Veinticinco

I wrote this in my online journal when I was 15 (a sophomore in high school). I was somewhat contemplative and maybe even a little bit insightful.

"Life isn't measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. The problem is, we expect huge, miraculous, sparkly, perfect things to take our breath away, and often times that just doesn't happen. The alternative is opening our eyes to the small, simple, wonderful things that happen every day. Allowing the little things to make us happy ultimately benefits us in the long run, because we learn to stop expecting so much and taking things in stride. Then, when the huge, miraculous, sparkly, perfect things do happen, they're that much more amazing. Seeing things in a positive light, and smiling at the small stuff, it's all a choice. Happiness is a choice. Even when things are tough, we can smile because inevitably something good will follow. We just gotta watch for it. There is beauty in everything around us, but sometimes we're so wrapped up in the yuckish, we don't notice it."

Aside from strange adjectives and the obvious cliche, I don't think I've dropped this attitude.

Regardless of whatever life throws at us, there is always something good.
I have to believe that.

Veinticuatro

The first two years I lived in Tucson, I alternated between being a pedestrian and a driver. Never was I a bicyclist. (Well, there was that one time I borrowed Roommate's bike to go look for a synagogue, but that's a whole different story.) As a pedestrian/driver, I found bicyclists to be rather annoying. Who did they think they were, not following the traffic laws every other vehicle has to follow? Talk about arrogant!

I definitely still think there are a lot of bicyclists who don't actually realize that what they are riding is considered a "vehicle" in our glorious state, so yes they should stop at stop signs and no they don't automatically have the right of way, but my current frustration is with pedestrians:

GET OUT OF THE BICYCLE LANE. Seriously: on campus especially, you have ten feet on either side of our six-foot, two-way path (which means, you math geniuses, that the pedestrians have 20 feet total to work with and I have three feet to myself), and you choose to walk right down the middle? Right on the double yellow lines? I know you think you aren't endangering anyone, but when you start to swerve because you're talking on your cell phone, I can't anticipate that. And if I follow suit and swerve as well, I am putting people's lives at risk who aren't even in the bike lane. And I am bigger and faster than you. And physics tells me this could lead to some problems.

In lieu of this problem, I have written a haiku:

Oh pedestrians
Please get out of the bike lane
Before I hit you

Veintitrés

A few weeks ago I got "flashed" by a speed camera for the first time. Prior to this event, I had successfully avoided all citations/tickets that usually plague young drivers, so I was in pretty good shape. I was a little nervous, so I spoke with a few friends who have gotten caught by speed cameras. As far as they knew, the ticket would be sent to the person whose name was on the vehicle's registration. At the time, I was driving a car that is registered to my dad. The picture would clearly not look like him, so we could just send in a copy of his driver's license and check the box that says, "This isn't me." (Not the most honest move, I admit.)

So that was the plan. No problem.

Wrong. Of course there was another complication, because if there wasn't, I wouldn't be blogging about it.

The car I was driving also has my mom's name on the registration. And we look so much alike, they aren't going to buy the "this isn't me" excuse if she sends them a copy of her driver's license. So there goes $200. Oops.

The moral of the story is to pay attention to speed limit changes when you get off the highway. Also, watch for signs that say, "Photo Enforcement Zone," because those are *apparently* all over the place. Pshh.

Veintidós

Tattoos have always interested me. I understand that it isn't everyone's "thing" and that a lot of people dislike them, which is fine, but I think they're fascinating. Hearing people's stories about their tattoos and seeing original artwork never ceases to capture my attention.

Today I got my second tattoo. My first was done two years ago and was relatively painless, except for the bottom edge which goes over my ankle bone. I didn't think too much about that pain when I decided to get the next one on the top of my foot. As the artist began outlining with the needle, I realized something. I believe my exact words were, "So apparently there are a lot of bones in the foot..."

Google has informed me that in fact, there are 26 bones in the human foot, which, let's face it, is pretty cool. (http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1998-08/897679960.An.r.html)

In any case, the tattoo turned out better than I expected. Also, because it hurt so much, I'm not too eager to get another one anytime soon. Everyone wins.

Veintiuno

When I was younger, my friends and I joked about tasers and stun guns and things like that. We didn't really know what they were, aside from the fact that they can do some damage. And although we joked, I never thought I would own anything like that, even if I did live by myself. But as it turns out, there are people who are concerned for my safety and want me to be able to defend myself.

And so today I was given a most interesting gift.

