The Road Less Traveled

I often think a little too far into the future. Okay, I always think too far into the future. It’s something I come by naturally, as both of my parents are most definitely the planning type.

Many people try to claim that they, too, think in advance – but I’m not sure if they catch my drift. I’m not wondering what’s for dinner tomorrow – or even next week. I often find myself looking at jobs online in cities such as Seattle or Atlanta, wondering if I could actually be daring enough to start anew after graduation.

I obviously haven’t committed myself to a new life after school because for all I know I could find a too-good-to-pass-up opportunity right back at home (hey mom and dad I’m going out to the bars). Could be an interesting mix up.

Leaving behind friends and family to try something different will be a struggle at first, but if the job is good and the city has life, I don’t think I’m one to complain.

Although, I don’t think you’ll find me in a Boondockville, USA…because then you’ll know I’ll be planning my first one-way ticket out. Come get me mom?

Especially K

I had an encounter yesterday. With a cereal box. Yes, you heard me correctly. I woke up and rushed around frantically, trying to cram a 30-minute morning routine into a 10-minute time slot.

Downstairs I went, completely committing myself to the notion that I would be eating my special k in a Ziploc bag on the bus. There’s college life for ya.

That’s when it happened. Since I was one of the last girls to breakfast, I was undoubtedly not the first to notice the HUGE, unmistakable, glaring error of the cereals. You know that clear plastic gizmo people use to pour cereal because of the grip it provides and the nice open top for maximum pouring ease? Well our house so kindly provided us with one for each and every cereal. Thank you house.

The Special K lid was on the wrong way, so when you go to grip the cereal and pour into your chose apparatus (99% bowls, 1% Ziploc) the hole for the cereal is on the wrong side. Still following me? Good.

It took me less than a minute to switch the lid to the proper side, but the most upsetting thought was that 30 girls before me that morning probably noticed the same thing I did and didn’t do a thing about it. Preposterous? Maybe. Insensitive? Maybe. Lazy. Of course.

So it got the brain wheels turning. How many times do we notice something wrong with the world that would take us LITERALLY 2 seconds to fix but yet we don’t think we have the time in our day nor the motivation to make a change?

Well maybe my morning routine went from 10 to 11 minutes, but I left the house knowing that next time a hungry girl goes to grab the Special K, she will comfortably pick it up and it will come out of the right side. One small step for her, one giant leap for hungry girls everywhere.

Road Block; Danger Ahead

I’m gonna talk about writers block. The block. Of writers.

When many regular people decide they want to become doctors/lawyers/artists – turned-authors, they think that the job of writing is easy. Stick to what you know, talk about your life, keep the thoughts churning…I’ve heard it all – and continue to question the notion of writer’s block.

If so many people are writing about surefire concepts, then how can they ever run out of things to say? Perhaps it’s only the author celebs i.e. Nicholas Sparks and J.K. Rowling that wake up to blank thoughts and an even blanker Word Document. Say hello to my current situation.

I’ve already established that I don’t have a specific category that I write about, just whatever comes into my head at the time, but I think I’m suffering from my first case of Writer’s Block. Unfortunately, there is no itching, sneezing, rash, headache (or possible death) to provide symptoms of the illness, but boy if you’ve had it before you know what it’s like.

I just can’t think of the next great thing! How do you do it Steve Jobs?

So for now, I wrote about the blockage itself – and I should probably warn you, the next entry may be from Writers Block Anonymous, the club I’m thinking of creating…new hobby anyone?

Putting the "Cool" in School

So we all knew those kids growing up that said they never studied, yet persisted to proudly display one big A+ after another. What gives?

I think one of life’s mysteries (among thousands, im aware) is the question of natural smarts. Do these said straight a students actually put real time into their grades?

For years I sat by Jim**(name changed, duh) who received the top grades in our class, yet touted that he spent half his night in front of the TV and the other half on his Wii/Xbox/Rockband/GuitarHero/Anything with a plug and a screen. I don’t get it? Was he really born with this inherent talent to waltz into class on test day and by reverse osmosis just know the right answer?

It just cant be! He had to have been going home and if nothing else, at least spending 20 min reviewing the days material. And, furthermore, if he did secretly study, why did he feel the need to lie and boast his lack of effort? We would have respected his ability to succeed whether he put the time in openly or in the dark.

Lord knows we all had to hit the books pretty hard to remain competitive.

