If reading this article doesn't make you hungry, something's wrong with you! OMG I would devour a plate of local food right now...and top it off with the coquito that sounds onnnnnnn - and takes 4-5 hours to make!
Wednesday was Food Fair - one of the best parts about Carnival. I haven't actually been to Food Fair in forever because I'm never home :-(
This year's honoree was actually one of my friend's mother. She looks gorgeous (as usual) in the pic.
Yesterday was j'ouvert - an early morning tramp down the street. Basically it's a block party/parade where everyone comes down to the main part of the island and dances down the street behind big trucks with live bands or sound systems. Good times :-D
Ok so today's *big chunes* are obv. inspired by J'ouvert...I'm sooo made I can't find the song "Granny" by Jam Band on youtube!! But here's a funny j'ouvert song by Singa Band...i think yall will recognize the beat lol
Of course you know i had to put a Destra song in here...the video is bad quality but i couldn't find another with this song...and i HAD to include this song:
Ugh there are soooo many big chunes but I can't find good quality videos online :-(
Oh well!
:-D
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
you may be a food network addict if...
...you and your sister refer to the chefs by first name only...and talk about them like you know them
email from Nix: "Btw giada is making trinidadian chicken stew...OMG"
:-D
P.S. speaking of Nix and food, this weekend (in honor of her BDay lol) she made some BOMB diggity chocolate molten lava cakes....just like Mommy used to make :-)
Then, we mixed the leftovers with my leftover german chocolate cake icing and made crazy scrumptious german chocolate cakedrops!!!! A heavenly combo, let me tell you ;-)
email from Nix: "Btw giada is making trinidadian chicken stew...OMG"
:-D
P.S. speaking of Nix and food, this weekend (in honor of her BDay lol) she made some BOMB diggity chocolate molten lava cakes....just like Mommy used to make :-)
Then, we mixed the leftovers with my leftover german chocolate cake icing and made crazy scrumptious german chocolate cakedrops!!!! A heavenly combo, let me tell you ;-)
Monday, April 26, 2010
my back-up plan
Right around the time that I was graduating from Gtown I wrote a facebook note about wanting to be a housewife. At the time I was actually semi-serious about this aspiration, but really it was more about what came with being a housewife...the husband and children. I also hadn’t really found a “calling” yet...I didn't feel passionate about any specific career or line of work. Hopefully now I’ve found the field in which I’m supposed to be working -- or else the next 5 years of my life will be for naught lol (but seriously) -- but that's another story.
Nowadays, even though i still have aspirations of being Suzy Homemaker, I’m starting to think that I can do that with or without a man…lol...Anyone seen the new JLo movie (or ads for it)? I saw it yesterday with a friend. In a nutshell, she decides she's ready for a baby, but hasn't met the right person yet. She takes things into her own hands by undergoing artificial insemination. This is where plausibility diverges into "only in a J.Lo movie" (see "Maid in Manhattan", "The Wedding Planner", "Monster-in-Law" etc) land. She meets the perfect guy, they fall in love, he stays with her despite her being pregnant (not by him)...and they live happily ever after. It's a total chick flick so while it won’t be winning any awards, it was entertaining.
It also got me thinking a lot more about something a former flame and I have been seriously joking (yes i realize this is an oxymoron but just roll with me) about...
Let's just say that in about 6-7 years if I’m single and ready for a baby, I’ve got someone in line to be the baby daddy. Sounds crazy right? Ok, now put aside society's expectations... I know only a few people who are in loving, faithful, happy marriages anymore. Would it be that weird for me to have children with someone with whom I have a good friendship, but not necessarily a romantic relationship? I realize the whole situation could get kinda messy and would be hard to explain (to my family, my kids, etc.) but I don’t think it’s as off-the-wall as it sounds at first. And while I do know that two-parent households are touted as being optimal for a child's upbringing, I feel like if I had to choose between not having kids and being a single mother, I'd be able to do a pretty darn good job at the latter.
The older I get the less interested I’m becoming in the whole marriage thing. I do think it would be nice to have someone special with whom to share your life and raise children, but I just don’t know if I buy into the whole “one special person you’re meant to be with forever and ever" thing.
Ok let me put it in terms of Sex and the City characters….I used to be 60% Charlotte, 30% Carrie and 10% Miranda….Now I’d say I’m 75% Miranda, 20% Carrie and 5% Charlotte.
But, Miranda ends up happily (by the end of the first movie at least) married with a son. So maybe my SATC character mix won’t end up too badly after all? haha
Thoughts?
Today's *big chune* is a super old school Whitney jam...this is like a hidden gem you only know if you had her actual albums...man i used to be straight obsessed with Whitney...at one point or another I've had every one of her albums...and this is one of my favorite songs of hers. I can actually remember my sisters and I singing and dancing along to this song! lol
:-D
Nowadays, even though i still have aspirations of being Suzy Homemaker, I’m starting to think that I can do that with or without a man…lol...Anyone seen the new JLo movie (or ads for it)? I saw it yesterday with a friend. In a nutshell, she decides she's ready for a baby, but hasn't met the right person yet. She takes things into her own hands by undergoing artificial insemination. This is where plausibility diverges into "only in a J.Lo movie" (see "Maid in Manhattan", "The Wedding Planner", "Monster-in-Law" etc) land. She meets the perfect guy, they fall in love, he stays with her despite her being pregnant (not by him)...and they live happily ever after. It's a total chick flick so while it won’t be winning any awards, it was entertaining.
It also got me thinking a lot more about something a former flame and I have been seriously joking (yes i realize this is an oxymoron but just roll with me) about...
Let's just say that in about 6-7 years if I’m single and ready for a baby, I’ve got someone in line to be the baby daddy. Sounds crazy right? Ok, now put aside society's expectations... I know only a few people who are in loving, faithful, happy marriages anymore. Would it be that weird for me to have children with someone with whom I have a good friendship, but not necessarily a romantic relationship? I realize the whole situation could get kinda messy and would be hard to explain (to my family, my kids, etc.) but I don’t think it’s as off-the-wall as it sounds at first. And while I do know that two-parent households are touted as being optimal for a child's upbringing, I feel like if I had to choose between not having kids and being a single mother, I'd be able to do a pretty darn good job at the latter.
The older I get the less interested I’m becoming in the whole marriage thing. I do think it would be nice to have someone special with whom to share your life and raise children, but I just don’t know if I buy into the whole “one special person you’re meant to be with forever and ever" thing.
Ok let me put it in terms of Sex and the City characters….I used to be 60% Charlotte, 30% Carrie and 10% Miranda….Now I’d say I’m 75% Miranda, 20% Carrie and 5% Charlotte.
But, Miranda ends up happily (by the end of the first movie at least) married with a son. So maybe my SATC character mix won’t end up too badly after all? haha
Thoughts?
Today's *big chune* is a super old school Whitney jam...this is like a hidden gem you only know if you had her actual albums...man i used to be straight obsessed with Whitney...at one point or another I've had every one of her albums...and this is one of my favorite songs of hers. I can actually remember my sisters and I singing and dancing along to this song! lol
:-D
Friday, April 23, 2010
i'd rather be...
...sitting in a bookstore/cafe reading a new book and catching up on all my unread blogs :-/
But alas...I sit at work instead! (By the way, I'm super thankful for my job because I know times are hard...just sayin...)
Seriously, the bolded unread items in my Google Reader are killing me! I've even started resorting to "marking all as read"...but who knows what fascinating articles, important news items, juicy gossip, cool events, and scrumptious recipes I'm missing out on?!
I really don't want to be here...(luckily) my days are winding down. From next Monday I have 5 full weeks until I leave my job and head home to the VI. Then, I really can spend (part of) my days doing what I love...surrounded by the ocean, basking in the sun. Ahhhhhhhhhh can't you picture it!
No? Well here's a visual:
That's the GORGEOUS Lindquist Beach on St. Thomas. Definitely a (if not, the) fav. of mine.
Here's a great friday *big chune* that always makes me think of chillin on the weekend. Apparently this was Aaliyah's first video? RIP
:-D Happy Friday Y'all.
But alas...I sit at work instead! (By the way, I'm super thankful for my job because I know times are hard...just sayin...)
Seriously, the bolded unread items in my Google Reader are killing me! I've even started resorting to "marking all as read"...but who knows what fascinating articles, important news items, juicy gossip, cool events, and scrumptious recipes I'm missing out on?!
I really don't want to be here...(luckily) my days are winding down. From next Monday I have 5 full weeks until I leave my job and head home to the VI. Then, I really can spend (part of) my days doing what I love...surrounded by the ocean, basking in the sun. Ahhhhhhhhhh can't you picture it!
No? Well here's a visual:
That's the GORGEOUS Lindquist Beach on St. Thomas. Definitely a (if not, the) fav. of mine.
Here's a great friday *big chune* that always makes me think of chillin on the weekend. Apparently this was Aaliyah's first video? RIP
:-D Happy Friday Y'all.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
(how) did you fill out your census form?
Last week I filled out my first Census form ever. I admit, I was actually looking forward to receiving it and "being counted." lol. Most of my excitement was the ability to "check all that apply" under the race category. The 2000 Census was the first time respondents were allowed to do so. About 6.8 million Americans, 2.4 percent of the population, checked more than one racial box. I'm assuming my mom would have filled this out for me (and my other siblings) and marked the appropriate boxes, but it was nice to do it myself this time.
For multiple reasons, the Census is always a big strumu (that's a VI term basically meaning controversy in this instance, I have no idea the proper spelling lol) but particularly because it is a large determining factor for a lot of state and federal funding. In particular, advocates for minorities are especially concerned about their number being counted. It's actually quite a sticky subject. In fact, some black groups were against allowing multiracial individuals to choose more than one race, because of how this would affect the population counts. Kenneth Prewitt, who directed the 2000 census, said some civil-rights groups have resisted the concept of checking more than one race out of fear that it will dilute their influence. As someone whose job is all about data and statistics, I have to say that the more detail they collect the better. I did a huge project at work looking at racial/ethnic disparities in child health and believe me, these things make a difference.
Anyway, I did my duty and filled out my form the day I got it in the mail. And it made me quite happy to check two boxes :-) This made me think about times when I couldn't check more than one box. I don't remember every time, but I actually think I would sometimes choose "black", sometimes "other." I would never check white if I could only choose one. I guess I've fallen victim to the "one-drop rule" mentality lol.
The whole issue of racial (self)-identificaton is fascinating to me. The other day I read a tidbit about how bi-racial actress (and wife of Ribin Thicke) Paula Patton is actually offended by the term biracial. This was quite perplexing to me as a headline, but she explains it somewhat in an interview: “I find [the term biracial] offensive. It’s a way for people to separate themselves from African-Americans….a way of saying ‘I’m better than that...I’m black because that’s the way the world sees me. People aren’t calling Barack Obama biracial. Most people think there’s a black president….People judged me because I was light-skinned. [They'd assume] I didn’t want to be part of the black race.”
While I respect her opinion, I can't say that I agree with her. I identify as biracial not because I think I'm better than or want to separate myself from African Americans. I say that I am biracial because it is a more accurate description of who I am and how I identify. It would be even more accurate to reflect that I am West Indian or Caribbean black and white, but I suppose those specific categories are captured in other more detailed surveys by the Census Bureau and others.
