Teach a Girl

For a scholarship, I had to write an essay in the form of a poem, answering the following question: "If the world was your classroom, what would you teach a girl?" I kind of like that I rhymed so well, so I wanted to share it with you guys! (I'm kind of on a poetry kick =)

With the world as my oyster,
I'd teach her in cloister,
About pencils and pens,
And how to make friends.
I'd teach her about literature, history and art,
And tell her how education provides a fresh start.
I'd open her senses, her eyes and her mind,
To a world that is cruel but incredibly kind.
With books and sheet music, movies and maps,
I could show her my world so that maybe, perhaps,
She can learn and develop, create and question
All of these wonders until our next session.
I'd show her reality - crime, disease, wars,
And help her compare our world to yours.
On a lesson of beauty, I'd bid her adieu,
Then she'd take what she's learned to somebody new.

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It's happening!

Hi there! So today's post is just going to be a little announcement. And by little I mean BIG. Like, colossal. At least, it is to me. Last night I had this epiphany of sorts - I was sitting in bed, nursing some aches from a 3.5 mile hike, and I started thinking about my writing. How much I love to do it, how it provides me with countless untold benefits, and how I need to be doing more of it. If not for me, for my faithful readers (hint hint: that's you!).

So then I started brainstorming. Right now, my daily writing commitment consists of blogging (or trying to!), a ten-minute commitment to write creatively each day in accordance with another blogger, journaling, responding to creative writing prompts on two websites, and writing essays for scholarships. (Trust me, this counts as creative writing!) Plus, I am starting to work on a thesis for my undergraduate degree. That's plenty of writing, too.

But still, I feel like I am missing something. So last night I started brainstorming and got a whole lot of no where. So I started doing homework. When SUDDENLY... IT CAME TO ME.

I am going to write a novel.

Now, it didn't come to me like that. I was actually thinking about how if I wrote a book about my life and all the craziness that occurs everyday, it would fill up all of my time. As I was detouring back to homework, I began to think of a character who went through this trauma and how she came back from it. And then I thought of her leading man, and her best friend. And what happened to her before this event. And much more. I looked up from my notes, all of this coming to me in about 10 seconds flat. And I realized I had a story. And that I was going to write a novel. Whoa.

So bear witness, readers! When I get through with writing, you'll be the first to know, and you'll be able to look back on February 28th, 2012 as the day I started my first novel. And of course, when it gets published, you can claim some bragging rights to being the first to know ;-)

Autographs, anyone?

Skin Care: Night and Day

Here is a follow-up piece to the post I wrote in the first week on skin care. This post, however, is about how to literally have a quality skin care routine. Now, for many retailers, they are going to suggest the most expensive products that you just have to have in order to maintain healthy, clear skin. For me, however, I just follow some of the basics. If you want more tips on taking care of your skin, see my post Living with Healthy Skin.

Daily Skin Care

     Taking good care of your skin is important at any age. When you're younger, it may be about having clear skin, but as you age you have to keep in mind that neglecting your skin leads to wrinkles, sun spots, and blemishes (yes, even when you pass the age of 30). So make sure you eat healthy, drink plenty of water, and exercise daily to keep your skin glowing. Oh, and follow this routine:

1. Wash your face with a cleanser based on your skin type. (See How to Pick the Right Cleanser.)

2. Apply eye cream to your eyes for extra hydration and to reduce morning puffiness. (See the "how to" in #5 in the nightly routine, below)

3. Apply sunscreen to your face, neck, ears, and the backs of your hands. These areas are the most exposed to sunlight, and have the same type of more delicate skin. Use at least an SPF of 30, and feel free to use the same sunscreen on your face as you do the rest of your exposed skin, if you can. I have sensitive skin on my face and neck, so I have to use different sunscreens.

4. If applicable, put on foundation and makeup, etc, after you apply sunscreen. The moisture of the sunscreen will help the makeup adhere better to your skin, and powder will help your makeup to stay in place throughout the day.

Put those Bad Habits to Rest

     Get enough sleep. Your skin repairs itself at night, so if you're not getting the recommended 7-9 hours a night, your skin is suffering too. But in addition to making sure you get enough sleep, you should take part in a nightly skin care routine as well. With the exception of wearing sunscreen, the routine you follow at night is more important than your morning routine. When you wash and moisturize at night, you are helping your skin to recover from the day's exposure to the elements, including sunlight and pollution. So put your bad habits to rest, and follow the routine below!

1.Use eye cream and a cotton swab, or baby oil and a cotton swab, to remove any makeup you are wearing, especially anything waterproof, and especially around the eyes, where excess makeup buildup can really make your skin look drab.

2. Wash your hands before you wash your face to remove any excess oils. Make sure you wash your neck, too, where the skin is as sensitive as your face.

