My Poor Time Management or Wrong Priorities...IDK!

So I was swept up in World Series fever and managed my time poorly. Wow what a game though! Go Cardinals! Alas I have run out of time for my 2^nd blog though, and now hubby has Real Time with Bill Maher on and I am completely distracted. I promise to do better next week hopefully but if I wait until Friday to write I am afraid it might be even worse because hubby and I are leaving town for our 17^th wedding anniversary. It has been a very long and extremely busy week but what a way to end it!!!:)

Out Of The Dark Ages

Why would anyone anywhere think a monarchy is a good thing in this day and age? As Americans it goes against EVERYTHING we stand for and its many flaws are the reason we are even a nation today. Yet despite our history with monarchs, some of our fellow citizens can’t get enough of the British royal family. I don’t understand the fascination. I didn’t tune in to watch the royal wedding and the only thoughts I have when I hear about the new couple are, “I can’t believe a monarchy even exist in this day and age!” I know the UK isn’t the only guilty nation I am just using them as an example because they are the monarchy we are all most familiar/obsessed with. Today’s headline on CNN stated that Women get equal right to British throne; I have so many thoughts on that and they all sound a bit snarky so I apologize in advance.

First, congrats to the UK for giving women equal rights to the throne. That is such a big step out of the middle ages. Too bad the entire idea of divine rights of kings is from the middle ages. Even if the current power of the British royal family isn’t what it used to be it is still an archaic notion proved many times over to be deeply flawed. That being said I can’t get too snarky with the Brits seeing as how they have had a women in their top elected office of Prime Minister while we have yet to have a woman president. Even Germany’s head of government is a woman, but I digress.

Secondly, I can’t stomach the romanticizing of the monarchy. The argument made about it representing family, blood, and honor is only made by people who are monarchs or have no real grasp on history and I don’t mind pointing out that such nostalgic affection is ridiculous. Monarchs rule not because they represent quaint traditions, but because their ancestors killed anyone who opposed them. They believe or believed that it was their god given right to rule over the masses. Of course according to MANY of our political leaders and wannabe political leaders, they were specially selected by god also; maybe we haven’t come as far as I would like to think.

Lastly, the article about the exciting new leap forward for the UK also stated that plans to scrap the Act of Settlement were in the works. That gem of a law, passed in 1701, banned the monarch from marrying a Catholic. The law was enacted to ensure that Protestants, and not Catholics, held the throne and remained head of the Church of England. That would be laughable if it didn’t hit close to home. We may not have laws against what kind of beliefs our leaders must subscribe to but it most certainly is an unwritten rule!

So instead of praising the UK for their baby step into the 21^st century, maybe the media should take this opportunity to question the need for the existence of any monarchy at all. I would have loved to have seen that just once in any of the recent articles pertaining to the story, but I never came across one that even questioned it.

Barbie Gets Inked & Some People Don't Like It, Imagine That!

Hide your impressionable children because Barbie just became risqué…again! Barbie has had her share of controversy for as long as I can remember being old enough to pay attention. Scantily clad in itsy bitsy teenie weenie Barbie bikini’s to pregnancy, Barbie always seems to offend someone but has she gone too far this time? Panties are wadding as you read this over Barbie’s newest look; L.A.-based company tokidoki has designed a barbie doll with pink hair, and tattoos. Keep in mind that Barbie has had tattoos in the past, once in 1999 (Butterfly Art Barbie) and again in 2009 (Totally Stylin' Tattoos Barbie), but nothing as in your face as this new look. This blatantly tatted up Barbie has sent some people in the blogosphere right over the edge. One commenter on the Ms. Twixt blog for tweens and their parents stated, “Why don't they make a suicide Barbie, complete with rope and gun!” Whoa now Ms. Rational, that amount of hysteria seems a bit much. Another pointed out the fallacy of Barbie’s tattoo promotion seeing as how they don’t age well and can sag, as if Barbie has to worry about that! So are these arguments as silly as they sound?

When I met with my advisor for the first time after transferring to MSSU from MSU I was asked if I had any tattoos. I was at first confused by the question because I didn’t see its relevance but I was then informed that if I had any, or planned to get any in an area that could be seen with clothes on, that I would not be eligible for the nursing program. Lucky for me that I had never found a tattoo I wanted to commit to for life, even though I had spent some time looking. I know that the policy of MSSU is not the policy of every nursing program but wow; a tattoo you got at some point in your life could potentially keep you from getting the education you need for the job you want. I can only assume, since I didn’t ask, that this policy is due to some sort of discrimination against people with highly visible tattoos. After the initially shock of such a question, and after I silenced the screaming libertarian voice in my head, I began to think about how I would feel about a tatted up nurse. I found that I had extremely conflicting opinions. Part of me thought I would cringe at the sight but I quickly realized that the mental picture I had in my head of a tatted up nurse would not be the truth about the educated professional who happened to have tattoos in front of me. It actually took me a while to realize that I was ascribing tattoos to low intelligence and poor decision making, when I know better! If I did that then I can hardly fault these outraged anti-tattoo people but I at least had the sense to get to the bottom of what I was thinking and find my way out of flawed reasoning.

As far as this new collector Barbie goes though I have no issues. If my kids were still playing with Barbie’s I wouldn’t care if she was in their collection. They stopped dressing like Disney princesses eventually and I am sure they would just as quickly let go of any infatuation with neck tattoos.

Who Dat?

Most everyone is familiar, at least in passing, with the good, the bad, and the ugly of New Orleans Louisiana, but for me the phrase love is blind fits to perfection! I was born in Baton Rouge Louisiana and have spent some of the most memorable times of my life in New Orleans, from times spent there with family when I was just a child, to wild times spent with friends when I was a teenager, to recent family trips with my husband and teenage daughters, the city has had something to offer at every stage of my life.

