It’s interesting how stress has different effects on different people. For instance, when women get stressed, they look haggard, whereas stress does not have this effect on men. Some people eat when they get stressed, while some people can’t eat when they’re stressed. I for one, get emotional when I’m stressed, which I doubt is very uncommon. Some people can’t sleep when stressed and for some people, stress induces sleep. For some people, stress acts as motivation while in others, it destroys their confidence.
So why do we put ourselves in positions of stress? It almost always disrupts our lives and yet many of us thrive on that feeling you get when you’ve waited to the last minute to do something or when you’re almost at your breaking point. Especially in iB where we all have those horribly stressful nights but we can’t really complain because we signed up for it. So I guess it’s just our masochistic nature.

Jack-o-...Radish?

The other day my French class learned about the legend of the jack-o-lantern. It is an Irish legend in which a mean spirited drunkard named Jack tricked the devil into a deal in which the devil could not take his soul when Jack died. However, the devil tricked him right back because when Jack died, he was shut out of heaven for being so mean spirited and the devil wouldn’t let him into hell. So, he was forced to wander in the darkness forever with only the ember from hell that the devil had given him placed inside a turnip. So every Halloween the Irish put out turnips with lights in them to ward off evil spirits and Jack.
It’s funny how we get from a turnip to pumpkin. I’m sure the Irish brought the legend over with the great immigration of Irish people to the United States in the eighteen hundreds. I wonder if someone just decided that a pumpkin looked cooler than a radish… However, today it is such a prevalent tradition. It’s interesting how Americans like to put their own stamp on things.

Tender Loving Care...? I beg to differ.

I really like the show What Not to Wear so I watch it whenever it is on television. The channel it is on is called TLC and it has some other pretty good shows like Wedded to Perfection, Say Yes to the Dress and John and Kate Plus Eight (which I personally don’t like but which some people watch religiously). However, one of the shows it televises is called Toddlers and Tiaras. I do not think I have ever seen a more morally corrupt and unethical show in my life. The show is basically an exploitation of little children by showing beauty pageants that they are involved in. And you should see some of these mothers. They brainwash their little girls into Barbies, put them on diets, dye their hair, put makeup on their flawless faces and in one case I saw, the mother actually made her daughter undergo oral surgery at age eight so she could look “perfect” for the competition. It would be unfair to say that all the mothers are these horrible momzillas—some of them are just in it for the fun and for a bonding experience with their daughters. However there are mothers with little girls in the competitions who won’t speak to their daughters if they don’t win. It’s truly sick. Some women just should not be mothers. I’m all for beauty pageants and Miss Teen whatever contests—they can be really beneficial to young women, especially with the scholarships they offer. But this is just taking it too far. What has our society come to if we’re willing to exploit our children?

Fame or shame?

I’m pretty sure everyone has heard about the recent hot air balloon incident. What I would like to know is what the heck these people were thinking? I mean there are ways of getting publicity that don’t involve jail terms. Seriously, were they that desperate to be stars? I guess some people really will go to extremes to attain fame.
Which brings me to another point: why is fame so glamorous? I suppose it’s because we see the lives of stars and think prestige and riches, but that’s because we only see what they want us to. My mom used to work in PR—she knows this. People see Britney Spears and all her issues and think it’s so ludicrous, but in some cases, it’s really not all that far off the lives of other stars. Famous people have this allure but sometimes, and not always, their lives are really corrupt—filled with financial issues and infidelity of spouses. Things are not always as they appear.

Model behavior? I think not.

Recently, there was quite a bit of controversy over Ralph Lauren’s firing of a model named Filippa Hamilton in April. The act was done on grounds of the model not fulfilling her contract requirements, but rumors have circulated that the real reason was because the company thought she was too fat. I looked further into the news articles surrounding the topic and found that Filippa is 5’8’’ and weighs 120 lbs. If that is fat then I think many of us are in big trouble. The company also published a supposedly unauthorized ad with her in it in which she was photo-shopped down to almost nothing. The picture in question displays a completely emaciated five foot eight woman who can’t possibly weigh more than 90 pounds.
Whether or not the ad was authorized, Ralph Lauren has still made a relatively poignant comment on the concept of beauty. The company has made an apology, but I doubt that what has happened will be forgotten any time soon. As for me, if you have to be tall and under one hundred pounds to be beautiful, count me out.

