Why I have a blog...

There are two goals in mind for this blog:
1.In the style of Allie Brosh (hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com), I'm hoping that I can simply become famous before I graduate so I never have to decide on a real career.
2. Let's prove the "Six Degrees of Separation" theory right! If you like what I write, tell a friend, and have them tell a friend, until all the friends everywhere have been notified.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Still don't know what to blog about...

I'm just completely drained this week! I have no creativity flowing at all.

I think it has a lot to do with my classes...they're kind of like mental blocks for anything that's good in life.

I'm currently watching Inception, I saw it in theaters and wasn't as impressed as I gathered I should have been.

I'm currently giving it another shot.

Sometimes I think I just dislike popular thinks to be different...but generally I sit through them completely bored.

But I don't really like unpopular things...they generally suck. So I'm not just being oppositional, right?

Anyway, it's very cold out. I don't understand why it decides to go from 30 degree weather back down to the negatives. It makes me sad.

I think I need more vitamin D- the dark weather is starting to depress me.

And now I'm off to teach people about anime, and what makes a good one.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have finally thought of a better blog topic.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

I really can't think of anything interesting...

I'm having difficulty thinking up a blog topic today, so I'm going to write about the impressively American lunch my roommate and I had.

We were complaining for about an hour that we were hungry, but we couldn't decide what we wanted to eat.

Finally, we each settled on packaged Chinese food.

Mine came in a can, hers came in a plastic container for microwaving.

Then, we sat on the couch in the living room and watched TV while we ate and both had our laptops open.

Then we realized how sad it was that this was our Sunday afternoon.

Seriously- I've decided I need a slow-cooker. Then I can feel less pathetic about my food choices. I might even eat chili sometimes!

But yeah, ultimately we decided we were kind of living up to the full potential of American meal-times.

Yay college life!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Take no more Gambles!

Just kidding. I'm trying to be witty and insult Sera Gamble at the same time. But I actually have no real problem with her...

Anyway, so last night's episode of Supernatural kind of tore my heart apart.

That's because there was no new episode last night!

CW, in all of their brilliance, decided to show encore episodes of Vampire Diaries and Nikita.

Imagine our outrage when we found out. We already had to wait six weeks...and now after all of our excitement over spoilers and promo clips...we have to wait another one?

WTF is that shit?

So, we decided to take out our frustration in a very creative manner.

We made heart-shaped pizzas.





Aren't they cute?

Well, CW, this is what you've done to our hearts by denying us new Dean Cas slash fodder :







They are mangled, crushed, cut, beaten with a hammer! Thanks so much for ruining our Friday night.

I think we improvised well. But please give us our show back next week.

Friday, January 28, 2011

A Tale of Two Cities and One Flood

Once there was a large river that ran between the two cities. It was generally very nice and fun because it connects the ecological interests of the United States and Canada.



It was a very happy river. There was even a little bunny enjoying life. It was nice and green and full of life in the summer. Kids go swimming in it or hiking on non-existent trails along the way. There was even a little cruise ship (entirely electric) that goes a ways.

And yes, there was a place called "The Dike" and kids did go sledding there.

Now, the river provided a nice setting for the community. It was an important part of their history and the development of the area, after all.

But it got a little dismal in the winter. The only enjoyable part, really, is the sledding.



They enjoyed this time as the snow turns that disgusting grey-brown mixture because it had been run over by so many cars and boots and generally turns disgusting.

But they loved winter too much around there to really care all that much.

...until they reached about 30" of snow. Then they started to worry.

(Thanks NOAA for the graphic!)

See that nice dark blue spot? That was the river system. And when they reach 30" of snow they all start wondering if it's the next flood-apocalypse or if they would survive another year with their shoddy defenses.

See, think of this community like Kirby.



Except instead of eyes and a mouth they had two major interstates and a river. But they do have the same basic outline!



They were also at the bottom of an ancient lake. Yay for glaciers! What this means is, they were flat. Very, very flat.

The best example to explain what this is talking about to say is this: go spill a glass of water on your table and see where it goes.

If they were lucky, it will only go about here:



That's if they were lucky. If they were not lucky there would be a nice big barrier put up just in front of that red block running parallel to the vertical interstate.

Should this happen, their river will still be kind of happy. But the only green remaining will be some fisherman's boat or jacket as he trolls for whatever kind of fish people would troll for on a river.



Now, they're talking about building a diversion. And there are two plans: a Minnesota Side (light blue), and a North Dakota side (dark blue).



Guess what? Neither side wants it. It doesn't matter that it would save our community. Nope. They had better not tear up any farmland or dare put it on just one side.

We're at about 55" now. Fortunately, it's started warming up enough to melt off a bit. This is good. As long as it does it slowly and we don't get any more snow, we should be in decent shape come April flooding time.

Maybe it's just me...but I kind of like bunnies and sledding. How are we supposed to do that if we become a geographically-center-of-a-continent-Atlantis?

I guess we'll find out how this story ends in April...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

And the Weekend!

First off, no I am not changing my entire style and copping even more from the internet by drawing pictures. I just got bored at work and decided that using Paint would be a lot more entertaining than reading about the different prairie grasses in the region (especially since they're all going to drown if we don't get our shit together).

