THE RULES
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Apparently I have been tagged. Let me see, 8 random facts about me? Let's see if I can pull this out of my butt-
1. I honestly believe that family is the most important thing in life. Family is always there whenever you need them. I've learned that even really good friends can come and go, but family is stuck with you forever.
2. I am a very shy person. I don't understand people who are loud and gregarious. It is very hard for me to be out-going. I try really hard, but I can name countless times where give up in the middle of a sentence because everyone who was listening is now focusing on that one out-going person in every group.
3. I love seeing musicals, even though the music gets stuck in my head for days afterwards.
toss! toss!
4. I want to own horses when I am older.
5. I wish I was more organized. There are times when I get really motivated to organize everything I own. It will be perfect for two days and then no matter what, it will be a disaster again.
6. I want to cut my hair really short, so that I would be able to put it in a fauxhawk. But I am too scared to try something that adventurous, and don't think that my parents would approve.
7. When I was seven I fell and busted my lip open. It just so happened that picture day at school was the very next day. My mother loved those pictures and wouldn't let me get re-takes. It HATE those pictures to this day. But I do like the check mark shaped scar right below my lip. Scars are WAY COOL and I think people should embrace them. Especially ones shaped like lightning bolts!
8. I love the smell of blown out matches, the smell of rain, and the smell of Gossamer's feet.
I tag Mariel.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Colorado!!!
I have decided that since I don't have a job, I need to stay somewhat busy while I'm in Colorado. I made a list of things that are a "must do" before I leave...
1. go to a Rockies game
2. hiking at the Garden of the Gods
3. dinner at Rodizios
4. ride the tram to the top of Pikes Peak
5. tour the Olympic Traning Center
6. go to Six Flags
7. hike the Incline
8. go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Well, not a very long list. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
1. go to a Rockies game
2. hiking at the Garden of the Gods
3. dinner at Rodizios
4. ride the tram to the top of Pikes Peak
5. tour the Olympic Traning Center
6. go to Six Flags
7. hike the Incline
8. go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Well, not a very long list. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Battle of the Sexes
My father has this little habit of sending all of ‘his girls’ emails with links to certain websites that he finds interesting. Although some of them can be rather dull and far too wordy, I do actually manage to read everything he sends me (I bet you didn’t know that papa!). With this plethora of articles I am required to read, plus all my schoolwork, plus all my enjoyment reading, some of the articles he sends me don’t always stick in my mind. However, there was this one that intrigued me to an immense extent. I read this article almost six months ago and I still feel compelled to write a blog about it. I don’t know if it bugged me in a good way or in a bad way. Maybe this blog will help me figure it out.
This article I read was by Kim du Toit, who calls himself, “An erudite, conservative intellectual, gun owner who sometimes gets pissed off.” He felt the need to make a list of things every young woman should know by the time she leaves college. Well…I’ll just let you read it…
Things every young woman should know before the age of 21:
The basic rules of fashion (and the difference between fad and fashion, never giving in completely to the former)
Be comfortable in the body she was born with
How to properly groom herself and apply/wear make-up appropriate for the setting/circumstances
Sew (sufficient to hem, reapply a button, make curtains) including knowledge of fabrics and fashion terms
How to iron beyond getting the creases out (knowing how to properly iron a dress shirt including a non-permanent press version, set creases in slacks, and handle pleating)
The rules of etiquette in both business and personal settings for a variety of cultures, including:
• How to set a table
• How to make introductions
• How to make seating arrangements at a table
• Proper conduct at formal events, such as weddings, funerals, etc.
