There's Always Someone Cooler Than You

So I was blog surfing today and while I was reading this song popped into my head.  I think so often people are obsessed with having "the perfect life" or looking like everything is all right.  But what is the definition of "all right"?  I mean, there is no control in that situtation...so normalcy can have literally billions of meanings.  White picket fences, maybe? Or a state above the influence?  Or even liking anime conventions.  All people have their own states of normalcy.  So what can we do?  Embrace our own attitudes, and be happy with we do and who we are...we have nothing to prove to anyone but ourselves, and if we keep trying to impress people, we will always be one-upped.  Maybe I am preaching to only myself...but this song has a good message.

I know why I'm fat

Today, I had this revelation.  Americans are fat.  Why did I have this revelation?  Because despite my efforts not to gain weight upon my return to the States...namely Oklahoma, I have taken it upon myself to work out for an hour 4 days a week (at 6am), at least, and count my calories (1200 daily ration).   And yet, I have gained a steady 6 pounds, in one month.  Compare this to Spain, where I lost that amount on a monthly basis, and my workout regimen consisted of running 3 blocks to the bus stop every morning after dragging myself out of bed at 10am.  Now that I am home, I hear people complaining about going to the gym, and how they have to drive there, myself included.  This American society is obese because we are lazy...and our meal choices don't exactly help either, though they are incredibly appetizing:

Dinner consists of:

A whole, dead fish...or.... a juicy steak dripping in marinade.

And for our seasoning to everything?

A nice sprit of olive oil...or...a vat of ranch dressing.

And to finish the meal we have dessert:

a juicy pear...or...a tower of cupcakes.

So now my problem is that although both look appetizing, I find myself quite lonely with my culinary tastes regarding a fish body covered in olive oil.  So I settle for the gobs upon gobs of fats and sugars, that are oh so succlent.  And it doesn't help that I love baking and am going through a cupcake phase.  So my next objective is the slim fast plan...a diet fad.  Bound to bounce back...but hopefully not before I go to the pool.

HIATUS MISCELLANIOUS

So I think it is pretty apparent that I have been on hiatus lately.  This will come to an end due to myself being chained to a desk all summer with a computer at my...fingertips?  Wow, it has been a long time...the originality is really sucking.  I blame it on my new habit of journaling.  It is really hard to write the same thing twice, and my journaling has taken to be a bit "angsty" now that I have returned to Jenks, Oklahoma.  Still, faithful invisible readers, I will try to make up for it and be as original as possible, or at least myself.  So to appease ya'll as well as myself I will provide you with a list.  Now, there is a story behind this magnificent list, I was discussing last night how I always say a movie is my "top-ten" but then, what really is top 10 material?  For me, I like movies that are all encompassing, yet different...and ones you can semi watch over and over, though I still find myself falling asleep in movies...all the time.  So here they are, according to me, at the present.

TOP 10 movies of ALL TIME...maybe
1. The Blind Side (Something you should know about me...I love dude movies...and this mixes football and heartwarming, which is genius.)
2. Forrest Gump
3.500 Days of Summer (the best chick flick!  Because it is REAL)
4. Titanic (Fun fact #2...I am obsessed with all things Titanic...it is almost creepy)
5.Pan's Labrynith (El laberinto de fauno...as they say...the best part?  I don't need subtitles.)
6. Sex and the City (I'm just obesessed.)
7. The Sixth Sense (I watch it over and over!)
8. An American Tail (How can you not love Fievel?)
9. Happy Feet (I love the innocence of it)
10. Seven Pounds (mainly because of Will Smith and his versatility of roles, and again, the message)

And just because I like you...and I have a hard time making decisions...
TOP 5 Film Series of ALL TIME..definitely.
1. Star Wars
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Matrix
4. Shrek (yeah, I went there.)
5. X-Men
Honorable Mention: Harry Potter, The 10th Kingdom, The Secret of NIMH

OMG? You didnt pick ___________________?!  Now I present...
TOP 10 Overrated films of ALL TIME...because I said so.
1. The Hurt Locker (maybe should have won best director, but not best picture)
2. Gone With the Wind (Note...I do love the movie...but Scarlet O'hara is too whiney, though still good)
3. 300 (I still have yet to make it through the whole thing awake)
4.The Princess Bride (yes, I like it a lot...but again...not that new.)
5. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks movies are always overrated...sweet, yes, but depressing.)
6. The Lion King (Mufasa dies.  Life goes on.)
7.Boondock Saints (I like it...but I can't rewatch it)
8.Sleepless in Seattle (a little too sappy for me)
9.Spiderman (a 4th one, really?)
10.Borat (its just not funny.)

So there ya go!  Note: These could change by the hour, I watch way too much TV and movies.

