Bo Birthdays // Happy Birthday Kylie!
To celebrate our favourite American intern, K, turning 23, our British intern, V, gave her a birthday Q&A (omg so many abbreviations).
V: I hear you had a fairly wild celebration last night. Any shenanigans you want to divulge for our avid readers?
K: It is homecoming week at my university, so I attended the annual skit competition. It was a ton of fun watching our organizations simulate the crushing victory our team is going to have on Saturday! The show ended pretty late, so the only place we could go afterward was the bar. I don’t consider that a problem, especially as it lead to some late-night arts and crafts! What could be better than staying up late covered in marker and paper?
V: You tell me! What would be your ideal birthday celebration, other than nocturnal craft?
K: Most ideally, I would love to gorge myself on ice cream and lay in bed all day. But because that’s mostly socially unacceptable, my second choice is really just to have people acknowledge my birthday and spend time with me. It’s also great if I can eat a ton of ice cream with those other people, while we’re spending time together. That’s the ultimate combination.
V: I’m hoping to memorialise this interview as a small cross-section of your life at this moment, so what artist/album can you not get enough of right now?
K: I am obsessed with Skillet’s latest album Unleashed. It was released about a year ago but the band has recently announced several new songs that I’m really stoked about. I have listened to Skillet for over ten years, and I love seeing the band (and myself) evolve over time. Their music always manages to express the feelings I can never pin down myself.
V: What is something you’re excited for in the near future?
K: I’m hoping it’s sooner rather than later, but my fiance and I are getting married after we both graduate from school. I’m looking forward to the way we decide to plan our wedding, because we both want to avoid traditional bridezilla (or groomzilla) problems. It will be a really unique, personal day, and we’re excited to finally be there.
V: If you could have any career opportunity/accomplishment come your way, what would it be?
K: The most exciting career opportunity that could happen for me would probably be one of two polar opposites: I would love to strike a high-influence job with the federal government that deals with the Department of the Army or foreign affairs, but I would also love to live in a cabin for the rest of my life and send novels to publishing companies by carrier pigeon.
V: What are the stand-out moments of your 22nd year?
K: Many of the moments that stand out to me the most from this past year are actually the small ones in which my family or my friends are all with me in one place - kind of a rare occurrence for me these days living away from home and being involved in a lot of time-consuming activities. I was also able to witness a total solar eclipse, which completely rewrote my definition of awe-inspiring!
V: What would you like to do before you’re 24?
K: Before I’m 24, I plan on graduating college (May 2018, here I come!) and hopefully getting a full-time job. But aside from those cookie-cutter plans, I also want to pick up playing the violin again. I used to play when I was younger and I’ve been looking forward to getting back into it when I have more free time.
V: What would like to see change in the US in the coming year?
K: I’d like to see, first and foremost, a cultural shift in the US. I know it’s something that can’t really happen in one year, but if I could go a day without feeling like femininity or the emotions associated with it (compassion, love, empathy, etc.) weren’t a problem, that would be amazing. It’s so damaging when men grow up thinking that emotions make them weak, and when women grow up thinking that their very identity can be used as an insult. I would love to see strides towards a more positive view of those qualities this year.
Happy Birthday K!! We hope you have a wonderful day.
KYLIE