• Rules of reciprocation
Recognize gossip, know how to avoid it, and people who do it
Be an ear/shoulder without being a martyr or know-it-all
Bathe and clothe a baby
Feed a baby
Be physically fit sufficient to birth a baby and endure a 2-year-old
Understand the basics of child psychology and child rearing, sufficient to properly coach a child to explore, read, and discover:
• Basic arithmetic
• Basic science
• Properly address and handle a tantrum
Write letters
Be gracious without being condescending
Understand our system of government sufficient to keep vigilance of it and properly exercise her right to vote
Be able to defend herself, her husband, and her children with a gun
Read at least 20 books from the Western Canon and understand them
Recognize at least 100 paintings/art treasures and what is good/bad about them
Play at least one musical instrument, and understand the basics of music
Recite poetry or sing without being self-conscious
Speak a foreign language sufficient to travel in that country
Play bridge to win, and win gracefully
Drive defensively
Understand how a car works, sufficient to attend to its required maintenance
Be able to use basic household tools to perform basic household repairs
Know how to hang a picture and WHERE to hang it
Understand the basics of design as it applies to household decor, architecture, garden and landscape planning/maintenance
Manage a household:
• Hire, direct, and train household staff
• Menu/meal planning (including organizing and planning parties and events)
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Maintain records (including important documents, expenses/checking and savings accounts, etc.)
Cook/Kitchen management, including:
• Make bread
• Understand dietary considerations (health, customs, and religions)
• Select, keep and store ingredients properly and safely
• Understand the proper use and selection of herbs and spices
• Bake a pie, including fruit, cream, and meringue
• Make sauces, including rue-based, vegetable-based, and creams
• How to test for doneness in meats, breads, and cakes
• How to choose equipment and serving pieces
• Be capable of making an entire Thanksgiving dinner on her own (on time and everything hot/cold as appropriate)
How to say “no”
How and when to say “yes”
Be supportive of her husband without demeaning herself
Recognize and end relationships that are destructive
Dance etiquette
Walk gracefully in high heels (or know not to wear them!)
Tell a joke
Bathe a dog
Those are just the basics that every woman needs to know by the age of 21. Don’t get me wrong, I think that most of those skills are valuable to have, (Be physically fit sufficient to birth a baby and endure a 2-year-old…. come on is that even possible???) but is this 21 year old just going to flaunt these skills for the rest of her life? Is she just done learning? Is he saying that by the time she is 21 she should be married, have children, and simply run her house for the rest of her life? What time period does this guy live in? And why doesn’t this young lady have more time to keep learning and bettering herself? Well this intrigued me to find out what standards he held for young men. And I found his list…
Things every young man should know before the age of 21:
Drive a car well, ie. a stick shift;
Know how to handle any gun, and be comfortable with its operation
Understand basic macro- and microeconomics
Know the difference between a popular democracy and a representative republic
Be able to cook a basic meal (meat, rice/potatoes, vegetables) from scratch
Speak at least one foreign language
Understand how to read a map, and be comfortable with basic orienteering
Have two years’ experience in a trade (any trade, eg. carpenter, electrician, welder,
auto mechanic, plumber)
Play a musical instrument, and have a basic understanding of music
Understand basic self-defense/unarmed combat techniques
Have excellent manners, and know all aspects of social etiquette
Travel to a foreign country (Mexico and Canada don’t count, in the U.S.
circumstance)
Be extremely knowledgeable about history
Have read at least twenty books in the Western Canon
Be able to use a computer, especially spreadsheet, word processing and basic database programs
Be able to write a cogent, grammatically correct essay of no less than 1,000 words in length
Been a member of a social group or club (4H, Boy Scouts, Young Republicans, whatever) for at least two years
Come on! I’ve basically got that list finished. Less than a page for young men and over three for women?! Doesn’t he think any of the traits a woman possesses are important to a man? How about, “Be supportive of his wife, without demeaning himself”? Or “bathe and clothe a baby”? Is the reason that I have basically finished the male list because my papa so desperately wanted sons instead of daughters? Or is it because I was such a tomboy growing up? Or is it because that list for ladies is ridiculous and the bar for young men has been lowered? Conservatives keep complaining that my generation’s boys are growing into sissy girly-men. Why then does a self-proclaimed conservative have such low standards for the young men and high ones for the ladies?
I don’t believe that men and women are equal. Plan and simply, we are different. I don’t carry the extreme liberal idea that the two lists should be exactly the same. But I do think that the two lists should be more similar. There is an importance to all females having a marketable skill, should she need to provide for her family. And there is an importance to a male being able to run a household. Oh and who says that only a man can drive stick shift?? I could keep going, but I won’t.
