Christmas Dream

Early this morning I had a very out-of-place dream. Here we are about to enter August, and when I am asleep I dream of Christmas time? I myself am not even a fan of Christmas; quite frankly it is not one of my joys in life. Yet last night I dreamt of gifts, the colors red and green, a family meal, wrapping paper, that crisp merriment in the air, and all those other Christmas amenities.

Generally, dreaming of Christmas represents togetherness, family, peace, and human kindness. None of which are prominent in my life (though they are sometimes present here and there). So why would someone with a semi-sour attitude towards Christmas as well as a lack of all it represents dream of this?

First you should know that our dreams are vague little mysteries set up for us to figure out the following morning (or whenever you wake up from one). The only real way to solve these mysteries is to look into ourselves and find out everything it is that we are missing and everything that we already have. For example, if someone is in need of financial support, they may dream about having a powerful corporate job. Though in real life they do not have one, the dream is showing them that it is time to find something that will better support them. The dream is telling them to go after what they are in need for.

On the contrary, sometimes dreams try to warn us away from something. If someone has a violent dream about someone or something they know, it could be telling them to really look at what and who they trust in life. Be wary of those around them, despite how well they may think they know someone.

So what was my Christmas dream trying to tell me? After a look into myself, and a full examination of today's surroundings, I can see that my dream was displaying longing. It was indirectly showing me what I crave in life: togetherness, harmony, and comfort. Simply knowing this, however is not enough. Dreams are the tools in which we need to find our answer, but to actually achieve it we must act on that answer towards another one. There is always more to be figured out. Dreams are merely step one; we're on our own from there.

18 does not make you an adult

I'm quickly learning how to be independent. I am teaching myself everything about budgeting, the working world, the schooling world, changes in social life, etc, etc, etc. Things are most certainly different outside of that high school mind-set. Quite frankly, I love it. This kind of life/way of thinking is what I was eager for. Despite the fact that I still haven't graduated, I feel pretty set within myself for the future. Having two parents that live a good distance from me (one of which I do see often enough however) has helped me more than anything else to learn how to be an adult. I still make an abundance of mistakes, but I've come to realize that no matter how old I get and how successful I become, that will never change.

On that note, I have developed a theory that adulthood depends on age in no way. Adulthood is a result of how your mind works. If you think childishly, and you are 47, you are still a child. If you think maturely, and you are 15 you are an adult. Though the law says 18, an 18-year-old isn't necessarily all grown up. If they cannot behave in the way the law expects them to at that age, then they are still a child. What is on the outside, and what society says about adulthood cannot determine whether or not someone has actually reached it.

I Hate Amoeba

Okay, so I don't actually hate Amoeba, but I surely am not pleased with what happened there earlier this afternoon. I waited for four hours in utter excitement to see the sexiness of Noel Fielding and the awesomeness of the rest of The Boosh. I was, oh, 15 people or so away from the front of the line, when one minute after 8 was told that they would see no more people. Amoeba and the managers of The Boosh should schedule signings earlier, and the managers shouldn't book two gigs back to back. Such a disappointment to fans like me, and I am a damn huge fan. The one thing I am truly grateful for however is that Amoeba let me return my DVDs that I was going to have The Boosh sign for cash back. So good job to Amoeba on that note, but bad job on organization. Also, people who were literally first in line at 1 somehow ended up at the very back of the line when the signing began. And people who showed up at 5:30, half an hour before they appeared, were able to get their shit signed up at the head of the line. So all in all, terrible organization on Amoeba's part, and bad decisions on The Boosh's management's part.

J'adore Le Mighty Boosh

Listen to your heart. Everything is good. Nothing before was real. Look into our eyes. We can see the future. You don't need your friends, or family.

A Dream Interpretation

Last night I had a very, very vivid dream involving meat.

*I didn't eat any of it, because my vegetarianism followed me into my dream. Something about the meat didn't look right. I knew it wasn't beef, even though it was being used on burgers. Everyone ate it saying, "This is the most delicious meat I've ever tasted." Whatever this meat was, it sure had the crowd hooked.

I ventured into the kitchen to see if I could figure out what this mystery meat actually was. Soon I found a live beaver in a cage. Immediately, I knew that the cooks were using beaver meat in all of their products.

An instant after discovering the beaver, the news popped on the televison. A reporter was explaining how all the beavers in the area had disappeared , and there was perhaps only one left in the forest near the banks of the river.

Appalled by what I heard, I raced to the forest to find and protect this beaver. It was freezing out. I mustered my way through the snow covered ground, finding nothing but two hunters. Suddenly, there was a loud noise. The beaver burst out from inside some bushes and headed towards the river. The hunters were fiercely on its tail. I screamed at the hunters, in attempts to distract them. However, their eyes were too focused on the prize; they wanted that beaver.

