oh noes!

what happened to Meg Ryan's face?

i saw her on the cover of a magazine... and i was kind of afraid. poor meg ryan, why would you do that?

... i don't have much else to say on the matter. well... that might be a lie.

so plastic surgery... hm. it's a tricky one. i mean, its good for people who get reconstructive surgery because their face was broken or something, but it's kind of ridiculous for others. but, the doctors make soooooooooo much money, it's never going to stop.
and i guess it all boils down to the extreme shallowness/ focus on appearance that plagues our society. i'm not going to lie, i'm affected as much as anyone else. and even though i try NOT to be... sometimes i just can't help myself. and its probably how we are all raised and all that. and oh my god the magazines don't help in the least. i remember the first issue of Teen magazine i ever got. i'm pretty sure Jennifer Love Hewitt was on the cover, and it was right around when Can't Hardly Wait was coming out. (brief interlude as i look up dates). so i'm guessing it was summer of 1998. that would have put me between 7th and 8th grade. this also happened to be the summer i started growing my hair out and decided AGAINST wearing wind suit pants all the time. strange coincidence? i think not.
i didn't want to look like a boy any more (not that i did want to in the first place, that's just sort of how it turned out) and the land of teen magazines was where i ended up in. i was steeped in teen culture for the next five years. and i kept most of my copies as well. i had three paper boxes under my bed full of magazines: Teen, Teen People, Cosmo!Girl, Twist, YM, Seventeen... eventually, Twist went under and went to TeenVogue, and then YM died and switched to ElleGirl. oh my, my my. it's no wonder that teenagers get distorted perceptions of what they should look like! sure, there were always stories about girls who hated their bodies and then after much trauma accepted themselves, by no means am i shunning their stories. i think they are important, and teens should read about the dangers of eating disorders and the like. BUT they are completely overwhelmed with what to wear this season, and pages upon pages of fashion spreads along with tons of advertisements, all of which were full of stick thin girls and gorgeous men.
way to put pressure on both of the sexes. girls have to be skinny and men have to be muscular and have chiseled features. oh dear me.
so there was that along with all of the celebrity gossip, who was with who, look at all the pretty boys, la de da. so like i said... i was steeped in this stuff. i had my fair share of celebrity crushes and i plastered my walls solid with pictures. (oh i have photo documentation for anyone interested). I think my favorite magazine was Twist, they had more stuff about pop culture instead of fashion. i think that's why i liked it and why it went under. three pages about books? no way! i'm getting off topic. so as i'm surrounded by the pictures of Popsicle-stick girls, you can bet i'm doubting myself. i in no way, shape, or form come CLOSE to them. and that was high school. until senior year. where i a) spent half of my summer in Washington actually DOING things and being active and such, b) got my eyebrow pierced, c) was no longer in the shadow of my big sister and d) didn't really care any more.
to hell with beauty magazines! i'm much to busy doing theatre and such to read such rubbish. and the the clouds parted, and sun shone down on me, and i was okay.

i digress... plastic surgery. i think it's silly for many people, but i also think that many of them feel they NEED it. just like they NEED to be beautiful. i wrote a whole paper on this (which, consequently got chosen for a symposium and published). i don't think i know anyone who has gotten PS, and i'm slightly intrigued by those that do. why do you feel you need to fit in so badly? has society put that much pressure on you? is life so bad the way you are?
maybe it is. there have been studies that prove that people mentally judge others by the way they look. i know i do. why lie? i can be incredibly superficial. look at how i started this entry.

i like to think that i am somewhat better that just judging by appearance. sure, when Incredibly Hot BECA Guy comes into the prop shop, i practically melt, and i about died yesterday when he shook my hand. BUT, i love the skinny geeky guys too (sometimes too much... le sigh).

damn our society and the freakish attention to appearance.


