What Was Your First Time Like?

Online, April 15, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Our heavily anticipated summer 2010 issue is an important first for Venus Zine. You'll have to wait just a little bit longer to see the big reveal-but in the meantime, we'd love to hear about a special "first" in your life. What was your first apartment like, how did you deal with your first break-up, did you freak the first time you got that pixie cut? We want to hear it all! Log in, create a profile, and give us your story in the comment field below no later than April 20. We'll pick the best three stories and print them in our summer issue. To inspire you, our editors chimed in about interesting "firsts" in their life.

My first time traveling outside the U.S. I always wanted to explore new cities in faraway lands but never had the funds to do so during college, the time when many of my lucky peers studied abroad. Upon finishing grad school, I had a job lined up and decided it was time to book a trip. So my good friend Jess and I headed to London and Oxford. (She'd done a whole semester-at-sea but had largely skipped the U.K.) I was 27. For awhile, I was embarrassed about being that "old" on my first trip overseas. But it was the best time and I'll always remember it. Now, I realize it was just the beginning of an ongoing adventure. In the two years since, I've hopped on planes whenever my schedule and budget allowed-and have now visited both South America and two more European cities. If I have anything to say about it, I'll keep it up until I'm 87. (Jill Russell, editor in chief)

My first boat, I mean car. I got my first car at sixteen-a busted, hand-me-down white Cadillac Seville with bright red interior. I thought attaching longhorns to the hood was appropriately ironic, but my father wasn't amused. (Denise Gibson, art director)

The first time I successfully swallowed a pill. It's not good for a hypochondriac to be afraid of medicine. But until I was 20 years old, I had no idea how to swallow a pill. My doctor, who still happened to be my pediatrician, had to begrudgingly write up "special" prescriptions of chewable pain killers and liquid antibiotics while giving me a "you should be ashamed" sneer. To be fair, I have a very sensitive gag reflex and no matter how tiny or "super-liquid-coated" the Advil, I could not get the bastard down my throat. All that changed though after I started getting kill-me-god migraines and realized it was either sit in a sensory void the rest of my life or learn to make medicine my friend. It took me two whole glasses of water and many melting Advils to accomplish it, but I finally owned it. (Selena Fragassi, music editor)