Thin is sooooooo

Everyone’s on about how models such as Kate Moss, Lily Cole and <> are a terrible influence on insecure, not-overweight-but-not-stick-thin adolescents. Well, maybe they are, but that’s the more blatant type of influence. Sitting in the library today trying to recall everything I swore I studied in Physics, (and failing miserably by the way), I found myself looking at the ‘Junior Fiction’ section. And as I stared at the rows of Fear Streets, Babysitter Clubs, Chalet Schools and other series I’ve never heard of before, I was idly musing on the impact that they had on our lives (I had nothing else to do, physics was but a bitter memory). And I thought of Sweet Valley, Nancy Drew and other books aimed at young girls, ie- the less techie chick-flicks, precursors if you want.

I couldn’t help but remember the long drawn out descriptions of the Wakefield twins in Sweet Valley, how they were the picture of physical beauty, how they (Elizabeth was all ‘good at heart’ and Jessica not so much) always had the PERFECT thing to wear, how they were all thin etcetera etcetera. In Nancy Drew, remember her ‘fat’ friend? (What was her name??) She would obsess over her weight, and even though Nancy (who was naturally thin, ofcourse) would laugh her off, it was still there for all to see. The boys in the books always fell for the thin, pretty ones; the heroines were always pinup worthy. And while they never screamed it out, (“Thin is IN! Thin is IN!”) On some level isn’t that imbibed? School stories like the Twins at St. Clare’s and other Enid Blytons sold the idea that physical beauty was determined by a smile and by cheeks that were pink from the cold, and hair that was shiny not from Elvive but eating healthy. But while that does affect people, for every book on ‘natural’ and ‘inner’ beauty, there’s a Clueless inspired book (the Clueless books themselves! And yes, I do know it’s a series. Don’t ask) on oh so perfect teenagers, permanently glossed, straightened, and a size 4.

And while everyone knows this, that the youth is impressionable, anorexia and crash dieting are already integral parts of today’s vocab yada yada, what fascinated me most of all(apart from my complete lack of knowledge in Section C), was (is?) the hypocrisy and acceptance surrounding these things, yes on my part as well =P

So yes, we are all APPALLED by this, by the websites forcing people to crash diet (yep, they do exist). But, we accept it. After all, if it doesn’t affect us, why should it matter


PS- yes, i do write whtver comes 2 mind avec little regard for whether it is going anywhere! (like my physics paper, which didnt. as i may have mentioned)

Some more Noel goodness

But Noel isnt all hues of green and red. It isnt all pressies, food, being surrounded by friends and having that proverbial 'someone'. As magical and 'young' as Noel is, it isnt.

There are people who won't be receiving so much as a 'Merry Christmas' for whatever reason, their own fault or not.
Christmas is as much about the giving as it is about the receiving, and a lot of people are not able to do the latter- they simply can't afford to. And while i'm a staunch believer in the feeling bit of Noel (im a hopeless romantic btw, ) it is disheartening to know that the mere concept of not being able to afford Noel exists.

Another thing that disheartenns at Noel is people. Yup, sometimes just that one person. The season can make you say things you feel, things youve been hiding quite well, but all the talk of love and blah made you open your mouth. Before you know it, youre identifying with the Noel anthem of unrequited love and infidelity: Last Christmas, i gave you my heart. But the very next day...

But that doesnt mean you shouldn't say anything. Noel's a wonderful opportunity, grab it. I say this a lot, but don't wake up with 'What ifs' going through your head, just do it!! Throw caution to the winds the past and convention to the dogs and go for it! This will probably bite me later on, but I'll never regret saying it. In the world today, i dont think a bit of love, platonic and otherwise, is a bad thing to encourage!

Sometimes Noel dredges up memories that hurt when you look around today. Or not. It could make you happy rather than suicidal. Or make u think Black (thanks, The One!) rather than red and green. Low cal bars rather than plum cake. But it doesnt matter. Because Christmas goes beyond a day. why this post is sooooo november is because Christmas is winter and especially December, but more importantly, it's a state of mind.

