Colorful Eggs and Chocolate

The concept of easter is a bizarre one when you take into consideration that the holiday was meant to be a Christian one. Although a lot of holidays are like that. Christmas was another Christian holiday. Halloween was a Celtic festival. St. Patrick's Day was about an Irish Patron Saint who brought Christianity to Ireland. Valentine's Day was meant to represent two Roman martyrs. The list of holidays that have now become hallmark card holidays goes on for quite a while. 

So where did the bunny laying its colorful eggs come from? Well, the eggs were meant to be colored with the blood of sins but why does the bunny put them out for us and why do we have to search for them? Queen Victoria and her mother are to be thanked for the egg hunt component. They made it up as a game to keep the kids entertained while the adults were at services. The bunny did not come into the picture until the tradition stretched over to the United States and the Germans who had settled in Pennsylvania. 

I just enjoy eating the ham and deviled eggs at this point.

As a child, I definitely loved the candy and the pennies I would get from the eggs hidden around the yard the most.

If you could write the origin story for Easter and the Bunny, what would your story look like? Would it be a little something more like the Rise of the Guardians where the bunny is more like a kangaroo? Or would it be like Hop and have a musician for a Bunny.

Retail Returns

 As somebody who worked in retail and had to deal with the different metrics that corporate required you to make, I always hate having to return something to a store. It sucks even more when it wasn't their fault that something had gone wrong.

In today's case though, it kind of was, which makes me feel a little bit better. I still feel bad that within the first five minutes of them opening their doors, they had to have a negative sale. Sure, it was only $13 USD but that is still a poor way to start the day. I always hated when somebody would come in and ruin our metrics by processing a return, even more so when it was done without a receipt or they refused to give their emails even though it was required.

What is your worst retail return story? Why do you usually end up returning things? Do you rather take the loss and just not return it? Do you gift it to somebody else instead? Do you re-sell it online and try to just break even?

How Much Sleep is Too Much Sleep?

Have you ever spent the entire day sleeping? 

Have you ever woken up feeling more tired than when you fell asleep? 

Have you ever woken up and wondered what time or what day it is because you lost all sense of existence?

How much sleep is too much sleep?

How much sleep is causing you to make yourself sick?

I wish I knew.

I have been sleeping all day and it just doe not seem to be helping my case but also I don't feel like I ever get enough sleep so maybe I just need to continue to play catch up.

Souvenirs

Going on vacations and being able to bring back souvenirs is a privilege. Being able to go on a vacation at all is a privilege, to be frank. It is a first-world problem to not know what to bring back to remember your trip. But everyone wants to have momentos of their time. Somebody may try and tell you, "oh your memories should be enough in themselves", "well you took photos of your time there didn't you?", "you spent all that money on the trip and you didn't bother getting me something to bring back like a cup or a hat or something?". Let them ask, tell them no, tell them it isn't any of their concern, tell them that maybe they should go themselves and they can get whatever momentos they think they want themselves. 

How you choose to remember different moments in your life, different trips you take, different achievements you have surpassed; that is completely up to you. You can choose to just live in the moment. You can choose to take a million photos and share them on social media with all your friends, or maybe create a giant photo album to look back on. You can choose to get crushed pennies, a pencil, a glass, a t-shirt, or a bag of peanuts from the plane with the name of your destination; get whatever you want!

Just be careful in what you are trying to transport where because you may end up falling into trouble with law enforcement. Be careful with trying to transport drinks or food. Be careful with taking pieces of the natural habitat like flowers or sand, rocks, and shells. Sometimes there are guidelines against these things for a reason. Sometimes they are stupid reasons but other times it is a matter of you bringing an invasive species to a new habitat or taking it away from an environment that does not have any extra resources to give.

Be kind in what you do when you travel but enjoy yourself and make memories that will last a lifetime because you never know when your lifetime will let you go through these events again.

Stood Up

 Being stood up is never fun, and I am sure that nobody enjoys it. Not the first date that you pulled a prank on. Not the doctor who thought you were coming in for your check-up. Not the little kid performing in their first show that thought their family was going to show. Not the musician having their first big concert that thought their fans would actually pay to come. And certainly not the recently new apartment dweller who thought they were finally going to get a decent dresser for cheap to store their clothes in that drove the hour to meet up at the specified time and at the specified location just to sit around for an hour and have their messages ignored.

I am not saying that you need to keep every appointment that you set up. I am however saying that you should be kind and inform people when you are not going to stick to dates you have set. Stop wasting not only their time but your own time playing with these people.

