WTF Nebraska, WTF

Today, I drove home from school with the windows down.

.....

Yeah, it's not that interesting or terribly exciting.

But check out the date.

ITS JANUARY 30th.

I'm sitting outside on the porch, typing this post, in JANUARY.

For those of you not from Nebraska - this is rather strange. 70 degree weather doesn't happen in January. Ever.

Typically, Nebraska in January looks like heavy duty coats, three feet of snow, and -15 degree temperature.

It doesn't look like multitudes of people in the park, light jackets, and driving with the windows down.

So seriously Nebraska, WTF? The last time I checked, we were supposed to be having winter right now. But as far as I can tell, its either spring or late fall. Certainly not winter.

I just don't get it.

Review and Resolutions

2011 was a crazy year. After reminiscing about what all occurred in my life, I decided to write down some of the ridiculous shit and share them with you.
Oh, and also, I've got some stuff to say to 2012 too.

So lets check out 2011.

• accomplished first semester of college
• had several mental breakdowns throughout said semester
• didn't die, hooray!
  
• made strides to become more independent and self-sufficient
• used the metro bus system for the first time (add +30 to transportation)
  
• gained car (add +70 to transportation)
• lost/grew apart from close (and closest) friends
• found out who true friends really were (I LOVE YOU GUYS)

So 2012.

Here's the deal.

I've got some resolutions for you to tango with.

1. Find ways to de-stress regularly throughout the week. If I don't, I will break down from the stress of school. The end.
   
2. Don't die.
   
3. Become a better person. Hell, everyone needs improvements, and I know I have plenty of things I need to work on.

These aren't quite resolutions, but these are the things I'll be working on for 2012, so look out for them in the upcoming months:

Expanding YummyShinyThings (my jewelry line): I'll be actually creating an online store that will be fully functional hopefully in the next few weeks (definitely before the end of January!) I'm also going to try to get my jewelry in more shops for those of you that like to shop locally :D

Making Music: Besides the normal stuff you see from a music major in college, I'm going to attempt more online music projects, so keep an eye out for those.

Rantings: I'm going to continue to rant about stuff as regularly as possible, but I'm also gonna add some stuff. For example, I'm going to start making "How To" tutorials, and I'm going try to use more pictures in my rants for you to look at. If you have ANY suggestions as to what you'd like to read about, feel free to leave a comment!

And with that I'll leave you with a pretty picture for no reason whatsoever!

FWEEEEEEE!

....I need sleep.

Frozen yogurt - lets cut the crap.

I don't typically rant about nutrition.
I am not a calorie counter, in fact I barely check the nutritional facts about food. Typically though, I eat well. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, not many fatty foods, and few deserts.
But there is one thing that I'm starting to see that really pisses me off.
The new frozen yogurt fad.

They all boast the: "Healthy Alternative to Ice Cream!"
They also follow this formula.

Color:____ + Fruit/plant:______ = Overpriced frozen yogurt.
Ex: Red Mango
Orange Leaf
Pinkberry

Somehow, this magical combination of fruit and color, plus the "modern" decor covered in simple geometric shapes, bright colors, and "do it yourself" dispensers gives people the opportunity to feel "cool and hip for 15 minutes" (I swear, this was said in all seriousness by another blogger) while spending a ton of money on not a lot of food.

Lets look at some numbers.

Red Mango's "Classic Vanilla Bean Yogurt" is only 110 calories. Sounds great! Until you check the serving size. It's 110 calories for 1/2 a cup, which is significantly smaller than the average frozen yogurt eater. On average, people consume around 5oz per serving. At this serving size, the amount of calories goes around 200 calories.

Now don't get me wrong, your average 5oz of "Cold Stone Creamery" is still 320 calories, which is significantly more.

But wait.

The Cold Stone Creamery calories already includes all the cookies, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, fruit, cereal, and chocolate chips that Red Mango offers to pile onto your yogurt.
With all these toppings, the calorie count can bounce up to anywhere between 280-320 calories. Not exactly the "healthy alternative".

But this is just the average. Some people pile tons and tons of frozen yogurt into their cups, and some people visit their favorite frozen yogurt place once or twice a week.

The calories add up.

But this isn't really where I'm concerned. Again, I don't count calories. Here's one of my main issues.

People think that eating frozen yogurt is just like eating regular yogurt.
WRONG.

Frozen yogurt has a third of the protein of regular yogurt, less enzymes and probiotics, and its significantly higher in sugar. In fact, some frozen yogurt actually has MORE sugar than ice cream!

But here's my main issue:

PLEASE, stop acting like you're "eating healthy" when you choose to eat frozen yogurt. Don't be proud because you spent significantly more on frozen yogurt than ice cream. It is not "cool and hip", it does not make you suddenly "higher class", and it does not make you more intelligent.

Stop the bullshit, and eat there if you really like frozen yogurt, not because you think it makes you look like the cool kid on the block.

Seriously? Drop the double standard.

"Oh he's so hot."
"Yeah, I'd never date a fat guy."
"Mmmmhmmm I need a six pack."

Ever hear this conversation? Ever hear it out of a group of rather obese girls?

How about this one:

"I can't date fat chicks."
"They can't be too skinny though."
"Dude, as long as there's boobs I don't care."

