"When I was your age...."

Parents, grandparents, and older people in general often complain at how easy we 'young folk' have it and how when they were young they had to walk to school in the snow up hill both ways carrying their younger sibling on their back etcera, etcetera. I'm sure many of them exaggerate their situations, but I really don't know because all I know is from what I have experienced, seen, and read in a book. This last January my last living grandparent passed away. It occurred to me that I really didn't know anything about my grandparents' lives save for what I knew from my personal experience interacting with them. But I became extremely curious, wondering who they were before they became grandparents, before they became parents, and before they got married and so forth. And that wondering led me to wondering about my parents lives. So I sat down by my Dad one night and began asking him questions about his parents' lives and anything he knew about his parents' parents, and so forth after three hours of listening to him talk I was ready to ask him about my mother's parents and also his life (for some reason my mother isn't as talkative about her past- she sometimes answers a question but won't tell me anything beyond that question, whereas my dad will answer the question and tell a story with it or add extra random information). The next night I began my questioning of his life and my mother's (I have yet to further question my mother :) I learned some really interesting things though. There never used to be women's sports (in my little hick town) when my father started high school, but at some point when my dad was 8-10th grade they got women's sports, but not all of the ones there are now just like volleyball and basketball, and he wasn't sure about softball. He also remembers watching Neil Armstrong land on the moon on the TV. The point of everything I've said is : ask all the questions while you can. My dad was able to answer a lot of it, but there were still things he wasn't sure of and I don't think there's anyone alive who knows some of those answers. I wish I would've asked my grandparents about their lives while I had the chance, so for now I'm left with asking my aunts, uncles, and parents everything that they know. The results: a little peek into the past of what life was like.

My Misconceptions about Tape

So this is all about how my views about tape have changed and become more correct over the years. What I used to believe:
1. I used to believe that duct tape was called duck tape.
2. I used to believe that duct tape was impossible to rip.
3. I used to believe that masking tape was called scotch tape.
4. I used to believe that scotch tape was called clear tape.
5. I used to believe that athletic tape was called packing tape.
6. I used to believe that athletic tape didn't exist.
7. Then I thought it was just cloth.
8. I used to believe that duct tape would last and stick forever.
9. I used to believe that electrical tape was called rubber tape.
10. I used to believe that tape could be used to hold anything and everything together.
I went through some pretty revolutionary days realizing the truths about tape. The worst was when I realized the truth about duct tape- since I thought it was basically invincible. But it was necessary that I found out the truth and will no longer live in ignorance about tape.
Educate yourself about tape. You won't regret it.
(This is a lame post).

Well, here's some nonsense.

So. Nobody has blogged for almost a month now. Almost. This is most likely due to the newness of the whole blogging thing wearing off, or the end of the school year coming up in about 2 weeks. But I'm gonna go with the end of school theory.

We are all busy. Busy studying. Busy catching up on reading for classes. Busy with extra cirriculars. Busy procrastinating. Busy keeping up. Keeping up with schoolwork. Keeping up with the world ourside of campus. Keeping up with the world inside of campus. Why did it not seem this stressful before these last couple weeks? I don't know. But it's almost over.

What?? It's almost over?? Holy crap! This year has gone SO FAST. We're getting old... We're in college. We are maturing. How did this happen? Dang.

So, on that note, and having no real point to this blog post, other than to post something new, I will say this: If anyone ever needs someone to act like a 7 year old with, I'm definately here for you!

<3

Smile: It will make you happier =)

I learned in my psychology class, that smiling actually makes you happier! It was tested in several different ways, many times. One study had people hold a pen in their mouth with their teeth, this activated their 'smile muscles' . The other group held the pen in their mouth with their lips without the pen touching their lips. By doing this it inhibited their smiling muscles. Then a third group just held the pen in their hands. All three groups then were asked to rate the funniness of some farside cartoons. The group that had their smiling muscles activated found the cartoons significantly funnier than the other two groups. They did more research and made the conclusion that if you smile it will improve your mood and make you happier!
Smile =)

Questions 6-8

6. What causes people to procrastinate?
7. Are humans the only animals that don't procrastinate? (Or, for lack of a better example, do birds ever think (if birds can think...?), "Screw it, I'm not building a nest now! I'm going to go fly around for a bit!"?)
8. Why do so few people wear wind pants anymore? You know, those ones that swish when you walk? I feel that they would be very practical given my current location and the weather often associated with it.

Being Nice to a Point?

So, we all know it's good to be nice. Parents always tell children to be nice and kind to other people. However what if being nice to some one else takes away from your own happiness. For example someone asks you for a ride to a place that you're already going, the way you were raised might make you feel obligated to be nice and give them a ride. What if you don't really care for that person (you don't hate them but they're not your favorite person) and riding with them would make that trip rather unhappy, now lets say it's sort of a big event, for example prom and someone asks to ride with you and your date. It's kind of a long drive, you don't really care to have that person there, but you all are going to the same place. Should you still "be nice" and give that person a ride even though it might make you unhappy at kind of an important event at the time? I used to think, yeah you definitely should give that person a ride because how unhappy is it honestly going to make you, and part of being a good person is making a little self-sacrifice for others. Isn't that what many of us strive to be, Good people?However, someone told me a while ago, why should you do something for someone else if it takes away from your own happiness? I honestly don't know, while it is always good to help people, you don't want to make yourself unhappy. We can apply this to almost any situation when we are asked to do something or feel obligated to do something for someone else. For many situations it really may not be a big deal or bother you to do something nice for someone else. And who knows they may really have needed that extra act of kindness. I guess you have to look at the pros and cons of each situation and determine for yourself, how the level of unhappiness of an action affects the amount of kindness that would come from that action and how it affects yourself. Then again maybe you should just be kind for the sake of being a good person? Think about it.

It's that time again...

Has anyone ever noticed how much this post-spring break time sucks?
Today is the Monday after spring break and it is less than awesome for most people I have heard from. Not only does waking up early and going to class suck, but it's not exactly very springy today. The weather up here would be lovely if not for the wind, which makes it freezing and hazardous to walk outside. If you were hoping to come back from break rocking a cute new hairstyle, sucks for you. My hair is going into a ponytail before I step outside again.
Anyway, don't you just hate this awkward time of transition? As we transition back to school, the weather is slowly transitioning to spring and summer temperatures. I love summer weather, so this gets me very excited and ready to break out the shorts, dresses, skirts, flip-flops... but then a day like today comes along and it's windy and cold and you have to put your winter coat back on, despite the fact that it is actually April. Which is honestly very depressing, especially when you just bought a super cute new spring coat.
Am I just being whiny, or does transition weather get you down too?
- Darcy