Ghosts of Christmas Past

Forgetting can be a beautiful thing. I mean, imagine if you actually remembered everything you ever learned, did, or ate, and everyone you ever shook hands with, passed on the street, or went to high school with. Your brain would start spilling out of your head because it would be packed with completely useless information like how to do calculus (assuming sitting in class everyday meant you ever knew how to do it) and the names of every person you sat in calculus class with everyday for a year. Now most people would say that it's perfectly acceptable to forget everything you ever learned in calculus class (unless you're a math major or something, but...ew). However, I think that we often think it's a bad thing to forget people; to let even the most insignificant human relationships slip away. I, on the other hand, think it can be wonderful.

If you are currently thinking to yourself, "self, Emily is an antisocial Scrooge", just hold your horses (shout out to Sue) for a minute. I don't just up and forget about people like it's a hobby. In fact, this blog post is inspired by an evening I recently spent with two of my closest friends from high school; friends I intend to keep for the rest of my life, if they'll have me. Here's the story:

A few days ago on December 17th it was the anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight and, coincidently (or not coincidently at all), my friend Kris's 21st birthday! Right there you have two excellent reasons to celebrate, so celebrate we did. On Saturday night my friend Charlotte and I (along with Orville and Wilbur) took Kris out for a drink at the Nitty Gritty. We sat down at a table, ordered our beverages (don't worry, Charlotte got a soda), and proceeded to play "People We Have Completely Forgotten About From High School" for about two hours. This is a game in which one person mentions the name of someone from our high school class that he or she thinks the other two will have completely forgotten about, then we proceed to laugh because we have indeed forgotten about this person. As I said, this went on for a long time until we started to feel uncomfortable because some of those very people we had just mentioned walked into the bar. I'm not making this up. We left.

Here's my point: some relationships matter, and others don't. Some relationships matter for a while and then cease to matter, and others don't matter at all for sometime and then suddenly become invaluable. So it's okay to let go of the ones that don't matter; it's okay to forget about people. If you do, then it gives you more time to spend making sure that you don't lose the relationships that ARE important. I mean, if you spend four years sitting across from someone in class, and a few years later you literally can't remember his or her last name, chances are that person is not meant to play an starring role in your life. He or she may be a wonderful person, and maybe even play the lead role in someone else's life, but that doesn't mean you have to exchange Christmas cards. It's interesting, though. The fact that you can spend years in close proximity to one person and feel little or no connection, and then you can become instantly close with someone else just because your names are pulled out of a hat consecutively (shout out to Shane). They're the keepers though, the pulled-out-of-a-hat people. They're the ones who will be there for you when your favorite horse dies, and the ones who will always hold open the Batmobile door for you.

I think we sometimes hold on to fickle relationships because we're afraid that all of our relationships from the past will disappear if we let ourselves move on with our lives, grow up, or change. However, it comes down to trust. Trust that the truly important relationships from the past will continue into the future, and trust that the future will introduce you to relationships deeper than you could ever imagine. Some people may fall out of your life, but others will enter your life; and some will be there the whole time, sitting next to you at a bar laughing when you can't remember the names, or picture the faces of half of your high school class.

Also. Merry Christmas! I hope you all get to spend this joyful time of year with all of those people who matter most to you.

If I Had A Million Swiss Francs

Question of the day: why is there so much greed in the United States when our money is so ugly? This, my friends, is what I have been thinking about for approximately the past three minutes. I mean here's the thing, I can understand being greedy in Switzerland. Their money is gorgeous and there is fine chocolate everywhere you look on which to spend that beautiful money. Last semester I traveled to Geneva, Switzerland for a weekend while I was studying abroad in Spain. When my friends and I got the the Geneva airport we found an ATM so that we could get some cash. I remember receiving my crisp 100 franc bill and wondering how poor of a choice it would be to just keep the bill instead of spending it on food for the next few days because IT WAS SO COOL LOOKING. If you've never seen Swiss Francs, here is a picture:

Each bill is different vibrant color causing you to feel happiness from just looking at them! This is what I mean when I say that I can understand being greedy in Switzerland. I can understand loving money, and wanting to keep any that you get for yourself, and possibly framing each bill. Okay, I'm exaggerating now, but you get my point. On the other hand, here is a $100 dollar bill:

It is an ugly sort of brownish-grayish-greenish color, and Benjamin Franklin isn't even smiling, so why should you. Here's the thing: I don't think that greed is a good attribute for anyone to have, even the Swiss. But we live in the United States of America. We live in a country that was founded on justice for all, and that has ugly dollar bills and chocolate that is made of like 1% cocoa. Greed doesn't even make sense in our country, yet people all over the world stereotype us based on it. Sad, isn't it?

However, while our dollar bills may be ugly, they aren't useless. Just a couple of days ago I went to a Christmas party where we wrapped gifts for nineteen single mothers and their children; gifts that we bought using the $1800 that we had raised. Penny for my thoughts: It's pretty cool that eighteen brownish-grayish-greenish pieces of paper featuring a pursed-lipped Ben Franklin can be used to help some moms give their kids the great Christmas they deserve.

