Cupcakes

It feels good to do things for other people. I baked cupcakes tonight for a friend's birthday (I know, I'm so domestic) and we're going to deliver to him later tonight. It was therapeutic-the mixing, the baking, the icing, the sprinkling, the arranging on a plate. It made the things weighing on my mind feel a little lighter. It was my first time to make cupcakes, and they turned out quite yummy. Not that it was very hard--I just followed the directions on the box. It created quite a mess though. It's red velvet cake and it now looks like I've killed someone in the kitchen--there are splotches everywhere, and my hands have an eerie red tent (excuse me, Will I mean tint) now.

Oh, the last batch is done cooling. Now to attend to more icing.

Feminism

"Feminist" is such a loaded word. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It brings to mind man-hating, bra-burning, possibly-gay, women. Kind of the way the word "Christian" makes some people uncomfortable. They think of judgmental, money-hungry, smooth-talking, televangelists. In reality, that is not what Christianity is about, and in reality, feminism isn't about hating men or destroying perfectly good underwear. It's about equality. It's about giving everyone a chance. I'm a feminist, and chances are you are too. Do you think both genders should have the same opportunities to participate and be leaders in society? To vote? To be CEOs? To coach sports? To be president? To take care of the home? To teach a third grade class? To tell jokes? To preach? I think most of you believe women to be capable of doing any of the above. Not to say all women are capable of doing everything, like not all men are capable of everything. The issue shouldn't be on gender, the issue should be on ability.

Sorry to get on a soapbox, it just bugs me that Feminism is often talked about with such disdain--"femininazis" and what have you. It's just about equality. What's so scary about equality? And equality is not the same as sameness. Men and women are different, that's pretty obvious, but they should still be equals. It's not about turning men into women or women into men, but about appreciating each person's unique perspective and abilities, and learning from each other.

Hm, that's not what I signed on to write a post about at all. I was going to talk about how pretty today was and how I didn't go to church this morning because I slept, but then went to the park instead, Bible and journal in tow. And I was going to tell you the fun fact that Waco's Cameron Park is the second largest part in the US within city limits, the first being Central Park in New York City. And I was going to tell you how I inadvertently sat down in the middle of a disc-golf course at the aforementioned park and had frisbees flying over my head for a good portion of the time I was there, accompanied by rowdy, swearing men. I was going to say it was distracting, but entertaining.

But I didn't talk about any of that. Instead I rattled on about feminism. Professor Mueller would be proud.

Hm

Ho hum, my week is almost done. Not much has happened in my life of note. Just tests and reading and eating and sleeping. Weeks are going by faster now. It's a happy and sad thing. I don't really have much to say this week. Instead, here's a cute picture of Rach and I taken at Claire's aforementioned birthday party. A picture is worth a thousand words right?

I like how Rach's arm pushing on mine make me look somewhat toned.

Speaking of that, I'm going to work out.

No, I want to write something interesting.

I learned yesterday in my Women in American Society class that a man's high school diploma is worth as much as a woman's bachelor's degree. In other words, a man with a high school diploma, on average, earns as much as a woman with a bachelor's degree. My professor, who is a woman with a Ph.D., said that when Baylor first offered her a job, she found out that she was offered $1000 less than a man who was offered the same job. She confronted the powers-that-be about it and their response was they offered her less because her husband had a job. "But what about me?" was her response, "this is about me, not my husband." Eventually she got her way.

Isn't that crazy though? Two guys in that class chuckled when they heard that, about the earning power of a man's diploma versus a woman's BA. Some of my guy friends like to joke about it too, how it's worth more to be a man. I kind of laugh along, but really,I don't thinks it's funny. I'm working hard here, as are my girlfriends. We deserve just as much as anything our guy friends would earn. It's not a joke, it's our future.

Grr.

Dreary

Today is such a dreary day. It put me in a dreary state of mind, but that's what working out, oatmeal raisin cookies, and roommates are for. The roommates also help with the rent.

