Stick Syria Out

The United States government needs to learn something they should have learned hundreds of years ago...to stay out of lands which they have no business being on. I guess on that note, let's look at some quick history about this great land.

 Post-Revolutionary, our nation bolstered itself, its army, power and influence in the world.

 In just a couple hundred years, we have risen above those nations who have been unified and established a lot longer than we have. That's great. Most immigrants, my ancestors included, came to this land because of the power, prosperity, growth and success it offered. We industrialized and set the precedence for the nations who tried to colonize us and from which most of us hailed. We really did show up our neighbors. So, maybe the US feels the need to constantly remind everyone who the hell we are, that we will never change, and we won't back down. Well, arrogance and egotistical tendencies always seem to drive those who contain those attributes to the ground.

Uncle Sam forgets about Vietnam, Hiroshima and the Cold War era where we left Afghanistan to the Russians for them to blow them back into the stone age. This created angry and hostile feelings which in turn, stirred Al Qaeda groups and their hatred for America. One blatant example is Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks. Sadly, we all know how that terrible day turned out for thousands and how it continues to affect us today. And when I say us, I mean the world because in deed, people all over the world suffered from our wounds too.  Vietnam was a failure and left millions dead and many more maimed and emotionally scarred. The atomic bomb drop on Japan, all though experts say saved the US' ass, killed and deformed many. The affects of the radiation still appear via genetic mutations in the Japanese descendants in the bomb areas today. The soldiers who dropped the bomb knew the second they did so was a huge mistake. President Truman also expressed our country would never use such a weapon again. Well, too late.

Yes, we always like to show the world who is boss. Yes, many times we get involved we see victories. But us becoming involved never ceases to spread its affects. Today, almost 12 years after 9/11 and 11 years of uneventful war in the mid-east, President Obama, along with the United States congress, would like to become involved with Syria, a Northern African nation fighting for their freedom. In their civil war, Syrian rebels are using chemicals to harm and kill innocent people, not disregarding children. It's terrible. It's awful. But in 1997, a whole genicide in Rwanda, a western nation in Africa, was taking place. Over 100,000 men, women and children were hacked to death with machettes. What did America and President Clinton do, not a damn thing. Why? Because there was nothing to gain from it. 

But,  here, we have precious oil to protect, the blood that courses through the United States' veins. The solution for Syria though is to air-strike them with missiles. This will undoubtedly kill more children and innocent lives, but that's okay because Uncle Sam is pulling the trigger. We can't let some Islamic president and his unruly people tell our WASPY asses what to do. Oh, no. Let's send more troops, send more maimed men and women home, kill some Americans and Syrians and spend more money we do not have, just to prove a fucking point, that America has balls. 

We will not let anyone take control of our oil wealth. Not to mention if we do this, you better damn well keep your head up for more low flying planes because this will piss terrorists off even more. And not to mention, China and Russia. And we already owe China over a billion dollars so if they want, they can blow the shit out of us. They won't though, because Chinese government is smarter, wiser than that. They will watch the United States, an immature, reckless teen, play with their guns and missiles and when they make a mess they can't clean up, China will come in like a fire-breathing dragon who has no mercy. 

So Uncle Sam, you have your fun, but just remember, Rome wasn't invincible, and we, like Rome, too shall come to pass. 

Real Talk

You know, you try to be a good child. Maybe even the perfect child and still, somehow, nothing is ever good enough for the parents who bore you. For someone like me who has never done drugs inside or out of the home, rarely, and I mean rarely, drinks and listens and follows instructions given by her parents, I sure am treated like a second-class citizen these days.

As young people, we are expected to go to college, land great jobs and build a life for ourselves, leaving the comfort of our parent's home. That is the normal thing to do. The right thing, but I do think parents need to understand something about today, about our generation. Those of us fortunate enough to get a job may not be making enough to afford our own places. With rent as high as it is and salaries as low as they are, it is only reasonable and smart that we remain in our parent's home if they so allow us to.

This is my current situation. But of course, it is not good enough. Since I graduated college three months ago, I am no longer a member of my own household. Instead, I am a temporary guest who, at any time, can have her privileges taken away. With any error I make now, I will be kicked out. I am being watched like a hawk. This means that I am not allowed to be in bad moods, raise my voice or even breathe in the wrong direction without constant threats of my termination in my childhood home.