What I guess I am trying to say is that, Papa; I do appreciate your emails. Especially this one, it made me think. Maybe the only reason I had any problem with the list at all was the fact that I haven’t even made a dent in it and time is running out. The list was depressing. It made me think that there is no way I will ever accomplish all those things. Yet, I have bookmarked that page and every so often I check it to see if I have made any progress. Hopefully by the time I am 21, I will have conquered BOTH lists. I can dream, right?
This article I read was by Kim du Toit, who calls himself, “An erudite, conservative intellectual, gun owner who sometimes gets pissed off.” He felt the need to make a list of things every young woman should know by the time she leaves college. Well…I’ll just let you read it…
Things every young woman should know before the age of 21:
The basic rules of fashion (and the difference between fad and fashion, never giving in completely to the former)
Be comfortable in the body she was born with
How to properly groom herself and apply/wear make-up appropriate for the setting/circumstances
Sew (sufficient to hem, reapply a button, make curtains) including knowledge of fabrics and fashion terms
How to iron beyond getting the creases out (knowing how to properly iron a dress shirt including a non-permanent press version, set creases in slacks, and handle pleating)
The rules of etiquette in both business and personal settings for a variety of cultures, including:
• How to set a table
• How to make introductions
• How to make seating arrangements at a table
• Proper conduct at formal events, such as weddings, funerals, etc.
• Rules of reciprocation
Recognize gossip, know how to avoid it, and people who do it
Be an ear/shoulder without being a martyr or know-it-all
Bathe and clothe a baby
Feed a baby
Be physically fit sufficient to birth a baby and endure a 2-year-old
Understand the basics of child psychology and child rearing, sufficient to properly coach a child to explore, read, and discover:
• Basic arithmetic
• Basic science
• Properly address and handle a tantrum
Write letters
Be gracious without being condescending
Understand our system of government sufficient to keep vigilance of it and properly exercise her right to vote
Be able to defend herself, her husband, and her children with a gun
Read at least 20 books from the Western Canon and understand them
Recognize at least 100 paintings/art treasures and what is good/bad about them
Play at least one musical instrument, and understand the basics of music
Recite poetry or sing without being self-conscious
Speak a foreign language sufficient to travel in that country
Play bridge to win, and win gracefully
Drive defensively
Understand how a car works, sufficient to attend to its required maintenance
Be able to use basic household tools to perform basic household repairs
Know how to hang a picture and WHERE to hang it
Understand the basics of design as it applies to household decor, architecture, garden and landscape planning/maintenance
Manage a household:
• Hire, direct, and train household staff
• Menu/meal planning (including organizing and planning parties and events)
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Maintain records (including important documents, expenses/checking and savings accounts, etc.)
Cook/Kitchen management, including:
• Make bread
• Understand dietary considerations (health, customs, and religions)
• Select, keep and store ingredients properly and safely
• Understand the proper use and selection of herbs and spices
• Bake a pie, including fruit, cream, and meringue
• Make sauces, including rue-based, vegetable-based, and creams
• How to test for doneness in meats, breads, and cakes
• How to choose equipment and serving pieces
• Be capable of making an entire Thanksgiving dinner on her own (on time and everything hot/cold as appropriate)
How to say “no”
How and when to say “yes”
Be supportive of her husband without demeaning herself
Recognize and end relationships that are destructive
Dance etiquette
Walk gracefully in high heels (or know not to wear them!)
Tell a joke
Bathe a dog
Those are just the basics that every woman needs to know by the age of 21. Don’t get me wrong, I think that most of those skills are valuable to have, (Be physically fit sufficient to birth a baby and endure a 2-year-old…. come on is that even possible???) but is this 21 year old just going to flaunt these skills for the rest of her life? Is she just done learning? Is he saying that by the time she is 21 she should be married, have children, and simply run her house for the rest of her life? What time period does this guy live in? And why doesn’t this young lady have more time to keep learning and bettering herself? Well this intrigued me to find out what standards he held for young men. And I found his list…
Things every young man should know before the age of 21:
Drive a car well, ie. a stick shift;
Know how to handle any gun, and be comfortable with its operation
Understand basic macro- and microeconomics
Know the difference between a popular democracy and a representative republic
Be able to cook a basic meal (meat, rice/potatoes, vegetables) from scratch
Speak at least one foreign language
Understand how to read a map, and be comfortable with basic orienteering
Have two years’ experience in a trade (any trade, eg. carpenter, electrician, welder,
auto mechanic, plumber)
Play a musical instrument, and have a basic understanding of music
Understand basic self-defense/unarmed combat techniques
Have excellent manners, and know all aspects of social etiquette
Travel to a foreign country (Mexico and Canada don’t count, in the U.S.
