I was in the middle of a very long drive today when I started thinking about how we express our self-concepts.  How do certain things like possessions and furniture arrangements communicate to others who we are?  Then I started thinking about how huge a part of music is in this.  People pass major judgment on what CDs we have or what songs on the top of our playlists.  Since every person seems to have an iPod or its MP3 equivalent, how well does this communicate our sense of selves?

My Top 15 Most Played Songs:

1. Iris - The Goo Goo Dolls
2. Here With Me - Dido
3. World on Fire - Sarah McLachlan
4. Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
5. Decode - Paramore
6. Breathe Me - Sia
7. Northern Star - Melanie C
8. Both Hands - Ani DiFranco
9. In This Life - Chantal Kreviazuk
10. Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin Park
11. Innocent - Our Lady Peace
12. Angels Would Fall - Melissa Etheridge
13. Going Under - Evanescence
14. Amaranth - Nightwish
15. Pressure - Paramore

The Most Recently Played Songs:

1. Hipster Girl - MC Lars
2. Womanizer - Britney Spears
3. New Divide - Linkin Park
4. Blue Eyes - Within Temptation
5. Sounds of Freedom - Within Temptation
6. Amaranth - Nightwish
7. Everyone's At It - Lily Allen
8. Daylight - Matt & Kim
9. Candle (Sick and Tired) - The White Tie Affair
10. Left of the Middle - Natalie Imbruglia (CD)
11. Inside Out - Emmy Rossum (CD)
12. Hook Me Up - The Veronicas (CD)
13. Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon
14. F**k You - Lily Allen
15. Goody Guys - Aqua

Most Recent Downloads:

1. A Long Time Coming - Wayne Brady (CD)
2. Hipster Girl - MC Lars
3. What Took You So Long - Emma Bunton
4. Audrye Sessions - Audrye Sessions (CD)
5. Music - Madonna
6. Anyone Else But You - Moldy Peaches
7. Ignorance - Paramore
8. One of Us - Joan Osborne
9. It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen (CD)
10. The Climb - Miley Cyrus
11. Next In Line - Meese
12. New Divide - Linkin Park
13. Let It Go - Cavo
14. Don't Wake Me - Love and Theft
15. Coffee Girl - The Tragically Hip


This is definitely not a perfect reflection of what I listen to.  I do love Queen, Lady Gaga, Weird Al Yankovic and several other groups that aren't featured here.  I supposed it does to an adequate reflection of my diverse taste if you recognize the songs but you would also have to factor in the three songs I got for free recently.  I can't be a good judge of what this says about my tastes.  What does it say to the objective observer?

I have heard that 1 in 3 women will be abused in their lifetime.  I wanted to find a credible source (a federal study, a known charity, etc) to that these numbers are still relevant (past year or so).  I haven't been able to find one.  Does anyone know anything, either possible websites or actual numbers?

So I just saw this link for a shirt for the revised version of the game.  It has arrows for what beats what which looks like a pentagram inside a pentagon so I love it already.  It would make more sense if I knew how to play though. Here's how it works:

Rock crushes lizard.
Scissors decapitate lizard.
Lizard eats paper.
Lizard poisons Spock.
Paper disproves Spock.
Spock vaporizes rock.
Spock bends scissors.

I like that Spock doesn't beat everything but Lizard only seems to helpful since two of the tried and true stand-bys kill him.  I can see engineering, math, and computer science majors on campuses everywhere doing this new version to see who gets the room for the evening.  And I am not saying jocks and frat boys won't do this, I'm just saying they'd rather play beer pong instead.

The ad mentions the sitcom The Big Bang Theory as where they first heard it but apparently they didn't invent it.  The nerds who write the show found this web page by Sam Kass which explains it all perfectly.  While I have nothing against the new version it makes me wonder how much time the writers for the show and this Sam Kass character have on their hands.  I'd imagine just more than enough.

I want to scream "I love you" at the top of my lungs but I'm afraid that someone else will hear me - Fall Out Boy "The (Shipped) Gold Standard"

I did not intend to have that many P words in the title of my first blog in quite some time but there it is.  I have been absent because I was graduating college, going on a family vacation, and trying to get a job.  I'm still working on the last one but I have made progress.

