Thursday, March 29, 2012

Ninja Moments and Not So Ninja Moments

I have decent reflexes. I'm pretty sure that's what's keeping me alive. My clumsiness would have won a long time ago if it weren't for my reflexes. Trust me though they lack any form of perfection. My reflexes like to take random vacation days without any warning. Sometimes, I will do something totally awesome with my reflexes. These are my ninja moments. Other times, My reflexes will do me absolutely no good and I will have a not so ninja moment.

Ninja Moments:

1. While at a candy store with my mom she dropped the bag of chocolate covered raisins. I caught them while the bag was falling upside down without anything keeping the top shut. The best part: Not a single piece fell out of the bag.

2. While rock climbing (without ropes) The rock I had my foot on fell away. I secured my self on the next rock without any injury. The rock I was previously standing on, proceeded to crash down the mountain murdering several bushes in the process.

3. While coming back on a trail I stepped down onto one of the steps slid on gravel and was launched off the step. I landed on my feet perfectly unharmed two steps down from where I slid on the gravel.

4. While at a friends house, I stepped on the one part of the step that, unknown to me, was broken. I proceeded to fall, but caught myself in a matrix style pose without touching the ground with my hands.

In-between Moments:

1. Was running out of the kitchen when the dog got in my way. I leaped over her and landed perfectly. I then took one step tripped over my grandmother's oxygen hose and fell on my face.

Not So Ninja Moments:

1. While helping carry in groceries, I picked up a bottle of V8 V fusion juice. It then slipped out of my hand leading to it bouncing around my hands for about twenty seconds as I tried to get a grip on it. It then crashed forward out of my hands and landed on the concrete cap first. The cap split in a half and about a third of the bottle came gushing out onto my mother's pants and shoes, not to mention the floor. The best part: it was a deep purple color. It turned my mom's shoes pink and made the entire room smell like fruit even after we cleaned it up.

2. While walking along a slightly muddy path at The Grand Tetons, I attempted to step around a giant mud pile. I slipped and slid down the hill. I attempted to stand up and was almost completely standing when I slipped and slid further down the hill. (This particular one caused me to borrow a towel from a kind couple and eventually led to me changing in the RV of some strange old ladies.)

3. While hiking, I attempted to walk up a gravel covered hill. I slipped and stuck my hand out to catch myself. It landed perfectly in a cactus. I stood plucked the cactus out of my hand and continued up the hill. I slipped again, stuck my hand out, and with out fail there was another cactus. (It's been a week since then. I'm still picking cactus out of my hand.)

4. While running in the high school auditorium I tripped, fell and did a perfect anime style face slide. Feet over my head and everything. (To this day, this is the fail I'm most proud of.) 

If you would like to read more of my not so ninja moments you can find them in the post Ways In Which I Get Injured. I believe it's in the August 2011 posts.

Determined

Ever had one of those projects that was totally out to screw you? I'm currently working on one of those. It's one of those things that just doesn't seem to work out for you and when it seems that it is, it does something that complicates and totally undoes your previous solution.

For art class I have to do a sculpture out of soapstone. It started out working quite well. Then a chunk of it cracked off. Freaked me out for a minute then I realized that it cracked off almost exactly how I planned to carve it. I just modified my original idea a bit and continued on. I was working on it again and it was going awesomely. I was having no issues then it just cracked right in half. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to fix it this time, but I'm pretty sure this means war!

The thing that gets me is that it's actually a fun project and I'm enjoying working on it, but it just keeps insisting on being a pain in the ass. Every time I crack it, it makes me more determined to get this sculpture to work. I've determined that this project is out to screw me, but I refuse to let it do so.

Let's see how long my determination lasts. If it cracks again, I might just end up chucking it across the room and calling it good.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Procrastinating

Okay people time to own up to being procrastinators. Everyone does it at some point. I don't care who you are. You've done it. There is no person who does everything when they first are informed that it needs to be done. It just doesn't happen. No one does exactly what their told to do right when they're told to do it (the exception being if they're afraid for their lives).

I personally am a huge procrastinator. I wait until the last minute for almost everything and a lot of the time I end up missing my chance. Often times though I end up getting something done though. That is the times when people leave me alone. Tell me to do something once, maybe twice (at times, I've got the attention span of a gold fish) and I will get it done. If you tell me more than twice there is a pretty good chance that I won't do it at all (or I'll half ass it). The more a person tells me to do something the longer it takes for me to get in a good mood so I'm actually willing to do it.