You know, I can care less about money or being taken care of. I am not a mooch, hence why I have my own job, and I contribute what I can to my own household like a good daughter should. But, I'm not part of a family anymore because my status as a helpless student has been removed. No, instead I am a helpless adult trying to get by in an overpriced world. For those of you reading this, wherever you are from, I don't know how living/working situations operate, but here, it is very difficult. You must have a roommate. That is why many couples move in together before marriage, because it is just cheaper that way. This brings me to the next part of my rant. Moving in with my boyfriend.

So, if I move out of my parent's home, I will most likely need a roommate due to expenses. Splitting them is just smarter and easier on the wallet and nerves. My boyfriend is looking for an apartment too so this means we will try and get one together, I mean why not? However, the watchful eyes of the hawk, aka my parents, are scouting this out. They would never like this, but because they can't stop me, they will drop me from everything. Look, I am not complaining about being an adult and having bills and responsibilities. I am just scratching my brain as to how in God's name I will afford all I have to afford with the small salary I am making presently.

Basically, my point of my whole rant is that you are damned every which way possible. Life's a crap shoot, especially for young adults trying to begin their lives right now. We stress about getting into college, then we stress about getting out, and then we stress about finding jobs. Then when we have a job, we wonder how we can afford high rent when companies refuse to pay us anything near what we paid for college. Look, $100 doesn't last a second these days, yet prices get higher while salaries get lower. If I could see the future when I was a little girl, I would have started working at 10 just to save money.

So parents, if you are reading this, take it easy on your kid. You know how it is and that it is much worse out there today. Stop breathing down their necks and making threats. And if you are going to try and kick your kid out, don't. If he or she has a job right now, right after graduating from college, they are doing a fantastic job. Give us a chance for God's sake. Doesn't our generation deserve that? Don't we deserve the benefits people have received for years before us? That's all I have to say. Comments, thoughts, stories, leave me a post.

I Got Number 45

Tomorrow morning, in approximately nine hours and 50 minutes, I will be starting my new job. Yes, that's right, you read correctly, a job. After months of bitching, stressing, complaining and sulking, I received my first full time job as an undergraduate. And, it is actually under the umbrella of what I received my degree in: well sort of.

I will start the position as a caption editor at a company that does closed captioning of a wide variety of programs for the hearing disabled. It is a company called the Video Captioning Corporation and is located in a small town bordering northern Connecticut.

Is this my dream job? No. I never even thought about the work that goes into those sometimes annoying white blocked letters that scroll across my television set from time to time. Nonetheless, it is actually pretty fascinating. I get to help the deaf enjoy television programs, and I get to watch T.V. I mean, what can be better? It might not be so much editing as it is typing and listening, but it's useful work. It beats my second option of going back into retail as a part-time cashier. (No disrespect to those cashiers out there, but you all know you are underpaid and overworked.)

I was really aiming to work for a health or medical publication, maybe even a pharmaceutical company. You have to start somewhere, and getting job number 45 on my growing application list is not half bad at all.

So tomorrow when I look out the window from my desk, instead of seeing New York City skyscrapers and crowds of people rushing to get somewhere, I will see grass, a lot of trees, and a deer and squirrel or two. Instead of hearing car horns, subways and the clamored speech of hundreds of people at once, I will hear crickets, silence, a car or two passing on the main road. This is not a bad scene at all. Some might even call it beautiful. It is an environment I am familiar with. I grew up in it my whole life. I'm a small town New York girl, always have been, and maybe always will be.

And while those I grew up around start their lives in California, Florida, the big city and even up north, I will remain in the Valley. Not everyone makes it to the city at first, not even at all. Even though I will have to live with my parents in my childhood house in a place I like to call the Hopeless Jungle, I think it is exactly where I need to be, at least for now. I mean how many recent grads can say they have a job, or say they found one basically in their backyard? I can. And it is a pretty damn good one. It is in such an unexpected location, but here it is. Shit, and even though most of my close friends will be gone by the time September rolls around, I will be here, and I will make the best of it. Maybe I will join the community orchestra, join the gym down the road and make the best of life.