I saw something that made my brain hurt so badly that it simply must be shared.  A girl thought she would illustrate her period pain for her boyfriend, literally.  I usually compare it to the abdominal cramps you get from an intestinal virus plus being emotional/irritable, bloated, and having headaches.  That's just me but I have on occasion, and heard horror stories, from women who have pain so debilitating that they cannot move, think or do anything other than curl into a fetal position.  I like to call it "rocking pain" because that's all you can do until it subsides.  I personally don't think the drawing does it justice.  It's like menstrual pain described by an 8-year-old.

I got a haiku. I hope it works.




Think of three women. It can be anyone you know (personally is better). Got three? Good.

One of them will be the victim of domestic violence in their lifetime. That is the most recent statistic I heard for domestic violence rates in the United States. It may have changed to 1 out of 4 but I'm not sure.

I was reading The Frisky this morning and saw an article that said a domestic violence awareness starring Keira Knightly will be censored because it is too intense. I followed the link to the old entry and, sadly, was not shocked by what I saw. This is typical of prime time television in this country (the ad was to air in the UK) and probably the UK as well. Why would this be so much worse than what is seen on regular TV? It is not nearly half as bad as what real women go through.

Women actually die from severe injuries from domestic abuse. What I saw in this video was not enough to cause internal bleeding, brain damage or broken bones all of which are commonly suffered by victims of domestic violence. Maybe this wasn't fiction or too close to reality for comfort but that is the reality we live in. If women are dying from this, maybe we should do their story justice so people will be more motivated to stop it.

Since everyone in North America is having a coronary about the latest flu outbreak, I thought I would post a link with the Key Facts courtesy the CDC. I am a college senior with the end of the semester rapidly approaching so I have not watched the news in recent weeks save the TV in my building's lobby. It's hard to get the full picture when your news break ends with the arrival of the elevator. From what I have seen, there's some concern because no one has been vaccinated for the latest bug and it has spread much faster and wider than in recent years. Honestly, it sounds exactly like a normal flu virus. Why is everyone so afraid if it will be out of your system in a short period of time? Maybe that is the part I'm missing. If someone knows, please correct me if I'm wrong and the flu will either never go away w/o drugs or something else equally horrible. In the mean time, stay safe, avoid pigs and use hand sanitizer. Happy Monday.

This may be the most awesome thing I'll see all week.  Naked Teddy Bear!

They also have Gay Pride bears, Presidential candidate bears (mostly sold out) and Mother's Day bears.  They are very lovely but expensive. I got one when my family went to Vermont one Christmas many years ago. I still have the box because I thought it was funny. It even had a map inside that the bear could look at on his/her trip to their new home. Stuffed animals are the awesome.

Most of you are vaguely familiar with the High School Musical movie trends.  One of their stars who is slightly less famous than Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens is Corbin Bleu.  Bleu plays Efron's sidekick/BFF and I had seen pictures of him and noticed how young he looked.  Despite being in High School Musical, he looked more like a jr. high drama club president. Yeah, that changed recently.

He went from this:

        

To this:

     

I checked and he's of legal age so it is not completely creepy that I find him somewhat yummy. (Unlike crushes on the youngest Jonas brother who is not quite legal. You know who you are.)  That second picture is from his latest album cover. I've sampled it on iTunes and he's got some serious potental.  The tracks are all very catchy, danceable and enjoyable R&B/Top 40 Pop.  The only catch with his music: his lyrics haven't evolved yet.  I guess this is to be expected since he's still a Disney sanctioned pop tart.  Once he's got a large enough following to no longer need Disney, he can sing about what I'm sure is really on his mind.  It worked for Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. Let's hope it works for him because once his lyrics mature, I will so be all over that (the CD, not him.  He could never handle me.)

My mother sent me this. She said she wants to go and I have to admit it would be interesting. It's the six story, pink, Barbie flagship store in Shanghai China.  If you look at all the photos, you get a pretty good idea of what's going on. When you get to photo 6 you have wonder: 1) What is that guy getting paid? and 2) He's probably thinking, "This is what my life has become. Guarding little blond plastic dolls."

