Lately, I have found myself in a pickle or two, and been totally disgruntled about having to deal with life's little obstacles. And I keep finding myself muttering, "I'm too pretty for this."
It cracks me up a little, and then I move on.
But really, I am cute. Should my good looks get me the free pass I feel I deserve?
I mean, it seems to work for some people. Tall blondes don't have to wait in line at really exclusive clubs. Paris Hilton didn't have to do that much jail time even though she was guilty. Brittany Spears can open an internationally televised awards show without having much talent left. Tila Tequila can make a room full of men and women fight over her on the daily. Seems like everyone loves a pretty girl, and that entitles them to be as nasty and careless as they want.
Then I thought about my little muttering. And I heard the air of entitlement in it. And I hated it about as much as I hate J.Lo's new perfume. Thank goodness no one ever let me get away with being a creep simply because I have blue eyes, big knockers, and a pretty smile.
Besides, I wouldn't let myself take the easy road when I know I can work for the things I really want...I'm too smart for that ;) ha ha ha ha ha.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thrilled
I am so proud of the Red Sox. Did I mention that if they win the World Series, the couch I am currently sitting on will be free? Yeah, my roomie bought it during the Red Sox promotion at Jordan's Furniture. So cool!
Lets have a beer and sing Tessie together.
Lets have a beer and sing Tessie together.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
QOTD 10/23/07
"You write intense emails. You're an intense emailer. That's what you do!" - my co-worker, Aaron Chalek, after reading two very intense emails I have sent to men who deserved a little tongue lashing.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Lessons from the professor with pancreatic cancer
I saw a guy named Randy Pausch on Oprah today. He was pretty amazing. He was a professor at Canegie Mellon, an inventor of amazing virtual technology, and he could do push-ups and clap in between.
He's dying of pancreatic cancer, and has been told he only has months to live. But he's in great shape and has an amazing attitude, and advice for life. Below is the original one hour lecture. The Oprah version was only about 8 minutes or so.
Anyways, this guy was amazing. He's the kind of guy who makes you feel guilty for complaining without making you feel like a total loser. There's a part of him that believes a miracle can happen - and that he can live. I love him for that.
At the end of the show, Randy was imparting quick snippets of advice for his kids at the end of Oprah, and the dating advice he had for his daughter is GOOD STUFF.
He said, "Ignore everything boys say to you, and pay attention to what they do." I think if I had known this, I would have made a lot fewer dating mistakes.
Take for instance the man who said he thought I was great, beautiful, and couldn't wait to see me again. That he "liked me instinctively" as if our being together was the incontrovertible result of evolution. Yeah, well, every time we crossed the street together he jumped on the side of me opposite the traffic. He wanted me to die first. I should have known that one wouldn't end well.
Or how about the guy who asked me to marry him...and then showed up as my "date" to a friend's wedding late and high. If only I had realized this meant he had no regard for marriage. Or me.
And what about the dude who said he wanted to be with me forever. I assumed "unconditionally" was part of that promise. And then he got upset with me for being sick and cranky and decided not to call me for three days, despite my 3 worried voicemails and 2 text messages. Apparently there is an expiration date on forever.
And lets not forget they guy who told me he was in love with me, and told me he didn't want me to date anyone else. I thought he was romantic. But, when I got a new job and suddenly became twice as busy, he assumed I was lying and that my job couldn't possibly be that hard, so I must be cheating on him. He wasn't romantic. He was possessive and paranoid.
Randy, you've given me a new lease on life. You've made me realize my life is only as good as I make it, my power only as finite as I believe it to be, and that my intuition truly is my best guide. Every time I feel like complaining, I'm going to try to remember you, and shut up and work harder instead.
And next time I go on a date with a guy, I'm not gonna listen to one single sweet nothing he tries to whisper in my ear. Because "nothing" truly is the best word for those meaningless things men try to tell you to butter you up. I'll remember actions speak louder than words.
THANK YOU! You're awesome and I wish you much health and happiness.
He's dying of pancreatic cancer, and has been told he only has months to live. But he's in great shape and has an amazing attitude, and advice for life. Below is the original one hour lecture. The Oprah version was only about 8 minutes or so.