3. After washing your face, use either toner or astringent with a cotton swab to remove any left over dirt and particles from your face and neck. To pick which one to use, use the following guidelines: Astringent is very strong, and will dry out your skin if you have normal or dry skin. However, if is very good to use on acne and other blemishes. Toner is good for those with normal or dry skin, as it is slightly hydrating while it removes the excess dirt. Plus, it usually smells better.

4. Rinse your face again with warm water, toweling off but leaving your face slightly damp. Then, hydrate your skin by moisturizing with a lotion made for your skin type. Sensitive skin - go for hypoallergenic! When the lotion is absorbed, reapply to fully replenish the moisture that has escaped your skin while you schlepped around all day. (Note: this moisturizing routine goes for after you shower and your whole body, as well.)

5. Finally, apply eye cream around your eyes, using light strokes with your ring finger (less pressure) and spreading it out away from your nose toward your cheekbones, to keep the circulation flowing.

6. Enjoy your rejuvenated skin!

(Note: this is a basic skin care routine, for more information on skin peels, exfoliation, and facials, Google it!)

Leave a comment if you like what you've just read!

Safety

 I follow this website called Figment that sends out daily creative writing posts. I really liked the one below, which was sent out early last week, so I thought I would post it on here! I'd love to get feedback on this one - so feel free to post a comment with a time YOU felt utterly safe. Thanks for reading!

Describe a time in your life when you felt utterly safe--emotionally, spiritually, physically. Where were you? Who were you with? What were the circumstances? And what ultimately made that feeling of complete security go away?

The most recent time I can remember feeling utterly safe was with a friend of mine. He and I had become close over the course of just a couple of weeks, and he often spent time at my house, just to spend time with me. After 2011, a hard year for me, I was glad to have found someone who seemed to so completely understand and appreciate me, simply for who I am.


I felt safe emotionally because I felt like I could tell him anything - and he wouldn't judge me. My life was an open book, and when my darkest secrets came pouring out, he simply wiped my tears and told me I was an amazing person despite my past. It was mesmerizing, his ability to make me feel better. Can you imagine getting to the point with someone who you don't have to feel ashamed in front of? Anything I told him was taken in stride, and he made me remember that although the emotional turmoil of my past has defined me as a person, it does not define me in the life I lead from this moment on.


Spiritually, I felt safe because he and I shared a lot of the same beliefs. There were aspects of my religion that I had grown up with but that I didn't have anyone to share with until he came into my life. If was comforting to know that again, I couldn't scare him off because I was passionate about living a good life.


Finally, I felt physically safe because he could just hug me and the world would melt away. It was as if for that moment I could be fully absorbed into him and let go of all my fears, worries, and stress. He was my stress ball, my pillow to scream into, and my shoulder to rest my head on when a nightmare made sleep impossible. It was amazing, his warmth and kindness could comfort me in any moment of tension.


That feeling of security was taken away when he left. And I had to learn the hard way that even when things could seem so good, they can end in the blink of an eye. I had to learn that trust, so hard to give, can be given to the wrong people and you can feel like a fool for being honest.


But honestly, if I could go back and change anything in the time that I grew so close to him, I wouldn't. I wouldn't stop being me. I wouldn't stop being honest. And I wouldn't stop myself from feeling utterly safe.

Neurotic Nutrition - Ten Tips

Hello all! I went home for the first time in two months this weekend, so you'll have to forgive the delay in posting. Here is Friday's post, as requested via poll by... YOU. 

I've been wondering lately how people go about making sure they eat right and get the proper nutrition. There are very few people I know who focus on portion control and calories. When I thought about this, I realized - maybe people just don't know what they are doing wrong. So I put together this post to give ten tips that everyone should live by. 

1. Water is your best friend. You should be drinking a minimum of 64 ounces of water per day. New dietary guidelines recommend even more than that - The Institute of Medicine states that men should be drinking about 13 cups per day, and women should be drinking about 9 cups per day. Water is important - it helps flush out toxins and wastes from your body, aides in digestion, keeps your skin healthy, and keeps you hydrated, a factor in maintaining energy all day. So drink up!

2. Forget making half your grains whole. Why not go for 100% whole grain? Most people have heard that the food pyramid has changed from a bottom-to-top model to a vertical model, with little sayings like "vary your vegetables" to remind people what to eat. Well, for grains it states that you should "make half your grains whole." This is important because a whole grain not only has more nutrients in general, but it also has more dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is a nutrient that keeps you full but cannot be digested by the human digestive system, so it helps to push other foods through. By eating whole grains most, if not all, of the time - you are constantly helping your system out. To "go" whole grain, simply read labels - make sure the first ingredient is whole wheat, not anything bleached or enriched; go for the whole option, like brown rice over white rice; and eat more popcorn - a whole grain in itself. Plus, the extra fiber helps reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.