That is all.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

What Makes You Jump

What in the world made you jump?

What made you take that first jump for joy?

Did you enjoy that little toy?

What made you jump up on that bed?

Did it hurt to bump your head?

What made you take that leap in faith?

Did you ever consider hate?

What made you long for something more?

Did life just become a chore?

What made you decide enough was enough?

Did you think the world was too tough?

Maybe you decided on your own,

You no longer wanted to go home.

But somebody out there is going to cry,

To no longer have you by their side.

Hopefully, you are now at peace,

I will think of you running among the geese.

Fake Orders

How bad off do you need to be in order to place an order under somebody else's account without their knowing? 

Honestly, it makes me more sad for you than it makes me mad that I am losing money. Like yes, it is annoying that I now need to contact their support team to let them know that somebody in a completely different state gained access to my account and ordered something with my card. Yes, it is annoying that I need to reach out to my bank and inform them that there is a false charge and that it needs to be disputed. Yes, it is annoying that I now need to wait for a new card to show up because my existing one has been put on hold in case you order something else from my account. But that is easy enough to do. I had it all done within the hour of you making the order. But you only ordered a single foot-long hoagie from Subway. You didn't even want a drink to go with that let alone get a bag of chips and make it into a sandwich. Why didn't you try and order some backup food? Get some extras for your buddies down at the tent city? 

I do hope you enjoy your $12 sandwich though. Any particular reason why you got an Italian with chipotle sauce? Is that really any good? 

Confined Spaces

 Now, I am by no means claustrophobic. I do however believe in occupancy regulations and personal space and being able to move to get a task done.

As somebody who grew up with 5 other siblings and a whole gaggle of family friends in and out of our house, I am no stranger to working around others, or sharing spaces, or even organizing and optimizing space. But, in the same general scope of things, these things have also taught me that space is important and that feeling comfortable to accomplish your work is important. You can not expect to put 10 people in an 8 by 10-foot space and have them all be able to maneuver in unison, especially if they do not all get along. If somebody is going to need to spin around or walk to the other side of the room to acquire materials at the same time as another, they will end up butting heads. It just is not feasible to expect that you can have them all in that space.

Similarly, you can not task those 10 people all with cleaning that 8 by 10-foot space and expect there not to be people who end up standing around because there are too many of them doing the same tasks. Sure, in theory, more people make for faster work, but not if they are bumping heads or overlapping and spreading things around. You honestly end up with the task taking longer than it would have with just one or two of them in that space. Especially since once those two people get into a groove, they start moving faster and getting more work done because they have a system that works.

What do you think though? Am I wrong in this thought process?

Showing You Care

Sometimes it can be very difficult to show someone that you love them. Especially when you start to take into consideration all the different love languages that people may have. Not to mention how difficult it can be if you are long-distance or if you just do not have as much time to spend together as you may like because of differing schedules. That is why it is important to listen to one another and it is important to stay communicative about what is going on in your life.

There may be folks out there who say that it is toxic to be up in your partner's business, but to be frank, if you do not feel comfortable telling your partner everything you are doing, why are you with them? It is a completely different matter if your partner does not trust you and questions the things you tell them, then sure, you could discuss it being a toxic relationship. But just telling them that hey you're going to be going out with friends one day or maybe you are spending a day with your family, that is just good communication and it is key to a healthy relationship. 

I think that is where a lot of modern relationships seem to fail, they lack communication. In my own opinion, you should be able to be friends with your significant other before you even consider if you can or should date them. If all you are looking for out of a relationship is somebody for physical attraction and having fun, is that really a relationship? Although if that is what you both want then kudos to you I suppose, but wouldn't that involve talking to each other about it to begin with? Which brings us full circle back to good communication makes for a good relationship.

In line with good communication, you need to know your partner and understand their needs. What you may think is affection, they may take as aggression. You may think that you are showing your love by getting them gifts, they may feel as though they are using you. You may want to be hanging on them and hugging or kissing them all the time, they may find displays of personal affection cliche and childish or rude. 

You need to be able to talk about these things and truly appreciate each other for every bit of one another. This is something I personally need to do better with, understanding my partner and their needs so that I can properly show them that I love them and want to spend time with them. 

The same could be said about friendships too.

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

 There are a lot of things that I could be talking about when I say the phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to". I could be discussing cars, houses, general appliances, superheroes, movies, jobs, people, food, etc. The list goes on. In this specific case though I am thinking of furniture, even more specifically, dressers and drawers of any form. 