In any case, I was happy to be able to choose more than one race on my form. I actually am happy whenever I fill out forms and am allowed to do so. The "check all" option actually occurs almost all the time now. I rarely am forced to choose. (By the way, there was a great study done looking at task performance of multiracial individuals allowed to identify all their racial components compared to those who were instructed to choose only one. Those who were allowed to choose more than one performed better on tasks than those who were forced to choose one!)
Of course, there are issues for other demographic groups as well. If you find this stuff interesting, check out this article.
So, did you fill out your Census form? Did you think about this stuff at all?? Any other issues come up for you filling out the form? What do you think about Paula Patton's comments?
Of course you know today's *big chune* had to come from a mixie right?? Remember the group Groove Theory, most known for their big chune Tell Me? Well, the lead singer is Amel Larrieux (black mom, white dad), who went on to release her own albums. I couldn't pick between two of my favorite songs of hers so today is a 2-for-1 ;-) She has some other great ones too though, so check her out.
"For Real"
"Weary"
:-D
For multiple reasons, the Census is always a big strumu (that's a VI term basically meaning controversy in this instance, I have no idea the proper spelling lol) but particularly because it is a large determining factor for a lot of state and federal funding. In particular, advocates for minorities are especially concerned about their number being counted. It's actually quite a sticky subject. In fact, some black groups were against allowing multiracial individuals to choose more than one race, because of how this would affect the population counts. Kenneth Prewitt, who directed the 2000 census, said some civil-rights groups have resisted the concept of checking more than one race out of fear that it will dilute their influence. As someone whose job is all about data and statistics, I have to say that the more detail they collect the better. I did a huge project at work looking at racial/ethnic disparities in child health and believe me, these things make a difference.
Anyway, I did my duty and filled out my form the day I got it in the mail. And it made me quite happy to check two boxes :-) This made me think about times when I couldn't check more than one box. I don't remember every time, but I actually think I would sometimes choose "black", sometimes "other." I would never check white if I could only choose one. I guess I've fallen victim to the "one-drop rule" mentality lol.
The whole issue of racial (self)-identificaton is fascinating to me. The other day I read a tidbit about how bi-racial actress (and wife of Ribin Thicke) Paula Patton is actually offended by the term biracial. This was quite perplexing to me as a headline, but she explains it somewhat in an interview: “I find [the term biracial] offensive. It’s a way for people to separate themselves from African-Americans….a way of saying ‘I’m better than that...I’m black because that’s the way the world sees me. People aren’t calling Barack Obama biracial. Most people think there’s a black president….People judged me because I was light-skinned. [They'd assume] I didn’t want to be part of the black race.”
While I respect her opinion, I can't say that I agree with her. I identify as biracial not because I think I'm better than or want to separate myself from African Americans. I say that I am biracial because it is a more accurate description of who I am and how I identify. It would be even more accurate to reflect that I am West Indian or Caribbean black and white, but I suppose those specific categories are captured in other more detailed surveys by the Census Bureau and others.
In any case, I was happy to be able to choose more than one race on my form. I actually am happy whenever I fill out forms and am allowed to do so. The "check all" option actually occurs almost all the time now. I rarely am forced to choose. (By the way, there was a great study done looking at task performance of multiracial individuals allowed to identify all their racial components compared to those who were instructed to choose only one. Those who were allowed to choose more than one performed better on tasks than those who were forced to choose one!)
Of course, there are issues for other demographic groups as well. If you find this stuff interesting, check out this article.
So, did you fill out your Census form? Did you think about this stuff at all?? Any other issues come up for you filling out the form? What do you think about Paula Patton's comments?
Of course you know today's *big chune* had to come from a mixie right?? Remember the group Groove Theory, most known for their big chune Tell Me? Well, the lead singer is Amel Larrieux (black mom, white dad), who went on to release her own albums. I couldn't pick between two of my favorite songs of hers so today is a 2-for-1 ;-) She has some other great ones too though, so check her out.
"For Real"
"Weary"
:-D
Thursday, March 4, 2010
off to another interview
I'm off to another grad school interview today! And I'm sooooo excited for the 70-degree-weather that awaits me!! Although, to be fair, the weather here has been getting a lot better...it's gonna be in the 50s this weekend!
Tomorrow's gonna be a long day though...5 different faculty interviews throughout the day. I kinda wish they were all back to back to get them over with, but my day starts at 8ish and won't be all done until 4:30. Tonight is a welcome event so gotta get my schmooze face on hehe. Btw, still haven't heard from UT :-/
Anywho, I'll post about it all when I get back this weekend. Wish me luck :-D
Btw, have you heard of Operation Beautiful? The mission behind Operation Beautiful is to "post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find." The website has some really cute examples of notes people have left. If you don't like the idea of leaving a note somewhere for a stranger to find, try to make it a point to compliment someone you know today. We could all use a compliment...There's something really special and uplifting about being told you look nice/smell good/are funny/wear cute shoes lol...Could be a great way to make someone's day!
Today's *big chune* is some soca flava from Alison Hinds...I don't know what this song is officially called...ima go with "Iron Bazodee" lol...just listening to this song makes me feel like i'm back home at j'ouvert or in the parade....OMG I can't wait to be home for St. John Festival - one of the best times to be home period!
:-D
Tomorrow's gonna be a long day though...5 different faculty interviews throughout the day. I kinda wish they were all back to back to get them over with, but my day starts at 8ish and won't be all done until 4:30. Tonight is a welcome event so gotta get my schmooze face on hehe. Btw, still haven't heard from UT :-/
Anywho, I'll post about it all when I get back this weekend. Wish me luck :-D
Btw, have you heard of Operation Beautiful? The mission behind Operation Beautiful is to "post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find." The website has some really cute examples of notes people have left. If you don't like the idea of leaving a note somewhere for a stranger to find, try to make it a point to compliment someone you know today. We could all use a compliment...There's something really special and uplifting about being told you look nice/smell good/are funny/wear cute shoes lol...Could be a great way to make someone's day!
Today's *big chune* is some soca flava from Alison Hinds...I don't know what this song is officially called...ima go with "Iron Bazodee" lol...just listening to this song makes me feel like i'm back home at j'ouvert or in the parade....OMG I can't wait to be home for St. John Festival - one of the best times to be home period!
:-D
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
i want to be a know-it-all ...
...(or at least a know-a-lot)
Every time I learn something (is it redundant to say "learn something new"?), I have two main reactions: 1) happiness that i now know something i previously had not known and 2) worry (worry is a sort of a strong word, i just can't think of what comes right below it in the emotion hierarchy) about how much more i still don't know! Nix (read in an article and) told me just the other day that young people today are exposed to more information in a day than our grandparents were in a whole year....uhm, is that mind-boggling to anyone else??!
While I consider myself generally well-informed and knowledgeable about a good many things, I still can't help but feeling overwhelmed by the vast amount of information that exists. I realize this may sound crazy, but oh well. How did this come up?
I'm sitting here at work, reading through some documents on Social Security Reform for an upcoming paper we are supposed to write. (By the way, nothing is happening with SS reform, in case you are wondering...soooo basically I am doing lots of reading and "monitoring" and who knows whether anything will come of it. Oh well, I'm learning!) Most people our age have no reason to know or be especially concerned about this, but every year the Social Security Administration adjusts SS benefits to account for changes in the cost of living (related to inflation). In 2009, there was no Cost-of-Living-Adjustment...not because the SSA was being stingy, but because prices had dropped during the recession, effectively increasing the real purchasing power of SS benefits by around $700. In fact, during the recession, seniors actually saw their incomes "rise" as those for working-age households fell...I know what you're thinking....tell that to the old people who can't afford to pay their bills :-/ President Obama was thinking that too (lol), so he had proposed a $250 payments to all retirees...politically a good idea, not so much from an economicists' POV...but if Larry Summers were to be like "eh, I don't know Barack, that's not economically sound"...how do you think that would have been received by the general public?
Anyway, all of this is to say that when I read things like this, it reaffirms my resolve to be fully informed about something before taking a strong stance on it. I'm pretty indecisive (btw, research suggests that indecisive individuals utilize more information when trying to make a decision compared to decisive individuals LOL), and I tend not to see black/white, right/wrong on most issues....this is frustrating to some people (I'm thinking of one person in particular, and we don't get along at all lol) but it is really hard for me to be absolute about issues - especially hot-button issues like creation/evolution, religion, war, abortion, affirmative action, etc.(basically most things that involved "taking sides").
I actually used to be even more evasive about getting into "issue discussions." When I really think about it, I realize that my fear of ignorance/being wrong has a ton to do with this....this, in turn, fed into my shyness years ago (I wouldn't say I'm shy anymore). I grew up in a family with 3 super-smart, super-opinionated older brothers. Honestly, I was intimidated by this and I avoided (I sort of still do lol) getting involved in their heated conversations. The older and more educated/informed I've gotten, the more confident (in general, not just about conversations) and less shy I've gotten. I realized the two are correlated for me. Now, I love talking to people about a range of topics, because for the most part I believe that I am able to add something meaningful to the conversations. It's a great feeling.
When I was at GTown, I remember a professor talking about how being an "expert" simply means that you know more than the average person about a certain topic. I used to think of being an expert as some sort of unattainable title, fit only for geniuses. This isn't really the case. One of my goals in life is to become an expert in something(s). This is why I follow so many blogs and make such an effort to be informed. I enjoy knowing things and being able to share them with others. When people comment on my "knowing things" and "informedness" (yes, i'm aware that's not a real word), it makes my day :-)
I hope one day I'll be an expert in some specific area of Psychology, but I'd also like to be an expert in something fun, like Positivity, or Autobiographical Literature, or baking...or needle point (lol).
What about yall? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by how much there is to know...and daunted by a sense of how much you don't know? (Or is it just me?) Do you strive to be an expert in something? Maybe you already are? Other thoughts?
Today's *big chune* is the song that initially made me fall in love with Chrisette Michele: Like a Dream. I LOVE this song!! She's on my mind because yesterday I got tickets to see her when she comes to DC (at the 9:30 club) next Tuesday...with Laura Izibor, who was yesterday's big chune...YAY! Anyone else going?
:-D
Every time I learn something (is it redundant to say "learn something new"?), I have two main reactions: 1) happiness that i now know something i previously had not known and 2) worry (worry is a sort of a strong word, i just can't think of what comes right below it in the emotion hierarchy) about how much more i still don't know! Nix (read in an article and) told me just the other day that young people today are exposed to more information in a day than our grandparents were in a whole year....uhm, is that mind-boggling to anyone else??!
While I consider myself generally well-informed and knowledgeable about a good many things, I still can't help but feeling overwhelmed by the vast amount of information that exists. I realize this may sound crazy, but oh well. How did this come up?
I'm sitting here at work, reading through some documents on Social Security Reform for an upcoming paper we are supposed to write. (By the way, nothing is happening with SS reform, in case you are wondering...soooo basically I am doing lots of reading and "monitoring" and who knows whether anything will come of it. Oh well, I'm learning!) Most people our age have no reason to know or be especially concerned about this, but every year the Social Security Administration adjusts SS benefits to account for changes in the cost of living (related to inflation). In 2009, there was no Cost-of-Living-Adjustment...not because the SSA was being stingy, but because prices had dropped during the recession, effectively increasing the real purchasing power of SS benefits by around $700. In fact, during the recession, seniors actually saw their incomes "rise" as those for working-age households fell...I know what you're thinking....tell that to the old people who can't afford to pay their bills :-/ President Obama was thinking that too (lol), so he had proposed a $250 payments to all retirees...politically a good idea, not so much from an economicists' POV...but if Larry Summers were to be like "eh, I don't know Barack, that's not economically sound"...how do you think that would have been received by the general public?