All the three, the beaver and the two hunters, approached a steep snow covered hill. The beaver skidded down the hill, and at the bottom was the river. The beaver was too afraid to jump into the icy water. He whimpered in terror at the bottom. The hunters slipped and slided down the hill after the fear stricken animal. As they raised their guns, a police officer shined a light down on the two hunters. Miraculously, the animal was saved at the arrest of the hunters. The beaver was taken to an animal preserve to insure that it would remain out of harm.*

So there are a few things in this dream that were more prominent than the rest. Obviously the first one being the beaver. In dreams, beavers often represent ambition. It is time to put forth ideas and act on them. Also, it is time to settle differences with people that you may have built animosity towards.

Second, there is the snow. Snow often symbolizes inhibitions and repressed feelings. Having snow appear in a dream is usually a sign that it is time to express buried emotions.

Third, is the forest. A forest shows that you are fed up with complications, and are searching for a more simple lifestyle. The life currently at your fingertips is too chaotic and hectic, and your ready for it to end.

Fourth, the hunt. When someone else is hunting in your dream, it means that you are looking for some sort of unseen aspect in yourself. It is an indirect way to approach a problem.

And from the very beginning of the dream, there was meat. This often symbolizes that someone is going to achieve the same goal or object you were striving for, before you do.

Summer needs to come to an end

"Rain, rain go away. Come again another day."

Oh how I hate this jingle. California needs rain now. Children please don't sing this song again. We need the rain; it's beautiful. Just think of the joy it brings. Think of the puddles!

8th Grade Poem

Pain is brutal
Bruises and Blood,
And tears that drip
A continuous flood.
Heartbreak, betrayal,
Mountains of lies,
The back-stabbing friends,
The dying lives.

But pain is joyous
The oncoming relief,
The smile emerging
That reduces all grief.
The overcome fear,
The rewarding lesson,
And the wisdom gained
At the end of the depression.

Can we just stop trying to lose weight, please?

This is outrageous! Everywhere I look, in everything I read there is something about how to lose weight. Lose weight while you sleep. Lose weight while you watch TV. Lose weight while you eat. Just today while checking my e-mail, I noticed that a headline in an article that said just those words: "Lose weight while you sleep." People have become so paranoid about the number on the scale, that they are in search of ways to burn calories while they are not in a conscious state of mind. What is the meaning behind this madness? Why can't people just be happy with who they are? All of these articles should be about how to improve your health or how to have more energy. The emphasis in these articles should be about how great it feels to be healthy, not the fact that some woman once lost 12 pounds with "this one little secret."

I'm done numbering my posts; this one is called Rocko's Modern Life

Nickelodeon has produced some of the most memorable children's cartoons and TV shows. They have given us everything from Legends of the Hidden Temple to Spongebob Squarepants. Children have loved each of Nickelodeon's hit productions. As a child of the 90's, I loved them all as well. My favorite show being the far-fetched: Rocko's Modern Life, a show about the bizarre life of an Australian wallaby from O-town.

Rocko's Modern Life was filled with sexual innuendos that I never grew to understand or appreciate until I found re-runs of the show perhaps 10 years after it's end. In one episode where Rocko is in search of a new job in the newspaper, he finds an add titled "Specialty Phone Operator." Rocko of course takes the job, and in the next scene is repeating the words "oh baby, oh baby" in a very monotone voice to another character on the show, Mrs. Bighead. There is also an episode of the show where Heffer, Rocko's best friend, walks out of Rocko's house naked. Rocko, looking out for Heffer's best interest, runs after him into his backyard, where he is left only to find a gathering of other naked characters having a nudist party. As a child, a bunch of naked animals is simply funny, because nudity is something out of the norm for children. Being older now, it is just hilarious because in a show created for children's entertainment, there are to be found such glorious and immense sexual innuendos like this one.

It is safe to say as fact that Rocko's Modern Life is a twisted and awkward children's cartoon, that children loved back in it's heyday. (Unfortunately the cartoon only ran from 1993 to 1996.) Everything about that show had what children love. Interesting characters, bizarre plots, insane laughter, and a catchy theme song (which was sung by Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider from the B52's from season two on.) With honest thinking, could there really be a stranger cartoon for children? What other cartoon actually sends its characters to "heck" and has an actual devil in it? There is no other children''s program quite like Rocko's Modern Life. No other cartoon that I have seen has been quite so awkward or intriguing. What is so great about this particular cartoon is that what made it such a hit with children was that distinct awkwardness about it.

I would recommend to anyone and everyone to find an episode of this show and either relive your childhood past or check it out for the first time. Within a few minutes of just about any episode you'll fall in love with this cartoon and wish it still ran on Nickelodeon today. It's funny for children and adults in entirely different ways, but equally awesome ways as well. Enjoy!

