people observation #15: sometimes we just need to vent.

the other day, I was asked how I feel about the rich being taxed to pay for the poor. How I feel about the rich giving to the poor. I don't know why this is even an issue? I was outraged. I know my writing this will strike one of two things in you: a sort of excitement and HELLYEAHism that causes you to take some sort of action or a case of mumblingunderyourbreathe-ivitis and cynicism. And I know that the odds of one's opinion changing because of this piece are itsy-bitsy. This is more of a refute to an argument I am tired of hearing.

1st off, I don't get how a person could even begin to justify that poor people are poor by their own fault. How it is someone's fault that they are born into a situation with so many strikes against them and no means to lift them up? I had absolutely no control over the world I was born into. I didn't get to go life shopping while I was in the womb. And I realize that had I got a damn lucky hand dealt to me. That means it's my OBLIGATION to provide to those who didn't get to be born into the educated, loving, healthy, white-collar world I showed up in.

2nd of all, even if they were in these situations by their fault, I am a Christian. I am suppose to GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE, and when I'm done doing that? Well, regardless of that person's circumstance or deservedness or family history or sins or life choices or affiliations or work ethic or location or religion or situation or wealth or well-being or health or weight or sexual orientation or level of education or level of graditude or anger or past or future or present or personality type I am suppose to GIVE. Period.

You don't get it. I don't care if they aren't grateful. I don't care if they don't say thank you. I don't care if they won't accept it. I don't care if they're big fat liars and cheat the system. Because as long as I keep giving, I will keep loving, and as long as I keep loving they will keep learning, and one day, just maybe one person will be changed. One person will see that we Christians will get a new perception, and the world could be turned upside-down.

avoid the tray now; your thighs will thank you later.

This post is targeted mostly to those who frequent the college dining hall. It's short, but sweet, like that after dinner ice cream you've grown so very fond of.

We all know the drill: Swipe in. Smell the stench. Ponder for a minute whether or not the line at the wok bar is worth the wait. Decide that it isn't. Pick up at that blue tray and get in line for some fine cuisine.

That blue tray.

My advice to you is to skip this step- to forget the tray. Why? This hunk of flattened plastic is psychologically messing with you, making you think for some reason you need to fill it up. Although we know that if we were anywhere else, one plate of food would make a sufficient meal.

Kelley McArthur is one who has embraced the single-plate lifestyle. "I'm not gonna

ostracize you if you get a bunch of food," she said, "but the truth is you can always go back up and get more if you really want it."

Now, I more than anyone understand that sometimes the components of a dining hall meal are made up of several dishes coming from many locations. You've got your vegetables from the salad bar, fruit from the fruit bar, maybe some soup, maybe a sandwich. It's nice to be able to pick and choose a dish from each area. I see where the tray can be a helpful tool, and I know that it is important to look at quality of food over the quantity. My advice would still be to grab one plate and most of what you need to be eating can fit on that one dish. If there is any

thing extra you'd like to get you can make a second trip.

Conclusion: that damn blue tray. Refrain.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. marianne williamson.

people observation #14: some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this

today is a beautiful day. It's 10:00a.m. and almost sixty degrees. I am loving life. Everyone has an extra little skip in their step. It's actually quite cute.

I'm not saying this is all of you guys, but I have already heard complaints...About the weather. Come on folks! The sun is shining. The sky is blue. It's Thursday, and in the world of college that means it's the freakin' weekend baby, I'm about to have me some fun.

What could there possibly be complain about, right?

Take the girl in my 8:00 a.m. class this morning.

[ sidenote: yes, I take 8a.ms. actually, I swear by 8a.ms.
I love waking up with the sunshine and
having a grapefruit and an egg and getting finished
with my days early. Before you judge I encourage
you to try for yourself. Maybe not the grapefruit,
that took getting used to. If my brother is
reading this right now, he's probably cringing.
But 8.ams. Seriously! Scheduling is going on right now.
Do it. Take the leap of faith. I dare you. End sidenote.]

This girl: Maybe she isn't a morning person like me, maybe she's what I call a 'mourning person'. She explained that the weather was "just teasing her" and that it wasn't a funny joke.

Then, I asked the hip gentleman at the coffee place today how he was doing this morning and his response was something along the lines that the weather was just going to be cold next week anyways so why should he get excited?

Really dude? Is that how you want to live your life? Oh, something shitty is just going to happen to me tomorrow so why enjoy today? Oh, my hot coffee is just going to get cold in the next half hour, so why enjoy it now? Oh, I'm just going to go to sleep tonight anyways, so why wake up now? Why should I even freaking live right?
This all reminds me of a section of the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. The book, I said. She's explaining how she has a friend who is never able to live in the moment. They'll go somewhere to visit and her friend will be in awe saying, "wow! this place is beautiful! We need to come back here someday!" and Gilbert takes all of her energy into explaining to her friend "honey, you're here right now! Enjoy it while you're here!"

What I'm saying is to just live in the moment. It's as simple as that.

Our minds remember things because memories are great. I have an incredible one. I can remember every school teacher that every person in my graduating class had from 1st grade to senior year. I can remember getting a pair of roller skates, the plastic-strap kind you don't have to take your shoes off for, when I was three years old and living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I remember the little things people tell me, and I notice all of the quirks. If you introduce yourself to me, I will remember your name. Why? It's not some special superpower. It's because I take the time, and because at the time that memory was made, I was in the moment. I was soaking it all in. I was living.

