42 + 2/3 hours till takeoff!

I'm tired and my feet hurt.  I still haven't started packing yet and I'm leaving muy pronto!  However, I have selected a suitcase.  See, I am not a complete procrastinator :) Cheesy smile.  Hehehehe.

Yesterday, I was forewarned about a problemo.  Certain hoitytoity hair straighteners are not supposed to be used with electrical converters.  I had a freakout moment when my ears received those sound waves.  My thought process went a little like this:  Holy carp!!  This cannot happen.  My straightener better be compatible!  However, since I didn't buy an expensive one it probably is one of those lame-o incompatible straighteners.  But I only use my hair straightener for a maximum of two minutes every day!  I don't want to buy a whole other hair straightener for three weeks!  But if I don't have a straightener with me in Spain my bangs won't look right and my fly-a-ways will indeed be flying away.

Then, to make matters worse I sustained 15 mosquito bites directly after hearing this news.  Ginormous mosquito bites.   They itchhhhhhhhh.  Badly.  But I digress.

On a happy note, I got colorful socks today :DDDD They're purrrty.  :)  But they don't make up for all the itchy bug bites.

Now, I'm worried about credit cards and foreign transaction fees and if the company will shut down my card if I try to buy something overseas.  We shall see.

I'm also really, really, really wanting to see my pretzel picture from Katherine's fantabulous shindig last night .  Like mucho.  Well, I suppose you've had your fill of my thoughts for today.  I shall bid you tah-tah now!

P.S. You'll be relieved to know that I do not need to buy another hair straightener. Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!  All that unnecessary panic I endured.

¡Menos de cinco dias!

These last 24 hours have been a tad on the crazy side.  Last night half a tree just about fell on my house!  There was a severe thunderstorm --accompanied by a lot of wind-- and it split a tree which now hangs a couple inches above my roof.  Twas scary.

Then, it just kind of hit me today how close my departure to Spain is getting.  Sure I've gone shopping and purchased some dresses and Spain-esque clothing, but it was all for that far-off viaje.  I've also mentally drafted a to do list for the days before I leave.  Well, today while I was at the Spain trip party, it hit me.  Spain is less than five days away! I don't have anymore time to delay packing and familiarizing myself with the airport regulations. I need to get moving!

And get this: me and everyone else on this trip have to wear matching T-shirts!  It has a blaring yellow and red colored "España" plastered on the front of the shirt and "Lawrence North Wildcats" in slightly smaller print on the back.  We are all going to look so cute in matching shirts walking through the airport terminals, going through customs, sitting in one section of the plane, etc; you can feel my sarcastic annoyance. 

On top of this, when I was mowing the lawn today I got a huge chunk of skin peeled off my thumb.  Owie.  It's throbbing now as I type this :( 

Well, I need to sign off now and commence the packing.

¡Hasta luego!  

Web-party!

Advisory- Henceforth, this blog shall be redirected to another topic: Mi viaje a España!

I've sorta kinda neglected my blog.  I'm deeply sorry--I hope I don't abandon you on my trip to Spain.  We shall see how long my attention span lasts.  Any bets on how long it'll last?

Anywho, I would just like to have a private celebratory web-party!  In nine days time, I'll set sail for España!  I have a lot to be happy about. 

Firstly, I have young host parents!  I was sightly worried about the age factor since I've heard through the foreign exchange grape vine that old host parents are boring and not very nice.

Secondly, I'll be able to fall asleep listening to the sound of waves--possibly.  I'm not quite sure if the sound waves will travel a mile inland, but if not I'll be just out of hearing distance.  Not a bad deal at all!  Plus, the weather in Malaga is awesome!!  Today it is a fantabulous 75 degrees Fahrenheit and I'm looking forward to more sunny days just like today when I go to Spain!!

Thirdly, I'm going to room with someone from France!  Plus, I'll be able to associate myself with people from Sweden, Portugal, Italy, France, Russia, etc. at the school I'm attending.  There are going to be boatloads of people from all over the place!  Tis super exciting!   
  
As you can see, everything is looking just peachy!  The only damper on my parade is that I'm taking the SAT this Saturday :(  But it is a slight damper.  Very minute.

Well as the French say:

A plus tard!

Religion intolerance and ethnocentrism

 Intolerance is everywhere.  Even when we aren't intolerant, we are still ethnocentric.  I find this to be especially true in religion.

