Tuesday, December 7, 2010

JCLU Forever

I just wanted to take this moment to tell you that I absolutely love JCLU Forever. It's a Christian clothing company (JCLU=Jesus Christ Loves You) and every piece of clothing on their website sends a positive message from those who wear it to those who see it.

ALSO: MEN, GUYS, AND DUDES: Don't be thrown off by the women's shirts. Many of the shirts come in men's styles as well. Including the second and third ones below. :)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE JCLU FOREVER WEBSITE
(http://www.jcluforever.com)

Here are some of my favorite shirts from JCLU Forever:

(I have this one!)


(Remember. Everyone. Deployed. <3)


(I think this one would be a great conversation starter!)


(I just think this one is funny because it refers to Twilight and all this "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" stuff!)


CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE JCLU FOREVER WEBSITE

Remember: it's not what you wear; it's what you do while you are wearing it!

Friday, December 3, 2010

I hate you, University Park.

Dear University Park,

I think you are very rude for towing my car tonight. Why, you ask? Well, I will tell you...in list form.

1. There are no signs (except a very small one at only one side of the main entrance of the entire development, made up of a million little parking lots). So there was no way of knowing that my car did, in fact, get towed. And that is stupid.

2. Why would UP residents, considering they are ALL students at SU, NOT be allowed to have visitors after 5pm? Ever heard of study groups? You're stupid.

3. You saw the SU parking permit on my car. Therefore, you know I am an SU student. With that being said, why would you tow me? I live 15 minutes from campus...how am I supposed to get home (you apparently don't want me visiting, but it's not like I have a way of getting back to my home, so maybe you'd rather me stay forever)?

4. To lead off of that one, I have class tomorrow at 9am. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET TO CLASS? Maybe you would rather us all fail. Yeah, that would be awesome. It's my worst class, too...one I cannot miss. But you don't care. You should also know that your lovely towing company doesn't open until 9am. I guess they like to be lazy in the mornings and just make us (diligent college students) wait until they are ready.
But if their main priority is to tow the cars of college students (which obviously it is...if it wasn't, there would be more signs...because people at UP ALWAYS have visitors), you'd think they would have the decency to open before classes start in the morning.

5. $150. Really? I mean, seriously...really? That is just stupid. I did nothing to you. But I bet you guys are making a killing off of us poor college students.

6. What is wrong with just ticketing us? You have to go and TOW us? Again, how are we supposed to even KNOW that we got towed?! It's not like you can leave a note. And, again, you have no signs...so no phone number...no name...no nothing. So, we wander around for a while until we are directed to your little house thing where the leaders of the pack are.

7. And the campus police suck. Or the Salisbury police...or whoever they are. They have no care in the world. Two girls crying in the lobby because their cars got towed and they have no way home (the girls' friend, who they were visiting, has no car there, so she also was not able to know that these girls' cars would get towed)...but it's okay, they're cops. They can do whatever they want. Right? Isn't that how it works?
There were seriously like 4 or 5 of them just there, talking to each other without a care in the world. You could offer to take us home...since that's your job and everything. You're supposed to make sure that SU students are safe. But I guess they forgot to actually tell you that part.

8. Where are visitors supposed to park? Oh, we find out that they are supposed to park on some street way off that we didn't even know existed...and then said visitors are supposed to walk to UP. Even if they're handicapped? Yep, apparently so. Isn't that AWESOME? Yeah, I thought so, too.
So, yes, vulnerable college students are supposed to walk...through the crime-filled streets of Salisbury...in the dark...in the middle of the night...to visit their friends in UP...even if they are studying or something...and then walk back to their cars...through the crime-filled streets of Salisbury...in the dark...in the middle of the night...to go home.

You know what? Fine. I hope I get shot or robbed or something so I can sue you for all that it's worth. You are ridiculous. And I don't like to use the word "hate," but I am seriously on the verge of needing to use it...because this is just stupid. And it really ticks me off!

Love,
Your obviously biggest fan,
Anjoli.

P.S. If you didn't notice the sarcasm in my salutation there, you should know that I really didn't mean any of the "love" or "biggest fan" parts.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween: an excuse for girls to dress like prostitutes?