My weekdays are pretty unoriginal:
*I sleep until 10
*Go to class
*Don't pay a wink of attention to my professor instead thinking about whatever cracked out dream I had the night before or the fanfiction I read
*Go exercise
*Go back to my dorm and distract my roommates
*Agonize over my pitiful crush while also agonizing over the fact that I'm never getting married and will die completely alone
*Go to work and blog/read fanfiction/play robot unicorn attack (my high score is slowly getting more awesome- 193,000!)
*Laze around until homework is absolutely crucial and finish it
*Go to bed

Seriously...there's not much variation there.

Then it's the weekend.

Weekends I just kind of float around doing everything I listed before except for the going to class part- I just get to spend all that time on fanfiction.

Except that on Fridays I get to watch Supernatural...but it's on hiatus again until April 15th! Seriously, they should do their ratings earlier so I don't have to wait over a month after already waiting for 7 weeks only four weeks ago!

What the hell?

Anyway, that's all for today. Because it's the weekend and I get to go off and do more fun things.

(Tonight we're watching Spice World and drinking butterbeer again! YAY!)

PROCRASTINATION

Procrastination is an art form.

I say this because, not only does it take immense planning to find how long you have to procrastinate until you absolutely have to start working, but you also have to be productive to justify it in any sense.

See, procrastination periods are actually filled with productivity. Just...not on whatever it is that needs to be done.

When I'm procrastinating, I end up cleaning everything. I read all kinds of stuff that aren't in any way related to whatever I'm supposed to be writing. Five movies or television shows get watched.

...it's kind of ridiculous.

Now, here's the scary part- most of my procrastination does not involve youtube. Sure, occasionally I whip out a favorite and watch it, but the majority of my internet time is dedicated to stupid games on Facebook.

My roommates both use youtube. Any sort of video about Glee or Supernatural will immediately circulate.

Anyway, I should probably stop using my blog as another means of procrastination.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Why I passed 6th Grade History

Sixth grade is kind of a wonderful time in the Moorhead school program. You've just finished fifth grade- making you the top dog at the elementary schools- and you're now the top dog at the middle schools.

This is, of course, before your life becomes complete and utter shit when you reach junior high and just want to die.

But moving on, one of the best parts about sixth grade is the history aspect.

See, in sixth grade, you get to spend an entire month on Egyptians. You get to learn all about their civilization and the cool things they did.

You get to make papyrus (sort of), learn how to read and write hieroglyphs (sort of), and just generally be cool.

Being that I had been obsessed with Egypt since I was in second grade, I was practically in heaven. Also, it was right around my birthday- So I was pretty excited.

Now, my twelfth birthday was the weekend before our big unit test.

I was having a birthday party on Friday, of course, because we were twelve and you can't drive when you're twelve. So you have to try and make it work.

Turns out, one of the girls who came over not only loved Egypt and stuff as much as I did, she was also a partial-insomniac.

So, when everyone else was trying to sleep, we were awake watching The Mummy and The Prince of Egypt.

We claimed we were "studying."

Now, one of the trickiest parts of our test was going to be the section on mummification. Don't ask why, it was just to justify what we did next.

We decided that hands-on experience was crucial to us passing this test.

Now, toilet paper and blankets are nothing like cotton wraps, and confetti from noise-makers is nothing like embalming fragrances, salt is salt- thank goodness-, and my pink plastic tea set (the pot, milk, cream, and sugar containers at least) is nothing like canopic jars.

But none of that was going to stop us. We were studying for our tests, darn it!

We picked the girl on the couch because that's similar to the embalming table...right? Sure it didn't tip to allow drainage, but enough salt would dry her out just find.

It was all fine. We got her "wrapped" and popped our noise-makers and placed the jars by her head.

...her waking up was kind of like something out of a horror movie. She sat right up, throwing all the blankets and pillows off her body while making this horrible groaning noise!

We were terrified.

Then she just kind of grumbled and went back to sleep like she hadn't been buried under a mountain of stuff.

We just kind of giggled nervously before decided that 4:30 was a good time to go to bed.

We both got As on the test.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Grocery shopping is a spree

You wouldn't think that shopping for groceries is a spree; but for college students- it totally is.

When a college student goes to the grocery store, they bring a list in an attempt to stay on track and not buy all kinds of superfluous crap.

Unfortunately, this list usually says something along the lines of: meat, bread, fruit, dressing, yogurt, chocolate.

If they're really good, it might involve some kind of household item they need, like tissues or maybe soap.

It's vague, and kind of pathetic. It's only really intended to steer them away from the chips and cookies...and the pop.

But most college students avoid homework. Like it's a plague. (Which, incidentally, I firmly believe.)

This means that when they get a chance to leave campus and do something that doesn't make them think of school, they just kind of linger.

Leading to all kinds of things appearing in the basket they convince themselves is all they need to carry things.

Frozen pizzas, random candy, multivitamins. (I went into a store today expecting to get only ranch dressing, I left with that...plus candy and multivitamins.)

The same thing happens at Walmart. If a student goes into Walmart, they're pretty much destined to leave with something they don't need. Then kind of act really unsure of their decision for the allotted amount of time before being all thrilled and ripping whatever packaging there may be off.

Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say about our horrible shopping habits.

Monday, January 24, 2011

People probably think we're weird

I was struck today by the sudden realization that anyone who walks into my dorm is probably under the impression that my roommates and I are very weird.

This happened because Becca received some magnets in the mail today. Magnets of a human body and various organs.

They are, of course, on the refrigerator right now.

Now, if it were Halloween, this probably wouldn't make anyone look twice. Since it's nearing the end of January? Might be cause for concern.

