{"id":8810,"date":"2017-03-24T19:34:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/being-an-adult\/"},"modified":"2017-03-24T19:34:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-25T02:34:00","slug":"being-an-adult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/life\/being-an-adult\/","title":{"rendered":"Being an \u2018adult\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCongratulations Tasha! You\u2019re 18! Ready for a life of unending tax forms you don\u2019t know how to fill and a house full of college debt? Get it? House full? It\u2019s funny because you won\u2019t be able to afford a house with all your debt. See? Ironic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m almost two weeks into this whole \u201cadult\u201d thing, and quite honestly, I still don\u2019t know what being an \u201cadult\u201d means. What a mystery, right? I know it has something to do with taxes and, because I\u2019m Alaskan, the Permanent Fund Dividend. I know I can vote now, too, although I still have to register. Being an \u201cadult\u201d definitely has to do with filling out more forms. I\u2019ve always been an autonomous individual but this \u2014 this may take some getting used to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Birthdays have always zipped past my mind. I didn\u2019t realize the Big 18 was coming up until three days beforehand, and even the morning of I forgot. Instead of a visit from the Tooth Fairy, I got a visit from the Growth Sprite, who is commonly mistaken for a Growth Sprout. That day, I had been magically transformed from funky, socially awkward child Tasha into still mildly awkward adult Tasha. On the inside and in my mind, there is no difference. Yet, when I answer the inevitable \u201cHow old are you?\u201d introductory small talk question, I feel bemused. Back when I could respond \u201c17,\u201d I felt like whatever childish mannerisms I had could be dismissed. The professionalism I developed too, could be seen as \u201cimpressive.\u201d When I was 17, I had the upperhand: I was unexpected but not taken too seriously. At 18, I can feel the shift begin. I wonder, once I am out of high school, will I have to adopt an adult-like facade for the rest of my life? What happens next?<\/span><\/p>\n

I like being childish as much as I like being an adult. Dancing in the middle of a street on a First Friday is my passion, but so is working with the Juneau Empire, the Alaska Legislature and with all of the causes I strongly believe in. Being 18 is odd because I know from this point onward I will be an adult, even though I don\u2019t know if being an adult means I have to sacrifice dancing on the street. Or spontaneously singing Disney musical songs with my friends in public. Or even my style of writing. Am I allowed to write full-frontal pieces like these? Or do I have to write lyrical, mature articles? What\u2019s better accepted: self-reflection pieces, or ad absurdum? Can I write with an eyebrow raised and a sardonic twinkle in my eye, or with a smile, wave and alert posture?<\/span><\/p>\n

I like to use the word \u201cawkward\u201d for how I feel because there is no better word to describe the child-adult mish-mash I am. Undoubtedly, I will continue to sing Disney musical songs. I will probably continue to dance in the street. I will keep showing up at the Capitol, ready to use my best \u201coutside voice\u201d and the perfect posture my mom nagged me about when I was younger. I will write whatever and however I want because somehow, with enough experimentation, I will find what \u201cbeing an adult\u201d means through my writing. Actually, I think I might have started figuring it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u2022 Tasha Elizarde is a high school senior living in Juneau. Her column comes out twice a month. She also writes \u201cThis Day in Juneau History\u201d for the Juneau Empire. Read more at tashaelizarde.wixsite.com\/thestorysharer.<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCongratulations Tasha! You\u2019re 18! Ready for a life of unending tax forms you don\u2019t know how to fill and a house full of college debt? Get it? House full? It\u2019s funny because you won\u2019t be able to afford a house with all your debt. See? Ironic.\u201d I\u2019m almost two weeks into this whole \u201cadult\u201d thing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8810"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}