As part of my Theory of Knowledge homework we had to do this quiz (http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Quizzes/BeliefOMatic.aspx).  This quiz takes your answer on religion and spits out a list of religions that are close to your answers.  When I did the quiz I was surprised by how many religions that I figured were way different than mine were actually similar.  Now, before I tell you my results, I challenge you to take this short quiz!

So I was given a list of 27 religions, ranked in order of percentage, based on my answers.  Here they are:

1.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2.	Liberal Quakers (90%)
3.	Orthodox Quaker (88%)
4.	Reform Judaism (88%)
5.	Baha'i Faith (88%)
6.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (86%)
7.	Unitarian Universalism (79%)
8.	Islam (77%)
9.	Orthodox Judaism (77%)
10.	Jehovah's Witness (74%)
11.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (72%)
12.	Sikhism (68%)
13.	Mahayana Buddhism (64%)
14.	Theravada Buddhism (63%)
15.	Neo-Pagan (62%)
16.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (60%)
17.	New Age (57%)
18.	Secular Humanism (55%)
19.	Seventh Day Adventist (52%)
20.	Jainism (51%)
21.	Eastern Orthodox (50%)
22.	Roman Catholic (50%)
23.	Scientology (49%)
24.	New Thought (46%)
25.	Taoism (45%)
26.	Hinduism (32%)
27.	Nontheist (31%)

There are a lot of religions I've never heard of on this list.  I must go investigate.  How about your list?  Did it surprise you?  Comment below!

The I-don't-have-any-money syndrome

The I-don't-have-any-money syndrome is something I've called an annoying habit most of us do at some point or another in our lives.  None of my friends complain about not having any money to spend on stuff, but that doesn't mean they don't have the I-don't-have-any-money syndrome. 

To have this syndrome one must either say they don't have any money to spend, joke about being broke, or just whine about their current financial affairs.  Then, they must go spend money on something stupid or on something absurdly expensive.

I get really annoyed when people talk about their financial problems and then go buy some five dollar drink.  Here's something that has happened to my mom:  She and her best friend (who was several thousand dollars in debt) went shopping and every time they went to a store, my mom's friend kept pressuring my mom to buy something.  Even though my mom didn't end up buying anything, her friend bought stuff at all these stores.  And it was stuff she didn't really need!

This is what people need to cut back on!  People waste money all the time and don't even seem to realize it!  Never feel pressured to spend money every time you leave the house.  Try to go for the water instead of buying that two dollar pop or expensive coffee.  Don't shop for brand names; the clearance rack really isn't all that bad.  Also, cut back on how much food you buy at the movie theater; it's way overpriced.  (What I do is I buy some candy across the street and then sneak it into the movie theater and that way I save a couple bucks!) 

Just by saving a few dollars everyday, you can dramatically increase the money left in your wallet at the end of the week.  Make sure you set aside this saved money and put it into a savings account.  You never know when there will be a need for it.

Get rid of that I-don't-have-any-money syndrome and start saving! Don't forget to vote in the polls!

Are Roman numerals really useful?

Like many Americans yesterday, I watched the Superbowl.  Well, actually I watched the last two minutes of the second quarter and half time.  In those 15 minutes that I was watching, which by the way I wish I could get back, I saw that it was indeed the 45th Superbowl.

Hip-hip-hooray!  No, that is not what originally went through my mind.   Instead it was, "Why do they have to use the Roman numerals XLV instead of the normal number system currently in use today?".  I mean, we already have our own number system, so why do we use an out-dated number system? 

When I raised my concerns, I was told "It looks fancier."  Lame-o.  It is actually a bit confusing with these seemingly random letters that represent certain numbers.  Then, add in the subtraction notation (IV instead of IIII) and this additional number system that is present in everything from books to sporting events games, becomes even trickier.

Did you know I had a test over Roman numerals in my Geography class last year?  Double lame-o, but it was an easy grade :)  My question is: Why memorize two number systems?

Here's a little tidbit I heard from my Theory of Knowledge teacher today.  Somewhere in this world, (she couldn't remember where), there is a tribe that doesn't have specific word/symbols for numbers!  Doesn't that seem odd?  Immediately, we all askourselves (or we did in our Theory of Knowledge class) "How do they function without concise words/symbols for numbers?"  Apparently, the tribe has a word for one or so and a word for a couple.  From what my teacher said, it didn't sound like any of the words or symbols they used were specific; they were only used as approximations!  I would very much like to observe how they order things.  My imaginative psyche is already making up random situations with this interesting number system: "Yes, I'd like one or so of that shoe."   