Anyway, all of this is to say that when I read things like this, it reaffirms my resolve to be fully informed about something before taking a strong stance on it. I'm pretty indecisive (btw, research suggests that indecisive individuals utilize more information when trying to make a decision compared to decisive individuals LOL), and I tend not to see black/white, right/wrong on most issues....this is frustrating to some people (I'm thinking of one person in particular, and we don't get along at all lol) but it is really hard for me to be absolute about issues - especially hot-button issues like creation/evolution, religion, war, abortion, affirmative action, etc.(basically most things that involved "taking sides").
I actually used to be even more evasive about getting into "issue discussions." When I really think about it, I realize that my fear of ignorance/being wrong has a ton to do with this....this, in turn, fed into my shyness years ago (I wouldn't say I'm shy anymore). I grew up in a family with 3 super-smart, super-opinionated older brothers. Honestly, I was intimidated by this and I avoided (I sort of still do lol) getting involved in their heated conversations. The older and more educated/informed I've gotten, the more confident (in general, not just about conversations) and less shy I've gotten. I realized the two are correlated for me. Now, I love talking to people about a range of topics, because for the most part I believe that I am able to add something meaningful to the conversations. It's a great feeling.
When I was at GTown, I remember a professor talking about how being an "expert" simply means that you know more than the average person about a certain topic. I used to think of being an expert as some sort of unattainable title, fit only for geniuses. This isn't really the case. One of my goals in life is to become an expert in something(s). This is why I follow so many blogs and make such an effort to be informed. I enjoy knowing things and being able to share them with others. When people comment on my "knowing things" and "informedness" (yes, i'm aware that's not a real word), it makes my day :-)
I hope one day I'll be an expert in some specific area of Psychology, but I'd also like to be an expert in something fun, like Positivity, or Autobiographical Literature, or baking...or needle point (lol).
What about yall? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by how much there is to know...and daunted by a sense of how much you don't know? (Or is it just me?) Do you strive to be an expert in something? Maybe you already are? Other thoughts?
Today's *big chune* is the song that initially made me fall in love with Chrisette Michele: Like a Dream. I LOVE this song!! She's on my mind because yesterday I got tickets to see her when she comes to DC (at the 9:30 club) next Tuesday...with Laura Izibor, who was yesterday's big chune...YAY! Anyone else going?
:-D
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
end of the blog challenge
So today is Day 30 of my 30-day blog challenge! And aside from the day I technically posted after midnight (which I am still counting as a post for the day before) I met my challenge. Go me, go me. lol. Anyway, I am really happy that I started this blog and have been posting every day for the past month.
About a week ago I signed up for Google Analytics, which allows you to look at traffic to your blog. Not only is it sort of confusing, and not really that informative (IMO, or maybe I was just lazy with it), I realized that I don't really care whether 5 people or 500 people read my blogunless I could make some money out of this, that would be sweeeet. I'm basically writing this for myself....because it's something I've been wanting to do. At the same time, it is so encouraging when people let me know (whether in the comments section, or privately) that they enjoy reading my blog....it makes my day ;-)
One person told me they like reading because, in a way, it makes them feel more connected to me, since we don't talk on a daily basis. Two other friends caught up to the blog somewhat late and emailed me with responses to almost every post I had written. Things like this really mean a lot to me, and make me feel good about writing...thank you so much! I've really enjoyed posting so far, and I plan to continue to write on pretty much a daily basis. I hope yall will continue to read :-) By the way, for those of you who don't use Google Reader,what is wrong with you? didn't you read this post? you can now subscribe to get email alerts every time I post something new....just use the box to the left. Also for those of you who don't use a Reader, you can still see the items I am sharing, look to the left side of the blog page and you can see my most recently shared items.
On another note, today as I was sitting at my desk, looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, I thought back to a few days ago when I was sitting in B&N with Nix and Roomie and asked them where on St. Thomas, they would rather be. While pretty much anywhere on a tropical island beats DC right now (lol), I picked a very specific spot. All the way at the West end of the island there is an area called Botany Bay. It used to be private homes (or maybe a hotel?), but developers have since bought it (like they buy every other good parcel on the island) and are doing whatever developers do with it. Anywho, since my pops knows everyone and their mother on the island, we somehow were able to go down there (this was before the developers bought it) and spend a day enjoying it. It is super secluded because it's as far west on the island as you can go. Anyway, there is a little neck of land that connects the main land mass to another tiny tiny island...it's kinda crazy but it's basically like a strip of sand with a beach shore on either side...and the sick thing is that one side is the Atlantic Ocean and one side is the Caribbean Sea.
View Larger Map
You can literally walk a few steps across the sand and be in either one. Obviously this is a geographic technicality, but I think it's pretty cool :-)
Anyway all of that rambling was to say: I'd love to be somewhere warm right about now!! Good thing I have some higher temperatures in my upcoming travels this weekend: yay!
I really wanted today's big chune to be "Stand Firm" by Lutan Fyah, but I can't find it on youtube :-/ Maybe I have the wrong song name...anyone know the song I'm talking about and whether it's called something else? Oh well. Instead, today's *big chune* is from up-and-coming artist Laura Izibor. She's half-Irish, half-Nigerian which obviously makes me like her even more lol. Her song From My Heart To Yours got some play, but I don't think she's really gotten much publicity in the US yet. Here's her song and video for "Don't Stay":
:-D
About a week ago I signed up for Google Analytics, which allows you to look at traffic to your blog. Not only is it sort of confusing, and not really that informative (IMO, or maybe I was just lazy with it), I realized that I don't really care whether 5 people or 500 people read my blog
One person told me they like reading because, in a way, it makes them feel more connected to me, since we don't talk on a daily basis. Two other friends caught up to the blog somewhat late and emailed me with responses to almost every post I had written. Things like this really mean a lot to me, and make me feel good about writing...thank you so much! I've really enjoyed posting so far, and I plan to continue to write on pretty much a daily basis. I hope yall will continue to read :-) By the way, for those of you who don't use Google Reader,
On another note, today as I was sitting at my desk, looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, I thought back to a few days ago when I was sitting in B&N with Nix and Roomie and asked them where on St. Thomas, they would rather be. While pretty much anywhere on a tropical island beats DC right now (lol), I picked a very specific spot. All the way at the West end of the island there is an area called Botany Bay. It used to be private homes (or maybe a hotel?), but developers have since bought it (like they buy every other good parcel on the island) and are doing whatever developers do with it. Anywho, since my pops knows everyone and their mother on the island, we somehow were able to go down there (this was before the developers bought it) and spend a day enjoying it. It is super secluded because it's as far west on the island as you can go. Anyway, there is a little neck of land that connects the main land mass to another tiny tiny island...it's kinda crazy but it's basically like a strip of sand with a beach shore on either side...and the sick thing is that one side is the Atlantic Ocean and one side is the Caribbean Sea.
View Larger Map
You can literally walk a few steps across the sand and be in either one. Obviously this is a geographic technicality, but I think it's pretty cool :-)
Anyway all of that rambling was to say: I'd love to be somewhere warm right about now!! Good thing I have some higher temperatures in my upcoming travels this weekend: yay!
I really wanted today's big chune to be "Stand Firm" by Lutan Fyah, but I can't find it on youtube :-/ Maybe I have the wrong song name...anyone know the song I'm talking about and whether it's called something else? Oh well. Instead, today's *big chune* is from up-and-coming artist Laura Izibor. She's half-Irish, half-Nigerian which obviously makes me like her even more lol. Her song From My Heart To Yours got some play, but I don't think she's really gotten much publicity in the US yet. Here's her song and video for "Don't Stay":
:-D
Friday, February 12, 2010
are you a dandelion or an orchid?
Blog Challenge Day 26
Most of yall know by now that I have applied to graduate programs for Psychology and hope to eventually get my PhD. I'm in the midst of the hearing back/interview process now, so send good vibes my way ;-)
Even before these plans, though, I've always found Psychology research fascinating. It's a field that (IMO) is really interesting and applicable to the lay reader when information is presented in a user-friendly manner. The underlying studies tend to be pretty esoteric, but the findings and takeaways don't have to be. Case in point...My brother recently sent me this really interesting Psych article from The Atlantic: The Science of Success. At a very basic level, the article (and studies on which it is based) discusses some fascinating work looking at how different people struggle/fail or thrive depending on their environments. Bottom line: similar to tending flowers, some of us are like dandelions who can do pretty well in a wide range of circumstances. Others of us are like delicate orchids, who will struggle and wilt without proper care...or can flourish if given some good old TLC.
Here are more details for those of you interested...and if you think my summary is long, you probably shouldn't try to read the full article!
A research team has been testing a radical new hypothesis about how genes shape behavior. In particular, they were interested in a new interpretation of one of the most important and influential ideas in recent psychiatric and personality research: that certain variants of key behavioral genes make people more vulnerable to certain mood, psychiatric, or personality disorders. In other words, people may be genetically predisposed to certain conditions. This hypothesis, often called the “stress diathesis” or “genetic vulnerability” model, has come to saturate psychiatry and behavioral science. Researchers have identified a gene variants that can increase a person’s susceptibility to depression, anxiety, ADHD, heightened risk-taking, and antisocial, sociopathic, or violent behaviors, and other problems—if, and only if, the person carrying the variant suffers a traumatic or stressful childhood or faces particularly trying experiences later in life. Plain English: many psychic and behavioral problems are seen as products not of nature or nurture but of complex “gene-environment interactions.” As the article explains, "Your genes don’t doom you to these disorders. But if you have “bad” versions of certain genes and life treats you ill, you’re more prone to them."
Investigating this subject, the research team focused on the 25 percent (of a sample of 2,408 children) rated highest by their parents (and confirmed by observation) in externalizing behaviors (plain english: "acting out"). In an attempt to change the kids’ behavior, members of the research team visited each of 120 families six times over eight months; filmed the mother and child in everyday activities, including some requiring obedience or cooperation; and then edited the film into teachable moments to show to the mothers. A similar group of high-externalizing children received no intervention.
To the researchers’ delight, the intervention worked. The moms, watching the videos, learned to spot cues they’d missed before, or to respond differently to cues they’d seen but had reacted to poorly. The bad behaviors dropped. A year after the intervention ended, the toddlers who’d received it had reduced their externalizing scores by more than 16 percent, while a nonintervention control group improved only about 10 percent (as expected, due to modest gains in self-control with age).
Recently, an alternate hypothesis has emerged, suggesting that it’s a mistake to understand these “risk” genes only as liabilities. Basically, these bad genes can create dysfunction in unfavorable contexts, but they can also enhance function in favorable contexts. Thus, the genetic sensitivities to negative experience that the vulnerability hypothesis has identified, are just the downside of a bigger phenomenon: a heightened genetic sensitivity to all experience.
