Baby Steps towards Adulthood

When I traveled outside the US for the first time, my mom packed me every precaution necessary for survival in a third world country. The only hitch was I would be travelling on a meticulously organized teen tour of sixty through the United Kingdom. This context should gently imply that the iodine tablets and malaria vaccine would likely go unwarranted.

The most practical item I had stowed amongst my belongings was likely the credit card that my mother arranged for my use. Not only did it aid in my acquisition of every knick-knack I could set my heart and hands on, but it worked with greater ease than handling loads of foreign currency and teaching a fifteen year old the value of a hard earned pound. I remember the sweet, slick sound as the card glided through a register. The piece of plastic was light to the touch (and to the credit limit) yet I felt the heavy load of responsibility bearing down in my wallet. And its potential for freedom.

After a week of travel, I returned stateside. I was a woman of the world now. I'd had my first alcohol (draft Guinness in a pub in Dublin - yes, that's jealousy you feel!), taken photos with a London guard, and considered my communicating with a British accent an epic advancement of global communication. If that wasn't enough, I'd also used a credit card!! But the European adventure had come to a close and my access to a bank account went along with it. I reluctantly returned magnetic stripe and all of its power to my mother, a woman who meticulously watched our modest finances to ensure that greater problems would never arrive at our doorstep. Moments later, the card was humbled, existing in memory and pieces in a trash can.

Last week, I accepted my fate as an adult of the 21st century. I am twenty one (and three quarters) years old. I am a college graduate and, at least theoretically, function without the financial support of my parents. Granted, I reside in a bedroom that my boyfriend pays for and the money I have been coasting on comes from my petty restaurant earnings, leftover cash from my mother's last deposit into my bank account, returned security deposits, and graduation gifts. So claiming I am a beacon of financial independence for the masses would be weighty overstatement.

With this in mind, I threw caution to the wind and applied for a credit card. And, much to my surprise and chagrin, I was approved for the most elementary of accounts. The account is marketed as a perfect starter account for college students but I believe it's true purpose is to cater towards university imbeciles and post-grad cowards. I lovingly place myself into the latter of these two categories. Yet, with every powerful whoosh emitted from a cash register as my credit card declares that I'll make good on the menial payment, I feel my chest swell up, bit by bit, towards adulthood.

Something New

My last attempt to enter the competitive blogosphere was, what most would deem, a failure. I knew I'd left very few traces of myself on the internet and had much trouble finding them again, two long years later. Luckily, Google is the best Keeper a girl could ask for and tracked down my former self, MoreAdventurous. So, here begins a sister-blog.

Unlike most of the vain patrons of the blogging world - as of now this project entirely lacks focus and purpose. Without said traits, the blog is almost an exclusive product of narcissism. For a lame attempt to save face, I'll list a few things I hope to accomplish here:

• I am living in a New Place. Both physically and mentally. I moved to Chicago six weeks ago and am carving out a little bit of life here. I also relinquished a title I held for eighteen long years, that of a "full-time student" (some consider that relinquishment a merger into the world of "unemployed". I prefer "new place". It has a nicer ring to it and keeps me from welling up uncontrollably).
• So much of my time is wasted in coffee shops and in front of the damned laptop. I don't know if a Blog-Without-Purpose is the sort of distraction I need, but it is worth an attempt.
• Man, I love blogs.
• While living in this New Place, much of my time is dedicated to searching for a post-grad purpose (Note the considerable amount of time I waste on my laptop and connect those dots!). The phrase "cover letter" is enough to send shivers down each vertebrae. With that in mind, I'd like to spend more time with words and the art of stringing them together. Perhaps the more time spent on this seemingly docile activity (that I actually quite enjoy), will remind me I'm fully capable as a writer and, well, in general.
• Gotta give the public what they want!!

So with the creation of another online distraction - here we go. While, "we" will likely remain me, myself, and my cappuccino - I'm confident I can beat my previous blogging record of three entries with the venture.