Snow Days vs. Two-Hour Delays

            I prefer two-hour delays over half days and snow days. I used to like snow days the best until they decided to have us make them up throughout or at the end of the school year; that's honestly ridiculous if you ask me. We can't control the weather so why should we have to make the days up? Teachers can just eliminate things from their lesson plans for all we care; I doubt anyone would mind, I don't know, missing a test or two because of an unexpected snow day.

            I like two-hour delays because I get to sleep in. I don't think anyone but high school and college students understand how needed more sleep is. Honestly, younger grades should be the ones starting school at 8 in the morning because they have much more energy so they will easily get over their sleepiness in the morning. My brother and sister, for example, are in fifth and first grade, and after they're awake for about five minutes, they're ready to go. My sister and I are pretty much dead for the first three hours or so after we get up in the morning because we both end up staying awake until about 1 in the morning and have to wake up around 6:30 every day. I think that high school should start at 9 and elementary and middle school should start at 8. They shouldn't start and get out at the same time because that creates conflicts for parents who have kids at two or more separate schools; they'd have to be in three places at once!

            Another reason two-hour delays are better than snow days is that we don't have to make them up. As I mentioned before, having to make up snow days is a drag. For us seniors, we don't have to worry about them taking up our summertime because we're done at graduation, but we still have to go to the damn make-up days they decided to schedule during the year. I was hoping that we'd have enough snow days to go over into the summer so my sister would still have to go to school while I was at home sleeping all day; I think it'd be hilarious. At least I still get out five-or-so days before she does.

            Two-hour delays are awesome because classes are so much shorter, even shorter than on our regular half days. On half days, we don't have to incorporate lunch into the shortened day, so classes are around 40-45 minutes each. On a two-hour-delay day, we still have to fit four lunch periods in there, so classes are 30-35 minutes each which is awesome. That's especially awesome on those lucky days when tests are scheduled, because there's no way there would be enough time to take a test without being rushed, so, naturally, teachers should just postpone, or even cancel, it.

            I still thoroughly enjoy half days, and delays are always a pleasant surprise. I also really like those special days when a big storm's a-brewin', and the Superintendent decides that the schools need to dismiss early just to ensure the kids get home safe before there's about 50 feet of snow on the ground. Just kidding, but it's still pretty awesomely unexpected and it makes the day better. And since we already were at school for a designated amount of time, we don't have to make those days up either. Sweet!

Word count: 575 

Miss Representation

           Contrary to what people all throughout history have said and tried to accomplish, men and women are still not completely equal in all aspects. Men are still seen as being the strong leaders, women are still the kind negotiators. Is it impossible for a woman to be a strong leader, too? Can't a man be kind and gentle as well?

            As we've noticed in class as we view Miss Representation, it's clear that the media shows women in a different light than what the everyday woman on the street looks like. TV shows and movies portray women as statuesque beings with the perfect body, clear, glowing skin, flowing, perfect hair and tons of money. Just by walking through my school, or looking outside as I'm driving through downtown, I hardly ever see "the perfect woman" as seen on TV, if at all.

            The part that really frustrates me about the media, as mentioned also in the video, is that the portrayals of women influence how young girls and women see themselves in a negative way, and they feel the need to look like the glowing figures on TV and in movies. A scene in the documentary that stood out to me was when a girl was talking about how her younger sister would cut herself because she was being teased for not being very pretty. I find that sick; no one should cut themselves, but especially not because someone told them they weren't "pretty enough".

            Harmless-looking forms of media such as Barbie dolls are also showing girls what society views as 'beautiful'; if girls don't look like Barbie and dress like Barbie, does that mean they aren't beautiful? I don't think so. To get rid of this controversy, toy makers could make a larger Barbie to represent bigger girls, or shorter Barbies to suit short girls, just so there is a doll to fit every type of girl. They have Barbies with different ethnicities, why not shapes and sizes?

            Not only does the media simply make women look trashy and bad most of the time, those women who are trying to make a living for the media, such as actresses and other positions behind the scenes of movies and TV shows, aren't having their fair share of the spotlight. According to an article I read on jobs in the filmmaking industry, women are vastly outnumbered by the amount of men there are in top-rated movies; they make up 18% of the staff directing, producing, editing, or filming the movies themselves, not just acting. Of course most of the women are placed in front of the cameras so men can look at them, not behind the camera where no one can see.