circumstance)
Be extremely knowledgeable about history
Have read at least twenty books in the Western Canon
Be able to use a computer, especially spreadsheet, word processing and basic database programs
Be able to write a cogent, grammatically correct essay of no less than 1,000 words in length
Been a member of a social group or club (4H, Boy Scouts, Young Republicans, whatever) for at least two years
Come on! I’ve basically got that list finished. Less than a page for young men and over three for women?! Doesn’t he think any of the traits a woman possesses are important to a man? How about, “Be supportive of his wife, without demeaning himself”? Or “bathe and clothe a baby”? Is the reason that I have basically finished the male list because my papa so desperately wanted sons instead of daughters? Or is it because I was such a tomboy growing up? Or is it because that list for ladies is ridiculous and the bar for young men has been lowered? Conservatives keep complaining that my generation’s boys are growing into sissy girly-men. Why then does a self-proclaimed conservative have such low standards for the young men and high ones for the ladies?
I don’t believe that men and women are equal. Plan and simply, we are different. I don’t carry the extreme liberal idea that the two lists should be exactly the same. But I do think that the two lists should be more similar. There is an importance to all females having a marketable skill, should she need to provide for her family. And there is an importance to a male being able to run a household. Oh and who says that only a man can drive stick shift?? I could keep going, but I won’t.
What I guess I am trying to say is that, Papa; I do appreciate your emails. Especially this one, it made me think. Maybe the only reason I had any problem with the list at all was the fact that I haven’t even made a dent in it and time is running out. The list was depressing. It made me think that there is no way I will ever accomplish all those things. Yet, I have bookmarked that page and every so often I check it to see if I have made any progress. Hopefully by the time I am 21, I will have conquered BOTH lists. I can dream, right?
What's In a Color?
If you haven’t noticed, my blog has somewhat of a theme. I have this attachment to the color red. I absolutely love it. It may have to do with the fact that my hair is red. But when I was younger I despised my red hair. I hated the attention it brought me. I hated being called carrot top, red, flames, ginger, ect. I hated it when strangers would comment on how beautiful my hair was. I know this sounds like a very nice thing but I was so shy that I hated anyone drawing attention to me. I hated that everyone automatically assumed that I had this horrible temper just because of the color of my hair. Even though it might have been true, who are they to assume that just because of my hair?
I hated the pale skin that accompanies my hair. I fought the sunscreen all through my childhood, hoping that my freckles would eventually blend into a tan. That never did happen, and slowly over the years I have accepted the fact that I am white and will always be that way.
Through my childhood, I looked to cool redheads that I could look up to. My favorites were Anne Shirley (of Anne of Green Gables), Ariel (also known as the little mermaid) and then Gossamer (a little known Looney Toons character). From Anne I grew love of reading and learned a bit of stubbornness.
From Ariel I learned my love of the water and learned to be a bit of a hopeless romantic. Ariel was so cool that I even had a “Little Mermaid” themed birthday party when I was 6.
Gossamer; however, is probably my favorite redhead of all time. For those of you who don’t know Gossamer, he is a Looney Toons character that only appeared in 3 cartoons with Bugs Bunny.
I don’t know why I formed this attachment to such a strange cartoon. Maybe it was because I felt a bond with him that he was misunderstood and people just assumed that he had this horrible temper just because of the red hair. I also looked up the definition of the word gossamer. Gossamer is defined as something light, thin insubstantial or delicate. This reassured me that everyone really just had Gossamer all wrong. I loved this cartoon character so much that I named my puppy after him. Gossamer gave me hope that someone realized that I was just misunderstood and that I wasn’t just the stereotype of my hair. All these redheaded roll models helped me accept and even start to love my hair.