Julian Beever’s sidewalk chalk paintings are amazing. It’s completely crazy how he gets everything to be so perfectly proportionate especially considering how he has to stretch everything out so much. It must take him so long to finish them all—they’re all so detailed. It’s such a shame, however, that when it rains they all just wash away. Which made me start to think about how things are so impermanent (I know, very philosophical) in life. But then there are things like the Coliseum and the pyramids in Egypt that have been around for so long and will stay around long after we are gone.
And then there are things that aren’t concrete, like the hippie ideas that existed in the sixties and seventies, that come and go. But there are also non-concrete ideas like religion that have lasted for thousands upon thousands of years and will most likely stick around forever.
People are afraid of change, but it happens whether we like it or not. And some things stay the same whether we like it or not. There is always going to be war and strife, just like the Detroit Pistons can be really good one year and then the next year be really bad (obviously…ahem). There’s pretty much nothing we can do about it. So I guess if I were a philosopher I would say, go with the flow. Take each new challenge as it comes... which people hate hearing so I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a philosopher.

The Truman Show

I am henceforth a big fan of “The Truman Show”. I have always loved Jim Carey for his humor and ability to really take on the character he plays, while adding some of his own personality to the character. But I’m even more impressed with his portrayal of Truman in this particular movie. The film has such a unique concept. How weird would it be to live your whole life with the faith that it was completely normal, only to find out after however many years that the life you live is completely unprecedented and unusual and nothing like how you thought it was? I suppose that the memories you experienced would still be your memories, but I can’t help but wonder if knowing that everyone in your life was paid to treat you a certain way would or would not taint those memories. I think it would for me, at least.
I also wonder what would have happened if Truman had stayed in his little bubble of a world. Would he ever be able to forget that it was all kind of a sham? I feel like I would go completely crazy, overanalyzing everything and everyone in my life. It seems to me that Truman really only had one choice at the end of the movie and that was to go out into the “real” world and take whatever came his way…

Preposterous Pirates

Somali pirates recently attacked a French navy vessel in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo ship. Alright maybe it’s just because I haven’t been keeping up with the news lately or because I don’t pay much attention to this kind of stuff, but I had no idea that pirates were still as prevalent as they obviously are today. I decided to do some more research on these pirates, expecting to see “Pirates of The Caribbean”-esque ships with cannons and flags with cross and bones. I was therefore quite surprised to see five guys driving a speedboat… I guess even pirates have progressed with the times.

We're So Vain, We Probably Think This Post Is About Us

Carly Simon said it right: “You’re so vain; you probably think this song is about you.” Few people are exempt from the curse of vanity. And in today’s day and age, there are just so many outlets for it. On facebook, people have hundreds of pictures tagged of themselves posing in from of the mirror—I am no exception to this rule. Cosmetic companies thrive on the vanity of women to buy their products, promising results that will show you looking younger and more beautiful. People put mirrors all over their houses and watch their reflections in just about anything. My cell phone is designed that when the screen isn’t lighted, the screen becomes a mirror.
It’s ridiculous how vain I, and people like me, are. And it’s only getting worse as time goes on. In thirty years we’ll be obsessing over receding hair lines and crow’s feet and the dreaded gray hairs! The question I pose is, is it our fault? Or the result of the media and the perfect image they throw at us that we aspire to?

Aspartame

I recently received an email from my mother about the chemical aspartame. Apparently it is a toxic chemical found in many diet drinks as well as artificial sweetners. It has many symptoms that are actually fatal and are similar to MS. Some of these symptoms are fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting, pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, and/or memory loss.
And this is the stuff that soda companies are putting into our drinks??? It seems just a little crazy to me. If this chemical can kill us, or do other serious damage, then why is it in our food? The article also said that anything that is labeled “no sugar added” has this chemical and is dangerous to our health. Well I guess if profit margins are high, who really cares if a few people lose their life to this deadly additive?

The Duchess

I saw a movie over the weekend called “The Duchess” with my friend, while I was staying at her house. The movie was pretty good, and very indicative of the relationships between men and women, at least as far as place was concerned in the eighteenth century. The movie was actually very shocking and informative, as I was under the impression that people in that era were for the most part good people of moral composition and strong values. That might have been the case for the ordinary people of the day, but according to the movie, the aristocracy was something different entirely.
The main character, Georgiana, becomes the duchess of Devonshire thanks to the meddling of her mother and, of course, her beauty. It is shortly after she marries the duke that she realizes how horrible a person he is and finds herself caught in a loveless, unfaithful marriage. The duke makes it clear that her one job as his wife is to provide him with a male heir and she has no place in any other matter—including his infidelity.
It made me think how far women have come since then, and while the advancements are impressive, many women are still the subordinate to men. Jobs still favor men to women, and we have yet to see a female president…but it’s okay because at least we’re not still expected to be solely heir-making machines??? Uhh…okay...

