Being a Woman, part 2

     Despite many of the horrible things that women have to worry about (as outlined in the previous Monday's post), there are still a decent number of perks to being female as well. Naturally, not all of these are applicable at all times, but nonetheless, here are some of the good things that women get to enjoy:

     1) Having a chest. Far better outlined by Rampaige at BustyGirlComics, having a chest comes in pretty handy from time to time. Hugs are awesome, shoulders to cry on are wonderfully comforting, cops are occasionally more lenient (although this works much better if you are honest, forthright, and treat them with the respect they deserve as working professionals), you get doors held open for you- and therefor it's easier to find gentlemen with manners, and you occasionally get a little extra consideration in difficult situations. There are downfalls, to be sure, but I think it works out well in the end.

I'm sure my father (with three daughters) can relate...

     2) You get to dress up. No, I'm not even talking about the little black dress for evening parties. Even just putting on a costume or an outfit from a different era, women generally get more choices of things to wear, allowing you to be stern, frilly, silly, or respectable in any time period. We just need to nix the "sexy everything" costume habit that's arisen lately... I think it goes overboard, but then I"d rather put on a hoopskirt, corset, and full noble's gown than fishnets and a "sexy prisoner" outfit, so take it as you will.

FTP 29 - Self-reflection

     This is what I've been working on for the past few weeks. Slow-going, but worth it. 

Original photo by Luc Viatour.

Being a woman, part 1

     Every so often, I hate being a woman. No, not because of hormones or cycles or any of that stuff, but rather than I am still viewed by society as a victim in potentiality. What? Not so! Women in the US have more rights now than ever! The glass ceiling is gone, we can vote, we can run for office, we are full US citizens with the same rights as everyone else right? Well, I won't get into all of that, not only because a) it's not entirely true, nor does it cover all of the issues that women face, but mostly because b) that's not what I'm going for. Here's the angle I'm coming from, today:

     As a woman, even a tall, relatively fit woman, I am at a physiological disadvantage when it comes down to a physical alteration. Despite some basic knowledge of self-defense and a carry conceal permit, the chances of me winning if taken by surprise are pretty slim. From (minor) experiences I've had in the past, women aren't accustomed to being physically attacked, and our first reaction is shock. Yes it can be trained out, and yes I'd say the majority of people- men and women- would freeze, but our society has conditioned women to believe that we won't be physically manhandled (think the unspoken "don't hit a woman" rule), and we don't roughhouse enough to get used to it when we're young.

     What's worse is that people who are inclined to attack others (for whatever reason) know this; so, given the option of attacking a woman with the above disadvantages or a man who is more likely to be used to physical interaction and less likely to be laboring under a physiological handicap, which would you pick?

FTP 28 - Mistranslation and idioms

     For the last four-five weeks, we have been translating a 20-page Russian story called "The Return," written at the end of WWII, about (surprise surprise) a general coming home after the war. He is worried about how well he will adapt to civilian life after serving five years in a war, and rightfully so. Using the considerable number of resources at my disposal, I felt I had a pretty secure grasp on what was going on, but was getting more and more upset with the story as it progressed.

     By about page seven, he has returned home to find his children, now seven and eleven years old, barely remember him, his son has taken over command of the house, and his wife- as I read- was desperately happy to see him. For ten pages, they had conversation after conversation about how much she missed him, she was dead without him, please stay home now... and he was incredibly mean to her, calling her a liar, saying she made a laughingstock out of him, calling her names, etc. She had admitted to him that an older gentleman (who had lost his wife and children in the war) had been coming over to help with the children, but all they had done- as I read it- was hug, and she let him give her one kiss. Being as that the first seven pages had been the husband flirting with a young woman on the train ride home, and staying at her place instead of going to his own city, I thought that was pretty rich...

A still from the movie

SciFi lesson and attitude

     When I was younger, I read voraciously. For a variety of reasons, I didn't like hanging out with people too much, so I spent most of my time curled up in any available nook or cranny with a book. My mother encouraged us to read The Classics, to which I attribute a number of British spelling tendencies and odd sayings , but what really caught my attention was scifi and fantasy. I was constantly being warned that I would rot my brain out by reading "useless stuff," and that it was just an escape from the real world, but I feel like I learned a lot from reading such novels.

     One of the most important lessons I learned from books, I feel, was how to treat others. The Classics were very big on honor, nobility and ethics, something that would come in handy when I started working, but was a bit out of touch for modern-day kid/ early teen interactions. One day, as I was reading my way through the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, I came across a version of the Iterated Prisoners' Dilemma, and a simplified answer for it (since the book was aimed at young teens, after all.) Here is a brief summary:

     Two men are arrested, but the police do not have enough information for a conviction. The police separate the two men, and offer both the same deal: if one testifies against his partner (defects/betrays), and the other remains silent (cooperates with/assists his partner), the betrayer goes free and the one that remains silent gets a one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both are sentenced to only one month in jail on a minor charge. If each 'rats out' the other, each receives a three-month sentence. Each prisoner must choose either to betray or remain silent; the decision of each is kept secret from his partner. What should they do?

FTP 27 - Pity party

     Every now and then, when things seem to just pile up and you can't quite see the light at the end of the tunnel, it's okay to sit down and feel sorry for yourself. Really. Even highly accomplished people do it...

     ...just don't forget to pick yourself up and keep going once you're done.

Cleaning house

     This week is housecleaning week, which has come to also include cleaning up the computer! As such, here is a collection of random things that have caught my attention, and which I no longer feel it necessary to keep around.

A sign at a college football game:

Apparently someone had brought a marshmallow gun to a game once, and was shooting stale marshmallows at people. One managed to injure a guest so of course, rather than outlaw things like projectiles or weapon simulations, they went for marshmallows. Logical.

FTP 26 - Darkest before dawn

     Yes, it's always darkest before the dawn. Yes, it usually gets worse before it gets better. But who's to say that the point you're at isn't the darkest or the worst, and things are about to turn around?

     What's even better is that often, you can be the rooster that makes the sun rise, all you have to do is believe, have faith in yourself, and crow. 

Keeping busy

     Step 1: Identify the problem.

     Step 2: Identify what, if anything, you can do about it.
                     -If you can do something, go to step 3.
                     -If you truly, honestly, absolutely cannot do anything at all... really... go to step 4.