I have a feeling this place would be a bigger mindfuck than that giant FAO Schwatrz in Manhattan for resurecting my childhood and screwing with it. I say this because while on errands I like to sometimes wander the toy aisle and witness how badly toy companies are screwing with my childhood memories.. (I am never getting over how they fucked up littlest pet shop. Never!) Recently I was wondering, "When did Barbie become a complete whore?" She was always on the line between sexy and slutty. Then the line was perforated. Now the line is this faint memory off in the distance.

I saw one of those $10, plain and simple Barbies (just her alone in a small package) and she was dressed similary to the drunk chicks I see around campus each weekend, just with more glitter. I looked at the little designer outfits you can buy her and wondered why they all look like they came out of Paris Hilton's closet. Barbie has gotten weirder and dare I say it, about 100X trampier then when I was a kid. I played with Olympic gymnast Barbie who was in a full body unitard. Now, she comes with a minidress that doesn't even contain Victoria's secret and knee high hooker boots.

What's next? Stripper Barbie complete with shiny G-string, plastic platform shoes and little dollar bills? They may have to install a stripper pole in the Shanghai store soon. At least all the dolls in the China photos seem wholesome and covered up but there may or may not have been Barbie's pregnant friend in there somewhere. At least they have the one where she has to scoop poop. Yeah, responsible pet ownersihp. Maybe she can help stripper Barbie clean up after her Rottweiler. She needs him for security at the trailer park.

You can only blame your problems on the world for so long before it all becomes the same old song.  --Fall Out Boy, "The (Shipped) Gold Standard"

Can you sum up your life in six word?

Hemingway told an incredibly rich story in just six words: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." At SMITH magazine, thousands of people are following suit. Enough people, unknown and well known, have done this that two books have been released: Not Quite What I Was Planning and Six Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak.

I don't know how to condense my life into six simple words but I can add something to the love & heartbreak book: "You love me just because. Thanks." Read them and try it for yourself. It's really quite interesting to see what stands out as the most important thing about your life, love, relationship or pivotal moments.

You can even transform your favorite mini-memoir, or your own mini-memoir into one of the most personal T-Shirts you'll ever have. If you look at all the shirt and text sizes, shapes and styles, your shirt will be as unique as what it says. I'm wondering how good "without me, it is just aweso" will look on a gray background...

Only the mediocre are always at their best. –Jean Giraudoux

Dream Job

I was fooling around on the computer recently and found what is my near dream job. One of the qualifications is being in good physical condition and having a great love for the outdoors. I think any kind of background in some of the required stuff (photography, marine biology, plant life...). I'm vastly underqualified so I'm not going to bother applying but everyone else can have a go. $100,000 to play on the beach for 6 months, I could so do that.

Human beings are supposed to be the pinnacle of earthly evolution thus far but in what way? Technologically, of course. Intellectually, it would appear so. But in what other ways?

The dinosaurs, modern whales and even elephants are drastically larger than humans will ever be.  We are also far too large to hold the category for smallest creature. Most modern predators are just as dangerous to us as they are their prey. True, we can strategize and communicate using language but mano a mano (so to speak) the bear/panther/lion/wolf/alligator/shark all have speed and weapons we don’t. maybe we’ve been smart enough to avoid them, maybe not.

We are not the strongest, fastest, most prolific, largest, smallest, most necessary to is environment out of any of the creatures that walk this earth. Sometimes, we may not even be the smartest. If we as a species were overly bright America’s Funniest Home Videos, Jackass and most Asian game shows would not exist. Humans are the only animals to repress their natural intuition in favor of logic. While in some situations it is certainly advantageous (running a powerful country, choosing stocks), it is also stupid. If your intuition or that ‘little voice’ tells you not to go in that room/walk that way home/trust that strange person/start your car/date that person/leave your friend/follow that cop…we might want to listen. Our brain works faster than our conscious mind at picking up subtle signals we don’t always recognize. All our instincts scream “NO!” but we are the only species that ignores that. Does that always make us the smartest species?

Prey animals don’t trust strange noises or sounds they don’t expect. Predators don’t trust sudden movements or new smells. Most animals better recognize a threat when they see it. Modern violent crime statistics (including rape) would argue that most humans can’t.