If you, like me; have recently moved or are redecorating and need to replace some rather essential items, then you have probably noticed that furniture has gotten made into a cheaper, lighter, and more fragile state of existence. And while you may say that this also makes it cheaper that is not always necessarily the case. More so it is just that the older versions, the more durable ones, are more expensive now and so an alternative had to be made to replace that item at its purchasing value.

I've been looking for a few months now, for a sturdy wooden dresser for my bedroom. And while yes I would prefer to find one with the number of drawers I desire and the right color; I quickly came to terms with the fact that it was hard enough finding a completely wooden dresser let alone one that matched my exact desires. So I have been trying to just find a solid wood dresser at all and any that I find are asking for a minimum of $300, AND THAT IS JUST FOR A SMALL 3 DRAWER ONE. At this point, I may have to consider just building my own.

Before you say to check Amazon and get a cheap one there, almost none of those dressers listed online are solid wood. They may look it, but they aren't. And the ones that you see the weight of and say that it must be solid wood, the frame is but then the drawer inserts themselves are made up of those foldable, lightweight, cardboard insert things that you can purchase at the dollar tree. That is not what I want. I want something solid that will last a lifetime so I do not have to worry about replacing it for several years.

Yes, I have checked Facebook Marketplace. Yes, I go to the thrift stores regularly. No, I will not be checking out Bob's Furniture or any of those big-name stores because they want to sell you stuff in sets or jack up the price higher. I will instead continue to wait for the one that is just right for me.

But why do we have to resort to making things so cheaply? Why are the days gone when you could buy something and have it last you well over a decade? Corporate greed, that's why. I hate it.

Listen to the Music

The vast array of music that we have come to have in the world is absolutely astonishing, especially when you think about how most songs follow the same notes and same chords, and yet we still end up with so many different songs that fit so many different styles and so many different tastes. Not to mention the cultural array of music diversity and how it can be used to express your heritage, your nationality, or your religion.

The type of music you listen to says a lot about you. Not necessarily in a bad way but not always in a good way either. You should never be ashamed of the type of music you listen to. If you find that you prefer a specific style, be it country, pop, rock, indie, rap. etc.; that is totally fine and that is totally you. Not a fan of curse words and would rather avoid albums that have parental advisory stickers? Good for you, but do not diss on somebody who does not care either way. People don't always go out of their way to find songs that have curse words but they also don't worry about switching the radio station because a cuss was said. Now if somebody is listening to music that talks about mass murder and they are enthusiastically singing along and you seem to think that maybe they are taking it to heart, sure, maybe be a little concerned for them; but also, maybe they are just going through something and need to be in the feels. 

There are plenty of people who use music to express their feelings. That is how we end up with all the country songs about drinking, Taylor Swift and her break-up songs, or Pharrell Williams and his upbeat songs that make you want to smile and go for a drive.

So go ahead and listen to your music, blast that sound track, and sing from the heart driving down the highway, do not let others control what you choose to listen to, and do not tell others what they can't listen to. Let people exist and express themselves. (As long as it is in a safe manner of course.)

Pi Day!!

3.141592653589793238462643...

Those are the first 25 digits of Pi.

Pi is a never-ending decimal that is used both in the numerical world of math as well as that of science; their worlds tend to mesh a lot.

Pi can be used to do many things including finding the circumference and the area of the circular pie crust you will likely be eating at some point today. (Because it is also National Pie Day for our non-mathematically inclined friends.)

Other uses for pi include the field of quantum physics and their push for knowledge of the ever-growing void around our planet called space. As well as musical theory; pi can be used to help determine pitch and volume control of your vocals. And of course, there is the medical field, where pi is used to determine volumes and surface areas of body parts. 

Pi has many applications but I am sure most would like the use of making a circular pie best.

What is your favorite flavor of pie?

What I Eat

What I choose to eat should be the business of nobody but myself. 

If I choose to eat chicken four nights out of the week, that is my business. If I choose to eat steak once a week to get my red meat in, that is my business. If I choose to eat fish more than once a week, that is my business. If I decide to have a bigger serving than normal because I haven't eaten all day, that is my choice.

It does not negatively impact you or your life. It is not causing you financial strain because you are not the one who paid for it. It is not causing you dietary restrictions or discomfort because you are not the one eating it.