There's also the issue of the life-size Aragorn cutout staring directly at the door. I'm sure most people would be concerned. (Especially since he's decorated for a different holiday each month. I'm really excited to put a little diaper and some wings on him for V-Day!)

Aside from those two things, it looks fairly normal, the excess of crap lying around the living room might make them curious- leading to them rifling through our stuff. If they rifled, they would probably be disturbed by the number of different subjects they find.

Delving deeper into our territory, they might find our closets. They're pretty normal, except where one is completely utility orientated and contains blankets, pillows, a first aid kit, a tool kit, and a few board games.

Now, our rooms would definitely have them calling the nut houses to try and get us some nice new white jackets will really long sleeves and a few fancy belts.

The walls of our rooms are completely covered with various pictures of our obsessions. Glee, Harry Potter, Supernatural, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, there's not a lot of white space.

Of course, there's also our book collections. I think each of us has some...unique sets of books on our shelves. Some gay love, some historical romance, some Twilight, and the various classics and cult classics we all love.

At the very least, an intruder in our dorm would be very confused as to what kind of people lived here.

PS- My nerd won't let me not wish Dean Winchester a very happy birthday. So, yes, happy birthday!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Movie Prices

Have you ever seen 10 Things I Hate About You? There's a part in this movie where Heath Ledger's character is guestimating the cost of taking a girl to a movie.

His end cost is like...$75 for him and a date to see one movie.

Last night, I came to the depressing realization that this is totally true!

Movies have gone from being five dollars to nine in the time that I've been going to movies with my friends (you know..the last ten years).

I don't understand why movie theaters have suddenly tried to become restaurants. Some of them sell steaks. I mean...what the hell? Who would buy a steak at a movie theater?

I mean, movies haven't exactly gotten better. Yeah, the CGI has improved as technology has. But damn inflation! How are we supposed to go see movies an obsessive number of times if we have to pay ten bucks each time?

That being said, I guess we'll find out which movies are actually worth seeing and which advertising companies do the best jobs.

I have to be careful about which movies I see. Because I really don't like spending money on something I dislike.

...so that's a little about movie theaters.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Vessels and College Students

Ok, here's where I show how pathetic my life is.

In Supernatural, there are "vessels"- these are people who angels can possess. The rule seems to follow a bloodline, so not everyone can be a vessel.

Last night, Bobbie and I were discussing the physical problems associated with being a vessel. The physical body doesn't get fed, it doesn't bathe, it doesn't get to sleep.

We've seen that the actual humans are hungry once the angel leaves them. And we've seen that their minds can, essentially, be melted by the angel within.

They're left hungry, mindless, and generally soulless.

Much like college students!

We kind of coast through life on auto-pilot, our bodies functioning on next-to-no sleep, food, or social interaction.

That being said, sometimes I wonder why none of the vessels appear to be college students. I mean, there's Adam. He's a college student. Sam was a college student when this all started...

But most of the vessels are ones with like...lives and families and stuff. (My overly-analytical mind takes this to have a greater meaning about how war divides families and ruins lives and just a general anti-involvement statement...but then I figure that I'm thinking about it too much.)

Anyway, I guess my point is that college students and vessels are actually very impressive based on the poor way their bodies are maintained.

And compared to the trials of graduate school based on how much food and sleep you have to survive on, college is like kindergarten.

No sleep. No time for food. No downtime.

In the end, we're all just empty shells waiting for a time when we get to have a real life once again.

Friday, January 21, 2011

White Collar Love

Ok, so White Collar finally started up again! Thank God! I was getting so sad with only my season one DVDs to keep me company.

I have missed these guys so much! It's almost disgusting how much I love the crew. Neal, Peter, Mozzie, El- they are all frickin' wonderful!

Not gonna lie, this first episode was a little...fluffy. Like they really want to try to develop characters and relationships rather than just letting it happen.

"He's like Superman without the powers."

This line pretty much defines Peter and Neal's relationship and I love it! Peter is Neal's hero and he's the awkward side-kick who really doesn't fit in but they make it work, dammit!

At one point they reference Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid <3

And oh God, Neal's leather jacket. He's so attractive...I'm almost sad that he's gay.

El is kind of my favorite. She just goes with the flow and is glorious. I love her and Peter so much that my gay-goggles almost gloss over the slashiness of Peter and Neal.

And Mozzie!! Thanks so much for not dying! You would have been too great a casualty.

Um...I think that's all I should say.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Wednesday

As promised, this will be about yesterday. I was supposed to attend a conference on the Red River and the watersheds attached to it that affect the flood patterns. (Yeah...we really like our floods here.)

This conference started at 8 am. I usually wake up at 9 and snooze until 9:50. Yesterday I woke up at 7.

Now, I'm completely capable of waking up at 7. It doesn't suck too bad if it's more than one day in a row- but one day in an entire school year? WTF is that shit?

Not to mention that I didn't actually get to bed until 1:30 because I kept watching these f***ers. Thanks so much, Bobbie.

Anyway, I've discovered that the worst part of waking up at 7 is that you're usually the first one to shower in my dorm. That being said, the water is frickin' cold.
I tend to cower in fear the first thirty seconds the water is running because I know it's so cold.

Then I spend 30 seconds under the hot water before doing anything. Because, apparently, standing in a shower naked while cold water is just running- not even on me- is just as cold as a -30 degree windchill (Fahrenheit...that's somewhere around -34 Celsius). I dunno. All I know is that it sucked balls.