Doesn't that blow your mind?!  The pleasure of being a human being!  What's going on in your mind?  Comment below and don't forget to vote in the polls!    

 

What do we read books for?

I was reading the book La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades when I happened across a good quote.  Here is an English translation: "The point is that nothing should be destroyed or thrown away unless it is really detestable; instead, it should be shown to everyone, especially if if won't do any harm and they might get some good out of it."

That being said, why do you read?  As I read this quote, the blinders on the sides of my head vanished ~to some degree anyway.  I read all the time.  I've finished every single book I've ever started (except for The Kite Runner).  I was so traumatized by that book that I couldn't read it anymore.  I'm getting shivers just writing the title of that book down (No offense to the author; he writes very well.  I just can't handle those types of books.)

That means that I've stuck with the bad books as well as the good books.  You know the only reason I ever finished this one book that was excruciatingly boring was because I had high hopes that the characters I liked would actually do something half way interesting.  That was not the case.  As I got closer to the end of the book, I kept telling myself, "Here's were it's going to happen!" or "This is it!".  Then when I finally read the last sentence of the entire book, I couldn't believe that the book had a plot, good characters, but it left me feeling like nothing had happened.  Then, I wondered how could this book get published!  But maybe people besides me actually liked the book.

Quick philosophy note: What is a bad book?  Is there really such a thing?  How can you define this in specific terms besides a vague definition like:  it leaves the reader with a disagreeable taste in their mouth. 

I'm not a hard reader to please~AT ALL!  I can honestly say that besides the gruesome books I've been forced to read in school (which all have stolen a little peace of my heart even if they are scary and a tad bit evil) that aforementioned boring book is the only book I've ever read that I still harbor dislike for.

I really value the characters in books.  They are what attract all readers to a story.  When you read do you attach yourself to your favorite character?  This brings up the Twilight series and the whole team Edward and team Jacob thing.  Do you find yourself doing something like that?  I don't.  I mean, I like all the characters in books.  The only time I really have favorites is when it's for moral purposes (mostly when it's the good people versus the evil people).  So I'm inclined to believe good characters make great stories, but they aren't the aspect that really makes me like books.

I don't analyze books at all.  I'm quite horrible doing this in school,  let alone doing it on the books I like to read for pleasure.  So maybe it's something in my subconscious that judges the book.  I don't have a clue.

I know for a fact that I love books with super tricky plots.  I love long books!  This is another factor.  Maybe it's just the plot that really attracts me to certain stories.  What do you think?

I've also read that we all read books to learn things.  When we read a book, we search for a lesson.  I don't think that's really true for me.  I recognize lessons as I read, but I don't think that's what's driving me to read.

I mainly read fiction, I love made up circumstances, planets, anything!  I like to stretch my brain!  Maybe that's a key factor in how I determine the good books.  Perhaps, I like certain books because my curiosity is in high-gear, but that's just another theory.

In the end, I don't really know what to think.  I know some of you are probably saying "It's a combination of elements, not just one aspect that makes me want to read a book", sure I believe that.  But what aspect really makes the book great?      

Valentine's Day or Singles' Awareness Day?

It is nine days away.  The holiday is almost completely defined by consumerism, from my perspective anyway.  Every year it's the same thing.  Entire aisles are filled with stuffed animals, snow globes, pillows, you name it, with the same messages 'Be mine', 'I'm yours', 'Forever' and of course the standard 'I love you'.  And there is the chocolate as well, but there is always chocolate available in stores, so I don't have a fight to pick with that small detail of Valentine's Day.

This whole holiday is getting on my nerves.  I'm not even legal yet, but from a very young age I've seen the same Valentine's Day crap that fills store shelves for several weeks.  Let me just get this out: No one needs to buy any of this stuff to actually get their loved ones to feel loved.  Have we really gotten this materialistic?  It's sad really.  I can understand maybe getting some chocolates with a special Valentine's Day wrapper for your loved one, but come on, what are we going to do with a cheap little stuffed animal year after year?  Just do something special.  Don't give something you think is special (that really isn't).  As the saying goes, "It's the thought that counts".  And this, by the way, is true.

