"The Ultimate Cliche". . .

You Can't Ignore It... Once again it's that time of year to tell someone just how special you really think they are! Orrr to hide from the person you're dating and "Unfortunately be very busy February 14th."

Valentine's Day is the the holiday everyone loves to hate! I personally think everyone should get the day off, I mean what's more important than Love?!

Maybe, you've never actually celebrated the holiday with that special someone, so you're a HATER and totally bash the holiday and all those who celebrate it. But it used to not be that way! Remember grade school and all the valentines and candies received in your special box from all your classmates?! I swear some mothers failed to read what the cards said before properly declaring the To: and From: parts, but I personally remember reading each one and thinking carefully about who should get the spicy cards, "My Heart is Yours, Be Mine!" and then the safe ones, "You're Cool!" From Lizzy. 

I thought about life after the cards and most of the time, I decided to save face and just give the lovey dovey ones to my best girlfriends. Butttt, there was always someone who I really wanted to give a special valentine to. Sometimes, I took the risk but like most of us still today, I usually kept it safe. More importantly though, "There was always someone."

I remember reading and rereading AND saving the ones that were very complimentary from the boys I liked. Even if I didn't like the boy before I got that sweet valentine from him, suddenly I found myself thinking about him in a special kind of way. At that point, I didn't take into account that boys are really lazy and most of the time, their mothers were just filling out the valentines with the class roster the teacher provided as if it was just homework. No!!! That 10 cent square of recycled cardboard, coverd with red hearts and classic cliches, meant someone thought I was special!

 

Boys seemed to really not mind the holiday when they had a big box of free candy to feast on. Their hatred for the holiday seemed to surface at a later age when the candy was no longer free, their mothers weren't there to fill out their valentines, and more importantly... no roster was provided to tell them exactly who to give valentines to. 

Many say, "If you have loved someone secretly, then Valentine's Day is the perfect occasion to bare your heart and let that special someone know just how special you think they really are." 

I don't necessarily agree with suddenly coming out of the dark with violent flames of love, especially on Valentine's Day, and pouring your heart out to that secret crush of yours who has no idea you lust for even a chance with them.... I don't see that ending well. Butttttt, I do believe it's important to spend the day with someone you love even if that's just a friend, or Doing something you love! As for that secret crush and those feelings chipping away at your heart and dominating your dreams, I think friendship should always be the first approach. And I don't suggest Valentine's Day as a first date, unless it's a Valentine's Day party with a bigger group of friends. Which, if orchestrated properly, could turn into Exactly what you were hoping for! 

So right now, if your only Valentine's Day plans are with Russell Stover, perhaps consider throwing a "Valentine's Day Bash" with friends! Grab a romantic comedy to throw on in the background, start constructing your Chocolate Fondue Fountain, and stop by the local drug store to pick up those Exclusive Valentine's Day Games and party favors. And, now that it's a "group date," there's no stress or risk in throwing an extra invite in the direction of that special someone.

TIPS and WARNINGS: Do Give out stupid valentines & Those disgusting chalky candy hearts. Avoid taking any online-dating-match out on a first date just so you don't have to spend the holiday alone. Cupid making you cringe cause you're flying solo? Don't take yourself to the movies, that's pathetic! Sleep on the “other” side of the bed if you must, but no flirting with ex boy/girlfriends it's only one day!

Don't ever buy plastic roses... They'll never die, but your love likely will.

A Man should Never get lingerie for their woman EVER! Shhhhhhhh.... I know you disagree, but you're wrong about this. Keep Reading!!....

Oh, and if you're a girl who suddenly gets a valentine from an acquaintance, don't do something brash to make him feel bad about bearing his soul. Instead, the best thing you can do is tell him how flattered you are and thank him and leave it at that! 

Make no mistake… Boys are so easily crushed too... That child still, that grew in their mother's kiss.

And men if you do get turned down by that bitch@%$# don't worry... She pays her dues at night, trust me. Never overlook the small moments of an open heart. It always feels good to have somebody in your head 

…AND sometimes it's better than reality! 

