I love shopping. When browsing racks for fun or for a specific event, I often wonder what would Carrie do? As in Bradshaw. Or Patricia Field via Carrie Bradshaw. Sadly my wardrobe does not reflect these intentions. Black and blah seems to sneak into my clothing even when I make specific attempts to step outside my box.
This predilection for non glamour could be attributed to habits or perhaps cost of clothing. In my experience, the bright, fun, exciting clothes that reek of cocktail parties and nefarious fun tend to be out of my price range. The past two fashion seasons designers have boasted more wallet friendly collections. One designer claimed a buyer could wear their label starting at just five hundred dollars. *Cough*.
I’m not going to lie. I would pay five hundred dollars for a designer piece that I loved. I would do it and not think twice about it. Alas, I do not have that luxury. Pun intended.
So here it is designers, we know you like to be exclusive. We know you don’t want everybody being able to afford your lifestyle as that would diminish the appeal. But don’t patronize us by saying you are making affordable looks. We all want to be able to look great, have style, and not wear flammable clothing. Think about those of us who purchase Vogue for the ads, not the articles the next time you are creating your affordable collection.
I recently googled “how many lobbyists for each member of congress”. The answer I got was a bit stunning: 6. This rumor has been circulating late night comedy news and talk shows but I was sure it was an exaggeration. It wasn’t. Also surprising, that the entire page of search results announcing this depravity was from bloggers and watch groups. Not a single mainstream news source thought it necessary to inform the public that the reason it is not getting universal health care is because the insurance and health care companies are *donating* millions of dollars to the public officials elected to create said health care. I ask you friends, WHAT THE FUCK? Pardon my language, but is no one else completely dumbfounded and outraged?
What does the health care industry have to do in order for people to understand it could use a competitive product? We already know insurance companies have an egregious habit of turning down coverage for pre-existing conditions such as pregnancy, and oh, being the victim of domestic violence.
Wake up people, this is no joke. Democrat, Republican, Atheist, or whatever, health care is something that every person, every citizen is entitled to. No matter what.
The news is depressing. We all know this. The most difficult thing for me to swallow is that some people are not able to discern fact from fiction. Everyone in this country is entitled to their own opinions and judgements. What some radicals fail to realize while voicing said opinions and judgments, is that every citizen is allowed to have their own views. I know, I’m making your head spin.
The recent town hall forums are a great example of people screaming, ahem, speaking to hear themselves speak. After these rambunctious spectacles, arguments are made that the public is unaware and unclear regarding the President’s plan. That makes sense if all one hears at the forum designed to inform the public are insults and slander hurling across the aisle.
I recently had an experience during a discussion for my online university. Some classmates were attempting to discredit President Obama based on his registered status as a Muslim. How can we trust his appointees, they challenged? It is my own fault for involving myself in discussions that I know are futile. I try to be open minded and attentive when people are sharing with me, however I can only tolerate so much frantic fodder. This discussion was particularly difficult because the parties were spouting information that was incorrect and actually dangerous.
One of the most important functions of argumentation is have clear, well thought out, and factually correct points. How can we have worth while debates if the conversation is centered around fiction?
Catching up with old friends is fun, especially when you have had a year filled with moves, engagements, breakups, etc. I recently reconnected with a woman I met a few years ago who, while we have never been close, conversation was never lacking. This past year she has changed jobs, gotten divorced, and gone on her first date. Ever. I was shocked. She explained that besides her ex-husband high school dating was her only experience.
I found myself wondering how many relationships and dates does one have to go through before finding the right person. And even when you think you have found the person whose smile gives you heart palpitations for life, how can we ever really be sure? I have several friends who found the perfect partners, exchanged vows at a beautiful wedding, and then split, labeling the ex a great learning experience. Later they go on to meet wonderful people that they want to spend life with.
I asked one of my second time engaged friends about the upcoming wedding, to which she informed me it would be a really small affair with only family. The first wedding with souffle, which turned into a disastrous marriage, merited a big to do, but the “one” gets merely a pat on the back and a hot dog. Do we need a trial marriage in order to make sure we are getting the right model? These days you can test drive anything from a car to a dog. But does that mean we want to invest the time and effort it takes on a trial? A trial in court can determine a person’s guilt or innocence. This isn’t to say that I disapprove of divorce. In truth, we deserve to be happy and love the person that we are with. Some of the best couples I know are on the second or third marriage.
As a recently engaged gal, these questions naturally come up but I only let them fester for a moment. The truth is we never really know the people we get in bed with. We have to be able to trust our judgements and ourselves.
There are certain people, events, and experiences we will never forget, no matter how hard we try. I remember a child from my kindergarten class who died of a brain aneurism. I remember this time I accidently put my shoes on the wrong feet and someone in my freshman math class pointed it out to me and the entire class.
We remember things that shape us and make us unique. I have tried to and successfully pushed out of my mind ex-boyfriends with whom I have less than fond memories, embarrassing moments, and terrible movies.
However, sometimes these unwelcome ghosts find their way back into life. Recently an ex-boyfriend attempted to “reconnect” with me via a popular social networking site, most unwanted obviously. It can make one feel rather helpless in regards to protecting one’s privacy.
This makes me beg the question, again, what are we giving up when we utilize modern technology? We used to be able to change our number and be done with worn out relationships. Now we have to change our number, set up privacy settings, and encrypt our vanity URLs so that only people close to us can decipher our user names. Even then, our systems can be breeched and we are left vulnerable. But maybe this viral availability and communication will allow us to move on faster. Because we will always exist in a network or online community, we will be forced to face those unpleasant mistakes we wish we could forget.
