1. 3D Music
Put in some headphones and follow this link if you like things that are awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSSLQf95-Nc
2. Ankle Boots
Enough said.
3. Essena Oneill's Set Plan on Tumblr. It's a really straightforward exercise/ meal plan that fits into a school day. Based on the five days I've followed it, I'd say it's worth a go.
http://essenaoneill.tumblr.com/setplan
4. Sloths photoshopped into unusual situations.
i.e. The one in the pope's outfit (SlothSaturday)
5. Flameworking
I'm in the advanced glass class now and we have started using flameworking techniques (aka lampworking). I specialize in glass lumps. I also do globs and hunks.
6. The people who actually read a recent post of mine! Mad props to you all! I think I am in love with you. Ya know, in a casual way.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
People Are Hurting, Read the Fucking Flyer
There’s
a little bird
On
a manmade perch
And
he’s looking down at you.
You’re
so fine, your cheekbones
Rise
high as he flies, he knows
Sometime
you’ll die,
Then
your bones become dirt
And
your dirt intertwines
Mixed
so fine with a little bird,
Waiting
in line, the worms dine,
And
they squirm under boots
As
you stride, head held high,
Dust
the dirt from your button down shirt,
There’s
blue sky in your eyes
But
on earth there is hurt
And
you’re walking right by
And
you’re kicking up dirt
It
is filling your boots
It
is choking the sky
And
the worms don’t take notice,
To
them you’re sky high,
So
you cough and you curse
But
you don’t see the hurt,
Just
a little bird
On
a manmade perch
And
he’s looking down on you.
I have something to say, so I need you to read it.
I came here to post a new poem, but first I want to try rephrasing an earlier post (two posts in one night?!). See: the only post written in bright blue letters.
I noticed that I used the word "internalized" in the post, and that's actually kind of a buzzword. I'm not sure if I even knew this term at the time, but I think what I was figuring out on my own was something a lot of people have actually been talking about for awhile, and it's called "internalized oppression." A pretty straightforward example of this is the kids who post comments on controversial YouTube videos saying, "I don't know why people are getting offended about this, I'm part of the community that is being marginalized and I'm totally cool with it. Get a sense of humor, LOL." Except maybe sometimes we should be having those conversations, rather than further alienating people (and especially ourselves). So I have a story for you.
I briefly mentioned a petition I was working on this quarter in an earlier post, saying I had collected 100 signatures. Well, the group of roughly ten of us ended up with 8,315 signatures by the time we turned it in on March 1st. (Read: superhuman strength and lots of coffee) I can now say that I've had one-on-one conversations with roughly one thousand people I go to school with. Not bad for an introvert.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that when you are talking to tons of different strangers about an issue that you care about and want to make them care about, you start to pick up on tricks to make each person more likely to put their signature on that page. I learned to read people's expressions pretty well, and would shorten my talking points accordingly. I could figure out pretty quickly if I should emphasize more that "it's a really good cause," or "don't worry, I swear we won't email you or anything," and so on. 9 times out of 10, people were awesome and put their name down and wished me good luck. Out of that 1 out of 10 that didn't sign, they were usually cramming for a test or otherwise polite about it. But once in awhile, I would get slammed by these assholes who would talk to me like I wasn't a person. I remember this one guy sitting with a big group of people who decided to speak for the whole group by folding his arms, leaning back, talking over everyone else at the table and saying in an incredibly sarcastic voice, "Oh, that's really great for you! HAVEANICEDAY."
Oh, you are so very witty! I bet you've never thanked a bus driver or looked a waitress in the eye. Clearly there's no need because you are better than all of us.
Otherwise, the standard asshole would tell me with a really condescending look on their face that actually I had no idea what I was talking about and clearly they were experts on the thing I've spent the better part of my college life learning about (sweatshops and labor rights), probably because they read an article with a corporate sponsorship that told them that sweatshops are good for the economy. (How many times did I hear, "Umm, actually, did you know that sweatshops are good for the economy?" Umm, actually, you said sweatshops but I think you meant your mom.) I'm definitely not saying that you shouldn't be skeptical of the majority opinion when everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon (think of the Joseph Kony video and its critics), but that doesn't mean that when a differing opinion comes out, it is automatically the real truth. You still need to do your research- be skeptical on both sides.