3. Hunger cues - ditch the media. The best way to tell if you are full or not is to listen to your hunger cues. However, some people have tuned them out for so long, they don't know what full "sounds" like anymore. So ditch the media. Turn off the TV and walk away from your computer to eat your meals. And then listen. As you eat each bite of food, put your fork down. Ask yourself if you are truly hungry for more. Slow down and enjoy yourself - and you'll find that your body will let you know that you have had enough, usually far before you would normally stop eating. Want to lose weight? This is a big one!

 

4. Vitamins - go for a multi. A multivitamin can do wonders for your nutritional health. It helps to provide any nutrients that are lacking in your daily intake, making sure you are well-rounded, even when you can't guarantee eating right all day. Two things to keep in mind - buying a good quality vitamin is important. The cheaper a vitamin, the more likely it is to have filler components - vitamins and minerals that are cheap to include but not necessary to your nutrition. Secondly, a multivitamin is a supplement, meant to help balance out a well-rounded diet. It is not meant to provide all the vitamins you need in a day.

5. Too much of a good thing - dairy. Unless you are lactose intolerant, like myself, there are very few people who don't like cheese. Cheese can improve a meal, or so I'm told. And of course, ice cream, yogurt, and chocolate milk aren't half bad either. But dairy products are also high in fat - so keep that in mind. This is one food group you want to watch yourself in eating, and make sure you choose the low fat option if possible.

6. A love of vegetables. If there is anything you should eat, it's vegetables. All different kinds, but make sure you eat them. The dietary guidelines only ask that we eat 2.5 cups per day, but if you eat more - it definitely won't hurt you! In fact, if you are counting calories, vegetables are the one thing you can skip in your daily totals! Awesome! Of course, make sure you are going without butter, excessive salt, and that you are eating "real" vegetables versus starchy ones (potatoes, corn, peas, etc.).

 

7. Soda doesn't make the cut. This one is simple. There are ingredients in soda that can lead to cancer. Even diet soda, made with aspartame, has these ingredients. So why drink it? If you drink even just 8 ounces a day on average (so drinking 24 ounces one day would be 3 days of 8 ounces), you can lose weight just by cutting out soda. In fact, studies show that cutting out soda can result in a loss of 25 pounds in one year. That's definitely worth ditching the bubbly cancer-causer to me!

 

8. Waking up happy - the breakfast benefit. A healthy breakfast jumps starts your day, giving you energy to get up and moving and kick starting your metabolism into gear. Plus, skipping breakfast makes you more likely to overeat later in the day. So why do so many people go without it? Two common dilemmas: not having enough time to  make breakfast and not feeling hungry for breakfast foods (or at all) in the morning. When it comes to time, all it takes is a little planning. You may not have time to make a vegetable-filled egg white omelet in the morning, but you could replace that time by taking a Sunday afternoon to make a batch of whole grain pancakes, and then eat them for the week. Or make a breakfast smoothie the night before. Better yet? Buy Ensure, and have a pre-made breakfast smoothie. If you're not hungry in the morning, you are probably eating too close to bed the night before. Try to stop eating two hours before you go to sleep, and you'll start waking up hungry. If you just aren't hungry for breakfast foods, you could try eating something else - a sandwich, leftover rice, or vegetable pizza. In Europe, people eat sandwiches early in the day - why can't we?

 

9. Eat often! So many people make this diet mistake. When you go a long time between meals, your body literally goes into starvation mode, and your metabolism slows down. You should be awake about 16 hours a day, so eat 5 or 6 times, every 3 to 4 hours. This way, you can also eat smaller meals. I look at it as an opportunity to eat more variety in my day. 

10. Enjoy your food. It really is that simple. Make meals you truly enjoy, and your cravings for unhealthy options will decrease substantially. If you enjoy what you're eating, eating proper nutrition becomes less of a chore and more of a second a nature.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Don't forget to leave a comment if you like what you've read!

The Death Penalty

This is an essay I am writing for a scholarship By definition, it literally asks the applicants to post their response on a blog, so I am killing two birds with one stone here. If I was for killing, (ergo, the death penalty) that is. Here is the prompt:

Do you agree or disagree with the death penalty? If you agree, why? If you disagree, what do you propose we do instead?

I disagree with the death penalty. There is no situation in which one man should have the power to end another man's life. By killing someone who killed someone else, the criminal doesn't learn anything. While some families may feel "closure" when the murderer who took their loved one is put to death, there are also families who believe that killing another person solves nothing. I believe this "closure" is short-lived, as well. Unintentionally, families are using "closure" as a logical definition to the relief felt at having no one to blame after the passing of a loved one.

