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| Here's something from InStyle Magazine that I thought was very well written.
It's titled: Your Turn to Curtsy
For all who bemoan the loss of manners, the scarcity of chivalry, and
the overall callousness steadily creeping into our culture, this
season's evening wear offers - if not a surefire solution - a powerful
suggestion: Dress the way you would like to be treated. Swoop, don't
plunge, and allude rather than announce. Why immediately reveal what's
more fun to conceal? Yield instead to the yearning that comes with
romance rather than fanning the hot flashiness that screams sexy. Could
such an old-fashioned approach usher in a gentler future? It just m
ight inspire that someone to practice his bows.
Just thought that would be interesting to share...
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| it was last year, a week ago, when i had my first hot pot gathering at
my house. and the one this year is coming up next week! i think i'm
gonna make it an annual thing. you just can't get enough hot pot!
anyways, i've been procrastinating the past 3hrs (as usual) and i was
reading over the blogs from the past year. wow! some of them are really
bland!... this one is one of them. anyways, i went on a couple other
ppl's xanga site to draw inspiration. some people like to blog their
daily activities to the minute, others like to blog about their
thoughts and ideas, or even opinions on some topics, and still some
people like to put jokes on their blogs. i'm not really a funny person
nor am i the type of person to look for jokes to post everyday. mind
you, i do appreciate a good joke every so often so those of you that do
do it, please continue to do so. i'm also not the type of person to
write extensively about particular thoughts or personal opinions,
unless it's something that's haunting me, and i'm seriously not the
kind of person that would like random people reading my inner most
thought processes on the world wide web. i do occassionally blog about
recent occurences in my life, but that's mostly on my friendster blog, so
if you care enough to want to know what's going on with me, check
there. i've decided to reserve my xanga space to personal short
stories, or observations, maybe even poems, to relieve the inner writer
in me, whenever my heart desires.
that being said, i'm gonna delete all my useless stupid past random posts. thanks for being an audience!
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| courtesy of kotex...
Ten Friends that Every Woman Needs - by Dr. Jan Yager
A friend is defined as someone you are not related to by either birth
or by marriage, nor do legal ties bind you. Most social scientists
agree that friendship excludes romance or sexual intimacy, or it has
become something other than friendship.
1. The Casual Friend
A casual friend is someone you like and who likes you, but the
friendship is far from intimate. In contrast to acquaintances or those
with whom you merely network, there is a connection with a casual
friend, but just information and activities are shared. This is the
easiest friendship to maintain. Some casual friendships may deepen and
become a close or a best friendship.
2. The Close Friend
In defining a close friend, 25 year old Sonia notes: "If I am
able to be myself and they feel comfortable to be themselves around me,
no matter what the situation is." You confide your private thoughts or
feelings with a close friend without fear of repercussions because
there is a utual trust that confidences will not be shared. Unlike "the
one" best friend, it is perfectly acceptable to have several close
friends.
3. The Best Friend
Like a close friend, the best friend is elevated to a high level
of intimacy, but there is an assumption of exclusivity (although some
report having more than one best friend, especially if the best friends
live far apart). A best friend may be harder to maintain after
marriage. However, as long as boundaries are respected -- the best
friends do not form allegiances that threaten marital or familial
loyalties -- women of all ages may still benefit from having a best
friend.
4. Same-sex Friend
A same sex friend helps you to validate or challenge your own
perspectives and to be able to share about experiences along gender
lines. Friends of the same sex, usually have a commonality about some
experiences, such as issues related to fashion, career, romantic
relationships, or childbearing.
5. Opposite-sex Friend
Fortunetely, it is no longer immediately assumed than an
opposite-sex friendship has to be something more. Since research has
found that female friendships tend to be more intimate than male
friendships, having an opposite-sex friend provides each gender with
the chance to take a break from those gender-specific ways of
connecting. In that way, a woman could have friendships with men that
are more activity-oriented (and the male friends could find themselves
more comfortable opening up emotionally to their female friends).
6. The Nostalgia Friend
You grew up together, went to school together, or once worked together.
If possible, continue cultivating at least one nostalgic friend to help
you to have continuity in your life, especially if you are still single
and unattached. A nostalgia friend reminds you of where you've been as
a way of reaffirming how far you've traveled in life.
7. The Role Model
This is a friend who helps you go to the next level, whether she's
better at hair styling than you are or works harder, or has somehow
managed to find the right balance in her life among her career,
romantic, childcare, and friendship pulls and choices.
