Taste Buds

When I was out of town this past weekend, I ate a lot of food (obvi). During one of my delicious meals with friends, we were talking about how our taste buds have changed as we have gotten older. I have a few foods that I used to HATE but that now I love. Apparently I am not out of place with the changes in my taste buds during my early 20's.

1. Eggs. When I was little I would always comment about how I liked eggs"in my head" but I didn't actually. Well, my mouth finally followed suit and now I love eggs. I don't even need to add anything to them when I scramble- just ketchup!

2. Strawberries. I only started liking strawberries about 3 years ago. I never liked the little seeds, or the taste of any berries for that matter, but now I love strawberries. They are quickly becoming my favorite fruit (especially when on special)!

3. Green Veggies: Cucumbers, peppers, brussels sprouts and okra. NEVER liked any of 'em. Now I think they are absolutely delicious. I have found that I have grown to like many green veggies that I never would even give a second thought about buying. And they taste especially delicious dipped in ketchup, but then again, what doesn't?

4. Steak. Naw, just kidding:) Never liked it and never will- tastes like rubber!

This is what I think of steak! GET IT AWAY!

My Friend's Blogs Rock

This was such a wonderful post from my friend Elyse at  4theloveofblog.blogspot.com/ that I had to repost!

Come, sit next to me here.

It's been a tough week huh, buddy? We've got rainstorms, morbidly obese cat deaths, fashion disasters at the Met Gala, socially conservative relatives who are confused by how Netflix works yet somehow figured out how to "unfollow" someone on Twitter, and US citizens now fighting a 4-front war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Facebook newsfeeds. Times are tough, and I feel like we're all just waiting for the next political world event to just come along and take a crap on us. (They never did catch that Anthrax guy, right?)

In an effort to make myself feel better, I'd like to present for your procrastinating pleasure...Things That Would Occur in My Perfect World. Sorry if I seem stabby... I have a major attitude right  now, and not "attitude" in the RuPaul sense. 

 -I could stand to have about 80% less Instagram on my newsfeed.
Wait. Did you take a bathroom picture of yourself in the 1940's? ZOMFG!!1! Do you have a time machine?! They didn't even have smartphones back then!
Oh, it's a 99-cent app you downloaded on the toilet? Ahhh, you trickster.

- To the next person who publically declares childbirth to be "A beautiful, wonderful, MAGICAL experience" and attaches National Geographic-esque pictures: I hereby sentence you to no less than 1 hour of explaining Tumblr to my parents. Bring a snack.

- No more overly-symbolic ornate wedding crap. I just don't care. Even though you inlayed your Save-The-Date card with real cork from the bottle of wine you drank on the night of your engagement, it's going where the rest of the Save-The-Date cards go. On my refrigerator. The SIDE of the refrigerator. Behind the Dominos and Merry Maids coupons. Held up by a lewd Stewie Griffin magnet.

- Anytime a socially-conservative buffoon appears on a late-nite talk show, we would get what we actually want to see: the host heckling and making fun of them for an hour while the audience claps and throws things. No more politeness. Jay Leno, I don't care what Rick Santorum thinks about the new Avengers movie. But I WOULD like to see a pro-choice, pink-haired lesbian mom from The Bronx impale him with a 2x4.

- Someone should just come out with a "Stoned Hippies with Acoustic Guitars: The Immaculate Collection" album so I know what to get all these kids for college graduation.

- In the iPhone 4s commercial featuring Zooey Deschanel, when she looks out her window at the rain and asks her phone, "Is it raining?" the phone would answer,"No, God is taking a pee." And then say "I've found a list of juvenile sight loss specialists fairly close to you."

- The formula: 50 Shades of Grey + Mean Girls + The Notebook. Regina George gets smacked around in a dungeon, Lindsay Lohan is hot again, and Ryan Gosling....watches, I guess...

- Anyone who "bravely defended their faith" by supporting Amendment 1 would be forced to take a Community Chest card: It might say "Go Directly to Heaven" or it might say "Move Forward 10 Years. Explain to your Homosexual Son/Daughter Why You Think They Are Inferior to Society. Pay $1,200 Annually in Therapy Bills." 