Then I had to walk the ten minute walk to the science building in said -30 degree windchill. That's a lie, actually, I took the sky-way so I was only outside for like...two minutes- but that's still cold time!

Now, I was going with one of my professors, and we don't particularly get along. Mostly it's due to the fact that we have nothing to talk about that isn't the class, some of it's due to the fact that I think she's awkward.

Carpooling with nothing to say? Yeah, that just thrills me. At least the ride was only about 15 minutes, one time I drove 3.5 hours with loads of "nothing to say" tension. (Those are the times I'm glad I always keep a CD of bad music to sing along to. Usually it's 90s shit that whoever I'm riding with will remember and be just as embarrassed about having liked it. Other times I bust out "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion- the Titanic song?- and we just sing along obnoxiously. It's a good ice-breaker!)

Anyway, so this conference is all about flooding. I sat through 12 different lectures, 5 of which all showed the exact same graph.

I ended up working on some fanfiction to keep myself occupied.

I was thrilled when the hour lunch break came up. There was a Buffalo Wild Wings like...four minutes away on foot, so at least I got to have some good food. (My prof said we could eat there if some people didn't use their lunch passes...chicken wings or ham sandwich? Sorry, I chose chicken.)

During that time I made a point to text my roommate. She was on-call to save me.

I lasted until 3:30. I was supposed to be free at 2:30, but they added another speaker and it went over by half an hour. When they asked for questions I literally dropped my head into my hands and my eyes teared up. It was so painful it nearly drove me to cry in public.

After that I immediately called for rescue. I bribed her shamelessly, and she came to get me.

I ran out to her car, immediately telling her to floor it.

We went to Starbucks- Bobbie and Becca's reward for getting me the hell out of there- to get coffee and thermoses.

Oddly enough, neither of their cards work. So I ended up saving them by buying their thermoses! It was funny- they saved me and I saved them.

Then I had the misfortune of having a night class.

Three hours once a week, I go and pretend that this isn't the third stats class I've taken. It's painful. Not to mention it makes me have to wait a day to see the new Modern Family episode.

I felt bad last night, I wasn't even pretending to be paying attention. At least, I wasn't paying much attention. But after my prof mentioned driving through Lawrence, Kansas with his two kids I was completely gone on a Supernatural La-La-Land tangent.

So yeah, it was an interesting day. Basically, I just want it to be the weekend again so I can pretend this didn't happen.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Quick update is quick!

I sat in rooms for 11 hours today. It was torture.

It also took all my time today and left me unable to update until now!

So I'll tell you all about my epic Wednesday tomorrow! :D

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Some things never change

I could wax poetic about how there are some things that will always be consistent in our lives, and no matter what we can count on them being the same.

Unfortunately, the things that never change tend to be the more superficial, awful moments of life- like junior high.

But I'm going to tell you a little about lunchrooms.

When I was in elementary school, we were filed in, and forced to sit next to people. No seat was left vacant.

Around seventh grade we're finally allowed to start sitting in groups of friends rather than just next to whichever unfortunate classmate we were standing in line with.

In high school, it becomes a madhouse trying to find enough vacant seats together with your friends.

College? Same exact thing.

There are always those sad loners doing homework. The seemingly unwashed group that tends to be the largest of the groups somehow.

Then the groups of four or five that are just super unfortunate. They're an awkward size so they can't occupy just a small table, but they will have to share a large table with another unfortunately sized group.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I eat lunch in one of these groups of four. Fortunately, there are about 10 tables that will seat four, five if you feel like squeezing a little. Most of the tables are either six or eight-person tables.

I get to the dining center half an hour early to secure one of these small tables, because one of the girls has a thing about people "invading our space."

It's nice. I don't have to fight my way through the swarms of people that eat right after their 10:30 class, and sometimes I manage to do productive things. (Blogging is productive, right?)

But I find it interesting that lunchroom politics haven't changes a wink since elementary school. It's weird that we're supposed to be social beings, but we're decidedly asocial.

Then there's the life or death battle to get food and tables! It's ridiculous.

But yeah, lunch time. It will always be there for us. And it will never change.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Update from the Fringe

Alright, forgive me an typos; I'm using my iPod and it loves autocorrect.

My laptop decided that our school wireless Internet is the shit ( the bad kind) and that it definitely wasn't god enough for it. Basically, my laptop has been disowned for the time being.

Back at school again. I get to start research for a campus project soon! I'm still not sure if it will be a program for freshman orientation week or a campaign to eliminate bottled water on camps, but I'm excited either way.

Sometimes I think that I'm really not cut out for environmental studies, but then I think about all the information I know that other people just ignore and it upsets me enough to want to educate them. That's when I know I didn't spend the last four years learning about a major I don't really care about.

Today I was talking with a few other seniors and we all kind of agreed that our lives feel like they're imploding in on themselves and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Then we all tried to convince ourselves it will be alright and we'll survive the next Threeandahalfmonths! (That's supposed to be scrunched together like that to show the panic the thought brings.)

I would love it if seniors had to talk to freshmen about their majors. I think it would have been nice to hear about the kind of program it is and the internships or resume building activities are good. I mean, it's good for us to figure out our own way; but it's also nice to get a good idea i the competition, right?

Anyway, that's the thought for today.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Where do weekends go?

Every weekend, sometime late Sunday afternoon, I get this panicked feeling of "Holy Shit! How is it already Sunday night?!"

I'm supposed to be reading important things and writing impressive ideas out for school. But I can't bring myself to do it.