Veinte

Somewhere along the line I think we have to realize that we are emotional beings. This doesn't mean everyone is a drama queen, or that everyone has a temper, or that everyone is hyper-sensitive, it just means that we are capable of having emotions. Perhaps one of the greatest disservices we can do for ourselves is tell ourselves that we aren't emotional--because that makes any emotion seem trivial and out-of-place. I think sometimes we need to experience certain emotions so that we can respond to different situations in our lives.

For example, I know I'm someone who gets frustrated, but I also know I don't hold grudges and I can't stay angry for much more than a day. Sometimes I just need to be frustrated.

I know other people who are criers. They just need to cry occasionally, and after they cry they feel better and are more equipped to deal with the situation at hand.

I'm not sure that the logical approach to emotion is one that everyone should adopt, but it makes sense to me. And I know that I don't feel as bad being "emotional" if I can keep in mind that it will pass and I'll be okay "tomorrow".

Today was actually a really good, positive day. No frustration whatsoever. I was just thinking about this earlier. :)

Diecinueve

When asked which superpower I'd like to have, my default answer is flying. I am not abandoning my dreams of flight, but I think I've figured out the ultimate superpower.

Sleeping.

Not just normal sleeping, sleeping in an ideal situation.
Sleeping whenever you decide, that very instant.
Sleeping wherever you decide, that very spot.
Sleeping comfortably, with no aches and pains when you wake up.
Sleeping for however long you decide, and not a minute longer. There would be no need for alarm clocks--your body would just stop sleeping when you wanted to wake up!

Personally, I think I've struck gold. Now I just have to figure out how to make this a reality.

In the meantime, I'm gonna catch some z's... after I set my alarms.

Dieciocho

Although there is almost always a song stuck in my head, I am exceptionally bad at remembering lyrics. I have to go through and read them/sing along at least four or five times before I remember them, and I usually don't have that kind of time on my hands.

Fortunately, it's summer.

Since The Hush Sound is the band I've been listening to most recently, I decided to at least investigate the lyrics to one of their catchy songs (so I can sing along in the car).

As it turns out, it's kind of a sad song. These are the lyrics to the chorus:

As you cry, I wanna lie
Say I love you so, darlin' even though I don't
There's no easy way, to ease the pain
Roses and the tulips have
Withered away, they had their day
So it's time to say goodnight and goodbye

I found the upbeat and cutesy sound to be ironic matched with these lyrics. (Originally I thought it said, "I don't wanna lie, I love you so" which would make sense with the melody. Nope.)

In any case, it's a great song. You should listen to it.
Here's a link to a low quality YouTube video of them at one of their shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdc4G072vNM

Diecesiete

For two years, my Toshiba laptop (affectionately referred to as "Mindy") has served me faithfully. She has her off days, but overall she's pretty reliable. She is named because it feels a little less crazy to yell at "Mindy" than ambiguous "computer".

Recently, I began noticing the crazy amounts of dust that were underneath the keys on the keyboard. Figuring there had to be some sort of device with which I could clean the keyboard, I called my dad to find out where I could find one of the keyboard cleaning contraptions. (I'll try to steer clear of the alliteration this time...) So Dad tells me I can simply pop off the keys and clean underneath of them. I'm hesitant, but he says they'll pop back on, no problem. He warns me that I should only remove and clean underneath one key at a time.

Yeah, right.

Thinking I'll just be really careful to keep the keys in order, I began taking off five to six of them at a time. I figured Dad was just concerned I'd forget where they keys were supposed to be. It never occurred to me that he might have had other reasons for telling me to only take off one key at a time. Reasons such as, they don't all attach the same way, and some of them won't go back on easily... or at all.

The arrow keys, as it turns out, are not attached the same as the other keys.

Oops.

Sorry, Mindy.

Dieciséis

Two blogs in one week? What?! Madness!!!

For those of you who never read my Facebook note about toothpaste (yes, I write about fantastic and interesting things), I use Listerine brand. They make a gel toothpaste that is incredibly strong and leaves my breath feeling minty fresh for hours. I don't really like other brands because my breath doesn't feel clean when I'm done brushing. Granted, it has always been a bit more expensive to stick with the Listerine brand, but I can scrimp and save in other areas of my budget--I refuse to compromise my oral hygiene. I can shop for clothes in thrift shops, buy generic brand food, and only buy used dvds... but I am not willing to negotiate on my toothpaste preference. I spent too many years in braces, expanders, rubber bands, headgear (yes, headgear; no, there are no photos), and a retainer to allow my teeth look anything short of spectacular.

But there is a problem. I think they may have discontinued Listerine brand toothpaste. It is no longer available in grocery stores or Walgreens. (And let's face it, if Walgreens doesn't have it, what hope is there?!)

It doesn't exist for cheaper than $4 online. I am extremely disheartened by this discovery.