As a second defense, killing a person who has committed a crime is impossible to define. In fact, it is this impossibility that makes the United States the only western country to support the death penalty. How does one define which crimes are applicable to the death penalty? And who gives the power of defining these crimes to a certain person or committee? By the above definition, "killing a person who has committed a crime," holocausts and genocides are acceptable. In places where mass killings have occurred, there was some sort of reasoning behind it. It is illogical reasoning, but in that place they have defined the worthy crimes as applicable to the death penalty. During the German Holocaust, the Jewish citizens who were killed committed the crime of "not being German enough."

As an alternative to the death penalty, the United States could follow the examples of other western countries and grant punishments such as life in prison coupled with a life of supervised community service including such tasks as road building, train track laying, or community clean up. If a criminal is deemed as too dangerous to society to be completing community service, they can spend their days in prison doing tasks that do not require personal contact, like cleaning the prison bathrooms. These may not be clearly defined alternatives, but until we remove the death penalty as an option in our society, any alternative is a better one.

This blog post is an official entry for the Law Blogger’s Scholarship, sponsored by The Law Office of Joshua Pond, http://www.joshuapondlaw.com

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Flash Autobiography

Today will easily be my shortest post thus far. I had to write an essay for a scholarship that was 600 characters or less, about my coming-of-age moment. I was so impressed with myself, I wanted to share it with you all. I referred to this yesterday, and what you see below is an example of a flash autobiography. (As a reminder, this is when you highlight a moment of your life in the context of a single moment, with a word or character limit.) Enjoy!

I craned my neck around the headrest of the person in front of me to see the off-white, faded dome of the Capitol Building. All around our tour bus, people swarmed towards the mall, affectionately termed to be the opposite of any shopping center I'd grown accustomed to. Kites filtered through the skyline in festivity, dancing between the tops of historical edifices, and just beyond a monument, I could see Cherry Blossoms in full bloom. I was in the District of Columbia. I was 21 years old, and on my own. And the patriotic irony did not escape me as I felt, for the first time, that I was free.

Don't forget to comment if you like what you read! ;-)

Snapshot of No Regrets

Today I want to ask you all a question. How did you get where you are today? What turning point or significant moment in your life brought you to the career, job, town, house, or people you spend every day with?

This kind of post is called a snapshot autobiography. There is also a type of writing called a flash autobiography that I've experimented with, and will be posting tomorrow. A snapshot autobiography is, as you might've guessed, the telling of a moment in your life. Nestled somewhere in between two memories, you are writing to provide just a snapshot. A flash autobiography does the same thing, but has a word or character limit.

My snapshot autobiography is the story of how I came to my university, a place that has grown to define so much of my life.

I remember my high school graduation like it was yesterday. My high school, thankfully not entirely defined by clicks, was suddenly overflowing with students embracing and laughing and tossing beach balls like there was no tomorrow. Suddenly, life was colored by our black and white gowns, and possibility was around every corner.

And then it was tomorrow.

I worked for the summer after high school as a full time nanny, and made plenty of money so I was contemplating taking a a year off before going to college. I didn't know what I wanted to go for, either. Earlier in the school year, I had gotten my acceptance letter to my school, and received checks back in the mail for application fees for two others. The schools had told me I applied too late, so I only got into one state school that I knew nothing about. I hadn't taken a tour or anything. I just listened to my guidance counselor and filled out the applications.

About a month before I was due to head off to school, I decided I really did want to take time off. I told my parents, and a few days later they gave me an ultimatum: go to school or find an apartment. I don't know what would have happened if I had tried to get a place of my own, but I certainly don't regret choosing college now.

I did regret it for the first 6 months, however. I wanted to be home. I hated my roommate, and I wasn't finding my niche. Then one day, I came across a card game in the lobby of my dorm. Just about anyone who knows me, knows I have a weak spot for a good card player. I sat down, made friends, and launched part two of my college career.

I've stumbled a few times since then, of course. But I also like to think about the fact that my parents and my love of cards solidified this path in my life. It's crazy that these two unrelated forces helped me make, quite possibly, the first turning point of my life. And if you go back and read my first post, just over a week ago now - you'll see that I had another monumental moment in my life while reading a book about being undecided.

So that's why I ask - how did you get where you are today? What fates overlapped in a snapshot to get you in this position? And do you regret anything?

Until tomorrow.

Reader Sunday

Since this is the first Sunday since I've had my blog up and running (aside from the launch weekend, of course), I would like to ask all of you following along to give me some feedback. Even if it's just a comment to say that you're reading along and you like/don't like what you've read - I'll take it!

I want to make Sundays my typical "reader feedback" and fun day. I have fun writing all of my posts, but I really would like to have Sundays be the day when you all can spend more time leaving me a comment than reading a post. As for the fun part - I'll just add some randomness to the end of this piece.

So what would you like to see more of?

