I have learned time and time again, the numbers do not do justice to the people I have encountered through this blog: despite my more periodical posting, I have still received so many kind comments and messages that make my day even if I do not respond to them right away.

I have listened to a lot of Ariana Grande as of late, and one theme of this post centers on her lyric “stronger than I’ve been before.”

Personal Update: 600,000 Views, 450 Posts, and Ratchet Parking

The day after I published my post about hating straight white men, my blog reached 600,000 views – huzzah! This post itself acts as my 450th, and thus, I thought I would reward everyone and make their confidence as drivers increase indirectly by sharing a picture of my somewhat ratchet parking, from the folder on my computer titled “Ratchet Parking Compilation”:

Personal Update: Thomas, Revisited

About a month and a half into summer vacation, I still have not published much on this blog. I ask myself why: is it a bad case of writer’s block, or have I lost interest? At first I wondered whether I was just waiting until after I got my license to start anything serious, but even after attaining it after endangering the lives of me and my examiner, here I am writing this post.

Little Things

I rolled out of bed last Wednesday morning, my legs kicking back sheets and the sun bathing my belongings in pale yellow. Shuffling around in my dorm room, my sandals smooth across the linoleum floor, I brushed back photos of Britin and little letters from friends on the surface of my desk and opened my laptop. The usual rotation: Goodreads, WordPress, Yahoo, Facebook, and finally, Gmail.

Dear Thomas,

Thank you for your application. We have drawn up a shortlist of candidates to be interviewed. I very much regret that it was not possible to include your name on the list.

I read the email twice, just to test myself, to ensure my eyes could see my defeat.

Find Time to Read? No, Make Time

Some statements addressed to me by friends, family, and other folk:

“Wow Thomas, I see you with a book all the time! How do you even find time to read?”

“Thomas, as a busy college student, you must really have no friends or no life to read as much as you do.”

“Why am I writing this blog post when I could be reading Game of Thrones? Why do I do anything when I could be reading Game of Thrones?”

Okay, the last one belongs to me – but I do have a sincere reason.

Three Year Anniversary! (featuring: me in heels)

After over 530,000 views, 400 posts, and 4,300 comments, I almost cannot believe today marks this blog’s three year anniversary. I feel guilty for not posting for so long and I need to throw in an incentive for people to still read this anyway like who actually reads this anymore so here’s a picture of me in heels from senior year:

I need to wear these more often. They really enhance your height. And your calves.

I officially finished my finals – and my first semester of college – just yesterday.

400 Posts, 4000 Comments, And Some Cool People

You win some and you lose some.

Go me! Or rather, go all of you! Today I reached 4,000 comments and noticed that my review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan marked my 400th post. I was writing an overdue response to someone today and realized that I started this blog back in December of 2010, which means I’ve been active for almost three years now. I cannot convey how blessed I am to have this haven to return to whenever I wish, full of support and splendid people. If you care about anything statistic-related when it comes to blogging, I’d say comments count the most – just because they show an exchange of ideas, passion, and a plethora of other wonderful abstractions.

Oh Thomas, Where Art Thou?

Hi everyone! So this is just one of those spur-of-the-moment diary-type posts I’ve decided to write simply to inform everyone why I haven’t been updating regularly.

You see, I have been battling these pesky little things called “exams”. And they’re winning. I have six major exams coming up in the next two months, and that’s excluding my final exams for the courses I’m taking in school. Typical junior year problems, I’m aware. The good thing about this is that now I can truthfully tell people that I’m busy instead of fabricating lies that I have friends.

Just wanted to let you guys know the reason why I’ve been busy so that you won’t assume I’ve abandoned you to go off and play with my fictional friends for no reason. In the mean time I’ll be responding to comments and messages from this blog and hopefully squeezing in a post or two. But, as I wrote in a post awhile ago,  I gotta keep my priorities straight, right?

If anyone has any questions for me, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or via a message. I apologize in advance for those who are angry that they’ve received an update for a new post when in reality they only got this sad excuse for a… anyway, I’m going to go do homework now. Bye!

Edit: I forgot to mention that I got my acceptance letter for a pretty prestigious program in the mail this week. I get to go study at a college over the summer, woo! And I have acquired some other minor awards too. Good stuff, good stuff. I hope everyone else has had a good week and will have an even better one starting on Monday!

Questions for My Readers!

So I intended to publish this post yesterday, but I couldn’t because I was busy pretending to have a life. I wanted to write this yesterday because – prepare to have your mind blown – there’s only six more days until this blog’s one year anniversary! Hallelujah! If I had published this yesterday I could have made it super climatic by saying “one week” as opposed to “six more days”, however, I’ll still make an awesome post about this blog and me and you guys and the color mauve on the 16th.

For now though, I have some questions I’d love to hear your responses to. The first four are the ones I am really curious about and the last one is more for fun (or for you to announce how much of a freak I am, that’s okay too). These are open to everyone, including my subscribers, readers, commenters, and anyone who happens to stumble by. Think of it like a survey… or whatever you want to think of it, really. Be completely honest and don’t hold back!

1. I like to think of my blog as a mix of three different categories – book reviews, commentaries on pop, and musings about life in general. Which of the three do you like the most? Which one would you like to read more of? Is there anything else you want me to blog about? I just realized I stuffed three questions into one. Oops.

2. What do you think of my writing style? Is it immature? Pretentious? Obese? I know that it varies depending on the subject of the post, but overall, what do you think of it? Remember to be honest – I’ll be able to learn more from constructive criticism than obsequious flattery.

3. Are there any general suggestions or improvements you want to make? If so, please leave them in the comments. I’ll reward you with my everlasting love. Just kidding, I already gave that to about 30 fictional characters…

4. What is your favorite post that I’ve written? Do you have more than one? You can mention least favorites too. I’ll understand – and proceed to go cry in a corner.

5. For those of you who don’t know me in real life, what do you think of my personality? How do you think I would act like in person? This is a random one. I’m curious though.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these, it really means a lot to me to get your feedback. Once again I’ll emphasize that I appreciate constructive criticism, but please don’t say things like “Thomas, your blog sucks. No wonder you have no friends.” That would just be repetitive.

So I've come to the conclusion that I suck at art. It's good that I can write decently... or can I?