Tyra Banks, Beauty or Beast??

Who remembers way back when, when Tyra was criticized for appearing "over-weight" in some papparazzi pics?? Well, there's the pic and whether what was said offended her or not, it for lack of a better phrase inspired her to focus on body image and self-esteem among young women by using her popular show America's Next Top Model. After appearing on CNN where she advised young women to tune into cycle 8 of this show, it was hoped that by selecting "plus sized" girls for the 13 week contest young girls would feel better about their bodies and themselves, as well as gain a better understanding of what beauty is.

That was until the series began and we were introduced to just 2 plus sized girls. These two young girls were identified right off the bat as being the chosen fat ones of the bunch. They were also reminded repeatedly about how alot is expected of them as plus sized models. The concept of having plus sized contestants left ANTM hopefulls discussing who would be the plus sized models and having them wonder how many chubbies would be chosen. This overblown attention to the plus sized concept began the demise of Tyra's pursuit of bettering the lives of teenage girls.

The downfall continued when it was time for these two to leave the competition. Quite soon i might add. Before the series was half done, these two plus sized models were gone. On a side note, I just want to address this label "plus sized". I always thought plus size was over 14. These girls were definately not there. In fact they were your typical averaged sized curvy girls. My guess is that they were between a 9 and 12. Labelling them as Plus Sized once again was not avocating for anti-stereotypes.

So the message Tyra was what??? I'm thinking if girls were getting mixed signals before, they definately know now that chubbies can't compete with skin and bones in the fashion world (which we know gets translated to real life).

ESPECIALLY, when America's Next Top Model #8 is Jaslene, the SKINNIEST competitor of this entire series to date.

WOW Tyra, way to go, way to make young women feel good about themselves. It was also nice to hear the judges thoughts on positive attitudes and then pass up the one they identified as always having a smile on her face and who learns from the judges criticisms.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Jaslene, I'm glad she won. Renee has a bad attitude and Natasha is a full of herself wannabe playboy pornstar.

For next time Tyra, don't use a modelling competition to advocate for health, body image, and self-esteem, cause everytime you sent one home, fat or not you said to the world they weren't pretty enough.

Are You Ok???

I'm getting really annoyed with this question! Everyone keeps asking me this, with this tone like they're preparing for me to have a nervous breakdown, start crying, and freak out, while spewing everything that's wrong in my life.

If I had time to tear myself away from my work to engage in a discussion about this, my first question would be, Why? Do I look like something's wrong?

It's the end of the school year, there are deadlines, and because I effed off this term, (and i'm not alone in this), trying to finish everything up in a few days is obviously going to require some hardcore discipline.

I know what I have to do and so I'm getting it done, but this question, argh! I can understand people wanting to check up on me, I think "Hey, How's everything going?" would be more suitable. Then I wouldn't get so defensive and annoyed. Because really, everything is not Ok. If it were, I would be sleeping more than 4 hours a day, eating actual home cooked food, and going out to play with friends once and awhile.

I have one best friend who lives far away, who I spend hours a night talking to before falling asleep, and bless him for wanting to look out, but the more I tell him about all the work I have to do each day (to justify not talking to him at all for a week), the more I get "I'm here for you, whenever you need me, blalala" :| School is one thing I gotta do on my own.

What I need is someone to feed me, make my bed, do my laundry, and not distract me with stupid questions. Its those little things that will make life easier.

So to everyone out there who sees a stressed out grad student, just offer them a coffee (or in my case a tea) and stay out of their way.

We're not always this grumpy and miserable. :)

Stress Relief For Suckers

I'm in the middle of a very stressful time in my life. I like to call it March... that's about the time after Spring Break when everything's due one after the other and I take a step back, look at it all and say to myself "Oh Dear God!!". To be honest, when I saw what was ahead of me after returning from Florida, I didn't think I could make it. But, here I am, March almost done, and guess what, I honestly think I should end my life :|

Just kidding, I would never do that, but no kidding, this stress is sending me through the roof. Im so agitated that one little thing off of my plan stresses me out, for example, every weekend at York U, parking is free, today I get there and the lot I always use is not free, luckily I had my wallet or else I'm pretty sure I would have closed my eyes, hit the gas and whatever happened from there well who knows.