Today is a big game day for Baylor Men's Basketball. We have a rematch against Texas. Tickets for the general public sold out even before student tickets went on sale yesterday. Student tickets went on sale at 11:30 and Rachael, Linh and I got there at 11 to stand in line. There was already quite a line formed. At least this time I wasn't alone in standing in line. A couple Fridays ago I went by myself to "quickly" pick up tickets for the Oklahoma game and ended up standing in line in the rainy cold for an hour.

What's interesting is that the Lady Bears are ranked higher than the Men, yet it's the Men's games that sell out, the only loyal fans for the Lady Bear's being local alumni. Word on the street is that men's basketball is more fast-paced and therefore more fun to watch. Well I have a ticket for the Women's game tomorrow afternoon and I'lll see if that is an accurate statement.

D Day

Ok, so it's not D Day, it's V Day (or almost anyway). I don't actually dislike the holiday, it's just fun to pretend I do. Like on our calendar, Rachael put a big heart on February 14th which I promptly wrote "Poop Day" in. I thought it was pretty clever. Being cynical is just so much more entertaining.

But really, it can be a good day. And it doesn't have to be about romantic love, it could be about love for humanity in general--love for your nieghbors. In that spirit, I've baked cookies for the people on my little hallway that I will anonymously place in front of their doors tomorrow morning (don't tell them). I'm putting a plate of cookies in front of our own door as well, so they will be none the wiser. I've also included a little note on the cookies. It says "Merry Singles Awareness Day! I hope it's sweeet" (get it? the cookies are sweet?) and then one of the six following quotes:

Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. ~W. Somerset Maugham, A Writer's Notebook, 1949

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate! ~Sandra J. Dykes

Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense. ~Mark Overby


Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain, causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker. ~Author Unknown

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
 And love in your heart
 Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love
'Til you give it away.
~Oscar Hammerstein


I think that's pretty clever as well, and I hope to make someone smile. And to make myself smile, before I go and take my Classical Mythology test. I've been baking cookies, writing cute little notes and writing about it in my blog instead of studying. Oops.

Happy Birthday Claire Bear!

My roommate Claire's birthday is tomorrow (as is my half birthday) and so last night we celebrated. We threw a superhero party. It was pretty sweet. I think the most fun part was getting ready for it, though.

Claire, the lady of the hour, was a Ninja Turtle, Raphael to be specific.

I was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here I am vanquishing Claire.

Jenny, Tins, and Rach were Charlie's Angels (Jenny was Drew Barrymore, Tins was Cameron Diaz, and Rach was Lucy Lu)

This picture is funny because Melissa and I thought it was supposed to be a silly picture, but apparently it was supposed to be a pretty picture (Melissa was Just-Got-Back-From-A-Wedding Girl). So now it looks like I'm killing Melissa behind the rest of my roommates' backs. Heh heh.



Some people were lame and came as themselves, saying they were "Super Kim" or some such nonsense.

Good times.

Pandora


Are you aware of Pandora Radio? It's pretty sweet. You tell it an artist you like, and then it develops a radio station for you with artists and songs of that same style. You then can bookmark certain songs or artists you discover if you want to remember them to buy or listen to them later. I had been told about this website before but had not experienced it until this morning. I was studying for my Mythology class and was going over the story of Pandora and her box and thought, "Oh yeah, Pandora, let's check that out," and I did. My Ani Difranco radio station has made for good studying music. Then my computer almost ran out of battery and I took that as I sign that I should take a break from studying and write in my blog. And as a sign that I should plug it in.

The weather has been beautiful, no? Yesterday I went to World Hunger Farm and worked in the garden for a couple hours. It was therapeutic. Going there is a good punctuation to my week. It's one of the few times in the week that I'm not doing something for myself--like going to class or studying or working or eating or buying groceries. I'm doing stuff for the Earth. And there are cool people there. I hoed with a girl who was visiting the farm and works at an organic farm in Pennsylvania. Before that she was a trail blazer in Maine--she made trails. Cool, huh? And there were two new kids at the farm, as in baby goats, that were precious.

