Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Scientology

Rolling Stone recently did an article on Scientology. With all of the hoopla it's been getting due to weirdo Tom Cruise and now with Isaac Hayes pulling out of South Park, I found it to be quite an interesting synopsis of the religion. People are free to believe what they want, but I do find it unsettling if it is true that this is a religion that cannot handle criticism or discussion. As with most things, I'm sure that you have to take this article with a grain of salt, but I'm sure that there is also truth to it, and it's pretty creepy.

If I got to a certain level in a religion and heard the story about Xenu, I'd laugh my ass off. I'd also be wary of a founder who's quoted as saying, "I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is." Perhaps the most interesting thing was the information about L. Ron Hubbard's autopsy: "In Hubbard's system was the anti-anxiety drug hydroxyzine (Vistaril), which several of his assistants would later attest was only one of many psychiatric and pain medications Hubbard ingested over the years." That would be like being a Christian, and getting to heaven only to find out that Jesus has been up there sleeping around and murdering people. Ya know, the whole practice-what-you-preach thing.

I realize that all of the world religions have weird stories and corrupt people, but at least in most of them you can discuss and criticize without being turned away or sued. And most people can admit that certain things they believe in don't necessarily make sense, but they have faith so that's what they go on. Based on this article, it sounds like the people in the Scientology spotlight are unable to even admit that certain things about their belief system are odd. And that they don't really question where the things they believe in come from. I suppose that Scientology, like other belief systems, serves a purpose for the people who belong to it, but I can't figure out what the hook is on this one...

Monday, March 20, 2006

Need to go grocery shopping

Ever stare endlessly into your refrigerator and pantry, and find absolutely nothing that looks remotely interesting to eat? I'm there right now...

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Wash your hands

This is just not good - only 83% of American adults wash their hands after using the bathroom: http://health.msn.com/guides/coldandflu/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100110402

I've said it before, and I'll say it again (especially since I'm down with the flu right now) - people, wash your hands. It's one of the best ways to keep from getting sick and passing sickness around to others.

...now, back to bed.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

The absence of arm muscles

Apparently I don't use the muscles in my arms for - well - much of anything, I guess. On Sunday, L. and I walked the trail around his housing development, and played around with the various exercise stations along the way. They had stations to work your arms, abs, legs, etc. I found that I can't do one friggin' chin-up. I was never good at chin-ups, even when I was in my best physical condition, but I could usually do a few before falling to the floor. Now? Not even one - I did do the one where you just kind of hang there for as long as you can - which admittedly was not very long. Let's just say that I wouldn't be getting any presidential fitness awards at this point in my life.

On the bright side, I still have good ab and leg muscles. This means that while I still can't really lift much of anything (like my purse) today, I was at least able to get my cardio in last night and can walk without looking like Frankenstein. Dance class tonight should be interesting, though...

All in all, this just means that I need to step up the effort with the weights at the gym...hopefully I'll be able to comfortably put my coat on in a day or so, and then I can start building up the muscles in my upper body again.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Me, me, me

Thanks A. - this site is pretty cool :) It tells you all about yourself based on your birthdate...

Your date of conception was on or about 2 July 1977 which was a Saturday. You were born on a Saturdayunder the astrological sign Aries.

Your Life path number is 8 (see more below about this).
Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path number 6.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 1 & 5.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 7 & 9.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2443592.5.
The golden number for 1978 is 3.
The epact number for 1978 is 21.
The year 1978 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/7/1978 and ending 1/27/1979. You were born in the Chinese year of the Horse.

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 26 March 1978.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 30 April 1978.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 8 February 1978.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 14 May 1978.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 21 May 1978.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Monday, 2 October 1978.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Saturday, 22 April 1978.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 7 February 1978.

As of 3/13/2006 2:26:55 PM ESTYou are 27 years old.
You are 336 months old.
You are 1,460 weeks old.
You are 10,215 days old.
You are 245,174 hours old.
You are 14,710,466 minutes old.
You are 882,628,015 seconds old.
Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 3.99804305283757 years old. (Life's just a big chewy bone for you!)