And in my perfect world... I would like to  have the facebook newsfeed go away. I don't care that you worked 14 hours yesterday, that it's your last day of classes, that you are so in love and freakin' happy as can be, that you floss in between your toes with socks or that you are SO EXCITED ABOUT SOMETHING YOU ARE DOING! ZOMG ME TOO! Well, I need a million dollars, ants to stop crawling in my windows, and my cat to stop attacking me in the middle of the night. But I'm not telling the whole world about it (through facebook at least).

I love you Elyse:)

In my next life...

...I want to come back as a cat.

Sir Bikes-A-Lot

The new way I measure a successful weekend is how few times I have to get into my car. I really hate having to drive far and waste gas. I condense all of my weekly errands into one full swoop or I run them when I am already out and going by a place. I rarely go out just to pick something up. If I don't have it then I live without it until it is convenient to pick up. This does require me to keep good lists of what I will need in a given week so I don't unexpectedly run out. However, what is so nice about where I live now is that a mile in each direction of my house are shops, grocery stores or restaurants, so I can walk or ride my bike when I need something or am going out with friends. I absolutely love riding my bike, so if I am going somewhere that is 3 miles or less away from where I live and I am able to bike there, I do. I got a nice lock from Dicks and have a Bryant and Stratton sponsored backpack thingy that is bright orange (oh, yes, I stand out) to hold my stuff without carrying a purse awkwardly. This afternoon I needed to pick up a light bulb so instead of driving a mile to Kroger, I rode my bike. I even carpool to work now with some coworkers when we can and the amount of money I have saved in gas is amazing. I may not look cool when I ride my bike, but when I am I am enjoying the fresh air, getting exercise and leaving my wallet a little heavier.

Oh, and that happiness factor kicks in:).

Post-Technological-Apocalypse

I was sitting out by my pool last night with some new neighbors (yay!) when we got into a LONG chat about how technology is ruining our society. All three of us work in varying levels of education and we all commiserated about how students are losing social skills and respect due to technology. They don't know how to hold conversations with people, have no filter because on the internet you can say whatever you want to with little reprimand and you can hide behind your computer while doing so (which gives you courage to say things you otherwise wouldn't) and can't focus on anything that requires true WORK and PATIENCE because everything in our world is instant ratification. You need directions? Look it up! Need to shop? Go online! Need answers to any question you have? No need for a dictionary or reading through a book, google it! There is no reason for the students to understand that many things in life take a while to achieve when they have everything at their fingertips.

I am so disheartened by what technology is doing for our society that I even mentioned to my mom that that is one of the reasons I am personally hesitant about having kids- I worry about what the world is coming to (I know this is always what parent's say -"This generation!"- but I truly don't know if it is good to bring people into this world). If you know me well, you also know I still don't have a cell phone with internet. One of the main reasons for this is because I have been in too many situations where I am out in a social setting and no one is talking to each other because everyone is on their phone. People don't TALK anymore! It's ridiculous! It also is ridiculous for me to pay for internet on my phone when I already pay for it at home. And I hate that people can contact me 24/7 anyways...what ever happened to going out for the day and a phone call not expected to be returned until 2 or 3 days later? I need my privacy and space people. I don't need to be connected to everything all the time...and I wish more people felt that way. Facebook should never have been opened up for people younger than college because they simply can't handle it. AOL was bad enough when I was growing up, but the bullying and picking on people didn't compare to what is done now online. I also think that people "friend" people they aren't really even friends with, yet when they run into them in real life, they either know WAY too much about them or don't even say hi. I have begun defriending people I know I wouldn't say hi to if I saw them. Why do I need to know so much about people I don't regularly talk to?

I know that technology has done great things for research, medicine, world communication and in terms of people keeping in touch with people (I mean, I do have this blog so I can't really talk about that), but my thing is that people aren't educated enough to know how to use technology in a good way and not have it become detrimental. My generation is in an interesting position because we remember what life was like before and after (the switch happened for most of us while we were in school). These student's don't see that. They are raised in a 100% technological/internet ruled world, and no one has ever been in that position. So my question is, how can we as a society make it so that these children do not lose the skills they need to be successful adults in a social and work-ethic sense?

I think a great way would be to have facebook and twitter be only available to the 18 and up crowd!

Throwback

  

A little college throwback in honor of my 4 years since graduation (officially on May 18th). So thankful for my college experience, where it brought me, what I have done since, and, mostly, the amazing people I met and still keep in touch with!

Monday Monday

Just one of those days.

And thanks to "Colbert Report" for introducing me to this:

Feeding Tube Bride Diet

At least now I feel a little bit better about myself.