Christmas to-do

Winter means Christmas. Christmas means a million and one things to do. a million and one FUN things to do, so since we're only a week away from December we better start the planning! coz the longer we plan, the more fun we can have...right?

1. Deck the halls, the corridors, the rooms, the gardens, the anything standing still long enough.

2. Retrieve Santa's (no, the other one. ho ho ho nd all........) hat from the annals of cupboard, or wherever it was flung last year in a fit of post-Christmas depression.

3. Make sure you have atleast one red and/or green outfit. Try it on. If it doesnt fit, quit whining and swearing to drop a size by the 25th. after all, it has been a year since ur last festive burst! so get to the shops and find something nice.
If it does fit, then how nice for you Victoria.

4. Get the Noel music out from under that Ashlee Simpson CD you don't own. Or if it's too far gone burrrnnn!

5. Brush up on your lyrics. There's nothing more irritating carol-wise than being unable to sing '12 Days of Christmas' because you dont know the words.

6. Look up the names of all of Santa's reindeer. You know you have this conversation every year, and always mess up. ("No wait, we said Prancer")

7. Plan a Noel movie marathon, a cider fuelled outdoorsy event, a cake making afternoon and unplanned, completely spontaneous, devil-may-care Carolling!

8. Get your Noel cards in order. Remember Everyone! come on, it's Christmas.

9. Make the perfect batch of cookies.
9 a. Redefine 'Perfect'.

10. Do up that TREE! (dont forget the candy canes)

11. Dream up the most perfect pressies! (for others as well Ms. Hilton)

12. Do something nice for someone. You know what I mean.

13. Jingle all the Way. All the freaking Way.



And the Christmas Not-to-do:

1. Don't be a Scrooge.

2. Don't Shout, pout or cry.

3. Don't glare at people singing out loud. It's Noel, hence its part of culture.

4. Don't get put off by the inevitable spate on how commercial and materialistic Noel has become. You know you still love it. You know you still feel it, so go on and Let It Show!

Stop IT!

These ads have been appearing on Star World for a while now, and it's sick that there has to spread awareness to this effect. It barely takes a minute to go to the site and light your candle, so do it if u have something even resembling a conscience or a heart.

http://www.lightamillioncandles.com

No child deserves this. It's just wrong. And we can stop it.

Thanksgiving...but dont let that put u off!!

Today being the USA's Thanksgiving, I've decided to be oh-so original and write something thanking someone.

We all have peoplewe have to, or just want to thank-friends, family etc-but they'll eventually get their due. I'm pretty sure most (if not all) of us have thanked someone in our lives and really meant it, I knw I have. But whom i really want to thank (and it's been on my mind since yesterday) is someone who i have never met, and never will. Someone who has done something for me, and has no idea that he or she did. Yes, i don't even know if it's a he or a she, young or old or.... But still, I feel that my someone hasn't been properly thanked, so I'm doing it now. I feel it unimportant that my someone probably had no idea that he/she was doing something for me, it's the principle of the thing.

This is for that goat whose spinal cord we examined yesterday. Armed with a needle and forceps, teasing the cord from a mass of tissue made me feel surprisingly small. I mean, there i was with all the abilities and amenities i need, when somewhere a living creature was dead so we could casually play scientist with its central nervous system. I deplored our entire bio class just then. Who were we to do nothing more challenging and worthwhile with the cord than spread it on a slide? Didnt that goat deserve something better to be done with one of its vital organs? Not only did we domesticate it, remove all its freedom and effectively its right to life, but we insult it by........eugh, i cant even say it again.

so to that goat with its own life, given up for 5 marks and god knows what else- Thank You.

PS- this may come across as tres OTT and ranting for the sake of, but the emotion i felt for that goat was so sincere- you will experience/have experienced it, think 'if'?.

