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.