Underpaid, Overperplexed

If you so kindly would, fast forward to today and you will find me knee deep in a brand spankin new semester. The second half of college has begun, and the first half of the week is almost over. So I guess you can say I'm at the beginning of the end. But please, I'm nostalgic not morose.

Classes are alright, yawn...but one class in particular is the absolute highlight of my week. And if I were to choose a highlighter color for this one, it would have to be pink. Yellow is too generic and no one can really read under green highlighter anyways. So back to the pink. Magazine management by Dr. Hume is the first class I've ever been to where I just feel like what I'm learning will actually be of use in the future. I'm so sick of memorizing acute and obtuse angles, shapes of clouds and who led the confederate army .. while mathmaticians, meterologists and history buffs are most likely rolling around in their graves, I'm just done learning facts I'll never use again.

Which brings me to Mag Management. Having a dream to launch my own magazine one day, I can't help but feel the overwhelming sense of "ahh" that I do when I walk into that room every morning. I guess it's like a sorority girl who finds her perfect sorority after a long hellish week of rush, but I won't go there...really I won't.

As a budding magazine entrepeneur, I am posed with the challenge of creating my own magazine. I suppose I'll start a magazine highlighting my second greatest passion, travel and relate to current affairs (aka the economy) to end with a magazine designed for the american traveler on a budget...but that's about as far as I have gotten.

I can't come up with a name, people. Good names are like gold on the newsstands and by god I want to be there with my pan ready. "HELP!"

My First Attempt At Being Philosophical

   “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” - Aristotle

I frequent a blog called AllWomenStalk.com. Some see it as AllWomensTalk.com, but I'm not keeping score.

Basically, the premise of the blog is to provide as many freelance bloggers as possible a platform for them to contribute to a growing archive of lists about Fashion, Love, Beauty, Wellness, Celebrities, Dating ... well you get the picture. From the beginning of my discovery of this hidden gem, I have learned everything from the 10 Signs You Are Dating the Guy of Your Dreams…
to 7 Mistakes Women Make At Parties, and How To Avoid Them to 15 Tips for Passing Exams Successfully … Seriously, if there's something you want to know - I guarantee my handy website has addressed the issue and covered it in the utmost comprehensive manner as possible.

As I was browsing the headlines and starring the ones I would surely return to later, I clicked on a 9 Things We Cannot Live Without list. I agreed with the top couple of items. Surely we need H20 (or my equivalent...coffee) and who would argue with needing food and the sun? Yes..the list was that literal. But then our resident bloganista Aprille Ross started to get a little crazy with her suggestions. She concluded the list with money and the Internet. Talk about getting technical.

Okay Aprille - so we see where your alliances lie and remind never to accidently cut off your wifi for fear of death, but couldn't you be at least a little philosophical in your needs to thrive? What about happiness? a sense of purpose? healthy relationships?

Have we as a society gotten so far off track that our list of top priorities comprises of literally food water money and the Internet? Throw in some food and electricity and you have yourself a functioning robot.

I'm not sure what my 9 things I cannot live without list would look like, but I hope that it would include satisfaction, humanity and peace. If not all 3 then at least 1 of them. Lately I have started to realize life is about more than meals, the gym and class. To the average college student, those 3 things ARE life. But once you switch the sorority tees for business casual - something has to be driving you to continually grow and prosper in this cat and mouse world.

But what is it? Is it really dollar signs in your eyes? Or is it more than that..like the need to feel needed or the strive to be a part of something bigger than yourself?

With the shifted focus of this blog to "reflections on human nature" I promise it will not be a continual griping on the lack of emotion and depth in our world but rather a kind of "world as i see it: including the good, the bad and the ugly." Not sure where it will go after that though, stay tuned.

I hope you appreciate that I am continually refining my focus and improving the content. If you aren't working towards something then what are you doing really? I need to find a good quote out there that sums it all up but until now I'll leave you with one question.

What can't you live without? And if you say money and the internet then you should hit up Aprille Ross. You two have loads to talk about. Perhaps you can IM each other.

From Happy Meals to Happy People

I like to keep to myself. I don’t stick my nose – or any other body part for that matter – where it is not wanted, and so far it’s been so good. I’m unabashedly un- confrontational, and if you want to pick a fight with me, you win. That’s why what I’m about to stay goes against almost everything I stand for. The only reason I am choosing to write a blog so grave in opinion is because it’s a notion with which I have been wrestling for quite some time. People who are at a disadvantage in physical attractiveness make up for it in personality, humor and charisma. Phew. Saying that was like ripping off a band-aid: you know it’s gonna sting but you still want to do it anyways.

Comedians aren’t generally the upper echelon of society’s beauty. In general (as always, exceptions do exist) they are the frumpy Joe Shmoes at the party who got heads to turn by their quick-witted comebacks and laugh inducing self-deprecation jokes. How do I know? Because I observe the hell out of everything.

There was a sex and the city episode where Miranda becomes the center of entertainment for the bachelor party when she refreshingly makes fun of herself to a room full of girlfriends and fiancées as she chronicles the miseries of SoloVille. She later tells a confused Carrie Bradshaw that the only way she avoids the pity is with the jokes.

Very few things she said after that (or before, for that matter) ever made more sense to me. Beautiful people don’t often need to cultivate humor and wit because it’s rare they’ll ever be left off the guest list in the first place. Seth Rogan, one of Hollywood’s current funnymen uses his Jewfro and spare tire to create hilarious content and maintain a high demand. He used what God gave him, and he used it wisely.

