Extra, extra! Read all about it?

Usually, I don't even bother looking at the headlines presented as "news" on the home page of Yahoo.  The titles advertising these poor grammar-filled articles typically look like this:

Breaking News! Anne changes her name to @nne

Breaking News! @nne debuts a bold new hair color


Breaking News! The artist formerly known as @nne changes bold new hair color!


This just in! A-nizzle gets a daring new haircut to go along with new hair color!


What was she thinking?  A-niz spotted wearing (gasp!) pajamas while reaching out her front door to get her morning newspaper!

Have you heard?  Rumors of A-niz's divorce! (wait....she's not married...Rumors of A-niz's secret E-harmony relationship!)

Scandalous! @-nizzle's picture on the cover of 17! Magazine photoshopped! The horror!

Except they're articles are about people like Hilary Clinton, Rhianna, or Justin Bieber.  Occasionally, for entertainment's sake I'll click on a seemingly interesting article about a woolly-mammoth spotting, or houses with the coolest staircases.  But even in those articles, the two most entertaining things are the pictures and the comments, because let's just face it....whoever writes for Yahoo News sucks.  It's just not worth the click.

Today, however, I was immediately drawn in by an article titled: "Web's disturbing 'Am I ugly?' trend".  While I was still unimpressed in terms of writing skills by this article, it did it's primary job: my attention was successfully grabbed.  The term "disturbing" in the article's title was quite accurate.  Basically, I learned today that there is an up and coming trend in which middle-school/early highschool aged girls (and some boys) are posting videos of themselves asking the question: "Am I ugly?".  Can I just say: SAD! :(   I mean the questions here are endless.  Where are the parents? Why are videos like this allowed on YouTube? Shouldn't there be SOME kind of filter?  What does this say about society (the media)and the expectations we place on people's physical appearances?  What does this say about the impact of technology?  And again, WHERE are the parents of these children? Why do they have unsupervised access to webcams and the internet?  Don't they (the adults in these kids' lives) know how many creeps there are out there, preying on innocent young people with low-self esteem?  The questions go on and on.  The point is, this is ridiculous.  Aesthetics have become so unbelievably highly placed on the priority list.  People are so concerned with how they look that they spend hours wrapped up with technology: getting distorted guidelines for what constitutes beauty and then posting videos asking millions of strangers if they've met the mark.  I like a comment that one person posted on this article. It was something along the lines of: "I miss the 80's. The time before all this YouTube and other technological crap.  We looked ridiculous and still considered ourselves beautiful and didn't care what other people thought because we were just out having fun and living, instead of being cooped up inside on the computer!" Ahhhh....there are just so many things I want to write about this article.  But the main thing is this:  Beauty comes from within.  No person can define another person's beauty.  "It's what's inside that counts."  Once you know that and focus and being happy and making sure that you're living the kind of life that makes you feel good inside, well...it'll shine through to the outside, and that's what makes a person beautiful.  It's so sad that these young people who are posting these videos haven't been taught that by their parents and teachers and are instead getting their lessons on beauty from other sources, like the media, and then feeling the need to subject themselves to cyber-bullying via YouTube. I'm so glad that I have a father who taught me (and reminds me often) that what really matters in life is the kind of person you are, not the kind of person other people think (or tell you) you are.  Man...I really could write an entire essay on this.  But, I'll get off my soap-box now.  Just know, you're all beautiful.  And if you need a reminder, watch this video:

Ouch

Fact: I am very sore.

Yesterday I decided I wanted to switch up my workout a bit because I've been doing the same Jillian Michael's dvd every day for about 3 weeks, and...quite frankly it's gotten very monotonous.  My roommate also has a few J.M workout dvds, so I wanted to avoid those. Then I saw that on her bookshelf, apart from all of her other dvds (should have been my first clue), she had another workout dvd.  It's by one of the other fitness people from Biggest Loser, so I thought, "hey, this could be promising." After reading the back and establishing that it was an "intense 1 hour cardio workout", I decided to give it a try.  The result? Death.  I have been literally limping around since yesterday afternoon.  I can hardly move.  I usually wake up by 8 am on the dot, sans an alarm clock even, but this morning I had to drag myself out of bed by 10 am.  And trust me...it was an exceedingly difficult task. 

In other news...