            Mentioned in the article, actress Meryl Streep comments that although the top five movies released in the last five years, all with major female roles, have brought in a lot of profit, the fimmaking industry still neglects to make many "big-time" movies aimed toward a female audience. This doesn't make sense because the movies made the industry a lot of money, yet they don't continue down that path to make more of such movies because they're for women.

Word count: 531

You Don't DO That!

            People do some seriously crazy stuff online. By now I'm sure most of you have seen or at least heard about this disgusting, idiotic and downright raunchy video of this girl sucking the blood out of her tampon.

            If  you haven't then, yeah. You read that right.

            This girl looked like she was maybe 15 or 16. I think she did it because some gross pervert suggested it in a comment in another video of hers so, being the idiot she is, she felt the need to follow through with their request? NO! That's absolutely disgusting and just...UGH!

            For one thing, why would she just pull down her pants in front of the camera and proceed to yank the tampon out of her body, still on camera? And did anyone else find it very ironic that she was wearing a really low-cut shirt? Was she trying to look hot while drinking her own blood like some sort of sick new-age vampire trick? She wasn't pretty anyway.

            Second, why would she show her tampon on the camera, at all? I don't want to see your nasty blood clots! I'm a girl, I know what that shit looks like. Seriously, if she wanted fame or whatever, she could have done some other stupid prank or challenge to get it.

            Third, why in the HELL would she smell her tampon, let alone PUT IT IN HER MOUTH AND PROCEED TO SUCK ON IT, MULTIPLE TIMES?! Oh. My. God. You know, if it wasn't for my personal experience with periods and whatnot and what blood clots actually look like, I would have been part of the group of poor viewers that believed the video was fake. But no, those chunks were real. Very real. And she literally swallowed them. If she was smart, and not completely retarded and sick and twisted, she could have soaked it in red Kool-Aid and made sure to leave chunks of the wet powder on it or something. People in this world make me sick.

          What I don't understand is, if everyone was so disgusted and turned off by this girl's video, why did so damn many of them decide to re-upload the video themselves? Did they think that, by some weird and unlikely miracle, that by uploading her minutes of nasty fame would somehow give them some of her spotlight because they posted the same video? No. It doesn't work that way, guys. If you want to be some famous YouTuber, post funny or stupid videos that make people laugh 'till their sides hurt, not throw up.

Word count: 451

Dye! Dye! Dye!

            I've been dyeing my hair since I was in second grade when I wanted to try doing highlights at home for the first time; my mom and I tried using the in-box cap method as opposed to going to a hair salon to get it done and I ended up with a full head of blonde hair. Let's just say, I didn't have highlights. But I did discover that I liked dyeing my hair, aside from accidentally doing it that way and having all of my hair tugged and ripped through that damn plastic cap by a flimsy plastic hook thing. That shit hurt.

            I've dyed my hair three different colors in my life: blonde, by accident, reddish brown and black, although the black was supposed to be "darkest brown", as stated on the box, but I had Asian hair at the end of the procedure. I've also color-stripped my hair once and I bleached it once, both of which I would not recommend unless absolutely necessary because it really damages your hair. Dyeing it isn't exactly super healthy for your hair either, but at least you're mixing essential oils into it that help it somewhat.

            Since I've been dyeing my hair for about ten years now, I can safely say I've had enough experience to tell you what to do and what NOT to do when trying to dye your hair at home.

1. Make sure your hair is dirty when you dye or bleach it. I know that sounds gross, but the color adheres to your hair better when it's not clean; because of this, the color might also come out darker, so you might not have to leave it in as long. At least you know it'll work out right if you know you haven't showered for a day or so.

2. Wear a shirt you don't mind getting ruined when you're dyeing. Applying the dye or bleach can get messy, especially if you're doing it all yourself or if my mother is doing it; she tends to squirt the stuff all over my back and shoulders and my ears and everywhere else on my physical person. Wear the gloves that come in the box, too. The dye stains more than just your hair and it's tough to get out. It looked like I had bruises when I dyed my hair black.