Something that has brought these mounting feelings (that I have tried to stifle) to my conscious mind is something one of my good friends says every year.  I adore her, I really do, but every year it is the same spiel.  And of course she says it to many people in every one of her classes that day.  Now, I normally don't mind having most of my classes with her, but on February 14th, uggh, I'd rather be at the nurse's office.

So we were shopping one day, literally a month before Valentine's Day, when we passed The Section.  There were six aisles stuffed full of the junk.  So of course, she immediately turns into the first aisle of junk.  We were there for five whole seconds, I kid you not, before she turned to me and my other friend and said, "Do you know what Valentine's Day really is?"  

Before we could reply, she answered her own question, "It's SAD.  Singles' Awareness Day."  Then she laughs, like she always does, knowing that neither of us really cares.  When she says this to my friends and me, we all pretty much fall under two categories.  Either 1) we already have a boyfriend and SAD doesn't apply to us or 2) we aren't as gung ho as she is to have a boyfriend.

My friend isn't one of those girls who fawns over boys and will do anything to get a boyfriend.  She is very intelligent, but I must say she is the epitome of what a man would want from a woman back in the olden days.  She wants kids, she doesn't seem to have an ounce of feminism in her, and she would love to be a domestic house wife.  So at her not-even-legal-yet-age, she is already actively searching around for the man to share her 1900's American dream.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love her, but we have very different ideas of what the perfect life would be like.  Mine is nearly opposite of hers (if you haven't already guessed by now).  To girls like me, Valentine's Day isn't a big deal, but to my friend, well, let's just say she is a tad bit more melancholy.

What are your opinions?  Comment below!

   

Would you want to know when you are going to die?

I've never wanted to know when I will die; however, I know there are people out there that would like to know.  For instance, my Spanish teacher talked about this subject for about ten minutes last class and he made it very clear that if he had the option, he would like to know when he will die. 

I'm not sure how normal this opinion is though.  You see, I question my Spanish teacher's sanity. He isn't a raving lunatic, but he has several odd quirks.  I won't go into any details since my teacher is not the focal point of this post, but I will mention that he named his son after his childhood dog.

Okay, on to the real topic of this post.  Why would anyone want to know when they will die?  Many a person can argue that they can live a better, more fulfilling life if they knew when it was going to end, but I don't know about that.  For some people, especially those that are highly motivated, I can believe that they could do more with their lives by knowing when they will die, but I think this would apply to very few people.

There are also people with dark minds in this world.  I can easily imagine a vengeful person or a criminal setting the record straight right before they croaked, thinking that they escaped a long jail sentence.   

And, of course, there is the scary factor.  If I knew when I was going to die, it would be forever lurking in the back of my mind, always there and always nagging at me.  That is not how I'd like to live.

Most of my Spanish class was of the same opinion as me.  We tried to point out all the bad things that could arise from knowing when one will die, but my Spanish teacher was quite stubborn and did not see things from our point of view at all.  He did, at one point, say that he wouldn't want to know how he would die.  Apparently, all the possible ways he could die seemed to scare him.  Ah, well, my Spanish teacher is an oddball.     

What is your opinion on all of this?  Comment below!  

Tidbits

It isn't that I don't have enough blog post topics.  I assure you, that is not the case.  I just feel like this blog post should tie up some lose ends and say what needs to be said about these last few eventful days.  Frankly, the other topics just aren't as appealing as these tidbits.

First off, I'd like to inform you I am looking forward to an early spring.  If you haven't heard, Punxsutawney Phil has "decreed" that winter will be shorter this year.  This is the 16th time in the last 125 years that Phil has predicted an early spring.

I'd like to see if these records indicate if Phil's predictions were right.  In my opinion, Phil's life-extending elixir has gone bad~ not that it ever did anything in the first place.  I don't know if Phil realizes this, but the winter weather has been a little extreme lately and I don't think it's about to change anytime soon.  I mean, I just had four snow days in a row this week; a six day weekend! 

I'd also like to take this time now to ponder.  Do you know your best friend's favorite color?  After writing the post about bedroom wall colors, it got me to thinking.  I don't know the favorite color of one of my close friends and I've known her for almost 11 years.  Is that bad?  I mean after all, friendship isn't about superficial things.  But at the same time, after a decade, one gets to practically know everything about someone.  How should I interpret this?

