Here is something that has been worrying me a bit. I don't know whether it is just me being weird, but I gotta get it off my chest. My 14-year old sister came home today with shoes with soles basically as long as my shoes have. And I am 22. Now I know that she is in full puberty, but somehow this kinda worried me. I mean, she's still 14 and already acting like a grown-up, wits and little lady manners included. Mind you, I certainly don't want to speak ill of my dear little sister, because she's a sweetheart and I love her very much, but I sometimes am afraid that she'll grow into a snobbish theatrical person. She *is* prone to dramatize a lot. I also don't like how she practically only reads those typical puberty-themed books which are practically only about relationships and girls fluffing themselves up for Edward Cullen-types of boys. One day she even came home with the Twilight books from the library. Knowing these books practically promote dominant male relationships and passive females, I finally protested. She didn't read the book in the end, yet I felt guilty. I just don't want her to turn into a theatrical ignorant woman who cares more about her looks and glances from men than about her brains. I want her to become a strong, independent woman who knows what she wants out of life. I don't know, maybe I'm just exaggerating? Maybe it's just my dislike of so-called 'girly-girls' who can only chirp and gossip for hours about the most ridiculous things? Maybe it's because I never experienced puberty like that? I just feel that my sister is being influenced by the wrong things. Other kids at her school can be really harsh at times, the typical 'If you don't dress/act this or that way, you're not part of the group' kind of way. I think that is what I am afraid of, namely this 'group' mentality, this idealization and sexualization of women in society that young girls are so prone to fall for. Mind you, I don't mind her having the typical 'I wanna be a superstar' dreams and such, I just don't want her to become an empty good-looking vessel when she has so much potential and is so smart. Again, it could just be me... *sigh*
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud Omg, triple post madness! Sounds like you're describing my niece. She's 15 and over the last 4-5 years she quickly turned from a sweet young girl to an incredibly vapid, attentionseeking, superficial, lazy young lady. Though mostly when she's around her friends, who are equally superficial. My sister assures me that she was exactly the same around that age and she turned out alright so...she might grow out of it. Do keep trying to beat those influences out of her though, *somebody* should set some standards!
@Drugar: Sorry, I'm on my phone and errors like that tend to happen quite often. I can't reach the 'Edit' button either, so yeah... I wasn't being desperate or something, though. I think my sister is just trying to fit in and finding a little place for herself. It does annoy me sometimes, though. I don't like people with an attitude or a certain 'air' around them, and I certainly don't want my sister to become like that. I just want her to be 'normal', as in honest, happy and critical about things. But then most kids are like that at her age, from what I've read. I'm actually the 'misfit' of the family (I don't go out and am pretty much an introvert), so it might just as well be my misconception and failing to understand how teenagers actually 'work', so to speak. It's a difficult age, afterall. But as I said, she's a sweet girl. I definitely wouldn't want to change her into someone she doesn't want to be. I'm just afraid of her becoming a snobbish know-it-all with an attitude. That's all.
@Jace I suggest you watch Aoi Tori. It is a japanese movie about school bullying and a teacher that handles it in a nice way. It may be interesting for you to watch, and it may help you.
About pinching or light slapping, I don't think it will solve anything. It will only anger/frighten children. Fear indeed is a fast method for making someone behave, but it has many side effects.
@Drugar I get you man. It seems you accumulate much stress throughout the day and try to recover from it by eating something tasty, play games, maybe even drink... But that is more like an "escape", than a real solution. Try to find the causes of stress and remove them, maybe change your lifestyle and/or thinking. Life is to be lived, after all. And since we live once(or do we?), lets live to the fullest. Don't be bothered by things that aren't worth bothering. Most of them are not worth it.
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud From your posts, it becomes obvious that you are a thinker. You are intelligent, you worry much, and most of all, you care. It is very likely your sister will begin to bear more and more resemblance to you while she grows up. She is too little to burden her emotionally. She is a teenager after all. They all crave for attention. Actually most of the people crave for attention, teens just express it more openly. She will be fine. Let her watch/read Twilight and be concerned about her appearance. She is a good kid, I am sure. Don't worry.
@Djimmy: Aww, thank you. Yeah, I think that thinking is pretty much the only thing I'm good at, LOL! But you are right, I just need to worry less. My sister's new shoes made me raise my eyebrows slightly, but seeing her proudly stepping around with them today was so very cute. And I have to admit that they are indeed very nice shoes. She certainly has a good taste for her age! It's best to just let her be, I guess. I don't involve myself that much with her, but I do show an interest for some games she plays. Although these are kind of games aimed at younger kids, she certainly appreciates me taking interest in them and I don't mind some bright colours either from time to time. The Twilight-thing wasn't really an issue, as she had heard from her friends it wasn't such a good series anyway and I just made her aware of why the book could possibly not be for her. I left it up to her to read it or not. Just some pre-caution. In any case, thank you again not only for the advice directed at me, but also the help directed at the others. I'm sure they'll also appreciate it.