Knock, Knock

If you know me well, you know that I love jokes and cherry coke. If you hardly know me at all, but have somehow still managed to avoid my periodic "defriending sprees" on Facebook, you have probably seen me post a status that says something like "if you bring me a cherry coke, I will tell you the answer to this joke: [insert hilarious joke here]." First of all, shout out to my good friend Emily Shook who once actually brought me a cherry coke after reading my status (I'm sure she would say the joke was well worth her time and flex dollars). Second of all, if you bear with me as I step onto my soapbox for a moment, I promise I will reward you with some of my best jokes at the end of this post.

In most aspects of life, as we grow older and more educated, we also become more mature. However, it seems like the humor that we use and enjoy often displays just the opposite. When we are very young, we think that knock knock jokes and other innocent jokes like "what did the buffalo say to his son when he dropped him off at college?" [answer: bison] are hilarious. Then we gain a few years, and become less mature when we begin to love poop jokes. Finally, before we know it, we are full blown adults allowed to watch R rated comedies that are often (but not always; there are some quality movies out there) nothing but a constant stream of inappropriate and sometimes downright offensive jokes. Many people argue that it's okay for adults to hear and make these jokes because "we can handle them". What? What does that mean? Due to the fact that I have the cognitive capacity to understand that the joke is disgusting, it's okay for me to laugh at it? And then because my friends are smart enough to know that I'm "just joking" it's okay for me to repeat it to them later? Something doesn't add up here.

Disclaimer: I am not pretending to be all high and mighty. I'm not saying that I don't laugh at inappropriate jokes. However, more and more I am beginning to question WHY I laugh at them, and why other people my age and older do as well. In about a year and half I will hopefully have my own middle school classroom. My job will be to not only teach them how to improve their reading and writing skills, but also to help them through the intense maturing process that they are experiencing at that age. Every year kids are exposed to more and more inappropriate messages disguised as humor through the media that are ultimately making it harder for me to do my future job. So, I figured that the least I can do is make sure that I am not a hypocrite when I teach kids that some jokes are simply not funny.

Alright, I'm off my soapbox now. As promised, here are some of my favorite appropriate, and still hilarious jokes:

What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Frosted flakes.

What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants? In case he got a hole in one.

What did the vegetables say at the party? Lettuce turnip the beets.

What kind of hen lays the most? Dead ones. (This joke may not be appropriate for children under the age of 4 if they have not yet learned about the circle of life).

Peace.

Be Quiet, I'm Napping.

This past October and November I was one of millions of people closely following the presidential race. I watched debates and speeches, looked at online polls daily, and engaged in discussions with friends. One thing that I took away from all of it was that it seems like you can find research to back up just about any opinion. During debates, President Obama would state a fact as well as the research that proved it, and immediately following, Governor Romney would state just the opposite and also have research to back it up. Perhaps at one point in time simply watching the debates made you an informed voter. Today however, you must also be able to read and analyze the research that candidates use in order to figure out who is telling the truth. Of course, this is often extremely difficult to do, and I think that this is a main reason why our country has become so politically divided. How can you convince someone that one side of the debate is factual and the other ludicrous when both sides have research to prove their side of the argument?

Although this ability to find research to justify just about anything has perhaps greatly hindered the ability of voters to make fully informed decisions, I must admit that I do not always think it is a bad thing when I am making everyday decisions that do not affect the future of our global society. For instance, there is research that explains the health benefits of both chocolate and coffee. Thanks to that I am able to treat myself to a dark chocolate with sea salt bar and a latte every time I go to Target with no guilt.

Perhaps my favorite studies on the internet however are those proving the benefits of napping daily. Although I have been a strong advocate of napping for most of my life, after spending four months in Spain last semester when I imagine my perfect day now it always includes siesta time. Harvard Health Publications, published by Harvard Medical School published an article called Napping May Not Be Such A No-No in 2009, and let's be honest, if the web address has harvard.edu in it, you know it's legit, right? Anyway, this article essentially argues that an afternoon nap can increase your productivity during the day. Here are the suggestions in the article for taking a good nap:

Keep it short. The 20- to 30-minute nap may be the ideal pick-me-up. Even just napping for a few minutes has benefits. Longer naps can lead to sleep inertia — the post-sleep grogginess that can be difficult to shake off.

Find a dark, quiet, cool place. You don't want to waste a lot of time getting to sleep. Reducing light and noise helps most people nod off faster. Cool temperatures are helpful, too.

Plan on it. Waiting till daytime sleepiness gets so bad that you have to take a nap can be uncomfortable and dangerous if, say, you're driving. A regular nap time may also help you get to sleep faster and wake up quicker.

Time your caffeine. Caffeine takes some time to kick in. A small Japanese study published several years ago found that drinking a caffeinated beverage and then taking a short nap immediately afterward was the most restful combination because the sleep occurred just before the caffeine took effect. We're not so sure about that approach — the mere suggestion of caffeine, in the form of coffee taste or smell, wakes us up. Regardless of the exact timing, you need to coordinate caffeine intake with your nap.

Don't feel guilty! The well-timed nap can make you more productive at work and at home.

(you can find the article at http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2009/November/napping-may-not-be-such-a-no-no)

I am fully aware of the fact that I could probably google "why naps are bad for you" and come up with a plethora of pages supporting that position. However, instead I am going to pull a politician, call my opponent a liar and go take a nap so that I can more productively study for my finals when I wake up.