I can't figure it out. I have less homework and even less motivation to do anything about it.

Instead I spent my entire day online.

Oh well, oh hey! The guy from Criminal Minds.

My puppy hates my laptop- I pay too much attention to it I guess?

Anyway, I guess I'll go write out ways I can help change the world. And find scientific journal articles that validate two of those ideas?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Back to regularly scheduled programming

I'm all ranted out for a bit, but be prepared for some good info on food and health care sometime.

Today, though, today is a discussion about anime.

Last night my roommates and got together to watch anime, since Supernatural is still on hiatus... those bastards.

(We did watch Devour which has Jensen Ackles...I feel like the writer watched The Ninth Gate and Stay Alive, maybe even Devil's Advocate, and decided they would make a good amalgamation for a new movie. But I was still able to establish a baseline of what was wrong and who was the "bad guy." DEPRESSING!)

Anyway, we watched some of these two anime: Hetalia: Axis Powers, and Black Butler

Hetalia requires alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. It's hilarious without alcohol, but you're stuck going "Wait...what?!!?!?" through the whole thing. But get a couple drinks in the audience and you don't care so much that there doesn't seem to be any coherent information being presented.

Black Butler, on the other hand, is just frickin' amazing! I'm so glad it's in English now. I mean, I'm not opposed to listening to the Japanese language tracks and reading the English subtitles, but I really feel like I can appreciate the show more if I don't have to focus on reading.

I love both these shows...a lot!

The history nerd in me is in love with the unique way Hetalia tries to...teach? about the history of the world. It's super funny. And all the characters are cute ;)

Then there's the gloriousness of the demon butler. He's amazing!!!

But then there's the most wonderful thing ever: butterbeer!!!

Those of you who don't know Harry Potter, butterbeer is a drink they have. There's no alcohol in the regular recipe...but ours did.

Basically, it's cream soda and butterscotch schnapps.

Love.

Then we put ice cream in it. Best. Dessert. Ever.

Friday, January 14, 2011

A Price Tag on Life

I guess this is my advocacy week for the Millennium Development Goals, because I wrote a line in my rant from yesterday that struck me as a better title for an entirely separate blog.

It's in the same spirit; but I realized I was trying to urge you all to care about something without really saying anything about what we're caring about.

What I'm hoping you take away from this is that we are putting a price tag on lives. We're saying that they're only worth certain prices and certain treatments. They don't deserve the same salary or healthcare.

They don't deserve clean water to drink or bathe, or enough food to eat, or housing, or clothing.

Not unless they have the money to pay for it.

What the hell kind of thinking is that?

Yeah, it's tough to see those kids on commercials starving halfway across the planet. And it's rough to see homeless people asking you for money or food.

But it's their own fault, right?

I'm pretty sure I can convince you otherwise. It's a pretty standard Catch-22, but I'm hoping you'll realize that when it comes to you paying a little extra for a sweater and someone else getting a real salary, it's worth it.

Today I'm going to tell you about water...

There is almost nothing that will piss off an environmentalist more than bottled water.

Now, it doesn't seem that bad, right? It's just safer than tap water...

WRONG!

First, tap water in the United States- the leader in bottled water consumption- is some of the safest in the world. It's true that there are ridiculous things present in our water: antidepressants, birth control, etc. It's still a better choice than a bottle of that same water coming in a kerosene package.

Water is a natural resource. It may not be renewable, but it's been around this long for a reason- the simple fact that everything and everyone needs water to survive!

And we're charging people for it. Yes, we pay for services here. The treatment and the pumping- and we're fine with that.

But there are places in the world that literally have no water supply to speak of. They get water maybe once a week.

Here are two fantastic documentaries on the water industry:

Flow: For the Love of Water

This is a general study of water company procedures and their effects on local residents and water supplies- both in the U.S. and outside.
Gasland
If you've ever heard of frakking- this is the ideal video to watch for information. Basically they blast tons of water into the ground to release natural gas- ultimately they end up poisoning the local water supplies.

A lot of people think that their aid would be a handout, and thus cause laziness or complacency. It's true, handouts don't really help anything. Some things do need to be earned.

But access to clean, healthy water- the most essential of human necessities- should that really be considered a handout?

No.

Now, there are things we can do, immediately, to affect the water situation. I'm going to tell you about two of my favorite options both because I think they're cool and seriously practical.

1) Donate a LifeStraw (Information!)
These things are awesome. They filter diuretics and a lot of viruses/bacteria. And they don't cost that much. $6.50 buys a kid a year of cleaner water.

2) STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER
Seriously. Stop. It's really not worth it. Here's what I'd love for you to do: give up drinking bottled water for a month, take the money you would normally spend on that, and donate it to Water Wells for Africa.

A statistic in the first documentary I list, FLOW, says that 9 billion U.S. dollars were spent on bottled water in a calendar year, and it would take 3 billion dollars to give every global citizen permanent water supplies.

Americans spend three times the amount of a global water campaign on bottled water...in one year.

And the packaging...more often than not it gets thrown away instead of recycled.

So...that's a little bit about water. :D

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Dear America...get over yourself

I'm currently taking a global issues course, and we're focusing on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (See the site: UN Millennium Development Goals)

The MDGs were set to try and achieve awesome things:
* End Poverty and Hunger
* Universal Education
* Gender Equality
* Child Health
* Maternal Health
* Combat HIV/AIDS
* Environmental Sustainability
* Global Partnership

Each of these is hugely important and wonderful goals. It's shameful that these things haven't been taken care of.

Granted, there's a lot that would have to go into these. People would have to *gasp* care about another person and give up something of themselves- whether it be time, money, or otherwise.

I know how easy it is to forget that my problems aren't the be all end all of the universe. I too rant about how my professors hate me, and my car AC doesn't work, and damn is it hot/cold in the library!

But this isn't an excuse. Just because I have that excuse doesn't mean I should actually use it.

Most of the issues listed can actually be helped if people would take five minutes to consider the issues. If people would take five hours, five days, five years...imagine what could be done with those combined resources?

Today we were discussing poverty in America.

...wait...what? Poverty doesn't exist in America you crazy liberal wombat. (Side note: how sad is it that Australia is flooding?)

Anyway, yes, poverty exists. Delude yourself as much as you'd like- it's everywhere.

We were discussing Western culture, and it's emphasis on individualism. This concept isn't new. It really goes all the way back to "Bible Days," and there's nothing wrong with it.

Excepting when people take this as an excuse to look out only for themselves.

There were three people in class that I think were really frustrating other students; at least, I hope they were- they were really irritating me.

I try not to stereotype too often, but I couldn't help but hear them, look at their clothes, and automatically single them out as privileged.

They were all white, all wearing brand clothing, all well-groomed.

And they sit there advocating the right of the wealthy to do whatever they want with their money.

I can only assume that they're from privileged households and have never given consideration to anything other than the jeans they're wearing. Which is awful of me, but they should probably consider what they're saying if they don't want people to judge them.

What right do we have to tell them what to do with their money? None, obviously, or we wouldn't have this problem.

They do work just like everybody else, and are entitled to just compensation.

I'm not saying people shouldn't have things, and I'm not saying people don't deserve to have things they've worked for.

All I'm saying is that we need to become a nation of givers. At the risk of sounding cheesy- it doesn't matter if you can give one dollar or a million. All that matters is that you're helping contribute.

The "American Dream" of that nice perfect family? Mom, dad, 2.5 kids, dog, 1.9 cars, house, and a white-picket fence- complete and utter bullshit.

Sure, we all want a nice life. House, maybe a family, space to call our own. But do we realize that these things come at a high cost for others?

Because it's not just about giving. This is about reshaping the mentality of America. It's a country that believes in freedom and possibility and happiness.

It's true, organization is key to these things helping. Making sure that nothing is going to be abused or wasted is crucial to this working. It's true that it will take a lot of work.

But organizations are already in place- they're waiting for people to step up and support them.

It's not enough to make $7.2 million annually and give a thousand dollars to charity when 7.2 million jobs are nonexistent because your corporation decided to go the cheaper route.

But I think what I want to stress most is that it's not enough to just give. It's awesome. It needs to happen. But it doesn't do anything if you don't care enough about the problem to go out and do something about it.

We need to care. If it's supporting a kid, volunteering at a shelter, whatever. Just do something.

I really want to believe in the people around me. I really want to believe that people will care about other people.

...I'm going to go grumble about this to my roommates. Hopefully they don't kill me.

EDIT: I realized I should hedge some more and give you guys some links to places. Maybe I can make a little difference today.

Queensland Flood Relief
Random Acts
UN MDG Donation Information
UNICEF

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Scarves: To Be Or Not To Be?

Now, I don't own many scarves, and the few I do own I received as presents. But most people I know really enjoy scarves.

So, I'm going to have a little pro-con debate over whether or not I think scarves are worthwhile.

Pro:
Neal Caffrey wears scarves. Neal Caffrey is hot and looks super sexy while wearing scarves. Thus, scarves are good.

Con:
Some scarves are itchy. I do not support having an itchy neck- it's really uncomfortable.

Pro:
The Aragorn in my dorm sometimes wear scarves. It's fun to dress him up and because of that I approve of people owning scarves.

Pro/Con:
It keeps your neck warm. This is nice for the practical scarves, you know the ones that you wear outside in the winter? This is horrible for fashion scarves. It's too damn hot inside most places to have a warm neck on top of everything else.

Con:
Scarves get caught on things. Seriously I don't understand it. It's like they're magnets for door handles and doors in general and zippers. What the ever-living-f***?

Pro:
Scarves look pretty. They're a nice accessory if you feel like looking -or feeling- fancy. They can be colorful and patterny...that's a word, really.

I guess...scarves are nice. I don't think they're the right choice for me...but they certainly are a useful accessory! That...and I just really want White Collar to come back on...

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snack Time

I love snacks, they're pretty much God's gift to the world.

Unfortunately, they're God's fatty gift to the world.

However, some of my favorite snacks make me feel like I'm in elementary school.

1. Fruit Snacks
Gummy fruit snacks are the best things ever. They're gummy...and fruity...and delicious.

2. Apple slices, peanut butter, and a cheese stick.
I don't know what it is about this combination that makes me love it. But it's amazing.

3. Oatmeal
It's tasty and makes me feel not guilty about eating a snack.

Other snacks that I love, but haven't eaten in an attempt to not gain weight:

1. Chocolate frosting on waffles
It's amazing...and awful.

2. Pie
It's completely amazing and I love pie. But I'm trying not to go crazy with it. Really.

But yes, snack time is like the best time of the day...right up there with nap time. I guess I really just want to be a kid again?

Monday, January 10, 2011

Margins

So, this is weird...but I really enjoy .5" margins.