What did you like in the past week?

Were there certain posts that you enjoyed more than others? Why?

What topics would you like to see me write about?

How am I doing so far?

If you can answer even one of these questions, I would very much appreciate it!

Some randomness, as promised:

There is a website called 1,000 Awesome Things that gives examples of, you guessed it - 1,000 awesome things. I really enjoy number 48 - The moment when you realize your headache is gone. Probably because I am just noticing it now!! It is pretty awesome!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (see the link at the right) or subscribe via email - it will seriously make it easier for you to keep up if blogger can just send my post directly to your inbox!

Last thing - there is a poll to the right of this post I would LOVE for you all to vote on. It takes 30 seconds of your life and helps me to know what subject matters you all enjoy.

Thanks for reading & enjoy your Sunday!

Dreamer of words

Today I am feeling especially poetic, so I am going to put together a little ditty for you. Bear with me. (Or better yet, if you're a poet too - bare with me.) I call this "Dreamer of Words"
My pen hits the page
Ink spills onto white canvas
I move into stealth mode
Etching letters into poetics
Writing fast and furious
My pen can hardly keep pace with my thoughts
The deadbolt of my brain has been cut loose
And with great passion comes great memories
The ebb and flow of heartache and pain
Contrast with the sparkle of magic and elation
My creativity slows
My drive wanes
And I find my subconscious at the edge of a cliff
Teetering on the brink of heightened possibility
I am anchored to this world by only the sour smell of the ink coming from my majestic pen
Can I leap?
Can I take that fateful step into oblivion and see just where I land?
I breathe
Blink twice
And jump.
I swan dive into wanderlust
Head first, I am fully immersed in a pool of sparkling water
No interest in treading
I swim laps
Steady
I surface, the water rippling with silver and blue sparkles
Illuminating rhyme and reason
I dreamily absorb my own dark thoughts and brilliant aspirations
I am not a writer
I am a veteraned dreamer of words, forever crafting syllables into recognition.

5 Ways to Be a Better Writer

I've been surfing the internet for potential blog ideas and one of the ones I came across was to "write what you know." It may seem obvious, but I liked the idea of blogging about the one thing I like and do pretty well (if I do say so myself) - writing. So here's my list of five ways to improve your own writing, geared towards my fellow fiction/creative writers and bloggers.

1. Research your topic. This isn't your high school English course, where you can make things up as you go along. If it sounds like crap to you, it sounds like crap to me. Honestly, I can tell you made it up. Do your research!

2. Reread. And then reread it again. And then, just for fun, reread it again... Out loud. While there is nothing greater to hear than the sound of your own voice (heh), this also helps you to eliminate small mistakes. No one is perfect, of course, but missing simple mistakes is pretty much equivalent to telling me you don't care about what you're writing. So why should I?

3. Draft ideas ahead of time to avoid writer's block. Keep a journal for inspiration, or a draft post on your blog with potential post topics. This is probably my favorite advice, because there have been many times where thinking of a post under the pressures of writing about it was awful. Now, I keep a draft post constantly going on blogger, so that anytime I come across some thing on the internet that I think would be interesting I can just add it to the draft post and it will be saved for me to write about at a later time.

4. Give out props and write to make a point, not a word count. For this one, I give props to www.lifehack.org who gave me the idea to add to my list of writing tips. I like this one especially because so many students write in college to meet minimum page requirements, without considering if the content they are typing is actually valuable or pertinent to the subject. I'd like to think that I keep things fairly to the point. Or at least make it interesting to keep reading along!

5. Show, don't tell. Instead of simply stating a fact, surround it with a background so that your readers can connect to your writing. Make it into a story, and show them why they should be interested in such a fact instead of just laying it all out there. This may seem to contradict number four, but you can keep things to the point while letting your creativity give your writing some flair.

That's it for tonight, folks. Until tomorrow!

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Encouragement

I wouldn't want to be anybody else.

You've got every right to a beautiful life. The only person who has to live with you forever is you, so trying to live a life to make other people happy is pretty pointless. Who says you're not perfect?

Sometimes it just takes that one person to smile at you from across the bus aisle to make your day better. Or dancing to your favorite song. Or a hug from a close friend.

So smile. Turn the music up. And give someone you love a hug. And maybe, just maybe, today you'll feel that little taste of the  happiness you just created.

Hit the lights, let the moment take you, and be yourself tonight.

Sometimes Selena Gomez songs have sound advice!

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Photo Blog

Welcome to Wednesday's Post, friends. Tonight I'd like to introduce the concept of a photo blog, and with it, the 365 Project. The link included for the 365 Project to the left is for the official website, but I am just planning on using a widget on here! So, let me begin. (FYI for anyone who doesn't know, a widget is just one of the small boxes to the right of the blog posts that I can house smaller applications, like the Follow Me! button for Twitter - which you should totally use; or the Javagypsy signature.)

