Normal Behavior?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if people constantly did things that were socially inappropriate on a daily basis? How are social norms even established? Who's to say what is and isn't right? 

I thought about this after I watched this music video. Sometimes I get weird thoughts in my head and wonder what it would be like if I just acted completely on impulse all the time. I wonder what the world would be like if that was how people operated. Would it be in complete turmoil because the actions people decide to do would be hurtful to others? Or would it make people smile, laugh, or think about something a different way? Would it bolster more creative energy? Would it completely end the world altogether? I wonder if there's a planet where it's against the law to do things considered "normal," and the only acceptable act is to do things that would be seen as completely "taboo" in our eyes. 

Obesity at Its Finest

Do you ever wonder if our country could get any fatter? I wondered this today when I was at the gym. While I was on the elliptical and in between songs on my iPod, I saw a preview for the show "Man vs. Food." I wasn't paying a significant amount of attention but the phrase "12-egg challenge" caught my attention. I pondered that phrase. From what I've heard you should only eat 3-4 eggs per week if you want your cholesterol to remain healthy. And the show host was about to eat 12 eggs in one sitting. Needless to say, I was a little repulsed by that thought. 

I also got to thinking: Is America ever going to change? Even though we're in an era where people appear to be more health-conscious, reality shows like this still run and it has to have some kind of effect on our society's desire to eat food that will literally put our hearts to a stop. First it was "Supersize Me," which was awful enough. Now people out there are not only eating a super-sized meal at McDonald's at every meal for the sole purpose of making money; they're eating portions of food that are damned near physically impossible to consume solo and in one sitting. Why would anyone want to put their bodies through something like that!?  

I remember that one episode of Man vs. Food included a pizza place from my hometown (San Antonio) called Big Lou's Pizza. The host was challenged to sit down with the restaurant owners and eat a "Big Lou Super 42," a 42-inch, 30 pound pizza. Each slice was so big that one needed two plates to hold it on. This summer while I was home some friends and I decided to go to the restaurant to try the "Big Lou Super 42." However, the wait was three hours, so we went to another pizzeria instead. Clearly the show earned publicity for the little restaurant, which was good for its business but bad for everyone's health. Though at first I was a little bummed I did not get to see the gigantic pizza in person, I was glad in the long run that I didn't put my body through that heart-clogging-indigestion-galore-of-an-experience. 

It seems to me that shows like this advertise the idea that it's okay to binge on massive portions of food. If people think this is the case, it will be interesting to see what America looks like in 20 years.

A Day Without Advertising

Have you ever wondered what would happen to the world if one day advertising ceased to exist? Considering it's a business that our country's economy thrives on, it would probably be bad news bears. Here's a few things I came up with:

--Times Square would lose its appeal

--Media outlets would fail, thus nobody would get the news

--New businesses would never get the chance to succeed

--Old businesses would eventually fail

--The fashion industry would plummet

--People would lose the motivation to be active and "Just Do It."

--The Superbowl would be nonexistent

--Christmas shopping would become way more difficult

--People wouldn't know who to vote for during the next election

--Thousands of creatives would become unemployed and would be forced to either use their creativity in a different field or conform to more "boring" jobs. 

Moral of the story: the world would crash and burn. We need advertising just as much as we need air.

A Mosque Near Ground Zero?

Yesterday as I was getting ready for class in the morning, I heard something on the news that made me stop dead in my tracks:


"A mosque will be built near ground zero." 


I guess talk of this has been going on for a few months now, but since I'm an out of the loop college student stuck in "the bubble," I confess that yesterday was the first time I heard of these plans. 


My initial thoughts were, "Are they #$%@in crazy!?!" Building a mosque near the site where thousands of Americans died? Where thousands died because of radical muslims who hated Western culture and non-followers of Mohammed? What a slap in the face for all of the New  Yorkers--especially those who lost loved ones during the September 11 attack. It's basically waving a surrender flag to the terrorists saying, "We give up. You win. Now you have a mosque as a permanent mark of territory for what you did to our country ten years ago."


Is American patriotism going down the tube? 


But then, in an attempt to argue against my own position, I came up with a counter-argument:


Maybe America is just trying to show the world how strong it is. Even if we are wronged by a certain culture, we still accept that culture and do not form stereotypes. By building the mosque we are following the principles of our Christian faith by granting forgiveness to those who have wronged us. After all, America is a country that accepts all backgrounds, cultures, and faiths. We would be going against our Constitution to ban this construction project.