This city that owns my heart has seen its share of ups and downs; from the unimaginable devastation of hurricane Katrina to our unbelievable high when after 43 years our beloved Saints won the Super Bowl and I was lucky enough to be staying in the French Quarter when as one Times-Picayune reporter put it, “Who Dat nation reached the promised land”! A city that celebrates every day was already kicked up a notch with Mardi Gras celebrations under way and the streets were packed with a sea of people in black and gold. From black and gold clothing to beads to boas everyone carried the Saints with them that day and you couldn’t pass a fellow fan in black and gold without being asked “Who Dat?” or hearing "Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?" The city that is always alive with music was more often than not pumping tribute songs to the Saints from the traditional “When the Saints Go Marching In” to the “Black N Gold (Who Dat)” song.  It was an atmosphere so unbelievable that words cannot really do it justice and that was all before the Saints had even won!

When the game ended with our Saints beating the Colts 31-17 the city exploded in euphoric rejoicing. Crowds cheered, cried, chanted, ran, jumped and hugged strangers in the streets, horns blared and the Who Dat Nation was one. It was unimaginable joy and triumph that swept the city that night and for as long as I live I will never forget the feeling. You would be hard pressed to look at a paper or a magazine about that day that does not show Bourbon St or the people celebrating the Saints victory in the French Quarter because while the Super Bowl may have been in Florida it was the Saints home town that won that night and it was a cities heart that rejoiced at a win that was a long time coming.

That day my daughters got to experience the city in a way that they will never forget and the love I have for it is now very much a part of them. I cannot imagine another day in New Orleans that will match that one but that doesn’t mean we will stop trying!

Why Fear Equals Fun For Some

                

                 My love of all things terrifying started very early on and has yet to subside.  The first nightmare I can remember came after reading my Disney book, The Haunted House. I couldn’t have been very old at all, maybe kindergarten, when I dreamed of three ghosts coming into my room to get me and even though I woke up in my parent’s room the next morning, I never gave up my scary book. By the time I was in fourth grade I was reading every Stephen King novel I could get my hands on. I desperately wanted to watch horror movies but my mother hated being scared, so the only chances I had to fulfill my need for horror in 2D was when I was at a friends or with my cousins. I remember clearly the first time I finally got to see Friday the 13^th; I devoured it, and while my cousins ran out of the room when a commercial came on, I sat there and savored every moment. Thank goodness for large, loud, catholic families with a love of card games because it kept my mother distracted long enough for me to immerse myself in fear.  

                So why would a rational person want to be afraid? It seems to go against our very nature.  In Freud’s pleasure-pain principle he states that people seek pleasure and avoid pain in order to satisfy their biological and psychological needs.  So how do you explain people who seek out fear? One of two theories is generally used to explain why. One is that we are not actually experiencing fear, but excitement. The other theory is that in order to enjoy the exhilarating sense of relief at the end we are willing to undergo some terror. I am not sure I fall into either category or even just one. I cannot explain all the reasons I love to explore the dark side but I did come across something that came pretty close. A psychologist at Temple University had this to say on the subject, "there's a long history of people being intensely curious about the 'dark side,' and trying to make sense of it," says Frank Farley, PhD. "Through movies, we're able to see horror in front of our eyes, and some people are extremely fascinated by it. They're interested in the unusual and the bizarre because they don't understand it and it's so different from our everyday lives." I have often used that exact line, “don't understand it and it's so different from our everyday lives” to explain to my friends and family exactly why I am interested in monsters, both fictional and the all too real ones.

                One of the masters of horror, Stephen King, even wrote an essay on the subject. In King’s essay he asserts that we are all a little off and that for some it is contained by feeding the inner beast a healthy dose of macabre while others with less control and a higher level of insanity are out acting on dark impulses and chopping people up, i.e. Jack the Ripper.  He points out that children are taught how to be civilized through positive and negative reinforcement but it is only through our desire to be rewarded and not punished that we toe the line of a civilized society. It is an interesting read as usual but I don’t agree with the king of horror. I have no dark desire to kill and I do not do good only in order to avoid punishment. I think King’s essay is entertaining and 100% Stephen King, that being said, who I am to question the authority of the man who brought me so many hours of happy horrific reading!

Random Ramblings

Is there any better three months of the year than October-December? I don’t think so! I am so excited for fall. I absolutely love the cooler weather, the changing colors in the leaves and most importantly of all, the holidays that these next three months hold.  Movies I love have already been rolled out for the upcoming Halloween celebrations. There is nothing better than flipping over to Night of the Living Dead right after crawling into bed for the night or tuning into Halloween and watching Michael Myers stalk teenagers while I am preparing dinner. I just love October!

My in-laws are down this weekend and I couldn’t wait to make fall goodies! I made a pumpkin cheesecake swirl this afternoon and we are doing smores around the fire pit tomorrow night. The weather had been fantastic and I can’t wait to hang out around the fire and catch up with my in-laws, my husband, and my kids. It seems like I have been so busy lately there has been no time to just enjoy each other’s company. Taking full time classes seems to make the days go by so much faster because there is always so much to do and before you know it another week has passed, then another month, then another semester, then another year! I have been in Joplin for almost four years now and I just do not know where the time has gone. It’s crazy! I want time to slow down for these next three months. I want to fully enjoy each one for everything it has to offer. As a matter of fact I would like these next few years to slow WAY down so I can put off having to let my babies leave the nest. Anyway that is all I have for tonight; I hope everyone is having as fantastic a weekend as I am!