I am sorry, but I just do not like Halloween. It's cool for the little kids and the candy is awesome and all of that, but it just becomes the stupidest holiday ever when these kids turn into teenagers and continues, often times, as they become adults.

Seriously.

What are girls wearing these days?! It's just ridiculous! Halloween is supposed to be appropriate for all ages...a time of fun and candy. But noooo. Instead, girls are out there wearing skanky little dresses that make them look like prostitutes. And many of these "costumes" (I put this word in quotations because they seem more like lingerie than costumes, frankly) include bustiers and all of those little bows everywhere (seriously, I don't think your hooker pirate and stripper zombie outfits need to have bows everywhere--it doesn't change anything for you). What is up with that?

It's just annoying. And slightly repulsive...to say the least.

Oh, and P.S. Stop degrading our cute little kitty cats and bunny rabbits by pretending it is sexy to dress up like them by wearing leotards and tails. It's not.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Cru

[I just wanted to post some Bible verses and quotes I heard at Cru tonight. This is mostly for me because I want to be able to remember them later...but perhaps someone else will blessed by them.]

"The church is so cold that when people finally reach room temperature, we think they're on fire."

"It's not supposed to be that you come as you are and then leave as you were."

"God wants us to be the ones jumping out of our seats, yelling "PICK ME! Pick me...send me; I will go!'"



Romans 1:20
"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been CLEARLY SEEN, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (NIV)

John 1:15
"John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "'his was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me."'" (NIV)
"John pointed him out and called, 'This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.'"( The Message)



Isaiah 6

Isaiah's Commission

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. [a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."

11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,

12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.

13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

(NIV)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Group Projects

I hate group projects. I loathe them with a passion. I despise them with every pore of my being.
Is that a bit much? I don't think you truly believe me...and, because of that, I am going to provide with a list of things I would RATHER do than work on a group project:

1. Write a 50 page research paper.

2. Get bitten by wolf.

3. Stare at a wall for 12 hours.

4. Sit in a hole in the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain for 3 days...with no food (and you know how much I love food).

5. Watch a bullet go through my leg.

6. Eat cheese.

7. Be temporarily transformed into an insect.

8. Swim in pure peanut butter until I've completed 20 laps in an Olympic-sized pool.

9. Go without a cell phone for a year.

10. Try to get an elephant through a window in a top-floor apartment in New York.

Do you get the picture? I really, really, really, really hate group projects. They are the bane of my existence.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

"Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?"

I think that's a question we won't ever forget how to answer. For those of us who were old enough to remember and to understand what happened, it's a memory that will forever cut deeply into our hearts and minds...a memory we will be able to vividly share with our loved ones in generations to come.

I was in school at the time. 5th grade. I was sitting in Mrs. Henesy's class and someone was talking to us about getting involved with school banking and helping with the school store. That's when the news was passed that something terribly wrong was happening and we were all getting sent home. I went to my homeroom and sat at my desk, crying. I remember there were kids just messing around and yelling in excitement because they got to leave school, but I was scared out of my mind. I knew my dad was away at a re-enactment and, when Aurielle and I got on the bus, all we could think was, "What about daddy? He doesn't know! They don't have TV or anything there and phones don't work...how will he know? Is he okay?" We bawled the whole way home. But when we ran inside with tear-filled eyes, there was our dad, watching the news with our mom. Our parents told us everything would be alright and told us to go upstairs and watch TV and eat our packed lunches (that we obviously didn't get to eat at lunch). I will never forget the fear I had for my dad who wasn't at home...and, knowing that he was in a place that was not even struck by this disaster, I can't imagine how anyone must have felt who had loved ones in New York...in the two towers.

And then, for time to follow, I was scared to go outside. A lot of us were afraid. But I was told that we had to show them we were strong and we hadn't been defeated...so we were told to go outside, to play, to come together and never let something like that tear apart ourselves or our country.

Today will be a day of heavy thoughts and prayers for all of America. We won't forget.

Where were YOU when the world stopped turning?

