Write a Blog, Get Rich!

Wouldn't it be great if we could all find success and a book deal just by writing in a blog? I am fascinated with the story of Julie&Julia, the woman who blogged for a year about cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. If only we could all have a brilliant idea like that! But I guess that route has been taken and the rest of us have to find our own brilliant ideas lying somewhere by the side of the road.
The movie's not half bad, either. Meryl Streep is brilliant, as usual, and Amy Adams is as charming as ever. Stanley Tucci shines as a supporting actor to Streep's Julia Child. Chris Messina, who plays Amy Adams' husband, is adorable and really brings the movie together for me. The film will leave you desiring to write a blog, if not for riches and fame, but for the sheer heck of it. And of course, the slim chance at achieving greatness.

The Future is Not for Wimps

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life," used to be one of the scariest phrases in English language to me, one year ago. It was frightening because there were always so many different ways in which I could fritter away today, and I always worried that tomorrow might not be okay. Reminiscent of my Grandmother's favorite, "These are the best years of your life," this phrase made me feel that I was wasting this day, somehow. So instead of living it up, I stayed still and worried until all my nails and cuticles were bitten off, in a figurative sense (my nails are actually quite nice). I was frightened into paralysis; there were so many choices and directions in which my life could go. I was so scared of making the wrong decision that I instead made no decisions at all and went nowhere.

I have always wanted to know my future. If only I had a crystal ball...if only those 8-ball thingys actually worked! I often ask myself, "Will things turn out okay for me? Will I achieve my dreams that I want so badly? Will I succeed?" But the truth is that tomorrow is always going to come, whether I am ready for it or not. So I might as well enjoy today and work hard so that I don't have to worry so much about tomorrow and about my future.

Now the phrase, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life!" is something that's really exciting to me. When I hear it, or think it, I smile and imagine all the wonderful possibilities that string of words entails. I know now that it's going to be a long life (at least, I hope and pray that it will be) and that I have lots of time to figure things out. If I had it all figured out at 22, almost 23, I guess that would make the rest of my life pretty boring.

I like to listen to this song when I need a confidence boost: Sing it, B!

A video/speech that helps keep things in perspective: Wear Sunscreen

Facelurking: Guilty

Facelurk / faes lerk / v 1. the act of stalking via the on-line networking tool, Facebook. 2. a form of procrastination, usually performed when one is at work or bored at home; useage seen most frequently on Mondays and Saturday nights. See also: creeping.

I am almost too ashamed to admit it: yes, I have facelurked. I have facelurked in the past, continue in the present, and will in the future. It is inevitable. Does this make me a creep? Probably. But it doesn't seem so terrible because everybody else is doing it. (Spare me the Brooklyn Bridge analogy.) My brand of facelurking includes browsing people's photos and checking my News Feed for status updates. I will sometimes find myself clicking through the 305th picture out of 1,879 of someone's posted photographs that I have literally not spoken to since Junior High. I then ask myself why the hell I care what outfit this person was wearing on their birthday last year and either close out of Facebook for the time being...or bounce over to someone else's more interesting Facebook to facelurk further.

I do not consider myself a creep because Facebook is inherently a creepy device. I have witnessed people creeping on other people via Facebook. I have witnessed firsthand men lurking through other women's Facebook accounts and rating them: not on a scale of 1-10, but ranking her a "but-her-face" or "hot." I know--ugh! I have also heard of guys creeping on a girls' Facebook to check her "Looking For" status before asking her out on a date. Hello! Do you think a girl really thinks about her "Looking For" status once she has finished activating her Facebook account? Facebook is not meant to be read into that deeply. My advice? Try face to face conversation. It's been around for years. I guarantee you will gather more genuine information that way.

I digress. Why is Facebook used so frequently for time-wasting? Yes, it serves a purpose: it helps us keep in touch with our friends and family. But I bet you five American dollars that you neither speak to nor have active relationships with 9/10ths of your Facebook "friends." Is Facebook just another narcissistic time-waster where we post our status and think that people actual read or care what we are thinking or doing at that very moment (much like a blog, then)?

Or is Facebook something different altogether? Check out this video and re-think your membership to the Facebook: The Truth about Facebook.

Take all this with a grain of salt, as all things, of course. I won't be de-activating my Facebook account anytime soon, but it's all interesting to think about!

A New Meaning for the "Little Black Box"

This story in today's Newsday is either absolutely outrageous or somewhat believable in the current climate of American paranoia. A seventeen-year-old boy caused his flight from LaGuardia to Louisville, Kentucky to be prematurely grounded in Philadelphia, all because he strapped on his tefillin to pray. Used in the Jewish tradition, tefillin are small cubic leather boxes painted black which contain scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, with black leather straps attached. Tefillin are worn by devout Jewish men during prayer as a sign and remembrance that God brought the Jewish people out of Egypt. The flight attendant must have assumed that his prayer device was actually a detonation device or a bomb of some sort.

Really, Transportation Security Administration? Not only do you take away our tweezers, nail clippers, and liquids at the door (because God forbid we might want to groom ourselves on board), but now you ground a plane because a 17-year-old Jewish boy was praying. Now I ask you--where does this stop? This is an instance of sheer stupidity and ignorance. But all that aside, may I also ask why is it that we wait until people are on the plane and up in the air before we question whether or not they want to blow up it up? Guess what--if somebody wants to blow up a plane and kill people these days, they are going to do it and there is nothing we can do about it. That's a scary thought, but unless things change in Homeland Security's policy and in our airport security procedures, this will continue to be the climate of the day.

There is something we can do. America needs to face the facts and copy Israel's security check and subsequently have less flights, limit the amount of visas granted to foreigners to enter this country, and do away with the ideology that we can go on living like nothing is wrong, even though we are currently in a "war on terror." We cannot have it both ways, people. Either we suck it up and compromise, sacrificing some of our comforts and amenities, or we resolve ourselves to the fact that if we want to keep our frequent flights and the convenience of unrestricted travel, then we will continue living in fear of another terrorist attack.

The irony of all this: that boy was probably praying that there were no terrorists on the plane.

Journaling vs. Blogging

Is there a difference between journaling and blogging? I would say yes. Some people use their blogs as a journaling tool, which is totally cool. Journaling is definitely a good thing, no matter where you catalog your thoughts. I find journaling to be cathartic and a way to keep track of my progress in this little life of mine. But my personal preference is to confine my innermost, private thoughts in my traditional, bound paper journal where no one can read them. The purpose of this blog, on the other hand, is to expound upon Pop culture, books, the latest news stories, and other random blather that's cool for peeps to browse and comment on. I promise not to put any ex-boyfriends on blast or bitch about a bad day on this blog. That's just not what this blog is going to be about. To each his own: if your blog is a blog like that, more power to you!
Food for thought: Would Shakespeare have had a blog, if he were alive today? If so, what would he write about?

My First E-Z Bake Blog

Hellooooooo, Cyberspace!

I haven't quite figured out the tricks o' the trade to this blogging thing yet. I started out about a month ago on Blogher.com, which is a great site for women who blog, but it turns out that it is not a blog, per se. So here I am, taking another whack at it. Instead of re-posting some of my entries, here is the link to my blogher profile.

I'm looking forward to posting more interesting fodder to shoot into the cybervoid, so stay tuned!

Food for thought: Despite all the bad stuff that's going on right now in President Obama's administration with healthcare and the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, do we not have a kick-ass First Lady? We would be hard-pressed to find a more inspiring, strong, stylish, and amazing role-model for women of all ages than Michelle Obama. You glow, girl!