Now, how's that New Year's resolution going?  Or in my case an amended New Year's resolution.  According to a flyer lying in front of me, only 10% of people who make New Year's resolutions actually stick with them.  I am proud to say I have stuck with my amended resolution!  Have you?  

That's all for today!  Don't forget to comment!

Why is your bedroom painted the color it is?

Some of you may be wondering about the poll titled "What is your favorite color? There is a point to this I swear :)".  I'm happy to inform you that today your questioning mind will receive answers.

The other day, I was thinking about the color spectrum.  At that point in time, I was sitting in my room, which is painted bright orange by the way, when a thought struck me.  Kids all across the U.S. paint their rooms their favorite color.  (This is probably true in many other countries, but since I've never had the chance to look in some kid's room in Russia, Portugal, Japan, Great Britain, etcetera, I cannot include the rest of the world in my thesis.)  Then, somewhere along the way into adulthood, something changes.

I don't know if you've realized this, but many adults don't paint their room with their favorite color.  Why is this?  My parents' room is painted a pukish green and neither of their favorite colors are that color.  Also, some adults paint their room a boring beige color.  Is this supposed to symbolize that they've lost their zest for life or that life has taken away their character?

Here's another big thing I've heard as an excuse: "I painted my room a pastel violet because it is relaxing and peaceful.  A bedroom is for sleeping, so why would I want to paint it a glaring, florescent purple instead?"

My response to this is: Your favorite color is something that you are naturally attracted to.  It should represent you as a being and have a deep psychological meaning that you aren't really aware of, but either way the color should be calming to you.  (If you're interested there is a cool website on color psychology here: http://www.digitalskratch.com/color-psychology.php)

My room may be an incandescent orange, but it is relaxing and it is me.  If my room had DNA, it would match up exactly with my own DNA. So the question of this post is: For all of you out there whose room color does not match up with your favorite color, why is your room DNA separate from your own?  Comment below!

Do you believe what Phil the Groundhog "says"?

Well, folks, it is officially February first and boy has it started off with a BANG!!  The fact that it is almost Groundhog Day and there is a ginormous winter storm that will affect more than 1/3 of the U.S. population makes for a great blog post topic today!

As of right now, I'm positively chipper!  School has been canceled and the day is all mine!  YESSS! Have you been affected by this blast of snow, ice, and bitterness? Comment below!

This brings up my next point: Groundhog day.  I'm going to make a prediction.  There will be six more weeks of winter.  Pretty good guess considering the weather, don't you think?  I wonder if Phil will "agree" with me tomorrow.

By the way, if you haven't noticed the quotation marks I've put around the words that personify Phil, then go look back 27 words.  To me, Groundhog Day is a bunch of hogwash.  Nevertheless, I think it is an awesome day.  I must say, it's a festivity that is quite original.  And I am a fan of originality. 

So here's the question of the day: Do you guys believe Phil's predictions?  I've made a poll concerning this issue and so far it's tied!  One vote 'yes' and one vote 'no'.  So if you haven't voted, go click the small, white button to the right of this blog post and vote...now!  (And don't neglect the other poll below it.  Polls feel left out too, you know! :P)


Cheers! And to the 1/3 of my fellow Americans who are also in this gargantuan weather system, stay warm!

Is your creativeness fickle?

Creativity is a fickle thing.  For many people, including myself, there are days when we are positively bursting with creativity and then there are days when our creativity is MIA. These are the days that I absolutely abhor.

One day, on a somewhat creative day, an idea began to formulate in my mind.  I have yet to try it, but I have high hopes!  That is why I'm sharing my plan with you before I've even tried it.  My plan is just that good. 

Some of you may have studied or heard about something called classical conditioning. Chances are you know what I'm talking about, but you just don't know its proper name. 

Classical conditioning is something that is studied in psychology ~ this is how I came to know its principles.  (From here on out, classical conditioning will be referred to as CC because it's so dang long!)  CC began with a guy named Pavlov.  His experiment, at first, was not meant to be psychological, but in fact physiological.  Pavlov's original experiment was to measure how much saliva the dog salivated when it was presented with dog food.  This sounds like fun, does it not?

At first, the experiment seemed simple enough, but after a few times of running it, Pavlov's experiment was ruined.  The dog had started salivating before the lab technician had even presented the dog with food!  This foiled Pavlov's experiment since the technician couldn't be prepared to measure the dog saliva the moment he walked into the dog kennel.