*if you actually made it through this whole post... you rock hardcore.

a quick little rant before i start my homework (which is due in 4 hours):

what the HELL is up with the spam on myspace?! My account got hacked once already, which was incredibly embarrassing, seeing as it posted comments on people's pages that i hadn't spoken to in quite a while. and it also posted bulletins about a 'rager' i was throwing. what the hell. i never ever ever use the word rager. ever.
those damn spammers are tricky little buggers. they post comments with code in them to make them stay at the top of your comments box, incredibly annoying if you ask me.
and now, god dammit, they've started to spam my blog comments. and its not just like 'ooh, click this bla bla' instead if you click on it, it takes up the whole page, essentially making a new page for itself. and of course, myspace is being retarded right now and i can't even delete the comments. i can't even delete the blog entry because it won't load. damn you myspace!

OMG TV!

reality tv is not a new thing. its pretty far from it actually. Survivor has been on since 2000 and is into its 14th season already. talk about overload. i'm okay with some reality tv. beauty and the geek is cute, the amazing race is awesome, i love project runway and i've been known to watch a few episodes of america's next top model. HOWEVER. there are a couple i'm totally annoyed by.
Dancing with the Stars and American Idol.
i've never really watched them. maybe thats my problem. i saw a bit of dancing with the stars once, it was pretty cool, but what i am flabbergasted by is the fact that america is OBSESSED with these shows. i mean, Heather Mills has a prosthetic leg. whoop dee, way to make her a marketing gimmick abc. i'm sure you really just want to "level the playing field" but every time i see a commercial with 'One of the contestants has to overcome the BIGGEST OBSTACLE" and she's all like "losing my leg." oh dear GOD i want to punch an exec in the face. i find it incredibly rude for abc to use her as such a marketing scheme. its disgusting. augh.
oh, and american idol. what the hell america? how is it we seem to stop our lives for six weeks so a show can take over our tvs and lives? practically any show that runs on the same night as idol (which seems like every single freaking night to me), is put in reruns for the six weeks that idol runs. um.... excuse? no part of me is awash with excitement to see pretty people sing for the opportunity to be exploited in the music industry. i know that some of them have a 'story' but to be honest, i dont care. the fact is that every day after idol has been on, yahoo! runs odds and recaps in their top news section. um. okay. idol is not top news. top news is finding that missing boy scout. top news is more troops killed overseas. top news is the government screwing us even more. top news is more than what was on tv the night before! oh my god. and when someone gets kicked off... well... even bigger story! its just gross. i was looking at entertainment weekly yesterday and there was like a 5 page spread about idol and the chances of the top 9 or however many there are. i just dont understand why people get so into it.

is it an escapist thing? watching fluff so we don't have to think about our real problems? i get that. i do that too. but i don't understand why america goes bizzare over this talent show. i don't mean to offend any fans, i'm glad you have something you enjoy watching, i just want to know why all of the shows i watch have to go into reruns because of it. lame.