8. The Motivator
when you're feeling defeated or overwhelmed, the motivator brings you
way up, as she inspires you, and inspires you to keep trying.
9. The Realist
This friend doesn't put you down, but she does temper your enthusiasm
and wild plans with welcome and well-meaning realism. She's the one who
reminds you that going back to school is a great idea, but she also
reminds you that you'll need to pay for it somehow.
10. The Nurturer
"She is there for me," notes a 21 year old Texan event planner. Her
friend is a nurturer, the one who offers her help, if you want to take
it. She doesn't just point you in the right direction for help. Even
more importantly, she supports you emotionally by empathizing with your
joys or sadness on such a deep level that it helps you to feel safer
and stronger.
Yes, we need these ten friends in our lives (they're allowed to
overlap) but we also need to be providing these characterisitics to our
friends. How many casual, close, or best friends have you nurtured
lately?
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| Looking for a boyfriend or a girlfriend is like looking for a bra (or underwear in guys' case). You want one that fits you, the way it is. You don't want your breasts to adjust to the shape of an unfitted bra (unless of course, it's a double D, and you're sporting an A  ). You want one that hugs you comfortably, one that you can wear all the time without it being a bother. You have to take care of your bras, you can't just throw it in the wash like everything else... you have to treat it with care to preserve it; otherwise it just goes horribly out of shape too quickly. You want one that is gonna support you, not too droopy and not too restrictive. Sometimes you need a nice push-up bra, someone that's gonna push you to be the most that you can be.No two bras are ever the same, that's why when your bra gets old and loses it's form, you try so hard to replace it, but it seems impossible, and you're left but to linger on. Most importantly, bras are very personal. You don't go around sharing your bras, and you definitely don't buy bras (or underwear) that someone else is already wearing. | | |
| In many aspects, life is like riding a horse. Sure, it's hard, it's challenging, and sometimes you take a bad fall. But when you get the hang of it and you're in control, it's a lot of fun and it becomes easy, and you gain a huge sense of accomplishment.
The goal: To get from beginning to end, over all the obstacles, with as little mistakes as possible.
Jumps come in many different forms: uprights, spreads, corners, stairs, walls, water hazards, logs, bridges, fences etc... and they certainly come in different heights. Sometimes they come together: doubles, triples, even bounces. Just like life's obstacles. There are many many different things that we all face, and different degree of difficulty. And when you're lucky (or unlucky), they all come together, or they're evenly spread out. Everyone tackles them in their own way... and it is through that discovery that we improve.
If you take the wrong path, you can always make it right. If you knock down a pole, it affects your record. If you miss a jump, you always have to go back and get over it before you can advance.
You gotta know where you're going. You have to know the path you're gonna take before you get on the horse. You have to know how to guide your horse into going over the jumps, and you have to make all the prepartory precautions for them. If you go in unprepared, you're screwed. For example, after landing a jump, you were supposed to shorten the strides for a pop, but if you allow the horse to go at its own pace, it may be too fast and too flat to jump the height required. You might get really lucky and your horse somehow knows where it's supposed to go, but really, how often does that happen?
No matter how hard you fall, how badly you want to give up and just walk out, you can't. You can't let your opponents find your weakness, and you certainly can't do it without losing your dignity.
Respect your opponents. Whatever difficulties you have to face, they have to too... we're all on the same path, it's the journey that defines us.
You have to adjust yourself to your surroundings. No course is ever exactly the same. If the weather's bad, you might want to be more careful. If you're at a new arena, you might want to be more alert. If you're riding a new horse, you might want to warm up more. If you see something unfamiliar, you might want to take your time with it.
People outside the arena can scream, or yell, or point, or tell you what to do. You may choose to listen to them, you may choose to ignore them. In the end, it's just you, and no one else.
Before you were let loose to compete, your instructor should have taught you things that you need to know. They were there to teach you the basics, to help you take your beginning steps, the rest is up to you. They can't lead you around in the arena.
Sometimes, circumstances occur unexpectedly beyond your control. You may get a crappy horse, who would rather get you off its back instead of working together with you to help you through. That's when you take out the whip and beat the crap outta the horse, sometimes in practice, sometimes in the arena in front of all to see, to show them who's the boss.
Anyone can get on the back of a horse and go over jumps. But to do it with grace and poise is the real challenge and the real test of expertise and experience. Real winners do not remember their individual wins, but individual jumps, and how they conquerred it.
In a showjump competition, you get eliminated if you fall off. In life, you're not finished until you've reached the end. | | |
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