Whenever this happened, I would feel a little down for the rest of the day, no matter if it was one asshole and the other fifty people were encouraging. (Which sucks! But it's hard not to care.) I realized pretty quickly that it was only guys who talked to me this way- I never once had this problem with a girl. Eventually, I also noticed that on the days that I wore makeup, guys were more receptive in general and I hardly ever got picked on. I also got more email addresses on those days. Once I figured this out, I started making sure to wear makeup on the days I was planning to petition. I was fairly proud of figuring this out and even felt victorious in a way, like I beat the assholes at their own game...
Until it hit me one day that the assholes had effectively trained me like a dog to look pretty for them in order to earn common courtesy. As a person who is perpetually late for everything, I would sometimes even choose makeup over breakfast if I had to get to class. I was skipping breakfast to put on makeup because to the assholes, I was only worth human decency if they were attracted to me and maybe thought they could get something. So I would smile like an idiot and they would sign where I wanted but I was the one rolling over. I thought I was the winner, I didn't even see what I was doing to myself.
And that is internalized oppression.
If you start to pay attention, you'll notice that in group discussions, girls will say "I think-," and "Sorry, I just want to say-," and "Um, well I don't know but-" and so forth. On the other hand, you will rarely hear a guy apologize before speaking his mind. Since somebody pointed this out to me, I catch myself doing it, too. If you have something to say, FUCKING SAY IT. It is important. It needs to be heard. Don't let other people talk over you or shoot you down. You are valuable, it isn't fair to the world that you keep yourself locked up. You're not sorry, and you do know. So own it.
I noticed that I used the word "internalized" in the post, and that's actually kind of a buzzword. I'm not sure if I even knew this term at the time, but I think what I was figuring out on my own was something a lot of people have actually been talking about for awhile, and it's called "internalized oppression." A pretty straightforward example of this is the kids who post comments on controversial YouTube videos saying, "I don't know why people are getting offended about this, I'm part of the community that is being marginalized and I'm totally cool with it. Get a sense of humor, LOL." Except maybe sometimes we should be having those conversations, rather than further alienating people (and especially ourselves). So I have a story for you.
I briefly mentioned a petition I was working on this quarter in an earlier post, saying I had collected 100 signatures. Well, the group of roughly ten of us ended up with 8,315 signatures by the time we turned it in on March 1st. (Read: superhuman strength and lots of coffee) I can now say that I've had one-on-one conversations with roughly one thousand people I go to school with. Not bad for an introvert.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that when you are talking to tons of different strangers about an issue that you care about and want to make them care about, you start to pick up on tricks to make each person more likely to put their signature on that page. I learned to read people's expressions pretty well, and would shorten my talking points accordingly. I could figure out pretty quickly if I should emphasize more that "it's a really good cause," or "don't worry, I swear we won't email you or anything," and so on. 9 times out of 10, people were awesome and put their name down and wished me good luck. Out of that 1 out of 10 that didn't sign, they were usually cramming for a test or otherwise polite about it. But once in awhile, I would get slammed by these assholes who would talk to me like I wasn't a person. I remember this one guy sitting with a big group of people who decided to speak for the whole group by folding his arms, leaning back, talking over everyone else at the table and saying in an incredibly sarcastic voice, "Oh, that's really great for you! HAVEANICEDAY."
Oh, you are so very witty! I bet you've never thanked a bus driver or looked a waitress in the eye. Clearly there's no need because you are better than all of us.
Otherwise, the standard asshole would tell me with a really condescending look on their face that actually I had no idea what I was talking about and clearly they were experts on the thing I've spent the better part of my college life learning about (sweatshops and labor rights), probably because they read an article with a corporate sponsorship that told them that sweatshops are good for the economy. (How many times did I hear, "Umm, actually, did you know that sweatshops are good for the economy?" Umm, actually, you said sweatshops but I think you meant your mom.) I'm definitely not saying that you shouldn't be skeptical of the majority opinion when everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon (think of the Joseph Kony video and its critics), but that doesn't mean that when a differing opinion comes out, it is automatically the real truth. You still need to do your research- be skeptical on both sides.
Whenever this happened, I would feel a little down for the rest of the day, no matter if it was one asshole and the other fifty people were encouraging. (Which sucks! But it's hard not to care.) I realized pretty quickly that it was only guys who talked to me this way- I never once had this problem with a girl. Eventually, I also noticed that on the days that I wore makeup, guys were more receptive in general and I hardly ever got picked on. I also got more email addresses on those days. Once I figured this out, I started making sure to wear makeup on the days I was planning to petition. I was fairly proud of figuring this out and even felt victorious in a way, like I beat the assholes at their own game...