The strange thing is, when I got to college, those i-didn’t-study-but-graduated-with-a-4.0-types oddly disappeared. And I’m pretty sure they went to a college. Everywhere you look, the top achieving students are the ones staying after to talk to the teacher, attending the review sessions and raising their hands in class. It just proves I was right all along (as if im never not..)

I wish someone could revert back to their 12 year old self and tell those snotty braggarts that not studying is well, not cool … but as for now I guess im satisfied knowing that their secret isn’t safe for long. I saw you at the library last night Jim.

And then God created two days of rest

And another one bites the dust.

I’m here to personally apologize to every single Saturday birthday child out there (all futures included). No more birthday checks from grandma on the day of.

Wow, what a shame. We just received news that the U.S. Post Office will be cutting Saturday mail delivery. Are you freaking kidding me?? Jumping the gun now are we?

Yeah, yeah, I understand the whole Sunday is religious and we’re in church so therefore we cant be bothered with the lowly mail service – but by the U.S. removing the ability to receive birthday money (I cant really think of what else I get..stay tuned) I think this is the beginning of the end.

A friend recently commented that she sees the future of mail days as the equivalent of trash Tuesdays. Could be? But as of now I am eager to see where else the recession will rear its ugly head.

Please wait until next year Uncle Sam, my birthday this year falls on, of course, a Saturday. Why else would I complain?

Where in the World is Karma San Diego?

Karma. According to Hinduism and Buddhism, the effects of a person's actions determine his destiny in his next incarnation

So that’s the hype? I’m nice to you today and I come back as a Queen? But say a mean thing and you’re condemned to be a lowly grasshopper. Yeesh - the Buddhists were quite unforgiving. Wonder what Perez Hilton is gonna come back as.

But seriously! The current notion of Karma is just so, evasive. Somehow, over the span of human existence, Karma has evolved into not only existing between life cycles but has become somewhat of a Jewish Bubbe, AKA a constant reminder what goes around comes around. You visit the old-age home and poof! You got an A on your history midterm (or was it English?)

That’s the Western world’s version of Karma for you. It leaves nothing to luck, chance or pouring over the books – good things happen to us because of our daily do-rights.

It’s a fanciful idea though, don’t you agree? Taking a Buddhist slash Hindu teaching, tweaking it a bit to fit our own values and then applying it to everyday life? Someone had a good sense of humor back in the day.

Don’t let me scare you though – I’m sure some variation of Karma exists on a daily basis, but if not then just continue doing things out of the good of your heart…just don’t come crying to me when you failed your math test because you didn’t take your sister to ballet class (or was it English?).

Princess Desires on a Pauper's Budget

iWant. iNeed. iSee. iLike.

iPad? The inner technology geek in me craves the granddaddy version of the iPhone. Its just so: awe-inspiring.

So close, yet so very far away.

Not only does the iPad debut tomorrow, but Apple’s newest creation that sent shockwaves through the internet community (but has somehow craftily avoided mainstream hype) is still about $500 over my budget. Which now rests at a comfortable $0.

I just can’t quite justify exactly why I need the iPad, which I think is its biggest problem thus far. It’s not like telling dad you need a new phone, computer or tv, which have all found their niches in our content driven society, there’s no real reason to own the ipad.

Its cool, I’ll gladly label it that. But somehow Apple forgot about its younger than 30 set who don’t have a disposable income to spend $500 on a not-quite-a-phone but not-quite-a-computer.

So if you can think of some urgent reason why the iPad will help me get better grades (for you dad), get a boyfriend (for you mom and grandma) or live a better life … then please, help my case.

Because as of now, one thing I can’t say is iPaid.

It's a Disaster, Naturally

Power Outages. I’m gonna attempt to write an entire blog about power outages.

They aren’t cool, in, hip, or “groovy”, but theyre something we Americans – yes, every-single-american have experienced at least once in our lives. If I attempted to write about some form of natural disaster and the ways in which I coped to whether the storm I honestly couldn’t come up with one traumatizing experience. How do I know? Because I tried. And failed.

The closest I ever got to a real-life close up storm was the one serious tornado threat (and I emphasize the word threat) to my neighborhood. Sister and I sat huddled in the bathtub with some JIF and Saltines, ready to face whatever green monster was spiraling its way south of Oklahoma. Then the power went out.

The power’s out! We screamed. Its soooo gonna be a tornado. No lights, no computer, no clocks and gasp! No tv. I think power outages trump every single natural disaster out there.

After all, power is what were all after right? Or is that the other kind..