3. I recommend using Garnier Nutrisse hair color; it smells good and it's not too bad for your hair. Mix the dye according to the directions in the box. Apply the dye to your part first. That's the place that's actually hardest to get colored and the most noticeable, believe it or not, because, obviously, that's where your hair is growing back in (if you're re-coloring or dyeing a different color), so that section of hair is lighter (or darker); your natural hair will absorb the dye no matter what color you're doing because it isn't exposed to any chemicals yet, unless you're going from black to blonde or something, in which case you'd be bleaching, not dyeing. Once your part is colored, put your hair up (I recommend with a clip) except for a section at the base of your neck and work your way up from there. If you were to start at the top and go down, you might miss spots underneath your hair; that's why it's best to work in sections, too, as opposed to just squirting the whole bottle on your head and rubbing it in like shampoo. Since you're using a clip, it's easier to let sections or hair down so you can keep applying up; make sure you start at your scalp and work your way out to the ends. Once all the dye is applied, (sometimes two bottles are necessary, depending on how much hair you have) give yourself a little scalp massage and work it all in, making sure you didn't miss any spots and then pile it on the top of your head. Sit for about 15-20 minutes,

4. When you're rinsing the dye out, get your hair wet first, and work your fingers through it one more time with the dye still in, just to make sure you got everywhere. Trust me, you don't want to go through all of that and realize that you missed a section of hair once it's washed and dried. Rinse it, and when the water runs clear, the dye is out.

5. CONDITION THE HELL OUT OF IT. Your hair is very porous since it's been exposed to harsh chemicals, which means it'll be very brittle and dry if you don't condition it. The box comes with a packet of conditioner, but I always use more just to be safe. Drench your hair in it and keep it in for about 10 minutes, 15-20 to be safe. Sometimes I actually get out of the shower to let it condition and then I get back in to rinse it. When you rinse, make sure you're using cool water instead of hot because it'll close up your hair, trapping the conditioner inside which is what you want.

6. If you're planning on styling right after dyeing, I recommend not using too much heat, so not a lot of blow drying or straightening or curling, at least not right away. Your hair just endured a lot, don't overwork it.

Word count: 902

Nail 'Em!

            Any other girls have an obsession with painting your nails like I do? If my nails are long enough for my liking, I find myself doing something to them almost every day. I like to experiment with different color combinations, patterns and designs on my nails. There are a lot of cool tools and stuff I like to use, too.

·       They make acrylic kits so you can do your nails as if you were going to the salon to get them done. They're about $15 for three sets which is half the price of one full set if you get them done professionally. It takes some practice getting used to using the little brush and applying the acrylic, but once you get the hang of it, it's fun and pretty easy. You can paint them however you want when you're done.

·        I like to use different techniques and tools to decorate my nails. One of my favorite tools is a dotting tool; it has a small metal bulb at either end, one is a little larger than the other and it's used to make dots or lines on your nails neatly. I like it because I put flowers or hearts on my nails a lot and I like to write letters as well. The tool is only a couple bucks at Walmart.

·         I really like using stickers as well. They're good for when you want your nails to look a little more professionally done than if you made flowers yourself without having to fish out the money for it. I use tip stickers as well when I want to have French tips because they make a perfectly straight guideline to paint so my nails look really nice.

·       Sometimes I like to be really creative and paint pictures or phrases on my nails. My favorite little project was when I painted Angry Birds pigs; it took a while, but they looked awesome!

 

Word count: 330

Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!

            Everyone who's ever been in a relationship knows how it goes; exes never stay away. No matter what you do, they're always there. Oh, no, I'm not talking about my exes this time. I'm talking about my boyfriend's crazy ex girlfriend.

            I know 'crazy' is an over-used term to describe an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, but, really, this chick is crazy. My boyfriend has two children (don't freak! He's only 21) and baby-mama is bipolar when it comes to letting him see his little boys. One minute, she'll bitch and complain that he doesn't try to see his kids and that she's the only one taking care of them, which, mind you, is insane, because he calls her all the time to see his boys and she ignores his calls. The next minute, she'll tell him to erase her number and never call her again because he's causing too much drama by trying to contact her. Contradictory much? I think so. It doesn't help that this girl isn't a very good mother; she doesn't live in a stable home, she makes bad decisions and brings home a lot of guys which is scary and pretty unhealthy for those poor young boys to be around.

            After all the craziness, she turns around and decides to compliment me and tell him that she's happy he found me. Really? I appreciate the sentiment but weren't you just about to rip his head off a second ago? I try to be a good person and be civil with her, which isn't too hard since I haven't actually met her yet, but when it comes to her yelling at my boyfriend for things he didn't do, I'm not going to be super forgiving about it.