This week has been really hard.  Mostly due to the fact that I allowed myself to procrastinate MUCHO and didn't stick to any of my plans, schedules, or lists for getting things done.  (On the plus side, I feel very confident about my British Literature midterm that I took yesterday.  2 and half hours, 7 hand written pages, and I'm feeling pretty good.) I somehow managed to finish all of my major homework assignments, papers, and midterms, but have fallen quite behind on reading.  Even though I can probably skate by without reading all of the chapters in my textbooks, I just hate the feeling of doing the bare minimum.  So, that knowledge that I've been slacking has added an unusual level of stress to my life this week.  Stress + being very sore from that killer cardio workout + just some weird brooding feeling I can't quite name = a very discouraged Anne.  Basically, I could use like three things right now: 1. A tub of ice cream and a psych marathon 2. A hug 3. Some words of encouragement.

Other than this weird off day/week I seem to be having, life has been really good...

My brother James just got his mission call to Iowa!! I'm so excited for him. :) And this means I'll get to see my family when they come to take him to the MTC! Stoked!

My roommate Jeramy through a super fun and delicious Valentine's Day party on Tuesday, and it was really nice to just be surrounded by people I love, eat junk food, and watch chick flicks. 

My nails are a retro shade of pink that I'm loving!

I got an awesome care package in the mail from my mom with my favorite jeans in them!

Thanks to much help from my dad and amy, my computer is working and I now have internet in my apartment! So nice to not have to run to campus all the time!!

It's a three day weekend and I'm spending it doing lots of fun things! Game night with old roomies tonight and then the rest of the weekend chilling with my best bud Kelsey from back home! So, despite the normal struggles of college life, I have so much to look forward to and be thankful for! :)

Hey shorty, it's your birfday (pun intended)

Q: What's short, loves Psych almost as much as I do, and is sometimes told resembles a Jane Austen character?

A: That's right, Ariadne.  (Name changed to the close-in-pronunciation, never remembered name of the main girl character in Inception for, you know, privacy's sake.  Also, because if you switch the "d" and the "n" it kinda sounds like a name that Rejamy and Mashley always used to call her but I never understood but kind of deduced that it must have something to do with a boy....)


Today is my great friend "Ariadne's" birthday! She is 21 flipping one years old! what a granny....


I kid, I kid.  Ariadne has been one of my favorite people since I first met her over a year ago through her roommate Rejamy.  These are some of the top reasons why:

1. She's got a hilarious, witty sense of humor and never ceases to make me laugh
2. When she gets embarrassed or is trying to hide something she tends to go the opera singer route
3. She loves Psych. (And phineas and ferb, just for the record)  Quickest way to my heart=psych
4. She is a wonderful friend and got me a job once upon a time!!! I probably never thanked her for that....but I am seriously soooo grateful!  You da, you da best!
5. Even though I do ridiculous things (for example, events regarding  #4, things said while on a certain pain medication....) she is still my friend and doesn't tease me about them....too much.
6. English major twinners! wooot.  also, she wants to/wanted to be a librarian at some point.  And she would be the cutest little librarian ever! also, she's a really great writer and i love her blog.
7. She's got the cutest fashion sense that tends to make me....J-J-jam? jump?  jealous?
8.  Her ridiculously gorgeous bangs remind me of zoey deschannel's.  Zoey deschannel's bangs remind me of ariadne's bangs.  It's totes redic how gorgeous ariadne is!
9.  She's so wise and has THE best advice of anyone around. Her costume for halloween=symbolically perfect 
10.  Creative.  Have you seen the kinds of crafty things this girl comes up with?  Ge-nius.  One of my most prized possessions is this giant pineapple dish she painted for me. 
11.  Calm, cool, collected.... I think she's like the most down-to-earth and level headed person I know.  When situations get kinda crazy she doesn't freak out too much, and thinks of the rational thing to do.  Last winter when I was hobbling around on one foot and could hardly walk, she didn't even hesitate to hear my absurd protests before taking me to the hospital to get it looked at. 
12.  She's patient and such a loyal friend and supports me in all my kooky endeavors.  When I decided to randomly move to Hawaii, even though it made her sad and was pretty irrational, she didn't mock or laugh at me or try to convince me to do something else.  And she totally made me the most awesome package while I was in Hawaii!
13.  Her name has my name in it, so that automatically just makes her cool.
14. Also she's a pro ice cream scooper and guacamole maker...what more can I say?
15. We do fun things together, like eating at Sammy's and making unicorn t-shirts. And sometimes we just hypothesize about doing fun things, like painting rocks, and making pinatas for everyone.

Basically, I love Ariadne and I'm so glad she's my friend! (btws...psych party asap!)

Happy Birthday Ariadnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnne!