The Present is a Gift

There are people who live in the past, people who live exclusively in the present, and people still, who live in a constant state of striving for an optimal future. I'd consider myself a combination of the first and last, which goes completely against the age old theory of living in the moment. 
People who are capable of living just for the here and now are blessed, but perhaps they are missing out on some of the finer points of life. Letting go of the past is just an excuse for trying to forget your mistakes, or erasing painful memories. But those memories make us who we are. Without those prior experiences, we would not be the same people we are today. And while living in the past is physically impossible, some people will drive themselves insane trying to solve or correct their histories. But life isn't always a puzzle to be solved, sometimes it's just about learning to accept and deal with the things that have happened and using those experiences to guide yourself. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time reflecting and remembering the good and bad times I've had, and those memories help me determine who or what has made my life great, and what I wish to exclude or include in my life from that point on. What is it they say we accomplish from studying history? We learn from our mistakes, and build towards a better future. And speaking of the future, there's absolutely nothing wrong with planning ahead, setting goals for yourself, or dreaming big- just realize that "tomorrow" is always undefined. It's okay to strive for something you want as long as you already have everything you need. I'm a dreamer. There's no squelching that. I like to imagine what grand and phenomenal possibilities the future can offer. But that doesn't mean I'm unsatisfied with the present- it just means I have confidence in myself and who I have the potential to become if I'm given the opportunity.
So living in the moment is really just a lifestyle choice. Those people may seem happy and carefree, but it's only because they don't acknowledge the past or let the future burden them. In my opinion, life has more depth when you learn to balance all three time zones. The present is empty without a past and a future surrounding it.

10 Not-so-Guilty Pleasures

"Why are you're trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?"  

That is the question; whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of widespread judgement or to take arms against a shallow sea of people, and by opposing, lessen said judgement.
And yes, I did just go all "Shakespeare" on you. Sorry 'bout that. Moving right along...

Some people go through life, too ashamed to admit some of the ridiculous, unusual, or maybe embarrassing things that make them happy. But I'm here to say that if something makes you happy- embrace it! Share it with others! Because life is short, and suppressing your own happiness due to societal pressures is essentially the stupidest thing you possibly do. If you find that something tickles your fancy, odds are, it probably tickles someone else's fancy as well... (I realize that sounds slightly awkward- but it's just such a good phrase, I had to use it)! Point being: everyone has their undisclosed infatuations, and you'd be surprised by the unfathomably common mutuality of your guilty pleasures. So today I've compiled a list of 10 things that I love- and I've ranked them in order of ascending embarrassment as such:

#1) DISNEY MUSIC!!! No shame here. Anybody who knows me, knows I ADORE Disney music! There's no better way to de-stress from reality than to jam out to I'll Make a Man Out of You, Mine Mine Mine, Under the Sea, or Be Our Guest (just a few of my very favorites).

#2) Oatmeal Cookies. There really isn't anything shameful about liking oatmeal cookies- except HOW much I like them. Normally, when you're consuming something sweet, your body reaches a point of sugar overload where whatever you were eating no longer tastes good. Happens to me all the time, just not when I eat oatmeal cookies. If I to bake a batch right now, I could eat them all and want more. It's almost sickening, but there's just something about a warm, soft, oatmeal cookie that I can't get enough of!

#3) Facebook. Ridiculous, I know. It's sickening how the internet has absorbed all of humanity. Sadly, I am one of those people who is on Facebook quite a lot of the day. I used to hate people like that, but especially since starting college, Facebook has become pretty much the only way for me to keep in touch with all my long distance friends! And unfortunately 99.99% of my friends are long distance, so naturally I spend a lot of time creeping on them in order to keep myself updated. It's an addiction, but it satisfies my loneliness, thus bringing me happiness!

#4) Spy Movies. All I can say is that I've had a life-long obsession with everything spy-related and I blame it on my father. Due to the complete ambiguity of his work for the government combined his excessively frequent absence and constant traveling, I guess I grew up theorizing that my dad is in fact a secret agent, out saving the world rather than sitting behind a desk. In fact, before I was born, both of my parents had the highest possible level of top-secret clearance due to the nature of their work. (Naturally, I have no idea what it is they used to do...) And while everyone thinks I'm joking about my father being a spy- I can assure you, I'm not! And older I get, the more convinced I become. So I guess I enjoy spy thrillers because I feel I can relate to certain aspects.

#5) Knee Socks. I'm not sure why, but knee socks make me incredibly happy! I find them extremely comforting, if that makes any sense at all... for some reason wearing socks that come up so high gives me a feeling a security, and simultaneously makes me feel pretty geeky- in an awesome way. I don't think I own any knee socks presently, and now I have a rather strong urge to go out and buy some!

#6) Unconventional Vocabulary. I don't know why, but I've always loved using words that aren't commonly used, such as "snazzy" or "boustrophedonically"! It brings out my inner nerd I guess. Not to mention, I get great pleasure seeing people's reactions when I use these words in casual conversation.

#7) Tights and Leotards. This might sounds peculiar, but as a ballet dancer- I honestly feel more comfortable wearing tights and a leotard than anything else in the world. It's sort of bizarre because most people would consider that extremely UN-comfortable. But, they've become like my second skin- probably because I've spent about half my life wearing them. I guess I just feel the most "me" in them.

#8) Zac Efron. Random, but I can't deny it! His name has been tainted ever since High School Musical, but I (sheepishly) admit that I find him quite adorable... and contrary to popular opinion, I think he's become a pretty decent actor. [That was actually semi-difficult to admit because most people don't know that about me]

#9) Justin Bieber's Boyfriend. UGH- I am quite ashamed to say that this is one of my favorite songs to jam to while I'm driving. Let it be known that I am in NO way a fan of Justin Bieber- quite the contrary- but something about this song is extremely catchy to my ear, and despite the stupid lyrics, I cannot resist singing along when I hear it!

#10) Guys with British Accents. I've put this at the top of my list, not because I'm afraid to admit it- but because it's embarrassing how much joy it brings me. Guys with British accents are pretty much my favorite thing in the entire world! Their voices melt my heart and make me giddy like the way you get when you see an adorable baby animal. And the 2012 London Olympics this summer certainly only escalated my love of the English. (And, on the topic of British accents, I must admit that my all time favorite romance movie is Letters to Juliet because the character Charlie is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread!)

And there you have it, my friends. Ten unusual things that bring me joy!
So what are your guilty pleasures???

Prompt #1

One thing I'd really like to do in my lifetime is publish a book. So, in effort to keep me on my toes and maintain my writing skills, I'll be posting short little tidbits such as this, using various creative writing prompts as inspiration.


What can happen in a second?

Anything.
Everything.
Nothing.

A second could mean the difference between
life and death
love and hate
war and peace

In one second...
A object entering Earth's atmosphere can travel 44 miles
A human eye can blink seven times
Light travels 186,000 miles
A hummingbird beats its wings 50 times
Earth advances 18 miles in its orbit around the sun
Four babies are born and two people die

But a second could also be just that. A second. A small fraction of our lives in which nothing much happens aside from the passing of time.

A second is what you make it, so make every second count.

Makes Me Happy

I don't know about the rest of you, but every once in awhile, as I'm venturing through the virtual expanse we know as the internet- I come across something hilarious or inspiring or something that, quite frankly, just makes me happy! This is one of those things! If you haven't seen it, please do yourself a favor and watch it! It's well worth your while, and if nothing else, it will take you on a fantastic journey back to your childhood.
                                  
                           Behold the One Man Disney Medley

                            

Now, I could go on a rant about how amazing that was, but instead I'll just leave you to form your own opinion. Long story short, this guy is rapidly gaining recognition and I wanted to be the one to share the awesomeness of Nick Pitera with you!

PS. If you like Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables, you should check out the links below! They are equally incredible videos! Enjoy!

                                            One Man Phantom

                             


                               One Man Les Mis

                              

The Thrill of Villainy

Recently, I’ve found myself being repeatedly intrigued by the villains I encounter in modern media. Naturally, my immediate reaction was that this peculiar new interest of mine is somewhat concerning.  But then I remembered back to AP Literature in high school. At some point in that class, I wrote a paper entitled the Thrill of Villainy, discussing the mesmerizing qualities that make the villains of classic literature so successful. Thinking back to what I wrote, I began to dissect my favorite villains and try to justify my fascination with them. Here's a general summary of what I deduced (all of which seems extremely obvious now that I've typed it out):

1) Villains drive the plot. Let's face it- most of the time, the absence of a villain would mean the absence of a story. Villains complicate things by creating obstacles for others. Life is never simple. There is good and bad, and while those two categories waver depending on your personal ethics, conflict between different types of people is inevitable.

2) Villains add pizazz. Be it a foreign accent, an eccentric lifestyle or a snazzy mustache- the villain is often very charismatic and exciting in one way or another.

3) Villains are Mysterious. Unless you're a terrible person, (in which case, I'm not sure why you're spending your time reading this blog instead of taking over the world, or whatever it is you bad guys do these days) you can never fully understand a villain. Or perhaps, such as in a murder mystery, you don't even know who the villain really is! Regardless, there is always an element of mystery surrounding the villain, which can easily seduce the audience.

4) Villains are unpredictable. I remember writing about this in my essay. Essentially, there are an infinite number of ways to be evil, while doing "the right thing" is extremely limiting. Therefore, you can often predict how the opposing force will act and react, but you can never be sure what to expect from the villain.

5) The best villains have comprehensive motivation. A villain who wants to take over the world just for the fun of it, isn't very exciting or relatable... The development of a complex villain however, is nothing short of fascinating. The evil genius types are particularly good. Perhaps they were influenced or mistreated by a parent or someone they cared about, or driven by their intellect and crossed some lines in the pursuit of knowledge/money/power (things that normal people seek, but on a miniscule level in comparison). It makes sense to be able to connect with a villain (assuming they're human) on a loose, but somewhat personal level. Just a smidgen of understanding goes a long way.

6) Villains are capable of the unimaginable. Most people struggle with the thought of intentionally inflicting pain on a fellow human being. There's that classic scenario of a bad guy breaking into your home and taking your family hostage followed by the haunting question of "Would you be able to kill said bad guy, if you and your family's lives depended on it?" A lot of people can't answer that query because it's something we can't and don't want to imagine. Yet, it's something we encounter in modern media all the time. One of the reasons villains are so intriguing is because they are capable of what most of us would consider to be unfathomable feats.

7) Villains have it easy. Contrary to what I just said above about the difficulty of evil, at the same time, villains sort of take drive through life via Easy Street. It's a whole lot simpler to play dirty and eliminate your enemy than it is to be tolerant, understanding, compromising and loving. And with that being said- it is my personal (realistic, not pessimistic) opinion that humans are born innately neutral- with a significantly higher tendency towards bad than good, meaning simply that being good, like anything else, requires a whole lot o' work!

 This is the point where I could start listing examples of some of the villains I find so intriguing, but most of you would have no clue who or what I was talking about. Instead, I will just quickly mention that one of my all time favorite villains is Lex Luthor (Smallville) because his back story is so incredibly complex! Even though he is ridden with evil in the end, I can't help but find myself connecting with his character on the most basic levels of humanity and sometimes even wishing I could justify his actions along the way, but knowing when lines are being crossed unforgivably. Those internal fluctuations between right and wrong, knowing that we can never fully understand other people's actions, are like a science within themselves. And that, my friends, is what I like to call the thrill of villainy.

Sidenote: If you haven't seen Dreamwork's Megamind, I highly recommend it! While it seems like a silly animated comedy on the surface, it's actually extremely witty and quite insightful as far as the art of villainy goes. Watch it! And I dare you not to love the main character (who just so happens to be the villain). MUAHAHAHAHA

I Do

Last night, I dreamt that I was getting married. To who? Your guess is as good as mine- but that wasn't the point of the dream. I spent the entire dream choosing a dress, and the only other person there was my sister (the last person I would ever actually take wedding dress shopping- no offense to her). And I should probably mention that the gowns I tried on weren't even in my true taste.
Now, usually, I tend to be the type of person who dreams so realistically, that I often wonder where reality ends and my dream world begins. But something about this particular dream struck me as improbable, and sent me into a fluctuating state of skeptical half-consciousness. The dream really didn't go anywhere- I woke up with a sort of postcard-kind-of-memory branded in my brain, and a vague recollection of my latest nonsensical mental concoction. Naturally though, this has got me a-thinking about that enormous elephant that lurks in the corner of every woman's mind- marriage.
At twenty years old, I think the scariest thing about that word is the fact that it's no longer a phantasmagorical ship, floating off in the distance of our lives. No siree. That sucker is harboring some serious legitimacy now, and just waiting to make port.
Now obviously, as someone whose never even dated, I can't say that marriage is in my near future. But it is becoming a more prominent part of my life. Since I've started college, I've made several friends who are slightly older than myself, many of whom happen to be married already. I even have a friend younger than myself who just tied the knot. I'm in no rush to join the bandwagon here- but as more and more relationship statuses creep from being "single" to "married"... I can't help but feel that whack of reality smacking me in the face and trying to drag me out of my complete submersion in academia. It's kind of crazy how fast time flies by- how fast things (people [life]) change(s). I guess what I'm getting as it the fact that the past two years of my life have sped by at practically the speed of light, and while marriage seems like such a foreign idea to me now, the concept of it is looming in the (relatively) near future, and let's face it- every girl likes to imagine the perfect love story for herself.
I don't know about ya'll, but I've never given much thought to what my wedding would be like- aside from one little detail that has always loomed in my brain. How do you chose your maid of honor, someone you single out as your right hand (wo)man for such a momentous occasion.  I know that it's absolutely ridiculous of me to think about such things right now, but nevertheless, I do (no pun intended).

What are your thoughts?! I'm curious :)

Olympic Stirrings

I have hated sports since the day I was born. I've never been athletic, but that's not the reason for my intense dislike of all athletics. It's more along the lines of I just don't understand the purpose. I mean, I get that it's about competition, learning to work with a team and pushing yourself to personal and worldly limits, but what do sports really accomplish? Nothing. Not a single thing except pride, money, and/or a trophy. I don't understand the emphasis that our world puts on the playing games, nor the fame that those players receive- especially when there are people, like doctors, who better the lives of millions of people, and yet they go through life unnoticed. WHY?! I mean, why is it that people willingly sit in front of a tv or carry on casual conversation about guys who can kick a ball into a net? Not to diss all the amazing athletes out there- it's great that you guys have goals and can become the best in the world at whatever it is that you love to do. I admire that. What I don't admire is the attention that it gets. Hundreds/thousands of years from now, when our species is fighting for survival, is it really going to matter who was the best football player in the 21st century? No- what's going to matter is the research or contribution of some nameless person who devoted their life to science, or charity, in one way or another, changing the world. So I guess my original statements are incorrect. It's not that I don't respect athletes- because I do! I just think that the things they accomplish are more personal than global- but that's not the way my fellow man sees it. Perhaps I should try a different approach...
In what way is it fair that Obama, the leader of our country, receives $400,000 a year for his service to our nation and the world, while Tiger Woods pockets $60 million for hitting a ball with a club??? I don't care what your political stance or personal opinion of our president is- I am not into politics in the least- but in my opinion, ANYONE who attempts to runs our country (regardless of the mistakes they might make along the way) in effort to better this US of A, deserves more recognition and reciprocity than any athlete. It makes me ill knowing that professional sports players have things handed to them on a silver platter while other people struggle to contribute money, manpower, and knowledge to this world.
On a slightly different note, I've been watching the Olympics the last few days- more so than ever before, and I must admit that I quite enjoy watching the swimming and gymnastics. Those people are crazy talented. But, getting to the point- I don't understand how countries across the globe can come together to play games like we don't have a care in the world, but as soon as the competition is over, we return to our normal states of warring and dispute. Why is that? Could we not apply some of this good citizenship and friendly competition to real world problems??? Just something to consider...

And I'd like to end with one of my favorite quotes, something from John Green's The Fault In Our Stars:
"I used to play basketball. But then one day I was shooting free throws and all at once I couldn't figure out why I was methodically tossing a spherical object through a toroidal object. It seemed like the stupidest thing I could possibly be doing. And then for some reason I started thinking about hurdlers- about them and their hurdle races, and jumping over these totally arbitrary objects that had been set in their path. And I wondered if hurdlers ever thought, you know, this would go a lot faster if we just got rid of the hurdles."