Friday, September 10, 2010

Questions for the modern world of music-listeners and dancers

I have a couple questions for you people who are not behind on the times like me...and for you people who are just more informed on things like this.

1. What the heck does "dougie" mean? "Teach me to dougie" is what I hear...someone please explain to me what that is. It does not make any sense. I think it is a kind of dance. If this is true, who suddenly decided it was going to be this cool dance to do? It's like "jerk" or the "stanky leg" or whatever you people do these days (I don't even know I'm referring to those correctly)! I mean...what are these things and why are they cool? I'm confused. And completely challenged in the realm of dancing.

2. This stupid "Love the Way You Lie" song that you people all love. I don't get it. First of all, I don't like when people lie...and I surely don't love it. And I'm pretty sure that song is about a guy abusing his wife and then getting mad because she wants to leave and deciding he's going to tie her up and burn the house...then watch her burn as she cries. So, why do you people obsess over this song and quote it all the time?

3. Why are songs appealing to you when they talk about sex? All these stupid lyrics about what you guys want to do to the girl in the club and how sexually attracted you are to her. Not to say that only male artists sing songs like that...just my example. I just think they are disgusting. I think sex itself sounds gross though, so maybe I am more inclined to think in that direction. Any thoughts here?

I'm interested in your responses, so bring it on now.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

And I will call you my cuppycake

I love people who have cupcakes at their weddings. Cupcakes are just better than cakes. I suppose I should be biased in the opposite direction considering I decorate cakes for fun, but I just don't like to eat cake. Not to mention that people who have cupcakes at weddings are just plain awesome simply because the guests aren't forced to sit and wait an eternity and a half for the cake to be cut and sliced by someone...everyone gets a pre-constructed beautiful mini-masterpiece...immediately after the cake-eating portion of the wedding begins.

I might also mention: they are just so cute and perfect and yummy-looking. Tiers of cupcakes...it's like a dream world where you bounce from cloud to cloud and all the clouds just happen to also be delicious.

Check out these "cakes!"

This is so simple and yet so elegant and flawless to me.


What? Not detailed enough for you. Fine, check out the attention to detail on these cuppycakes from Le Cupcake:



Now, how fun would this be??


Sooo, who is going to have cupcakes at their weddings now? I will totally come.

Platypus Pajamas

I miss footed pajamas. Someday, I will have adult footed pajamas. You can probably only find these on the internet these days, but I might go scrounging through actual clothing stores for the fun of it one day.

I used to have these awesome Christmas pajamas that I called my platypus pajamas because they had the most foot space I had ever seen in my entire life sewn into them. Seriously, I probably could have hidden a small child or a stash of juice boxes or something in each foot. No one would have noticed. This extra foot space, though, made me feel like a platypus. I don't think a platypus would have liked them--or tripped in them as much as I did just walking through the house--but they were still, and will forever be, platypus pajamas to me.

I wonder if I still own them.
I wonder if I can still wear them.
I wonder if I will look for them next time I am home. :)

P.S. If I was a platypus, I am pretty sure I would drink apple juice and eat cupcakes. Just saying.

"Hatred is blind, as well as love"

That's a quote by Oscar Wilde, by the way.

Today, Chrissy posted the following status on her Facebook page:
"Christina had a very proud 'Mom moment' this afternoon when Phil told me there was a boy at school saying 'white kids are better than brown kids' (to one of Phil's friends)... and Phil and some other kids stuck up for him and told this boy how ignorant he was. One of those times I feel like I must be doing something right raising these kids."

I'd be a proud mom, too, Chrissy (you know, if I actually had kids and was able to have said "Mom moments"). You know, people always talk about child-like faith, but they forget about all the other beautiful things about kids. I mean, kids have such innocence and naivety, imagination and wonder...they are such dreamers and they know how to believe and to trust...yet, their inquisitiveness and curiosity and readiness to explore the world is just incredible. And, on the current subject...their color-blindness.

