Fatty

With ample time on my hands, I felt it was high time I took up some sort of hobby. Sure, I like to read, I enjoy the OCCASIONAL work out, but I have never had any sort of hobby, per say. In fact, I think the only solid hobby I ever really had was my 10 year stint as a dancer. So in an attempt to diversify daily activities, I recently took up baking. I figured, hey, I have an abnormal appreciation for all things sweet, so maybe if I start producing said sweets it would make me want to stop gorging on them. Wishfull thinking. I'm real good at that. As you can imagine, baking has only amplified my love of desserts. Now, I'm just so damn proud of myself for my culinary efforts that I cannot help partaking in my creations (and any other foodstuff with a high sugar content). Before I get too carried away with my new-found baking abilities, I must stress that I don't actually imagine up any of these recipes myself. I use my new strictly dessert cookbooks as well as the most fabulous website I have ever been shown. I have been known to browse this website for hours. That is no exaggeration. I find going through each and every recipe to be rather cathartic. At this moment in my life, I have found that it is the simple things that make me the most happy. If you couldn't tell, I'm trying out this positivity stuff. So while my new hobby has failed to kick my sugar addiction, at least I have something new to add to the daily routine.

Dear Britney

Last night I saw Britney Spears in concert. This is not something I ever really expected to do because I have always had a love/hate relationship with the pop megastar. I idolized her as a little girl when "Baby One More Time" came out. Then I hated her for supposedly getting a boob job at age 18. I was a very righteous kid. Along with NSYNC, I made a habbit of hating her and ridiculing her every chance I got by calling her "Booby Spears." Mature, I know. But amidst all this fervent hatred, I never stopped loving her catchy music. Loathe her as I did, I still bought her CDs with my allowance money. My harsh feelings lessened as I got older, and I started to feel sorry for her more than anything. When she finally went cray cray and shaved her head, the constant barrage of stories about her on Perezhilton became a great source of entertainment. Even though she was way off her rocker, I always hoped she'd make a comeback. So after K Fed, two kids, head shaving, driving listlessly around LA, speaking in British accents at gas stations, Osama, and Adnan, Britney is finally back. She even got her killer body back! Or at least 98% of it. There was a SLIGHT muffin top and a TINY pooch on her lower belly, but it made her look like a real girl who just happens to be in pretty damn good shape. It is my new goal to somehow look like her. In conclusion, congratulations, Ms. Spears, for going from being a hot crazy mess to a more or less normal pop star.

Bucket List

I made a bucket list once when I was about 14. It had things on there such as "be a National Merrit Scholar," "go to an Ivy League university," and "graduate as valedictorian in high school." Oh and we can't forget "be on the Real World." I set very lofty, unrealistic goals for myself as a kid. And I am allowed to say that getting into an ivy is unrealistic because I tried and neither of them wanted me. With this old bucket list in mind, I decided that it is time to make a new one. This one will be a bit more fun loving and most importantly, realistic (90% realistic, we'll say).

Mind you, this will be a constant work in progress.

1. Run through a field of corn.
2. Dance on a table.
3. Sing karaokee by myself. Preferably "Baby One More Time."
4. Get a Masters in some sort of European History.
5. Sky dive.
6. Ski the Swiss Alps.
7. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef.
8. Bicycle through the French countryside.
9. Bake a six layer cake.
10. Drive down the PCH in a convertible.
11.Visit the places in my my book, 100 Great Wonders of the World.
12. Take ransom pictures of a lawn gnome.
13. Get married outside, near the ocean.
14. Run with the bulls.
15. Be in Times Square for New Year's Eve.
16. Live in New York City.
17. Live abroad for a period of time. I'm thinking London would be perfect.
18. See the Titanic. As in taking the tiny submarine all the way down to the bottom of the Atlantic.
19. Go to a movie premier.
20. Wear a loaned piece of jewelry from Harry Winston.
21. Buy Christian Louboutin pumps.
22. Own a Birkin bag.
23. Learn French.
24. Live in a house with Spanish roof tiles...or one with huge white columns.
25. Meet someone fabulously famous.
26. Paint a picture.
27. Learn to sing at least one song really well.
28. Be a Fish Camp Namesake.
29. See a castle.
30. Furnish my own apartment.

I think 30 is a solid number for now. I'll probably make random posts as I think of new things. There are just so many things I want to see, do, hear, and feel. Life's too short.

"We don't need no education"-Pink Floyd

Alright, time to get a little political. I am not going to spout my views or bleed liberally all over the blog, but I'd like to give my input on an upcoming event.
On September 8, President Obama is going to give a special address to the students of our nation to emphasize the importance of education, staying in school, and why it's all important to our country. Liberal or conservative, this doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. Which country has one of the worst education systems in the world? That would be us. So yeah, I think our leader talking straight to the kids is a pretty effective idea.
Now, I know people like to get riled up about pretty much anything a sitting president does, but this is the one event I was sure everyone could agree on. I was wrong. Parents across the nation are OUTRAGED that the president is going to speak directly to their children. They claim it is his way of "brainwashing" the youth of America. I'm sorry, but since when is the leader of the free world telling its FUTURE leaders to keep their butts in school a bad thing?? The chairman of the Republican Party of Florida rants that this "obligates the youngest children in our public school system to agree with our President's initiatives." Well, I damn well hope that one of our president's initiatives is to emphasize the importance of education. It's not like he's addressing the kids to talk to them about gun control, a woman's right to choose, or new healthcare initiatives. It's EDUCATION. It's something they're familiar with because they go to school every day. This is not rocket science. This is not controversial. This is our main authority figure taking the time to speak to kids as citizens of this country to let them know that getting their education and doing well in school is just the beginning of endless opportunities.
Despite all this, some schools are refusing to let their students watch the address, partly due to the fact that there are certain discussion questions that go along with it that some feel do too much to "glorify" the president. You know, they're right. Questions such as "What resonated with you from President Obama's speech" are clearly trying to brainwash all children to become bleeding liberals who worship Obama. My mistake.
In short, I really think the American people should stop wasting their time getting upset about trivial things like this that are meant to FURTHER our country. If you want to get angry, ponder our economic crisis, the lack of fair healthcare, and when all that social security money is going to run out.