Apple

I took this photo of an apple and decided to Photoshop it to make it look as normal, yet crazy at as possible. The apple is still green, its original color, but it is intensified in color by the backdrop and by the detail of the photo that you were not able to see in the original picture. You can clearly see the water droplets on the apple. 

I think people should take the time to observe these minor details in a photograph. I think it is the water droplets that make this photo so unique and interesting, and it is my favorite part of the image. It is the subtle details that are most important in a picture.

Photoshop is fun. : )

The Earth in 100 Years

Where will we be as a civilization or a race of human beings in 100 years?

I believe that there will be a World War III over fresh water. The rain is no longer good in many places in the world because the pollution has turned the rain into acid rain and it is dangerous to drink. Oil is something we can live without (whether we believe that or not), but water is a necessity to live, and if its availability is jeopardized, there could be a problem.

The population will also be even more out of hand. Today, the number of people on this Earth exceeds the number of people who have ever died in the history of our world. That's a lot of damn people. And the numbers are growing. Is it possible for all countries to enact a law similar to China's law about having children? Being if a son is born, you can have two kids but if a daughter is born you can only have one kid. Then we would all feel like our rights are being violated.

And what if the environment becomes so incredibly terrible it becomes against the law to not recycle and you must pay a very large fine for littering or throwing trash around outside. I hope  people would want to recycle and not want to litter, but that is not human nature sometimes. Then people would again feel like their rights are being violated.

So then what would be the solution to all of these issues?

No idea, but I sure wouldn't want to be the President right now. 

School Supplies War - Who will win?

Permanent Markers, Stapler, pencils, scissors, and scotch tape VS pens, hole puncher, gluestick, highlighters, calculator, and paperclips. 

Who would win?

Highlighters can highlight things to make certain words or sentences more important, but permanent markers are, well, permanent. 

Which item holds things together better? Scotch tape or a glue stick?

Does a stapler or paperclips hold paper together more efficiently? A stapler is more powerful in terms of engineering, but paperclips come in large numbers and the stapler is sure to be outnumbered. 

Frederich Alexander

Frederich Alexander was my pet frog. I found him in a park. I thought it would be a sensational idea to collect him and take him home with me. And by collect, I mean seize without warning or consent. I am quite an animal lover, but I thought it would be so much fun to raise a pet frog on my own and make him a really badass playpen/cage for him to hang out in. 

I even went as far as to research toads indigenous to Texas so I could learn about Frederich's natural habitat, eating habits, living environments, etc. to ensure best quality life under my roof.

I came up with several contraptions for Frederich Alexander, better known as FA. The guilt of what I had done, taking him out of his natural habitat, prevented me from actually making the contraptions. I returned him to his rightful home, back to where he belonged. 

I cannot say if I will ever take a frog away from its home again, but I hope to think twice next time before doing so. 

Oh how I do miss Frederich. 

Five Things I have Extreme Grievances About

1) When I ask the professor a question during class, and the kid next to me answers the question. 

2) The phrase "pet peeves" (see title of blog for suggested replacement).

3) When someone asks me "What's wrong?" when there is nothing wrong.

4) When my friends take my clothes without asking first.

5) When people interrupt me when I am speaking.

Ciggy Snuggie

Can't do this with a blanket.

Toy Story Character Analysis

I went to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 back-to-back in 3D at Northpark the other night. Because Toy Story happens to be one of my favorite movies and I have seen it possibly one hundred times, I decided to focus on purely the character aspect of the film. It is not the storyline of a film that makes a film great, it is the characters. Toy Story has a relatively linear storyline with a pretty typical conflict between the protagonists and the antagonists, but the characters are so rich and humorous the conflict creates itself, independent from the storyline. 

However, I chose to carefully notice the personality traits of the more minor characters, being Rex, Hamm, and Slinky. 

Rex is a toy T-rex, and everyone knows T-rexes are not smart creatures. At least WERE not. His character in Toy Story is enriched by this fact through his clumsy, confused, and insecure personality. 

Slinky is the dog who gives full loyalty to Woody, even when everyone else is against Woody. Dogs are stereotyped as loyal and true to their owners. 

Hamm is a cunning, confrontational pig. He has no trouble stirring conflict and drama between the toys. It is in the nature of a pig to be snobby and stubborn.

Although these are all obvious observations, I do not think these are connections the audience makes on a conscious level. I think it is interesting to look into character representations depicted in films and how it generates the conflict. 

If I were a Lizard...

I would hide in a blender

I would be held tender

I would take baths in a sink

I would make myself shrink

I would sleep on a lamp

I would play cards like a champ

Questionaiire

While I was babysitting the other day, I came across this book filled with fun questions for the reader to fill out. Obviously designed for tweens, the book compelled me nonetheless, so I filled out one of the questionairres and tore out the page. 

I know that they're cheesy, but silly questionairres are my guilty pleasure. I think a vast majority of girls have filled these out before, but never as honestly or truthfully as they should. Even if you know nobody will ever read your answers to the questions, you always fill them out as if everyone you have ever encountered in your life will read all the answers. And in the process of doing so, your real answers are lost. 

TEN 2010 New Years Resolutions

1) Replace all "bad words" with happy words

examples: "Holy Sugar"

 "What the fruitcake is going on here?"