It is sad to think that there was a child at school who has grown up in a home where that kind of value is instilled in him: to think that any color of skin is better than another. Does the color of your skin define your heart and your soul, your personality, your intellectual capabilities? No, not at all. Nothing about any of the aforementioned are pure reflections of a person's color. You don't look into a mirror and see a person's intellect or a person's athletic ability and favorite food...nuh-uh, doesn't work that way. So what is the point of judging someone based on that?

If we decided to judge based on color alone, we should just go ahead and judge people based on their height, their eye color, and how fast their wisdom teeth come in (sorry, guys...if you don't have any wisdom teeth, guess you just get rejected from the world completely). These are all things we don't decide for ourselves. Sure, we can wear high-heels and we can get colored contacts, but these are all, in retrospect, ridiculous indicators of who people are. We don't decide that someone 6 feet tall is probably studying biology and someone 5 feet tall is most likely studying psychology. We don't see a blue-eyed girl and a brown-eyed girl and automatically know what sports they play.

Now, onto this quote. Hatred is blind...obviously. It's blind to the heart. Love is blind to a lot of things, arguably, but especially to appearance. Love has the power to cross all kinds of borders and barriers...it's almost like nothing can stop it sometimes (and, of course, we hate it sometimes for that), but that's the beauty of it: Love can't see what we see. Love sees what we feel and then it creates its own door into our hearts and pushes its way inside until it completely consumes us. Alright, sometimes we let it in through the door that's already there, but not all the time...even though we should just let it in there after the first knock because it will eventually find its way inside either way.

My point is this: God made us all beautifully and wonderfully. By saying one color skin (or eye or hair) is better than another, we are assuming that God made a mistake when creating an individual...when we know that's not true. Our God doesn't make mistakes. He designed each one of us individually and took His time to create us in His own image. If He thinks we are beautiful and perfect masterpieces, then we need to believe that, too...and we need to look at others and know that they, too, are wonderful masterpieces from a wonderful artist.

Besides, we all have heard this verse before:
"...For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.'” (1 Samuel 16:7)
It doesn't matter how we look; that's just what we see at first glance. But if we would take the time to look at the heart and be like Phil, with a heart of color-blindness, then we would more easily see the hearts of other people and learn to recognize the important things...WHO we are, not WHAT we are.

Oh, this would be a good time to use one of my favorite verses of all time (sounds best in the Message, I think):
"Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original." (Galations 5:25-26)

I want to be like little Phil. Who do you want to be?

What else about children triggers your heart?

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

H-Town, how I love thee

Let's see...what do I miss about Hagerstown (Did I just say "miss" and "Hagerstown" in the same sentence? Oh, dear...)?

I know this is going to make me sound incredible lame, but I totally miss nighttime Walmart adventures. There is just nothing like grabbing a friend and driving to Walmart in the middle of the night just to get a pizza (Walmart specific pizza, to be exact) and oddly flavored juice (blue juice that is actually citrus-flavored?) to go with your movie, which is almost always "Matilda" or an animated children's movie of sorts.Oh, is this not normal to you? Hmmm...maybe I'm mistaken. It's normal to me.
P.S. All the Walmarts here already have the updates the H-town one is currently undergoing...so if you want any hints on how it's going to look, I can tell you so you don't have to be left wondering. Yes, I know it totally bothers you that you don't know what Walmart is going to look during your next visit.

I miss seeing cows in the middle of the road and "Missing Pig" signs (marked "Do not eat it"). These are getting closer to the Clear Spring end of Hagerstown though.

And then there's Uncle Louie G's Italian Ice. I don't know how many people have actually been there, but it is so good that I never even think about Rita's anymore. "Hey, wanna go to Rita's?" "Ummm, no, I don't like Rita's. Let's visit my favorite uncle." Ok, he's not my real uncle and I am not Italian, but I would gladly claim this man as my biological relative if it meant Italian ice for the rest of my life.

I miss drives. At night. With amazing people. Blaring country music (I like country music...go ahead and make your comments). And sticking my head out the window. Oh, and kidnapping my sister from her boyfriend's house, tying her up in the back of the car (stopping so Joey can make sure we have on our seatbelts), and pushing her out of the car onto her boyfriend's front yard as I call said boyfriend with a manly voice...just to watch him come running after me with a paintball gun.

