Your Daily Forecast

"You aren't entirely sure what's going on with your mate or your best friend, but you should be able to clear things up if you can let them know that you're confused. Don't let misunderstandings come between you!"


This little quote right here was taken from my daily horoscope on Yahoo!'s homepage. These little sayings make me wonder, how often are horoscopes not true? But more importantly, how eerily true are they sometimes? A horoscope is a forecast of someone's future based on the alignment of the stars and planets. Make sense? Not really to me. I don't understand how the stars can predict my love life or how much money I'm going to make this month. Astrology has always been a matter that confuses me. While I can distinguish the Little Dipper from the Big Dipper in the sky, that's about all I know from the star gods. So how do the alignment of the sun, moon, and some celestial bodies pinpoint exactly who I am? I'm a Gemini, as is my twin brother, and what's weird about this sign is that we're twins. The sign for Gemini is twins. Because Geminis are known to be versatile and two-faced. Let's just hope two-faced in my situation is talking about my other twin, and not another personality. They're considered leaders and stubborn people. Another weird fact is that my name Jordan, in Hebrew, means "ascending from the gods, a leader to all." Which parallels with my Gemini description of being a leader. Creepy, I know. While these may not always be true, horoscopes are an entertaining way to pass the time. It's the tarot card readers that I'm scared of. I don't want someone telling me my future and ruining it for me. No thank you. I'd rather just trust the stars' definition on my Yahoo! homepage.


http://shine.yahoo.com/astrology/gemini/daily-overview/;_ylt=AqVcGGx2sMiE9G.xj7Ob5GN6b6U5

Going the Distance

Someone once told me, "Relationships are made out of convenience." People meet and stay together when it's most convenient for them. If you think about it, it's kind of true. Your mom and dad said they met in college, another couple met in the line at the post office on a certain day, and other people met by sharing a broken down elevator together. Yep, I've heard all these stories. What they all have in common is one thing, the right place at the right time. Coming from a divorced family, you realize relationships are all about timing. My father, who actually told me this quote, experienced this firsthand. He met his future wife, my stepmom, while he was living in Texas and she was in Tennessee. Well as fate would have it, they fell in love. Six states away. Basically convenience became an issue and they both knew they had to do something to salvage their relationship. So my stepmom, Shelby, packed up her bags and moved to Texas three weeks after meeting my dad. Too soon, some would say, but eight years later they're still going strong. And they credit the lack of distance between them.

After hearing this story you wonder do long distance relationships really work? Can people actually go the distance? Obviously there are people who have tested this and proved that long distance relationships can work. Props to them. I, however, am somewhat skeptical. That saying "distance makes the heart grow fonder" is true. But how long does that distance have to be? And what if the opposite happens, and you forget about them? Although I stand by my theory that relationships are formed from convenience, there are examples that make me doubt my theories. Look at all the wives and husbands who have spouses in the war overseas. One of them is my cousin and her new husband. Through Skype and "Dear John" letters, they make it work. It's cute, true love stories like this that give us hope. Overall though one thing's for sure. If you want to make it convenient for you, it'll happen. If you make the effort and go the extra mile (or thousands of miles), long distance relationships can work. It's just how much you're willing to tread that'll make the difference. 

Cock A Doodle Do!

Can't seem to wake up in the morning? Take a Rooster Pill! And what in God's name is a Rooster Pill? Well they're pills that regulate your body to wake up after 7 hours of sleep. Not only do you wake up on time, but you also wake up not feeling groggy or tired. It's a miracle pill. Made by a single mother, stressed and never getting enough sleep, the pill contains an assortment of vitamins including Vitamin B, thiamin, and riboflavin. These pills are known to maintain health and boost one's energy. The coating on the pill is said to get into your bloodstream so that you don't wake up feeling tired. Does it work for real? Honestly, I've never tried it. But for the decent price of $30-$40 per tablet, I'd be up to try. I wonder if they work for hangovers too...?

The Real World

The Real World. No, I'm not talking about the TV show like a lot of you probably thought when you saw this title. I'm talking about the actual real world of reality. Living in America, it's like we have no clue of what's going on in the outside world. The fighting in Libya, the earthquakes in Japan, and let's not forget the royal wedding in England. Well we all probably know about the last one. That's had about as much media coverage as the U.S. presidential election. All we know about is Jake Gyllenhal's new haircut and the tornado that hit the St. Louis airport. We are literally suffocated in a bubble. We're ignorant to the world around us. 