Sooo, it's Valentine's today... Sadly, not for me. It'll just be another random shitty day with my mom yelling me out of bed and ordering me around, I guess. *sigh*
At least you want be participating in all the commercial gift-buying-because-people-are-made-to-believe-being-loveable-to-eachother-should-mean-spending-more-just-because-it's-mid-februari (actually, that's more of a sentence than a word :-) ).
@Son_of_Imoen: That's pretty much true, heh. It's sad that even Valentine's day has been ridiculously commercialised the past few years. Money...Money everywhere.
I was single last year and just went to McDonald's at dinertime for the heck of it. Funny seeing couples there. Although they also couldn't really care about it of course. But they wore track pants and stuff. Plus lots of make-up. An indicator that they would really see it as a lovely date. Yay for assumptions. Anyway, I'll probably just buy a cupcake or something. I think the misses will appreciate that much.
Since my girlfriend has been playing my pokemon game for pretty much half the time she was over at my place the last few weeks, I figured Valentine's Day was as good a day as any to get her her own version, Pokemon Black 2 (also because I have white and I'm missing some pokemon, damn their cleverness in designing this system).. Wrapped it all nice in wrapping paper, already bred some eggs of her favorite pokemon so she'll have a starting team ready to hatch. Just this afternoon we were talking about it and she said "Yeah, I think I'm pretty with freakin' pokemon, played way too much lately, sick of it."
Wrapped it all nice in wrapping paper, already bred some eggs of her favorite pokemon so she'll have a starting team ready to hatch. Just this afternoon we were talking about it and she said "Yeah, I think I'm pretty with freakin' pokemon, played way too much lately, sick of it."
By Tzeentch's flaming tentacles, that is some good looking chocolate! I'll have a pound of that please!
(On another note, I gave her the game anyway, she said "Aw, that's nice but no way I'm playing that anytime soon." Which turned out to last one hour and thirtyseven minutes before she was catching pokemon again)
I just wish I could've spent Valentine's together with my own boyfriend. Oh well. There's still many other Valentine Days to come. Yet, this Valentine's was really sad. I even didn't do much. To top it all off, my dad preferred to go to a football match instead of coming home to spend some time with my mom. She said she didn't mind, but I think she secretly did. It was kind of a dick move on his part.
Meh, been feeling quite lethargic the past few days. Discovering I have to spend another 3 years in this crazy house doesn't really make the day any better. Got no inspiration for drawing either. I'm just feeling... Empty. I think that's the best word to describe it.
I suppose I'll vent my sorrow now. I just watched "When the Wind Blows" (video below) and what I thought was going to be another post nuke story turned out to be far more grim. It really caught me off guard (the animation is to blame) how dark this movie is. Who knew I could grow attached to this simple rural British couple in just 10 or so minutes. What follows after the inevitable quickly makes this movie one of the most depressing you could ever watch especially if you already have a good deal of knowledge about nuclear war and radiation. Even before the nuke, you can feel the tension of what's to come. It really makes me wonder where the human race will be 100 hundred years from now assuming were not all dead by then. Nuclear war truly is M.A.D.
I suppose I'll vent my sorrow now. I just watched "When the Wind Blows" (video below) and what I thought was going to be another post nuke story turned out to be far more grim. It really caught me off guard (the animation is to blame) how dark this movie is. Who knew I could grow attached to this simple rural British couple in just 10 or so minutes. What follows after the inevitable quickly makes this movie one of the most depressing you could ever watch especially if you already have a good deal of knowledge about nuclear war and radiation. Even before the nuke, you can feel the tension of what's to come. It really makes me wonder where the human race will be 100 hundred years from now assuming were not all dead by then. Nuclear war truly is M.A.D.
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Hmm, so, this college semester has been really relaxed for me thus far. I only have two days of classes each week, and that for the upcoming 4 months. Other people might jump of joy, but I have actually been pretty bored thus far. I already looked for some student job, but most of 'em were already taken before the Christmas holidays came around, so I don't think I stand much of a chance. Previous semester was kinda busy, so I had no time back then. I lack ideas of what to do, especially now that my boyfriend's left again. I already picked up drawing again, but other than that I'm quite clueless. I'm planning on getting my driver's license, though. Let's hope that goes well so that I don't have to cycle through the rain on my bike anymore.
@OYME Looks interesting though! Will check it out. I also play on watching Grave Of The Fireflies. On of that studio's movies I haven't watched yet and it's supposed to be touching too.