            My thing is, why do exes have to be involved in our current relationships? They're called "EXES" for a reason, because they're crossed out of our life like checking something off of a list: "Yep, that mistakes done, let's move on!" I mean I understand they have to have some sort of communication because they have two children together, but that doesn't mean she has to make any comments about me. She doesn't know anything about me or our relationship so I don't want to have to deal with her. Case closed.

Word count: 392

Gotta Love Food

Ever since I was little, I watched my mom and my grandma construct delicious dishes in the kitchen, and I wanted to be able to cook like them when I grew up. I remember watching the Food Network all the time, especially Rachael Ray's shows, Unwrapped, Emeril, Iron Chef, Paula Dean's shows, and a bunch of other ones. I got my first Rachael Ray cookbook when I was 8, and I tried recreating her recipes myself. Now that I'm older, I've actually made up my own recipes, especially for pastas and pizza and some desserts.

 

My first recipe I made up was my own version of chicken alfredo. It's my favorite dish at my favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, and I wanted to have it all the time so I figured I'd make it myself. I made this up based on what ingredients I found around the house. 1 batch feeds about six people.

 

·         1 to 1 1/2 jars of Prego Alfredo sauce

·         1 box of any pasta of your choice; I like radiatori or penne pasta because they're bite-sized

·         1 onion, white or red

·         Minced garlic, 2 cloves

·         Chicken (varies on what you have around): 2 chicken breasts, thawed and seasoned when you cook them; about 10 chicken nuggets, cut up; 4-5 chicken filets, depending how big they are

·          Italian seasoning (if you have it)

·         Broccoli (optional) or any other vegetable you want to cut up in there

·         About 1 cup of milk

·         Parmesan cheese, however much you want, if any

·         Salt and pepper

 

I always start by cooking the pasta first, that way I can cook the whole dish in one pot without dirtying too many dishes. Boil the water and add salt to flavor the pasta. Let it cook until it's al-dente, or cooked to your liking, and strain it.

 

Turn the heat down to medium and put a little oil in, enough to lightly coat the bottom. Cut up the chicken, whatever kind you decide to use, until it's brown. Add a little more oil if you need to and add in the onions, garlic, pepper and any other seasonings or vegetables you want.

Once everything is cooked, turn the heat down to low and pour in the alfredo sauce. Add the milk and as much parmesan as you want and stir until there are no lumps of cheese left. Add the pasta and mix it all up. Add more cheese or spices of you'd like.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry.

 

Word count: 430

Holy Ouija!

                How many of you guys have played with a Ouija board before? I had seen them in movies and TV shows before but I never thought they’d actually work. I wasn’t much of a believer in the supernatural world, but after my first experience with one of these boards, it changed my views on what else could be living among us. (It sounds like I’m speaking for the Discovery Channel or something.)

                For those of you who don’t know, a Ouija board is basically a game board with the alphabet written on it in the center, all ten numbers, 0-9, ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ written in the upper corners of the board and ‘Goodbye’ at the bottom. If you buy it, the game comes with a teardrop-shaped piece of plastic with a clear disk in the center which allows you to see the letters, numbers, or words through it. My sister and I learned that you can actually make your own board out of paper or cardboard or something and it works just fine. We use a poker chip for the moving piece.

              To play, you can’t have just one person. Not only does it not work, but rumor has it that the user will be “possessed” if they’re the only one with their fingers on the piece. Both, or all players, place two fingers, or one depending on how many people are playing, on the piece and ask a question. Usually, we start off by asking if anyone is in the room with us, and the piece will slowly slide to the ‘Yes’ in the corner. When we first played, we swore to God that neither one of us was moving it. If one of us was moving it, it probably would have moved faster and not as smoothly since multiple people had their fingers on it. To get the game going, just ask the spirit questions. Sometimes they’ll respond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, other times they’ll spell out words or sentences or answer with numbers. If they don’t want to talk, they’ll slide the piece to ‘Goodbye’; you could do the same if what they’re saying freaks you out or it’s complete nonsense.

                The freakiest thing about the Ouija board is that much of what they say is true. My sister and I would try testing its legitimacy with facts about ourselves, and they were right to the ‘T’. We thought it was maybe because the person we asked about had their fingers on the chip, so we asked another person to touch it while we asked about the person who wasn’t touching it. The board was still right. Sometimes, the spirits will write out full sentences or phrases to tell you things without you having to ask them anything. We began asking it questions about the future, and sometimes they’re correct, other times they change their minds or say things completely irrelevant. Either way, playing with a Ouija board is fun and scary at the same time. I recommend playing if you haven’t already!