This is not to say my blog will end. The list will grow. There will be a time when I will want to extend my career and explore new things. I am planning to go to Graduate school in a year for Bio-medical writing and get a job in that field. But as they always say, some experience is better than no experience.

Peace, and good luck to all those still searching for work. My advice, keep looking and look in the places you may not have thought to or wanted to. If that means you have to stick around your run-of-the-mill home town and work, do it. You will save money that way and gain career experience. After all, you deserve that much. You have a degree! That is supposed to prevent us from going backwards. Move forward, and do so with confidence. You will find a good fit for you, might not be perfect, but good.

My Guide to Physical Fitness

Some people have been asking me lately how I got so fit and thin. Honestly, up until recently, I didn't even notice how much weight I had actually lost. I was never heavy or even chunky, but I had "baby fat" for awhile. At the start of my junior year of college, I was 145 pounds, and now at 22 years old and 5 feet 5 inches height, I am 124. So, how did I do it? Well, it didn't happen magically, although it kind of seemed that way at first.

The number one reason for my drastic, if you want to even call it that, weight loss is my sudden, severe allergy to milk, commonly known as lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance occurs when a person does not produce enough lactase enzymes which break down the sugar lactose found in dairy products such as milk, cheese and creams. Enzymes are large molecules that act as catalysts in chemical reactions such as the breakdown of food particles and even the "unzipping" of DNA strands in cellular division and sexual reproduction. I digress. Anyway, long story short, my body decided not to produce any more or enough, so there is nothing there to properly break down the sugars and disperse the nutrients throughout my system.  This means that when I consume ice cream, cheese or milk, my stomach bloats, aches and then I run to the bathroom. So dairy products and I are no more.

I go into this because dairy has a high percentage of fat. Evolutionary speaking, I am at an advantage. Most adults loose a normal amount of lactase enzymes, causing some discomfort when dairy is consumed. This is advantageous because in the long run, dairy fat is not healthy or necessary for developed adults any more. As children, we need the vitamins in milk to support and sustain bone growth. As adults, too much of it makes us fat and might even cause fatty spots in our bodies that can be very detrimental.

I am not saying to become lactose intolerant or cut out dairy all together, but replacing milk fat with healthier options like soy, almond or coconut milk will trim your body and keep fat off. Humans still need calcium, don't get me wrong, but calcium is not only found in milk. Some vegetables like broccoli, contain calcium. Soy milk is also fortified with calcium and of course, there are calcium supplements. This becomes really important for women of post-child bearing years. Too much soy can be harmful too, but everything in moderation.

The second, most important thing I did that contributed to my knew physique was cut out saturated fatty foods like cakes and cookies. I was never a cake eater to begin with, but for those of you who are, pay attention! It is really important to switch these saturated fats with polyunsaturated ones found in fruits. Instead of taking a huge piece of pie or enteements cake, try blending some bananas, berries and ice together. You will still get a sugar fix and feel like you are enjoying a delicious treat with half the calories, fat, guilt and all natural sugars.

Third, I limited my carbs. Kick those carbohydrates to the corner and substitute it with fiber instead. Fiber bars and fruits rich in fiber will fill you up while cleaning your digestive track out. Eating a bagel in the morning is an all too quick-fix, common routine. But, carbs are meant to be quick energy, stored in the body for high-energy movements. So a bagel will leave you feeling empty, drained and sluggish. Too much intake that doesn't get burned turns to fat, especially around the belly. Plus, carbs will make you feel hungry between breakfast and lunch causing you to snack more. Try some fruit and eggs or a fiber bar instead.

Fourth and really the key to all fitness is exercise. All too often people use their busy lives as an excuse to not moving their bodies. I get it, believe me I do. But, there are things you can do in just ten minutes that will help. I started doing these things most nights before bed, and I felt and saw the difference. Core body work-outs like sit-ups and planks help build stomach muscles. These can be done on the floor of your bedroom. Doing 50 sit-ups and 30 second planks tighten those abdominal muscles. Wall-sits are also a favorite of mine. Find a place against your wall and just sit. You will feel the burn in your thighs, but that tightens up glutes and thigh muscles. Doing cardio work like running, elliptical, biking, walking or swimming is always effective when trying to burn more fat.

