Take It In

I like this picture. Notice that the girl has a camera next to her. Instead of documenting what she sees, she is sitting there, feeling and taking it in. Especially nowadays, it's hard not to take a picture of everything you see and do, but there have been times when I wonder if we are missing out on experiencing the moment we are in, because we are too busy photographing it.

See You Soon-Coldplay

I love this song.  You ever wonder if you'll always have to wear a bulletproof vest around certain people? 

See you lost your trust and you never should have, you never should have.
Don't break your back if you ever see this.
Don't answer that.
In a bullet proof vest with the windows all closed
I'll be doing my best
I'll see you soon.
In a telescope lens when all you want is friends
I'll see you soon.

See, they came for you they came snapping at your heels, they came snapping at your heels.
Don't break your back if you ever see this.
Don't answer that.
In a bullet proof vest with the windows all closed
I'll be doing my best
I'll see you soon.
In a telescope lens when all you want is friends
I'll see you soon.

You lost your trust
You lost your trust
No don't lose your trust
No don't lose your trust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsz-EeNZBkI

Flashback Friday-Jurassic Park, now Jurassic World

We really are getting old.  How many Jurassic Park movies were there?  Like 3, right?  Well, they are remaking them.  The series will be called  Jurassic World.  I believe Disney is making them.

I also came across a very short article yesterday stating that scientists have announced that you cannot extract DNA from prehistoric insects preserved in amber.  In the early '90s, researchers claimed to have successfully pulled gene fragments from a 40-million-year-old bee.  Unfortunately, no one has been able to do it since. 

Have a great weekend!

Stairmaster Showdown

I have thought about how I am going to write this for about 24 hours now and I still don't know if I can truly describe what went down on the Stairmasters at the gym yesterday morning. I was afraid to take a video because I knew it would be wrong, and I would probably get caught, so you are just going to have to try and visualize it to the best of your ability.  This is not an exaggeration of any kind, except I realize that I am probably always seeing things about a situation that others don't, because my imagination tends to thrive in situations like this.

First of all, the Stairmasters that I am referring to are the very tall ones with complete revolving stairs.  There are three in the corner downstairs and in front of it, is a big set of mirrors.  People can see you, yet you're kind of tucked in a corner. 

So, you can go up the stairs plainly like you would any set of stairs, or you can get creative with it. I get creative....at least I thought I did until yesterday morning.  I walk up sideways, which gets your inner thigh and butt cheek, and then I switch sides.  Also, as I take steps, I like to extend my leg like a leg lift, before stepping back down on the stair.  It makes it more difficult, and you are not only doing cardio but concentrating on toning too.  You can also do it facing forward. 

Yesterday morning, there was one lady on one, I was on the one on the other side, and that left the middle machine free.  I'd been on for maybe 15 minutes when this very toned woman with her nipples completely poking out through her tank, stepped on the one in the middle.  She had a very nice body.  She was a little bigger than I would want to be, but she had a very nice and toned body.  She has ankle weights strapped to her ankles and I thought Hmmmm, there's an idea.  Look at her ass, too.  Bet it works.  So I am going sideways, kicking out my legs, the other lady on the other side is walking plain Vanilla as fast as she can, and Nips is in the middle.  All of a sudden, and I don't know when exactly this happened, it looked like we were in a Stairmaster contest.  We looked like circus freaks, or a Saturday Night Live skit.

So I had "Blurred Lines" playing through my headphones when this was going on, and it just so happened that we all looked synchronized, which was immediately entertaining to me.  So Nips starts dancing on the Stairmaster.  She is throwing her arms up, she is sliding down the banister and working her booty at the bottom, and then she does little steps at the top.  Plain Vanilla sees me walking sideways and kicking my legs out and Nips in the middle, so she decides to step up her game.  She starts doing what I am doing.  So none of us are walking straight, forward, and Nips is just going to town.  Nips is doing high leg, or knee kicks, and then little feet tricks when she lands the stairs, and then.....wait for this....she does this move at the top where she lifts her leg, and pulls it out to the side, like she is about to straddle a chair (or a guy) but over and over, switching legs.  AND she's smiling at herself in the mirror.  I'm not going to lie.  I wanted to ask her for her real name, not her stripper name, but I thought that would be rude.  (So would making it rain on her.) 

It looked like a dance off on the Stairmaster.  Nips definitely would have won, I would have come in 2nd place, and Plain Vanilla forfeited.  She gave up and got off. 

I wish I had a video.

By the way....this drives me nuts about some people who use the Stairmaster:  They bend down and put all of their weight on the machine and just move their feet.  They do nothing for themselves.  Go slower if you have to, but stand upright.  It makes me crazy.  I want to look over and say "Hey, you see those calories being counted on the machine?  Yeah, they don't mean you.  Stand up and use your freaking spine!"