Anyways, this guy was amazing. He's the kind of guy who makes you feel guilty for complaining without making you feel like a total loser. There's a part of him that believes a miracle can happen - and that he can live. I love him for that.
At the end of the show, Randy was imparting quick snippets of advice for his kids at the end of Oprah, and the dating advice he had for his daughter is GOOD STUFF.
He said, "Ignore everything boys say to you, and pay attention to what they do." I think if I had known this, I would have made a lot fewer dating mistakes.
Take for instance the man who said he thought I was great, beautiful, and couldn't wait to see me again. That he "liked me instinctively" as if our being together was the incontrovertible result of evolution. Yeah, well, every time we crossed the street together he jumped on the side of me opposite the traffic. He wanted me to die first. I should have known that one wouldn't end well.
Or how about the guy who asked me to marry him...and then showed up as my "date" to a friend's wedding late and high. If only I had realized this meant he had no regard for marriage. Or me.
And what about the dude who said he wanted to be with me forever. I assumed "unconditionally" was part of that promise. And then he got upset with me for being sick and cranky and decided not to call me for three days, despite my 3 worried voicemails and 2 text messages. Apparently there is an expiration date on forever.
And lets not forget they guy who told me he was in love with me, and told me he didn't want me to date anyone else. I thought he was romantic. But, when I got a new job and suddenly became twice as busy, he assumed I was lying and that my job couldn't possibly be that hard, so I must be cheating on him. He wasn't romantic. He was possessive and paranoid.
Randy, you've given me a new lease on life. You've made me realize my life is only as good as I make it, my power only as finite as I believe it to be, and that my intuition truly is my best guide. Every time I feel like complaining, I'm going to try to remember you, and shut up and work harder instead.
And next time I go on a date with a guy, I'm not gonna listen to one single sweet nothing he tries to whisper in my ear. Because "nothing" truly is the best word for those meaningless things men try to tell you to butter you up. I'll remember actions speak louder than words.
THANK YOU! You're awesome and I wish you much health and happiness.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The dark side of fundraising
Again with the magazine articles that drive me crazy.
There are so many wonderful websites out there where you can make informed decisions about making charitable gifts. You can become a microfinancier at kiva.org, you can give of your money or your time at the Network for Good or you can buy your Christmas presents and give a little to charity at the same time at igive. You can even go over to my organization's website and help provide amazing empowerment opportunities for youth in Lowell through your PayPal account.
In fact, I would encourage you to go do any of those things right now. Any one that makes you feel good. Any one that you think makes a clear, measured improvement on society in some way. Which is what a donation or gift is supposed to do.
I am more than pumped about foundations, giving, and fundraising for worthy causes.
Which is why www.myfreeimplants.com really pissed me off.
I read about this site in ELLE magazine (really, my favorite fashion mag) about a month ago. This site is sort of the match.com for poor women who want bigger breasts, and the men who would like to fulfill some really strange knight in shining armor fantasy by paying for them. A woman can start an account, and tell her sob story about why she can't live without Double Ds or whatever. A man can open his own account, and chat with as many ladies as he wants for $1.20 per email. The majority of the fee goes into an escrow account for the female. She in essence needs to hustle, keep mens interest and make them keep emailing her so she can earn her "goal amount." She can also do photos and videos (naked or not) for extra bucks from these fellas.
All the money in the woman's account is tallied by the site, and then given directly to her plastic surgeon of choice. She never actually sees a cent of the money she "earned." When she gets the implants, she gets to tell her "success story" to her many donors.
This is so messed up in so many ways I can't begin to count them.
What bothers me so much is that our society is so hell bent on the perfection of women's bodies (apparently big breasts = perfection....I, one of the "lucky" well-endowed, have some very different views on this) that poor women will hustle not to put food on the tables, but to attain the body of their dreams, with the assumption that this will make her life better. This seems very similar to the internal argument of the yo-yo dieter, and those with body dismorphia. That thought that, "I can have everything I want when I finally lose weight."
And men are somehow so taken with the idea of building the "perfect woman" that they're willing to empty their pockets to indulge in the fantasy of doing so for a woman they have little to no chance of ever meeting, seeing, or touching.
With all that non-profits go through to raise the cash to make the world a better place, it just burns me that someone has created a system where the haves can give to the have-nots for the sole purpose of adding fake body parts to women.