Lately, I've been searching for ways of being more at peace with myself. Feng Shui being my new interests, and I've also taken an interest in reading up on Hinduism. I don't really have a religion and I'm half this from birth, and I figure it a good compliment to the Yoga I do twice weekly. So, in a way im looking towards spirtuality to reduce stress...

Lord knows the other methods are useless :| Now really... In my procrastination (which I shouldn't be doing) I decided to look up stress relief techniques. I find these: 1)Power Naps, 2)Exercise, 3) Staying Organized, 4)Eat Right 5)Warm Bath... this is my problem, If I had time for all these things, would I be stressed??? Nope! Im stressed cause I have no time to do my work, let alone sleep, eat, or soak in a tub. At least I still squeeze in the Gym Time, it helps to manage my restlessness.

Soothe My Soul

While on vacation in Florida, I happened upon this book Feng Shui for the Soul. I found it in a Health Food Store that my dad is a member of and since we had some store credit to use up, I figured hey you can't go wrong with books. The idea of Feng Shui always interested me but I never thought to delve further into it. Once I saw this practically free book on the shelf I thought here's my chance.

I finally started reading it today and it is very intriguing. Feng Shui is an ancient chinese practice of creating ones space to achieve harmony. The first thing that came to my mind as it does to others when thinking Feng Shui is how to position furniture in your home. But I have learned that its more than that. The principles of Feng Shui are such to reflect the soul, to be considerate of the souls desires, and to evoke peace and achievement within the self. As fluffy as that would sound to many, I really do believe that our personalities and behaviour are affected by the things that surround us. If we surround ourselves with negativity then we are destined to be grumpy and miserable. Such is true for the oppossite, if we surround ourselves with positive energy then we will be happy content people. This is why I'm not a fan of pessimism or people who can't seem to find the good in their lives. It does not take a book on Feng Shui to tell me that.

Im only on chapter 3 and so far I learned that in order to determine how our space should be designed we must search our souls and find the place that brings us peace. I tried this and so far I've come to the conclusion that my soul is restless. It wants to keep moving, keep trying new things, until it finds its place. One thing is for sure, crystal clear blue water soothes my soul and it takes all my will to resist jumping into deep rushing waters. It must be the Aquarius in me!!

Procastination Station

And I'm the conductor of a train that can't stop and is going full steam ahead. But instead of steering the thing and making sure I don't derail, I turn my back on the tracks and tell knock knock jokes to the effer behind me.

Yup, that's procrastination... doing everything BUT something you're supposse to do, or doing something that keeps you from the task at hand out of avoidance.

Don't get me wrong, I like school, school can be cool, learn neat things about how the Earth functions and shit. Useful information for me of course, cause then I can make sure the Earth stays functioning and we all live happily ever after.

But, then again, playing with Itunes, MySpace, Facebook, and talking on the phone seem like pretty interesting things to. Or at least that's what I seem to be doing instead of learning about how everything is connected in these urban settings.

Did I also mention Blogger? Can't forget about that, cause clearly here I am writing out my thoughts for the day instead of reading about Eco-Tourism, the North-West Passage Disputes, the Safe Water Drinking Act, or Placemaking and Urban Greenways in Mississauga, all things I need to get done in the severely near future.

Its all under control, or so I tell myself... What do you say to yourself to justify what you're doing? One thing's for sure, I don't 'blame' those around me... its no distraction at all leaving MSN on while I'm trying to concentrate and having 10 of my friends try and talk to me.

Any suggestions? I propose this... Facebook & MySpace twice a day, morning/afternoon, and night before bed, THAT"S IT.... MSN can stay on, but I will start leaving it to busy and hopefully that'll keep things to the important stuff, Itunes, well, i'll put the downloading, ripping, burning, etc.. on hold for a month, all i need to do really is charge my pod. As for the Blog, well that's a once a week thing anyways right...

Will I survive March distraction free? Probably Not, but guess what, its All Good Cause I Got This!

Back to Reality

Most people who are sick and tired of their normal, daily, boring lives escape by taking some time off to relax and destress. But really, are vacations that relaxing?