 

THINGS YOU'LL NEED: Crayons and construction paper baby! What else!?

And where did all the poetry go? Borrow a few verses from Shakespeare already and get with the program!  

If you ignore the day, they'll be pissed so just have fun with it! Under-promise, over-deliver. At this point, everything is cliche so don't waste your time trying be original and why bother?! There's nothing better than "The Ultimate Cliche!"

PREPARE FOR 2012!!!!!

One way to prepare for the future is to reflect on the past. I've reflected and compiled...


          The Best Advice I Received in 2011
It’s often said, “Good advice usually works best when preceded by a bad scare.” So before I share some good advice, I’m going to be a little dramatic not unlike Harold Weir from “Freaks and Geeks.”          
             Check out this short clip in the player below.

               

Good Advice
A doctor once told me to look both ways after midnight before crossing intersections. Drunk drivers tend to blow through red lights.

Eat like your ancestors –Unprocessed organic foods. Eat foods that actually go bad! The food that keeps the longest is usually the worst for you. Fresh food has the highest nutrients, but food loses nutrition the longer it’s kept.

Losing weight and achieving the body you want comes from a change in mindset. Getting in shape is actually only 30% exercise and 70% of what you’re putting in your body.

Set aside time for hobbies. Spend time exploring the depths of what you enjoy doing. Fun is the fuel of life.

Buy a new Toothbrush!

Statistics say concerning purchase rate, only one toothbrush is bought per person per year! Yuck! Really?! Throw out your toothbrush right now if you’re smiling, because the typical life of a toothbrush is less than one month! Bent bristles = OLD

Mindfulness teaches you not to get stuck in unpleasant sensations by redirecting your attention to more happy sensations. I personally break out into song to change the subject matter when I find myself in a negative conversation.

Experience a sense of accomplishment everyday even if it’s just completing errands by making lists and crossing items off.

Get drunk on H20.

Drink 64 ounces of water a day! That’s 8 -8oz glasses or 4 -16oz bottles. It improves complexion, reduces tiredness, and aids in concentration and weight loss. But as in most things, “the poison is actually the dose.” Too much of anything is bad… yes you can OD on water and DIE!!

Hops is a herb found in all Beer that contains a lot of estrogen which actually decreases male hormones and performance and puts the drinker to sleep. Beer use to be made from gruit, which was a mental and physical stimulant, but the herb grew everywhere and there was no way to regulate it. 


Hops legally became the main ingredient that certifies beer as beer and can not be sold otherwise. Here's a link to 20 things you should know about beer.

Get renter’s insurance, life insurance, and most importantly health insurance. Having these types of insurance takes a lot of pressure and stress off of everyday life. AAA has great renter’s and life insurance policies at very inexpensive prices. Blue Shield of California offers great health insurance plans at affordable prices.

Alcohol removes the stickiness of freshly painted nails and prevents smudging. 

If you find yourself in a serious relationship be sure to maintain your individuality, passion projects, and friends.

Be kinder than necessary for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.  

             There's a formula for everything...

To lose weight, you need to use more calories than you eat. It is possible to eat any kind of food you want and lose weight. You need to limit the number of calories you eat every day and/or increase your daily physical activity. Portion control is key. 

This weight tool will calculate how many calories you should be taking in daily to maintain your weight according to your current height, weight, and exercise regimen. Link to Women's Weight Tool & the Link to Men's Weight Tool
 

To lose one pound, a person must burn 3,500 calories more than are consumed per week (500 calories per day over the course of a week). 

Side note to skinny boys (claiming they can't gain weight): This method works in reverse as well. So to gain one pound, you must eat 3,500 calories more than are needed per week (500 calories per day more over the course of a week).

No one gives better advice than Mr. Feeny from “Boy Meets World!" 

“How is it this generation’s verbal and mathematical skills have sunk so low when you have the highest level of technology at your fingertips? Gutenberg’s generation thirsted for a new book every 6 months, your generation gets a new webpage every six seconds. 
And how do you use this technology? To beat King Koopa and save the Princess… Shame on you, you deserve what you get!”