The 365 Project is the idea of taking at least picture every day and logging them with a caption to describe where you were and what the picture is of. In a year, you will have 365 or more pictures to show for your efforts, and a year of your life is documented in photos. Pretty cool, if you ask me!

A photo blog is fairly self-explanatory. You post pictures from your day, or sometimes a person will have pictures for the week, that tell the story of what you did that day. If today was ordinary, I would have had to pick a different topic... But (luckily?) I can do a brief photo blog tonight, and show you a glimpse of my day. Wednesday's are usually busy, and today was no different.



First: I packed my lunch.


Maybe I should skip the oranges...


Next: I missed my bus at 7:45am.

Imagine this as me, with longer legs and better hair. Oh, and today was a gym day, so I had my duffel bag as I chased the bus too, and it left me high and dry. How rude!

Wednesday was going so well already, and it was not even 8am.


After catching the bus the next time around and making my gym time into a 20-minute sprint on the treadmill, I went to the pharmacy with a friend for medication. I was thinking about buying painkillers, but clearly I need a new wallet?


Not. Cool.

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with my boss at my new job. Amazing woman, so I was pretty excited. She asked me to come in for 1-2 hours, so I had to miss out on an event on campus I would have loved to go to: Dining Etiquette.


My employer told me that she had so much to do, so we kept the meeting to 14 minutes exactly.

Word on campus was that the attending students for the luncheon event had lobster. And steak.

No worries, though. It was only two o-clock in the afternoon, after all. My day doesn't end until about 11pm, so there was plenty of time for improvement.

Next I went to meet a new family for babysitting. I like to babysit in my spare time, and I have been meeting new families for the last few weeks. It wasn't until the mom appeared to be late that I realized she was at a cafe on Prince Street. I was at a cafe on George Street. These cafes are in two different cities. Peachy.

    

So, I had some lunch at the cafe I was at and called it a failed meeting. I went home next, to stop and grab my books for work, and because I was feeling slightly ill.

OK, not that ill. But unfortunately, the girl sitting a few seats down from me on the bus made her presence known in the worse way. I felt worse for her, though. So I guess this gave me some perspective.

That's it for tonight - I hope you enjoyed my first photo blog! Until tomorrow!

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Valentine's Day

Tonight my post is going to be cliched and about Valentine's Day. But, it will be short (by my standards), and I am doing a composite of some of the more interesting takes on Valentine's Day that I've found online. I hope you like this mishmash::

Urban Dictionary: Valentine's Day is a pointless and worthless day invented by Hershey's Confectionery Company,  and joining forces with Teleflora Florists and Corbans Wine Makers just so they can profit off of Wine, Cholocates and Flowers, while single people suffer at the clutches of the hands of this evil and corrupt capitalist-orientated day that is not even a holiday period. Valentine's Day should be banned and all those celebrating it shot.

My reaction: Sounds a bit harsh, personally.

Wikipedia: Saint Valentine's Day, often simply Valentine's Day is a holiday observed on February 14 honoring one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentinus. It was first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, and was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI. It is celebrated in countries around the world, mostly in the West, although it remains a working day in all of them. The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

My thoughts: I always wondered where the romantic part came into Valentine's Day! I knew about the martyr - who doesn't? But the chocolate? Flowers? Cards? Thanks, Chaucer!

IMDB (International Movie Database): 2010 movie starring various Hollywood bigwigs, including but certainly not limited to Julia Roberts (and her niece, Emma), Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway (who shares a name with Shakespeare's wife.... a romantic if I ever saw one), and Ashton Kutcher. "Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day."

Me: Okay, I'll admit it. I went to see this because Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift were the on-screen and off-screen cute couple. I won't mention too much celebrity gossip in this blog, promise!

Important Statistics:

53% of women would dump their boyfriend if they did not get them anything for Valentine's Day. (amusingfacts.com)
180 million - Number of Valentine's Day cards exchanged annually. (squidoo.com)
$13.19 Billion - Average annual Valentine’s Day spending (statisticbrain.com)
14% - Percent of women who send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day (statisticbrain.com)
904 - Number of dating service establishments nationwide (statisticbrain.com)

Wow. There is certainly a lot of hoopla for this day, isn't there? I had a lovely Valentine's Day, thanks for asking. Flowers from a boy, candy from my best friend, and a new job to make it super sweet =)

Until tomorrow, thanks for reading!

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That's "Gay"

First of all, this post is for yesterday. I had put this together for Monday, February 13th, but then Blogger had some technical issues last night and I didn't get back online before bedtime. So here's a little opinion piece for you all:

When someone says something you don't agree with and you stand by and let them say it, you are accepting it as valid. Now, there is a time and place for people to have conflicting opinions, and it's called reality. But then there is that fine line that is frequently crossed between someone expressing themselves and someone being derogatory. I want to speak out against the use of the word "gay" as a synonym for stupid, boring, or inadequate.