Until it hit me one day that the assholes had effectively trained me like a dog to look pretty for them in order to earn common courtesy. As a person who is perpetually late for everything, I would sometimes even choose makeup over breakfast if I had to get to class. I was skipping breakfast to put on makeup because to the assholes, I was only worth human decency if they were attracted to me and maybe thought they could get something. So I would smile like an idiot and they would sign where I wanted but I was the one rolling over. I thought I was the winner, I didn't even see what I was doing to myself.
And that is internalized oppression.
If you start to pay attention, you'll notice that in group discussions, girls will say "I think-," and "Sorry, I just want to say-," and "Um, well I don't know but-" and so forth. On the other hand, you will rarely hear a guy apologize before speaking his mind. Since somebody pointed this out to me, I catch myself doing it, too. If you have something to say, FUCKING SAY IT. It is important. It needs to be heard. Don't let other people talk over you or shoot you down. You are valuable, it isn't fair to the world that you keep yourself locked up. You're not sorry, and you do know. So own it.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Here's to resolutions.
Well, I didn't get an ITOTD every day this break, but it's all a work in progress. I was going to get my neck pierced, and then my parents were afraid that I would die. For their sake, I'm putting that off for another time. Then I tried to go dumpster diving, but as it turns out, walking aimlessly through Berkeley does not guarantee eventually stumbling upon a mysterious garbage bin full of anything other than garbage. I had plans of going again tonight, in Seattle, but the weather has plans of snowing soon, and, you know, dumpsters tend to be outside.
On the other hand, I did some spontaneous road tripping, which I call a success. In a span of three weeks, I've been in:
Los Altos, CA, and it's peripherals
Milpitas, CA
San Jose, CA
Berkeley, CA
San Fransisco, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Solvang, CA
Pismo Beach, CA
Los Angeles, CA
San Diego, CA
Seattle, WA
I also started taking hot yoga classes, collected roughly 100 signatures for a petition I'm working on, and... bought a new bath towel. It's brown.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
It's winter break, Cyberspace!
This morning I took my business law final. Then I took a five hour nap, got up and stumbled off to the bus stop on my way to the airport. And I am back in California.
Remember ITOTDs? I think I still like them. And I have a challenge for myself that I'm going to let you in on. Every day of this break is going to be fan-fucking-tastic, or else it's going to be a train wreck. How, might you ask? (I know, you're not asking.) I'm going to do something totally nuts every day of this break... or as long as I can keep it up. So today, I texted my crush that I liked him, which I've never done. But I figured that if I didn't say anything then I would just be thinking about it the whole plane ride, and that's some bullshit so I just sent it real quick in the bus terminal. Romantic!
It went like this:
"Hey, I like you. Have a good break."
And then he responded with something like, "Good to know, but we should be friends."
Err, yeah ok. Here's the funny part though: I actually cared surprisingly little about this. I think I'm an adrenaline junkie, I was just excited about sending my thing and not really thinking about the answer. Another thing is that I like to think of myself (shocker) as a straightforward, laid back sort of person, and when something conflicts with that it will bother me until I fix it. So if a boy is taking up too much of my brainpower... well that won't do.
I realized that I tend to tell you about my failures, and it's mostly because I think they're funny. Failure can be a really spectacular thing. But maybe you should know that my ego does actually get a little support now and then. So, well, remember the bad-assery I mentioned a while back, involving a letter delivery? Two things:
1. The university president complied and cut the contract with Adidas. Read: FUCK YES
2. I was elected co-chair of our student group. +10 points
Also, my pants are sagging, and that means I'm getting fitter.
Read this thing I found: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/bip/1.php
Now go do something spontaneous.
Remember ITOTDs? I think I still like them. And I have a challenge for myself that I'm going to let you in on. Every day of this break is going to be fan-fucking-tastic, or else it's going to be a train wreck. How, might you ask? (I know, you're not asking.) I'm going to do something totally nuts every day of this break... or as long as I can keep it up. So today, I texted my crush that I liked him, which I've never done. But I figured that if I didn't say anything then I would just be thinking about it the whole plane ride, and that's some bullshit so I just sent it real quick in the bus terminal. Romantic!
It went like this:
"Hey, I like you. Have a good break."
And then he responded with something like, "Good to know, but we should be friends."