Promising

Today, in my Women in American Society Class, we had a special visitor. One of the students brought her kindergarden-aged daughter in because she was sick and so not at school. She was a precious, well-behaved girl, who coughed and colored throughout the whole three hour class. Now I'm losing my voice. Interesting coincidence . .

Today is the first day of Lent (which I pondered in my last post). I had an omelette for lunch, sans meat, though ham sounded very tantalizing.

Have I told you I have class on Wednesdays from 8-5? Because I do. Ok, so I have a two hour break 11-1, but that's still a lot of time to be in class-mode. So Wednesdays I feel like all I do is go to class, study, and sometimes work-out. It's not bad, it's just kind of exhausting. Bleh. I'm way tired right now and it is way before my bedtime.

You've probably heard that women live longer than men-on average 7 to 9 years longer. But interestingly, women tend to marry older guys-on average 3 years older. So, at the least, a women is assured at least 10 years of widow-dom under that system. That's kind of silly of our society. In the the Hopi tribe, women marry men about 14 years younger than them, which sounds crazy to us, but works out just dandy for them. My Women in American Society professor suggested we should start talking to ninth grade boys. Could be promising.

I like how at the end of my last post I ended with a question to my public. We'll do that again. What do you think of ninth grade boys??

Lent

I told you I'd tell you how going toWorld Hunger Farm went on Friday. Well here I go. First I ate lunch with some of the live-in volunteers and a group visiting from A&M. It was a tad awkward, because like I said, I kind of just showed up, but it was cool nonetheless. We had food all grown on the farm--some sort of rabbit stew, cornbread, sweet potatoes (I think), and kale. Then I joined in on the A&M group's tour of the farm. It is a really neat place, and it was a beautiful day. Then I peeled some pecan shells. I don't know the correct term. Cracked pecan shells? Che-ev. And that was all I did that day. I'm going to go back next Friday and hopefully the next and for the rest of the semester. Sweet stuff.

In other news, I've decided to give up meat for Lent. Two of my roommates are vegetarians, so they will help me out. Why meat? I'm not really sure. I just want to challenge myself I guess, and see what being a vegetarian would be like. I haven't decided if I will eat fish or not. Both of my vegetarian roommates eat fish, so really they are pescatarians. I don't eat fish much anyway so perhaps that won't be an issue. I have taken a liking to sushi though . . but Lent isn't really about what I like. It's about the opposite kind of--it's giving up what I like. I like my cousin Rob's take on Lent. It's not really the thing that I'm giving up that's the big deal, it's being conscious of the season and anticipating the coming of Easter. Last year I gave up sweets. The year before I gave up sodas and Collins' cookies (it's a dining hall that had delicious cookies). This year during Lent I will also keep of Facebook as I have been doing. I think I'll get back on after Easter. We'll see.

What do you guys thing about Lent?

Growl

I have a headache. Grrrr. And I don't have Advil because the only time I think of buying some sort of painkiller is when I am in pain, like now, but when I am in pain, like now, I don't feel like going out and buying medicine. So I'll complain and growl instead. Grrrr.


On Fridays I get out of class at 11. Holla. It's awesome. And today, at 12:30, I'm going to the World Hunger Farm. I've mentioned before wanting to volunteer there this semester instead of getting a job, and so today I will embark on that endeavor. They eat lunch there at 12:30 all together, so today I was invited to come and partake and meet everyone. I'm kind of nervous. I've never gone there by myself. So I'm just going to walk up and be like, "Hey guys, you said I could eat lunch with you . . .?" Apparently they are all really nice and welcoming people. I don't see how you can't be, working at a place called "World Hunger Farm." I'll let you know how it goes.