Before I'm 30

Until I was 30, I dated only boys. I’ll tell you why: Men scared the sh*t out of me. Men know what they want. Men own alarm clocks. Men sleep on a mattress that isn’t on the floor. Men buy new shampoo instead of adding water to a nearly empty bottle of shampoo. Men make reservations. Men go in for a kiss without giving you some long preamble about how they’re thinking of kissing you. Men wear clothes that have never been worn by anyone else before.

Okay, maybe men aren’t exactly like this. But this is what I’ve cobbled together from the handful of men I know or know of, ranging from Heathcliff Huxtable to Theodore Roosevelt to my dad. The point: Men know what they want, and that is scary… What I was used to was boys.

Boys are adorable. Boys trail off their sentences in an appealing way. Boys get haircuts from their roommate, who “totally knows how to cut hair.” Boys can pack up their whole life and move to Brooklyn for a gig if they need to. Boys have “gigs.” Boys are broke. And when they do have money, they spend it on a trip to Colorado to see a music festival. Boys can talk for hours with you in a dinner at 3am because they don’t have regular work hours.

So I’m into men now, even though they can be frightening. I want a schedule-keeping, waking up-early, wallet-carrying, picture-hanging man. I don’t care if he takes prescription drugs for cholesterol or hair loss. (I don’t want that, but I can handle it. I’m a grown-up too.)

I know I’m only marginally qualified to be giving advice. I’m not married, I frequently use my debit card to buy things that cost less than three dollars, and my bedroom is so untidy it looks like vandals ransacked the Anthropologie sale section. I’m kind of a mess.

I did, however, fulfill a childhood dream of writing, producing and acting in television and movies. Armed with that confidence, alongside a lifelong love of the sound of my own voice, I’m giving you this bit of wisdom: When you turn 30 – maybe even before – a fun thing to try is dating men. It’ll be like freshly ground peanut butter, times a million.

An excerpt from “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” By Mindy Kaling

Redefine Scandal

My passion is getting younger generations to participate –
which is selfish, in a way, because giving is the path to happiness. 

Every time I come back from Haiti, I’m really happy. If we can make giving cool, can make volunteering cool, we can start some kind of revolution. I’d like to refocus everyone’s attention away from the Kardashians and on to Doctors Without Borders or aid workers.

Let’s redefine scandal. 

Scandal is not who so-and-so is dating; scandal is the fact that 1.2 million people are still living in tents in Haiti, and cholera is rampant because the Nepalese U.N. soldiers dumped shit from their Porta-Potties into the river. That’s a f-icking scandal. 

If the average 15-year –old was hearing about that instead of so-and-so’s plastic surgery or cheating in Hollywood, I’d feel better about our future. 

[Olivia Wild]