This hypothesis was conceptualized by another set of researchers in an article discussing “dandelion” and "orchid" children. Dandelion children—equivalent to our “normal” or “healthy” children, with “resilient” genes—do pretty well almost anywhere, whether raised in the equivalent of a sidewalk crack or a well-tended garden. In contrast, “orchid” children will wilt if ignored or maltreated but bloom spectacularly with greenhouse care.
What I found most interesting, is the application of this notion to family life. The research suggests that behavioral diversity - having both dandelion and orchid kids - greatly raises a family’s chance of succeeding, over time and in any given environment. (The article also discusses this with regard to the human population in a more general sense.The orchid hypothesis accepts that certain gene variants underlie some of humankind’s most grievous problems: despair, alienation, cruelties both petty and epic...But it adds that these same troublesome genes play a critical role in our species’ astounding success.) Dandelions in a provide an underlying stability. The less-numerous orchids, meanwhile, may falter in some environments but can excel in those that suit them. Together, the steady dandelions and the mercurial orchids offer an adaptive flexibility that neither can provide alone. Together, they open a path to otherwise unreachable individual and collective achievements. I'd like to think that this dynamic plays out (will play out) in my own family. In many ways I think my (5) siblings and I are still young enough that our lives are yet to be fully shaped, but based on our lives so far, I would agree that certain siblings' stability helps to support and even galvanize the others who may be - as I like to say - on different life plans.
With all this in mind, the researchers from the above study with children began to look at the genetic makeup of the children in their experiment. In particular, they wanted to see whether kids with a risk allele for ADHD and externalizing behaviors would respond as much to positive environments as to negative. Both the vulnerability hypothesis and the orchid hypothesis predict that in the control group the kids with a risk allele should do worse than those with a protective one. And they did—though only slightly. Over the course of 18 months, the genetically “protected” kids reduced their externalizing scores by 11 percent, while the “at-risk” kids cut theirs by 7 percent. Both gains were modest ones that the researchers expected would come with increasing age.
The real test, however, came in the group that received intervention. According to the vulnerability model, those who received intervention should improve less than their counterparts with the protective allele...based on this model, the modest upgrade that the intervention created in their environment wouldn’t offset their general vulnerability. BUT the toddlers with the risk allele saw drastic improvements - cutting their externalizing scores by almost 27 percent. Meanwhile, the protective-allele kids cut theirs by just 12 percent (improving only slightly on the 11 percent managed by the protective-allele population in the control group). The upside effect in the intervention group, in other words, was far larger than the downside effect in the control group. Plain English: Risk alleles really can create not just risk but possibility.
Soooo....for those of you that made it all the way to the end (lol), what do you think of this? Does this seem applicable to everyday life? Would you consider yourself to be a dandelion or an orchid? Can you spot these two types in the people around you? Does this change the way you think about them? If you're a dandelion, how can you be more supportive to the orchids in your life? If you're an orchid, what can you do to foster a "greenhouse-like" environment, versus being out with the weeds?
Btw, is it just me or is Google Buzz dangerous (in terms of productivity) during the workday...?
today's *big chune* is some salsaaaa to get your weekend started right. I actually hate Marc Anthony when he sings in english, but his salsa stuff in GOOOOOD! I am a BIG fan of latin music - especially salsa and bachata. I may not understand every single word they say, but I actually surprise myself with how much I am able to follow. This song is a duet with India - another of my favorite Salsa artists. I didn't realize how old this song is until I saw this video...i am MAD at marc anthony's hair...hottttt messssss. Oh well, still a big chune!!
Happy Friday! :-D
Most of yall know by now that I have applied to graduate programs for Psychology and hope to eventually get my PhD. I'm in the midst of the hearing back/interview process now, so send good vibes my way ;-)
Even before these plans, though, I've always found Psychology research fascinating. It's a field that (IMO) is really interesting and applicable to the lay reader when information is presented in a user-friendly manner. The underlying studies tend to be pretty esoteric, but the findings and takeaways don't have to be. Case in point...My brother recently sent me this really interesting Psych article from The Atlantic: The Science of Success. At a very basic level, the article (and studies on which it is based) discusses some fascinating work looking at how different people struggle/fail or thrive depending on their environments. Bottom line: similar to tending flowers, some of us are like dandelions who can do pretty well in a wide range of circumstances. Others of us are like delicate orchids, who will struggle and wilt without proper care...or can flourish if given some good old TLC.
Here are more details for those of you interested...and if you think my summary is long, you probably shouldn't try to read the full article!
A research team has been testing a radical new hypothesis about how genes shape behavior. In particular, they were interested in a new interpretation of one of the most important and influential ideas in recent psychiatric and personality research: that certain variants of key behavioral genes make people more vulnerable to certain mood, psychiatric, or personality disorders. In other words, people may be genetically predisposed to certain conditions. This hypothesis, often called the “stress diathesis” or “genetic vulnerability” model, has come to saturate psychiatry and behavioral science. Researchers have identified a gene variants that can increase a person’s susceptibility to depression, anxiety, ADHD, heightened risk-taking, and antisocial, sociopathic, or violent behaviors, and other problems—if, and only if, the person carrying the variant suffers a traumatic or stressful childhood or faces particularly trying experiences later in life. Plain English: many psychic and behavioral problems are seen as products not of nature or nurture but of complex “gene-environment interactions.” As the article explains, "Your genes don’t doom you to these disorders. But if you have “bad” versions of certain genes and life treats you ill, you’re more prone to them."
Investigating this subject, the research team focused on the 25 percent (of a sample of 2,408 children) rated highest by their parents (and confirmed by observation) in externalizing behaviors (plain english: "acting out"). In an attempt to change the kids’ behavior, members of the research team visited each of 120 families six times over eight months; filmed the mother and child in everyday activities, including some requiring obedience or cooperation; and then edited the film into teachable moments to show to the mothers. A similar group of high-externalizing children received no intervention.
To the researchers’ delight, the intervention worked. The moms, watching the videos, learned to spot cues they’d missed before, or to respond differently to cues they’d seen but had reacted to poorly. The bad behaviors dropped. A year after the intervention ended, the toddlers who’d received it had reduced their externalizing scores by more than 16 percent, while a nonintervention control group improved only about 10 percent (as expected, due to modest gains in self-control with age).
Recently, an alternate hypothesis has emerged, suggesting that it’s a mistake to understand these “risk” genes only as liabilities. Basically, these bad genes can create dysfunction in unfavorable contexts, but they can also enhance function in favorable contexts. Thus, the genetic sensitivities to negative experience that the vulnerability hypothesis has identified, are just the downside of a bigger phenomenon: a heightened genetic sensitivity to all experience.
This hypothesis was conceptualized by another set of researchers in an article discussing “dandelion” and "orchid" children. Dandelion children—equivalent to our “normal” or “healthy” children, with “resilient” genes—do pretty well almost anywhere, whether raised in the equivalent of a sidewalk crack or a well-tended garden. In contrast, “orchid” children will wilt if ignored or maltreated but bloom spectacularly with greenhouse care.
What I found most interesting, is the application of this notion to family life. The research suggests that behavioral diversity - having both dandelion and orchid kids - greatly raises a family’s chance of succeeding, over time and in any given environment. (The article also discusses this with regard to the human population in a more general sense.The orchid hypothesis accepts that certain gene variants underlie some of humankind’s most grievous problems: despair, alienation, cruelties both petty and epic...But it adds that these same troublesome genes play a critical role in our species’ astounding success.) Dandelions in a provide an underlying stability. The less-numerous orchids, meanwhile, may falter in some environments but can excel in those that suit them. Together, the steady dandelions and the mercurial orchids offer an adaptive flexibility that neither can provide alone. Together, they open a path to otherwise unreachable individual and collective achievements. I'd like to think that this dynamic plays out (will play out) in my own family. In many ways I think my (5) siblings and I are still young enough that our lives are yet to be fully shaped, but based on our lives so far, I would agree that certain siblings' stability helps to support and even galvanize the others who may be - as I like to say - on different life plans.
With all this in mind, the researchers from the above study with children began to look at the genetic makeup of the children in their experiment. In particular, they wanted to see whether kids with a risk allele for ADHD and externalizing behaviors would respond as much to positive environments as to negative. Both the vulnerability hypothesis and the orchid hypothesis predict that in the control group the kids with a risk allele should do worse than those with a protective one. And they did—though only slightly. Over the course of 18 months, the genetically “protected” kids reduced their externalizing scores by 11 percent, while the “at-risk” kids cut theirs by 7 percent. Both gains were modest ones that the researchers expected would come with increasing age.
The real test, however, came in the group that received intervention. According to the vulnerability model, those who received intervention should improve less than their counterparts with the protective allele...based on this model, the modest upgrade that the intervention created in their environment wouldn’t offset their general vulnerability. BUT the toddlers with the risk allele saw drastic improvements - cutting their externalizing scores by almost 27 percent. Meanwhile, the protective-allele kids cut theirs by just 12 percent (improving only slightly on the 11 percent managed by the protective-allele population in the control group). The upside effect in the intervention group, in other words, was far larger than the downside effect in the control group. Plain English: Risk alleles really can create not just risk but possibility.
Soooo....for those of you that made it all the way to the end (lol), what do you think of this? Does this seem applicable to everyday life? Would you consider yourself to be a dandelion or an orchid? Can you spot these two types in the people around you? Does this change the way you think about them? If you're a dandelion, how can you be more supportive to the orchids in your life? If you're an orchid, what can you do to foster a "greenhouse-like" environment, versus being out with the weeds?
Btw, is it just me or is Google Buzz dangerous (in terms of productivity) during the workday...?
today's *big chune* is some salsaaaa to get your weekend started right. I actually hate Marc Anthony when he sings in english, but his salsa stuff in GOOOOOD! I am a BIG fan of latin music - especially salsa and bachata. I may not understand every single word they say, but I actually surprise myself with how much I am able to follow. This song is a duet with India - another of my favorite Salsa artists. I didn't realize how old this song is until I saw this video...i am MAD at marc anthony's hair...hottttt messssss. Oh well, still a big chune!!