This subject bugs me a lot actually. A lot of people say they've experienced the world yet they've never even had a stamp in their passport. They say that they're concerned about world hunger, yet don't even donate a penny to the cause. We seem to give no credit to other cultures or their problems. In fact if you haven't been to Pakistan or Libya, you'll probably judge them poorly just because of the news coverage you've seen about them. But have you ever thought what other countries thought of us? What do they read in their newspapers every morning? Probably about the heightening price of taxes, our nomination of an African American president, and Reese Witherspoon's recent marriage. Even though we are one of the richest nations, with a ton of diversity, and a wealth of opportunities, are we in the real world? We're not the ones suffering for food and water like some poverty stricken countries around the world. We're not the ones who are afraid to step out in the street, because they're afraid of getting shot from the war violence. Not to mention, a war they have nothing to do with.

Even though I say all this, I have ironically never ventured past the North American continent. It's not that I don't want to, I just haven't had the opportunity to. I dream of the day that I can go abroad and see the world for what it really is. Different people living in different ways in different places. However I think I'm most interested in just experiencing things in someone else's life. Seeing the daily struggles of someone and all they go through to survive. I'm not talking about a five star resort vacation where shopping and tanning are the priorities on my list. I'm talking the real, up front way of living. I know it sounds somewhat depressing, but it's one of those things that will make you appreciate what you really have. And hopefully make you a better person. Ultimately it's a tough world out there. I hope one day I'll get the chance to at least try to understand it. And maybe, just maybe, find a way to help.

What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

This age old question is probably the most annoying question someone has ever asked me. No, I have absolutely no idea what came first. Because don't you need an egg, to make a chicken yet you also need a chicken to make an egg? It's all quite confusing. This question is also one of Google's most asked questions in the past year. Well apparently "eggsperts" Professor David Papineau and poultry farmer, Charles Bourns, said that it was the egg. Why the egg? Because eggs were around long before the chicken was. Think back to prehistoric times when even dinosaurs had eggs. Every type of animal lays an egg. So if the egg didn't come first, how would all animals be here? Bourns says, ""Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived. Of course, they may not have been chicken eggs as we see them today, but they were eggs" (CNN's "Chicken and egg debate unscrambled"). But do we really believe these "eggsperts"? Or is it just another theory trying to be proven by people claiming to be knowledgeable? In any case, it's just one of those questions that can never truly be answered. "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" will forever stay scrambled in my mind. 

http://articles.cnn.com/2006-05-26/tech/chicken.egg_1_chicken-eggs-first-egg-first-chicken?_s=PM:TECH

Blind As A Bat

Being blind from the time I could remember, I've never really remembered what it was like to wake up and be able to see the world. To wake up and not have to squint at the alarm clock and to not have to spend a good five minutes every morning trying to find where I put my glasses the night before. The funny thing is my family didn't even know I was blind until I was six. We were driving in Michigan and I asked my grandma why there were such big sticks in the snow. They were telephone poles.

Being legally blind is common these days and more kids than I thought have grandpa vision like me too! Being in college made me less insecure about my vision, because it seemed like everyone else around me couldn't see either. You'd be surprised how many people have the words "Restrictions to the Road: Needs Corrective Vision" on the back of their driver's license. Yes apparently I could be a danger to the road if I drove without glasses. To be honest, I can't even see the color of the stoplights when at the intersection if my contacts aren't in. I'm surprised they even let me get my license. 

A mere 10% of people in the United States are legally blind. Hey, I'm one of them! It kind of makes me feel special considering I'm pretty much normal otherwise. It's like one of those quirks everyone has about him or herself. Mine's that I can't see the person who's talking to me. But that's about the only good thing I can name about being blind. Try being in college and being blind. Having to somehow keep track of your contacts and pray to God your eyes don't get red when you're out at night. An eye doctor once told me to stay away from bars because the smoke in the air was causing eye redness. Obviously, this guy had never been to college. Or to a bar. That's why this year I decided to stop worrying about my eyes and find something that adjusted to my life. These wonderful things were daily contacts. And next up is LASIK. That's just if I don't go blind beforehand. 

