My Life In Pictures

So many people that know me have gotten acclimated to me pulling out my phone and taking tons of pics at any given moment. I know it annoys the hell out people, but in typical Malika fashion, the comfort of others does not matter. People always act irritated when they see my phone in their faces or when I ask for a pic, but a year or 2 later when old pics emerge, I always hear squeals of "AWWW!! I remember THAT!" That particular squeal is why I take pics. I love to capture the cool moments that I'm constantly blessed with and I love to hold on to those moments with the people I love. Its probably a bit morbid of me, but when I'm gone, I want there to be tons of pictures for the people I love to remember me by. Not even just me, but the awesome memories we've created overall.

The root of this habit is kind of unexpected. Over 10 years ago when I was nursing a sorely broken heart, my ex's skankoid made a comment on Myspace directed at me (Myspace shows you just how long ago this was) when she said "I can't help being popular." This was despite me having nearly 3 times as many online friends as she had at the time. So my immediate thought was 'Popular? Seriously?'" From there I made it a point to capture myself having a banging ass time and looking fly as hell, despite the fact that at the time, many times as soon as that flash was done, I immediately ran to the bathroom to bawl my eyes out. I knew that I was being watched (and still am) so I figured that I'd give her the show of a lifetime.

But what I learned in that was that sometimes pretending can become a reality. Although at the time I was miserable, I took pics of myself smiling and having the time of my life. Fast forward a decade later and I'm still taking pics with my friends but for new reasons- I love my existence so much now, that I want to remember the people around me forever. My professional life is amazing, I've accomplished so much while in graduate school, met amazing people, have a host of the most talented and beautiful people around me and I live a life that dreams are made of. How awesome is that?