I miss my mommy and daddy. Dude, getting locked out of my house or my car was a lot more reasonable when my parents were there to save me. Not to mention they are just wicked awesome parents.

Guns. 4-wheelers. Dirtbikes. Anything fun and outdoors-ish. That stuff isn't too common out here. It was nice to walk out my door with my dad and just go shoot in the woods...or go 4-wheeling with friends...or learn to drive a dirtbike in the BCA parking lot.

And swinging. I just love playgrounds and parks and swinging. I was told there is a park here somewhere and I don't know where it is or if it's a fun park, but I am bound and determined to hunt it down and force it to be my new best friend. I will find a swingset...hopefully I won't have to break into a fenced elementary school playground and get arrested or something in the process.

And all of you. Come on, guys! You KNOW I miss you. I miss everything about you...we've had some good times in good ol' H-town. Nothing can replace those days.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Find the place you fear the most and go there

On Tuesday, I got to class early when no one else was in the room and I noticed that one of the desks in the room was different from the rest: it wasn't just a boring table...instead, it had written words and pictures perfectly collaging the top. While some messages were not the most appropriate or friendly, there was one written darkly in the center that stood out over all the rest. It said "Find the place you fear the most and go there."

Sure makes one think, doesn't it? What do I fear? What places hold my fears? How challenging is it to visit these places, face these fears one-on-one, and battle something I've never even wanted to see?
And I realized that these "places" can be almost anywhere. They can (of course) be physical places, foreign countries, or even doctor's offices! You're afraid to travel via airplane? Ok, go get on an airplane and fly so far that you have no choice but to stop thinking about the fact that you're on a plane. You're afraid of the water? Go on a cruise and have fun! Alright, alright, I get it...you don't want to waste your vacation time trying to overcome a fear. Fair enough. ;) But there are smaller things you can do, and smaller fears you can tackle just by thinking about the places that scare you. Maybe churches scare you...go to a Sunday morning service somewhere. Try more than one church and see which ones make you feel most comfortable. I don't know; I'm just throwing examples out there, but everyone has their own personal scary places they are probably more ready to handle than they think!

Now, these "places" can also be mental states, feelings we don't want to confront, and pieces of the past hidden in our minds and hearts that we don't even consider revisiting. We've all been asked questions to which we answered "I just don't want to talk about it" or "It's too painful to talk about right now" or something similar. We have those memories we wish could just be erased from the past or throw into a black hole. We remember something and we just start to cry or we get mad...and then try to shove it way back down into the deepest parts of our heads again so we don't have to think about them anymore.
But what if we did?
What if we challenged ourselves to journey into those deep places of our hearts and those corners of our minds where secrets lie? What if we decided to really think about those moments and how they made us feel and even talked about them? [Just a side-note here: If you need to talk about something, I, Anjoli, am here for you with a ready ear and a willing heart] It's hard to talk about those things sometimes, I know...but it's true what people say about talking through our problems: it helps. We feel more at ease when someone else actually knows what's happening and how we feel. And it's also easier for some of them to be there for us when we are open with them. Maybe you have something even more serious in those secret spots--something you know you need to take to a professional. Is that your fear? Are you afraid of seeking help for a problem? That's not something to cause shame; that's something that should make you proud...you know how hard it is to tell yourself you need help and then to ask for it. It makes you a stronger person to be able to say "I have a problem and I need to fix it before I really get hurt."

Or maybe you're afraid to love. A lot of people get scared when they start to like someone of the opposite sex too much...and it's not usually that they are afraid of falling IN love; they're afraid of falling OUT of love; they're afraid of getting hurt...or they're afraid of something, anything (it's different for everyone), that comes with the commitment, the attachment, or the future of that relationship. You know it's a common feeling. But if this is you, I hope you know that you DESERVE love. You deserve happiness and fulfillment and, trust me, God is writing your love story...and, if you trust Him, He will fill in those blanks and give you those missing puzzle pieces. And remember: "For every girl with a broken heart, there's a boy with a glue gun." :) This goes vice versa for you guys out there, too!