I've enjoyed the progression of Microsoft Word's default margin settings. From 1"x1.25" to 1"x1"

But there's something about using .5"x.5" margins that makes me look at the 1" margins and go "You're a hideous waste of space."

It helps me save a little paper, just a little. But there's something about the look that makes it feel a lot more professional. Not that it matters, it's not like any of this is being turned in for anything significant.

Ultimately, turning in these papers makes more work for me- as they still go by page count most of the time rather than words...which I prefer! I hate when they say "something like 1,500 to 2,000 words."

Anyway, I use those margins now for most things I type out.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Weekend with Sophie

I have a pet beagle named Sophie, and she's adorable.



When my parents leave town to watch my brother play hockey, I usually end up staying at home dog-sitting.

This basically means that I sequester myself to the house and watch Food Network or movies all weekend while my friends all go "Seriously? You have to stay there?"

This weekend happens to be one of those weekends...so I decided to picspam my puppy!

Look at her! She's so cute...how can I consider leaving her all alone?!



This is her in bed...and that's my laptop glowing in the back. And this is her sleeping.



She snores like a bulldozer. Or anything that runs on diesel. It's really funny when people first hear it.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Best of Television

The title is an absolute lie. I can't choose. I'm just going to write about some of my favorites. Not in any particular order...

Supernatural
Surprise! I think this show is wonderful. The writers, actors, and directors are fantastic and really know how to work together. It's really impressive how well they all know the characters and stories.

Lie to Me
I had only watched an episode before I got season one. And now I'm thrilled to say it's awesome. It's seriously a soap opera, but at least the main character is full of snark and hilarity.

Modern Family
Modern Family is wonderful! It can be as hilarious and awkward as you can imagine, but at the end it's just heartwarming. The characters are all great compliments to each other and the acting is wonderful.

White Collar
I'm actually going to be writing about this later because I'm getting really excited for the rest of season two to start again (Jan. 18 on USA!!!). The overarching story is interesting enough, but nothing is better than Neal, Peter, El, and Mozzie interacting.

Here are a couple others that I still think are spectacular, but I don't feel like going into why:

-The Office
-iCarly
-Rescue Me
-Family Guy
-Worst Cooks in America
-Castle

And finally, some shows that really should not have been canceled:
-Arrested Development
-Better Off Ted
-Firefly

Friday, January 7, 2011

I like the outdoors...really I do!

I realized today that I spend 90% of my time talking about movies and TV. It's sad really.

I'm an environmental studies major...I should probably talk a lot about environmental issues. Except that I'm in a huge habit of not doing this.

My family never discusses work and none of my friends would find what I have to say interesting. We stick to psychology mostly, since all of us have taken psych and understand the basic concepts.

But really, I do enjoy nature. I wouldn't be an ES major otherwise right?

I realize I'm not as outgoing or enthusiastic about a specific issue like the other people in my ES classes. But that doesn't mean I don't care.

So, here's where I show what a privileged child I was and explain why I love nature.

My parents grew up with summers at the lake. They enjoyed their experience so much they made owning a lake cabin (to later retire to) a priority.

Thus, I also grew up with summer at the lake.

It's one of the best places on Earth. "Minnesota Nice" actually exists there.

When people go to the lake, they escape from their suckish jobs and the grumpy people around them and just get to relax.

The lake is glorious. There's water and animals and woods and rivers. One of my favorite things to do is go for a walk in the woods, and swim in the lake with my cousins.

It's places like Itasca and Glacier state parks that only enforce my love of nature.

And I realize the threat to these places. When we drive to the lake, and go on the boat or the jet ski, I understand that we're hurting the place we hold dear.

So, that being said, I really do care...and I urge all of you to buy a Nalgene and stop drinking bottled water.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Porn killed my laptop

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret: every laptop has been exposed to porn.

The first test they put a laptop through before it goes to market is to make sure it's capable of handling any type of porn- video, sound, text. You name it, and they have tested to make sure your laptop could handle this.

That's actually not true at all, but they probably should- since all laptops will ultimately be used for porn.

This being said- yes, I have used my laptop for porn.

So, one time, I was reading a fictional story about Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. It was kind of an unfortunate happenstance that I stumbled upon this story. I was morbidly curious what people write about real people.

Anyway, it was around 2am. As I will constantly point out- I should not be allowed to do anything around 2am. Especially around finals week.

So I decided to read this story, about two Minnesota Twins players. And their epic gay love.

I was about halfway through the story when suddenly, my computer shuts off. I blink a few times before I begin my troubleshooting.

Now, I'm a fairly capable person around a computer, but this just baffled me. It had completely shut down. Nothing would make it turn back on. (Backlight FAIL.)

I ended up having to ship it to the main company after about 45 minutes on the phone with customer service.

I hope the window was still open and they were forced to read about Justin Morneau jerking off to thoughts of Joe Mauer.

(This story is pretty much amazing, by the way. It's bookmarked on all my laptops now.)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Going to Granny's Part 2

In the spirit of equality of love for each of my grandmothers, I've decided to write about a trip I took to Arizona to see my paternal grandmother.

(I had intended to post this yesterday, but my post about superpowers just called.)

We have four days off for Thanksgiving, and it's always the same.

So, one year, I decided to go down to my other grandmother's and visit her. (She's what we call a "snowbird," she lives in Minnesota for the summer and flees the cold for a place with nicer winter weather.)

Anyway, I flew down for a short trip.