Much Too Old

Anyone else feel we're too old? i dont mean the standard, 'you're too old to be doing that, so put that spraypaint away' old, i mean the 'oh dear, i have this and that and this too do, then i have to have this before 3 then....'old. The 'we have as many things to do as dad and are getting way too stressed to do things' old. Don't get me wrong, we have fun, no doubt about it. But at times i suddenly stop feeling 'young and sweet, only 17!(16)' and like an old woman whose had her run. sort of 'when will it all stop?' when it hasn't even begun, which is irritating in its own way.

Sometimes, I miss the problems I once considered Huge, and would gladly trade them in for what i'm going through now. know what i mean? It's like we're being tossed around by life, and someone up there's mocking us for complaining about our problems, by throwing us a whole new set of them, to make the old ones pale in comparison. I guess it's a part of growing up, but it's all so, well...bang! One year the only thing i'd have to worry about in the airport was not being able to find a good magazine at the duty free. Next year, a child 7 years younger than me is counting on me to keep him safe as we both travel alone to india- i would gladly sacrifice reading if it meant he wouldn't get an asthama attack, wouldn't get lost, kidnapped, abducted, anything. It's like being converted into a temporary mother, you suddenly dont exist, all you care about is making sure your child is fine. And at 14, you don't want to spend youre precious pre-flight time watching tv in the lounge because the child doesn't want to come to the duty free. I felt old, very tied down.
But thinking of what i said earlier about how our new problems are the suns rays to our old problems' ants. Sometimes our new problems are the same, technically, just on a different level. For example, having a crush on someone. Before it was a playful thing, and you could get over it. then suddenly you meet Someone and youre completely unprepared for the rush of emotions that have suddenly taken you over. It goes much deeper than your previous notion of 'like' and you can't do anything but wonder how things got this far. and you never really get over that (it becomes a problem, it was so minute before). or it's like this current time when Universities have to be applied to, final marks have to be simply fab thus entailing endless amounts of studying, not to mention assorted tests, being worried about submitting homework (remember homework?) on time is laughable compared to this Application Frenzy.
I also get this terrible feeling that i'm too old when i see lists regarding what i have to do. i suppose it should make me feel organised, but lists (this sort) has always seemed to be an 'old person' thing. we're not meant to have so many things to do that we need lists! we're not meant to have so many medicines for various ailments that are suddenly turning up. most under 20s i know are popping more pills than my grandad, the grandaddy of all meds. true, we are living in a different, more dangerous, faster paced time as opposed to the pollution freer times our parents lived in.....but does that mean we become their 40 yr old selves aged 16? do we need to take, to be told to take vitamins at specific intervals ( as determined by the lists) when we could just eat our greens rather than skip a meal to go for tuitions, or an enforced relaxing session or..........(n/a to nicole richie followers). i dont think so. neither do i think that this is what they mean by, 'youth is wasted on the young/comes and goes too soon'
as per natural progression, u look around you at all the things you'll be leaving behind in less than a year, and this wave of nostalgia englufs you, and you feel so incredibly old, but so unprepared. you dont have the answers to everything you thought you would. not even a quarter of everything. overwhelmed.
almost as if the 4 Non- Blondes was singing 'What's Up?' about you?

Then that 16 year old in me, so far supressed by the current mood, fights its way through, and yells, ' stop whining about yourself!! get off the comp, open ur bio book' (ok, bit of self gratification there, it's actually telling me to get off the comp, go 2 my room and dance to my mp3.....since i wldn't want to wake anyone up....hush you!)

The Studzies

The Latest Musical Sensation to Hit the Nation

If you haven't already heard of them, chances are you soon will. Made up of two..............studious friends, Charolene 'Charlie' Aranha and Linda 'Lindze' Abraham, this new band is a musical force that is definitely here to stir things up. Their music is refreshingly original; a unique blend of classical Pop and Hip-Hop, tinged with Rap, Opera and Soul. However, what sets them apart from the chaff is the pure simplicity of their music- they are unencumbered by any musical instrument, relying solely on talent. They may have just carved out a whole new genre.