I guess, if I am being fair, I should take a step back and say, "to each his own." But why the hell do I need to be fair? This is absolutely asinine. There are so many problems in this world we could put our time, energy, and money into solving. I for one am embarrassed and ashamed that this type of thing is what happens in America when people have too much time to focus on themselves, and more money than they know what to do with.
When you look at this site and see the stories of the thousands of dollars put towards the inflation of a small number of body parts (bodies that are just going to age around the saline) that could have gone towards teaching children to read, protecting the women and children of Darfur, or cancer research....it just makes me sad.
But then, who am I kidding. That money wouldn't have gone to a charity. If it started in the pocket of some twisted individual with a God-complex, he probably would have spent it on a gas-guzzling SUV or porn, or some other self-indulgent toy. So, maybe this is the best thing he's done with his money in a long time. Hopefully, the ladies benefiting from this "charity" will put the donations to good use, make some of their own money with their new found assets, and think about giving their hard earned dollars to someone in need - except maybe they could give towards another young woman's education. So she can learn to take pride in and earn a living from her mind as opposed to her boobies. Ladies, it would be much appreciated.
There are so many wonderful websites out there where you can make informed decisions about making charitable gifts. You can become a microfinancier at kiva.org, you can give of your money or your time at the Network for Good or you can buy your Christmas presents and give a little to charity at the same time at igive. You can even go over to my organization's website and help provide amazing empowerment opportunities for youth in Lowell through your PayPal account.
In fact, I would encourage you to go do any of those things right now. Any one that makes you feel good. Any one that you think makes a clear, measured improvement on society in some way. Which is what a donation or gift is supposed to do.
I am more than pumped about foundations, giving, and fundraising for worthy causes.
Which is why www.myfreeimplants.com really pissed me off.
I read about this site in ELLE magazine (really, my favorite fashion mag) about a month ago. This site is sort of the match.com for poor women who want bigger breasts, and the men who would like to fulfill some really strange knight in shining armor fantasy by paying for them. A woman can start an account, and tell her sob story about why she can't live without Double Ds or whatever. A man can open his own account, and chat with as many ladies as he wants for $1.20 per email. The majority of the fee goes into an escrow account for the female. She in essence needs to hustle, keep mens interest and make them keep emailing her so she can earn her "goal amount." She can also do photos and videos (naked or not) for extra bucks from these fellas.
All the money in the woman's account is tallied by the site, and then given directly to her plastic surgeon of choice. She never actually sees a cent of the money she "earned." When she gets the implants, she gets to tell her "success story" to her many donors.
This is so messed up in so many ways I can't begin to count them.
What bothers me so much is that our society is so hell bent on the perfection of women's bodies (apparently big breasts = perfection....I, one of the "lucky" well-endowed, have some very different views on this) that poor women will hustle not to put food on the tables, but to attain the body of their dreams, with the assumption that this will make her life better. This seems very similar to the internal argument of the yo-yo dieter, and those with body dismorphia. That thought that, "I can have everything I want when I finally lose weight."
And men are somehow so taken with the idea of building the "perfect woman" that they're willing to empty their pockets to indulge in the fantasy of doing so for a woman they have little to no chance of ever meeting, seeing, or touching.
With all that non-profits go through to raise the cash to make the world a better place, it just burns me that someone has created a system where the haves can give to the have-nots for the sole purpose of adding fake body parts to women.
I guess, if I am being fair, I should take a step back and say, "to each his own." But why the hell do I need to be fair? This is absolutely asinine. There are so many problems in this world we could put our time, energy, and money into solving. I for one am embarrassed and ashamed that this type of thing is what happens in America when people have too much time to focus on themselves, and more money than they know what to do with.
When you look at this site and see the stories of the thousands of dollars put towards the inflation of a small number of body parts (bodies that are just going to age around the saline) that could have gone towards teaching children to read, protecting the women and children of Darfur, or cancer research....it just makes me sad.