It turns out, the dog had learned to associate food with the lab technician's presence.  So everytime the lab technician came, the dog strarted to drool.  Pavlov grew curious by this turn of events and so he designed a new experiment. 

This time, Pavlov introduced something that had no meaning whatsoever to the dog: a metronome.  Then, with the metronome ticking, a lab technician fed the dog.  Soon after the first trial, the dog made the association with the dog food and the ticks of the metronome.  So of course, whenever the dog heard the metronome ticks, it started salivating!

This, my dear friends, is how we can stay creative forever!  Instead of CC ourselves to drool like dogs, we can stimulate our creativity!  Brillant, right?!

Here's my plan:

Step 1)  Go to the store and buy the craziest, most funky hat that you've ever laid eyes on!  Please make sure it appeals to your creativeness.
Step Z) On the days you feel highly creative, put on said amazing hat and do your thang!

CAUTION:  DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT EVER WEAR THE FUNKY HAT WHEN YOU ARE NOT FEELING CREATIVE.  YOU WILL RUIN YOUR CHANCES FOR SUCCESS.

Here's where my brilliant plan comes to a close.  I haven't a clue how to proceed.  At this point in time, I'm planning on wearing my hat at least 14 separate times, on creative days, before I ever wear the hat on a non-creative day.  But, you know how plans go...

So my advice to you is to take it easy.  If you have a moderately creative day and you have worn your hat numerous times, I'd say "go for it!", see if you can take your creativeness to a whole new level!  Good luck with CC yourselves!  If you decide to give this a whirl, drop me a line and let me know how it goes!  I'm sure I'll be blogging about my attempt in about a fortnight or so :)

Truth: the impossible search

As human beings, we find it comforting to believe in truth. But in reality, there is no such thing.

I'm not talking about whether or not someone is telling the truth about something or other. I'm talking about something much deeper: the absolute truth.

I've been taking a class called Theory of Knowledge for the past month and one of the first things I learned in the class is that all statements can be refuted. Even when rebutted, the statements never actually lose their credulity to the original author of the "truthful" statement. It all has to do with one word: belief. Not truth.

I don't care if you walk away after reading this post believing that there is truth. There is only one thing I really would like you to know: when it comes to opinion, there is no truth.

This post is for all of the rude people out there that leave nasty comments on videos and articles. I'm mostly directing this post at the people who write comments on YouTube with curse words galore. It probably isn't any one of you who read my blog that do these obnoxious things, but I'm fed up with these atrocious comments and couldn't resist blogging about it.

Just because you are doing this over the Internet and no one can see you does not give you the right to write nasty things. Please be considerate of your fellow earthlings. Let's coexist peacefully.

Success and its many definitions

Some of you may have noticed my poll on the definition of success (to the right of this blog).  Based on all two votes in the poll, my guess is that only a few people have seen it.  That is besides the point, though.  I was only interested in the viewpoint of my fellow earthlings. 

The other day I read a very interesting article.  The article was highly antagonistic, but at the same time it gave the reader insight into the culture of many Asians.  Then, a couple days later I heard more mention on success in Asian cultures on television.  Many Asians feel a lot of pressure to be "successful" and because of that they have more yearly suicides than most places on Earth.  This caused me to do some serious thinking about my definition of success.

My intent in posting this post is to explore the definition of success, since it is different in every culture.  Every one of the inhabitants on Earth have different viewpoints and because of that we like to come up with definitions which we can all agree on.  In the case of  the word success, the definition is very vague.  Imagine that.

Courtesy of Dictionary.com: Success = the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.  Many people focus on the first part of the definition~the attainment of wealth.  Today, on the Oprah show it was said that, in reality, a family of four needs to make no more than 75,000 dollars a year to easily survive as a middle class family.  This can prove this point quite well, if you chose to believe in it. 


There is always that phrase "wealth cannot buy happiness" hanging over everyone's head.  I think it's true.  We as a society need to value happiness more.  There needs to be a balance.  All in moderation, I always say.  The world is becoming materialistic, rude, and irresponsible by the minute.  Let's get rid of these pukish qualities, shall we? 

There are other less common definitions of success, but from my perspective the primary topics that humans focus on are money and happiness.  What about you?  What's your definition of success?  Vote in the poll before it's over and let's see what is the most common definition!

   

Stress begone! I'm serious. Now, shoo!