He's Just Not That Into You... Because of You

"He should call me first." "Never be the first to text." "Play hard to get and he'll want you." These are lines that our friends tell us when first meeting someone of the opposite sex. It's like from the get go all we hear in our minds is "Play games, play games." But do games really help in forming a relationship? Does it really matter who texts first or who didn't?

I did a little experiment with one of my good friends and a guy she had just met. She met this guy one night at the bar and the next morning decided she really liked him. They had swapped phone numbers and planned to meet again. However when asking when she was going to talk to him she just blatantly replied, "He's texting me first. I'm the girl, I don't do that." Three days pass and... nothing. I insisted that she text him and she refused. She stated her reasons being that if a guy really wanted to talk to you, he would. Needless to say, they never ended up talking. Seeing him out a couple weeks later, he came up to me and asked why my friend was not into him. Little did he know, she actually did like him yet was too afraid to just be herself and text him. She let playing a game ruin the possibility of a relationship.

So this begs the questions, should we play games in relationships? In a society run by the ideals presented in the chick flick, He's Just Not That Into You, girls became even more afraid than ever to talk to a guy. Seeing Ginnifer Goodwin get denied over and over again by guys and Bradley Cooper cheating on his wife with a  young Scarlett Johanson made us wonder if there was any truth to any relationship. Do we have to play hard to get to... well, get what we want? Does playing games keep you from getting hurt? My answer to this is no. If you ask someone in a relationship how they got together, the majority will say that "It just happened." The reason it happened? Because both parties were interested... and showed it. Don't be afraid to look stupid by texting someone. The thing is if they don't text back, well move on. It wasn't meant to be. There's a lot of fish in the sea. Just man up and make the first move. I mean look at all the famous love stories. Romeo didn't find his love by waiting for Juliet to text him. Or send a messenger dove to him, whatever they did in those days. 

Dunk-A-Roos... Where Are You?

What ever happened to those snacks, Dunk-A-Roos? You know those kangaroo shaped cookies that you would dip in chocolate frosting? Or dipped in that little rainbow sprinkled vanilla frosting? Or even the new cookies n' cream frosting? Established in 1988, these snacks soared in the 90's and seemed to fall off the face of the earth when the millennium hit. So what happened? In my opinion I believe that it is a result of the rising obesity statistics in America. Obviously no mother is going to give her son or daughter cookies, not to mention cookies that you dip in a pile of chocolate. The new fad these days are celery and carrot sticks dipped into fat free ranch. Ew.

But I think the real reason for the fail of this cookie was their lack of advertising. These days you can't turn on the TV without seeing an advertisement but for some reason the makers of Dunk-A-Roos felt like they didn't need to advertise. However in 1996 they did come up with a competition for a new mascot, instead of Sydney, the kangaroo. They chose a mascot called "Duncan the Dunking Daredevil" in 1997, but even with this, the cookie just seemed to fail. It is also really only sold at superstores such as Costco. This could definitely lead to a lack of sales, considering not everyone has that prized Costco membership. Sadly enough I miss these little cookies and am always disappointed as I scan up and down the aisles of Kroger and only see Cheez-Its and Chips Ahoy. Nonetheless I still believe these little snacks were the best snack of my childhood. My only complaint was there wasn't enough chocolate frosting for dunking.

Today I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything

This is probably one of the few music videos I've ever seen that is all filmed from one place, the living room of a house. No extra sound effects, no special costumes, no fancy dance movies... Just a chill atmosphere of a man singing at his own beat. Bruno Mars' song, "The Lazy Song," one of iTunes top ten songs, has easily become a popular song to the youth of America. Not to mention it explains what guys really do when they're at home doing nothing. "Today I don't feel like doing anything, I just want to lay in my bed" are the exact lines of what I feel like half the time I wake up. Listening to this song makes you want to be the laziest person ever. Today "I don't feel like doing anything," but unlike Bruno Mars, I have finals, work, and four papers to write. So to take a break from studying or whatever work you're doing and listen to this song. Because in this song, everyday is Sunday.

What's a Meat Market?