Err, yeah ok. Here's the funny part though: I actually cared surprisingly little about this. I think I'm an adrenaline junkie, I was just excited about sending my thing and not really thinking about the answer. Another thing is that I like to think of myself (shocker) as a straightforward, laid back sort of person, and when something conflicts with that it will bother me until I fix it. So if a boy is taking up too much of my brainpower... well that won't do.
I realized that I tend to tell you about my failures, and it's mostly because I think they're funny. Failure can be a really spectacular thing. But maybe you should know that my ego does actually get a little support now and then. So, well, remember the bad-assery I mentioned a while back, involving a letter delivery? Two things:
1. The university president complied and cut the contract with Adidas. Read: FUCK YES
2. I was elected co-chair of our student group. +10 points
Also, my pants are sagging, and that means I'm getting fitter.
Read this thing I found: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/bip/1.php
Now go do something spontaneous.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Something Boys Should Know About
Girls get a lot of pressure from society, and from the media, and from other girls, but for a moment I have something to say about our looks, in particular. Every girl you know, every girl you've met, every girl you pass by on the way to wherever has a lot on her shoulders. I think it's something worth noting that you may look at a girl without makeup, wearing sweats, and think she's still beautiful, or she's blah, or whatever, but how she looks right now at 8:30 am drinking that coffee? That's still not natural. Odds are, there's a lot that you're missing.
Even this morning, with her don't-give-a-fuck attitude and hair to match, there are all these little things- those last two pounds she sweat over, getting the exact right haircut, her eyebrows, her knees, stuff you wouldn't think to think about- they drove her crazy once. And they made her what you see today, and I think it's a mess that this is the standard and not the exception. She's been through her whole life waxing this and toning that, all just to keep from being below average. Growing up, sometimes this message was discrete, but sometimes it was thrown in her face, and she internalized it.
So now she's sipping her coffee, thinking about that extra workout she's trying to squeeze in later today because she's so fixated on the lack of a little gap between her thighs, and the end goal is to look indistinguishable from any other girl. She's probably absolutely brilliant, or maybe she's not, but whatever her aspirations there is this lingering insecurity that has been beaten into her since the day she was born. It's a race without a finish line, and the crazy part is how fantastically unimportant it all really is. There are girls who rebel against it, and they don't buy the makeup and the overpriced clothes, and then the world is even more cruel. If this made any sense at all, I think maybe boys should start putting in a little more effort to level the playing field. You know, maybe start paying more attention to your haircut, eyebrows, fingernails... it might take the pressure off of ours, or at least make it more worthwhile.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
I had the most brilliant idea, so naturally I'm sharing it with Cyberspace.
HI. New favorite thing just came into existence. This is the thing: HOT APPLES.
It seems like I should acknowledge that this concept was already out there, but I felt like a mad genius in the kitchen today and please don't take that away from me.
Ok, so here is the deal. You cut up the apples, toss them in a pan, saute with cinnamon and nutmeg and a teeny bit of butter and sugar, and you get this amazing edible thing that tastes like pie or apple cider or something, but it isn't very caloric because it's mostly just fruit. I put in two apples and about a tablespoon of butter and that's all it needed. Has anyone ever gotten a Nobel prize for snack making?
Anyway, this all came about because I was sitting here thinking I should eat something but all I ever eat is apples and cheese, so I was trying to think if I had anything else in the fridge. Fast forward ten minutes and I'm busy marveling at my cooking brilliance when it occurs to me that I should get something salty-ish that will compliment the apples... so then I got some cheese curds.
I'm pretty sure you can find apples and cinnamon recipes online, but I did not do that.
New idea: HOT CHEESE.
It seems like I should acknowledge that this concept was already out there, but I felt like a mad genius in the kitchen today and please don't take that away from me.
Ok, so here is the deal. You cut up the apples, toss them in a pan, saute with cinnamon and nutmeg and a teeny bit of butter and sugar, and you get this amazing edible thing that tastes like pie or apple cider or something, but it isn't very caloric because it's mostly just fruit. I put in two apples and about a tablespoon of butter and that's all it needed. Has anyone ever gotten a Nobel prize for snack making?
Anyway, this all came about because I was sitting here thinking I should eat something but all I ever eat is apples and cheese, so I was trying to think if I had anything else in the fridge. Fast forward ten minutes and I'm busy marveling at my cooking brilliance when it occurs to me that I should get something salty-ish that will compliment the apples... so then I got some cheese curds.
I'm pretty sure you can find apples and cinnamon recipes online, but I did not do that.
New idea: HOT CHEESE.
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