I have a new obsession at Ember.  Sunday nights they have this "jam session" which is basically a group of people who get together and do acrobatic tricks.  Remember playing "airplane" with your parents?  Well, that's what this is like, but you are spun and put upside down and lifted and stretched.  I was flipped like pizza dough by one guy.  SO much fun.  I am going to get into Aerial Silk Acrobatics.  It looks like so much fun.  They have it at the place I rock climb. I also want to say I want to take pole dancing lessons, but that sounds bad and it wouldn't be at all what you think.  Actually, I will post some videos another time. 

Anyway, here are a few pictures.  They aren't the coolest things I did, but you'll get an idea of what it's about.  You have to trust the person tossing you around and you have to put your weight places where it feels unsafe. 

Naked, Green Machine

I would like to take a minute to pay my respects to those who lost their lives twelve years ago.  It doesn't seem possible that it's been that long.  We will never forget.

I think more people would buy this juice if they marketed
with the Duck Face.  HAHA

After fidgeting with my computer for about 45 minutes, I am short on time, so I have a very simple Top 10 today.  I drink Naked Green Machine every morning.  It looks weird, but it's so good.  I promise.  Dylan is 4 and he drinks it.  I told him that it's green like the Hulk, and it makes him strong like the Hulk.  He now calls it Hulk juice and begs for it.  The list below are the "boosts".  You can't taste them because all you taste is apple, kiwi, banana, mango, and pineapple.  You can buy Naked at any grocery store. 


The Boosts:

1.  1,000 mg Spirulina (algae full of protein)
2.  400 mg Chlorella (algae)
3.  100 mg Broccoli
4.  100mg Spinach
5.  50 mg Blue Green Algae
6.  50 mg Garlic
7.  75 mg Barley Grass
8.  75 mg Wheatgrass
9.  50 mg Ginger
10.  50 mg Parsley

Aristotle on Anger

"Anybody can become angry -that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way-that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."-Aristotle

You know why I love reading Greek philosophers?  Because, like the Bible, it reminds me that our problems aren't really different at the core.  Our environment has changed, but humans are still the same.  We are a remarkable species and yet if I read Euripides and Aristotle, I realize HOW freaking STUPID we are.  We can blame technology, porn, politicians, but the problem is humans.  I realize I am not saying anything new or groundbreaking, but I do like this quote and I will quickly get back on task.....

What Aristotle says is so true, and there is a great deal of power in this quote. An immature person lashes out on those who don't deserve it, and even worse, sometimes takes it out on those who love them the most.  Who listens to a person like that?  I don't, and I don't respect them.  Timing is also important to consider.  Even if you direct your anger at the right person and you are "right", you won't achieve a thing if you don't slow down and think about things first.  Taking a step back allows you to be less emotional and more logical, and from there, you can better direct it at the deserved source.  Everyone becomes angry, even those with a long fuse, and the only thing that matters is how you deal with it.  You can throw your hands up and scream at the world, at your car, at your president, your kids, your husband, the guy in front of you on the road, but where is it getting you?  There are times where I have thought "Yeah, I shouldn't have yelled at my mom.  I was really mean" and there are times where I know exactly who and what was done to me, I breathe and think about what I am going to say, and you know what?  It feels so good to handle things that way.

I guess this quote kind of stems from what I was talking about yesterday.  I didn't sleep well and I was thinking about the events of yesterday.  I was thinking about what makes a fighter strong, and this is definitely something people need to learn.  I am not easily angered, but I can be a total girl about something when I am upset....I guess it depends on how much I care about an issue.  If I know logically that you are retarded and I don't care much about what you are saying, I can come off cool and aloof.  If you are attacking someone I love, well, I may go to jail.  I guess the idea is to react pretty much the same in every situation.

I will never forget getting thrown out of Honors English my senior year.  The teacher grabbed my books and my bag and didn't say a word.  He had A SMILE on his face and when he got to the door, he threw my stuff into the hall and said "You can come back when you can grow up!"  He didn't scream, but he was chilling. And I have never forgotten how effective that was.  I stood there with my mouth dropped open.  I also wasn't sure if I could grow up, so I didn't bother going back into class.  In fact, I think I dropped the class and went to the NON-honors class because I was dead set on staying immature.

I have mentioned this before, and it's true.....if you want to PISS SOMEONE OFF, be calm and collected and think first.  Think before reacting, for you, and I promise that it actually makes people even more angry and they act even more foolish.  By the time they are done acting like jungle animals, you've already won.  No need to state your case, they already hung themselves.  Of course, I have been on both sides, like we all probably have. More importantly than "pissing someone off", which really shouldn't be a leader's goal, is to teach someone how they should be.  I think about the people who have taught me to respect....they have never lashed out on me.  I remember and look up to people who were patient with me when they could have lost it, and I remember the moments when someone was irrational and hateful toward me.  That didn't do me any good, nor did it do them any good.  When I am patient and logical with my children, I see the best reaction.  When I lose my temper, I feel bad and know that I did not teach them the correct lesson.

Anyway, gotta get to the gym....have a great day.  Next time that guy cuts you off, drive up and smile at him.  I've done that.  It really freaks people out.  HA HA. 

Corruption

I am really scared to publish this, but I have to.

