I've done all the studying I can for this biology quiz, and senioritis has taken over.

I'm very interested, at this moment, about the allure of the fantasy. We are sold fantasies every day, from magazine ads showing happy families in their newly decorated kitchens, to TV shows projecting images of beautiful people living beautiful lives.

What fantasies have I fallen for and believed would happen to me?

My favorite early set up for failure was my goal to have my first Oscar by 23. That just cracks me up now. But for awhile, there was a sense of failure because I didn't reach that goal. A goal that, as a 12 year old, seemed perfectly reasonable.

Then there is the ever allusive "happily ever after", where I believed that I would meet someone who would complete me, make me happy and carry me away from all of life's worries. That is a fantasy that I'm very happy to have left behind. No one can complete me but myself. No one can make me happy, truly, unless I'm happy with myself first. There is no one who is going to come and sweep me away on a white horse and carry me away from all of life's problems. And I wouldn't want them to.

However, I think there is still a part in all of us that is waiting for our Mr. Big. Someone who makes all the past hells make sense. Is it truly not enough that those past hells make sense to us? Do we truly need someone to validate us and make us believe that it will be alright in the end? Or is it more TV and movie fantasy that has crept into our brains and crossed the line from fiction to what our reality should be?

One of my all-time favorite movie quotes comes from "Reality Bites". She says, "Why can't things just go back to normal at the end of the half hour, like in the Brady Bunch or something?" He says, "Well, because Mr. Brady died of AIDS."

There is no reality portrayed in the media. Even reality shows are heavily edited and the cast is chosen wisely. So where does this belief that things will be okay in the end come from? The thought that there will be an end to life's problems. And there is. It's called death.

And I may not be alone here, but the thought of someone coming in and making everything okay means the Grim Reaper. And I'm not too excited to flirt with him.

Ah, those fantasies. Thoughts of someone pining away for us. Thoughts of the perfect person coming our way. Thoughts of someone making everything okay.

In the end, truly, the only person we have to look forward to loving and enjoying every moment with is ourselves. Everything else will fall into place as it should. And if someone else comes along and wants to love us as much as we love ourselves, well, there's room on this crazy ride. And if that doesn't happen, there will be no sense of loss. Because all we need is existing within us at this very moment.

We just have to remember to take ourselves out once in awhile for a nice dinner, exist in quiet moments and have that look of happiness that only comes from being truly loved. And having just looked in the mirror, I am very happy to say I have that look.