When I do something I have to find a way to make it fun. Otherwise, I get bored. When I get bored with something, there is a very big chance that I will not finish it (or will half ass it). When I need to do something that's not fun or interesting (like doing the dishes) then I have to do something to keep myself from getting bored.

Here's how a person can get me to do something:
1. Get me in a good mood
2. Ask me nicely to do it (tell what is is and by what time you need it done)
3. Don't give details of how to do it (unless it's something different from how it would normally be done). I will ask questions if I have them.
4. Ask me again if I haven't done it already (make sure that I actually haven't done it)
5. Don't remind me again
6. Have patience and don't mention it to me again.

If you follow those steps I might actually get something done. If a teacher/parent/friend keeps asking me to do something/keeps telling me that it needs to get it done/keeps telling me how to do it, I will likely never finish it.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Privacy

It doesn't matter who you are or where you live. There will always be someone sticking their nose in your business. People are always curious, but not everyone seems to know how to approach it properly.

For some reason, no one just asks questions. It seems to be an entirely foreign concept to some people. When they want to know something they rarely just straight up ask. They don't want to be insensitive, rude or (god forbid) sound stupid. People much prefer to speculate. They honestly don't want to know. They only want to know if it proves their theory right.

Trust me people being straight forward isn't as bad you seem to think. While I can't speak for everyone, I personally would much prefer if when a person has a question about either my appearance, sexuality or even gender, they would just straight up ask. (Although I will admit it's pretty entertaining watching them try to figure these things out.) Seriously, it's far less insensitive to ask (politely, don't be a jerk about it) than it is to sit there and stare at someone while you figure it out.

The thing to remember is, that other people don't actually care what the truth is. They don't care if that celebrity is actually dating that one person. They just want to try and figure it out. They only care when they get to prove their friends wrong when the truth comes out.

The most entertaining of things is when people claim that they want someone to tell them the truth, but get pissed off when they don't like the truth. I understand that certain things are worth getting pissed off about (cheating, steeling, murder, etc.), but there are certain things that are not. When your parents are yelling at you to tell them the truth on something that's not necessarily a bad thing, but you know they won't support (homosexuality, voting for a democrat, etc.), you're not going to tell them. Sorry, but telling someone something that you know will get you in trouble is not exactly helpful. Telling the truth can get you in crap ton of trouble.

People don't respect each others privacy, but at the same time they don't actually want to know the full story. It's one thing to ask politely and see if someone wants to tell you. It's an entirely different thing to read someones messages, mail, etc. because they refuse to answer you. A person is entitled to their privacy, opinions, and beliefs whether you like it or not. You don't have a right to take a bite of someone else's pie because it smelled good. Unless of course you've been invited.

Monday, March 19, 2012

They Always Die

SPOILER ALERTS!!!!!
Don't read if you don't want to know about deaths in Mysterious Island, Firefly/Serenity, Rorouni Kenshin, Harry Potter, V for Vendetta,or Pretty Little Liars.
I've done my best not to give to much away, but there still might be something given away.
Consider yourself warned!

For some reason, in my favorite shows and movies, my favorite character dies. It's almost always the case. There must be something about the type of character's I like that makes authors and writers want to kill them off. Seriously it never fails.

In the made for TV miniseries, Mysterious Island, the one main character that dies is the one that was my favorite.

In Firefly (or rather the movie Serenity) the one main character that dies is my favorite character.

In Rorouni Kenshin the one main character that dies is my favorite. (Later's it turns out she's not actually dead, but still.)

In Harry Potter two of my favorite characters were picked off in the last book. (I know I'm not alone in this one. Mostly because a lot of people die.)

In V for Vendetta everyone loves the main character that dies, so everyone is sad when he dies.

And now today while watching the season finally of Pretty Little Liars, the one of the two characters they kill off (Allison doesn't count) happened to be my favorite character.

Seriously what the heck? Why does my favorite character always die? If in a book, movie, or television series they are going to kill off a character, it's likely going to be one of the ones that I consider my favorite.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Cataglottism

Cataglottism is basically a fancy way of saying French kissing. Pretty much everybody likes to make out with someone else.

I personally don't care if people want to kiss in public that doesn't bother me. What does bother me is when a couple is hanging out with a friend of theirs and they decide to kiss. I'm not talking a quick peck every once in awhile. I'm talking every few moments they decide to snog.