According to Dictionary.com - "gay" means: homosexual; of, indicating, or supporting homosexual  interests or issues; having or showing a merry, lively mood; bright or showy.

Mirriam-Webster defines "gay" as: happily excited; keenly alive and exuberant; brilliant in color; homosexual.

Even Urban Dictionary states that "gay" means: jovial or happy, good-spirited; a homosexual male or female.

 I didn't find any definition that said "gay" means stupid.

So why do people use "gay" as an adjective in a derogatory way? Where did this originate? Well, this writer did some research. Also on Urban Dictionary, "gay" has an alternative definition of: often used to describe something stupid or unfortunate. originating from homophobia. quite preferable among many teenage males in order to buff up their "masculinity".

Does that mean that everyone who uses "gay" to mean "stupid" is actually a homophobic person? I certainly hope not! And I suspect that although most people do not intend to use "gay" in such a way, they are aware that calling something "gay" is unkind. Do you say that things are "gay?" Why don't you say that something is "pizza?" That could actually mean stupid, but you would never know. Apparently, the seventh graders in my area are currently deeming all things cool as "blue." Yes, you read that right. I think this is a "blue" blog. 

If you don't say "that's gay," do you allow other people to say it? Because if you do, you're allowing it to continue, and that's just as bad as saying it yourself. Don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in and speak out against something. Life isn't about taking the easy route. It's about doing what's right, even when it isn't popular. And by stopping one person from saying it, maybe that person will stop saying it around the teenagers in their life, and we can stop the use of "gay" as a negative connotation all together.

I don't know about you, but I think that would be pretty "blue."

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Living with Healthy Skin

Hello! I'm glad you've come back for more. Today I'm adding an article I wrote for a women's magazine on the bare basics of maintaining healthy skin.

          Great skin is found in the kitchen. And the bathroom. And the backyard. In fact, people who have healthy, young-looking skin are taking care of themselves no matter where they are.

          Let's start with the gym. Exercise is a great way to get your heart rate up, pumping blood faster to provide oxygen to your cells. That said, exercise can bring out a healthy glow and flush toxins from your body, so it's great for your skin. But with exercising comes sweating. On the treadmill, keep your hair off your face to avoid adding even more oil to the sweat you are producing, and make sure you wash your face when you are done. Don't stay in your gym clothes after you workout, either. The sweat lingers in the fabrics, and clogs your pores. The longer you wait, the harder it is to clear that all out again.

          In the kitchen, the phrase "you are what you eat" goes far beyond being... er... *unpleasant... after you eat the baked beans. Eating lots of organic fruits and vegetables, grass-fed meats, plenty of omega-3 fatty acids from fish and nuts, and whole grains can be just the internal change you've needed to get clear skin. Think about it this way, if you are living on pizza and French fries, that grease has to come out somewhere. (Hint: it looks like oily skin!) In addition, don't forget to hydrate your body! While it is contested among magazines and scientific studies whether water actually shows up on your skin, water is good for you, makes you feel less lethargic, and helps you to crave less salty (read: unhealthy) foods.

          When you make a trip to the bathroom, for your own health and others - wash your hands. In five minutes, more bacteria can build up on your hands than you would ever want to put near your face. And while you're in there, check out the mirror. For people with acne, you should be constantly monitoring any improvements or flare-ups. How else can you expect to take charge of your skin care? This goes along with the healthy diet, above. If you notice your skin has changed and you get more blemishes after a blow out weekend eating fried foods with the girls - what does that tell you?

          Finally, keep in mind that the sun is not your friend. Sure, it will warm you up, and give you a little glow, and even increase your levels of serotonin and vitamin D so that you feel better after just ten minutes of glorious basking. But it can also kill you over time, so put on sunscreen - 365 days a year, in all weather, even if you're just running outside for the mail in the morning.

          Studies done at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center's Skin Cancer Program show that students in the age range of 18-24 years old were just as susceptible to melanoma as smokers in the same age group were to lung cancer. The main difference is, the lung cancer group was at fault for contributing to the increased likelihood of developing cancer. The skin cancer group was at fault for not doing anything to prevent it.

          If you can take just 30 minutes each day to be mindful of what you eat, take a ten-minute brisk walk to get your heart rate up, drink lots of water, wash your hands, monitor your skin, and wear sunscreen - you'll look great. And when you are happily bragging about your revitalized skin, you can refer all the people who compliment your transformation to my blog. And I'll be happy too.

Thanks for reading!

News Flash! I'm a writer!