There are 12 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 28 candles. Those 28 candles produce 28 BTUs,or 7,056 calories of heat (that's only 7.0560 food Calories!). You can boil 3.20 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1978 there were approximately 3.1 million births in the US.
In 1978 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1978 in the US there were approximately 2,152,662 marriages (10.1%) and 1,036,000 divorces (4.9%).
In 1978 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000).
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

Your birthstone is Aquamarine
The Mystical properties of Aquamarine:
Aquamarine is often used to experience love and mercy. It is said to help ease depression and grief.

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources):
Jade, Rock Crystal, Bloodstone

Your birth tree is:
Hazelnut Tree, the Extraordinary
Charming, undemanding, very understanding, knows how to make an impression, active fighter for social cause, popular, moody and capricious lover, honest and tolerant partner, precise sense of judgement.

The moon's phase on the day you wereborn was waning gibbous.

All about life path 8:
The Life Path 8 suggests that you entered this plane armed to lead, direct, organize and govern. You are very ambitious and goal-oriented. You will want to use your ambitions, your organizational ability, and your efficient approach to carve a satisfying niche for yourself. If you are a positive 8 you are endowed with tremendous potential for conceiving far-reaching schemes and ideas, and also possessing the tenacity and independence to follow them through to completion. In short, you were born to be an executive.

You know how to manage yourself and your environment. Your ability to judge the character and potential of the people around you is an asset used to your advantage. A large part of your success in life comes from how hard you work. This Life Path is the most prone to producing workaholics. But your ability to spot good people and engage them in your endeavors is a special trait not to be overlooked. There is an inspirational quality in your makeup which allows you to become a great leader. You are practical and steady in your pursuit of major objectives, and you have the courage of your convictions when it comes to taking the necessary chances to get ahead.

With the Life Path of the number 8 you are focused on learning the satisfactions to be found in the material world. The Life Path 8 produces many powerful, confident and materially successful people. Most of your concerns involve money and learning of the power that comes with its proper manipulation.

This Life Path is perhaps the one that is the most concerned with and desirous of status as an ultimate measure of success. You want to be recognized for your hard work and achievements. The attainment of honors and acceptance into the club of executive leadership is all important. For this, you may find yourself very well suited to compete in the business world or in the political arena.

In relationships, you are frank, honest, and steadfast. You may be very much in love, but watch that you are not too busy and preoccupied to show it. Being the lavish provider is not always an adequate substitute for showing your devotion and affection in more personal ways. You have a great need for close personal relationships to mitigate and somehow soften your nature. You must find the time for love and keep it as an important project in your life.
The negative 8 can be dictatorial and often suppresses the enthusiasm and efforts of fellow member of the environment. Often, the strength of their own personality excludes close feelings for other people with whom they come in contact. Material gains and rewards often become issues of utmost importance, even to the neglect of family, home and peace of mind. Dedication to success can become an obsession. Emotional feelings are often suppressed by the negative 8, resulting in isolation and loneliness. All Life Path 8 people must avoid discounting the opinions of others.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Dare I dream?

In election year, GOP wary of following Bush

Is it possible that republicans are finally waking up to the nightmare in the White House? It's hard to tell whether they mirror the public in recent polls that put president shrub's approval rating at 34%, or whether they are now just trying to save their own asses from a horribly sinking ship. The more that I think about it, the more I realize that the sinking ship analogy is pretty apropos.