Every vacation that I can remember has left me more exhausted than working over 40 hours a week. The last thing anyone wants to do while on vacation is sleep. What a waste that would be. To buy a $400 ticket somewhere just to sleep would be completely useless. So you're forced to wake up early to play and go to bed late cause night time is when the fun begins!

I just got back from visiting friends and family in the Sunshine state. I figured I had a week off from school why stay here when I can be there so off I went.

Airports: Buffalo airport is extremely boring, but as long as time isn't being wasted there its all good. When travelling as a canadian who lives in the West GTA, you can never really time the drive properly, esp. with rush hour traffic, weater conditions, and border control. So arriving rediculous early is no fun, neither is being picked up late. Atlanta - Now there's a place to kill time, its a giant shopping mall, full of things to buy and had its own subway.

Weather: Who knew Florida could be so effing cold. And I was in Ft. Lauderdale, which besides Miami and the Keys, it ain't getting any more southern. At least the Canadian in me helped, but I was really hoping for HOT ass weather.

Americans: Ok, now, I don't mean to offend anyone here, but alot of them are rude. Even with all my pleases, thank yous, and excuse mes, I still got attitude from people in the stores and such who's JOB it is to help me. I'm sure there are rude and lazy Canadians, but work is one place where you should be willing and enthusiastic. I should just move there and hope my positivity rubs off on people because it's a shame so many are so miserable with life.

To sum up, my vacation was good. It didn't really feel like a "vacation", which it never really is when you stay with family - It feels like you're 'visiting'. I did get to go see Busch Gardens which was awesome. The highlight however was learning to drive Stick. Im lucky to have a patient and understanding friend like Adrian who laughed at me when I stalled the car instead of screamed. I still need some practice.

I did realize something this vacay. Family is the most important thing to anyone and everyone. I'm constantly telling people how I love my large ass family, the extended family, and all the family friends that happen along the way, but Blood is the closest and most cherished thing to me, and I'm slowly trying to sort out in my mind how I managed to disregard that for 12 days.

Free to Believe

I woke up to an interesting argument on the radio yesterday morning. The z103.5 morning crew were discussing an issue about blood transfusions and Jehovah's witnesses belief against them. Now if you read this feel free to correct my information as I was half asleep while I listened. The argument stemmed from a present case of 2 Jehovah parents and their 6 critically ill babies. The parents have already lost 2, and the others need blood transfusions for survival. Given parental belief they of course deny the transfusions, leaving everyone up in arms about the well being of the children and doing whatever it takes to save a life.

I'm sorry, but the parents have every right to not only refuse treatments, but more importantly uphold their belief system. After all, in Canada, we have freedom of religion. Officials have taken custody of the children in order to give them the treatments, and have done so with out fair chance to the parents to state their case, again in a free country as this is, we would hope that parents would have a say in not only how they raise their children, but at least be given a chance to justify their choice.

As I listened to callers on the radio stating their stance on this issue, I heard alot of argument on God's will. Is it God's will to have the babies this way, is it God's will to ensure they get treatments, etc.. Religion is not just about the higher being. It is also the doctrine and the interpretation. Jehovah's have a high regard for blood in that you are to only have in you the blood that is yours.

I also heard an argument as to the mental competency of the parents. Having already lost 2 children, maybe they are not in the mental state to make this decision. However, this decision is not their own, it is provided to them by the belief system that they subscribed to when they were of sound mind. From that time, they knew that if ever there should come a time when this is an option, the choice is and always will be NO. That decision was made by them before this unfortuante situation they have found themselves in.

Now I have little religious belief for the reason that I prefer to make my own decisions based on my own moral beliefs and not to satisfy the desire of something possibly higher than myself. However, in that, I support others rights to choose their faiths.

This case also raises the question of parental control and ownership of their children. If the government can step in and override parental beliefs where exactly is our freedom? Jehovah's witness and their belief of blood transfusion has always been an issue. It has been highlighted on television shows such as "The Practice". If this injunction is supported, the government might as well disban the faith, and then I ask again, are we really free to believe?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6321363.stm