 If you have a gym membership and time to use it, great. Bring a friend, significant other or family member for motivation and support. If not, that's ok too. Tag along with someone who does have a gym membership and can bring guests, or you can try the above exercises at home. Also, using work out videos on YouTube are really helpful and fun. There are so many of them and on so many different work outs. You can find a cool zumba video or dance routine.

All of these things and more will contribute to the health and physique you are striving for. You don't have to be a skinny thing or even a body builder, and you don't have to starve yourself on diets. You just want to be confident in your own skin while feeling healthy and fit. Everyone is built differently and has different metabolisms, however, everyone benefits from a healthy life style one way or another. It starts with you and simple changes in habits each day. So put on your yoga shorts and jogging shoes and come along for the healthy ride to fitness!

Wanting it all

     Maybe it's a first world thing, or and American thing, or even a young adult thing, but I want it all. When I say this, I am not being materialistic. I don't want a Maserati or designer clothes or even to go to a five-star restaurant. I just want a good job, with a nice salary and to be happy in that job. I want it all at once or at least all at the same time. I might be acting foolish or selfish, but these are my thoughts.

   A lot of adults think they have our number. We are used to instant gratification. With a tap of the finger. we have the entire world on our phones by our sides 24/7. Want to find the nearest restaurant? Google maps. No free hands to text? That's okay. Talk to your phone. They say because of this, we expect everything to work as fast as the internet and our phones, or witch craft as my dad calls it. So, when the annual graduating college seniors step off the stage with diploma in hand, we expect a job to come flying to us just as fast as we can download "selfies" on Instagram.

  These record playing old-timers might be onto us, (sorry mom) but is it so wrong to want what they had in an age where the competition wasn't so fierce? Health care, 401K, a full-time salary. Technology might have turned us into an attention deficit and impatient bunch, but what happened to the promise of a better future? Education is supposed to be a good, no great investment. And unless you are as smart as Steve Jobs, it doesn't look very bright. Although I shouldn't complain if I get a job with a salary close to what I would make working at Wal-Mart full-time, they told me the degree would help. They said I could have it all, and that is what I want. Starting from the bottom is fine, but if the bottom is below the very bottom, where is the room to climb up?

    I want a $50,000 a year job where I am happy and doing what I love, where I have the option to buy Armani or Guess and not worry about affording gas and food. I want to be able to put money into my savings account...and keep it there. I want to use my talents and intellect on something worth while. If I can't do this, maybe I might as well forget about my degree and work at Wal-Mart. At least it would be justified.

Surfs Up!

          Yesterday evening, I went surfing for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean at the beautiful Jersey  Shore. My friend brought me out to teach me, along with my sister and her pals. It was an amazing feeling! Frightening, but fun.
       
         The hardest thing about surfing is not balancing, which I thought it would be; it's actually remembering to do all five steps at once in roughly 30 seconds. After all, you only have about that amount of time before a wave breaks, if even that long. I learned to lay on the board  properly at first: Chest half-way on the board,  hands griped firmly at the side of the board, limbs relaxed, and then the hard, scoop-like paddling. For those of you who are pro-surfers or have surfed before, you know then how tiring it is to paddle hard ahead of a wave. That was my arm exercise for the night!

       The standing up motion is quick. You have to kick your body up in a crouching position and sprout up with your front and back foot placed in just the right position. You tie all this together, and you have yourself a simple recipe for conquering waves...right? Wrong. It was not as graceful as I originally thought.

       When it was time for me to catch some waves, I gently walked into the water with the board at my side and cord attached to my foot. It was almost 8 p.m. and the waves were roaring and crashing hard and fast. The board felt heavy, so that was issue number one. Every time a wave came at me, I ducked under and the board got away from me. I finally hopped on, problem number two, and my friend told me to turn my board so I was facing away from the forming waves. "Huh, what," I thought to myself. I thought I had to face the waves, you know paddle toward them and then jump up before they break. Nope. Technical error on my part.