Before Titanic left the dock and also early into the voyage:
  • You had people who questioned the decision to set sail without the proper safety measures and a lack of previous successful voyages (democrats and independents).
  • You had people who crafted responses to assuage the fear that anything would happen to the unsinkable ship (Karl Rove, Scott McClellan, etc.).
  • You had people who either couldn't be bothered to care about the lack of safety boats on board or people who simply believed the responses about the unsinkable ship (republicans).
  • You had the captain and other related individuals who ignored warnings about icebergs in the area, and ordered additional burners to be lit because it would be way cool to get to port earlier than anticipated (president shrub and his cabinet).
While the ship was sinking:
  • You had the women and children getting onto the lifeboats first (democrats and independents).
  • You had the men who tried everything to get onto a lifeboat (the republicans now turning away from their fearless leader).
  • You had people, such as the captain and the band, who went down with the ship (the republicans standing by their fearless leader, president shrub and his cabinet).
Thinking back over the last 6 years with shrub in office, I wonder how it could possibly have taken people so long to question his "leadership". Oh, I know all about framing, and I know that the republican party does a fabulous job of framing issues in such a way that they can easily mislead the flocks. And when you're talking about a party composed, in part, by such groups as the born-again Christians, "flock" isn't an inappropriate term. These are people who read the bible literally; if they can't bother to analyze a historical book that was written by scads of people in a different language during a different political and cultural time, and then translated over and over, then why would we expect them to analyze anything else? I'm not attacking their belief system, because I do believe in freedom of religion in this country. I am, however, stating that I think it's ridiculous to take anything like the bible at face value. And I do disagree with them trying to force their religion on everyone in the country by turning their beliefs into laws.

But, I digress. I just hope that when it comes to election time in November, people take a deeper look at what's going on in our country and feel as disgusted about the failure of our government as I do.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Curfew

Every once in awhile, I catch an episode of The Girls Next Door, the show about Hugh Heffner's three girlfriends. On the episode I saw tonight, the girls headed out to Lodi, Bridget's hometown, where they met up with Bridget's family and friends.

When they got back to the Playboy mansion, they all talked about how Hugh was OK even though they didn't make curfew, because they were in constant contact with him throughout the day. Curfew? Are they 16 years old? On second thought, don't answer that...

And one of his girlfriends, Holly, was freaking out on the way home because they were having movie night at the mansion, and she was worried about who was going to sit next to him. Apparently she had heard stories from ex girlfriends who said that they were gone one night and were then booted out the next day. She also mentioned that she's never been away from him for a night, and they've been together for 4 years.

Not that anything about Hugh Heffner and his girlfriend situation speaks to a normal, healthy relationship, but all of that pretty much shows how weird the whole situation is. I mean, if it works for them, then whatever. But a couple should be secure enough to be apart every once in awhile, and at a certain point, shouldn't one grow out of the whole "curfew" thing?

Bizarre...

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

America's Next Top Model

I know that it's completely stupid, and a total waste of my otherwise precious time, but I love watching America's Next Top Model. A new season started tonight, and they got the number of girls down to 12. It looks like it will be quite an interesting season, and there are some really ferocious personalities.

Jade and Gina completely annoy me, and since they are polar opposites, a lot of the drama tonight dealt with one or both of them. But thank goodness they sent the über conservative girl back to Spring, Texas where she can live in her perfectly black-and-white world without danger of coming into contact with someone who might actually prove her wrong or challenge her opinions.

I'm not sure yet who I want to win the the competition, but I'm sure that over the next couple of episodes, I'll have a better feel who should get it. I've been correct in three of the seasons, and come close in the other two, so not a bad track record.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Swing dancing lessons

I recently started taking swing dancing lessons with my boyfriend, L., and it's a total blast! He has already taken numerous lessons and been swing dancing for several years, so thankfully he's already got the whole lead thing down pretty well. He's just taking the classes for my benefit so that I can learn.

As we were in class yesterday, I realized how much more difficult it must be to learn the lead part. Not only do you have to know the steps, but you have to be really aware of hand and arm position so that the person following can figure out what the heck you want them to do. Now in many things in life I'm a leader, but here is a case where I'm just glad to follow. It's pretty cool how you can tap into another person the way that you do in dancing.

Also, I now have two really cute pairs of dance shoes - one that I use in classes and for more casual stuff, and a pair of fun, sexy heels for a night out. I like any sport where I get to wear cute shoes and dance with my handsome guy :)