crotch/face/space

okay, so this is kind of a mix of a bunch of different things but with one common thread: MUNI.
i don't mind riding the muni, really. its kind of nice to have an hour to collect my thoughts before i have to be proactive about life. its the other people riding the muni that bug me.
1. the person who takes up all four seats on the side. they've got the bag, their ass taking up two and their leg is all up on the other seat. wtf? its lovely to lay out isnt it? okay, not on the muni where there are a lot of other people who would like to sit down.
2. people who don't sit on the inside seat. this only bothers me sometimes, mostly when its uuber crowded, and they don't slide over. people don't want to ask you to move, so sliiiiide over to the window. i don't care if you are boxed in. if you are getting off soon, get up and let other people sit down.
3. people who run into you and your bags even if there is a ton of other space on the aisle for them to walk. seriously, it's not that narrow of a space, damn you people.
4. the horrible smell that the busses and muni get when its rainy. a buddy of mine calls it "hobo smell" i call it wet dog. its not pleasant. plus, they crank the heat and you dont want to open the windows because its rainy so its warm stinky air. uuugh, its sooo nasty.
5. crotch/face space. okay, so i know the muni gets crowded, but when you are fortunate enough to get a seat, and happen to be facing toward the aisle, you are bound to be staring at someones crotch. thats just where eyelines happen to be. how awkward is that? very. where are you supposed to look? there is only so many places you can avert your eyes, and it's bound to be a sea-o-crotches. the other week, this happened to me, and i ended up staring at the guys zipper because it was falling. kind of odd, i know, but i got into my head about wondering if he knew his zipper was falling and if he self-concious about it. i could just have easily stared at his pocket or something, but noooo. anyway.
6. delays. oh dear god. lately, they are renovating and all that, its insane. one weekend, they closed castro-west portal station and didn't really tell anyone. it was only this little tiny sign. it was crazy. everyone was late i think. the shuttle busses were very packed.
7. the lack of M cars. not only do they only send one car at a time at night, they are insanely far apart. me and everyone else who has a night class that gets out at 10 and travelling inbound has to not only wait for like 20 minutes, but then we all have to cram onto one car. uncomfortable. then, a couple of weeks ago, i was on my way to my 8am shift, and i got on an M, and was all the way to Sloat (a mere 4 stops away from school), when we were told he was having electrical problems and we all had to get off. and stand in the rain. for 20 minutes. and another M showed up at 8. i was late. LAME.
8. litterers on the muni. being a litterer in general is lame, but when you leave your garbage on the bus or whatever, its really gross. other people have to sit there. oh, and the people who eat sunflower seeds and spit the shells everywhere. wtf? OH and the spitters! thats soooooooooo nasty. i do not want your DNA where i would like to sit.

i have more issues with muni. but, my hand hurts from pounding on the wall last night. note to self: use something else to do that. damn neighbors.

match.com

okay. first off, let me say i don't hate online dating services. i don't think they are the greatest thing in the world, but if it works for some people, god forbid i rain on their parade. and that one guy just looks sooooo happy in his commercials. actually, he might be for match.com, i can't even remember. aaaaaaaaanyway.
on myspace, and other places i'm sure, match.com has come up with these ads which have a video of a person who is "actually online" or whatever. they freak me OUT. first off, i find webcams the coolest thing ever, but, when i am watching someone i don't know, and its not by choice, i feel stalkery and weird. and, its always some guy making these "oh really!" faces to the camera. ugh, they are so creepy. i've seen two different ones. the first one was this dude who was sitting there and then he's all like "OH!" and he takes his sweatshirt off. the second one is of this dude who looks like he keeps saying "really!" and "ooooh."
thank you match.com for making me feel dirty.

everywhere i look... its hearts.

::puke::

Valentine's Day, whoop-de-do. pretty much everyone i know, including those with significant others find February 14th no reason to celebrate. we are all under the same impression: Hallmark made it up. i don't really care if there is some historical background (once, one of my professors took the first hour of class describing the origins of V.day from different cultures. it was appropriate to the class and all, but meh, evs yo). the point is NOW its ridiculous. and people get all mad if you miss it and bla bla bla. Personally, i used the day to give my roommates things i wanted to give them anyway (a succulent for shynie, a Bing Crosby book for allison, and Reefer Madness for mickey) and of course we gave each other silly cards.
but seriously, lets think about this... do you think its a coincidence that Valentine's Day shares its initials with Venereal Disease? i know i sure don't.
i'm sure all the greeting card companies make a steal, so do the chocolate companies that waste paper to make ugly boxes and put their okay chocolate in. give me a stack of dagoba bars tied with a ribbon and i'll be yours, baby.
also, the commercials! ooooooooh my god. i hate jewelery commercials anyway (do you know where your diamonds are coming from?) but they turn up the sweet/sickly dial for V.day, and i don't want to see it any more. plus everything is red and pink and is frilly with hearts. i can be girly with some of the best, but it gets to be way too much for me. especially when it starts in december.
i do see some upsides. for one, the post office/ dhl/ ups/ fed ex get a load of business with the flowers and all that. but, again... do you know where your flowers come from? organic flowers rock hardcore... i'm just saying. i had the unfortunate luck to have to fill in at the Towers front desk at 11am on tuesday for about an hour. not only were there about 12 packages from USPS, but 6 from FedEx and 26 from UPS. TWENTY SIX. i didn't even bother with those and left them for the kid after me, i was only filling in after all. but, of course, i was greeted with about 22 packages of my own when i went back to the dorms. so yay for the mail/post industry. especially USPS, support them.