I bet you've heard this conversation. How about out of a group of either underweight or overweight guys?

Oh yeah. I've heard it.
And then I hear them complain. Why don't I have a boyfriend? Why don't I have a girlfriend? I'm a nice person, I'm smart, I'm funny- Why can't people just look past my appearance and see the real me?

Uh HELLO? Seriously? Drop the double-standard! You want to have a great relationship? Try this.
Instead of automatically tuning out the people around you that doesn't fit your "perfect body type" - try to locate people based on their personality. Just like what you'd want someone to look at in you.
You want to be noticed for your kindness? Look for a girl with a sense of humor. You want to be noticed for your intelligence? Look for the polite guy holding the door. Don't just zone out on anyone who isn't perfectly athletic, or blonde, or not blonde, or too short, too tall, not busty enough, or too plain.
And you know what? Chances are, if you're looking for someone like that, you won't end up going for the "hot jock" or "babe" who turns out to be a total douche/bitch.

This ends now.

I'm tired of feeling small and insecure.
I'm tired of feeling like I can't live up to anyone's expectations (including my own).
I'm tired of running to the bathroom between classes to cry.
I'm tired of being frustrated, that turns into anger, that turns into hot tears.
I'm tired of being told that I am not strong enough, fast enough, smart enough, skinny enough, witty enough, work hard enough, or courageous enough.
I'm tired of being less than what I could be.
This ends now.
This ends today.

Please shut the fuck up.

Class eats up my life. I wanted to start the whole school year off with my rants about education, but I haven't had time to write something that uses that much research.
Instead I wanted to rant about this.
So bear with me.

Some sounds are just annoying. Squeaky mechanical pencils. Nails on a chalkboard. Or my personal bane-of-existance = foam rubbing together (ugh!)

Imagine this. You're sitting in a classroom where everyone is talking. The teacher has just walked in and hasn't started doing anything yet. The teacher's pet, a dumpy girl with squinty eyes and mouse brown hair, screeches "shut up!" Her voice is worse than nails on a chalkboard, its high, nasally, and causes everyone to glare in her general direction. Quite simply, she has a bad voice.

Bad voices suck. They're grating, high pitched (most of the time), and make you want to smack the person vocalizing in the face. You hear them speak, and you watch as everyone's eyes in the room twitch just a little, they clench up, and pretend nothing occurred. The worst part? They almost always belong to someone that you can't just say "shut up" to. Like a teacher, drill officer, or cheerleader. (fuck you cheerleaders, fuck you. You drive me insane.)
The worst possible situation is when this person decides to tell you to do something in a commanding way. "Get in line!" or "Hurry up!" are some of my favorites. Even if you like them, their voice just makes you want to say: "Why? I don't have to listen to you!" and again, makes you want to smack them in the face. Instead, you smile, twitch, and keep everything under control.
My other least favorite type of "bad voice" is the one that belongs to "that girl." You know who she is. Everyone knows at least one (or more) of these. She's the one that says "like omg no way", in the loudest, highest voice possible - just in so they could make sure anyone in a 5 mile radius could hear their dramatic story. Most of the time about being drunk. Or fucking. Shit that no one wants to hear. This girl makes me want to stab her and her clones every day, and she has NO FUCKING CLUE WHY.
The sad thing is - there's nothing you can do to change the situation. No matter what you say, they will always have that same friggin voice. It will always suck. We will always cringe. And there's no avoiding them because bad voices seem to be a fucking epidemic these days.

So please, if you recognize that you have one of these voices:
Shut the fuck up.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS WONDERFUL, READ.

This summer I had the pleasure of going to see "Shakespeare on the Green", a wonderful event in which two of Shakespeare's plays are done in their entirety in the middle of a park. It is lovely. The show I got to see was A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is undoubtedly one of my favorites. I was, in a word, ecstatic about the opportunity.
To watch the show, I decided to go with my boyfriend, and meet up with some of my friends, and some of their friends whom I did not know. For those involved, you know who you are, I love you, and I am glad to have seen the show with you. HOWEVER. During our "before show games", there was one girl whom I knew I would not be able to stand talking to. This is a rather harsh statement. I hadn't met this girl before, and yet she managed to say something so horrid that I absolutely could not stand her presence. This is that statement:
"Oh, I don't read, I just watch movies."

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS WONDERFUL, READ.

What?
Are you kidding me?
You don't read?

Reading is like this:

They open your mind. They transport you to another world. They can expand your horizons and give you a way to escape the mundane. They engage your mind, instead of just letting "colors and anger" smack you in the face for hours.
I cannot say how many hours I've spent, just sitting and reading a good book.
As Andrew Ross once said: "The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television."
Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone read a book every time Jersey Shore came on?

It would be fucking magic.

On another note, Borders is shutting down for good. I was seriously depressed when I found out about this. I mean really, Borders is my favorite book store. Barnes and Nobles just doesn't compare for me. So its basically a tragedy.
But the one good thing that came out of this?
Epic book sale.

I've bought at least 8 books since the clear-out sale has started, and I couldn't be happier about my purchases.

So seriously,
Take advantage of this sale. Go get some books. READ THEM FOR GOODNESS SAKE, don't just turn them into a pretty coaster.