Since I'm in a truly cheerful mood (feeling inspired and motivated does that to me), I'm just going to say quickly, moving on is so good. Like, you never think it will be but it is. 

You realise how much more there is out there while you were settling for something smaller in your own little corner of the universe.

I feel grateful for what I missed out on, and feel in a position where I can look forward to the future with no more holding on to the past. No regrets, just really happy to put it behind me as inconsequential to the direction I'm moving now.

I have a lot of free thinking time in my life. I'm grateful for this because thinking and reflecting is something I really like to do. The two main times I do this is when I lack much other mental stimulation- when walking and when peeling oranges of an afternoon at work. I mean, I amuse myself by people watching and making a pyramid of oranges and suchlike, but a fair lot of my enjoyment of passing the time comes from singing Taylor Swift under my breath and thinking about my life.

I started working there right before schoolies (as soon as I finished HSC), but I really started working there a lot (12-20) hours a week after that, all through summer. I really do associate working there, singing songs about heartache and breakups and moving on, while peeling oranges, with you-know-who.

It's just one of those things. Taylor Swift music is repetitive and suits me emotionally (and vocally, cos I can't sing and at least her songs aren't too vocally challenging), so I spend a good deal of time at work being like AND I CAN'T BREEEEEEAAATHEEE WITHOUT YOU, BUT I HAVE TO and I'M GONNA FIND SOMEONE SOMEDAY WHO MIGHT ACTUALLY TREAT ME WELL.

You know, Taylor Swift. Good times. Actually, my bffl was like the other day 'how are we even friends' cos I love Taylor Swift. Her music is good. I mean, not in a crazy awesome musical way, but the lyrics and ideas behind it. People can say what they want about her being stuck in middle school but I think she found a niche for teenage girls that needed to be filled and this is one of those feminist things I only just recently cottoned onto. It was somebody questioning 'why you people look down on things that teenage girls like?' If you have a heap of teenage girl fans, there is something lame and stupid and gay about you. You aren't respected.

I say bullshit to this. I say, teenage girls are smart. I say that they can think for themselves. I think that they feel just as deeply as the rest of the goddamn population and that their opinions and thought and feelings matter. Being loved by teenage girls isn't embarrassing, it's a goddamn fucking compliment. It's a privilege.

Taylor Swift connects with teenage girls in a way that's almost unparalleled. She finds and expresses these universal emotions and fears and states of being, whether it's sheer joy or frustration- the way you feel when everything is sliding out of your fingers and you can't stop it (Haunted/The story of us), or the way you feel after your first date and you kiss in the rain (or hold hands in my case) and they call you beautiful and walk you home and you skip up the driveway as soon as they can't see you cos you're that happy (Today was a Fairytale/Fearless). Or the feeling of absolute despair or heartbreak (White Horse/ Breathe) or the way feelings don't go away that quickly (Teardrops on my Guitar/ I'd lie) or the feeling when they do and you just want to announce to the world that you're over it and even though it's totally bitchy, go rub it in his face that you no longer care about his existence (I Heart Questionmark/ Picture To Burn). There is a million songs. Maybe my bffl is right, they sound similar, but who cares, the lyrics are different and I certainly don't confuse them because what they mean to me isn't how they sound, it's what they express and make me feel.

Who cares if they're juvenile? We are never ever ever getting back together is fun. I love singing it, it's an anthem, it's total girl power in a non destructive way. When Megan heard it, the bit that goes 'you go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me!' she was like, lol that's so true. And I identify with the "I'm really gonna miss you pickin' fights, and me falling for it screaming that I'm right!'

Music doesn't have to be serious or tear jerking, it can be just... fun and empowering and catchy. Why not?

Okay, this Taylor rant was actually completely unplanned. Oh well. Enjoy.