Go to any sports gym between the hours of 3pm-6pm. What do you see? An overpacked room of people working out, stretching, sitting, and checking out the opposite sex. Being here at Southern Methodist University, the hours between 3pm-6pm are considered social hour. It's like the bar but on a Monday afternoon. I call it the "Happy Hour" of gym time. Right before sorority and fraternity chapters, it's poppin more than ever.

So who exactly do you see at the gym? Well first of you see the actual dedicated athletes. The people dedicated to their bodies, who know what they're doing on that treadmill, and how it affects their bodies. Then there's the people who are there with the goal to lose weight. They have determination in their eyes, they're sweating and the only goal on their mind is how they're going to look after their workout. Then there comes my favorite people. The sorority girls. The girls who wear makeup to the gym, hair preciously pulled back into a "messy" ponytail, short tight spandex, and of course their favorite sorority tee. Walking into the gym you see the room flooded with colors and phrases like "Crazy for Chi-O" and "Party with PiPhi." And the last group is the frat boys. These three hours to them are their golden hours. They walk around, slap each others hands, and bob their heads to their blaring rap music in their ears. They sit on the benches huffing and puffing as the check out the blonde who walks past them. They laugh, talk about what they're going to do that night. Oh yeah and they lift a 10 pound dumbbell some time in between... And for some reason are sweating as a result of it.

Sadly this is the sight almost every day at a college gym. As someone once told me, "It's a meat market." The guys are picking out which girl will be their next piece of meat, the next girl who they're going to "hook up" with. In a society run by looks and someone's physical appearance, this is the prime spot to find a mate. Unlike most girls think, boys are actually smart. They know where to go to find hot, barely clothed women. As gross as it sounds, it just goes to show how shallow our society is. Even a place to better yourself and become healthy has just become a "meat market."

Sober is Sexy

I first saw this tank top while viewing one of my friends from USC's Facebook profile. Someone had posted a link to her wall (I swear I don't stalk as much as it sounds like) with a picture of what they called the new Pi Phi tank top. And the words read... "The Only Coke I Do Is Diet." Knowing her from high school and knowing she was just oddly obsessed with Diet Coke, I thought it was funny. I also thought it was funny how someone was joking about a sorority's reputation on campus... But that's a whole other story. However this t-shirt got me thinking... Is this a message that we really need to address? Is coke use on college campuses really that rising? And more interestingly, would someone support this cause and actually wear this tank top on campus?

Reports from a site called "Michael's House," a chemically dependent rehabilitation center, states that "Cocaine use by college students reached a ten-year high in 2006 when over 5% reported using the drug at their time during school" (Cocaine Addition Statistics). Although not a significant number like marijuana use or especially alcohol use on a college campus, cocaine is surprisingly more common than one would think. Known as a drug "that stimulates the central nervous system and causes hyperactivity, euphoric feelings, increased blood pressure, and heart rate," kids are using this drug as another way get high on their Thursday and Friday nights. Mixed with alcohol and a college atmosphere, kids are without a doubt abusing this drug. That's why this campaign is so interesting, it's addressing a cause that most people turn their backs to. Cocaine.

 I think this campaign is brilliant, especially with the actor in the picture having tattoos and looking well, a little rough around the edges. Most people would think that he would be the ideal person to do drugs but be careful who you stereotype. This kid in the picture is a sober model for a company actually supporting the cause on the t-shirt. In other words, this campaign "The Only Coke I Do Is Diet" was started by a t-shirt company called, "Sober Is Sexy." Their other t-shirts include messages called, "Heroin Killed the Radio Star" and so on. Contrasted to the normal "Above the Influence" ads you see on TV and in print ads, this is literally wearable art. More specifically, art that carries a message. The real question is... would you be strong enough to wear this t-shirt or would you fear people would judge you as a "goody-too shoes"? Even though this may seem like a smaller issue than marijuana and alcohol, it is still a problem on college campuses. So what type of coke do you do? Personally I prefer cherry.

http://www.michaelshouse.com/cocaine-addiction/cocaine-addiction-statistics.html

W.O.R.D.S. With Friends

I'm addicted. It's bad. "Words With Friends," the popular iPhone app not only keeps me busy when I'm bored in class, at work, or just whenever, but also keeps me in contact with my friends. AND it expands your vocabulary... Or so I'd like to think. The 21st century Scrabble like game is either free or $0.99 depending on what version you buy for your 3G or 4G iPhone. It involves having a word bank of words and of course a double or triple word score, like the famous game, Scrabble. It even includes a little instant messaging window so you can talk to your opponent while playing them. However this iPhone app is not bilingual... as my roommate soon found out when her word, "Diez," was rejected. Nonetheless with a colorful and easily accessible board, even an idiot could play it. I-D-O-I-T. A word worth 12 points.