Why do others decide to make every little decision you make, their concern? Just because I sent you a Snapchat of my dinner plate does not mean that you need to start up a debate on what I am eating. You want to make a quick comment, sure. You don't think it looks very appetizing, fine. You would have paired it with something else, thank you for the suggestion.

But please, mind your own business and do not try to criticize everything I do that is different from what you would do. We do not need to be the same person or have the same taste or eat the same things. Nobody does. Being different is good. It is how we ended up with so many different cultures.

International Women's Day

Too often, people seem to forget that they are capable of doing just about anything that they set their minds to. Sometimes they need a little push to realize that they are capable of achieving great things in life. No matter your hand you were dealt.

Somebody can be born into the poorest neighborhood with tons of violence and illness surrounding them. They can have parents who are never home because once they finish work they go to the bar and then they are back up again for work the next day before the break of dawn. What they do with their life is still up to them. They can choose to follow in the footsteps they observe or they can choose to learn from these examples and they can push to do better. Sure it may take a bit more time and effort than somebody who was raised on the brighter side of life and has everything handed to them on a silver platter who has the same aspirations in life, but that does not mean it can not be achieved. In the same sense, somebody who was brought up to know financial security and wealth and have ample opportunities to better themselves and the world could end up losing it all and may end up in a slump of sorts.

Regardless of your gender; you are smart, you are strong, you are independent, you are willful, and you can achieve great things.

Happy International Women's Day!

Adulting, is it for everyone?

Why is it that so many people find it to be a struggle to "Adult"? Why can we spend our days aimlessly as kids and spend all the money in the world doing things in our fleeting moments as we grow up but then as we age we struggle to find time for ourselves and we never have any money to do the things we wish we could, even the cheapest things like going out for a burger at McDonald's?

Now this isn't necessarily true for everyone. Some people are set up for "success" early on, in the sense that they spend most of their childhood acting as adults in their own lives. Some people learned how to cook and clean after themselves early on, others have not bothered doing their own laundry to this day and they even went away to college. Some people received a penny as their allowance and learned how to budget that income so that maybe by the end of the year they could buy themselves a new doll at the dollar tree, others received a card from somebody in their family and never had to worry about running out of money, they just continued to spend and the money would refill itself.

There are ways you can learn these life skills later on but not everyone wants to take the time to. Some people may think that they are trying their best but their mindset is still in that demeanor of wanting to buy everything in the moment as they decide they want it and therefore do not actually learn from any new tactics they try to learn. 

Maybe adulting is not for everyone, and that is okay. But everyone needs to learn how to continue to progress and be better because otherwise, you are going to end up spending every day of your life relying on others to get you through. You are going to run yourself into debt and homelessness. You are going to make yourself smelly and undesirable. 

Not everyone is dealt a bad hand but what you do with your hand is going to say even more about you in the long run.

How have you faired in your adulting journey?

Who's That Pokemon?

I have never been super big into the Pokémon world. I barely know the Pokémon. I definitely do not know any of the trainers names or who is on team rocket. Okay, that is a lie. I know some of those things. I know the main guy is Ash Ketchum (a clever word play because he has to catch 'em all). I know his Pokémon is a Pikachu that he literally just names Pikachu (do any of them actually name their Pokémon something other than the type of Pokémon they are?) I know that Jessie and James were the original Team Rocket contenders but they definitely aren't now.

When Pokémon first released in 1996, there were only 151 types to be caught and there were not really any other permanent trainers, just gym leaders. Slowly, Ash started becoming friends with more people and we start seeing more trainers introduced to the world including May and Max, Dawn, and eventually the new face of Pokémon, Liko. Along the same timeline, our types of Pokémon increased to 1,025 including all their evolutions. We went from having 15 elements for the Pokémon to possess powers of, to 18 elements AND the ability to have more than one.

Not knowing much about the series or the content does not stop me from enjoying the games though. Being a collector and a lover of all the cute little animals that I can get in plushie form; I NEED THEM ALL.

There are 25 seasons to the original series, 10 mini series, 25 movies, and 135 games. How does anyone keep all of this information straight?? The same can be applied to Yu-Gi-Oh. There is just so much information to be absorbed and I could never imagine remembering it all. 

Android versus iPhone

I hate that there is a stigma between individuals who choose to use a different brand of something. This not only applies to phones but also to vehicles as well. People with Ford trucks versus those with Dodge or Ram trucks. There is always going to be a biased debate on which is better between parties.