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This is an assignment I did for my econ independent study class today. It addresses an issue that is very important to me that I plan on expanding much more on in the future.

Animal Cruelty

Throughout American history, all groups of people struggled to gain their rights. However finally in the year 2009, all legal citizens of the United States have equal rights protected under the Constitution. It is a great achievement in both World and American history. All that was fought for has finally become as clear as day. For people, America is a truly astounding place to live and succeed.

Of course, America is still not perfect. There are small underlying problems still conflicting society. One such problem being animal cruelty. Though in the recent years physical animal abuse has decreased in homes, it is still consistently present in shelters and stores. Many animal shelters do not have employees that know how to properly care for animals. They pair the wrong sized breeds and/or genders together. In high end pet stores, the owners don't typically take the animals well-being into consideration. They breed excessively, which causes health issues for both the mother and newborn animals.

Outside of shelters and pet stores there is the issue of neglect and abandonment. Often when people move, if their new house or apartment does not allow pets, instead of finding their animal a new home, they will simply leave it behind to fend for itself. If an animal has been domesticated and has relied on humans for the majority of its life, the odds of survival on the streets are not in its favor. Also when people have pets, they often think it is okay to leave them unattended for days on end. Though they can manage for quite some time on just food and water, they will eventually need to be cleaned, walked, brushed, and simply loved to continue living in healthy way.

Most Americans don't realize how emotional and tender animals can be. Certainly, if they could speak, they would express feelings of rage against certain people for their unfair treatment. Imagine for a moment being in an abused animals place. They have no control or even say over what is happening to them only for the fact that they cannot speak. If there was something out there greater and stronger than we are, and it could not understand us, would we be willing to tolerate abuse from it? Undoubtedly, no we could not. The well-being of animals needs to be looked at closer and needs to be addressed more in today's society.

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Quite recently, I decided to convert to vegetarianism. Many people I know have criticized and bashed it when I told them about the change. They told me it was "unhealthy" because I would not be able to get a sufficient amount of protein or vitamin B12. They told me that I would constantly feel dizzy and light headed, and possibly go through more fainting spells than I already experience (I naturally get dizzy and feel faint if I don't eat enough due to my fairly quick metabolism). Contrary to everything that they believed would happen to me, I feel great. I haven't experienced any negative effects on my body whatsoever. No dizziness or faint spells as a result of the diet change. As a matter of fact I am feeling better than I did pre-vegetarianism. I never feel weighed down or heavy. The best way to describe it is that my insides actually feel cleaner, and my body feels overall healthier. I've also lost a small amount of weight since the conversion.

The biggest complaint about vegetarianism and veganism is that there is no way to attain the proper amount of daily protein. This belief and statement is false. Protein can be found in all types of foods including nuts, soy, beans, split peas, whole grains, collard greens, seeds, and most dairy products like cheese and yogurt (for those who are just vegetarians and not vegans). There are also meat substitutes with sufficient protein amounts and can be used to make all the same recipes in non-vegetarian diets. The most commonly known meat replacement is tofu. Tofu can be eaten by itself after being soaked in marinades, dashed with spices, and cooked, or it can be used to top a salad or a bed of rice. Another substitute is tempeh, an Indonesian food made from soy beans and grains. It can be dredged in flour or cornmeal and then be pan fried. A third meat substitute is seitan (also known as wheat gluten). Seitan makes a great replacement for chicken recipes.

One other complaint I've heard is that the vegetarian diet does not contain foods with vitamin B12. This statement is partially true. For vegetarians who eat dairy products, B12 is found there. For vegans who don't consume dairy, they do not find B12 in their foods. However, despite the fact that vegan food itself does not supply B12, any multivitamin will. And there are also vitamin tablets that are the B12 vitamin only. So just because it may not be already be present in the foods of a vegan diet, it is still easily attainable to receive B12.

For those who still believe that vegetarianism/veganism is unhealthy, perhaps these simple facts will open your mind. People who consume a vegetarian diet have several major health benefits. Certain diseases and health issues such as heart disease, high blood-pressure, adult on-set diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and even certain cancers are present less often and are less likely to develop in vegetarians. The vegetarian diet is high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, all of which provide incredible ammunition to fight against disease and illness.

Obviously vegetarianism and veganism have their fair share of cons (two of which discussed here), but when managed properly, those cons are easily resolved. All vitamins and nutrients are necessary, and should be Incorporated into every diet. Though some people believe that non-meat diets mean giving up certain vitamins and nutrients, doesn't make it true. It is still very possible for a vegetarian or vegan to receive the same amounts of nutrients and vitamins as for someone who is not.