With the fast-paced world we all live in today, everyone has their own stress relievers.  What are yours?  Some people have a favorite song they play to calm themselves.  Others go talk with a close friend.  As for me, I've accidentally classically conditioned myself to go raid the gum drawer every time I feel mounting pressure.  I do not promote this behavior~although you might be thinking the contrary after my last post, which I dedicated to gum.  The topic I actually want to talk about on this post is: yoga practices!

It isn't the actual yoga poses I wish to talk about, but rather certain calming meditative-type practices.  I thought I knew I few things or two about yoga until one day at school, my teacher (who is also a yogi) began talking about a specific yoga practice that I was unfamiliar with.

Try this:

1) Sit down (if you aren't already).
2) Focus on your breathing.  Draw in steady, slow breaths.
3) Now lift one of your hands and put it out in front of you.  (I find this the most relaxing when I can rest my arm on something in front of me~like a table.)
4) When you exhale, direct your breath at the index finger pertaining to your raised hand.  Keep doing this until you can feel the blood pulsating through your finger.  Can you feel your livelihood going through your veins all the way to your capillaries?
5) Now, if you really want to challenge yourself, try to distinguish which way the blood is traveling through your finger.

You wouldn't believe how quiet the class was after this 90 second activity.  And we did this meditative yoga exercise almost immediately after lunch~the time when most of us are at our most active! 

Now, whenever I feel like relaxing and improving the longevity of my life~yes, that's right; there are studies that indicate people live longer when they are consciously aware of their heart beating~I focus on feeling the blood coursing through my veins. 

Also, if you have trouble falling asleep, I've read this is a good way to train your brain to let go of your thoughts and to fall peacefully into slumber.

Well, happy stress relieving!

To chew or not to chew?

I don't know about you, but I am a gum addict.  FYI: This is top secret!  I am divulging something my closest friends don't even know!  Actually, the fact that my friends don't know I'm a gum addict is true, but the part about this being top secret is not.  Obviously.   

I guess I have a weird sort of addiction to gum.  At school, I rarely chew it.  But once I get home, oh boy!  Right when I set foot in my house, I feel compelled to chew gum.  So my question to you is: How would you describe your gum-chewing habits?  Answer this question in my new poll!

Lately, I've come to the conclusion that more girls chew gum than boys.  But this is only based off my observation of classmates, nothing factual.  At this point in time, I'm inclined to rule out the idea that gum is perceived as something effeminate.  That doesn't seem to have to do with anything, from my perspective.

I was musing over this idea a couple minutes ago when all of a sudden, an idea struck me!  (Actually, the idea was based off an advertisement on the gum packet I was currently raiding.)  So here's my idea: maybe more girls chew gum because they are trying to deter themselves from eating.  I think there may be some data out there supporting this hypothesis, but I'm not sure this describes many other gum chewers out there such as myself.  So my only other logical answer is: maybe it's in our genes.       

Just kidding.  That's most likely not the answer, but I felt like now was a good time to bring up the age old question: Is it nature or nurture?  What is your opinion?

Well, that's all for today.  Tah-tah and don't forget to vote.  You have the ability to help this mystery appear less muddled in my mind!

Have you ever had some nutcase car-stalk you?

I've never had some crazy follow me, but just the other day a friend of mine had some lady car-stalking her for over 30 minutes.   Here's her story:

It had just snowed earlier and the roads were a little slick. My friend~let's call her Chloe~was on her way home and was coming up to a 4-way stop.  There was a van that was stopping to her left and there weren't any other cars near the intersection so Chloe, since she didn't have good tire traction, figured she could get away with doing a little sliding stop and turn before the van came out of its complete stop.

Boy was she wrong. First, the lady driving the van laid on her horn. This scared the wits out of Chloe, who figured honking was completely unnecessary since the driver of the van had done a complete stop and they would without a doubt have a slow acceleration due to the snow on the ground and wouldn't even be ready to cross the intersection by the time she had. Chloe was extremely shaken up with this lady's honk.  It was completely unexpected; so Chloe, thoughtlessly, flipped her the bird.

With shaky hands, Chloe completed the turn and started driving down the street away from the intersection.  Then, lo and behold, the van turned onto the street behind her!  The van had turned the opposite way to follow her!  Chloe stared disbelievingly in the rear-view mirror.  The white van was speeding toward her, accelerating recklessly fast considering their was a good couple inches of freshly fallen snow on the ground.