Humans also do things that most animals aren’t capable of. Sure we use complex verbal and written communication but what else? We lie, cheat, backstab, betray, connive, rape and murder for pleasure, self-serve to the point of destruction. We create weapons that not only kill us but destroy the environment. We create more efficient ways to get from Point A to Point B but at the expense of our planet and several species of animal. Most animals cannot hunt each other to extinction if both serve a vital role in the eco-system. If resident predator over-hunts resident prey animal, predator populations fall because they have nothing to eat or get poor nutrition from having to eat a new diet. Resident prey population rises and the normal cycle resumes. If the predator population falls too far, the prey animals destroy the natural eco-system and then die off until the natural balance can be restored. Nature has a way of correcting itself. We regularly interfere with that.

Pigeons in America. Rabbits in Australia. How often in nature does an exotic species go from one place to another and is able to multiply in such large numbers that it does serious damage? Not especially often. How often to animals create weapons or use methods of attack that involve destroying most of the numbers or the entire surrounding area? Never. Human beings are the only ones who can hurt so many with such little effort. This is not the kind of thing nature prepared for. Human innovation is not always a positive or helpful thing.

Sometimes I think that with our unquestioning reign over the planet we have become soft. We are poor hunters, we can do little with our hands, we destroy our world to protect our way of life (both in war and in daily life). We watch others of our kind suffer while many of us live in excess. I don’t know if human beings are the fittest species out there. For now, we are the most powerful but I don’t know how long we can keep fighting the natural cycle of things. We are destroying the world that made us and this will backfire somehow. The earth and the population will find a way to equal itself out. I just wonder how.

I will not take original credit for this idea. My SO heard it on a comedy special called Assume the Position. The idea is that Americans have gay battle cries. The comedian first cites "Yankee Doodle" which is a British song then designed to mock Americans who were perceived to be unsophisticated hicks. The second stems from an ad that has been all over TV recently. It involves a former NFL player and his family getting ready for a Super Bowl party and all of them are singing "We Will Rock You" by Queen. If you start tapping, chanting, stomping out the melody at any sporting event, you will cause great excitement and unity within the crowd. You will follow that man into (sports) battle. Who are you following?

( This Guy! )

Yes, I am a Twilight person but I have only read the first book. Knowing me, I'll devour the rest of the series over my winter break. I was goofing around on-line and found some shirts I thought were cool that pertain to the book/movie. I'm generally only including crap I can get away with owning being in my twenties (i.e. nothing with a characters face)

Baseball   Team , So the Lion... Fell in Love  With the Lamb , My  letter , I smell good , boys in books , twilight1 , twilight2 , twilight thing , Forget  Princess , Forever , My Heart , My  Husband , Spoons , Sparkle (this should have been a shirt) ,  Be Safe , Admit It , Last One      

Some are pretty. Some repeat (but in pretty variations). If I can ever own my own bookstore I would just wear crap like this every day (maybe thrown in a What Would Jane Do? shirt for good measure)

OK, I grew up on these toys. I loved Littlest Pet Shop and I had several playsets including the vet clinic, grooming salon and actual pet shop. What I liked was that they all looked realistic, the animals were a relatively proportionate size to each other (the horse was bigger than the dog who was bigger than the iguana etc.) and they had different body movements (one's head would move to chase a magnetic bone, another's arm would wave if you pushed on his tail etc.)

Not Any More

Now all of their heads more, they're all the same freaking size and their eyes are creepy huge. They looked like messed up bobble heads. This is damaging to my childhood b/c they don't even get their own pet beds when you get them but you can buy them a carrying case. When I bought the bunny 10+ years ago he came with carrots, a basket and moving ears. Now he comes with a cat and his own hat. I want my originals back. They didn't look like freaks of nature, if they're heads moved it was for a reason and they were realistic. Of course in the world of Brat dolls (off the shelves as of January BTW), realistic looking toys seem to have gone the way of the dinosaurs. In My Pocket Pets they did not completely screw up in the revival but they already messed with CareBears (albeit the Breast Cancer Bear is kind of cool but the other new ones, not so much). What else are they going to screw up from my childhood because they are running out of options at this point.