Staying constant. That’s important. I need constants. They give me something to focus on when my vision starts getting blurry and I feel like I’m going to faint. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Anyway.

Have a fantastic weekend, be happy, be safe! (Don’t get stuck in traffic! [Gotta love long weekends.])

“What are you doing with my camera? Where are my sunglasses?”

Answer:

You see what I did there with the title? Eh? Eh? I’m so clever, I can’t stand it.

Meet Betta Fish Numero Quattro in this family. This one belongs to my sister, who inherited it from her negligent, mean fish owner friend. Just kidding, Sister’s Friend Whom I Have Never Met And Am Not Passing Judgment On!

Personally, I think he’s kinda cute. At the very least, he was more tolerant of me shoving a giant camera in front of his bowl, which makes him a winner in my book. The other grumpsters always swim away or flare their fins.

H. Goldfish has yet to come out of hiding for comment on this atrocious trend.

Yes, I know it’s cheating to put a separate travel item for the same trip, but it’s like a 30 minute drive to Niagara Falls from Buffalo, so I think it deserves its own post. Besides, I had to answer all sorts of difficult questions at the American/Canadian border, and I cannot let my suffering and hand-wringing go undocumented. Where was I from? What was I doing in Canada? WHO IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?! OK, fine, I didn’t get asked that last question, though they did want to know if I was harboring fugitive fruits in my vehicle. I am happy to report that I was not.

Oh Canada. Oh Niagara Falls. I visit you every year and I never tire of your views.

And your chocolate.

But let’s be honest here — you’re great in the daytime, but you really shine at night.

And fireworks! Serves me right for not knowing there would be fireworks and for not having proper photo equipment (tripod, hello!). But at least fireworks make good drive-by photography. (Photo credit: my sister. Because I was doing that whole “driving and paying attention to the road ahead of me and trying not to run over any pedestrians” thing.)

All that driving? Totally worth it, as always. Though I think I’m done driving for the rest of the summer. (Is there such thing as Steering Wheel Fever? I totally have it.)

Tonight, he has company.

Felix Catus can often be found patrolling his territory for Fancy Feast. But tonight, he has mouse on the brain. He crouches, preparing for the right moment to strike. Felix Catus’ signature move is to lay as still as possible and act distant and aloof as the Catnip Mouse unknowingly makes its way closer.

The moment to strike is here. With a wiggle of his behind, Felix Catus is prepared.

He lunges.

He misses.

Catnip Mouse scurries away to a safe hiding place. He lives to see another day.

Today, I feel slightly off balance. I suspect it’s the weather that’s gotten me all cranky. Or the fact that I’m sitting here listening to this awesome booty-shaking playlist and being sad that I can’t get up and shake my booty in front of all these innocent bystanders, ha. (Compromise: bobbing my head and wiggling around in my chair. Alas, still not the same.) Or a number of other things, really. But that’s not the point. The point is that I’m reminding myself that it’s ok to have a bad day.

So today, a quote from Epictetus to remind me of what’s important.

“Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.”

Any other off-center busting suggestions out there?

My sister’s home for the first time since March (essentially), which meant that we were going to take advantage of the time she’d be here before shipping her off to school again. What better way to have a family outing than an impromptu trip to the sweetest place on earth.

Oh yes, Hershey.

Except, we didn’t spend any time at Hersheypark, as originally planned. But we did decide to stop by Chocolate World to partake in Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour.

Man, Hershey’s changed in the last few years.

I totally love that the Chocolate Tour was still complete sensory overload, just like the good old days.

But seriously, Hershey. You used to be less stingy. I remember that gigantic candy bar I got as a “sample” at the end of the tour years ago. What’s with this bite sized candy shenanigans? So not cool.

I guess at least I got to grab this awesome family photo (before I was yelled at for taking photos of the photos, hehehe).

Family outing: success.

After peeling myself off of the sidewalk, dusting myself off, and repeating “I’mnotthatoldI’mnotthatoldI’mnotthatold” to myself for a few minutes, I was ok again. Given my experience with high school and how elated I was to finally be out of that place, I never thought I’d be the type of person who would look back on college with this type of fondness. But I am. Each and every time I come back to this city, I find it harder to leave, harder to believe I ever left.

So, to all you freshmen (and freshladies) out there, here are my words of wisdom to you:

Never take this view for granted. Through the course of your four (give or take a year or two) years here, you will have this view and you will see it every day on your way to and from campus. You don’t know it yet, but this view is amazing. It will send you off as you leave to go back home on holidays and it will welcome you back when you return. I find this view to be one of the most comforting things about returning to Pittsburgh.

Learn to love and appreciate the ketchup. No, seriously, the city has so much history. Go out and find it and embrace it. Get out of the dang computer clusters once in a while. Your homework will still be there when you get back, and by the time you’re out in the real world, no one will care that you submitted that one assignment 10 minutes past the 2:12am deadline. TRUST ME ON THIS.

Do as Delilah says — love someone tonight. (Or put up with it, because the only other stuff you’ll hear on the radio in those parts is country music…not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just sayin’.)

Go to the half price dinners often. Fuel and Fuddle is a staple for many. (I regretfully missed out on this bandwagon.)

Order whatever you dang well please, but try the baked brie.

No, seriously, try it. Otherwise, you will spend nearly half a decade out of school, listening to people reminisce about how amazing the baked brie was, only to go back and try it and be slightly disappointed by all the hype. I’m not saying it wasn’t good, just that perhaps our college student taste buds were not so…refined? So try it before the magic fades.

Forget the Freshman 15. No one cares how much you weigh anyway (and why would you want to associate with the people who do?). Never skip an opportunity for a ginormous ice cream cookie from The Underground, or a trip to Dave & Andy’s. Get the cone. You will not regret it.

I still dream about Dave & Andy’s birthday cake ice cream. Never in the history of my life have I been able to polish off this much ice cream in one go, but I make an exception for this every time. Life’s too short not to get the cone.

And lastly, just enjoy it. The time goes by faster than you think. Before you know it, you’ll be coming back to visit and seeing the new freshman class come in. And then you’ll feel old. And then you’ll go home and blog about it and start dishing out crazy advice to a group of strangers you’ve never met, who don’t know you exist, and who don’t give a rat’s butt what you have to say to them.

Not that I’d know. Just sayin’.

Something else I’m all about — this poem.

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.

The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
– Rumi