One of those days

     Did you ever have one of those days that just seemed to utterly lack energy? It's not that you don't get things done, or that you're not interested in life, but just... it's too much work. Today was one of those, and coming on the heels of a rough week, I didn't really get much of anything done. Rather than fall into a funk about it though, I decided it was time to go find my energy, no matter where it went.

     First step on recovering energy: music. No matter what your favorite kind of music is, listening to something with a decently paced beat and with a positive message will always improve your mood. If it's got the right type of rhythm to dance to, so much the better. Boogie while you vacuum, headbang while folding laundry, or jive while dusting- whatever you end up doing will not only get you moving (a proven method to being in a better mood), but will also accomplish one of those annoying chores that looked boring. Now it's out of the way, and life is looking better.

FTP 3 - False problems

     Short post, due to internet issues and interruptions, but here's something to think about. The next time your day/ week/ month is going badly, and the adage "when it rains, it pours" comes to mind, stop and consider whether it's truly as bad as you think, or if you're just overlooking the good things that are happening.

     For example, this week saw my modem (ostensibly) die, another 3" of snow, cold and windy weather, hugely annoying lit classes, a $90 replacement modem that I can't really afford (and ended up doing the same thing my 'old' modem was doing), a notice that my tags had expired and that my car would be towed if I didn't replace them in 4 days, and the realization that my taxes are only giving back half as much as usual this year. Rather than dig in and be depressed about it all, however, I stepped back and saw this:

• Since the  problem was with the lines, not my modem, I can return the modem and get a full refund. 
• Since we review all the terrible stories in lit class, I don't have to read them myself.
• I found a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula in a thrift store for $1.00, and remembered I'd never read it before. It's a fantastic book.
• I have sufficient warm clothing, a solid car, and a decent place to live to keep me out of the cold.
• My trip to the DMV to get new tags took 5 minutes (a new record) and cost $2.37. And I got a warning instead of them immediately towing my car. 
• The tax situation stinks, but at least I'm still getting some money back.

So... Is it really as bad of a week/ day/ month as you think? What good things have happened to you that you've overlooked? 

Being multi-lingual

   Ever since my dad brought home a Berlitz Teach Yourself French book when I was seven years old, I have been fascinated by the idea that people can communicate in more than one way. I hadn't really had foreign language exposure much (that I could remember or identify) at that time in life, so finding out that people referred to objects with a different word was awesome. Then I found out that different cultures lexicalize different ideas- that is, create a single word to encompass an entire concept- and I was hooked. I wanted to get into the heads of different cultures and languages, and see what made them tick- why certain words or ideas were more important that others, and how it affected one's outlook on life.

     Fortunately, the school system that we were in at the time required all students to take Intro to Spanish in 6th grade, and Intro to French in 7th grade. Given that I already had a background of rudimentary French from working with dad, I stuck with the French, and took it all the way up to my junior year in high school. I started to take the senior year, but after the first few weeks, when people were still saying "jer sweez.... uh...." I decided my time would be better served elsewhere. A couple years after I graduated, when I finally got a chance to go to Paris, I was delighted to find that I'd retained enough of the language (mostly by reading French comic books!) to get around, and had a lovely time there.

Friday Thoughts to Ponder 2

     Do me a favor, think back to the last time someone gave you a compliment. What did you do? If you're anything like modern society, you probably did this:

     Now, I realize that society has gotten strangely obtuse about taking compliments, putting across the idea that accepting a compliment means you're being self-centered, egotistical and proud. But let's consider that society also thinks things like spoiled rotten pop stars and reality stars talking about their clothes for 30 minutes is ok, and that kinda puts it in perspective. (Also, you probably just made the person who complimented you feel like you don't value their opinion, and far less likely to compliment you again in the future). So let's start a new trend. The next time someone compliments you, let's do it this way:

Happy Commercialized Holiday!

     For the last couple months, the Sunday paper- one of my few indulgences- has been covered with advertisements for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, New Year's, Presidents' Day, and, most recently, the Super Bowl. The coupons all focus on whatever holiday it is, and all the gimmicks that accompany it. So it really should not have been a surprise to open today's paper and find it chock-full of red and pink hearts, and exhortations to buy buy buy everything that your significant other supposedly has had their heart set on, but has not received within the last few frenzied months of consumerism.

     I realize that, as a starving student who has acclimated to minimalism, my views of random purchasing aren't very common, but it just seems a little overdone to me. The average price of a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolate around here comes to roughly $30-40. A dinner out at a nice restaurant for two comes to roughly $40-60. Even ignoring the fact that either of those options can buy a week's worth of groceries, if you're careful, why on earth would anyone want to further compound the issue by buying a $40 "Be My Valentine" red blender that will probably not match the rest of the kitchen décor, and certainly doesn't fit under any definition of "romantic" that I've ever come across?

This store is refusing to sell vacuums for the week before V-day. Hilarious.

Friday Thought to Ponder (FTP1)

     While not a full-on post, here's a little something I thought about this week. In today's world of finger pointing and blame games, has this ever occurred to you?

     They say that an epiphany, once had, cannot be forgotten. The question is, what are you going to do about it? Just something to consider. Cheers!

Making plans

     One of the things that I have seen crop up again and again in life is a correlation between how excited I get about something new and the success or failure of achieving it. When I get super excited about, say, a new job or opportunity, I will talk it up to everyone I know, live every moment of the day with this new thing in mind, and inevitably be crushed when it doesn't come true or doesn't live up to my inflated dreams. On the other hand, if I simply acknowledge the possibility of said new potential and continue living my life as if it is simply a part of of me already, it inevitably comes true and rarely disappoints. But why the difference? Why, given things like The Secret or Oprah telling us that positive thinking makes good things happen, would the level of enthusiasm around something cause it to crash?

Problem is, the shadows are still there...