I saw corruption today.  There was no rubbing my eyes and hoping to erase the reality, because I knew I couldn't.  I saw corruption, and if I were looking for an animal analogy, I would say that I saw rats.  Rats save themselves and will do whatever they can to survive, they'll even live in crap and gutters, so long as they're alive to pollute the rest of the world. I saw corruption today with my own eyes, and although I feel a little less innocent, my mind is clearer.  We're all sinners, but there are those who are so evil, they revel in it.  They don't know how to survive without being corrupt because they are trapped in their own cesspool of filth, with a conscience so warped that they are incapable of ever turning back.  Trapped in a system of disgust, they rot....and the rest of us are left to fight them.  The saddest thing I realized?  We won't always win.  But God will, one day; he creates some people to become fighters here on Earth, and we all fight in different ways.

My church has been talking about sin versus mistakes.  The message is this: Mistakes happen without intent.  Sins happen with full knowledge; you mean to do it.  There are sins you just commit once, and there are sins that you continually commit, knowing the possible circumstances.  Either way, we don't like the word "SIN", so we call them "MISTAKES".  Another part of the lesson was this: Stop hating yourself, because the Lamb of God carted your sin and took it away. I was thinking about this in church this past weekend and I heard a little voice say "You're focusing on yourself too much.  Turn it outward."  Give to others, is what I thought.  And I am right.  I am focusing too much on figuring out what's wrong with me and I am fighting myself; I am not fighting the right people.  I am not saving the right people, and I am not fighting the right people.  I need to take this passion within me and do something with it.  One of my girlfriends asked me a few weeks ago "Have you ever wondered if you are a huge threat to the devil?  You have a huge personality and a big mouth."  It made me giggle, but I have seriously been considering that a lot lately.  I have been thinking about where my influence is going and whether or not I need to redirect it, in fact, I am wondering if I am being commanded to do so. 

I truly am afraid to publish this, but I am going to anyway, because I need to.  I have had fears that if people know this, they will take advantage of it.  I have also had fears that people will forget that I am also very confident and driven.  Anyway, maybe it will inspire you, maybe not.  Either way, I have to let it out.  It's 100% the truth, and it's something that I haven't been willing to admit to myself. 

I am guilty of hatred, toward myself.  I don't hate anyone.  I truly don't hate anyone, but I beat myself up constantly.  Maybe I am such a narcissist I am only capable of hating myself, I don't know....but I don't hate one person on this planet.  In fact, I have wondered why I am so forgiving of others.  Not only am I forgiving, I continue to go back for more abuse.  Maybe it's not because I am that good and truly forgiving, but instead because I am too busy blaming myself for what they did to me instead.  When you hear me say that someone did something to me, when the lights go out and I lay in my bed, I wonder what I did wrong.  This is honest to God, the truth, so if there's anyone out there thinking "Brittany has no conscience; Brittany thinks she's so perfect," rest assured, you are wrong.  Don't bother hating me.  I have already beat you.  I have wanted to scrape away parts of myself and ignore the root of where they come from.  I have wanted to be submissive because I am afraid of my own self-control.  I have wanted to ignore the feisty parts of my personality because it scares me not to be meek like a Bible character.  There are too many things that I cannot describe, but what you can take with you is that I have done a lot of self-loathing and allowed a lot of people to mistreat me because I think I deserve it.  I don't know where it comes from exactly, but it's the deep-throated voice that rings in my head nearly every day of my life.  It's the voice that tells me I am a fraud when someone tells me I am good because I think I am bad. It's the voice telling me that I am fat when I am a size zero.  It's the voice telling me that I am not ever going to get better than what I have, because I don't deserve it.  It's the voice telling me that if I ask for more for myself, I am stuck-up.  It's the voice that scares me out of being myself because I am complicated, difficult, and too opinionated.  It's the voice that tells me I did something to deserve being physically mistreated in more than one way, and to continue to seek the wrong people in my life.  It's the voice that tells me to run when I am uncomfortable.  I originally listed a lot of specific examples, but I erased them because I am not ready to be that open about just how far I have gone to make other people happy while crying inside and blowing up later. 

Luckily, I have learned, most of the time, to ignore these negative thoughts, but it is still a constant struggle and I have not learned completely that I am worth so much more than I have asked for.  I am starting to realize that God gave me certain traits and as difficult as they are to navigate, I am supposed to use them for him.  I am most definitely God's creation, with some Earthly bruises, and the truth is, God has a purpose for us all.  Maybe when I stop fighting who I am, that is when I will live to my full potential.   

So why am I writing this?  Bottom line, I am a fighter, and I have been fighting the wrong person. You remember how I said I saw corruption today?  Well, I am pissed and this wrath I have for myself?  Yeah, it's being wasted.  From this day forward, I am fighting the right people....without hesitation.  I am angry and I believe that God gave me a will to fight people who are corrupt.  I am opinionated, I am tough, and all of this energy that's going full throttle toward my direction, I can't imagine what it would do to someone who deserves it.  I am not afraid of people if they are attacking someone else, so all I need to do is treat myself with the respect that I would show someone else.  I learned a big lesson today.