but, thankfully, i live in SF, where the people are a little nuts and steal crazy good ideas from other cities. case in point: at 6pm on valentines day, there was a flash mob pillow fight. it was AWESOME. we got there a bit late, but i have to say, it was the most fun i've had in a while. i was giggling for a good thirty minutes while whacking people i didn't know with a pillow and getting showered with feathers. given, i inhaled some, choked, and coughed for the rest of the night, it was totally worth it. it was so much fun. i didn't even mind going to class afterwards (15 minutes late, covered in feathers and down and carrying a pillow, hee!). so i reccomend organizing your own flash mob pillow fight. they are amazingly great.

L S 101

the longer i work in the dorms, the more i realize that these kids desperately need something like a life skills class. DESPERATELY. it pains me that some of these kids can't do simple things. i realize it's probably their first time away from home and all that but there are some things you should just KNOW, you know? so here is my idea of for Life Skills 101, a class that should be required for graduation, preferably taken in the first semester, some of these are specific to SF State, but maybe there could be a Life Skills 102 for living in an apartment off campus as well. you would have to pass L S 101 of course.

section one: how to, cleaning
-a clogged toilet: how to plunge, turn off the water, and clean up afterwards.
-a loose doorknob
-a screen that has fallen off: how to reattach it.
-how to mop a floor
-how to use a vacuum
-if you need maintenance, do not be vague, details are important.
-garbage goes into the garbage room. same with recyclables.

section two: mail
-how to use a mailbox: find number, key goes in, turn.
-what do to if you have someone else's mail!
-how to send mail
-when and what days the mail comes: no mail on Sunday, dorms don't get mail until 6pm.
-when you might have a package, and when you don't.

section three: following rules!
-don't drink in the dorms, we know you are not 21
-leave the fire alarms where they are
-quiet hours are there for a reason

section four: food
-using a microwave
-using an oven
-using a garbage disposal
-when the DC closes
-where to eat after hours
-who delivers?

section five: respect
-the RAs know more than you do, and always will.
-never, on any occasion is it okay to SCREAM in the lobby or hallways, unless someone is dying.
-be nice to the person who is helping you. or they won't help you, get it?
-chances are, we don't want to hear you singing, or your keys jangling or the horrendous scraping noise you make when you shuffle your feet, so stop it.
-music: if you have in-the-ear headphones and anyone else can hear it, it's amazing you aren't deaf already.
-remember, UPD is only a call away.
-spilling of any liquid (including vomit) is not okay in the hallways, elevators or lobby. seriously, ew. find a trashcan.

section six: laundry
-different loads for different colors
-different water temperatures
-detergent
-bleach
-dryers and their settings

section seven: keys
-at all times, take your keys. ALWAYS.
-no matter how nicely or repeatedly you ask me, i will never give you a key without writing it down. you getting charged $50 is not an equal exchange for me possibly losing my job.
-if your key doesn't work, tell us.
-take your keys with you at all times.

section eight: miscellaneous
-telephones: voice mail, etc. also, how there isn't service in the lobby.
-labor: we are not it. bring your own.
-furniture: some of it's attached. check on that.
-if you lose your card, get a new one. i'm not going to get up every time to let you in.
-why you should really go to class: a breakdown of how much school is costing you and why it would suck to fail.

section nine: beyond the dorms; a look to the future
-how to write a check
-avoiding credict card debt
-how to find a roommate
-where to find an apartment
-when school isn't right for you
-where to find a job (maybe)

**so it's a work in progress. i think its going pretty well, right? i would have taken it freshman year. does anyone else have any other suggestions? i will gladly add them in and make sure you get credit.

ruth, this is for you

OH HO HOOOO! only a day after i got a request from my friend ruth to hate more things so she would have something to read, i come across this little gem:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070123/ap_on_re_us/flight_tantrum_1
a family of three is thrown off a plane because their three-year-old daughter is having a tantrum and wouldn't be seated.