From their humble beginnings of crooning over their telephones, much to Lindze's twin sister's less than delight, Studzies has surely grown. They recently performed their mind-blowing debut single, 'Distracted' in the the newly expanded Shoebox (to a full house), to cries of 'Encore'. Lindze's sister Lisha was in the audience, but was too teared up (either because of the emotional, hard hitting lyrics or................) to comment.

However, despite their success, the girls know where their priorities lie. "My studies come first" says Lindze solemnly. But does that mean that they'll be content with the title of 'One Hit Wonders'? heavens, no. "Once our exams are over, we'll be heading back to the bedrooms, for telephonic sessions" promises Charlie. And we can't wait and seek.

--The Studzies' debut single, 'Distracted (d'dee dee dee) hits stores this november--

Random List of School Related Things

As the not-so-subtle title may suggest, this is a completely random list of things, ill probably miss when i leave school, ill remember fondly, or ill...well.....not too sure. this is after all a completely random list. not one for introductions at the mo, so here's the...what else? the list!

1. Waking up early to watch a cricket match. Then going to school and chatting more about the waking up bit than the actual match.

2. Extra-prep session discussions. Then realising with wonder that we spent 3/4 of our time laughing, and then laughing all over again. you people know what i'm talking about.

3. Starting out in the chem lab with highly studiously scholastic intentions, then towards the end randomly throwing things into test-tubes and beakers, hoping for a colour change. Oh, and keeping a straight face through at all...not to mention the joy when we actually do get a test right.

4. Perrenial talk of going to Mall on Chem exam day ('We'd Probably score more!')

5. Acceptance of the fact that one pizza and one Melco juice can last our science lot.

6. Continued odd delight at the fact that out of 14 people, it isn't unusual if only one of us (if at all) have a Math text book. Further amusement the next day when we all have our books, since Sir threatened to make all those who 'forgot' do 20 sums as homework.

7. Finding atleast one person from class in the clinic during 5th subject and/or English Language.

8. Taking the long routes to places to avoid bumping into certain people.

9. Taking the long routes to places in order to bump into certain people.

10. Horror at the fact that the windows in our class are VERY two-way, and we rarely draw the blinds.

11. Going through various literary phases- aided ofcoursde by the school library. Embarassment when taking books, contributing to each phase, outside the confines of our class.

12. Holding and swinging hands in the corridor as a mean of cheering up.

13. Never having to use the handle when opening our class door, just pushing our way in.

14. Singing along to someone's playing on the piano during assorted breaks.

15. Jogging around the field for no apparent reason. Then jogging in the direction just to see.

16. The way our desks have been converted into lockers, to save us the trip.

17. Realising that we know Julius Caesar like the back of our hands and Richard, not so much- "So is that banished guy back? dead? when? are u sure?"

18. Colouring in diagrams and writing with coloured pens, everyone's got their favourites.

19. Finding out that someone else watches the same lame show, listens to the same lame music or has played/ plays the smae lame games as you.

20. Skipping a class and keeping an eye on the clock so as to determine when it's safe to resurface. Then completely forgetting ourselves and missing much more than we intended.

21. Sentences that begin with, 'Remember when my......'

First Session Talks

You know what i'm talking about. the 'Talks'. the 'of life'. the frankness and the openess, the innocence and the not-so-much innocence. the stuff and the more stuff. boy, we have come a long way conversation-wise! damn...i thought this would be easy to write about (no thanks to u lisha and charlie!) but, its actually not. i mean, what DO i mention? the topics, yeah rite! (btw, the video i took is not going to be up anytime soon, so if anyone wants it do ask!) although, the manner in which we were going about our discussion did suggest that there was/is nothing to be embarassed of...id rather not go into the details of ****** and the ******* and why ******* and ******* have ******** and if its half as good as *********. suggestive? i dont know what's going through your mind. actually, not too sure what was going through our heads at the time....lol. sorry, cant stop laughing whilst shaking head.....=D
for further info do visit ************. or call ************ on *********** after 11.