Happy Friday! :-D
clarification
i swear every time i hit "publish" i'm like dang i should have added this...or i find a typo...or i wish i had changed something. oh well. i'm new to this blogging thing. anywho, i wanted to follow-up on my last post, and the idea of my making my blog more public.
rather than it being about me censoring myself going forward, i see it as me being more comfortable and confident in who i am and what i'm writing. lately i've been focusing a lot on the "first commandment" of The Happiness Project...which is to BE ANNA. And by being Anna i have to accept and celebrate myself! i've kept my blog relatively private because i don't want people up in my business in some ways i'm nervous about what people will think of it. will people think it's weird that i'm so fascinated with happiness? that i love to read? that i'm a homebody? that i eat really healthy and love learning about food/health/nutrition? that i'm so passionate about mixed-ness? that i am a snob about dudes with poor grammar/spelling/diction? lol. basically, i've been nervous about really opening myself up for judgment - especially by people i may not be all that close to. The thing is that the more i really continue to figure out who i am (this is a life-long process, btw...subject of a blog to come), the more confident i feel about who i am...and the less i concern myself with what people may think of that :-) it's quite liberating actually.
ok that's it (for now) on that subject. it's about 2 and a half hours past my bed time :-P
Thursday, February 11, 2010
what google buzz means for my blog
Blog Challenge: Day 25
Everyone on Gmail has by now discovered (or maybe chosen to ignore) Google's newest feature - Buzz. Buzz is basically a twitter/reader/gchat combo. Up until now I have shares my blog with only people I specifically chose. With Buzz, however, my blog posts are now public to whomever I follow/am follwed by on Buzz. I know that I can make my blog private and/or block specific people, but I've decided to do neither of those 2 things. Based on the way I see my blog developing, I don't plan for it to be so personal that I have to pick and chose who will read it. That's what one-on-one conversations are for. So, from here on out my blog is going ot be strictly things that I wouldn't be hesitant to talk to a stranger about. I think this will actually be good for me, because I tend to be a very reserved and private person. Now, I don't plan to go divulging my deepest thoughts and emotions, but I do plan on opening up more than some people have seen so far. The only thing that will be hard/annoying is that I may find myself censoring certain things that I actually do want to talk about...not necessarily because I am saying something bad about someone who may be reading, but simply because I am talking about them at all and that's just awkward lol...At the same time, I think some of the things I have to share (about websites, music, news, food, and general info) are things that are interetsing to a general audience, and I want to be able to share that. So, we shall see. This is all a work in progress and I try to figure out my blog's identity/purpose. Btw, for those people who are just seeing my blog because of Buzz, I definitely encourage you to start from my very first post and see what this is all about :-)
As far as today's post, I don't really feel like writing a whole lot lol. After 5 whole days off of work due to the DMV's crazy weather, I have a full day tomorrow. I barely even remember where I work lol. I spent most of today finishing a book in B&N so I didn't have to buy it lol. The book was actually pretty good, so I may end up buying it eventually...and I'm going to post sort of a review/reflection on it at some point soon...maybe tomorrow depending on how work is. I actually write better at work than I do when I'm home all day with nothing to do...something about the sense of urgency I suppose....and the fact that I like little distractions to brekaup my workday.
On another note, I feel so positive right now (surprise, surprise). I straight up love life! I don't expect things to be perfect all the time, but why not celebrate the times in your life when everything does seem to be going well? After all, being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect....it means that you've decided to look past the imperfections...I wish I could say I made that up, but it's an anonymous quote. I had a great convo today with a student at one of the schools to which I'm applying. It got me super excited for my interview which is next month. Plus, I also had a great convo with someone who is in another Psych program (one to which I didn't apply)..more generally about the field, their experiences, etc. Actually, while we're on the subject of schools and my applications, I'm pretty sure I didn't get accepted to 2 of the 6 schools I applied to. I haven't gotten official rejection letters, but I haven't gotten notifications of acceptance/invitation to interview...and at this stage in the game I think I would have heard back if it were good news.
I'm surprisingly ok with this. I remember when I first applied to programs I told some people I didn't know what I would do if I didn't get in...I would be a wreck. Now, I've gotten to a point where I still feel good about my chance of getting in to at leats one program, but I know it's not the end of the world if I don't. I truly truly believe that everything happens for a reason, so all I can do is give it my all...which I think I have...and if things don't go how I expect them to go, it simply means that there is another game plan meant for me. Like I said, though, at this point I am still very hopefully that the game plan is acceptance to one of the PhD programs. I'll keep yall posted ;-)
Ok, that's it for now. Today's *big chune* is Rihanna's new single/video Rude Boy. I know I've already shared this in my Reader and on Buzz, but this song has been stuck in my head all day! It's catchy, the video cracks me up, and it remind me of home!! Big Chune!
:-D
Everyone on Gmail has by now discovered (or maybe chosen to ignore) Google's newest feature - Buzz. Buzz is basically a twitter/reader/gchat combo. Up until now I have shares my blog with only people I specifically chose. With Buzz, however, my blog posts are now public to whomever I follow/am follwed by on Buzz. I know that I can make my blog private and/or block specific people, but I've decided to do neither of those 2 things. Based on the way I see my blog developing, I don't plan for it to be so personal that I have to pick and chose who will read it. That's what one-on-one conversations are for. So, from here on out my blog is going ot be strictly things that I wouldn't be hesitant to talk to a stranger about. I think this will actually be good for me, because I tend to be a very reserved and private person. Now, I don't plan to go divulging my deepest thoughts and emotions, but I do plan on opening up more than some people have seen so far. The only thing that will be hard/annoying is that I may find myself censoring certain things that I actually do want to talk about...not necessarily because I am saying something bad about someone who may be reading, but simply because I am talking about them at all and that's just awkward lol...At the same time, I think some of the things I have to share (about websites, music, news, food, and general info) are things that are interetsing to a general audience, and I want to be able to share that. So, we shall see. This is all a work in progress and I try to figure out my blog's identity/purpose. Btw, for those people who are just seeing my blog because of Buzz, I definitely encourage you to start from my very first post and see what this is all about :-)
As far as today's post, I don't really feel like writing a whole lot lol. After 5 whole days off of work due to the DMV's crazy weather, I have a full day tomorrow. I barely even remember where I work lol. I spent most of today finishing a book in B&N so I didn't have to buy it lol. The book was actually pretty good, so I may end up buying it eventually...and I'm going to post sort of a review/reflection on it at some point soon...maybe tomorrow depending on how work is. I actually write better at work than I do when I'm home all day with nothing to do...something about the sense of urgency I suppose....and the fact that I like little distractions to brekaup my workday.
On another note, I feel so positive right now (surprise, surprise). I straight up love life! I don't expect things to be perfect all the time, but why not celebrate the times in your life when everything does seem to be going well? After all, being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect....it means that you've decided to look past the imperfections...I wish I could say I made that up, but it's an anonymous quote. I had a great convo today with a student at one of the schools to which I'm applying. It got me super excited for my interview which is next month. Plus, I also had a great convo with someone who is in another Psych program (one to which I didn't apply)..more generally about the field, their experiences, etc. Actually, while we're on the subject of schools and my applications, I'm pretty sure I didn't get accepted to 2 of the 6 schools I applied to. I haven't gotten official rejection letters, but I haven't gotten notifications of acceptance/invitation to interview...and at this stage in the game I think I would have heard back if it were good news.
I'm surprisingly ok with this. I remember when I first applied to programs I told some people I didn't know what I would do if I didn't get in...I would be a wreck. Now, I've gotten to a point where I still feel good about my chance of getting in to at leats one program, but I know it's not the end of the world if I don't. I truly truly believe that everything happens for a reason, so all I can do is give it my all...which I think I have...and if things don't go how I expect them to go, it simply means that there is another game plan meant for me. Like I said, though, at this point I am still very hopefully that the game plan is acceptance to one of the PhD programs. I'll keep yall posted ;-)
Ok, that's it for now. Today's *big chune* is Rihanna's new single/video Rude Boy. I know I've already shared this in my Reader and on Buzz, but this song has been stuck in my head all day! It's catchy, the video cracks me up, and it remind me of home!! Big Chune!
:-D
Monday, February 8, 2010
name of the year
Blog Challenge Day 22
Had another awesome day off from work today. Didn't finish the book I was working because a book in B&N caught my eye, and I decided to just read it there rather than buy it teehee...and guess what...I JUST found out that the federal government operating status is CLOSED TOMORROW AGAIN...which means another free day! AND....DC is expecting another 10-20 inches of snow starting tomorrow afternoon sooooo who knows...maybe even Wednesday off this week???
You'd think I would have had lots of time today to do an intense post but..nope lol. Today's post is just something fun. Each year, a contest is held to decide the Name of the Year. There are some real doozies. (How do you spell that? lol)
Names of the Year
2009 Juvyline Cubangbang (NOTY High Committee)2009 Barkevious Mingo (The People)
2008 Destiny Frankenstein (NOTY High Committee)
2008 Spaceman Africa (The People)
2007 Vanilla Dong
2006 Princess Nocandy
2005 Tanqueray Beavers
2004 Jerome Fruithandler
2003 Jew Don Boney Jr.
2002 Miracle Wanzo
2001 Tokyo Sexwale
2000 Nimrod Weiselfish
1999 Licentious Beastie (INVALIDATED 2006; Runner-up: Dick Surprise)
1998 L.A. St. Louis
1997 Courage Shabalala
1996 Honka Monka
1995 Ballots missing
1994 Mummenschontz Bitterbeetle (INVALIDATED 2006; Runner-up: Scientific Mapp)
1993 Crescent Dragonwagon
1992 Excellent Raymond
1992 Assumption Bulltron (Name of the Decade)
1991 Doby Chrotchtangle
1990 Otis Overcash
1989 Magnus Pelkowski
1988 No vote held
1987 No vote held
1986 No vote held
1985 Godfrey Sithole
1984 No vote held
1983 Hector Camacho
WOW!!! I wonder how many of these people leglaly changed their names later in life. What are some of the craziest names you guys have come across? The one that I always remember is "Jah Bless I". LOL.
Today's *big chune* is from Anthony Hamilton...one of my FAV artists!
Happy Monday!
:-D
Sunday, February 7, 2010
random roundup 2/7/10
Blog Challenge Day 21
Since I realized I don't really like posting anything too substantive on Sundays, I'm going to make my Sunday posts a "random roundup" of interesting articles, stories, links, etc.
- NFLer Ricky Williams is preparing for a career as a spiritual healer? This is old news apparently, but I hadn't heard about it.
- Coffee has a bad rap, but it actually has some health benefits
- Beyonce has a lot of haters, but I'm a fan...especially after this cute interview
- I'm totally excited for NBC's new show...both the leads are mixed :-) And the woman is gorgeous!!!
- Smoking weed "nearly doubles a person's risk of developing future psychotic states including schizophrenia, and if someone smokes it before the age of 16, they are four times more at risk." (article)
- a real-life "sleeping beauty" - this girl sometimes sleeps for days at a time and can't be woken.
In other news, NO WORK TOMORROW because of the SNOW!!
My organization does whatever the Federal Government does and they are CLOSED babyyyyyy! Nixie's classes are also canceled so it's shaping up to be another fabulous day. Today was so great! We had a pretty lazy morning and spent another afternoon reading in Barnes and Noble. I'm a few chapters into my latest read, so tomorrow will give me a chance to finish it!
I LOVE spending a day reading! And this book just gives me so much to think about, inspires me, and generally puts me in a great mood.
After B&N, Nix and I went to TJ's (Trader Joe's) to do our weekly shopping. We usually buy and eat the SAME things every week, so this week we decided to change things up a bit. This morning we were browsing through another of my recent book purchases and they have a section on diagnosing your health/diet based on signs from your body. One of them was whether you have dark circles under your eyes. Well, I've never really noticed bags under my eyes, but today we both felt like we did...and the book says this may be a result of not enough variety in your diet...which we are very guilty of...it's all good, healthy food, but the SAME good healthy food day in and day out. So anyway, this week we basically only bought new foods! Tonight for dinner we had pan-seared tuna with asparagus and multigrain pilaf (the precooked one from TJ's which is THE BOMB). We also made two dishes for throughout the week: homemade cashew pesto with whole wheat spaghetti and a kielbasa sausage, green pepper, potato mishmash lol. Btw, the dark chocolate/cranberry/almond tart that I made came out AWESOME! It's already gone lolol. Also, Roomie made a quiche was was super yummy! I'm so looking forward to another day off tomorrow :-)
Today's *big chune* is Teedra Moses, Complex Simplicity. Enjoy!