Somewhere in the last year, I forgot who I was. Who I am. And who I have yet to become. Tonight, I found myself again in a book I'm reading called I Could Do Anything, If I Only Knew What It Was, by Barbara Sher. If you feel like you have a passion within you, but have yet to discover it, or if you feel like you are missing out on that part of life that the "lucky" people are experiencing, this book is for you.

Who are the "lucky" people, you ask? We've all met them. They're that person who knew what he or she wanted to be when she was five and first put on ballet shoes, or when he picked up a baseball bat, or taught her younger sibling how to count and decided to be a teacher. Yeah, those are the lucky ones. I am not one of them.

That's how I've felt since, well, forever. And then last year happened. I went through more hardship than I ever would have thought I could handle, and I emerged fragile, and more than a little bruised. I certainly learned a lot, and became stronger in the last two months since 2011 ended, but I definitely didn't have some flashbulb moment when I discovered what I should be doing with the rest of my life.

Then tonight happened. I picked up this book from my Career Services office, and thought maybe it could give me some insight on how to spend my (*hem hem*) sixth year in college. It might even give me a direction to go in when I finally finish, a date to shoot for for graduation, or a way to decide which graduate schools I should be looking at. But instead, I did some exercises and discovered what I should have known: I AM A WRITER.

This isn't exactly news to anyone who knows me. I mean, I write when I'm bored, happy, sad, tired, excited, or just plain curious. And I have about 15 magazine subscriptions that I read religiously each month, comparing the articles, writing styles, layouts, and subjects like a carpenter becomes entranced with the grain of a wood.

I am happiest when I am blogging, reading a magazine or novel, or researching some new interest. In college, I've collected majors and minors like most students collect their old term papers, hardly able to decide what to do next. But what if I don't have to commit to one discipline for the rest of my life? I don't know about the rest of you, for those of you reading and currently in college and those of you contemplating a job change, starting a new job, or just plain being entertained by my ramblings (perhaps) - but the word "career" and its complimenting adverb, "lifelong," are just plain daunting! I can't spend four years to decide the next 45 years of my life. That's unrealistic, overwhelming, and seriously disproportionate!

As a writer, I can keep researching, learning, traveling, and editing other people's work every day. At a magazine, I can have the flexible schedule I want, editors I can learn from, access to the industry experts in health, beauty, and fashion, and, most importantly, a coffee cart down the hall from my cubicle. Doesn't it sound glamorous? Maybe not to you, but let me highlight the last exercise I did in my book, and you might catch some of my enthusiasm.

In order to develop some sort of tangible objective, Sher has the reader first brainstorm what "meaningful work" means to them. Here is a snapshot of my list: helping people; making enough money to be financially secure; being confident, creative and knowledgeable; doing hands-on work; working with optimism; having many resources at my disposal; and being trusted to be competent.

Next, you build on that exercise and create a job from "heaven" and a job from "hell." In your ideal job, you identify the hours you would work, the employees you would work with, where your workplace is, what your day looks like, whether you travel a lot, whether you have an assistant, and literally what makes this job a job from heaven. In the hellish job, you write what would, or has, made you miserable in the workplace. Then you flip the negatives from hell to incorporate them into your dream job. For example, one of my negatives was working in an environment of monotony. To flip this, I would want to work in an innovative, ever-changing, and creative workplace.

Finally, you "write a movie." You basically just write out a description of someone working in a place that has the traits of your dream job, and continue editing it to get more specific. Mine started out as: "A girl works as a writer for a publication where she has a positive environment, an assistant, smart bosses, and flexible hours." By the end, it turned into: " I work as a writer, researcher and interviewer at a health-oriented women's magazine such as Self, Shape, or Cosmopolitan, with a driver, an assistant, smart bosses, a team of writers who like to brainstorm, and mentors in various industries. I work flexible hours, can work from home one day a week, get to travel regularly, and get to try my hand at graphics, editing, layouts, and photography."

It was amazing! As I kept reading, Sher had me commit to this idea for one hour - taking any necessary planning steps towards that goal, as though you have now decided your future and you have to start planning NOW. For me, Sher followed my hour of brainstorming with this advice: "if your reaction to your one-hour commitment is unmitigated enthusiasm and joy, you're ready to start on this scenario - put the book down and get going!"

So here I am. I am starting this new blog, I am graduating in May 2013, no more loafing around (for anyone who has met me, let's just keep the term "loafing" as a metaphor), and I WILL become a writer. If you're still reading this massive post, I thank you. And I ask just one more thing of you: come back tomorrow. I am tired of writing in so many forums, and I am going to consolidate my writing to this blog. So I promise to write every day, whether it is a post about my journey to The Magazine Career (Sim reference, anyone?), an article I am writing to add to my journalism portfolio, or anything else - you can find my work here. See you tomorrow, and thanks for reading!