Reflect on the events in 2011, and see if you can't find some advice/lessons learned to help you prepare for 2012. Our past experiences, whether good or bad, should not be looked at as scarring or damaging, but rather as growth and polish to our character.

Where were you in life a year ago today? It's important to take time to reflect on just how far you've come rather than much further you have to go. Most people have no idea what they are capable of but the uneasiness of the the unknown, that path that lies in the shadows, keeps them from exploring. Recognize the possibilities that exist in 2012 and begin exploring the depths of your wildest dreams!
 

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Future Predictions: It’s year 3000, and we’re driving around space staking claims on planets like Columbus… 

The Secret . . .

Bring someone back from the 18th century and give them a talk show! That’s my number one suggestion for how our society might be able to overcome the unforgiving and torturous nature we have slipped into.  

Everything seems to be evolving quite nicely, and any overworked soul from the 18th century would be overwhelmed and amazed by just how far we’ve come. It would appear everything has evolved with the exception of man. The society we live in has begun to not only reject its members, but also stone their reputations past recognition.   
We are still sitting in an arena paying to see our fellow neighbors torn to pieces and fed to the lions. Why do we enjoy seeing people suffer for their mistakes, and even worse the mistakes of their colleagues?  

Exactly where we went wrong as man may unfortunately lie in the ways we grew industrially. Today, we spend our days complaining about pretty much everything. AND, we have several ways to make sure everyone we ever met, hears about it.  Survival may still be our first instinct, however, our day is no longer consumed by hunting down our food, building our shelter, or sewing our clothes. But if you had spent all day hunting down your food, I bet it would taste better purely based on the effort exerted to obtain it. And, if your mother had handmade your only jacket, I doubt it would end up on the floor, in a friend’s car, or stolen last night at the club. 

Unless you were involved in the work that went into making or doing something, it’s often difficult to understand, and unfortunately too easy to disrespect and take things for granted. Everything our ancestors did, they did with a sense of permanence, not the 'oh well, you only live once' slogan of our modern day society. Is it modern conveniences that have produced the insensitive, stubborn, and unappreciative bitch our society can unfortunately be generalized as?

Our entire society, the poor included, are all rich compared to the agricultural society of yesterday. Life was hard for them, the physical labor they exerted each day just to survive, would be unimaginable and excruciating for our current society. But at the end of the day, they rested in a bed they literally made, so it ‘s not hard to understand just how aware they were of the world they lived in.

The people of the agricultural society would be incredibly appreciative and amazed with the industrial and technological revolution. But they may not think so highly of our gossiping media, our heavy reliance on mirrors, (and dare I even speak it) empty churches.

Our society lacks awareness of pretty much everything outside of the media. We can read about and find answers to almost anything thanks to the Internet, but what we are actually reading can be summarized as societal junk food. It’s either news a.k.a. gossip or entertainment a.k.a. a more dramatized kind of fake news/gossip in the form of movies and TV shows.  

How would we live our lives differently if the average life expectancy was still under 50 years? Would cutting our lives in half trigger a desire for greater understanding and awareness? 

It’s always important to be aware that things are perhaps not the way you see them. In order to understand something you must first be aware of the possibility that other views exists –and rather just have yet to exist in your mind.  

Awareness provides the raw material from which we develop ideas about our experiences and the world around us. The mind may be aware of much more than we chose to take in and contemplate. Just because we don’t, does not mean we are not capable of more. Heightening one’s awareness is a choice, but primarily is arrived at by doing for oneself.

Instead of buying the perfect dinner for your date, try making it. Instead of buying a painting for your bedroom, paint it yourself. Instead of buying endless amounts of beer, try home brewing. Instead of just simply handing over money for everything, or being spoiled by parents or your partner, try doing for yourself and experience the awareness and appreciation and understanding that will naturally occur.  

Anything forced-practiced for a period of time, can become routine and performed with ease.

So make the philosophy of awareness a habit and understanding can be achieved. 

There’s a way to articulate our thoughts in a specific way that will minimize miscommunication and improve understanding. The right words in the right order –a golden combination- will deliver indisputable satisfaction and unlock pure silence. Silence a sign that the depths of understanding have been reached. 

