Boredom...

I've been feeling restless lately. And I don't think it's because it's winter and I've been staying in more than I normally do. Or at least, those aren't the only reasons.

My five-year college reunion was last spring, and my ten-year high school reunion is quickly approaching, and I think that there's a feeling in the air that five years after college and ten years after high school, I am at a crossroads and something should be happening.

After all, a lot of my friends are getting engaged, having kids, moving on to the next phases of their lives. And even though I am not ready to go to that place yet, I don't think it's unusual to feel left behind and wonder if it's time for me to do something new.

My friend A has this theory, that we are mentally trained to have big life changes occur about every four years. After elementary school, we have middle school for three years, then go to high school for four, then college for four. So now, five years out of college and over four years in Manhattan later, I am waiting for the next big phase of my life.

Sometimes I feel like I have been waiting for something for such a long time that waiting has become the status quo. Which means at some point I stopped acting of my own volition and got complacent, allowing things to happen to me rather than for me.

In an attempt to be proactive, last autumn I applied for graduate schools that would start in the fall of this year. And although I have been resistant to the idea of leaving Manhattan for many years, I applied to one school on the West Coast, thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world for me to experience something new.

After all, I plan on spending the rest of my life in New York, whether it's in the city or Westchester, and with the exception of a few years in Asia, I have spent most of my life in the Northeast. So perhaps it would be healthy for me to live in California for a few years and see what life is like on the other coast.

Within the next few weeks, I will make the decision of where I will be for at least the next two years. As the time approaches, I have been wondering if I could realistically leave New York for an extended time.

As difficult as it is to even imagine leaving behind the four important f's in my life (friends, family, food, furniture), I'm kind of excited at the prospect of a new start. I guess it reverts back to that feeling that I am at the point in my life where something has to happen or I have to start making moves. And California is a pretty big move.

(And if you're thinking furniture seems out of place in that list, you have no idea how attached I am to my bed. It's a grey suede bed frame with the most comfortable pillow-top mattress and the softest, fluffiest bedding on top.

I have an unhealthy relationship with my bed. If I am away from it for an extended period of time, I literally have a pep talk with it when I get home where I speak out loud to it: "Oh Bed, I've missed you so. I missed the way you feel, the way you smell, the way you support my lumbar when I am falling asleep. You are the most wonderful Bed in the world and I just want you to know that other beds may come and go, but you will always be the only Bed in my eyes.")

Either way, wherever I end up deciding on, graduate school will be a new development in my life, and in its own way, continue the cycle of starting a new phase of my life every 4-5 years. Which leads me to worry, if I'm still not ready to get married and start popping out babies in the next five years, what the hell am I going to do in 2015?

Hopefully something awesome, like winning the Olympic gold for curling in 2014, or even MORE awesome, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

It's good to have goals in life.

Happy V-Day!

The holiday season is filled with minefields for single people. The months between November and February can be hell for someone unattached as you watch your friends get engaged under the mistletoe at Christmas, attend New Year's Eve parties together, and then make lovey eyes at each other over Valentine's Day.

As torturous as Valentine's Day is for most single girls, a lot of them breathe a sigh of relief as soon as it's over, because it means the end of this period of being regularly reminded that you are alone. For me, it lasts a little longer, because my birthday is 3 weeks after Valentine's Day, so I usually wait until March 8th to officially exhale.

This is only the third year in my life that I've been through the holiday grind on my own. And I won't sugarcoat it - the first year was horribly depressing and I only got through it with copious amounts of alcohol. The second year was characterized by anticipation of the horridness, and reciprocating with nonstop coping mechanisms all winter.

Oh, that and getting the flu several times, which meant that I spent last Valentine's Day in bed with a 102 degree fever, watching old episodes of The West Wing. All in all, it wasn't a bad V-Day. I know at least one person (S, I'm looking at you) for which that would be the ideal day. Minus the fever, of course.

This past year has been the first that I've been comfortable with my single status. I suppose the third time's the charm, or maybe I can attribute it to a fun-filled holiday season packed with friends' parties, a trip to Puerto Rico with my family, and a not-so-interesting guy on the side who made up for his lack of intellect with his convenience.

It's also possible that I've just gotten used to the idea of being single on holidays, and am making the most of it. The first year I was still getting over my ex, the second I was adjusting to the idea of being on my own and constantly getting ill, and now I'm just used to it. I'm not sure if that idea is depressing or empowering, but I'm going to go with the latter.

Any which way, I'm no longer depressed/angry over the idea of Valentine's Day. After all, it's just another day, and I'm celebrating by heading up to my parents' house to eat lots of food and watch movies with my girlfriends, which is quite possibly the best way to spend any day, not just a sappy holiday I dislike to begin with.

So, everyone, embrace the last holiay of the season that reminds you what it's like not to be part of a duo, get together with the one(s) you love, and stock up on 50% off candy at the drustore on Monday!

Let the Games Begin!

Today is one of the greatest days of the year, the annual celebration of testosterone-fueled nimrods running into each other, oh and eating lots of buffalo wings and drinking beer.

It is also, not-so-coincidentally, a yearly reminder of why I am still single.

This isn't too surprising considering last year when I went to a bar for the Super Bowl, I met a kid who turned out to be a complete moron who had never been to a museum and didn't know what dinosaur bones looked like.

Also, I'm not sure if it's the onset of cold weather, which includes the few months that I am perpetually catching the flu and/or bordering on death, or if I'm just getting more ornery in my old age, but I am becoming more and more of a homebody with every passing freezing day.

In years past, I have prided myself on being the girl who is up for anything, stays out all night regularly regardless of the occasion, sleep deprivation, damage to my liver and work life, you name it. But this past winter, there has been a decipherable shift. Now, even if there are fun events going on and my friends are out, I can't seem to find the momentum to get out of my pajamas and venture out into the streets of Manhattan.

My apartment is just too warm and cozy, and here I don't run the risk of running into anyone that I don't want to see and having the inevitable awkward conversation.

Plus, I am increasingly annoyed by crowds, and just people in general. I can't seem to go out without getting irritated by someone who is too drunk or just plain stupid, and have to bite my tongue to keep myself from picking a fight. It's not a great way to be, and when I stay home the only people I risk picking a fight with are the characters on my TV.

Yes, sigh, I am aware that all signs point to spinster, that every day I am creeping closer to my worst nightmare of the old cat lady with curlers and a hairnet, screaming at kids to get off her porch while crazily waving a broom around. I wonder if you can buy the plastic covers for your furniture online...

So this year, instead of fighting crowds for elbow space at a bar to watch the Super Bowl, I just went to a friend's apartment and feasted on snacks while making snarky commentary at the TV and repeatedly and vehemently yelling at Jeremy Shockey to drop dead. I even got to try on a Snuggie, which obviously makes the night a success!

I think from now on, I will just have to make a conscientious effort to go out and be sociable, which was something that I naturally wanted to do before. I have to fight the urge to go to bed early and read instead of partying. I never thought I would hear myself say those words before...

And no, friends from college and high school, hell hasn't frozen over (even though it is very cold out). Come the spring thaw, I am positive that I will be back to my usual party-until-the-sun-comes-up self.

So with my spinsterhood at stake, come on March, hurry up and get here!