My younger sister is dating a guy friend of ours. As a result, I get stuck around them a lot. It's not too bad part of the time, but they have this annoying habit of kissing a bunch whenever there's the slightest pause in the conversation. My sister has informed me that since I am her sibling I have to deal with it and can go somewhere else.

Yes, I can go somewhere else, but it is horribly obnoxious when I have to leave the one room in the house with a TV because the two of you are sucking face. Seriously if you happen to be watching a movie with friends go into the next room to make out instead of making everyone else watching the movie listen to your slurping/smacking sounds.

My sister has also informed me that she never gets a chance to hang out with her boyfriend alone. There is a simple solution to that. Tell everyone else that you want to hang out alone. For god's sake people it's not rocket science.

Just a final note to all couples out there.
Be kind to your friends. If you're going to hang out with them, holding hands and cuddling is okay. Heck, most people won't even mind a kiss or two, but seriously leave it at that. If you want to kiss a bunch or make out, you go somewhere else. You're the one's creating the disturbance.

I don't care if you want to make out on a park bench where everyone can see you, but don't do so when you are knowingly hanging out with your friends.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Pirates Incident

My family has a complete inability to go see a movie together. Whenever we try to, we end up fighting.

There are many instances in which we attempted to attend a movie as a family, but turned around and went home before we even got close to the theater (most of these happened to be when we were going to see Harry Potter movies). Then after more yelling we turned back around and went to see the movie. (It's a complicated process.

The last attempte was we made was when we went to go see Pirates of the Carribean 4 (No one keeps track after what that one's called). It actually started out really nicely. We got down to the theater (on time) without any yelling or arguments. It wasn't until we were done with the movie and in the car heading home that things went crazy.

My dad started going on about how you could make a really good historically accurate movie about a pirate that actually existed and blah blah blah. While he was going on about this my younger sister said something to me. I don't remember what it was. It was nothing significant. We start having our own conversation, then my dad truns around and starts yelling at us for being rude.

I wasn't aware that we were part of the conversation (really a lecture, but try and tell him that). We thought that he was talking to our mom. So he's starts yelling at us for interrupting him. My sister yelled that she was sorry and stuck her elbow on the open window trying to ignor the yelling man in the front seat. My mom then decided to roll up the window in order to make the car quieter.

So there we were on the highway. My dad's yelling at us for being rude. My sister is yelling because her arms rolled up in the window. My mom's trying to figure out how to roll the window down while she's trying driving.

My mom rolled down the window freeing my sister's arm, pulled over and got out of the car to see if she was okay. My dad is now yelling at me. He yells, "This is why i don't like to go anywhere with you!" I yell back that exact same sentence and the car goes silent.

It is determined that my sister will survive, my dad turns back around and my mom gets back behind the wheel. We pull back onto the highway. The car is silent for a couple minutes then my mom says, "So what were you saying?" My dad being offended started whining about how no one's listening anyways. My mom replies, "I was listening."

It took my dad all of two seconds to continue babbling.

Complications

My family as an amazing ability to complicate things, but when you think of it so do a lot of people. Very few people keep things simple. They over think every aspect of everything and it never actually helps.


One question that I find absolutely hilarious when parents try to give an answer to is, "What's gay mean?" This specific question gets incredibly over complicated. You could go with the typical denial approach and tell them that it means happy, but it's not always effective. I say the best answer is a simple, "Some boys fall in love with other boys and some girls fall in love with other girls. They are called gay." People however complicate it beyond all belief. They automatically assume that sex will get thrown into it. When it really won't. If you use the same explaination of love as you would for a heterosexual couple you won't have much of an issue.

Another way people complicate things is by over planning. If they go into too much detail of how things should work they are innevitably disipointed and pissed off. If you have a basic plan, "We'll meet here at this time and do this," you usually don't have an issue. It's when they start saying stuff like, '"We'll meet here at this time, then we'll do this, and we'll be done by this time, and be home by this time, etc." Once they start they can't stop and it ends up looking like christmas lights when you pull them out of the box each year. People in general expect things to go according to plan, so the more you have planned in a short amount of time, the less likely it is that you are going to actually follow the plan.

