Sometimes, it’s just nice to sit down and write. It doesn’t have to be about a particular subject, a particular thought, what I had for breakfast, my amusement with my hometown mayor (see the adventures of Rob Ford), what I’m studying or not studying in my classes… You get it. Sometimes, just sitting down and writing feels good. It’s nice to see words that flutter in your head on some sort of written format. Paper is still my number one go to writing surface, but I find no fault with writing on my computer. It’s the standard now.

I finally bought a lighter. 2 and a half months after I left Toronto for school and I just now bought one. My mother sent me two lovely candles that smell like vanilla. I believe she purchased them from Ikea, of course. That’s my go to store. In fact, my school offers shuttles to Ikea once a month. I think that’s pretty crazy. Who really needs to go to Ikea once a month? I still find myself signing up for every trip though. Maybe I’m a pushover when it comes to free transportation. Or maybe I really do have an unhealthy obsession with those hot dogs.

Back to the candles. I don’t like purchasing anything that makes me seem like a bad kid. Before you tell me that I shouldn’t feel self conscious about buying a lighter, can you honestly write me a comment saying that you wouldn’t make assumptions when you see an 18 year old university student in a Dollarama buying a lighter? If you can, I commend you for being a wonderful person with a positive outlook on life. We teenagers tend to get a bad rap. At a corner store nearby my house, there was a sign that said “No more than 2 teenage boys allowed at a time”. I believe the store owners got in trouble for the sign (obviously) and had to take it down. But is that seriously what the world has come to? When you must put that sign out to prevent things from happening? Seems strange to me. As a result of stuff like this, I try not to buy anything bad or say anything bad around adults. I would rather be thought of as an adult than associate with people my age. It’s safer that way. Don’t believe for a second I think all teenagers are like this; I’m one of them, my dearest friends are them, so I know that’s not true. But we do find it difficult when we’re looked down upon for our age. We don’t act like that, so don’t group us with those who do. This mentality makes it awkward for me to buy a lighter. Sad, right? I should have just gone in and bought it instead of making a big deal out of something that lights my candles for me.

So now I’m sitting here writing with my candle at last. I’m enjoying it immensely. I’m also extremely cold. I have the window open to flush the smoke out of my room, lest it alerts the fire alarm. My candle isn’t smoking, I swear. When I was a child, I really, really liked fire. My friends and I would sit in front of campfires for hours and burn sticks. We would light napkins on fire and smother the flames in the sink. It isn’t the safest thing to do, and I do not endorse it. My roommates have been asking me why it smells like smoke. I’ve come up with several stories to deviate from the fact that a burst of my pyromaniac tendencies came over me and lit a paper towel on fire. The paper towel in question is in the waste basket where I’m hoping no one will find it. If they do, my door has a lock on it.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day, and are not lighting things on fire. If you are, send me pictures.

-Shannon