These times of being a Power Ranger for Halloween, pretending to eat your vegetables but really just spreading them out on your plate, and taking that plunge off the high-dive are to be celebrated. This period of kissing your "boyfriend" on the cheek at the dance as all your friends watched.. and then running away, period of zits the size of a large horsefly, and slamming your door because nobody "gets you" are to be celebrated. These four years of getting rejected and accepted, proud and humiliated, figuring out who we might actually be, the four years of school spirit, team dinners, ..prom? .. are to be celebrated. These 4-or-so years we spend in college, this period of our life traveling, and learning, and falling in love. It is all to be celebrated.

Look, I'm not saying life isn't hard and it's always going to be kittens and rainbows if you live in the moment. Adversity strikes. Hard times define inevitability. What I am saying is don't take one sunny day, and choose to not celebrate it because the next might not be. The fact that tomorrow might fall under winter's trap of gloom and doom is all the more reason to get excited about today.

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die

people observation #13: because it makes you feel good. legitimately good.

There is one and only one reason we should be engaging ourselves in a healthy lifestyle. Because it makes us feel good. All the other consequences we usually initially aim for will follow suit.

Experience Life Magazine has started their latest volume with a mantra Being Healthy is A Revolutionary Act. The idea of it is that our society has been obsessed with things that are bad for us far too long, some of us so surrounded by the sickness that they have no resources to even take up a healthylifestyle. And for those of us who have embraced a life of fresh air, eating right, and healthy exercise: it has truely become a revolution.

I have always been a healthy person, but I attribute my consciouseffort to taking care of myself to when I started working at Lifetime Fitness my sophomore year of high school. Here was a community of people, all different ages and sizes, and on all different fitness levels, and I loved it! We can set goals for ourselves, like lose this amount of weight, look that particular way, or don't eat anything unless it's celery, but that will never work! We're human, and if we simply start taking care of ourselves, the other things that we've always wanted will fall into our laps (or in some cases off of our laps).

If you go to revolutionaryact.com, you can read about what other people are up to, and how we can learn to take care of ourselves and our community. Below are a few examples of their 101 Revolutionary Ways to Be Healthy.

If you are not typically a person who considers themselves healthy,

I encourage you to take a week to eat right.

Eat three different colors with every meal.

Carry around a water bottle.

Keep your body moving.

Tell me how you feel.

legitimately good

tentanda via est.

Have you ever heard the expression that rules are only made to be broken? Is that how our resolutions work too? New Year's Resolutions are made to be broken?

Well if you think about it, the only people you've ever heard say this belief about rules were, in fact, rulebreakers themselves.

It is possible to stick to your resolutions, and I have faith that you can do it.

Some make the argument that resolutions are stupid because we should constantly be bettering ourselves. Why just once a year? I suppose I agree with that, I'm always a proponent of self melioration. If we weren't I'd say we were wasting our lives. The point of our resolutions, however, is to have a designated time where we can sit down and make a conscious effort to make ourselves better people.

It is okay if we don't become perfect people, I promise. What is far worse than this whole missing out on perfection thing is not even attempting a change at all. Wayne Gretzky, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

tentanda via est the road must be tried.

people observation #12: women, please don't be afraid to show your intelligence.

[well, it's only halfway through december.]

While babysitting a few days ago, I was watching a new show on the Disney Channel called Shake it Up. Two best friend girls are the main characters and the way they acted made me sick. One of the main characters is an independent girl with cool style, but pretends that she is stupid to get a boy. She ends up getting the boy. I don't know why Disney would portray a girl in this way, a channel dedicated to helping tweens deal with the anxieties and self consciousness we go through in a "funny" way.

There is nothing funny or attractive about playing dumb.

There is no good in pretending you are not

the brilliant woman that you were made to be.

Intelligence is a beautiful thing. And you may think, "oh I'm not very smart," but we are all intelligent in different ways. I have a friend who has an incredible GIFT in being able to read people. She just knows. Some people have ginormous hearts, and they can love and listen to anyone. Some people kick ass at school, some people kick ass at life.

On the finale of my favorite show Amazing Race last week, my favorite team in the history of the show, Brooke and Claire, got second place. I don't think I could say it better than Claire:

"The ideal of being a strong woman either means

that you're a grumpy boots or that you're

this really masculine, gnarly chick. No!

You can be feminine and still tap into

that femininity while still being a very strong woman."

Amen. You can be a strong woman. You can have beliefs, have a brain, use your brain, hold true to your character, work hard, work very hard, treat people fairly, and still be beautiful. In fact, that is what makes a woman beautiful.

all the women who independent

throw your hands up at me.

welcome to december.

possible topics I may or may not be talking about this month (depending on my motivation) :

• christmas music
• the columbus blue jackets, my muse
• cold weather melodies
• 'tis the season
• new year's REVOLUTIONS
• saying things in all caps
• crowd surfing
• snow surfing
• surfing surfing
• smurfing?

I am on my holiday break from Ohio U so I shouldn't really have an excuse not to, except of course The Sims 3.