My love for the color red increased while my acceptance of my hair increased, but that wasn’t the extent of it all. When my papa so generously gave me my first car, it just so happened that it was red. I felt so cool in that car. So my love for the color increased exponentially, simply because that car and that color made me feel so powerful. Also as I got older, I grew out of my tom-boyishness and started to become a little more girly, but not a lot. And as this new girly-girl that I had become, the color red represented love. Red roses, a red heart, ruby red lips! Who doesn’t like those things? Some of the best things in the world are red.
So that is why by blog is red. Hopefully the color will somehow increase the cool factor of it. Or at very least let everyone know how much of a dork I am about a silly color.
I hated the pale skin that accompanies my hair. I fought the sunscreen all through my childhood, hoping that my freckles would eventually blend into a tan. That never did happen, and slowly over the years I have accepted the fact that I am white and will always be that way.
Through my childhood, I looked to cool redheads that I could look up to. My favorites were Anne Shirley (of Anne of Green Gables), Ariel (also known as the little mermaid) and then Gossamer (a little known Looney Toons character). From Anne I grew love of reading and learned a bit of stubbornness.
From Ariel I learned my love of the water and learned to be a bit of a hopeless romantic. Ariel was so cool that I even had a “Little Mermaid” themed birthday party when I was 6.
Gossamer; however, is probably my favorite redhead of all time. For those of you who don’t know Gossamer, he is a Looney Toons character that only appeared in 3 cartoons with Bugs Bunny.
I don’t know why I formed this attachment to such a strange cartoon. Maybe it was because I felt a bond with him that he was misunderstood and people just assumed that he had this horrible temper just because of the red hair. I also looked up the definition of the word gossamer. Gossamer is defined as something light, thin insubstantial or delicate. This reassured me that everyone really just had Gossamer all wrong. I loved this cartoon character so much that I named my puppy after him. Gossamer gave me hope that someone realized that I was just misunderstood and that I wasn’t just the stereotype of my hair. All these redheaded roll models helped me accept and even start to love my hair.
My love for the color red increased while my acceptance of my hair increased, but that wasn’t the extent of it all. When my papa so generously gave me my first car, it just so happened that it was red. I felt so cool in that car. So my love for the color increased exponentially, simply because that car and that color made me feel so powerful. Also as I got older, I grew out of my tom-boyishness and started to become a little more girly, but not a lot. And as this new girly-girl that I had become, the color red represented love. Red roses, a red heart, ruby red lips! Who doesn’t like those things? Some of the best things in the world are red.
So that is why by blog is red. Hopefully the color will somehow increase the cool factor of it. Or at very least let everyone know how much of a dork I am about a silly color.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
THE BEGINNING
Why did I start this blog? I definitely do not consider myself a good writer; I don’t even consider myself a mediocre writer. So why would anyone ever read it???
Maybe it was reading A Quixotic Pragmatist’s blog that has inspired me. Inspired me to be a better writer, be more analytical, and to never turn my brain off (see “Oatmeal Squares” blog).
Or maybe it is just the crazy amount of time that I have on my hands this summer. This is due to the fact that I am in a new town, have no car, have no job and find myself on the computer way too much.
So why shouldn’t I let the world know what I am thinking while I spend all this time on the computer??? Even if it is not interesting and no one reads it, it will be out there…. forever. Scary!
The main reason I have been putting off starting this blog is ridicule that my poor writing could receive. So, Bonzo Jr…. I look forward to your critiques! I challenge you to make me a stronger and more interesting writer! I might not be as long winded as you, but someday my vocabulary will be as big! (hahaha!)
Maybe it was reading A Quixotic Pragmatist’s blog that has inspired me. Inspired me to be a better writer, be more analytical, and to never turn my brain off (see “Oatmeal Squares” blog).
Or maybe it is just the crazy amount of time that I have on my hands this summer. This is due to the fact that I am in a new town, have no car, have no job and find myself on the computer way too much.
So why shouldn’t I let the world know what I am thinking while I spend all this time on the computer??? Even if it is not interesting and no one reads it, it will be out there…. forever. Scary!
The main reason I have been putting off starting this blog is ridicule that my poor writing could receive. So, Bonzo Jr…. I look forward to your critiques! I challenge you to make me a stronger and more interesting writer! I might not be as long winded as you, but someday my vocabulary will be as big! (hahaha!)
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