        

DESmadurez

One of my favorite movie scenes if from The Santa Claus...before Tim Allen was a crackhead.  After seeing Santa for the first time, the pessimistic Neil looks in awe, and little charlie replies "That's okay Neil, you were just denying your inner child."  Who would have though something so profound would come from such a little boy (screenwriters set aside)?  Well, for me, I am like Charlie.  I embrace my inner child, even though I try to act like an adult as much as possible.  Though, sadly, recently my inner child has become more prevalent while in Spain at the loss of my dog.  My stuffed dog, my "peluche," my Puppy.   You see, Puppy and I have been through a lot, and although my parents have taken to calling him "slobberdog" because I used to walk around with his leg in my mouth and drool with him as I sleep, he has become a loyal retainer, as well as my photobooth buddy while I am at the Motherland.

The story of Puppy goes like this:  Puppy was given to me at my babyshower before I was born, so he is older by a few months...my grandmother got him for me and my cousin gave him to me.  He played "How much is that doggie in the window" when you turned the metal ring on his back.  We were not friends at first, he was just someone that lived in my toy basket...but as I grew squeaky bear left the picture and Puppy took center stage.  He is a boy, and his nose is pink because I rubbed him on the wall while it had wet paint at a friend's house.  The bows prove his sense of fashion-forward and metrosexuality.  They were placed there by my grandma shortly before she died of cancer and I have never changed them.  One day I left Puppy at my grandmother's house and although she had not driven in roughly 10 years, she took her car and brought him back to me because she knew how important he was to me.  At a sleepover in the 3rd grade my friend's little brother ripped off the top bow, so it is now held on my safety pin...I cried for about a week.  And after seeing Toy Story for the first time, and I was convinced that my toys came alive, Puppy became the "Woody"of the bunch, and my American Girl Doll was Buzz.  Puppy has had 2 baths via washing machine in his life...and later countless via febreeze and various perfumes.  The first time I left Puppy at home was the 3rd time I went to summer camp...I survived, but we were shortly reunited.  At home, I am known as the girl with Puppy, I never have been to a sleepover without him.  He rides next to me when I drive home from SMU on my middle consule as I sing horribly at the top of my lungs to "Wicked," my friends and their parents just expect to see him clutched in my arms.

I debated about bringing Puppy to college, but I did.  I debated about bringing Puppy to Spain.  I debated about bringing puppy to Pais Vasco, but I did.  I worried I would leave him in the hotel, and I did.

Sometimes I wonder if things happen for a reason, did I subliminally leave Puppy in San Sebastian?  Was this destiny forcing me to grow up after sleeping with a stuffed animal for the last 20 years and 1 month?  Still, daily I continue to call the hotel...but it is believed he left with the laundry, for another dreaded bath.  Sleep still alludes me...though consciously I know I can sleep without Puppy, I have done it several times.  There can be no replacement, only wondering why it happened and a constant stream of tears every time I look at my empty pillow.  Sometimes...I would rather stay Peter Pan, and not be forced to be Wendy.

National traveler.

 As I sit here grazing on my raw meat (still eating that jamon serrano!) I cannot help but think...I should talk about my travels, after all I am spending my semester in Spain...so surely I have been places, right, yup.  To think more on this idea I have decided that when I return I am going to purchase a world map and a corkboard and place pushpins of everywhere I have been and then put it on the wall...so I can brag to myself.  I am 20 years old...traveling this much is cool!  So far, I have not left Spain...and I will do most of my traveling within Spain...for those of you visual learners, this is where I have been...along with some personal critiques.