Vibes

Vibe is defined by a distinctive emotional aura experienced instinctively. I’ve never been a big believer of the whole vibe concept. But I’m starting to get the idea behind it. It’s an interesting concept, but an actually very common one. I think everyone has disliked a person in their lifetime for the sole reason that they just don’t like them. I know I have. Some people just bug me. Period. Now, I’m not superstitious or anything—I don’t believe in the whole crystal ball, terot cards, astrology thing, but I do think vibes exist. It’s like when someone says they have a “gut instinct” about something. How do you explain that? I mean, maybe people could use that as an excuse for feeling a certain way or being inclined towards a certain path, but I doubt that someone would just decide they don’t like something for no reason at all...

Love Happens

I saw the movie, Love Happens, last night with a bunch of my girlfriends. Though the critics only gave it a C, I thought it was really well done. I might be biased because Jennifer Aniston is my favorite actress of all time. Brad Pitt was an idiot for dumping her for Angelina Jolie, but I won’t get too much into that. Anyways, I thought the movie had a really good message. It wasn’t just a superficial, sappy love story, though I assure you I cried more than once during it, but a meaningful insight into the lives of people who had lost loved ones. The actors portrayed their roles so well I forgot that’s all they really were—especially the male lead, played by Aaron Eckhart. Burke, his character, was a famous author who wrote a bestselling book about dealing with the loss of a loved one and conducted seminars/workshops to help people deal with their grief. His book was centered around how he supposedly got over the death of his wife, three years earlier. What the readers and the workshop-attendees didn’t know was that he had never followed his own advice to grieve and move on. He was pretty much a complete hypocrite. But eventually he comes out with the truth and gets to be with Jennifer Aniston. But the movie is about even more than that. A man who attends the workshop (against his wishes, but he sister insisted he go) lost his twelve year old son, and not long after his job and his wife as a result. He lost so much, and was bitter for so long, but after being stubborn and holding on to his anger and grief for most of the workshop, he figures out how to get his life back—and it is very powerful. I don’t know if I would be able to come back from that.
At any rate, the movie was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone—boys and girls alike. So I give it an A, against the critics judgement.

Construction

I’m pretty disappointed with all this construction business. I’m just going to throw that out there. I suppose I just think that funds entrusted to the schools by the good people of Aurora should be used for educational purposes and only educational purposes. Granted, we did need the classrooms, but there has been some extraneous spending on certain amenities by the administration of Aurora High School.
In a situation in which the language department needs new books and art programs are suffering as it is, I simply think that the school should prioritize instead of rewarding other programs that just aren’t, let’s be frank, as intellectual. In an institution that prides itself on being a blue ribbon school, I’m surprised that the administrators are so willing to forego allocating monetary resources that contribute to that achievement.

are you a "real" person?

I read a book in sixth grade about a girl who thought that she was the only real person in the world. Allow me to elaborate. She was convinced that people only existed when they were around her and that her life was the only one that was constantly present. So she thought that when she left the room, it and the people in it would disappear into darkness. Her theory also included the idea that when these other people were “in darkness” they were being programmed to think that things had actually taken place in their lives and to have memories and such. But then she meets this really awesome friend and decides by the end of the book that her presumptions were wrong, or at least that this friend of hers is a “real” person too.
Though I assure you the book was entirely juvenile and indeed targeted towards a sixth-grade level of comprehension, it still presented an interesting idea. Have you ever wondered what someone is doing at a precise moment in time? There’s no way of knowing without asking them, or setting up video cameras in their house, which is illegal and kind of weird. Or have you wondered what a celebrity does with their days. For instance, what is Miley Cyrus doing right at this very moment? Moreover, when you leave your room, does it remain exactly the same as when you left it? When I was little I thought that my dolls would get up and dance around my room whenever I left it like in Toy Story...but really. It’s hard to imagine what happens when you’re not around. And since it’s impossible to be in two places at once, it’s impossible to see everything all the time. It’s a bizarre thing to think about, but there it is. I don’t even remember the name of the book, much less the author, but I’ve kept the meaning and the story of it with me for years now, and I’ll think about it from time to time.