I’m really not saying that all beauties are bores and all fatties are funnies, but if you look back a few years, the latter seems to be a growing trend. John Candy, Rosie O’Donnell, Jonah Hill…I can keep going if you’ll let me. I’m just really proud of these people for not shying away from the spotlight because the heads don’t turn when they walk into a room. What’s the use of staring at a tight-lipped super model? Looks fade, sweetheart.

There, was that so bad? Tell me if I’ve become too opinionated for you. I’m giving away a freshly ripped Band-Aid as the first comment prize.

A Ticking Time Blog

How does so much time pass between thoughts? I will never understand how there are times when the minute clock slows to a sweat inducing crawl almost to the point of stopping altogether, and other times I blink and it's been 2 weeks.

One of those times is now.

I love to write, honestly - I wouldn't make that up. I haven't stopped this time for lack of content, lack of motivation, or lack of internet access. (Hey, things are best in 3s). I really truly ran out of that precious asset we love to call time.

But, as always, I did not stray for too long. I'm back now and feeling more productive than ever. I did well in my Economics class (If an A to you is doing well, but feel free to be the judge), and my job is great! As I previously mentioned, I am the resident Social Media Guru and I couldn't be having more fun.

Accounting is alright, only made better by a fellow UGA-er and my Betty White channeling teacher. Seriously, she couldn't be cuter.

So stay tuned...because where there is time, there is always a way. It's the time part that's the struggle folks, not the will.

"Count Off!"

Quick, give me your top 3 goals for the day. Top 5? 10?

Bet you kept reading. Would you like to know how I know that? Because anything that requires lists or counting off is just plain intriguing. A famous quote by Mark Twain expressed our society’s power in numbers. One hundred years later, he couldn’t be more accurate.

But why?

Why is our society so fascinated with numbers and lists? Everyone knows David Letterman’s famous Top Tens. The spoofs and spin offs are innumerable. I’m not posing the question because I think I have solved one of nature’s greatest mysteries. I’m simply curious.

With all of the ADHD and ADD diagnoses in our world today, could it be that we, in fact, are all a bit deficient in attention spans? Top 100 of anything, whether it is books, movie or songs, is about the highest well go, and even that’s a stretch. Listing 5 or 10 of anything is much more comfortable.

We looove to count. We love statistics and demographics and ratings because they provide a constant series of change. And if life weren’t dynamic, it would indeed be boring.

So quick, think of your top 3 goals for the day. And go do them. Then think of some more! And if you need a little help, I can only imagine the Google hits you would get in response.

Here today, butterfly tomorrow

So you’re standing in front of your classmates at graduation, and as you rise to receive your coveted high school diploma you look down and realize you are buck-naked. You use your hands to cover yourself up and hurriedly scamper off stage.

Of course this didn’t happen in real life, please. And no, I don’t know anyone who suffered this fate either. What I do know is that we all too often feel as stared at and targeted as a naked grad on his high school’s stage.

The reason why all of you were able to so easily to relate to the shame and embarrassment the dream situation aimed to convey was because many people become humiliated too easily. Did simply reading my opening paragraph cause you to grin and have flushed cheeks? Snap out of it!

Stop being embarrassed! Stop being afraid of the worst! You are wearing clothes right now, ill give you a minute to check it out again and make sure. We good? Thought so.

As long as you continue to keep yourself out of the naked limelight, you will go far. If you can remove that one-foot from the cliché nightmare grave, you too can free yourself of self-consciousness and become a butterfly. Fly away into the successful sky. Just don’t come back for your diploma.

She's baaaaaack

How did I get back here again, computer? I started the blog not because I thought I'm awesome and my life is great (shout out to Jessica's Daily Affirmation on Youtube) but because I had a steady stream of ideas and witticisms that I wanted to share with my eager audience. Alas, alack I revved up the old writing engine and got my creative juices flowing. 10 posts and 100+ blog views later, the well ran dry.

Looks like my followers are going to have to settle on listening to my life in its entirety. Not that the existence of a young, jewish single about Dallastown isn't fascinating in of itself. Please, who are we kidding? Dallas is the younger and less cooler but diehard wannabe version of Los Angeles, you can't deny. And I am here to utterly reap the hand-me-down benefits. So far, Summer 2010 has been 50% everything I ever wanted and 50% everything my parents ever wanted for me. It's funny the way life works isn't it?

So say hello to my daily mon-fri 9-5 routine. I will walk you through it like an LA reject working the nightshift at the Dallas Museum of Art. iPhone-turned-alarm-clock goes off at 8. I'm out the door 8:30 listening to Kidd Kraddick in the morning all the way to my Microeconomics class commencing at 9. Kidd has been on the radio for as long as i can remember and I embrace the time I can spend with him and his team of entertaining workaholics. keep doin yaw thang. I spend 3 hours with a bunch of state school kiddos who need a boost in their GPAs and opted for summer school. Hey, I never said I wasn't one of them.

Class ends. I rush to car. I come home, quick change of clothes to go from drab to fab. eat some lunch and off I go! Only to arrive at the most fabulous internship ever invented, ever. Did I say ever? I meant to. At North Texas Kids Magazine, I sit with my head boss and second in command boss-turned instaBFF (Dr. Riordan and Heidi, respectively) from 1-5 being the extra set of eyes, ears, hands, brain and the like. Don't you wish you had one of me?

Anyways, I love it and I think it loves me. June wedding planned. Stay tuned.

So there's my cooler-than-yours life. Next to come: what happens when you find love at community college? or how to let your smarter-than-you boss win on words with friends? life can be complicated, but i didn't say it wasn't fun!!