:-D
P.S. CONGRATS to the Saints!
Since I realized I don't really like posting anything too substantive on Sundays, I'm going to make my Sunday posts a "random roundup" of interesting articles, stories, links, etc.
- NFLer Ricky Williams is preparing for a career as a spiritual healer? This is old news apparently, but I hadn't heard about it.
- Coffee has a bad rap, but it actually has some health benefits
- Beyonce has a lot of haters, but I'm a fan...especially after this cute interview
- I'm totally excited for NBC's new show...both the leads are mixed :-) And the woman is gorgeous!!!
- Smoking weed "nearly doubles a person's risk of developing future psychotic states including schizophrenia, and if someone smokes it before the age of 16, they are four times more at risk." (article)
- a real-life "sleeping beauty" - this girl sometimes sleeps for days at a time and can't be woken.
In other news, NO WORK TOMORROW because of the SNOW!!
I LOVE spending a day reading! And this book just gives me so much to think about, inspires me, and generally puts me in a great mood.
After B&N, Nix and I went to TJ's (Trader Joe's) to do our weekly shopping. We usually buy and eat the SAME things every week, so this week we decided to change things up a bit. This morning we were browsing through another of my recent book purchases and they have a section on diagnosing your health/diet based on signs from your body. One of them was whether you have dark circles under your eyes. Well, I've never really noticed bags under my eyes, but today we both felt like we did...and the book says this may be a result of not enough variety in your diet...which we are very guilty of...it's all good, healthy food, but the SAME good healthy food day in and day out. So anyway, this week we basically only bought new foods! Tonight for dinner we had pan-seared tuna with asparagus and multigrain pilaf (the precooked one from TJ's which is THE BOMB). We also made two dishes for throughout the week: homemade cashew pesto with whole wheat spaghetti and a kielbasa sausage, green pepper, potato mishmash lol. Btw, the dark chocolate/cranberry/almond tart that I made came out AWESOME! It's already gone lolol. Also, Roomie made a quiche was was super yummy! I'm so looking forward to another day off tomorrow :-)
Today's *big chune* is Teedra Moses, Complex Simplicity. Enjoy!
:-D
P.S. CONGRATS to the Saints!
Friday, February 5, 2010
making of an awesome day
Blog Challenge: Day 19
Hey hey hey ;-) Today is a great day yall! Due to the impending SUPER SNOW STORM, which is expected to bring 20-30 INCHES, I didn't go to work today :-D
Nix and I woke up around our usual early time, had our usual oatmeal breakfast, went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few things, and spent most of the morning reading in Barnes and Noble. So, already my day was off to a great start. Having an abundance of free time recently has really helped me realize how much I enjoy doing certain things. At the top of the list are reading and cooking.
As I mentioned in my post about goodreads.com, I've caught a serious reading bug and have been buying/reading books galore. I actually bought another today, even though I said I'd stop for a while. (Technically Nix bought it and plans to wrap it for me for our little Valentine's Day $5 gift exchange lol.)
This morning I finished The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, the debut book from Heidi Durrow. I was super excited to read this book because I had been following her personal blog and the blog she co-hosts, before I even knew she was writing the book. I came across her blog when I was on the hunt for blogs written by multiracial women, so I was especially happy that the main character in her book is mixed. I highly recommend this book!
Some people would be upset about being snowed in all weekend, but as a self-proclaimed homebody I am really looking forward to the time to read! Plus, I am in the process of making a dark chocolate-cashew tart as we speak! Which brings me to the next thing I've (re)discovered a love for. When I was little, my mom used to cook and bake ALL THE TIME. I absolutely loved baking with her! Certain smells and tastes actually take me back to those moments in the kitchen with her. Our go-to recipe was her version of chocolate chip cookies. Mom was way ahead of her time...we used whole wheat flour that she ground herself from wheat berries! We always used a little less sugar than the recipe called for. And we always added oat flakes and oat bran (or something like that). We always used to whine and complain that she couldn't just make "normal" cookies, but looking back I'm so glad she planted those ideas in us.
Funny aside: I used to want to impress my mom by baking without her. One time, I had made some bomb cookies - those jelly "thumbprint" ones I think - and I wanted her to see them. Meanwhile, one of my 3 brothers just wanted to eat them! And can you believe, we got in a physical fight over these silly cookies because I got so pissed that he was taking them! LOL. I got so mad I ripped up a do-rag of his, and he ripped (with some difficulty ha!) a shirt he had given me. Fun times.
Anywho, I didn't really cook much as I got older. I would cook every once in a while, but being in a dorm wasn't very conducive to legit cooking. Even when I had my own apartment, I just never felt inspired to actually throw down in the kitchen. And honestly a lot of the reason I avoid cooking super yummy stuff is because I would always end up having to eat it all and I was on a mission to lose weight (which I did - post for another day). But now that I have a good grasp on healthy cooking/eating, and live with Nix and Roomie, I don't worry about that so much. In the past couple weeks I've been experimenting more with dishes - including polenta casserole and cashew pesto pasta. Like I said, today is the dessert. I'll let yall know how it turns out ;-)
Other plans for the rest of the day: Prep for my first grad school interview, finish baking, start the next book on my reading list, and start Season 4 of The Wire!
And....I got invited to interview for another of the schools I applied to!! So that's 3/6 interviews and still waiting to hear back from the other 3.
Today's *big chune* is one that I've been hooked on for like the past month. I even got my youngest sis, Bex, hooked on it when i was home for christmas break and it was our go-to first song anytime we were in the car on our way somewhere. Enjoy!
(C) 2009 Universal Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. and SRC Records, Inc.
DMVers: Enjoy the snow!!!
Hey hey hey ;-) Today is a great day yall! Due to the impending SUPER SNOW STORM, which is expected to bring 20-30 INCHES, I didn't go to work today :-D
Nix and I woke up around our usual early time, had our usual oatmeal breakfast, went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few things, and spent most of the morning reading in Barnes and Noble. So, already my day was off to a great start. Having an abundance of free time recently has really helped me realize how much I enjoy doing certain things. At the top of the list are reading and cooking.
As I mentioned in my post about goodreads.com, I've caught a serious reading bug and have been buying/reading books galore. I actually bought another today, even though I said I'd stop for a while. (Technically Nix bought it and plans to wrap it for me for our little Valentine's Day $5 gift exchange lol.)
This morning I finished The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, the debut book from Heidi Durrow. I was super excited to read this book because I had been following her personal blog and the blog she co-hosts, before I even knew she was writing the book. I came across her blog when I was on the hunt for blogs written by multiracial women, so I was especially happy that the main character in her book is mixed. I highly recommend this book!
Some people would be upset about being snowed in all weekend, but as a self-proclaimed homebody I am really looking forward to the time to read! Plus, I am in the process of making a dark chocolate-cashew tart as we speak! Which brings me to the next thing I've (re)discovered a love for. When I was little, my mom used to cook and bake ALL THE TIME. I absolutely loved baking with her! Certain smells and tastes actually take me back to those moments in the kitchen with her. Our go-to recipe was her version of chocolate chip cookies. Mom was way ahead of her time...we used whole wheat flour that she ground herself from wheat berries! We always used a little less sugar than the recipe called for. And we always added oat flakes and oat bran (or something like that). We always used to whine and complain that she couldn't just make "normal" cookies, but looking back I'm so glad she planted those ideas in us.
Funny aside: I used to want to impress my mom by baking without her. One time, I had made some bomb cookies - those jelly "thumbprint" ones I think - and I wanted her to see them. Meanwhile, one of my 3 brothers just wanted to eat them! And can you believe, we got in a physical fight over these silly cookies because I got so pissed that he was taking them! LOL. I got so mad I ripped up a do-rag of his, and he ripped (with some difficulty ha!) a shirt he had given me. Fun times.
Anywho, I didn't really cook much as I got older. I would cook every once in a while, but being in a dorm wasn't very conducive to legit cooking. Even when I had my own apartment, I just never felt inspired to actually throw down in the kitchen. And honestly a lot of the reason I avoid cooking super yummy stuff is because I would always end up having to eat it all and I was on a mission to lose weight (which I did - post for another day). But now that I have a good grasp on healthy cooking/eating, and live with Nix and Roomie, I don't worry about that so much. In the past couple weeks I've been experimenting more with dishes - including polenta casserole and cashew pesto pasta. Like I said, today is the dessert. I'll let yall know how it turns out ;-)
Other plans for the rest of the day: Prep for my first grad school interview, finish baking, start the next book on my reading list, and start Season 4 of The Wire!
And....I got invited to interview for another of the schools I applied to!! So that's 3/6 interviews and still waiting to hear back from the other 3.
Today's *big chune* is one that I've been hooked on for like the past month. I even got my youngest sis, Bex, hooked on it when i was home for christmas break and it was our go-to first song anytime we were in the car on our way somewhere. Enjoy!
(C) 2009 Universal Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. and SRC Records, Inc.
DMVers: Enjoy the snow!!!
:-D
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
what the happiest women do
Blog Challenge: Day 17
Today's post builds on yesterday's, in which I discussed a series of Huffington Post articles concerning the decline in women's happiness over the past 40 years. In the third of the articles, Marcus Buckingham chose to focus on women who are indeed happy, as a way to glean insight as to the keys to happiness. In other words, he asked the following: If you could find the happiest and most successful women, women who had somehow bucked this downward trend in life satisfaction, women who had made life choices that strengthened them, who had become happier the older they got, if you could find these women and ask them questions and listen, what would you discover?
In actuality though, (similar to something Gretchin Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, often talks about) happiness doesn't come with a formula, so everyone's happiness secrets will be different. Nonetheless, looking for basic general patterns can be insightful. Buckingham asked: Despite all their differences--of style, age, career, wealth, value system--what if anything would they have in common? What would they share? Here is what was found:
What the Happiest Women Do:
1. Focus on moments, more than goals, plans or dreams. Certain moments in your life create in you strongly positive emotions--let's call these "strong-moments." Not all moments are strong-moments--some moments spark negative emotions, while some don't spark any emotions at all. But when you do experience a strong-moment, it is authentic. It is true, in the sense that the emotions you feel are true. You may not know exactly what you should do with your emotions, or what label you should give each emotion, but you know how a specific moment made you feel. You know this more certainly than you know virtually anything else in your life. (Miss A note: This makes me think of the concept of IMMD and the IMMD journal that I started with Nix. I talked about being mindful and how this helps me to take special notice of the little moments that add something small but significant to my days. Another benefit to this little email-chain-journal is that it will be cool to look back on later in time and remember the past in a different way...similar to a one-sentence journal)
2. Accept what they find. When you search your life for strong-moments, you don't always like what you find. In the words of one of the interviewees: "It's hard to admit, but I don't like playing with my kids. My daughter would come up to me and say 'Mom, you play the mommy, and I'll play the baby' and I would think 'Not again. I am the mommy, you are the baby.' The moments I love with my kids are when I'm teaching them something, helping them learn, but I'm bored silly by playing another game of dress up. I got my life back on track only when I rejected the idea of being the 'perfect' mother, and accepted the reality of which moments energized me and which didn't." Acceptance doesn't mean resignation, giving up on your dreams. In fact, more often than not, accepting which moments strengthen you and which don't reveals to you exactly how you can live out your dreams, whether at home or at work. It means not only being comfortable in your own skin, but also being creative in your own skin. (Miss A note: this goes back to the idea of "Be Anna." You can't really do too much to change your likes/dislikes or strong moments. My sister often has a difficult time when invited to parties because she knows deep down that they won't be that fun for her and she'd rather not go, but she often feels pressure to attend anyway. Recently she's been much more willing to pass up the parties for quiet nights at home. And I do believe she's happier when she does. So, her strong moments may not be the fun things that happened at the party last night, while her friends' strong moments may be. And that's perfectly fine!)