One of the most deadly forms of complicating things is when it comes to comedy. When you tell a joke, it's never actually funny when someone has to explain it. You have to let a persons mind make their own conclusions. i.e. Last year for my drama class we had to write skits. I wrote one mocking 300 (which isn 't all that hard to do). It was really simple when I turned it in. People found it funny. When it came time to perform it the actor that played the Spartan kept talking after the punchline. The joke was lost in his attempt to make it funnier.

It's actually amazing how often people complicate things. The solutions to problem are almost always right in front of our face, yet amazingly we can never figure them out. People seem to think that when something is simple it can't be right. That would be because we complicate everything.

The Skit Previously Mentioned
MESSENGER: I have a message for the king of Sparta!
"SPARTAN": (yelling angrily) THIS IS (suddenly speaking politely) not Sparta. You're in the wrong place.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

My Cloaking Device

I have this magical ability to go completely unnoticed. Sometimes it's really nice and other times it's slightly annoying, but overall it's kind of amazing.

During spirit week last semester, I painted myself entirely green. I had green hair, a green face, and a green body for a good fifteen hours. I got a few weird looks and smart ass comments from some friends, but people didn't really notice me that much. Somehow out of the fifteen hours of being green no one took a picture. The thing that makes me laugh is that this semester two guys did the same thing (not even to an as awesome of an extent) and they were mentioned in the school newspaper (which consists of three issues a school year). That's an example of when I find my magical cloaking device annoying.

I absolutely love my cloaking device when it comes to my family. As I've mentioned previously, my family is extremely nosy. Being nosy they like to comment on all sorts of things that aren't their business. A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to Iowa with my family. When we were driving through Kansas there was one area with all these religious signs. my older sister posted a comment on facebook that read, "Kansas. I get you are religous. I totally respect that. But why do you keep trying to shove it down my throat?"

My aunt, who lives in Kansas, wrote a letter to my grandma about how she's concerned with Rebecca no longer being religious. This honestly had no purpose and the only thing that came from it was making my grandma upset. When we got home this letter was waiting for us. Thing that amazes me about it is that I posted an entire blog about how I'm not religious. I posted the link on facebook like I normally do. I'm assuming they never read it because I haven't heard any lecture about it.

One more example, this coming from last Tuesday. It was CSAP (now called TCAP) week at school so Juniors and Seniors have the morning off. Me and a couple friends were helping our friend move. We were all climbing into the car of one of my friends when she took off. Everyone other than me was inside the car.

Now for the most spectacular example. When I was a freshman i was in marching band. My dad had to come pick me up after practice. I was sitting on the steps at the panther when my dad showed up. I started walking towards the car and he was slowing down. Then all of a sudden he drove off. I chased the car to the library where my dad was calling my mom and telling her that he couldn't find me. To clarify the absurdity of this moment it should be known that I was wearing a neon orange hat. A hat that was brighter than any traffic cone and yet I still managed to have my dad drive right past me without noticing me.

There are occasions where it's not that surprising that no one notices me, but there are other occasions where it's like an episode of Blue's Clues and everyone who's watching is blind.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Overgrown Children

People basically remain childlike. They just become more aware as they get older.  As you mature you notice that people are actually judging you based on your actions so are less dramatic about them.

When you're little and you get hit in the eye you fall to the floor and start bawling your eyes out. When you're an adult you realize that people are judging you so you fight back the tears and pretend that it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did. We don't become more pain tolerant. (Well maybe those of us who are incredibly clumsy do.) It just becomes less acceptable for us to fall to the floor bawling. (Well I guess in a way that does make us more pain tolerant.)

Through out your life you have the same basic reactions to things. Examples:

1.When you're little and someone took your toy, you go and tell your mommy/daddy. When you're an adult and someone takes your toy, you go and tell the police.

2. Kid: "If you're friends with her/him, I'm not friends with you." Adult: "I'm not talking to them and you should be on my side of this argument."

3. No matter what age you are you get mad when someone takes over the TV/computer/chair that you were using. (Even if you won't admit it, it's true.)

4. Kid: "I wanted that last popsicle!" Adult: "Who ate the last chicken wing?"

5. Kid: "I won't eat that it's gross!" Teenager: "I'm not eating that! It looks like crap!" Adult: "I had that specific food for lunch."/ "Oh I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that I'm allergic to that."

You get the idea. It doesn't matter how old we get we basically say and do the same things we do as kids. It just ends up sounding more mature. We're still thinking the same things we did when we were little (maybe with more curse words) we just actually say it in a more adult way.