I think the funniest thing about this new app is how much more you can get in contact with your friend. From your iPhone, you can text, e-mail, Facebook, call, play "Words with Friends" and instant message your friend on "Words with Friends" all in about 2 minutes. Understandably it's the 21st century, but how many ways do we really need to keep in contact with our friends? F-R-I-E-N-D-S. 22 points. Bam. Just won my last game.

Peek-A-Boo, I See You!

 Peek-A-Boo, I See You? I've always wondered if animals had a sense of humor. If they could actually understand what we were
saying to them and react in an intentional funny way. Does this manatee know he's playing hide and seek? Do dogs know it's funny when they chase their tails around? One of my best friends is incredibly entertained by animal pictures. I've never really understood why until she introduced me to StumbleUpon... Then changed my settings to all animals. Bored in class, these little snip its of animals being funny makes my day. Whether intentional or not,  these animals are just flat out funny. Having a bad day? Just take a couple of these pictures I found while stumbling... I mean blogging.

Lifetime: The New CNN

Lifetime Movies. The ultimate woman's guide to drama and action in the world. It's funny too because these movies on Sunday nights are actually what keep us updated with this month's headlines. For instance this past Sunday, the new movie, William and Kate: Let Love Rule, aired on Lifetime. The Lacey Peterson murder story? Yep, there was a movie for that. The Amanda Knox story? Check. The Craigslist Killer? A movie for that too. Actually one of Lifetime's most viewed movies ever on their network.  And let's not forget the Natalee Holloway story. This story aired several years after the young teenager's death and was almost so realistic, it was eerie. Not surprisingly lawsuits from her family followed after the release.

But really, why watch the news when you can watch Lifetime? Instead of some boring news story, you get bad actors, overwhelmingly dramatic music, and tears and laughter all in an hour and a half. Who could ask for more? So this Sunday, girl or guy, snuggle up on your couch and catch up on news and gossip all within the 9pm showing of the newest movie. Until then, feel free to watch a preview below of William and Kate: Let Love Rule.

Chopped and Screwed.

Do you always feel like you're being overpriced, manipulated, or forced into buying something you don't want to? Well you're not alone. When you go in for an oil change, the corrupt guys at the car dealership proceed to tell you that your steering wheel fluid is out, your air condition filter is dirty, and you need new belts for your car. (What is a car belt anyways?) They try to sell you on each one, each costing $100. You spend almost $400 as you walk out the door. And all you came in for was a $29 oil change.Your purse feels light and you just leave feeling confused. 

It seems these days there is no such thing as an honest corporation. At your doctor's office, they even tell you that you need this and you need that. Obviously worried about your health, you'll probably buy it. But do you really need it? Do you know best or do corporations marketed to you know better? Are these corporations marketing products to you or actually bettering your health? Like we talk about in our Intro to Creativity class, advertising is corrupt. They're not always marketed to better the public, in fact most the time ethics is not even an issue.  In my opinion I believe that it is half and half of whom you should trust. That being said, second opinions should never be underestimated. I remember one doctor told a close friend that he had a bacteria infection and had nothing to worry about. While relieved he didn't have to pay much and walked out of the doctor's office without a worry, he was back within the month. This doctor had just happened to overlook this infection, which in fact was cancer. This leads to the question of ultimately who can we trust? And who knows best for us? 

While being only nineteen and having a lot to learn in my life, I am just dipping my feet into the pool of manipulation. So unfortunately I will go through a lot of trial and errors and probably end up screwed from time to time. Hopefully the old adage goes, age makes you wiser. Because in a society of corrupt, dishonest individuals, you truly can only trust yourself. But until I'm that age, I'm just going to believe what my mother always told me... Mother knows best. Not some doctor being paid to tell you what you like to hear. 

T.G.I.T.