3. Strive for Imbalance. When someone tells you to try to have greater balance in your life, your immediate and appropriate reaction is a spasm of disbelief. "Balance?" you ask yourself. "How does that work? For every extra hour at work find another hour at home? For every extra kid at home, reduce my workload by exactly the amount my new child requires? For every school play I should attend, cut out a presentation on the road? For everything I say yes to, say no to something else? Is that it?" Not according to the people we interviewed. They didn't talk about balance much at all. They seemed to realize that not only was a perfect equilibrium nigh on impossible to achieve, but also that even if they did manage to achieve it, it wouldn't necessarily fulfill them anyway--when you are balanced, you are stationary, holding your breath, trying not to let any sudden twitch or jerk pull you too far one way or the other. You are at a standstill. Balance is the wrong life goal. Instead, do as these women did, and strive for imbalance. Pinpoint the strong-moments in each aspect of your life and then gradually target or tilt your life toward them. This means being as deliberate as you can about making them happen. It means investigating them when they do happen, looking at them from new perspectives, and celebrating them. Above all, it means giving them the power of your attention. (Miss A note: I admit, this one is hard to really process, because the search for balance is so ingrained in our society. The sentence about tilting your life towards strong moments puts it in a way that's much more real to me.)
4. Learn to say "Yes." So often you are told: "You must learn to say 'No.'" But, to live your strongest life, do the opposite. Learn to say, "Yes." Yes, to the strong-moments in each part of your life. Yes, to the people who help you create these moments. Yes, to your feelings as these moments happen. Say "Yes" with enough focus and force, and yours will not be a balanced life, but it will be a full life.
So, there you have it. These are four things that happy and successful women do. What do you think about this list. Do you excel/struggle with these? Anything in particular stand out to you?
Finally, because i LOVE music, I'm going to start ending each post with a song of the day. It may be a song I'm loving at the moment or a song that seems to fit well with whatever i'm writing about. I like to think that I have pretty eclectic taste in music...you'll see soon enough ;-) Today's song is one that was performed during the Grammys and I've been playing A LOT since. It's called "I Need You Now" by a group called Lady Antebellum...a lil country flavor for your day.
:-D
Today's post builds on yesterday's, in which I discussed a series of Huffington Post articles concerning the decline in women's happiness over the past 40 years. In the third of the articles, Marcus Buckingham chose to focus on women who are indeed happy, as a way to glean insight as to the keys to happiness. In other words, he asked the following: If you could find the happiest and most successful women, women who had somehow bucked this downward trend in life satisfaction, women who had made life choices that strengthened them, who had become happier the older they got, if you could find these women and ask them questions and listen, what would you discover?
In actuality though, (similar to something Gretchin Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, often talks about) happiness doesn't come with a formula, so everyone's happiness secrets will be different. Nonetheless, looking for basic general patterns can be insightful. Buckingham asked: Despite all their differences--of style, age, career, wealth, value system--what if anything would they have in common? What would they share? Here is what was found:
What the Happiest Women Do:
1. Focus on moments, more than goals, plans or dreams. Certain moments in your life create in you strongly positive emotions--let's call these "strong-moments." Not all moments are strong-moments--some moments spark negative emotions, while some don't spark any emotions at all. But when you do experience a strong-moment, it is authentic. It is true, in the sense that the emotions you feel are true. You may not know exactly what you should do with your emotions, or what label you should give each emotion, but you know how a specific moment made you feel. You know this more certainly than you know virtually anything else in your life. (Miss A note: This makes me think of the concept of IMMD and the IMMD journal that I started with Nix. I talked about being mindful and how this helps me to take special notice of the little moments that add something small but significant to my days. Another benefit to this little email-chain-journal is that it will be cool to look back on later in time and remember the past in a different way...similar to a one-sentence journal)
2. Accept what they find. When you search your life for strong-moments, you don't always like what you find. In the words of one of the interviewees: "It's hard to admit, but I don't like playing with my kids. My daughter would come up to me and say 'Mom, you play the mommy, and I'll play the baby' and I would think 'Not again. I am the mommy, you are the baby.' The moments I love with my kids are when I'm teaching them something, helping them learn, but I'm bored silly by playing another game of dress up. I got my life back on track only when I rejected the idea of being the 'perfect' mother, and accepted the reality of which moments energized me and which didn't." Acceptance doesn't mean resignation, giving up on your dreams. In fact, more often than not, accepting which moments strengthen you and which don't reveals to you exactly how you can live out your dreams, whether at home or at work. It means not only being comfortable in your own skin, but also being creative in your own skin. (Miss A note: this goes back to the idea of "Be Anna." You can't really do too much to change your likes/dislikes or strong moments. My sister often has a difficult time when invited to parties because she knows deep down that they won't be that fun for her and she'd rather not go, but she often feels pressure to attend anyway. Recently she's been much more willing to pass up the parties for quiet nights at home. And I do believe she's happier when she does. So, her strong moments may not be the fun things that happened at the party last night, while her friends' strong moments may be. And that's perfectly fine!)
3. Strive for Imbalance. When someone tells you to try to have greater balance in your life, your immediate and appropriate reaction is a spasm of disbelief. "Balance?" you ask yourself. "How does that work? For every extra hour at work find another hour at home? For every extra kid at home, reduce my workload by exactly the amount my new child requires? For every school play I should attend, cut out a presentation on the road? For everything I say yes to, say no to something else? Is that it?" Not according to the people we interviewed. They didn't talk about balance much at all. They seemed to realize that not only was a perfect equilibrium nigh on impossible to achieve, but also that even if they did manage to achieve it, it wouldn't necessarily fulfill them anyway--when you are balanced, you are stationary, holding your breath, trying not to let any sudden twitch or jerk pull you too far one way or the other. You are at a standstill. Balance is the wrong life goal. Instead, do as these women did, and strive for imbalance. Pinpoint the strong-moments in each aspect of your life and then gradually target or tilt your life toward them. This means being as deliberate as you can about making them happen. It means investigating them when they do happen, looking at them from new perspectives, and celebrating them. Above all, it means giving them the power of your attention. (Miss A note: I admit, this one is hard to really process, because the search for balance is so ingrained in our society. The sentence about tilting your life towards strong moments puts it in a way that's much more real to me.)
4. Learn to say "Yes." So often you are told: "You must learn to say 'No.'" But, to live your strongest life, do the opposite. Learn to say, "Yes." Yes, to the strong-moments in each part of your life. Yes, to the people who help you create these moments. Yes, to your feelings as these moments happen. Say "Yes" with enough focus and force, and yours will not be a balanced life, but it will be a full life.
So, there you have it. These are four things that happy and successful women do. What do you think about this list. Do you excel/struggle with these? Anything in particular stand out to you?
Finally, because i LOVE music, I'm going to start ending each post with a song of the day. It may be a song I'm loving at the moment or a song that seems to fit well with whatever i'm writing about. I like to think that I have pretty eclectic taste in music...you'll see soon enough ;-) Today's song is one that was performed during the Grammys and I've been playing A LOT since. It's called "I Need You Now" by a group called Lady Antebellum...a lil country flavor for your day.
:-D
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
women's happiness declining over time
Blog Challenge: Day 16
So I definitely almost forgot to post today!
Last fall, the Huffington Post "Living" blog ran a series of articles about the decline in women's happiness over the last 40 years. Based on data--gathered and analyzed in the paper "The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness"--Marcus Buckingham discussed the surprising fact that women's happiness has trended downward as compared to men's, despite gradual increases in power and prosperity. Here are the two principle findings:
1. Since 1972, women's overall level of happiness has dropped, both relative to where they were forty years ago, and relative to men. You find this drop in happiness in women regardless of whether they have kids, how many kids they have, how much money they make, how healthy they are, what job they hold, whether they are married, single or divorced, how old they are, or what race they are. (The one and only exception: African-American women are now slightly happier than they were back in 1972, although they remain less happy than African American men.)
2. Though women begin their lives more fulfilled than men, as they age, they gradually become less happy. Men, in contrast, get happier as they get older. By the time women reach age forty-seven, they are, overall, less happy with their life than men, and the trend continues on down from there.
Most people are-understandably-perplexed by this finding. You'd think that gender parity and increased quality of life would be leading to increased happiness, not the other way around. Buckingham puts it this way: "To use Thomas Jefferson's words, though women now have the liberty to choose whichever life they'd like, many are struggling in their pursuit of a happy life."
So, what's up with the findings?
The article asserts that these trends are not caused by women working longer hours than men. We know this because women don't work more hours than men. Nor are they caused by gender-based stereotyping. Nor, are they caused by women bearing a disproportionate burden of the workload at home, the 'second-shift' as some have labeled it. While women still do more cooking, cleaning and child-caring than men, the trend lines are actually all moving toward greater parity.
On the other hand, we seem to know what is causing men's slight increase in happiness...it's increased prosperity. Over the last 40 years, U.S. GDPhas had climbed 3.1% per year...and increases in national GDP correlate to increases in national levels of happiness....which makes women's decline even more odd.
While the articles don't actually offer too much in the way of definitive explanation for this, the one thing noted for certain is that women are harder on themselves than men. In national polls, when women and men are asked the question, "Which do you think will help you be most successful in life, building on your strengths or fixing your weaknesses?" men split right down the middle, while 73% of women report they would focus on fixing their weaknesses. Based on this, the author concludes that since women have (over the past 40 years) gradually acquired more and more domains in which they are supposed to succeed, one would expect that women characterize themselves more and more by who they aren't. In turn, they may become more and more self-critical, and more aware of their flaws and failings...all of which might well accelerate these dissatisfaction trend-lines.
This last part about having more and more domains in which we are supposed to succeed is especially relevant to us as younger women. Women can do so much more today than in the past...and as such, we feel pressure to do much more than ever before.
Thoughts? Does this seem like a plausible correlation? Do you feel this pressure?
:-D
So I definitely almost forgot to post today!
Last fall, the Huffington Post "Living" blog ran a series of articles about the decline in women's happiness over the last 40 years. Based on data--gathered and analyzed in the paper "The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness"--Marcus Buckingham discussed the surprising fact that women's happiness has trended downward as compared to men's, despite gradual increases in power and prosperity. Here are the two principle findings:
1. Since 1972, women's overall level of happiness has dropped, both relative to where they were forty years ago, and relative to men. You find this drop in happiness in women regardless of whether they have kids, how many kids they have, how much money they make, how healthy they are, what job they hold, whether they are married, single or divorced, how old they are, or what race they are. (The one and only exception: African-American women are now slightly happier than they were back in 1972, although they remain less happy than African American men.)2. Though women begin their lives more fulfilled than men, as they age, they gradually become less happy. Men, in contrast, get happier as they get older. By the time women reach age forty-seven, they are, overall, less happy with their life than men, and the trend continues on down from there.
