Definitions.

So there I was, laying in bed trying to sleep after a long hard day. Unfortunately, I tend to think when I go to sleep. And this time, I actually build half of a blog post in my brain before I finally said "FINE. I'll type it up just to get it out of my head." So here we go. This is the kind of thing I think about as I'm falling asleep at night. So it has potential to sound both abstract and infantile.

For anyone that knows me, you know I love words. I love spelling them, I love learning new ones, I love using the big ones, I like overusing some... I just like words. A lot. I love knowing the difference between words like whether/weather, they're/there/their, to/too/2 (which is NOT a word, so don't ever use it as such. Not even in texting!), which/witch, etc. I also am a fan of punctuation. Soo knowing the difference between its/it's, we're/were, he'll/hell, she'll/shell, we'll/well... you get the idea.

One word in particular has been standing out to me lately. You are probably very familiar with it. Some more than others. You use it on a daily basis, some (like me) on a minutely basis.

"Like."

This word bears various degrees of significance based on your generation. For instance, I use the word "like" astronomically more than my father does. I also use it for multiple definitions. This is the part where I tell you all the different kinds of "likes" there are.

Comparison like: "Holy cow... that lady looks just like Dustin Hoffman. How unfortunate."
Approval like: "Hey! I like that skirt a lot!"
Filler like: "Well he was like 'Do you want to go out?' and I was like 'I don't know, do you?' and he was like 'Whatever.' So now I'm just like... what?"
Action like: "I feel like smashing a bowl of porridge into your currently gaping face."
Emotional like: "Dude, I'm really starting to like the guy down the hall a lot."


That last one is the one I'm going to discuss further. For a lot of people, to "like" someone is to pick out your favorite person out of a large body of people and treat them as such. You pay more attention to them, you find them the most attractive, you want to spend time with them, etc.

However, it has come to my attention over the past several years that this particular "L" word is about as difficult as me to apply to myself as the even bigger, meaner "L" word. My personal definition of "liking someone" is as follows:


Liking someone: When, out of the vastly wide variety of people you know, there is one person who sticks out in your mind at all times. When they are literally all you can think about. When you truly do not want to spend time with anyone of the opposite gender besides that person. When you can see yourself being in an actual relationship with that person.

See? My version is a little more intense than the average definition. (Oh, and just for the record, this hasn't been brought on by anything in particular. I mean, I haven't just started "liking" someone which inspired me to do this. I just was thinking about it.) So using this explanation, I find it interesting that throughout my entire high school career, I have only "liked" two or three people. The last one, I began diggin him around the start of my senior year, and it took a very, very long time to get over him. But when I did like him, I found absolutely no interest in talking to other boys, which ultimately screwed me over, because I lost a few friends along the way. Which sucks. But still, he was the person that I cared about the most, so I consider him to be someone that I legitimately "liked."


Obviously, I'm a human being, and I have had a few crushes here and there over time. To me, a "crush" is just someone that I think is exceptionally cute and awesome, but I wouldn't really ever consider dating exclusively. Therefore, I don't have a problem with having multiple crushes. In fact, I have at least 3 or 4 right now. But I don't "like" anyone, because that would mean I was interested in dating only that one person, and not in anyone else at all.

I really don't know why I'm sharing all this right now. Probably because I just want to get it out of my head and into my blog. This is one of those things that goes through my head and comes out online. But what can ya do? That's what I get for having my own laptop and fast internet and insomnia.


And just for kicks and gigs, here's a nice crazy picture of me by best friend Kyle.