Ho'kay...so here is ze Spain...and here is the critique of ze provinces...aka states, which also helps me study for my midterms next week...alterior motive?  I think so.
Madrid- I live here.  In Madrid, which is the capital of Spain for the nincompoops out there.  Madrid province also has some cool little towns...think Rhode Island...there is more than providence, but not much more.
Castilla La Mancha- This is where Toledo is situated, and I found out why it is called "Holy Toledo."  It is because of the short time of coexistence between the three central religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, yeah Toledo!  We need to learn from you... The rest of Castilla La Mancha looks like it is described in Don Quijote...boring, flat, lots of windmills, though pretty all the same.
Cataluña (Catalunya)- This is where Barcelona is.  I do not live here.  However, I did spend my first available weekend for travel in Barcelona with 7 other girls, which was quite fun and entertaining.  I liked it a lot, it is very cultural and also more "European" than Madrid, or so I am told.  Also, it has water, the Mediterranean Sea, in fact...so I liked it a lot.
Andalucía- This is the South of Spain.  It is not where the princess from Enchanted is from, though pronounced the same in English...she is to pale to be from here.  This place is where the Moors stayed the longest, which were the Muslim people.  The houses are white because it gets really freaking hot.  Also, this is where the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabel lived...big happenings in 1492.  Here I visited Córdoba, Sevilla, and Granada on a school trip.
La Rioja-This is known as the wine country of Spain...I will be traveling here in a few weeks and will visit a vineyard...pictures sure to come.
País Vasco-Unfortunately, this part of Spain is not making news for its beaches right now...moreof the Spanish terrorist organization calls this place home...which by the way has a similar name to my sorority...uh oh.  Apart from that we are taking a school trip here to visit Bilbao and see the Guggenheim Museum as well as San Sebastian to the beach on the Cantabric Sea...I am excited.
Valencia-I will be going here March 19th for a festival called "Las Fallas."  This is the sanctuary for a pyromaniac...here they set huge works of paper on fire...and you eat paella while watching it...sounds life fun.
Navarra-The oldest kingdom of Spain...also the home of the running of the bulls...don't think that I will make it here, sadly.
Cantabria-My professor is from here, haha...also famous for beaches.
Asturias- Famous for apples and the coast.
Aragón-Namesake of Lord of the Rings character...it also has mountains!
Galicia-This place is where San Juan de Compostela is, which is the burial site of St. John, the disciple.  A lot of people make pilgrimages here, which I hope to do someday.  Also, I have to write a term paper about this for honors credit, haha.  Galicia in itself is said to look like Ireland and people from here look like they are albino compared to other Spainards, though they are very nice.  I really hope to make it here sometime during my visit.
Murcia- Not much on this place, it is on the coast.
Extrmadura- Apparently this is the Oklahoma of Spain...land that not many people want, except natives...but instead of Native Americans, pigs dominate the land of which are killed to make delicious Jamon Serrano y Iberico.
Islas Baelares- Beach, nuff said.
Islas Canerias- See above...think Hawaii.
Ceuta y Melilla-  Think Puerto Rico of Spain..except they are just cities that Spain dominates in Africa.

Apart from around Spain, my travels will take me to Germany, Ireland, UK (Wales and England), France (hopefully), Andorra, and possibly Italy and Portugal...so much to do, so little time!

I do not like mushrooms and cheese, Amy I am.

Madrid cuisine is...different.  But in a good way.  I have come to realize that, per the teaching of one of my closest friends, that it is possible to like a food that you hate.  Yesterday I experienced this with mushrooms.  Due to my lack of food vocabulary due to too much subjunctive and not enough vocab, I thought "seta" was some kind of sauce, when ordering at a bar.  I then ended up with a plate of eggs over easy on top of sliced potatoes, surrounded by a mound of "guck."  And being the adventurous individual I am I carefully picked around the "guck" as I ate my eggs and potatoes...however some guck made it through my semipermeable membrane...the result...a mushroom...staring right at me.  It was too late, it was in my mouth, the fungal flavor was soon to overwhelm me, however instead I felt pleasant.  Ok...I like mushrooms now, at least European mushrooms.  To prove this point even more the big man upstairs decided to let me have mushrooms and chicken with pasta for dinner...and once again I liked it.  Sorry Daddy, strike 1.

Have you ever seen a pig leg on the table?  Yup...it is grodie.  Want to know what is worse?  When you find out that this meat is "cured" not cooked and you just hack off however many slices you want off the leg.  A black hoof?  All the better...stick it on some bread and there you have it, Jamon Serrano...a glorious tapa.  So good, so wrong...Strike 2

Anyone that knows me from childhood knows the greenish, grotesque way that I turn when I even hear the damnable term "cheese."  Strike 3, I'm out.  In Spain they possess this wonderful variety of queso called "manchego," so good!  Slap it on that bread with the jamon serrano and seta and it is like a party in my mouth, I cannot get enough of it.

That being said I have learned much about myself and my ability to expand my tastes.  However, when my host family gave me green beans, I still gagged, a lot.  Don't worry Daddy, I am not completely on the dark side.

She's gone postal

First of all...my blogger website seems to be all in Spanish...okay...oh yeah...I'm in Spain!  That's right folks, this Oklahoma girl has finally gone global.  For the next 4 months I will be living in and going to school in Madrid, Spain.  It is definitely shocking, definitely different, but so stimulating!  So to kick this off...the top 10 list of why Spain is cool.

1. Skiing and the Beach (some of my favorite pasttimes...all in one place!)
2. BIG NUTELLA (finally, the best sandwich spread comes in a kg)
3. Nap time (2-4 pm, all shuts down for a siesta)
4. Culture (there is old stuff here!)
5. Night life (or morning life?)
6. Europe (duh, again)
7. The euro (finally, colorful money!)
8. Freedom (the people here can drink, marry however they want, smoke where they want--gross)
9. Tortilla de Patata (google it)
10. Ocio (free time, all the time!)