            Another tip: don’t leave the piece on the board without touching it. Apparently it opens the board up so many the spirits can enter the room. Also, don’t play Christian music or have crosses around. It pisses them off. And if they spell out ‘Devil’, well, you should know to stop playing right about then. Another sign that the Devil is playing with you is when the piece goes back and forth between two letters over and over.

Word count: 587

Hellish New Year

Oh. My. God. I thought Christmas Eve was a nightmare, but New Year’s Eve takes the cake, and not in a good way. I don’t know what our society’s problem is, but everyone and their mother is a damn procrastinator to the extreme.

*At work, we were open until 6 pm on New Year’s Eve so people still had time to get ready to go out with their friends and family for the holiday. Apparently, the entire fucking city didn’t know when New Year’s Eve was, or they’re just stupid, because the entire population of Cedar Rapids decided to flock into Gordmans between 10 am and 6 pm. Not one minute was slow, steady, or easily worked. There were constantly people flooding the fitting room, trying on ten items at a time, keeping none and then preceding to go back for rounds two and three or more. Every single time they tried on clothes, they kept maybe one or two things, three if I was lucky. Most of the time they just threw their shit on my counter and stomped away in a huff like it was my fault that none of the clothes fit. I’m sorry, ma’am; I wasn’t aware that 40-somethings couldn’t fit into junior jeans and dresses. I’ll be sure to warn the next soul entering my domain.

The most disgusting part about this was almost every woman who came in was trying on either short skirts, tight jeans and low-cut shirts, or lingerie. It’s like, really, you’re going out to a dark bar or club, you’re going to get sweaty and piss drunk, you will more-likely-than-not throw up on yourself or have someone else throw up on you, and eventually your see-through lacey babydoll ensemble is going to be ripped off of you, so WHY EVEN BOTHER BUYING IT?! If you were smart, you’d wear old, holey sweats or something because you’re just going to get more disgusting as the night goes on.

Not only was everyone trying on a million skanky little outfits, but we were suddenly hit by a mob of shoppers, literally, at 5:55 pm. I had never seen it so busy, so close to our closing time. The closing announcements didn’t even phase them. They were like a virus or something. We had to start turning people down from the fitting room because we were closed. We even had about a dozen people call after hours to see when we closed. Sorry, bitches, we closed ten minutes ago. Happy New Year!

 

Word count: 421

New Year's Resolution

                When I was younger, whenever I heard about people’s New Year’s resolutions, a lot of the time I had to roll my eyes and laugh to myself because they were always the same: “I want to lose weight!” “I want to find a boyfriend/girlfriend!” “I want to stop doing this and this and do this instead!” I never really made a resolution that I could actually stick to. And before this year, I thought they were silly.

                I realize that those kinds of resolutions I mentioned aren’t so silly now that I’m old enough to find that they’re actually possible. I just recently started dating this new guy, and things are clicking pretty well. It’s funny because finding a boyfriend wasn’t a resolution for me, yet it happened anyway. This sounds rather pathetic I’m sure, but I’ve only had one other boyfriend before and he turned out to be quite the asshole. One of my resolutions for this year is to just be able to keep this relationship as long as I can.

                My boyfriend and I have one big thing in common; we’re both bigger people. This is where the second resolution comes in. See, he used to be really fit, played football and lifted A LOT. He wants to get back into shape and asked if I’d do it with him. Normally, I’d probably pass out at just the thought because I’d tried losing weight before and I failed miserably, so I just decided to accept it. But, since he wants to do it with me, I figured we could use it as a way of bonding and spending time together. Besides, there’s no way I’d have the motivation to do it if I didn’t have him there with me to keep my ass in gear.

                Another resolution I have this year is to go to college without any problems. I’ve already been accepted to UNI which I’m TOTALLY stoked about. Unfortunately, though, I didn’t get the art scholarship I applied for. That just means I’ll have to bust my ass more for ways of paying for school. I’m not looking forward to working full time this summer, and not being able to spend my money isn’t going to be fun either.

                Overall, I think my resolutions are pretty plausible. I’m just hoping nothing gets in the way and I’m able to keep my focus so things will turn out the way I want them to.

Word count: 413