Most people are-understandably-perplexed by this finding. You'd think that gender parity and increased quality of life would be leading to increased happiness, not the other way around. Buckingham puts it this way: "To use Thomas Jefferson's words, though women now have the liberty to choose whichever life they'd like, many are struggling in their pursuit of a happy life."
So, what's up with the findings?
The article asserts that these trends are not caused by women working longer hours than men. We know this because women don't work more hours than men. Nor are they caused by gender-based stereotyping. Nor, are they caused by women bearing a disproportionate burden of the workload at home, the 'second-shift' as some have labeled it. While women still do more cooking, cleaning and child-caring than men, the trend lines are actually all moving toward greater parity.
On the other hand, we seem to know what is causing men's slight increase in happiness...it's increased prosperity. Over the last 40 years, U.S. GDP
While the articles don't actually offer too much in the way of definitive explanation for this, the one thing noted for certain is that women are harder on themselves than men. In national polls, when women and men are asked the question, "Which do you think will help you be most successful in life, building on your strengths or fixing your weaknesses?" men split right down the middle, while 73% of women report they would focus on fixing their weaknesses. Based on this, the author concludes that since women have (over the past 40 years) gradually acquired more and more domains in which they are supposed to succeed, one would expect that women characterize themselves more and more by who they aren't. In turn, they may become more and more self-critical, and more aware of their flaws and failings...all of which might well accelerate these dissatisfaction trend-lines.
This last part about having more and more domains in which we are supposed to succeed is especially relevant to us as younger women. Women can do so much more today than in the past...and as such, we feel pressure to do much more than ever before.
Thoughts? Does this seem like a plausible correlation? Do you feel this pressure?
:-D
Monday, February 1, 2010
case of the "mondays"?
Blog Challenge: Day 15
I'm usually not one for the Monday Blues, but I am super tired today for some reason and really would much rather be home. Soooo for today's post, I'm sharing the first two things that came to my mind as ways to inject some "happy" into my day.
First up, a video that cracks me up every time. I couldn't breathe i was laughing so hard the first time i saw this video:
There are more videos like this too, so just look up "autotune the news" on youtube.
Another go-to mood-booster is the set of pictures taken using Nixie's webcam program when my youngest sis was visiting over the summer. They'll prob be mad I put this up, but I look crazy too so oh well :-P
HAHAHAHAHA! If you're ever feeling down, and in need of a laugh....get someone to take pics like this with you!!
What are your go-to mood-boosters?
:-D
I'm usually not one for the Monday Blues, but I am super tired today for some reason and really would much rather be home. Soooo for today's post, I'm sharing the first two things that came to my mind as ways to inject some "happy" into my day.
First up, a video that cracks me up every time. I couldn't breathe i was laughing so hard the first time i saw this video:
There are more videos like this too, so just look up "autotune the news" on youtube.
Another go-to mood-booster is the set of pictures taken using Nixie's webcam program when my youngest sis was visiting over the summer. They'll prob be mad I put this up, but I look crazy too so oh well :-P
HAHAHAHAHA! If you're ever feeling down, and in need of a laugh....get someone to take pics like this with you!!
What are your go-to mood-boosters?
:-D
Sunday, January 31, 2010
i heart sade
Blog Challenge: Day 14
I realized today that I really don't ever feel like writing on the weekend. You'd think the weekend would be the best time for me to write my best entries because I have so much time, but I find myself way too distracted and wanting to do other things. Plus, work is so slow that I have time to write during the weekdays.
Today's post is a tribute to Sade...because she is the ish....she's timeless...I have met very few people who don't like-or at least respect-her. She's so hot that she hasn't released an album in 10 years and people of all ages still know who she is. And she's mixed. YAY. lol. Born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria, about 50 miles from Lagos, she is the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London. (Source)
Here's a remix of her new single-because I also love Raheem Devaughn and the original is getting played out hehe.
And here is the second single set to be released:
A lot of Sade's music is relegated to elevator/lobby music, but she has soooo many great songs. In honor of the release of her new album in February, I'm going to post some of my favorite Sade songs. (In no particular order...I'm way to indecisive for that.)
Sweetest Gift. I LOVE THIS SONG. I plan to sing it as a lullaby someday :-D It's so perfect!
Is It a Crime? This may well be one of the most depressing songs ever sung, but it is a BIG CHUNE! (I'd actually never seen the video before doing this post!) This song makes me want to cry...she sings it like her heart is being ripped out of her chest. Also, the sax in this is nuts!!
Lover's Rock. This song kinda melts my heart.
It's All About Our Love. This song is just so simple and beautiful.
Cherish the Day. Classic Sade.
Pearls. Another song that makes me want to cry. The lyrics are so powerful and moving.
Are you a Sade fan? What are your favorites?
:-D
I realized today that I really don't ever feel like writing on the weekend. You'd think the weekend would be the best time for me to write my best entries because I have so much time, but I find myself way too distracted and wanting to do other things. Plus, work is so slow that I have time to write during the weekdays.
Today's post is a tribute to Sade...because she is the ish....she's timeless...I have met very few people who don't like-or at least respect-her. She's so hot that she hasn't released an album in 10 years and people of all ages still know who she is. And she's mixed. YAY. lol. Born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria, about 50 miles from Lagos, she is the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London. (Source)
Here's a remix of her new single-because I also love Raheem Devaughn and the original is getting played out hehe.
And here is the second single set to be released:
A lot of Sade's music is relegated to elevator/lobby music, but she has soooo many great songs. In honor of the release of her new album in February, I'm going to post some of my favorite Sade songs. (In no particular order...I'm way to indecisive for that.)
Sweetest Gift. I LOVE THIS SONG. I plan to sing it as a lullaby someday :-D It's so perfect!
Is It a Crime? This may well be one of the most depressing songs ever sung, but it is a BIG CHUNE! (I'd actually never seen the video before doing this post!) This song makes me want to cry...she sings it like her heart is being ripped out of her chest. Also, the sax in this is nuts!!
Lover's Rock. This song kinda melts my heart.
It's All About Our Love. This song is just so simple and beautiful.
Cherish the Day. Classic Sade.
Pearls. Another song that makes me want to cry. The lyrics are so powerful and moving.
Are you a Sade fan? What are your favorites?
:-D
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
go ahead, make my day!
Blog Challenge Day 10
Earlier this week, I came across a cute little website listed at the bottom of one of The Happiness Project blog posts >> http://itmademyday.com/
This site allows people to submit little moments/stories of things that....made their day! Here are some examples that are my favs so far:
like a Jamaican weekend mornings. This morning I gchatted her to tell her that I miss our pancake breakfasts. She reminded me that she doesn't have to work until 11 this Saturday, so we can do pancakes...IMMD! Then she suggested that we send each other our "day-making" moments every day...IMMD all over again. Nix is good for doing that :-)
A lot of us tend to be on auto-pilot, especially when we're busy/stressed. This seems like a great way to be more mindful. Small moments that seem insignificant can be a source of joy and happiness if you let them. I have two challenges for you:
1) Spend today taking notice of the small things.
2) Tell a friend about the idea of IMMD and encourage each other to share those moments.
So...what made your day today?! You can say that this post did...don't be shy ;-)
Earlier this week, I came across a cute little website listed at the bottom of one of The Happiness Project blog posts >> http://itmademyday.com/
This site allows people to submit little moments/stories of things that....made their day! Here are some examples that are my favs so far:Today, in music class, the teacher put the wrong CD in to the CD player. The result was, instead of Tchaikovsky, Lady Gaga. IMMD
Submitted by: hy
Today I ran into a sliding glass door while working, leaving big forehead print on the glass…When I came back later, I saw someone had drawn a smiley face on the glass where the print was. IMMD
Submitted by: Paul
I was working at a daycare and today the kids I take care of were building a model city. One kid made a petting zoo and placed a Lion in the center. IMMD.The idea of this site is so awesome! It helps that the acronym is so catchy...now I find myself using it. For example, Nix and roomieand I have a little weekend morning tradition of making pancakes for breakfast. The past two weekends we haven't been able to do it because Nix is working
Submitted by: Gregg
A lot of us tend to be on auto-pilot, especially when we're busy/stressed. This seems like a great way to be more mindful. Small moments that seem insignificant can be a source of joy and happiness if you let them. I have two challenges for you:
1) Spend today taking notice of the small things.
2) Tell a friend about the idea of IMMD and encourage each other to share those moments.
So...what made your day today?! You can say that this post did...don't be shy ;-)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
i need a scholar
Blog Challenge: Day 9
I was a sophomore or junior (I have a terrible memory) when the Destiny's Child song "I Need a Soldier" came out. One of my super creative friends (shouts out to Zavi!) came up with a little remix called "I Need a Scholar." I don't remember any of the lyrics, so Zavi (or whoever remembers) please feel free to leave some in the comments.
Anywho, Nix actually reminded me of this song the other day (I forget how it came up...are you seeing a pattern here? lol), and I thought of it today because of a post left on my facebook wall recently. This wall post then got me thinking of previous sloppy emails I've received from guys. Now, I'm no Ph.D.yet, and I admit to using dubious grammar/spelling sometimes (I'm sure you're all checking this post for grammar/spelling), but I do try to write well for the most part. There is a proper place and time for loosened writing (e.g., correspondance with friends and family, casual blogging, im, texting). Communicating with someone (especially someone in whom you may be interested) for the first time is NOT the place/time to be lax about writing. I don't want to blow up anyone's spot so I can't really give specific examples, but let's just say that a particular sloppy arse email prevented a guy from getting anywhere with me. I'm not joking. I don't even remember if I emailed said gentleman back, but if I did it was definitely short and sweet.
Everyone has their pet peeves/deal-breakers. Poor grammar/spelling/writing/diction is one of mine.
What about you? Do you consider these things important? Would bad writing/speech be an issue for you? Or, are you guilty of this yourself?
:-)
P.S. I got an email from a student rep. at the UT Psych program (where I'll be interviewing next month!) and her signature line had the following quote: "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
HOW AWESOME IS THAT! I can't wait to meet her :-D
I was a sophomore or junior (I have a terrible memory) when the Destiny's Child song "I Need a Soldier" came out. One of my super creative friends (shouts out to Zavi!) came up with a little remix called "I Need a Scholar." I don't remember any of the lyrics, so Zavi (or whoever remembers) please feel free to leave some in the comments.
Anywho, Nix actually reminded me of this song the other day (I forget how it came up...are you seeing a pattern here? lol), and I thought of it today because of a post left on my facebook wall recently. This wall post then got me thinking of previous sloppy emails I've received from guys. Now, I'm no Ph.D.
Everyone has their pet peeves/deal-breakers. Poor grammar/spelling/writing/diction is one of mine.
What about you? Do you consider these things important? Would bad writing/speech be an issue for you? Or, are you guilty of this yourself?
:-)
P.S. I got an email from a student rep. at the UT Psych program (where I'll be interviewing next month!) and her signature line had the following quote: "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
HOW AWESOME IS THAT! I can't wait to meet her :-D
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