Moods

It's interesting how many moods a person can feel. Just from a website I came across there's a long list for the different moods people can be in, arranged alphabetically:

Accepted

Accomplished

Aggravated

Alone

Amused

Angry

Annoyed

Anxious

Apathetic

Ashamed

Awake

Bewildered

Bitchy

Bittersweet

Blah

Blank

Blissful

Bored

Bouncy

Calm

Cheerful

Chipper

Cold

Complacent

Confused

Content

Cranky

Crappy

Crazy

Crushed

Curious

Cynical

Dark

Depressed

Determined

Devious

Dirty

Disappointed

Discontent

Ditzy

Dorky

Drained

Drunk

Ecstatic

Energetic

Enraged

Enthralled

Envious

Exanimate

Excited

Exhausted

Flirty

Frustrated

Full

Geeky

Giddy

Giggly

Gloomy

Good

Grateful

Groggy

Grumpy

Guilty

Happy

High

Hopeful

Hot

Hungry

Hyper

Impressed

Indescribable

Indifferent

Infuriated

Irate

Irritated

Jealous

Jubilant

Lazy

Lethargic

Listless

Lonely

Loved

Mad

Melancholy

Mellow

Mischievous

Moody

Morose

Naughty

Nerdy

Not Specified

Numb

Okay

Optimistic

Peaceful

Pessimistic

Pissed off

Pleased

Predatory

Quixotic

Recumbent

Refreshed

Rejected

Rejuvenated

Relaxed

Relieved

Restless

Rushed

Sad

Satisfied

Shocked

Sick

Silly

Sleepy

Smart

Stressed

Surprised

Sympathetic

Thankful

Tired

Touched

Uncomfortable

Weird

And yet, do we really use all of these variations to describe how we feel when somebody asks "How are you?" For most, we say one word that could mean more than one thing. You could say "Good," and that means happy, hyper, excited, accepted, energetic, or silly. You could say "I'm okay" which generally means you feel pretty shitty: aggravated, anxious, stressed, tired, depressed, cynical... You may not even know how you feel, but you just say "I'm fine" because generally when someone asks how you are in passing, it's just an expression for making conversation, not genuinely asking somebody how they are. 

I think that everybody should try to use one of these descriptions for their mood next time somebody asks how they are. If you're happy, try saying "Oh, I'm just jubilant." If you're not happy, try saying "I feel dark." And though you may get a weird look from the person you're talking to, who knows, maybe it will break the ice for a longer conversation. 

Also, check out this site if you want to channel whatever mood you're in through a musical interpretation of what you're feeling: www.stereomood.com

The Best Piece of Advice I Was Ever Given

The best piece of advice I was ever given is a quote from the film Serendipity:


"Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences, but rather, it's a tapestry of events that culminate into an exquisite sublime plan."


I know that there are two kind of people out there: the people who believe in fate, and the people who don't. And yeah, the people who do believe in fate are often labeled as 'pie in the sky' kind of people. But after watching this film for the first time, and having a few personal experiences, I know that everything happens for a reason.


Take my ski accident (as blogged about earlier) for example. In normal circumstances, I would not have lived. I hit a railroad tie going an estimated 30 miles an hour. I shouldn't have lived considering how I set my body up to hit the railroad tie. I swerved to the right of the lady who cut me off--most likely facing the railroad tie head-on. Yet, my left hip was the first part of my body that hit the tie--something that was physically impossible. Some divine force made my body hit the tie that way.  After my accident, the doctors said that if I had hit the railroad tie head on I would not have survived. In addition, all of my fractures (hip, collarbone, skull) were non-displaced, which is a miracle considering how hard I hit the railroad tie (which is about as dense as how hitting a tree would be). They also said that if the fracture on my skull had been horizontal instead of vertical, I would have had a 25 percent chance of hearing loss and facial paralysis. 


Needless to say, the odds of me surviving an accident like that were slim. And not only did I survive, but I walked away with no permanent damage. Clearly there was a force from the heavens above that wanted me to get through this. God had a plan for me, and it was not to die that young. My accident ended up demonstrating the literal meaning of serendipity: a fortunate accident.