Personally, I do not care either way. I prefer my Androids because they are cheaper but also because they allow me more options for customizing the use of my device and they are easy to repair on your own instead of needing to rely on an IT service plan that you pay extra for. But some people are very strictly Apple users and they almost seem to despise anyone who has an Android. Especially when, god forbid they have a text conversation with the person and the bubbles on the phone turn green. OH NO, ITS THE END OF THE WORLD. Like, chill out. Why not just customize the bubbles to be a different color then? I can make mine any color I want, currently, they are a deep red but they used to be purple and before that they were blue. Can your phone not do that?

Please stop hounding me and indirectly harassing me simply because I do not choose to live the same lifestyle as you and have the same products as you. My choices are my own and they do not negatively impact your own life. And no, your green bubbles do not count as ruining your life.

So which are you? Team Android or Team iPhone?

Credit Scores

What is a credit score? Does everyone have one? How do you grow a credit score? What shouldn't you do with your credit score?

A credit score is a set of numbers that helps determine the spending power that you can receive from other lenders/markets. Everyone has a credit score, they are like social security numbers in a way, but not everyone has a good credit score, and honestly, the earlier you start thinking about your credit the easier it is going to be for you to have a decent score value. Your credit score is based on several things including how much you earn, how much you owe, how many accounts you have open that you pay on, if you are paying things on time, etc. The more accounts you have open, the better; the older the accounts are, the better; the lower your usage of your credit cards, the better; making payments earlier, phenomenal. These are all things you should consider when thinking about your credit. What you shouldn't do, is get a credit card and then use the entire limit and take seven years to pay it down. You shouldn't have just one loan or card and think that will be enough to have a good score. Sure, start out small with a single card, especially if a parent is helping to build your credit while you are still in high school. But once you can, consider getting a second card and forgetting it exists. Take out that student loan so that you can get your education and be sure to make payments on time. Get that new phone and instead of buying it outright, pay the monthly installment plan. All of these things will show on your credit reports and they will help you grow financially. 

Do other countries have credit scores? Is that an American thing? 

Other countries do in fact have credit scores, they just aren't calculated quite the same as American credit scores. Speaking as an American, our scores reflect both the good and the bad things you face as an individual. From what I have read online though, most other countries only really reflect the negative impacts on your score. But honestly, what does the internet know, right?

Collectors

 

Being a collector means spending a lot of your money on things that others may find silly or stupid. But being a collector also means knowing exactly where your money is going. Being a collector means loving what you own. Being a collector means being contempt with yourself and knowing that you are living your life how you want to live it.

Sometimes being a collector can be dangerous, in my case, being a collector means healing your inner child and getting to enjoy life again. It all just depends on what you're collecting.

When I was younger, I collected things that I definitely still have lying around my place. And who knows, maybe someday they will be worth some money to somebody but really I just collect them for the sentimental value that they have to me.

I have an old cigar box that I filled with my pencil collection. Yes, pencils. Any time I would take a field trip with my school or travel around the state with my family, we would not be allowed to get souvenirs because we just did not have the money for them; but pencils are usually very cheap so I could easily convince a teacher to get me one or save up some spare coins to be able to use a few times a year. That and my pressed penny collection. My parents have most of the ones from when I was younger but you best bet I have at least a dozen pennies from every place I could find a crank at. In fact, when I went to Disney last year, I spent upwards of 300 USD getting myself pressed pennies, sure that may seem ridiculous at first but when you think of how I have probably 1000 little memories from that trip now, I couldn't really ask for too much else. (Other than being a billionaire and being able to buy everything I laid my eyes on of course.) 

One of the other things I collected growing up was bracelets. Another thing that we could not get often but I somehow managed to find a way to get them and start a collection. I have the sillybandz that became popular around 2010 with all their fun shapes. But I also have tons of the jelly bands bracelets and the wider silicon bracelets that had sayings on them. Those I keep in an old shoe box and occasionally bring out to stop them from cracking and deteriorating.

That is something else people do not realize about collections. They take a decent bit of work, not only to assemble the collection but also to care for it/maintain it and clean it. You need to make sure things are staying dry that need to be, things that need moisture are getting that oily skin contact, and things that can get cluttered with dust or fade from sun exposure are getting protected and treated. It can take up a lot of precious time that you may otherwise be using to take care of yourself.

It is worth it though. Especially when you think of the alternative, you could be using your money to buy something illegal. Instead, you are buying more plushies to cover your bed in.