@tily: Thanks for your nice comment! I'll certainly consider the idea of a cat with the colours of a skunk. Afterall, black and white make for a nice classic blend. Anyway, onto my piece of unhappiness for the day. I don't know about any of you, whether there are any fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic amongs you, but let's just say that it is a fun cartoon show that got all messed up just because, you guessed it, merchandise and marketing. You see, the main protagonist of the series was supposed to be a 'normal' unicorn with some magical powers. The show was about her adventures with her five friends, a story not only about magic, but more importantly, about friendship. Maybe some of you don't know, but this show was actually created by Lauren Faust, the creative brain behind The Powerpuff Girls. And if both series have one thing in common, then it is that they are gender-neutral. Both girls AND guys can watch these shows just fine. This generation of My Little Pony also shows that being a pony is MORE than just having silly sugar-coated tea parties. It attracted a great deal of new fans just because of that aspect. But ever since Faust left the show in the hands of Hasbro's writers, it's slowly been going downhill. It started with the uproar around a character called Derpy Hooves, of which some overly sensitive soccer moms thought that she apparently ridiculised mentally impaired children/people in general, just because of her being clumsy and her eyes standing in opposite directions of each other. The end result is that Derpy got written out of the show, despite being an adorable character and Faust's attempt to show that also ditzy ponies could have a charm of their own. Next thing was the sudden appearance of Princess Cadance, a pony which Faust had never intended to be in the show from the start. But guess what, Hasbro wanted to release a pink version of Celestia plush, so that's how she got added. Fortunately in a good and entertainable way. Now what irritates me the most is how Season 3 of the show has been handled thus far. It clearly is MUCH weaker than the previous two seasons of the series. First of all there's the poorly characterized villain (Sombra), then there is Discord's conversion to good (something which boggled my mind, as he was one of the reasons Season 2 got such a great start and he represents the element of Chaos... You just can't 'convert' chaos to order... There always has to be a balance between both) and now, my biggest worry: Twilight has become an alicorn, basically a unicorn with wings. Alicorns are supposed to be rare and very powerful, and the rushed final episode of Season 3 certainly didn't give me the impression she was ready to become a princess yet. But wait, what's this? Of course, Hasbro wanted to release an alicorn Twilight plush. So the show had to adapt itself to the merchandise and lose its integrity along the way. Twilight now is an alicorn princess, something which goes AGAINST the whole concept of the show. Faust's idea was that any ordinary pony could be special in their own right. But Hasbro is princessifying the show again. Because all little girls want to be princesses. And because all little girls want a unicorn with wings plush. Remember Mass Effect 3, guys? Well, this is pretty much the same. It's another franchise that got ruined because of money and capitalistic greed. What happened to MLP is pretty much the same. Sorry for the long post, I just needed to vent for a while. I'm telling you, capitalism is ruining this world. Money in general is ruining this world. Artistic integrity, my ass.
So I had to replace the back bumper of my car yesterday because it had a huge tear in it that my GF caused when she had to park it in an impossible spot. I went to the garage, everything looks fine and i pay up and go home. I park my car in the driveway and head inside...
Anyway, an hour or so later a friend of my GF arrives on her bicycle and parks it near my car. She locks her bicycle and proceeds to ring the doorbell and... CLANG. Her bike falls and hits the freshly replaced back bumper of my Mitsubishi, leaving quite the scratch.
@KingGhidorah: Ouch, that's quite some bad karma there. Or rather, effin' bad luck. Lady Fate be trollin' you, heh. It was kind of unlucky of that friend to park her bike right next to your car, though. Surely there must have been better spots...
But i live in a mayor city the netherlands were space (parking spaces, road comfort, house sizes etc.) has always been an issue. So that often means small driveways (if you even have one) even for middle class homes.
Biking Dutchman here, I don't drive a car because of the pollution and waste of oil reserves it costs. The future of our planet with pollution, but with less resources and no oil, that's my sorrow.
@Son_of_Imoen: humans will always need sources of energy. But these are usually depletable indeed. That's why searching for other resources is so important. And that's what's happening right now. The problem is that most renewable sources of energy, such as solar energy, wind and water energie have many disadvantages and are still quite inefficient to fully replace the ones we are currently using. But we will keep on looking.
Comments
Omg, triple post madness!
Sounds like you're describing my niece. She's 15 and over the last 4-5 years she quickly turned from a sweet young girl to an incredibly vapid, attentionseeking, superficial, lazy young lady. Though mostly when she's around her friends, who are equally superficial.
My sister assures me that she was exactly the same around that age and she turned out alright so...she might grow out of it. Do keep trying to beat those influences out of her though, *somebody* should set some standards!