But then, who am I kidding. That money wouldn't have gone to a charity. If it started in the pocket of some twisted individual with a God-complex, he probably would have spent it on a gas-guzzling SUV or porn, or some other self-indulgent toy. So, maybe this is the best thing he's done with his money in a long time. Hopefully, the ladies benefiting from this "charity" will put the donations to good use, make some of their own money with their new found assets, and think about giving their hard earned dollars to someone in need - except maybe they could give towards another young woman's education. So she can learn to take pride in and earn a living from her mind as opposed to her boobies. Ladies, it would be much appreciated.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Childless Spinster
In a recent issue of Ladies Home Journal (really) I came across the following:
Are Kids the Key to Happiness?
Women who've never had children are just as content at midlife as mothers of the same age and in the same circumstances, according to a study from the University of Florida. Whether a woman gives birth seems less crucial to her well being than such factors as education, work, and earnings, as well as relationships with family and friends. When children make their appearance is key, though. The study found that women who gave birth before the age of 19 were the least happy.
*****
Ok, now. For my entire life people have been ramming down my throat (more after I hit 27) that, "OMG, you need to have babies. You're eggs are drying up and dying! Don't you want to have this amazing experience?"
Apparently not.
I have great relationships with my family and (awesome) friends (more awesome than yours). I have a Master's degree. I have an amazing career. I take multiple vacations a year, etc.
I'm just wondering why the "make babies while you still can" party line gets so much publicity all over town, when apparently, I am already as happy as I am gonna get. And this news gets 2.5 x 4 inches on page 20 in Ladies Home Journal. Good thing I caught it.
I'm not saying kids aren't great, and bully to those who have them. There's something about the trauma of caring for a child that really bonds you to that creature. As a former nanny, I can attest. And love for a child is like no other.
But I really take issue with people like Gwyneth Paltrow who say asinine things like, "My life truly began after I had kids." No it didn't. You were a stellar actress with an amazing career and great reviews. Have a little pride.
I know being a mom is hard, and I know it's very fulfilling and yay for you, but do we seriously have to degrade the things we did before we had kids as unimportant because being a parent is sooooooo much more important than everything else we've ever done? Because everything in life that one accomplishes is seemingly less credible and deserving of praise than raising a child?
Someone raised you to be something great. And you are. Take a little pride in THAT. Have a little self-love. It will be the most helpful thing you could do for your kids and their self-esteem.
Now, to end my rant, please enjoy a video performance from one of my favorite childless women, Dusty Springfield. You can't tell me she doesn't look happy in this clip!
Are Kids the Key to Happiness?
Women who've never had children are just as content at midlife as mothers of the same age and in the same circumstances, according to a study from the University of Florida. Whether a woman gives birth seems less crucial to her well being than such factors as education, work, and earnings, as well as relationships with family and friends. When children make their appearance is key, though. The study found that women who gave birth before the age of 19 were the least happy.
*****
Ok, now. For my entire life people have been ramming down my throat (more after I hit 27) that, "OMG, you need to have babies. You're eggs are drying up and dying! Don't you want to have this amazing experience?"
Apparently not.
I have great relationships with my family and (awesome) friends (more awesome than yours). I have a Master's degree. I have an amazing career. I take multiple vacations a year, etc.
I'm just wondering why the "make babies while you still can" party line gets so much publicity all over town, when apparently, I am already as happy as I am gonna get. And this news gets 2.5 x 4 inches on page 20 in Ladies Home Journal. Good thing I caught it.
I'm not saying kids aren't great, and bully to those who have them. There's something about the trauma of caring for a child that really bonds you to that creature. As a former nanny, I can attest. And love for a child is like no other.
But I really take issue with people like Gwyneth Paltrow who say asinine things like, "My life truly began after I had kids." No it didn't. You were a stellar actress with an amazing career and great reviews. Have a little pride.
I know being a mom is hard, and I know it's very fulfilling and yay for you, but do we seriously have to degrade the things we did before we had kids as unimportant because being a parent is sooooooo much more important than everything else we've ever done? Because everything in life that one accomplishes is seemingly less credible and deserving of praise than raising a child?
Someone raised you to be something great. And you are. Take a little pride in THAT. Have a little self-love. It will be the most helpful thing you could do for your kids and their self-esteem.
Now, to end my rant, please enjoy a video performance from one of my favorite childless women, Dusty Springfield. You can't tell me she doesn't look happy in this clip!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)