I found a shirt recently that ties in with this. It said "FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real" and had the perfect verse attached to it.

2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

So find your fear...and then challenge it. Go to the places that scare you. And then find out that fear has not overcome you. You have a God of power and love on your side!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Permission to be blunt?

[I definitely forgot to post my note from Facebook that inspired the name of my blog. So I'm posting it now...though most of you have already seen it. :) I guess it's more of a reminder to me why this is here. Ready for this? It's a long one!]

WARNING: If you have a problem with bluntness, you will hate me, so don't read this.

I have two subjects to address here.
1. Kids who think they are in relationships
2. Cooties; People who think it's cool to have premarital sex

ONE

First, what is up with all these, like, 12 year-olds having "boyfriends" and "girlfriends" and dropping "I love yous" like the words "it" and "the?" Seriously. Sorry to break it to you, pre-teens, but you are not in love; you do not know what love is; and you do not need to be talking to your friends about making out, "doing stuff" with boys, and sneaking out to go to parties on Friday nights. My, how things have changed. Little girls are now learning about sex from their friends in the bathrooms and halls of middle school. And little boys are falling under the stigma that "if you have sex, you are cool" before they even hit puberty.
When I was your age, Little Girl, boys still had cooties, sex did not exist, swearing (or "cussing") was heinous, and I wanted to be as far away from parties and smoking as possible. I didn't even want to watch a PG-13 movie until I was "legally" allowed to do so. As far as I'm concerned, every one of these things is still intact in my head. And I still live by these things. So, explain to me why you, child, are jealous of your 13 year-old friend who is having sex with her "boyfriend" who is lying to her and will just leave her in 2 weeks for the new girl in town who is "hotter" and "more fun" than her. Can you explain that? Hmmm...didn't think so.

Somewhat related, yet somewhat off the beaten path here: parents who encourage this behavior. Oh, yes, I brought it up. I had friends in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL who had parents encouraging them to have boyfriends, kiss their boyfriends, take their boyfriends everywhere with them, and so on and so forth. They were also wearing bikinis in elementary school and mini-skirts that weren't worth calling clothes because they covered nothing. Now, guess who ended up with the bad reputations in middle/high school and removal of bedroom doors at home? Not me. I personally found it intriguing, however, that their parents were the ones to remove their doors...considering it was their fault for raising their kids with that mindset from the beginning.

Conclusion:
Parents, be parents. If your kids are holding hands with other little kindergarteners or if they're going to their first co-gender party, that's cute and all...but when they get old enough to know what they are doing and they start doing inappropriate things that you are encouraging them to do, that's just stupid.
And kids, be kids. Remember cooties exist and don't bother getting in relationships now that won't last 'til tomorrow.

TWO

Now, can you explain to me why "sex is cool?" Not only do I still think guys have cooties, but do people realize how REAL cooties become by the time they reach puberty? Cooties transform from being "boy germs" and "girls germs" to being STDs and mononucleosis faster than they may think.

Ok, on that note...There is something else, aside from the whole "It's immoral, so why are you doing it?" thing, that really doesn't make sense about people thinking sex is cool. Males (and females), let me ask you this: What happens when she gets pregnant? Is it still cool? I don't think so!
You know as well as I do that there are girls getting pregnant younger and younger (there was a girl 9 months pregnant in my 7th grade class; don't try to argue with me). You also know that Washington County, MD has one of the highest unwed teen pregnancy rates in the state and, most likely, the country. So don't tell me it's not a problem. With that said, do you see the looks on people's faces when a pregnant teenager walks into the room? You probably give the look, too. But you shouldn't. Why? Well, aside from the fact that some of those girls were victims of incest and rape, you should also keep in mind that 90% of people have premarital sexual intercourse by the age of 22. And 900,000 teenagers get pregnant EACH YEAR...30,000 of those teens being UNDER the age of 15. This means that, of you 90% of teenagers having sex, 900,000 of you will end up pregnant next year. And you are still passing on those dirty looks to the ones getting pregnant even though you, yourself, are having sex, too...you just take a sigh of relief, in the midst of your guilt and regret, because you didn't end up like those 900,000 other girls.
Don't worry; chances are good that you will end up just like them.