You can dismiss this philosophy by oversimplifying the reality of our current society, but that would be ignoring the obvious imperfections even our government is unable to hide. 

The philosophy of awareness extends much deeper than words, actions, and appreciation. It’s about achieving a deeper existence, the nature of being with the world. An inner peace achievable by seeking more control over our own thoughts and works, and allowing that which is not in our control to simply be. The society of the 18th century was not necessarily better than ours, but they certainly were more self reliant, content in their life styles, and better understood and accepted their place among the chaos. A combination of their demeanor with our advancements would be a golden combination.

                The Philosophy of Awareness

Ima G+

Google Plus... sounds awesome already right? Actually, I would have called it Googleface and just like the design of google changes everyday, your name and profile picture would automatically uniquely change everyday. But enough hype, what the #$%^ is Google Plus?

Before writing this blogpost, I tried to join Google Plus because I wanted a first hand experience to truly analyze what is said to "Seize and Conquer the Facebook Universe." However, the Google Plus project has temporarily exceeded capacity, so unfortunately all I could do was take the interactive tour. The tour should have been promising, misleading, and full of colorful lies -not unlike a presidential campaign- but instead was colorless, prude, boring, and mechanical much like a PC world. 

Google Plus vs. Facebook can similarly be compared to the Mac vs. PC campaign. If apple created a social network I can see it being very creative and innovative by allowing you cut and edit videos on your friends walls and photoshop your photos directly on the site. Buttttt a Google Plus/PC -never exceeding the basic minimal standard functionality- social network site is exactly what I found when exploring Google Plus.

The articles I read promoting Google Plus projected Facebook as a freakshow that is growing in sideshow acts. Google Plus is showcased as having the original functionalities of facebook minus the growing sketchiness of ads and weird applications. I admit facebook has reached a point to which the owners should consider drawing boundaries and building fences, however, the daily grind is boring enough, I think I'll keep my freakshow.

Google Plus allows you to put your friends in circles and only share information that is relevant to the people in that specific group. But sometimes it makes my day when Sarah Wheeler from 4th grade shows up on my newsfeed talking about some new -totally irrelevant to my life- shit that I would never know without the total randomness and sometimes freakiness of facebook. 

Google Plus... you can keep your boring cliques and sparks of news you think might interest me, but you never puked on my desk in 4th grade and I will until the end of time still find -what Sarah Wheeler from 4th grade is eating today- more interesting than what your robotic, emotionless, and boring computer code generates for me to read.

I have no doubt Mark Zuckerburg is about to unleash some monstrously dominating new features he's been feeding in the trapped doors of the facebook arena...   But if not, I have some ideas!

    1. The best part of facebook remains photo sharing capabilities so let's improve that by adding photoshop like editing tools.

    2. Dating websites are becoming solely responsible for marriage rates increasing. Facebook could capitalize with a function that allows you to not just suggest friends for your friends, but to suggest possible datemates. What better way to meet than through friends?

    3. Video messages. This function already exists in the post section, but I rarely see people taking the opportunity to be the leading role on their friend's fcbk wall. Out of embarrassment perhaps, but I think with some new quick editing features and hype -the function would become trendy...which could possibly seize and conquer YouTube ;)

    4. Question of the Day feature. Facebook could generate a new question of the day and list friend's answers in the sidebar. This would initiate unique conversations, add a reason for daily use, and no doubt spawn devilish and rude comments from all of us!

     5. Add the Google Function to facebook so I can search for some more ideas.

Be Happy!

If you’re not happy change it up! Maybe you’re feeling stuck in life and you’ve fallen into an unsatisfying routine that requires less energy. Maybe you're burnt out and just going through the motions. If you’re constantly being nagged by an inner voice to do something more, you should listen to that tiny motivation that's dying to take action. 

Change can be hard and to avoid the stress of change, people fall into routines. But change doesn't have to be hard, it's often our perception that makes things seem so difficult. You may consider changing your perspective and the way you look at yourself and the world around you. It's important to be consciously aware that all you know in life comes from your experiences and what others may have told you. Not only should you not believe everything you hear, but it's very dangerous to mold your thinking around any one particular experience. It’s important to believe that you are not only capable of anything, but also that anything is possible given the right circumstances. 