well. let me say, i was going to write a post on this anyway because on my flight to chicago a mere five days before christmas, i had to sit next to an annoying little kid who refused to sit still. he kicked me and the seat in front of him continually for FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. seriously, no. he wouldn't listen to either of his parents at all. oooh it was soooooooo annoying. when his dad tried to get him to stop, he started whining. not crying, just kind of uuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!ing. gah, children.
anyway, so onto this story. i ENJOY this story so much. i am right there with the flight attendants asking the family to leave. for one, they were following FAA guidelines. she was over two years old, so she needed to be in her seat. they were already delayed 15 minutes, and this would have just delayed them longer. the attendants were just doing their job. chances are the kid would have been screaming throughout the flight, and it's not like it was her first flight (they were flying home) so don't try that excuse anyone. so thank you AirTran attendants! i applaud your decision to save that airplane of people the annoyance of yet another screaming child.
i get that people want to travel with their children. just like they take them to stores and to restaurants. but i LOATHE the fact that some parents let their children run about willy nilly! i realize i am not an expert, because i don't have kids and haven't had to take a child on an outing that wasn't under the age of 8. BUT i also see parents who have well-behaved children who sit quietly, don't bother other people, and listen to their parents. it makes me so angry at those parents who just watch their kids run around with this look on their face like, "oh look, how cute. oh, children..." its ridiculous. it is NOT okay to let your child do that. unless they are on a playground or some other designated play area. not only is it disruptive of everyone around you (how many times have you been almost collided into by some child RUNNING down the aisle at the grocery store?) but it also tells your kid that they can do whatever they want. no. so i guess i'm going into a little bit of parenting. (again, no experience, and i don't intend to, not for a long while anyway). i am a believer in making sure your kid knows that there are rules and they need to follow them. i have asked my parents about how it was when my sister and i were growing up. apparently we were well-behaved because if we weren't my dad would make us leave. i guess there was one incident where one of us was having a bit of a tantrum at a restaurant, and he we paid and left. there was no tolerating it. growing up we knew the rules, and if we disobeyed we were punished. and for the most part, i think i turned out okay. i'm getting off the point here. children need to have boundaries. i find it completely unacceptable for any child to run around a store or yell in a restaurant. and, if your kid is having a tantrum on a plane, and they kick you off, bully for you. you know what family? you should know better, and why do you have a child on an expensive airline anyway? you paid almost $600 for three tickets. screaming children belong on cheap airlines that poor people like me are forced to fly on.

i wait for the day i will be able to fly on an airline that doesn't allow children as passengers. i don't know if one exists, even if it does, i can't afford it. but one of these days... one of these days!

ugh, there are 11 of them?!

so today i am going to talk about a... plague that has taken over. some "genius" had an idea about a niche of the music market that hadn't been explored. you know what came out of it? KIDZ BOP. this is seriously one of the most disturbing things i have seen. i thoroughly HATE this product. it creeps me out to no end. in theory it seems like a brilliant idea. i think not. you get kids, CHILDREN, to sing popular songs. on paper, sure that seems great. but the songs they have these kids sing! oh my god. gnarls barkley's "crazy" (11), fuel's "bad day" (10), black eyed peas "pump it" (10, and i yeah, um, ever read the lyrics?), weezer's "beverley hills" (9), green day's "boulevard of broken dreams" (8), bowling for soup's "1985" (7), britney spears's "toxic" (6), jet's "are you gonna be my girl" (6), outkast's "hey ya" (5), dobie gray's (i think thats right) "drift away" (4), j.lo's "jenny from the block" (4), jimmy eat world's "the middle" (3), pink's "dont let me get me" (3), 3 doors down's "kryptonite" (2), ricky martin's "livin la vida loca" (1), blink-182's "all the small things" (1), and soooooooooooo many others.
does this disturb anyone else? now, im not about censoring music or not letting kids listen to certain things. mostly because i think its up to the parents to decide, and educate their children about what they are listening to, and what they issues are, so on and so forth. BUT, when you have kids singing these songs, thats just a totally different level. now im assuming that they change some of the lyrics. i mean, god i would HOPE so, seeing as some of the songs i listed discuss things that aren't meant for children. i dont know it just really creeps me out. i get that kids are attracted to music even if they dont know what the lyrics mean, i know as a kid i did the same thing. i was a HUGE fan of garth brook's "ive got friends in low places" and didnt have a clue about what he was talking about. but to have kids singing to other kids these songs, makes them think its okay... and its really not. maybe its because i dont have kids. but i think if i heard some kid singing "livin la vida loca" i would be shocked. ::shudder:: it just freaks me out to noooooooo end. yet at the same time, im slightly intrigued and im tempted to see if they have it at the library, just so i can be thoroughly creeped out, and at the same time say that at least i listened to it, even if its after i publish this.
oh god. it just creeps me out so much. like leering old guy across the street from a playground creepy. EW.

