Packing Heavy
I’ve heard people joke, “Take me with you! I’ll fit in your luggage!” But I never thought it was seriously considered. Welp, leave it to youngsters to figure it out! A 17-year-old girl left with a bulky load when she was released from a juvenile prison. Germany officials say the heavy packer departed with another inmate inside her suitcase! The inmate made it out of the prison and is still on the run. An official says, “Our staff is going to make sure they inspect big suitcases more carefully in the future.” That’s probably a good idea. 
Halloween Rules
I remember when my brother and I went trick or treating as young pups the biggest scare, besides the costumes, was someone putting something in your candy like a sharp object or even poison! As soon as we got home the candy inspection began.
It’s a different story now. The articles about Halloween safety don’t even mention candy infringement. It’s more about keeping an eye on your little one for fear of someone hurting or, God forbid, kidnapping your child. More and more people aren’t participating in the traditional Halloween trick or treating. Many parents are making church and other similar organization festivals the norm for this holiday. Safety is a big reason why parents are retreating from the good old days of door-to-door candy begging.
I would say that’s too bad, but what kind of message do we send to our children we when tell them they can expect to get something for nothing? That if they don’t get the treat they are due then they have the right to trick the unsuspecting party. Hmm… this is an odd holiday. But I guess it is fun for children (and even some adults who find this is a great time to be someone else) to play dress up! 
The Lips Interview… uh, I mean The Flaming Lips Interview
Check out a rockin’ DnA!
No More Lame Excuses
Need a day off work? Here’s an idea that never occurred to me. Create a company that excuses you from work or school. Well before you run out and set up shop, I’m sorry to say someone beat you to the punch. The Excused Absence Network has reasons for not clocking in from fake jury summons to doctor’s notes. All you have to do is shell out $125! Seriously?! According to the owner, he’s just helping you do what you’d do anyway. Sounds like a movie I saw once called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Just watch out for your boss or principal, they might be hot on your trail!
A note to my boss… I would never use this, I promise. $125, come on now!
The Art of Waking Up
How do you wake up in the morning? Does it affect the rest of your day? I did not want to wake up this morning and boy is it affecting my day! Although it was the normal time, it literally felt like 3 a.m. when my alarm went off. I’ve found the colder it gets outside, the more I want to stay inside. That’s nothing new. What was new today is the feeling I still currently have. I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment. What is wrong with me? You know something is not right when you look at your pets and envy their amazing sleeping habits!
While I don’t have all the symptoms of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) I do have some… fatigue, increased sleep and loss of energy. My crazy allergies aren’t helping either. To fight the effects of SAD one must be willing to try. Try to conjure up the energy to get out of the house, do an activity and think more positively. That’s tough on those days you want to curl up with a blanket and veg. I wonder if next time I wake up feeling like this, I just turn over and go back to sleep! Hmm… that might work!
Brit-Mania
I wanna know. I need to know. I have to know. Isn’t that how we act when it comes to hearing about Britney Spears? Why do we follow her every move? Why do we care? Is it kind of like a freak show that we know we’ll be horrified, but yet we’re still curious? So we look. It’s interesting how we followed her every move when she was… uh, normal and seemingly healthy and now that she’s fallen upon hard times (many hard times) we still follow. What is it with Britney Spears? Does she just know how to work the system? I think it’s funny how people make money off of her whether it’s an entertainment/tabloid magazine or a distraught crazed fan hysterically crying and ends up getting his own show from it. Is it all publicity stunts or is the public really craving more Britney?
People feel sorry for her and probably rightly so, but there’s a part of me that thinks may be, just may be she really loves all the attention. Remember girls in their early 20′s can be drama queens and crave attention, well Britney was in her late teens and early 20′s when the media went nuts after her. I keep thinking we’ll get worn out over it… but so far it seems we just want more.
Who knows? I sure don’t. I hope the best for the previous Mouseketeer, blonde, shaved head, wife, and pop star. She’s been a lot of things, hopefully she’ll find her way back to happiness.
The War on Socks
You’ve seen the terrible mistake, socks with sandals. Well a Dutch finance ministry official is going a step further and taking on – white socks… with or without sandals. He proclaims he’s against white socks… ALL white socks! He says white socks cross “the limits of decent dress behavior.” Obviously this made headlines declaring the Dutch government was waging war on white socks! But they say the official did not speak for the government, only for himself. Hmm.. it appears the Dutch have a fashion guru in office!
Territorial?
Are you territorial? You may not realize it, but you probably are. I, myself, can admit to having a ‘turf’. Let me explain. I don’t know how it is for men, but for myself and some other ladies who confided in me, a bathroom can be territorial. I seem to always go into the same… uh, stall. Yeah, that’s right I said it! This seems to mainly happen at work or church… places I frequent. Sometimes I’m taken aback if someone is using my water closet. I’m not ridiculous, I don’t wait for that person to finish, but I do kind of feel out of my element when I’m in a different stall. Once I get over myself I realize how stupid having a terrain is. Yet I wonder, are we all drawn to a certain area? Is it out of comfort or are we eerily similar to our four legged friends with marking our territory?!
So is territory the same reason wars start? Obviously not over bathrooms, but over land, something one country owns and another wants. Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian animal behaviorist, described the competition of territory this way: “If you put together two little boys, two fish of one species, two roosters, two monkeys, they will behave exactly as Mark Twain describes a meeting between Tom Sawyer and a new boy. The first words Tom says are, ‘I can lick you,’ and the inevitable fight ends just as soon as one boy hollers ‘Nuff!’ It’s not a drive to kill another person, but the drive to lick him into submission. It has to do with rank order or territory, and not with a killing instinct’ “. Unfortunately, the people who run wars don’t seem to be as flexible as I am with altering my bathroom stall. 
“Blondie”
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the comic strip “Blondie” has had the top spot of The Oklahoman‘s funnies for a long time! I remember seeing it when I was a child as my dad read the paper. After doing some extensive research, I found the comic has been in numerous papers for 75 years!!! Somehow I almost feel like Blondie and Dagwood are real! They’re the couple you can always rely on, the couple who’ll make you laugh, and the couple who seem to mirror many of us! We saw them get married and have kids. They have a great dog, best friends and of course, Dagwood’s boss seems to love making his life miserable. And what would we do without the dedicated mailman and the ridiculous love Dagwood has for sandwiches! I mean seriously, I just don’t think our funnies would be as funny without “Blondie”. 
Familiar or Popular?
Do you ever wonder what makes a song a hit? Is it popular because it’s played a thousand times or is it legitimately better than the average tune? What about a car? Without considering costs, do you tend to see a certain vehicle on the road in greater numbers because it’s truly superior to others or is it just advertised a lot? How does a name become ‘in’? And art… how is it that at one time impressionism was preferred, then purism and more recently abstract art?
I wonder if familiarity has something to do with it. Are we ‘programmed’ to like something because it’s put in front of our faces so much? What makes something attractive or in demand? Are we, the consumers, dictating what companies will produce or are the companies writing the rules of what’s considered fashionable? Does this also apply to people, celebrities? What really defines good looks? Or for that matter a blockbuster film or hit t-v show?
So I ask you, do you like something because it’s a good product or because it’s heavily promoted? It’s interesting that many cry out, “I’m unique!” Yet, most follow the crowd.