In any case, for every bad apple we eat on a social networking site, it is made up for with good people who genuinely care about the botched bowl of salsa you just threw out or that you got 100% right on the “how well you know eighties movies quiz”.
My fiance and I recently moved back to Chicago in hopes to do what every good American hopes to do: buy a condo. Neither one of us are currently working so we were eager hit the ground running and see as many units (that’s what they call them when you own!) as possible, with the expectation to find something quickly. Within the first two days of us being on the hunt we checked out nine different condos with no leads. Friends of ours who bought recently assured us that they only saw about 14 places before choosing theirs. With this piece of information we were confident that the next time we would see our real estate agent, she would have gold for us. And she did. Walking into a place that makes you never want to visit, look at, think about other available condos is the feeling you should have when about to make an offer. Unfortunately, as we found out later, this property already had an offer that was about the be accepted. We waited and waited for five long days to learn the fate of our beloved home. Yesterday we found out that we lost.
Since we saw the Queen Elizabeth of units, everything we have seen subsequently are what my fiance calls the “D students”. Are we being to picky, are we grieving, or are the soaring numbers of buyers snatching up all the gold? Either way, this experience is harder than we thought and requires a lot of work and patience. They say you aren’t supposed to fall in love until you close, but how often is that the case for anything? I hope we can fall in love again and not get our hearts broken. But if not, at least we have a futon in my sister’s one bedroom apartment to call our own. That’s the same right?
One would expect in a downtrodden time for the atmosphere around us to be bleak, dark, drab. But if you look around, all of the young people are shrouded in neon. It seems color is the new black. I’m not sure that the polarization of dress-wear between the youths and those of us trying to buy a house, keep jobs, and manage bank accounts will solve our economy. But it is encouraging to see a bright reminder of times when we took ourselves less seriously. Perhaps that is where a lot of our angst stems from. We are all about work and stability, less about fun and frivolity. I say we lose the somber attire and go for something that makes us feel fun and free. However, black is quite slimming so maybe just a hot pink accessory.
When someone gets engaged, friends and family are quick to offer advice and suggestions on how you and your spouse to be could do this and do that, etc. As a recently engaged gal I have been lucky enough to receive some of this wisdom. I got everything from the best recipes to keep a happy husband to exclamations from my grandmother that she can finally stop worrying that I will be alone. I am 24 years old. One nugget I did not expect or ever think of was that your spouse has to be the most important relationship in your life. This was most surprising. I was confused and concerned about that amount of weight given to one relationship. How could I give myself so completely to one person? It is frightening to make yourself that vulnerable. It took a while for this to sink and the more I thought about it the more it made sense. The person you marry, the person you are vowing to spend the rest of your life with, the person you will wake up next to everyday has to be the single most important person. Coming from a girl who has always depended on her family to be the backbone and center of the relationship world, I wondered if I was going to be able to transition. I began thinking of my fiance and the life we currently have together. Things such as there is no place I would rather be, ever, than with him ran through my head. Also that I would do anything to spend five minutes with him was something else I thought of. Maybe there was hope for me after all. I do tend to leap with my eyes closed and I was getting worried that I wouldn’t be able to have the right mentality to give this marriage all it deserves. However, I know that I am marrying the absolute best man I have ever met and he would be the only person I trust to hold on to this hot mess. So cheers, and here is to change and happiness. Oh yeah, and gifts. Thanks in advance.
One of the events I look forward the most when I go home to Texas is devouring a Whataburger. They are delicious, remind me of home, and did I mention delicious? I was recently in Texas to celebrate Mother’s Day with my family and drove through a Whataburger. I was sitting next to the window waiting for them to custom make my cheeseburger when I noticed a confusing sign. “One Nation Under God” posters gleaned from every side of the building. Whoa. I had to remind myself that I am (a) in Texas and (b) patronizing a family restaurant in Texas. It was a bit blindsiding though, I have to admit. I was raised by three Methodist ministers so I have nothing against Religion, except, when it starts leaking into the political system and now my #1 with cheese. It is unfortunate enough that the division of church and state has crumbled but now the division of church and dining out has been breached as well. Obviously, companies are entitled to do business in any way that they choose, however, I am not interested in having the Lord look down on me when I am breaking bun.
With every forward movement it seems that something always is left behind. With sensations such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter a fundamental connection with people is lost in translation. Though these mediums make it very simple to communicate with friends and family the intention behind making and continuing relationships is moot. It feels like a mass email blast. People can make blanket statements about their life, what they are doing, and who they have been hanging out with. I miss the days where we had to pick up the phone and call someone, hear their voice, and have a conversation. Or even further back, when you had to sit dow to write a letter that was specific to the person you were writing. My relationships are important to me and I feel that these mass media sites cheapens them. But I must confess I do use them. What does that make me? A hypocrite? Or am I just having to succumb to my generations technological advancements? Whatever it is, it makes me wonder if with all these social networking sites, what is society missing out on? Streets are filled with people have their iPod speakers in their ears, electing to avoid actual contact with real human beings in favor of sitting in front of a computer screen. Maybe that is why I have chosen a profession where I see and talk to people all day long. I thrive on making those contacts and making people laugh and smile. Oh well, I am sure someone will soon make all the social networking sites have live video chat. Then I will have to worry about whether or not I turned my camera off and people are getting too much access to my life!