Chloe started thinking ahead.  Her neighborhood was only about two minutes away and the nutcase in the van was still stalking her. There was no way she was going to go home so Chloe drove right on past her neighborhood with the white van in close pursuit.

Apparently, this continued for at least 30 more minutes, possibly even 40 minutes. At some point the lady had even daringly passed a semi to catch up with Chloe!  Then, after following Chloe on a wild goose chase through the busy mall area and numerous streets, the van turned around.

Chloe breathed a huge sigh of relief and then glanced at the clock. She had wanted to actually do something that night, but that kook had taken a lot out of her so she turned around and started driving home.  Then, when she was turning into her neighborhood she saw the gleam of a white vehicle in the corner of her right eye.

Adrenaline shot through her veins once again.  Chloe wasn't sure if it was the same lady or not so she kept her eyes dead straight, not making any indication she had seen the vehicle, and drove to her house.  At this point, Chloe decided if this was the same lady she wasn't going to waste anymore time and was just going to wait for the lady to come confront her.

Chloe pulled in to her garage and shut the garage door quickly.  She walked into her house and sat down at the kitchen table, listening to her heart pounding ferociously.  A minute passed by and still no knock at the door.  Curiosity took hold of her, so Chloe creeped out of the kitchen and tip-toed over to the front door.  The driveway was empty.  No white van.  Little did she know, the van would be back in two days time.

It was Sunday afternoon and Chloe was talking to her daughter on the phone when she heard a car go part way down the street and then stop in front of her house.

"Hold on a sec," Chloe told her daughter.  "I think someone just pulled in to my driveway."

Chloe walked over to a window to take a peak and gasped.

"What is it, mom?!" asked Chloe's daughter.

"Remember that white van I told you about.  It's sitting in my driveway."

She stared out from behind the curtains of her window and watched the lady in the van with baited breath.  Nothing was happening.  Then, about 30 seconds later the engine started and the van backed out of her driveway and out of sight.

That was the last time Chloe saw the kook and her stereotypical white van; however, that wasn't the last time Chloe heard from the lady.

The next day when Chloe went to get the mail, right on top of her stack of mail was a blank envelope with no address or postage.  It had been hand-delivered.

Chloe ripped the envelope open right there on the spot.  In loopy, cursive handwriting was a page-long lecture berating Chloe's actions on Friday.  The lady started out the letter scolding Chloe on her incomplete stop at the stop sign and then went on to say that Chloe was lucky that she wasn't some crazy person or Chloe could have gotten hurt doing what she did.  The lady also said that Chloe should be more careful because she could get hurt and her future passengers could get hurt if she upset some kook and the kook were to come after her.  Not hypocritical at all, right?

The letter was left unsigned.  And from what I know, that was the last time Chloe has seen or been contacted by the lady and her white van.

New Year's resolution down the drain?

I don't know about you, but I made my New Year's resolution too hard.  At first I told myself, this will be easy!   Set aside 30-60 minutes a day for writing? Pschhh, you can find time to do that during a boring class at school.  You don't even have to set aside time at home to write.  Here's what happened:

January first of 2011 passed.  There was no pen tickling the paper that day.  None at all.  And you know what?  On that day, I was in the car heading back home from winter vacation.  I had 18 hours to write!  Granted, I didn't have sunlight for all 18 of those hours, but all I needed to do was write for 30 minutes! Instead, I was too busy admiring the view whizzing past me as we hurdled down the highway at 80 mph.  The highway definitely has the world-class scenery, doesn't it?

After pondering how I can stare out the window for hours on end, you are probably wondering why I'm writing about this now when I failed 21 days ago.  Well, to be frank, I just remembered my New Year's resolution a couple hours ago!  You may be asking how I forgot a promise I made to myself, but the truth is: I don't really know.  I guess I have an odd psyche. 

So now that I have remembered my resolution~drum-roll please~I'm going to amend my New Year's resolution!!  And yes, just like a constitution!  Except without as much debating and controversy.

And that is the story of why I am writing a blog now!  I've decided I might actually write 30-60 minutes a day if I interact with others about what I'm writing.  It'll be much more motivating!  So in order to help me with my amended New Year's resolution, will you comment on this article and the subsequent articles I post?  And don't forget to vote in the poll I've created!  I'm very interested to see the results.