First Things First

Spring is around the corner, but here in Los Angeles it's already Springlike.  I guess I'm rubbing it in to all those who are freezing to death in the depths of cold.  This month there is a small update, just this page and Vista Drive.  Also, if you haven't already checked out American Bliss, please do.

Afterthoughts : 6th Grade Sucked

My 6th grade in school really was once of the worst school years I ever had.  Firstly, the elementary school I went to since kindergarten closed because of low attendance.  Everyone knew everyone at that school.  There were only about 150 kids in the entire school, kindergarten through 6th grade.  At the end of my 5th grade the news that the school was going to close came out.  There simply weren't enough kids to justify having the school open, in the school board's opinion.  So, we would have to go to different schools, depending on where we lived.  I got to go to a school about a mile and a half away.  It wasn't such a bad school.

I was assigned my class, which was headed by a kinda hip teacher.  I forgot her name.  She wasn't an old crow, but rather a woman who seemed to be in the know of what was hip and cool at the time.  The time being the early 80s.  I liked that class.  Most of my friends were in the other 6th grade class, but I didn't mind, I had made a new crop of friends in this class with the hip teacher.

The class was located on the second floor, facing away from the main play yard, so even when the younger kids played we couldn't hear anything.  The street that we faced was a nice little street, with quiet houses, and lined with huge trees that extended high above the second floor.  It was great in that class.  I found that I was learning things because I had an interest.

Then came that horrible day.  For some reason the school principal came to our class one day saying that the two 6th grade classes were unbalanced.  My class had too many students.  Some of us would have to go to the other 6th grade class.  I was one of those who was moved.  Everything about that dream year changed after that.  I was asked to gather my things and leave for the other class.

My new teacher was a crypt keeping witch that wore a blonde wig all the time.  She was totally clueless.  Needless to say, she was not hip.  Far from it.  She made us learn square dancing, for shit's sake.  Square dancing, how lame is that?

My demeanor suffered from the move.  I became less interested in learning.  I felt like I was cast out of a wonderland, and cast into some skid row back alley.  It got to the point that I found myself crying in class.  My stomach developed problems.  I got in trouble.  I didn't care to learn anything.  I played hooky from school for the first time ever.  In short, I was miserable.

I can pin point the exact moment my life turned, and it was that moment.  After that move my stomach began to cause me health problems.  I found that my stomach problems helped me get out of class, so I started to fake some of my pains in order to get out of the class.  If only for a little while.  My Grades suffered.  I learned that life was unfair.  I missed my old class.  I found I never felt that I fit in with the new class.  I felt I couldn't fit in with my old class because they had already forgotten about me.  I felt left out.  I stopped caring about things.  I felt a fear of rejection.  I felt alone.  I felt that there was no justice.

I know that's a lot to blame on a little thing like changing classes, but really I felt all those things inside of me.  Thinking of that time still hurts now.  That was not a very good year.

Editorial : Pop on Out of Here

I hate pop-ups.  I'm not even sure why they exist.  Do these things really work?  Every time they pop-up I close them, without even looking at what's being advertised.  If anything I actively ignore what appears on the pop-ups.  Even if it's a good offer I close the pop-up and boycott that product or service.

Why are there pop-ups?  Nearly every page has advertisements, I can understand that.  Many sites give me free web content.  I know that the money to run these sites come mainly from ads.  I even welcome some ads.  I've clicked on my share of internet ads, but never pop-ups.  Ads that are embedded on pages are sometimes a hassle, but I rather have those than stupid pop-ups.

Pop-ups are annoying.  Just as I'm surfing these stupid pop-ups appear and nearly take over my browser.  Worse yet, sometimes when you close a pop-up they open up a new window.  Sometimes more than one.  Who started this pop-up stuff anyway?  The pop-ups I hate the most are those that take over the whole browser.  You know the kind, the ones that start off small, then grow.  I like my browser the size it is, I don't need some ad changing the size for me.

I think that the only way to get rid of these pop-ups is to not click on any of them.  Boycott them entirely.  Go one step beyond and write the companies that sponsor the pop-ups.  Because, only if these advertisers know that their ads aren't working will they get rid of them.  Or, you could get one of those pop-up killer programs.  I'm not sure how well they work, but they could help.  It starts with not clicking on them, so don't click them.

Etcetera : Golden Globe Fashions

The Golden Globes were on January 20th.  The awards themselves are totally fake.  That's why I don't watch the show.  What I do watch is the red carpet walk... the fashions.  This year nearly everyone dressed really nice.  There were a few exceptions, of course.  But, I think that all those fashion watch shows that cut down celebrities for wearing the whole outfit are finally taking.

I think that the best dressed woman of the night was Salma Hayek.  She looked absolutely gorgeous in a stunning red dress.  Salma's dress was simple, yet elegant.  The fit is perfect, which showed off her great body.  My only complaint is with the hair.  More on that later.  Nicole Kidman also had a wonderful dress on.  Her slim, but not stick-like figure, was framed well in her dress.  One of the few dresses I saw that wasn't a single solid color was worn by Kate Hudson.  The print reminded me of Gustav Klimt's work.  Cate Blanchett (not pictured) also wore a dress by the same designer as Hudson's dress.  It was equally beautiful.  Both Blanchett and Hudson looked elegant, but with an air of beautiful simplicity that is sorely missing on the red carpet.

There was one standout that nearly everyone who watched the fashion walk agreed was the worst dressed.  Lara Flynn Boyle, in a ballerina outfit.  Like a skeleton with skin, Lara Flynn looked like she was fresh out of the crypt.  She is way too thin, and wearing this outfit only accentuated her skeleton-like figure.  I know that Queen Latifah is not a skinny girl like Lara Flynn, which is all the better, but still.  The hair and the necklace is good, but the pants are absolutely horrible.  They look like a cross between a bad pair of kid's pajamas, and curtains in a sleazy motel.  I know that the fact that she isn't a twig makes it hard to find nice outfits to wear, but really that isn't an excuse nowadays.  I hate that stout women think that they can only wear pant suits.  Pant suits look horrible.

Like I said at the beginning, nearly everyone looked good on the fashion walk this time around.  What I didn't like was the trend towards wearing hair back in a ponytail.  A big percentage of the women wearing some very beautiful dresses failed to make their look complete by doing something with their hair.  I don't like big, puffed out, hair styles.  Those are much worse than ponytails.  However, the whole ponytail thing has got to go.