T.G.I.F. The phrase, "Thank God It's Friday," has been coined around the world as the ultimate way to celebrating the end of the week. Religious or not, everyone says "Thank God It's Friday." So why is Friday the best day of the week? Well obviously it's because it's the end of the work week and the weekend's the next day. There's no reason to wake up early, you don't have to go to the gym, pack a lunch for work the next day, or do any homework. In other words you have nothing to do. Thank God.

However in college, this term is slowly forming into T.G.I.T., "Thank God It's Thursday." Because these days, Thursday's the new Friday. Thursday, now the night to go out for college kids, is favored for the same reasons as Friday, even though most students have class the next day. But as my roommates say, "Oh, well!" In a sense the work weeks are becoming shorter and the real world is becoming less of a reality. But I'm sure me and every other college kid out there can agree this is not a problem. We have four years to enjoy ourselves, so why not enjoy every second of it? Even if it means starting our weekends a day early.

Gas. The New Pain in the Ass.

Living in Highland Park, Texas one would assume that things were already expensive. But with the average price of a gallon of gas soaring past $4.00, it's as if even the cheapest things in life are becoming unbearable to pay for. I feel bad for those people who drive Tahoes and Yukons and whose average gas fill up is well over $80. That right there could be someone's weeks worth of groceries. It has always been ironic to me that during troubling economic times, even the essentials rise in cost.

Minimum wage in Texas is $7.25. And the average price of gas in some places is over $4.00? Just to get to and from work, it seems as though people are paying half of their paychecks on transportation. The easiest answer to these raising gas prices, is to drive less and take public transportation. But tell that to people who are accustomed to living a lifestyle that allows them to do whatever they want. Being a college kid myself, it is hard to budget and to save money. And if someone told me to take the bus to work, I would respond that not only is it inconvenient but also... we have a bus station? It seems as though money is running through my fingers like sand and all my paychecks and allowances go to eating, going out, and well, living. And add raising gas prices, budgeting is becoming harder than ever. Even driving is costing an arm and a leg. Like I said before, gas is the new pain in the ass.

130 Pounds of....Sugar!?

How much sugar do you eat a day? A week? A year? According to a Yahoo! article by David Zinczenko, the average American eats "130 pounds of the stuff every 365 days" ("8 Best Supermarket Sweets"). That is 2.8 pounds of sugar a day. We might as well be shoving 12 cups of sugar in our mouth. America, we are officially gross. 

There is no average cost for a filling, but from my most recent trip to the dentist, my father will be paying $175 each for my fillings... Multiply that by 4, and it is a cool $700 to satisfy my sweet tooth(s)... Oops? So while I'd like to preach to everyone how disgusting our sugar intake is, I am sadly one of the statistics. So instead of being hypocritical and tell people we should really stop eating sugar, I'd actually like to stand behind my sugar cravings. Because Hershey's chocolate bars and Reese's peanut butter cups are what keep me going on those late nights at the library. And a bag of peanut M&Ms is what satisfies me when I'm having a bad day. So even though that is the most disgusting statistic I've heard in awhile, I'm just going to turn a deaf ear. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Going Steady?

Urban dictionary says the expression "Going Steady" means "what white kids in the '50s called 'dating'." In other words, "Johnny gave me his pin at the dance ... now I know we're going steady!".  Fast forward to the 21st century and no one, I mean no one, uses this expression anymore. In fact it as if dating is extinct as well. How many times do you see a young couple out to dinner on a Friday night? If you do a little experiment and sit at a popular restaurant next to a college campus, count how many couples you see on a romantic date. You'll look around and see a lot of groups of boys and girls, maybe a few parents out on date night, a few tables of boys hanging out drinking beers checking out the next table full of girls on a girls' night. So is dating extinct because of our society or do we just not have time for it anymore?

Our society preaches all about casual sex and having a fun, carefree lifestyle being single. Shows like "The Real World" and "Jersey Shore" are the best examples of this lifestyle. Not to mention, these are possibly the trashiest shows on television. Wonder why? Because they just show a bunch of hormone filled early twenty-something year olds all over each other, drunk, and making mistakes... in front of thousands of viewers. Including their parents. Ew.