Wouldn't you know it, it rained the whole time I was there. In Arizona, the place that gets like...5 days of rain a year.

But whatever, we had plans!

I had never seen the Grand Canyon before, so that was our destination. We drove up and it fortunately cleared up for a bit while we were up there. (I have some epic pictures!)

It was fun! We had dinner with a few of her friends for Thanksgiving and I met some family members for the first time (my parents have cousins...I haven't met many of them).

Mostly I see her in the summer and we have fun. I watch her and my dad duke it out in Scrabble- it's super intense.

...other times I take her to the casino. (Sometimes we go with my other grandma and chill together.)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My Superpower

When I was younger, I was pretty sure I wanted to fly.

...Except that I was afraid of heights. But whatever, I would fly dammit!

Later, I started thinking that telekinesis is probably the coolest thing ever. It would still be sweet to fly, but maybe if my telekinetic powers were strong enough I could do that anyway.

Sadly, as I got older and no power had manifested, I had to accept that I probably was never getting superpowers unless I got into some horrendous scientific accident. (Nevermind that I may or may not have taken chemistry classes in the hopes of this happening.)

But I've decided that while I may not have a badass superpower, I do have a talent:

I recognize actors and voice actors like nobody's business.

It's sad, and yet true. I've been trained to remember names, faces, voices, and a brief history of their work.

It's kind of pathetic actually- all this brain power and what do I use it on? Basically pretending I'm a spy stalking celebrities.

And it's not even useful. Aside from playing Six Degrees of Lord of the Rings, it's not like any of it is relevant to my life.

I can't move shit with my mind or fly- and that's really sad. But whatever, this is my real life superpower.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Going to Granny's Part 1

Hopefully, most of you have enjoyed a grandmother's love/affection/food. It's this last one I'm going to focus on for now.

I love my maternal grandmother dearly, but going to her house is like asking to become the next spokesperson for Over-eaters Anonymous.

Every time I step into her house, I'm instantly in the kitchen eating whatever is sitting out. Because there is always something sitting out.

Sometimes it's just the standard candy dish. Sometimes it's cookies for whichever holiday happens to be coming around. Sometimes it's leftover fruit.

And sometimes it's those damn caramel rolls that have ice cream in the recipe. (They're delicious and wonderful. But I struggle to ignore the fact that vanilla ice cream was melted onto the bottom of the pan the rolls were baked in.)

So yes, the food is wonderful.

But if there's one thing present even more than just the food lying around, it would have to be butter.

If you've seen the movie Julie and Julia, I'm sure you remember her little tangent on butter and how nothing amazing is made without it. I'd have to agree.

Better yet, if any of you are foodies and follow Food Network- Paula Deen has her own line of pans- one of which happens to be specifically for melting butter.

Butter is essential to the world of cooking. And it just makes shit taste good.

Now that I've explained that, I'll give you an example:

Say you're cooking hashbrowns, and the recipe calls for one stick of butter.

My grandmother will use three sticks. Three.

We also have this little treat called Butter Coma: a pound of cheese, a pound of butter, and a package of imitation crab. You put it on Ritz crackers. It's delicious...and likely to give you a heart attack.

So yes, that's what a typical trip to my grandmother's house is like.

...other times we just go to the casino.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

An Ode to Pizza

Pizza is amazing. For years I have considered it the perfect food. It has all the food groups: you get carbs, dairy, meat, veggies, fruits.

It's wonderful.

It also works for each and every occasion. It's appropriate for birthdays, game night, large group activities, movie parties, sleepovers, or just any old day.

Pizza also goes with a lot of other foods (most of which you would never actually eat with it). But, should you get distracted from greasy goodness, you could have a salad or pasta or wings or bread...it's great.

My group of friends eats pizza at least once a week. It's awesome. Especially since our local Papa John's has epic student deals.

Basically, I love pizza.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Year's Eve...The Big Leagues

Alright, here's the deal.

No one can party quite like my family.

Imagine a college frat party...with better booze and more of it.

Now imagine a group of 40+ year olds being the party-goers and you have something similar to what the average family get-together is for us.

Here's the impressive thing: most of them have never experienced a hangover.

The closest they get to a hangover is sleeping in past 8, and skipping their golf tee-time in favor of Bloody Marys.

Now, I have not been drinking long. By the age of 15 I had tried most of the various liquors (not everclear... I avoided that), and never really had the desire to actually have a drink. (Having an eternal frat party for a family does that to you.)

Anyway, so last night I was actually stranded with six of my adult family members and no one my age around. I didn't even have internet!

I decided around 10 it was a good time to start having drinks (we were playing the game Buzz Word and it's a lot more fun if you're buzzed).

I had a few "fruity bitch drinks" as we've dubbed them. You know...the fruity bottled shit that you're mostly too embarrassed to admit you drink?

Then they busted out the "Duck School Smoothie."

Now, it was probably pretty stupid of me to try this. Even the most experienced drinkers get taken to town by this concoction- most of them can't even remember what happened after they started drinking it.

But whatever, I needed to have some fun right?

A Duck School smoothie- named after the hunting "school" where it was "born"- consists of vodka, Kahlua, and Bailey's. (Basically it's a white Russian but you substitute the cream for Bailey's.)

All I can say is that I remember last night, but I can totally understand why they would drink this in the middle-of-nowhere North Dakota. That shit is strong!

Also, I now feel I have been inducted into "the Big Leagues."

Happy New Year! :D