I’M 20! (19 Things Before 20 Revisited)

Well, shit, I’m twenty. While that’s probably not the prettiest way to start a blog post, it was my first, honest thought. The suffix “-teen” is officially gone from my age and I can basically feel the gray hairs and wrinkles forming. I’m definitely kidding, I use moisturizer. Kidding, I’m still only twenty. I’m still the baby of my house at college, so I can hold onto my youth for a little bit longer.

I can now officially be labeled a “twenty something,” that is, if zero counts as a “something.” I can finally read those articles and feel like I actually belong there, which is pretty nice.

Even though I don’t want to be older, I’m also really wishing to turn twenty-one soon, because it seems a lot more fun than being twenty. Also, you can legally consume alcohol, which is pretty ~adult~ if I do say so myself.

Although I did “19 things before 20” last year, I have decided not to make a “20 Things Before 21” list for a few reasons:

1. Years fly by so quickly and there’s no way to know what I can or cannot accomplish in a year and by setting unreachable goals and seeing I’ve failed them I feel kind of shitty about it because usually the ones I did not achieve are the fun ones.

2. I don’t even know what I want to do. I’ll open a snack, eat a few bites and then change my mind and take something else. I’ll order french toast and only once it’s in front of me I’ll remember I don’t like french toast. I’ll change my outfit five times before leaving the house on some days. I don’t know what to aim to achieve, I really don’t.

3. I’m revisiting “19 Before 20.” I’d rather see how that has panned out than make another list. Plus, it was hard enough to name 19 things, I don’t think I could name 20 now.

So, here were my 19 things before 20 if you’d like to see them thoroughly, but here’s a little update on them all…

1. Visit Europe. Sort of!

I got accepted to study abroad short-term in London at the end of next semester! Technically I’ll be twenty then, but I made the commitment to do this when I was nineteen, so does it count? Also, guess what? I’m paying for a big chunk of it myself with money I made FROM BLOGGING, which means I accomplished one of my latter goals and I feel incredibly adult about it.

2. Get a tattoo. Yes!

I did get a tiny, but meaningful, tattoo on my left wrist. This one was accomplished much to my parents’ dismay and surprise. I got my tattoo because I thought it’d comfort me when I feel sad, but I find myself holding it up to my sad friends as a way of giving advice, which usually ends up in them giving me a laugh and an eye roll instead. I don’t regret my tattoo although I often forget it’s even there.

3. Intern at a big name company. Not yet.

I mean, I haven’t interned at a big name magazine, which is the real goal, so I’ll mark this one with a mostly no. I did have a pretty cool summer internship at a fairly small company and while I was there, it grew so much! It was featured in magazines like Essence and Marie Claire and I got to attend meetings with huge beauty brands (like Lancome), so I’ll overall count this as a no, but also sort of.

4. Complete a sponsored campaign on my blog. HELL YEAH.

This one is a HUGE check! I did so many sponsored campaigns the year of being nineteen. I worked with AMAZING brands I never thought I’d work with in my wildest dreams. I made enough money to pay for my studying abroad, which is using goals to accomplish goals and this shit is getting META. I worked with brands like Rimmel and I got a laptop from HP and I worked with PayPal and so many other brands, I’m so grateful to have gotten to do those things and I hope to work with even more as 20 year old!

5. Improve my photography skills. Sort of. 

I mean, I bought a semi-fancy camera so I think that’s a great start. I found new friends that are camera and photography wizards, so I’m pretty happy about that. I mean, I don’t think my photography skills were ever that horrible but I will admit that I think my modeling skills are much better. I’d rather be in front of the camera than behind it.

6. Improve my graphic design skills. Nope.

While I did learn some new editing trips, I dropped my Graphic Design minor and picked up Digital Video Editing instead. I feel as though it’ll be more useful in my future endeavors and I also am not fond of the art department in my school. Hopefully I’ll enjoy creating videos more than I did creating graphics.

7. Visit Disney in Florida. Nope.

I’m still hoping this one will happen and I’m very sad it didn’t. I mean, it’s not that I really expected or planned to visit Disney so I guess I can’t be too mad that this never occurred. Maybe when I graduate college I’ll take a celebratory trip.

 8. Finish Dorothy Parker’s biography. Nope.

Put this down when I wrote this post a year ago and haven’t picked it up since. It’s on my bookshelf collecting dust but in that one year I did manage to buy four more Dorothy Parker related books. Is that any better?

9. Finally finish decorating my room. Yes!

I ended up getting rid of my desk, getting a vanity for Christmas, taking out my closet doors and replacing them with curtains and decluttering my makeup collection (a little bit). My room is still a little bit in progress, but since I’m dorming most of the year it’s hard to really call it complete. It has come a long way and I’d consider it done enough to check off this goal.

10. Register to vote. Yes!

I did it! I voted for the first time with an absentee ballot. I’m bummed that my first voting experience was in such a craphole of an election, but I’m still happy I voted. I wish I’d gotten the “I Voted!” sticker, but maybe next time.

11. Pet a pug. Yes.

I did this but I’m a little annoyed at my past self for making this one of my goals among all of these other more substantial goals. Don’t get me wrong, I still love pugs but they’re not my favorite thing in the world anymore. I’ve definitely shifted more towards being a cat person in this year…actually, I think I just finally admitted to being one.

12. Find a better way to keep track of my money. Huge fail.

Remember how last year my finances were being kept track of via iPhone Notes app? Well, I took steps backward and now not only have no note or means of keeping track of my finances but I also have my finances spread across various accounts and places. Huge mess. Definitely let myself down on this one.

13. Learn the ASL Alphabet. Huge fail.

Another huge fail. I not only forgot the majority of the words I had known in sign language, but also I didn’t learn a single letter of the ASL alphabet.

14. Get business cards. Yes!

I designed these myself and got them made and got a cute business card holder for my purse. I’m very happy about this one and I feel like such a young professional.

15. Make a working blog schedule. Fail.

Once again, I backtracked with this one and now I post once a week, sometimes twice a week, during the school year. Summer was full of a nice schedule and tons of posting but this semester has been kicking my ass and thus the blog schedule has had its ass kicked, too. Hopefully I can fix this one over winter break.

16. Learn how to apply false lashes. Sort of.

Although I worked with multiple beauty brands over this year, I never only ever tried to use falsies in my Neutrogna post (coming up next week). One of the lashes kept stabbing my tear duct and the other was pinching my eyelid somehow, but they looked good. I’ll consider this one a sort of.

17. Wear a fancy dress. No.

I’m quite disappointed that the life I lead does not entail any formal occasions whatsoever and thus I did not get to wear a fancy dress. In fact, I don’t even think I own a fancy dress.

18. Eat some macarons. Yes!

I did this! In fact, in November alone I had a gourmet macaron at the Culinary Institute of America’s Apple Pie Bakery and I had two macarons from a little shop in the Bryant Park pop-up holiday thing. It is likely that other macarons were consumed over the course of this year of my life, but I do not recall them vividly enough to comment.

19. Make a legitimate plan for post-graduation. Hell no.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I’ll leave it with that.

What do you want to accomplish this year?