To all future (and current) high school kids

Don’t get stuck in nasty habits that are hard to replace.

And by that, I’m not referring to the typical teenage rebellion stories so cultivated by society, mostly (I suspect) created by adults to flaunt their own superiority in the face of their loss of youth.

No, I am referring to the opposite kind of problem, one not held up as a horror story, or a nice narrative used to denounce a generation. For just as it is possible to care too little about your future, it is also possible to care far too much.

When you start to care too much over the numbers on your transcript, the assinments you must face, it is all too easy to ignore the life you have in front of you. Dashing homework questions in the library and ignoring friends, it’s hard to fully grasp the sacrifice you’re making until you try to reverse the pattern you have locked your life to.

It is dubious whether or not this kind of hard work will even yield higher grades. Kids I know who put the kind of all-or-nothing pressure on themselves for success end up spending more time procrastinating under the pressure they put themselves under, and may overwork projects in ways that increases the quality of the work without actually increasing the mark.

In the process of this overwork, kids/teens/adults, you forget yourself.

You try to fit into the mold of school without thinking of your own goals and dreams, ignoring friends, and, hells, if you’re not going into the academic straight-and-narrow, taking time away from the development of a future career!

Life is full of its propoganda.  But while it’s true teens can be peer-pressured to drink and smoke, let’s not ignore the increased competitiveness of high school students, increasing university rates, and with it, the increase in overworked kids.

Because I just keep following useless high-school propoganda

I’m writing this blog out of sheer procratination, facing familiar situations.

I always knew grade twelve would be the year of death (here in Canada it pretty much decides your next four years), I just never knew it would all feel so familiar.

The strain of work, the pressure to pass the latest test is really wearing me thin. It feels like I’m on my last few yards of strained fabric, not because this year has so far been stressful, but because I feel as though my whole life I was headed for the new great chapter, when I don’t even know if this is true.

Maybe I need to change my outlook on life, because this whole all-or-nothing grade twelve build-up feels way too intense for my anxiety-prone mind to handle. Truthfully, I’m not sure if this proposed answer I’m getting in terms of finding the “right school” is believable or just naive.

What terrifies me the most out of all of this is not that continual taunting fear that I somehow won’t do as good as I could have in these seemingly defining moments, but that the finish line/new beginning/whatever you choose to call it of these next four years won’t hold the answers I’m facing.

And I know, I can always switch majors, always switch schools, but frankly, wouldn’t it suck if the thing you were propelled at since a child turned out to be a big lie?

University. The big determinant of our futures.

But now that it’s actually here, I’m quasi-disappointed in myself at mindlessly following the road frequently trodden. It’s just too painful to think of how the sacrifices I made for some sort of facade of achievement could actually equate to nul… and this university game is just society’s propoganda keeping us all on our toes…

As an example, I started off in private school where marks were the crux of my existence. Now that I’ve decided to apply to fine arts instead of something more academic, I’m realizing that marks don’t mean a shit next to your portfolio. And yet, knowing this, I’m trodding along like a sheep, churning out assignments, completely ignoring the art that I both love and have decided to spend my life pursuing.

I’m terrified.

Sarah Palin on Good Guys and Bad Guys

And I quote, from Palin’s interview with Katie Couric, when asked about the governor’s comments that she would not question Israel if they chose to attack Iran.

We don’t have to second-guess what their efforts would be if they believe … that it is in their country and their allies, including us, all of our best interests to fight against a regime, especially Iran, who would seek to wipe them off the face of the earth. It is obvious to me who the good guys are in this one and who the bad guys are. The bad guys are the ones who say Israel is a stinking corpse and should be wiped off the face of the earth. That’s not a good guy who is saying that. Now, one who would seek to protect the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States, in my world, those are the good guys.

I’m wondering, if after a seven year invasion – and I’m using that word, because that’s essentially what it was -  we really have the right to judge who the “good guys” and the “bad guys” are.

If any of you are late checking the interview out, I highly recommend watching it. It touches on many issues, and asks tough questions such as whether democracy is okay if it elects “terrorists” such as the Hamas party and what it means to get foreign policy information by living close to Russia.

Check out the video of the interview here and the transcript here.

Bathing suits and hair “down there”

Why is it that they never make bathing suits for girls and women that cover the hair down there region? Even before the age where it’s assumed that everyone’s having sex, it’s expected that – even though no one is presumably viewing this region, girls are waxing/shaving/sugaring regularly.

This really bothers me. You can’t even get some athletic speedo thing without the cut being super narrow in those areas where you would want a little more coverage.

Why is this hair removal necessary? I’m refusing to believe that there is some sort of woman-hood self-confidence benefit. And if it is really for guy viewing, why is it that girls just hitting puberty have to shave in time for bathing suit season?

Bathing suit compagnies, please. A little extra material in the crotch area. It can’t be that hard.

The Star Does Sexist Review

Not that I’m surprised. While looking for pictures for my previous post I came across  this:

Arsenault, who pronounces more times than one cares to recall “I might not be a woman, but I am a lady” or words to similar effect, would have made her case a little more persuasively with a decent pedicure on her not-so-dainty feet. (One toe appears to have an ill-used Band-Aid.) Her voice contains a trace of that tell-tale quack one hears when boys play girls and her delivery is at times not particularly mellifluous.

Not only is it misogynist to comment on the state of an actor’s feet instead of their performance and sexist to insult Arsenault’s manner of speaking because she is transexual, but it proves that the reviewer has nothing intelligent to say.

The First Post

I didn’t sleep last night, and it’s that time of the year. You know. When the year is wrapping up, everything is due, and your boyfriend has locked himself in his room for the next month or so. As I was walking home I decided, in my random state of mind, that what I really wanted to do was to write a blog. Sort of arbitrary, but I love to write and I’m getting sorta excited now about all the things I could post about…. anger over American politics and society’s inability to accept anyone who deviates from a social norm, mostly.

My experience with this sort of internet writing stuff kinda runs along the lines of an art blog where I’d scan artwork in (takes forever, so about a year ago I stopped), or an advice site where I’d give people advice on various issues. Which was always fun, because of the ridiculous range of questions. One thing I kept noticing, however, was that there was always a sort of element of shame around the issue of sex that kept reappearing along side those that seemed overly promiscuous. There was a lot of “I’m fourteen and had sex am I pregnant now?” Coupled with the shame that came along with it… “you’re too young” “You should wait until you’re married, ” and a whole lot of misinformation. In some areas of the states, lessons that only preach abstinence often misinform youth, and you could see the effect on some of the advice givers (eg. “condoms are only effective something like 60% of the time, so don’t have sex.”)

I’m going to try to reply to some of the stupidity of biases and similar misinformation here, that would be professionalish, wouldn’t it?

Likely, though, I’ll probably resort to ranting about my personal life a lot, because it’s often more fun (for me).

Disclosure: I actually do sometimes paint in my underpants, but usually but everything back on really quickly within a few minutes of doing so because I’m afraid my Dad will come down, and have another “I’m an awkward, flustered man” moment. Though this isn’t a regular occurrence, I’m keeping the title because a) in my weird choice of title, I’ll maintain my individuality b) I couldn’t think of anything else and c) because the title “angry white bitch” has already been taken.

Another disclosure: I didn’t actually read the terms of agreement (or whatever they are called). Sue me.