2) Call old friends from high school twice a month

3) Only eat when feeling hungry (No more snacks due to boredom or random eating rampages at 2:00 in the morning)

4) Work out 4 times a week (walking to class doesn't count)

5) Slow down to see the beauty and goodness in everything, especially the things that are prevalent in my everyday life

6) Read 12 books for fun

7) Have at least one hour of "Kate time" per day, doing things for myself I really enjoy (playing guitar, painting, reading)

8) Cliche Alert: At least one selfless act of kindness every day

9) Return all Blockbuster movie rentals on time

10) Establish a specific money-spending budget to abide by each month

Facebook Forever?

If I had a Facebook until I was 98 years old, how many pictures would be tagged of me? 

I wonder how long we will all have our Facebooks. It's hard to think we will have them our whole lives, but unless something else comes along to replace Facebook, then we just might. We will all watch each other get married, have children, and become senior citizens. My generation will watch itself grow up, and it will all be documented on the world wide web.

A Facebook page encompasses all you need to know about a person, depending on that person's privacy settings. And if my Facebook represents who I am, how will I change and grow as a person over the next 20, 50, 70 years? Will my interests be the same? Will I still be obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock movies? Or Harry Potter books? Will I still love to listen to classic rock? And will I still consider myself to be a liberal person? 

Even after 5 years having a Facebook, I have looked through my photos and have found a vast change in myself. And I have seen changes in my friends too. Although the makers of Facebook most likely did not plan it to be a timeline of people's entire lives, I believe that is what it is. 

Tide Detergent

My friend Connor and I decided we were going to make up a rap song. The only trouble was, we couldn't decide what to rap about, so we asked a friend of ours to give us a topic, and we were faced with the challenge of "Tide Detergent." This was the result:

Folding clothes all in those hoes 

Thinking of no one knows 

When you break it down and every thing goes down 

You put it in the hamper and nothing is a damper 

So blame those hoes 

You feeling like you may not know 

Where the hell your clothes are gonna go

T-T-T-Tide for you laundry 

give you lots of pride 

dream on me

(x 2)

Eff chlorox, eff bleach, eff chlorox, eff bleach

Eff downy because it makes you frowney 

But Tide give you, give you pride 

So you dont need no alibi

So you can get clothes on the indside and the out-out-out side

Clothes in da washa 

Clothes in da drya

When you put on that fresh clean shirt,

You'll soar higha

I AINT NO LIYA TELL EM GANGSTAS

(jam out) -  bamba bamba dam bom  bom bom ("TELL EM GANGSTAS")

When i was a lil girl, I thought tide was dirty 

Then i put on dem clothes and the world got flirty 

So i said to my Gs to the left: Put that shirt in the wash 

And show me your best cause Tide, it's better than all the rest....

dj spin that shit

 

bom bom chicka wawa wawa

T-T-T-Tide for you laundry

Give you lots of pride 

Dream on me 

(x 2)

Tide its really neat 

Put the motha freakin socks on your motha freakin feet 

Cause you dont need no bleach to feel motha freakin complete 

Thats why im saying that heat is sweet 

And Mom don't need no meat because Tide's beat is meat

Tell em gangstas

Street Stun

What if you saw this one day?

Or this?

What if you were driving around in your car, just running errands and minding your own business, and every ordinary thing around you was suddenly unordinary? Let me elaborate. The streetlights are purple, orange, and blue. The trees are upside down. The cars are all driving sideways. 

What would you do? Completely freak out obviously. Because the fabrics of everything we know and are comfortable with would be destroyed and our world would fall to shambles. You might even suspect someone of putting LSD in your coffee that morning, because that is the only thing that might explain what the hell is going on.

I asked myself what I would do if all of the street signs around me said something different. I would completely panic. I think it would be really cool if everything that was "ordinary" was actually unordinary. 

The truth is, ordinary objects are as ordinary as you make them. It is the perception of the viewer that makes that decision. I have decided to look at everything around me in a different way, and it makes life much more unordinary, and that's the way I like it.

2009

The year 2009 was an odd year (pun intended). I wouldn't particularly want to relive it again. The second half of freshman year at SMU definitely beat the first half, and so far the first half of sophomore year beats the second half of freshman year, but 2009 was just plain bizarre for the following reasons:

*I lost my phone 5 times 

*My GPA was a 3.153

*The family I babysit for gave me a raise from $12 to $15 an hour

*Second semester freshman year I was enrolled in 13 hours of class

*I am currently enrolled in 17 hours of class

*I went on one vacation

*I had 7 overdue rentals at Blockbuster

And what do all of the numbers in these points have in common? They are odd. You might be wondering why this is significant. And I am wondering why it is not. 

Yes, I'm sure I could think of just as many scenarios that would encompass even numbers, but 2009 was not an even year. I tell myself I am not superstitious because I feel no remorse for walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror. Breaking a mirror just sucks. But at the same time, what if life was just one big sign? Or series of signs? 

Why or how could I lose my phone five times? For the reason that I am forgetful and clumsy most likely, (or maybe there is some kind of SINISTER alterior motive being plotted by the thing in the place) but also maybe because after five times, I begin to understand the why and the how, and I take corrective measures to prevent it from happening again, which I did. But why after 5 occasions would I change my ways? That is the very question I am pondering. 

And why would the family I babysit for choose a $3 increase, changing my hourly pay from $12 to $15? Obviously due to the fact that I am a terrific babysitter and deserved it, but why? Because it is the year 2009. And 2009 is an odd year. 

It is an interesting thought to consider: What if every odd situation that occurs during an odd year was important? And I do not yet know the significance of the events and scenarios. It is a pretty stupid thought, but compelling too. 

Think about it. 

"Hmm...If only I had a chair."

"If only."