those lovely holidays

i am yet another one of those disgruntled, unhappy shoppers you see standing in line the day before christmas, shooting daggers from their eyes.
im kind of over christmas. this year didnt seem like christmas at all. it was kind of bizzare. xmas is really for little kids and familys that drink. (my family, for the most part, is not part of that second group. i think we would all have a little more fun if we were).
SO in that lovely vein, here are my complaints with the holiday season. in no particular order because i'll probably just randomly think of them.

-ridiculous shopping thats starts before thanksgiving now. seriously.
-people. now, i usually hate people, but a lot of people (myself being included sometimes) get a special kind of stupid around the holidays. like they forget how to walk in a store, or act in a crowd. it drives me crazy.
-drivers. oh my dear GOD. admittedly, it wasnt as bad this year because it didnt snow, but people just get dumb. take the first open spot you see, because you arent going to get anything thats all that close. and if you are able-bodied, then leave the close spots for those who arent.
-the movies. everything seems to have an upbeat ending, and someone finds their christmas spirit. suck on that. i know i didnt find my christmas spirit this year. and there are a few that make me cry (especially when im not home from school yet). ugh, and even worse are the ones i HAAATE. i actually hate "A Christmas Story". i hate it. really. the kid annoys me and i hope he shoots his eye out. the only good parts of that movie is the kid who licks the pole and gets stuck and the leg lamp. also, "It's A Wonderful Life" is okay... but zuzu's voice grates my nerves. but they both get over-played before christmas even comes.
-the hype. i guess this comes back to me not finding my xmas spirit. for our family, the holidays havent really been all that good to us as of the last few years. as much as i would like to believe in xmas miracles, i have yet to see one that wasnt written for a made for tv movie with some random semi-celebrity. for those who dont know, im not religious. my parents are different religions, so we never went to church and my sister and i arent baptized. (::shock face!:: for some people, i know). However, i used to find xmas really fun, even after we stopped getting toys and such. after i went to college, i was usually happy to be home (it comes in phases) and actually enjoyed the company of my family. this year there are no warm fuzzy feelings... am i jaded?
and lastly, the blatant commercialism i 'buy' into every year (heh heh, i made a pun). as michael from the office puts it so nicely, a present is a physical thing you can touch and show people and say, i love you this many dollars worth. (thats paraphrased...) unfortunately im not nearly as crafty as i thought i was, and i never have time to make anything for anyone. i mean, my freshman year at sfsu, everyone got bottles of ocean because i was poor and had mini water bottles. thats about as far as my craft goes. i never know what to get anyone, so i end up getting things that they will probably never use, or get that general nail-kit gift for one of my female relatives (erin, if you read this, i actually got that for you though, it was purposeful). its kind of lame, and i feel even lamer (or a lamer... hah) for going along with it. i try to get things that people actually want (netflix subscriptions are THE BEST) but im pretty sure i get things that dont really have a purpose or cant be used (like the ginormous ornament i got my mom. i thought they were much smaller).

so these are my issues. i listened to christmas music to get myself all spirited up... no luck.
i dont know. i guess it just wasnt a christmas-y kind of year.