If life were a bowl of cherries...

If people loose respect for you for being who you are then they are not worth your time.

If someone has a problem with you and you don't even *think* about why then you are not worth their time.
--You have the right to believe their problem is erroneous, not to ignore them without thought.

You can not be put down by someone who you don't either respect or want to respect.

There is nothing wrong with being young and passionate and believe everything is vital. It makes life interesting. It is a lot simpler to live in the knowledge that things will work out whether or not you panic about them. There is no shortcut to this knowledge. You would miss out if you found one.

It is one thing to believe you can change the world, it is another to believe you can change yourself. To do that you must first believe, without guilt, that there is a reason to change.

Everything has consequences.

The most important question to ask yourself is, "What do I want." Only then can you decide whether what you are doing is worth the losses.

If being noticed is important to you then choose the size of your pond carefully.

You should always do something in your life where your worth is judged by no one other than yourself.

Everyone has a value to you on some level. It is useful not to forget what they can do for you in your treatment of them.

You might loose touch with old friends, but you never loose them.

And finally one from my fantastic secondary school form tutor ... "Choose your battles wisely!"

xXx

Ok... so every girl reading this will remeber the thrill of adrenoline as the guy you've fancied for months quietly takes you aside. And the way you have to conceal a small smile at the way he thinks no one else has noticed. You will probably also remember the steadily rising rush of excitement as he first apologiese, then says your name, then falters and talks about the weather or the weekend cinema trip with friends... pauses...

Here some of you will also know the intense feeling of dissapoinment and stupidity when all he actually had to say is that his mother invites your family over for Christmas dinner and could you pass the message on.

:P Sorry... there is nothing like breaking the mood!

It would be nice to think that the majority of your experiences have not been along the lines of the above but instead tended more towards the blurted and clumsy request, "Would you like to come out for a drink with me next Friday?" The following blush and hung head as he waits for the ritual torture of laughter/gossip/teasing. And the elation and uncontrollable grin as you give your reply is something that I doubt many people forget.

Anyway to get to the news... I got asked out the other day. I think, despite rather more relationships that I'd care to count or even think of, this is the first time it has happened to me in a very long time. By the other day I mean two weeks ago now... and I have been grinning on and off ever since.

xXx

And for those of you who are confused or worried... I am still going out with Stuart (nearly 10 months now which is just scary), he just finally got around to asking me :P (I still maintain a mutual agreement for friends to meet after a festival is not asking someone out! Particularly as he was so very careful to make it seem completely natural and casual.)