(You might also be interested in knowing that 40% of those teenage pregnancies end with abortion. Alarming? Yes.)

But back to my beginning on this one:
You say you're cool if you have sex...but you're not cool if you get pregnant...so how come two people can go out and do the EXACT same thing (have sex) and one of them stays cool (because she didn't get pregnant) and the other ends up shunned from popularity and expelled from school (because she got pregnant)? It doesn't make sense if you ask me.


Conclusion: IT IS NOT COOL TO HAVE SEX. This is a misconception.
Stick that in your brain bucket, let it consume the edges of your brain bucket, and DON'T TRY TO REMOVE IT. Got it? Good. Now, pretend that if you have premarital sex, the cooties will come after you, eat you from the inside out, and life will no longer be pretty.

P.S. In case you didn't get this already, I recommend you wait until you're married to have sex. It's a good idea. I must say it is a nice feeling to not have that kind of regret like other girls...not to mention you and I get to be in that tiny 10% who don't have sex...and isn't it more exciting to be in the minority, the special little group who isn't like everyone else? Anti-conformity is fun, I promise.
Females, you may even want to join my Old Cat Lady Pact. Becoming an old cat lady would be much more fun than being a single mom working 3 jobs before the age of 20 and not getting to spend time with your kids; don't you agree?

ENDING

I love you.
Be happy.
Shine for the world.
Thank you. :)

What's beautiful

I've been thinking a lot lately about girls and their body image, self-esteem, self-worth, and so on and so forth. It breaks my heart to know that all these girls, at a younger and younger age as the years pass, feel like something is always wrong with the way they look; they believe they look "wrong" because they don't fit a mold.

So, I ask you this: What is beauty? Can it even be defined? It seems to all be in perception to me...maybe you disagree. If so, what is your definition of beauty?

And how do we get these definitions and perspectives anyway? They don't just pop up out of nowhere, do they? Of course not. There's this website called Six Billion Secrets where people (obviously) post secrets...and if you look under the "Self-Esteem" section, you will find that there are a lot of girls on there posting about their negative body image...and, to my disgust, a very large portion of them got that image of themselves from their parents. One girl said her family couldn't afford much food, so she started to not eat because she wanted her brother to have more food since he was younger...noble act, right? Well, imagine how you would feel if you were in her shoes when her mother agreed that she needed to do that because she was overweight anyway. And then the girl who has only had tea to drink for days because every time she tries to eat anything, her mother says she's had enough...since when is nothing enough?

I trust my parents and if they ever said those kinds of things to me (which they don't), I would take their words to heart, too. So I get it. But isn't that just heart-wrenching? These girls feel worthless, unloved, and lost because of the very people who are supposed to show them the most unconditional love and support. That's just wrong.

But elsewhere on this site, there are the girls who say they woke up this morning and realized they loved themselves, flaws and all, and could be strong and beautiful in their own skin. Some people aren't that happy and content with themselves, but I wish they were. I've never met a girl who wasn't stunningly radiant and beautiful. Nope, not once. But not all of those girls know that they are just as gorgeous as the other girls they see every day...they need to be reminded.

And they aren't reminded by looking in the mirror. There are a lot of girls who fear the mirror; they literally don't want to face themselves and know what's on the outside they can't see of themselves. They don't want to know that they are different...but isn't being different more fun? Being unique is much more exciting than being the cookie-cutter Barbie doll we see day-in and day-out. And who really wants to be plastic anyway? Girls, go look in the mirror and smile because YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Anjoli has a blog...uh-oh

So, this is my first post. This is where I'm supposed to tell you why I have a blog and what I'm going to write in it...but, quite frankly, I feel like that would just bore you. And since this is just the start of my blog and no one will read it anyway, I find it pointless to waste my time, telling myself why I started a blog...catch my drift? With that being said, I expect that I will be just as blunt as usual and share my everyday thoughts. Sometimes they are controversial...sometimes they are just beyond superfluous. I guess it's a toss-up what you will get here. Good luck. :)