Playing devil's advocate, as well, maybe our society really wants to date but just does not have time for it. If you're not in college, put yourself in the shoes of a college kid these days. You go to class during the day, have a part time job at night, spend your nights either going out to bars or doing homework, and also just add in time to...well, live. Time to relax, hang out with your roommates, and feel connected to the world. Not to mention a lot of Friday and Saturday nights, popular date nights, are filled with frat parties and group activities. So do we even have time to dedicate ourselves to another person? While some people may say this is easy to do, I am on the opposing side. It is hard to balance time for yourself and time for someone else. Especially in a society where women are influenced to be independent beings and this 1950's version of a woman, and a relationship, are cast aside. Maybe it's being selfish or maybe it's being smart. But in my opinion, how can one find themselves if they're with another all the time? 

5 Year Olds... The New Birth Control

Have you ever spent a day with a 5 year old? I mean a whole, 24 hours, nonstop day and night with a kindergartner. It's brutal, let me tell you. You wake up in the morning with them at approximately 6:15am. After telling them to go back to sleep and them playing a few games of "Angry Birds" on your iPhone, they ask you how long an hour is. Then they pick at your hair, ask you if you're still tired, and continually throw their stuffed animal in your face. Needless to say, you're up by 7am. You make them waffles and spread butter and syrup on them. Then the 5 year old complains there's too much syrup and makes you make new ones for them. After a quick, water fight also called bath time, the young child is clean and ready to get dressed. Then comes the picking out of outfits, also called the negotiation time. You argue whether jean shorts really go with the pink ruffly skirt she wants to wear on top. Or you argue about whether you need socks for sandals... According to kindergartners, you're feet will be too cold with sandals.

After wrestling with them to sit in their car seat, you drive them to the park. On the way, Taylor Swift is on repeat as well as the latest version of KidzBop. If you thought Justin Beiber was bad, just listen to this. You'll spend about 25 minutes at the park because the child will probably scrape their knee or have a nervous breakdown because someone stole their wood chips. So to make them feel better, you'll take them to Sonic and order them ice cream which they'll proceed to spill in your car and all over your school bag...with your laptop in it. After grabbing napkins to not only clean your car, but also wipe their tears you set out for home. And this is the best time of the day, naptime! Well that is if you can actually get the kid to nap. You'll read books, tell stories, shut the blinds, and put on the sounds of the ocean to calm them down. After closing the door lightly you'll hear them starting wailing that they don't need a bedtime. Advice to the wise... just put in your iPod and ignore. 20 minutes through listening to blasting music, you'll take out your earphones and discover the inevitable... silence. While thinking this is great, you soon hear a little voice come up to you, "I wet the bed" it says. And you spend your next few minutes collecting sheets, putting them in the washer, and once again collecting tissues to give to the 5 year old crying.

In the evening, you'll put on iCarly (Note to all... Barney does not exist to these new age kindergartners) and make them their Kid Cuisine dinner. They'll take a bite of their Dino Nuggets and burn their tongue and then you'll have to entertain them with holding an ice cube on their tongue while it messily melts down their shirt. This leads to the second bath time of the day, however, this one filled with screams and wailing because the shampoo got in their eyes or their Barbie mermaid's hair got stuck in the drain. After a second wrestling match and putting them in their Tinkerbell pajamas, you finally get them in bed. You read them a story and they encircle their body with their collection of stuffed animals. One must remember that the big ones circle the little one's feet and the important, smaller ones stay up top in a convenient cuddle position.  Then gradually someone falls asleep....and it's you. You wake up snuggling a teddy bear and see it's 11:30pm and you've somehow been tucked beneath pink sheets. Oh and the 5 year old is nowhere to be found. Frantically you go in the living room and find them passed out with the TV blaring and a bowl of melted M&Ms in front of them and chocolate all over their face. And to add to the perfect timing, the child's parents walk through the door right as you are discovering the sleeping child.

Sound like a nightmare to you? Well that was my last Saturday with my little sister. I think it's funny schools spend so much time focusing on either abstinence only programs. With this epidemic of teenage pregnancy happening in the US, people really need to start getting creative with their teenage sex programs. In my opinion, have a high school senior spend a day with a 5 year old. They can take my sister if they want. Because any one would agree that 24 hours with these little monsters, is the best birth control out there. If this happened to be a nationwide experiment, I'd bet my money that the percentage of teenage pregnancies in America would drop drastically. I guarantee it.