If you’ve formed strict boundaries of what you think is and is not possible, you need to find the power to move beyond those boundaries.You are cheating yourself out of life if you don't go out of bounds. It’s common for people to say things aren’t possible because they don’t see a way of them working out. Perhaps you're simply lacking the knowledge or understanding of what you consider to be impossible. 

Once you have the understanding of the impossible, only then will you be able to gain control and power through those debilitating boundaries of the mind. 

A good place to look for understanding of the impossible is the world wide web of shared information/experiences. There’s an incredible amount of information that can be found just by typing a question into an Internet search engine. Of course everyone has used search engines to find the lyrics to their favorite song, but I use search engines (google) every time I want to know anything. You're not the first person to be in your exact situation, and reading about someone else's trials and tribulations "how they did it" -can give you insight from another perspective, a perspective that you are perhaps not capable of seeing yourself. This may sound like common sense to some, but I don't believe everyone actually does this or we would have a more efficient world.

YOU ARE NOT STUCK! There are other ways, which may only seem possible if you are working towards them. There’s always going to be something else out there for you and here’s five ways to change it up!

1. Change the look of your daily environment:
You could do something simple like change the background of your computer -Desktop wallpapers here.

Or buy a plant for your room. If your bedroom walls are white, buy a poster or some inspiring art or …better yet, buy some paint and explore your artistic skills.  Here’s a link on how to become an artist.

2. Be aware of time:
If you don’t own a watch or a calendar both these things are on eBay for pennies! It’s unbelievable to me how many people never know the time or date. Time is slipping away. If you don’t wear a watch you are more likely to waste time without realizing it. My friends without watches on their wrists and calendars on their walls always tell me they use their phone for both, but I personally would never date a man without a watch. Keeping track of time makes more things possible. Once you get that watch you can do number 3!

3. Set dates to look forward to:
Make plans! Make future plans so you are moving forward. Make dinner plans or plan to meet up with an old friend. Planning ahead promotes organization and makes things seem more possible when you have time to prepare. Now, that you have that calendar you can start filling it in, and with that watch you won’t be late!

4. Reward: Buy or order yourself something you’ve been wanting. Not only can you mark on your calendar the arrival of your new toy, but the anticipation alone should keep your spirits high. I’m not an advocate of consuming things like movies, videogames, action figures or even books because all these things will undoubtedly become knickknacks grazing your walls, making it harder for you to move because you’ve collected so much useless sh!t in your life. BUttttt… instead buy something you are likely to use every week if not every day. A good example would be my recent purchase of a contact lenses case in the shape of a frog and his lily pad. This -under five dollars- purchase makes putting in my contacts every day a little more exciting! Don’t believe me? Order yours here. 

5. Escape yourself: Do something out of character
Okay be careful with this one. I’m not telling you to slam the door behind you on a stranger’s face or attempt a high-speed race with a cop instead of pulling over. But do something you wouldn’t usually such as:

Stand up at open mic night!  Eat something you think is gross.

Plan a trip somewhere you’ve never been! -Exploring the land is sure to break down a few of your ignorant views.

Watch a movie you think looks stupid.

Asking out that girl/guy you’ve had a crush on to a FRIENDLY night of fun. I don’t promote acting like a couple for a night with someone you barely know, which is often perceived to constitute as a date in modern times. Instead, ask them to come to board game night and be sure to invite other people they know. Date your friends not strangers.

Read the books you own. Admit you were wrong. Join the RoundTable -yup this is a link.

Get a haircut or flip your hair to the other side.
But don’t fall to being a creature of habit with a daily routine.

What’s bad about being a creature of habit?
 
.....You’re boring! 

You’re going to not only bore yourself into depression you’re going to bore your girlfriend, boyfriend, roommate, friends, and friends’ friends.

  

If you’re changing, you’re growing

and if you’re growing, you’re going 

and if you're going, you’ll get there!

           Be happy!