Happy New Decade!

Not only is it a new year, it is a new decade. Now that is something worth celebrating! One year may be very similar to the one before it, but no two decades have had the same atmosphere--as anybody who has been annoyed by someone telling them every vintage style is from the 1950s can attest to. My first new decade's resolution is to stop being lazy etc. which includes not procrastinating. This post is being published only nine days after I intended it to be! Is that a great start or what?

No, no, no don't answer that question. My real purpose is not to put my new decade's resolutions up against my actual behavior. I thought it would be a nice change to do resolutions for the world in general, not because that way I don't have to do them--it is a plus though--but just for the fun of it. Dear World, please take the following resolutions to heart. Please resolve to:

1. Stop blowing parts of yourself up. I don't understand your logic in doing this. When I'm bothered by parts of myself, I do not take the stance that attacking said parts will scare them into feeling better. I suggest you try a similar approach.
   
2. Not end in 2012. I'm not worried about this one because even if the Mayans turn out to have been crafty devils, I will at least have graduated from high school already, but the new decade will be a let down if it only lasts two years.
3. Put classic movies back in theaters. There are of course film festivals everywhere, but it would be nice if there were just theaters in every city that played only old films.
4. Start dancing properly. As in, the people in you. Making people learn a necessary social skill like ballroom dancing would probably raise their IQ a couple points. I think we could all do with that.
5. Give up the political correctness crusade. It's irritating.
6. Educate yourself about the differences between "overweight" and "curves."
7.  Have some more fun.
8. Get me some more followers. Just saying. I mean I would appreciate it.

World, you have ten years, starting right now. The nine days you've missed already are my own fault.


What are your new decade's resolutions?

10 Random Facts About Me

1. I once married an inflatable clown punching bag. Not legally, however. I was about five, he was about the same but in months, and the sister who was making me go through with the whole thing was about thirteen. Oh yes, I walked down the aisle and kissed him and have managed to live happily ever after because he died shortly thereafter.

2. I have eight cats. And a closet full of clothes covered with cat hair.

3. More people than I can count have told me I reminded them of an old lady.

4. I never went to kindergarten. My mother thought five was too young to go to school so she homeschooled me for a year instead.

5. My sister's nickname for me is Fluffy. My brother calls me Weasel. My other sister tried briefly to nickname me Psychobabble, but it never stuck.

6. I'm crazy about etiquette. My manners are far from perfect, but I love improving them. Which is good, because with the improving I've got to do, I'll probably be at it for a long, long time.

7. I skipped fifth grade. Not because I'm smart, but because the school I moved to was (is) so bad. I keep trying to wheedle my parents into changing schools, but with no success.

8. My family teases me about the way I mispronounce words and mix up phrases (like you, Millie). For the longest time, I was convinced "devasted" was a real word and I once announced that something was an "old man's wife" as opposed to an "old wives' tale".

9. Because of a scar I have on my forehead (it's hardly noticeable), I went through a phase of telling my family I was Harriet Potter.

10. I'm a vegetarian, simply because I think meat is unappetizing and slightly repulsive. I feel that way because my parents are pesco-vegetarians so I never ate meat growing up. I'm in favor of animal welfare, but not animal rights.

Thanks to Millie for tagging me!

"Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us..."

Today is Audrey Hepburn's birthday. Besides deserving a special tribute, there are a few things I wanted to say about Audrey that won't carry a post by themselves.

First random thing is her eating habits. You still hear story after story about how she was anorexic, only to have those countered by tales of her ravenous appetite for pasta and chocolate. I am rather sick of it, because there is an obvious explanation. Hepburn had a few periods of major depression, a typical characteristic of which is a decrease or increase of appetite, and she both gained and lost large amounts of weight when she was experiencing them. Having no desire to eat a substantial amount is not the same as anorexia nervosa, although they can appear similar to an observer, especially one looking for a good story. From what I have read of Alexander Walker's Hepburn biography, her supposed bouts of anorexia were just that, bouts, and not a long continuous thing, supporting the idea that the only problem was clinical depression and she did not suffer from anorexia. What people assumed was an eating disorder was simply a symptom of mental illness. This is just a theory, but it seems logical to me. What say you?

The other random thing was to say that Hepburn is the perfect example of how beauty is mostly determined by personality. If you look at her face, it is far from perfect, downright strange, but the feelings beaming from her eyes make Hepburn a sight to behold. Even if you took her eyes by themselves and gave them to someone else, that person wouldn't be beautiful unless they had the same "elegant spirit." I'll stop now before I get too philosophical, but you get the idea. Perhaps you needed a lift if you listened to me and looked at your nose from the side with a hand mirror.

The title says: "Happy birthday to us" which brings me to another point. Today is my birthday as well: I am fifteen. Which feels straaange. Coincidentally, I had ordered several books and sent them to the US about a month ago and my sister came to visit yesterday bringing them, me having bribed her to do so. You can expect a ton of book reviews soon. One of the books, Making Faces, I bought in an attempt to teach myself how to apply makeup and I tried out some of the looks today after school--my dear, loving, supportive family asked me if I was sick, had swine flu, or had been aiming for the " dead bird" look. But they were joking--I hope.

Happy birthday to Miss Hepburn! And gooooooo Tauruses!