After that experience, I learned to never take life for granted. I learned the hard way how precious the gift of life is. I know now that I am meant to do great things in this life; it's just an indescribable feeling I get inside of me when I think about the murky unknowns of my future. I've also learned that when something goes wrong, it's for a reason; it means that there are bigger and better things out there for me and I'm just yet to find them.


Some may call me too optimistic, but after that experience I can't help but to believe in fate. 

30 Things I Want To Do Before I Turn 30

1) Go to/live in Italy
2) Own a grand piano
3) Either have a high position at a well-known magazine or write some of the big stories for that magazine
4) Open a bakery (if I fail as a writer)
5) Spend a year either living in a different country or traveling the world
6) Do what I love on a daily basis
7) Make a difference/make a significant impact on somebody
8) Be able to support myself financially with no help
9) Get a puppy and kitten
10) Be able to cook gourmet meals quickly and effortlessly
11) Live in a state other than Texas
12) Find "the one"
13) Get closer to extended family
14) Find a new hobby that I'm passionate about
15) Own a pair of Jimmy Choos, Christian Louboutins, Manolo Blahniks, etc... basically have a better shoe collection than Carrie Bradshaw
16) Go on a cruise... or a few
17) Learn a language and actually be able to speak it
18) Know more about history
19) Read more important literature
20) Make more lifetime friendships, while keeping the old ones
21) Feel good about myself at my 10 year high school reunion
22) Live somewhere near the mountains
23) Go through a powerful experience that will inspire me to write a book
24) Become more cultured
25) Give back to my parents for everything they have done for me
26) Become a godmother or aunt to somebody
27) Find my passion and continue to acquire more passions
28) Inspire people to do good in the world
29) Become more assertive about my needs and never settle for anything

30) Be completely satisfied with my life if I were to die the next day

What Did That Dream Tell Me?

I've never been one to remember my dreams. But for some reason I can always vividly recall a nightmare that I had when I was five years old. 


It was about my worst fear at the time: skeletons. I had an irrational fear of them. I don't know what this fear sparked from. It could have resulted from a scary show that I saw on TV, or a bad experience on Halloween. The world will never know. 


In my dream, I was laying in my bed, and everything was normal. Everything in our house looked the same. All of a sudden, I saw a skeleton walking up the stairs toward my room (in my old house you could see the staircase from my room when the door was open, and for some odd reason my bedroom door was open). I panicked and ran as fast as I could to my walk-in closet, shut the door behind me, and tried my best to hide behind my clothes. It was obvious that the skeleton saw all of this since I was able to see him when he walked up the stairs, so in no time, he was there. For whatever reason, there was a barred window on the door of my closet that wasn't there in real life. The skeleton looked through this window, slid a piece of cloth through the bars, and began to laugh. It was an evil laugh, I can even still recall the way it sounded. It terrified me, and I thought that whatever cloth he dropped in my closet was poisoned. I was sure that I would die at any minute. And then I woke up. 


I remember going downstairs to breakfast the next morning and telling my mother about my dream. Her response changed my world, "Honey, you are a skeleton." I couldn't believe it. But then she explained the anatomy of the human body in the best way that she could to a 5-year-old and suddenly I felt relieved. I was relieved that skeletons weren't actually monsters and instead were the explanation for why my body was solid and not squishy. After that day I was no longer afraid of skeletons. 


What the meaning of this dream is, I'm not sure. Maybe it was it was an underlying hint for what I should really be afraid of. In the grown up world, there are no monsters to be afraid of, despite the many myths we heard when we were children. The only thing to fear is humankind itself. The human race has the power to change the world at any given moment. One person can play the hero and find the cure to cancer, while another person can play the villain and drop a nuclear weapon that would expunge life on Earth. And when both of these people get an X-ray, they both end up being nothing but skeletons. 


But, who knows. Maybe it was just a 5-year-old having a bad dream.

Lies That I Have Told and Lies That Have Been Told to Me

"I love how every time we see each other, it's like nothing has changed."

"I'm never going to hurt you."

"No, I haven't been drinking."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

"I've just been really busy lately."

"I would never put myself in that situation."

"I'm fine."

"I love you more than life itself."

"I enjoy everything about my sorority."

"I'm sorry."

"I never care about what other people think."

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I've always been cheated on."

"It's okay."

"My phone's been broken for a week."

"We never get that lucky."

"I always believe in myself." 

"I won't have any dessert."

"You know I'm not really like that."

"I don't have any regrets."

                  ...."I don't tell lies."