     I was told to start paddling as a wave was lifting me and the board high, and I did. The wave was under me and as it pushed me, my speed was accelerating and I felt as if I were on a coaster at six flags! Then it wouldn't stop, the nose heading for shore. "Shit!!" I screamed. I rolled off the board as the wave crashed over me. I tumbled around and around, scrapping my back and legs on the rough sandy floor. The board was pulling me, but I got up, ear and nose filled with salty water. It was awesome!

     I continued to do the same exact thing a couple times. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stand up. Remember the part where I said this activity takes like a five step thought process? Well, I couldn't wrap my head or body around five which is the quick standing motion. Even after everyone was shouting at me to stand, "You have this! Go, go, go!" I just laid flat on the board like a bottom dwelling fish. So again myself, along with my board, would get sucked into the ocean's fury.  In the end, I left the beach with a few scrapes and sand burns on my skin, but I was happy.

   This is going to sound corny, but surfing is like life. The unforgiving situations of life will grab you and engulf you, and the weight of the world will try to drag you down, but you must fight and get up, willing to get back in, board in hand, excited to try again. Don't let the waves conquer you, conquer the waves.

Sitting Duck Syndrome

     Ah, the trial, tribulations and joys of post-bachelor's job search...I think the majority of us millennial children know how this feels, on account that around 40% of us young Americans hold bachelor's degrees.

 

     We've seen the numbers, read all the articles and heard horror stories from undergrads of the past. They are calling our economical state the worst down fall since the great depression. Great. I am so glad I have a degree! And congratulations to those of you who have found a job since leaving college life behind. Kudos to you! Either God really loves you, you have great luck or you are just that damn good. But for the rest of us unemployed and struggling undergrads, we will mush together and become the new yearly statistic in The Wall Street Journal. I always wanted to be famous, I just never knew it would be anonymous. 

  For those of you who decided to go back to school for a higher degree, awesome. Stall, stall as much as you can. As long as you can afford it, over qualify and stall. For those of you who chose a recession proof major like health, medicine or criminal justice, you are smart, very smart. I must have missed the list of worst and best jobs in Forbes because journalism was definitely on that worst list.

   I will spare you the numbers and facts you already knew about the aftermath of  graduation. Instead, you can read about my experience for the next couple minutes. Maybe you will relate, maybe not. You might laugh at me or just be sad for me. But really, I know most of us are in the same boat so bare with me. 

   It has only been over two months since I graduated from SUNY New Paltz and about one month since I received the piece of paper in the mail that cost me my blood, sweat, tears and oh right, money. My childhood dream was to become a doctor, but I got my journalism degree instead (that is another story for another day and blog). Do I like to write? Sure. Do I think journalism is the best thing that has ever happened to me? Not quite. But for now, that is the job market I am getting myself into. So far, I am 43 applications into the process. Enough? Not nearly. I know people submit 100 before getting an interview. I'm not a mathematician, but that means I will have to painfully submit 57 more applications in hopes of one actually contacting me and then calling me in for an interview. If I decide to submit to 5 jobs a week, it will take me over one month to get an interview-an interview that 50 other people just like me are going to have. 50 people, half of which have been searching longer than I have, two or three years maybe. 

   Then there is option two. Go back to where I started. I can apply to the types of part time jobs I left - the ones I left in order to start a career in the first place-just to pass the time and make money so I can live. Of course, now I will be over qualified for a cashier or associate position. So, this brings me to option three. Go back to school, for my master's, a second bachelor's, anything at all because right now, I am a sitting duck.

  According to the dictionary, a sitting duck is a helpless victim or easy target. I don't consider myself a helpless person or a victim by any means. However, in my current situation, I have fallen victim to a well known phenomena of this country. A route that young people all over the country take every year. Over qualify yourself in order to stand on the production line, waiting for someone to call your number, waiting for the person ahead of you to fall so you can take their place. Helpless in the sense that at 22, when I should be starting my life, I am simply delaying it for God knows how long. Living with my parents for at least five more years. Working for hourly wages when I worked so hard to make a real career for myself so that I would be happy, but I am just becoming more frustrated and miserable by the minute. Everyone tells me that something will come up and that I have to be aggressive for what I want in life. I knew it wouldn't be this easy, but I thought I would have a better chance. 

They say there is a light at the end of all dark tunnels. Although it is far from view, I would like to think it is going to be here really soon.