About pinching or light slapping, I don't think it will solve anything. It will only anger/frighten children. Fear indeed is a fast method for making someone behave, but it has many side effects.
Btw, this beautiful song is from the movie
@Drugar I get you man. It seems you accumulate much stress throughout the day and try to recover from it by eating something tasty, play games, maybe even drink... But that is more like an "escape", than a real solution. Try to find the causes of stress and remove them, maybe change your lifestyle and/or thinking. Life is to be lived, after all. And since we live once(or do we?), lets live to the fullest. Don't be bothered by things that aren't worth bothering. Most of them are not worth it.
Let me greet you with this awesome song
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud From your posts, it becomes obvious that you are a thinker. You are intelligent, you worry much, and most of all, you care. It is very likely your sister will begin to bear more and more resemblance to you while she grows up. She is too little to burden her emotionally. She is a teenager after all. They all crave for attention. Actually most of the people crave for attention, teens just express it more openly. She will be fine. Let her watch/read Twilight and be concerned about her appearance. She is a good kid, I am sure. Don't worry.
Since your boy is leaving, a bittersweet song for you
Just this afternoon we were talking about it and she said "Yeah, I think I'm pretty with freakin' pokemon, played way too much lately, sick of it."
Crap.
Back to emergency chocolate.
(On another note, I gave her the game anyway, she said "Aw, that's nice but no way I'm playing that anytime soon." Which turned out to last one hour and thirtyseven minutes before she was catching pokemon again)
I read it not long ago and am still trying to deal with it.
Anyway, onto my piece of unhappiness for the day. I don't know about any of you, whether there are any fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic amongs you, but let's just say that it is a fun cartoon show that got all messed up just because, you guessed it, merchandise and marketing. You see, the main protagonist of the series was supposed to be a 'normal' unicorn with some magical powers. The show was about her adventures with her five friends, a story not only about magic, but more importantly, about friendship. Maybe some of you don't know, but this show was actually created by Lauren Faust, the creative brain behind The Powerpuff Girls. And if both series have one thing in common, then it is that they are gender-neutral. Both girls AND guys can watch these shows just fine. This generation of My Little Pony also shows that being a pony is MORE than just having silly sugar-coated tea parties. It attracted a great deal of new fans just because of that aspect. But ever since Faust left the show in the hands of Hasbro's writers, it's slowly been going downhill. It started with the uproar around a character called Derpy Hooves, of which some overly sensitive soccer moms thought that she apparently ridiculised mentally impaired children/people in general, just because of her being clumsy and her eyes standing in opposite directions of each other. The end result is that Derpy got written out of the show, despite being an adorable character and Faust's attempt to show that also ditzy ponies could have a charm of their own. Next thing was the sudden appearance of Princess Cadance, a pony which Faust had never intended to be in the show from the start. But guess what, Hasbro wanted to release a pink version of Celestia plush, so that's how she got added. Fortunately in a good and entertainable way. Now what irritates me the most is how Season 3 of the show has been handled thus far. It clearly is MUCH weaker than the previous two seasons of the series. First of all there's the poorly characterized villain (Sombra), then there is Discord's conversion to good (something which boggled my mind, as he was one of the reasons Season 2 got such a great start and he represents the element of Chaos... You just can't 'convert' chaos to order... There always has to be a balance between both) and now, my biggest worry: Twilight has become an alicorn, basically a unicorn with wings. Alicorns are supposed to be rare and very powerful, and the rushed final episode of Season 3 certainly didn't give me the impression she was ready to become a princess yet. But wait, what's this? Of course, Hasbro wanted to release an alicorn Twilight plush. So the show had to adapt itself to the merchandise and lose its integrity along the way. Twilight now is an alicorn princess, something which goes AGAINST the whole concept of the show. Faust's idea was that any ordinary pony could be special in their own right. But Hasbro is princessifying the show again. Because all little girls want to be princesses. And because all little girls want a unicorn with wings plush. Remember Mass Effect 3, guys? Well, this is pretty much the same. It's another franchise that got ruined because of money and capitalistic greed. What happened to MLP is pretty much the same. Sorry for the long post, I just needed to vent for a while. I'm telling you, capitalism is ruining this world. Money in general is ruining this world. Artistic integrity, my ass.
I went to the garage, everything looks fine and i pay up and go home.
I park my car in the driveway and head inside...
Anyway, an hour or so later a friend of my GF arrives on her bicycle and parks it near my car. She locks her bicycle and proceeds to ring the doorbell and... CLANG. Her bike falls and hits the freshly replaced back bumper of my Mitsubishi, leaving quite the scratch.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!1
But i live in a mayor city the netherlands were space (parking spaces, road comfort, house sizes etc.) has always been an issue. So that often means small driveways (if you even have one) even for middle class homes.