EVERYTHING IS THE SAME

I have slightly begun to believe everything is made the same way. People come up with an idea and then after that a lot of people work on the idea and make it happen. Of course there are certain specifics within a genre, but the concept is the same. This brutally, weird, honest, idea came to me while thinking about how skin appears on a body. All of these layers essentially make up the outer layer of the skin we see, just like a business or school. But how did skin get created... someone had an idea. No matter the viewpoint, big bang or evolution, it works there was an idea about skin in both realms. Relatively speaking of course, that everything is made the same way, I began to feel a cohesiveness to our world. I often find myself preaching diversity and beliefs, but I started to question what motivated that, and I think the fact of realizing everything is the same can essentially make us different. That is what makes being human beings so unique, we are just like everything else in the world: everything is made the same way. I know some people may question what I am saying and think its complete nonsense, but if you truly think about it all the way down to the simplest form; everything we are around today came from an idea. I think that simple thought gives our world hope, because everyone has a million ideas every day.

DESTRUCTIVE RESPECT

When I rushed in to my 8 am class this morning, I did not even look down. I just got my notes out and began filling in the blanks. My forearm started to feel irritated and then I saw the wonderful works of art done by the past students. The desk was basically chiseled away at for years, and then there were a few added pen scriptures. It really bugged me that someone would disrespect property that was not their own. There are thousands of students that use that desk each year. I particularly do not want to have to rise my arms up to write, so I miss the irritation of the uneven edges against my skin. There is a huge lack of respect for other peoples property today. I do not understand why a simple rule that was ingrained in people when they were young has disappeared. It makes no sense at all to me why someone would purposely disrespect someone. Maybe because they think they will not get caught, but still really?

As I sit here writing this, something jumped at me. Maybe it is not that people are purposely disrespecting the desk, but maybe they are expressing their creativity and individuality. I normally am all for expressing ones' self; I think it is one of the greatest things a person has to offer, but why not do it in another way? If that students that did this to the desk had their own desk, I wonder if they would get mad that someone ruined their desk. It perplexes me. I think there is a hard line to draw between individuality and creativity and a level of respect one must have. And in everyday life, this line is very hard to find. Some people wear things that express themselves, but really disrespect others. Some partake in activities that may rattle someone else's neck. And some draw and create things out of other peoples' property. This will always probably be a huge issue to deal with, but it has sparked my mind to think about how expressing myself may sometimes be offensive or disrespectful to others.

ADVISING REFORM

The entire process of college scheduling needs some help. The people who are advisors are more than welcome to help and mostly know answers, but SMU does not give them much to work with. I think that there needs to be some form or reform in this department. Access is great and gets the job done, but the whole pre-approval of classes just makes no sense. I think the process needs to be reversed. Students should have a list of all the classes they need to graduate, sign up for the classes, and then the advisers keep them on track and approve their courses along the way. I also believe there should be a set of main advisers in one building working on all scheduling and approval options. That way when a student, like me, needs to get a summer school course pre-approved, I am able to do it without running around the campus seven different times for five different signatures. I know I am rambling, but there needs to be a greater connection between SMU and the advisers. The advisers are ready and willing to help, but SMU does not specifically tell them what to do. The idea of reversal and a common center for advising would make life a lot less stressful and more productive for both students and advisers. The question is will it ever get done? I think not, SMU does not seem to listen strongly to opinions when the way is already working. Not working well or efficiently, but just working. SMU needs some advising for a reform, and I think I am not the only one who agrees.

SUPERBOWL COMMERCIAL

Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco

This is my favorite Superbowl commercial for this year. I think it was witty and creative, but also very relevant to the times. At first when I saw this spot, I thought of all the movies with road blocks, like Twister. That would be a vertical intertextual connection, because Twister is a movie and this is an ad. I also thought of all the crime show on television and the show cheap comical show Cheaters. The Green Police come out of no where and then just get the criminal, this would also be a vertical connection. The first few seconds reminded me of the 7/11 commercials where the cashier is smiling and is being overly nice; that would be a horizontal connection. I was actually at the Superbowl, so I did not get a chance to watch each commercial as it aired. I went home and watched them online the following Tuesday. In our ethics class we talked about this ad and how it applies, because of this somewhat bias opinion to the ad I had a tertiary intertextual connection present. The way the class spoke about that spot, made my view a little tainted. The entire commercial had a vibe to it of a party getting busted, I believe this would be a vertical connection too. There were not that many horizontal connections presented to me from this ad, that is one of the reasons the ad resonated so well. It had never been done before.

METERS

I hate meters. I hate how they always are measuring something, but most of all I hate parking meters. What is the point? There are so many other productive ways an organization can get money. I do not see how parking meters do the world any good. Society tells people they are doing things wrong enough, we do not need parking meters telling us we do not pay enough, when I am pretty sure we do. I know parking meters will never be gone, but there need to be a few improvements. A credit card meter. This would make life so much easier, for the parker and the collector. Not too many people just have a bunch of change with them at all times any more. That is my idea for efficient meter usage. As citizens, we are always being watched or judged, there needs to be more leverage when it comes to this. The credit card meter would just be one simple step to letting our society work naturally, and the consumer being able to do the right thing. This is just one simple thing to give our society a little trust and simplicity back.

SHUT DOWN

Recently I have found myself sitting and thinking about everything I have to do. But, I cannot do it. I do not know why my brain does this to me, but I just shut down. There are a thousand words and images coming at me, but I just do not know what to do with them. It is overload. But for no reason. Why does this happen? Often I get this feeling when I think I should be stressed. Keyword: think. Here is the irony, I am so concerned about not being stress that in return I become stressed. Oh how confusing life is. I imagine this is my brains way of telling me to slow down and realize the things that matter. In a week from now am I really going to be concerned about how my agenda looks or should I be focusing on spending time with people. I should be doing things I want to do, without interfering with the things I have to do. I think that should be my new motto for this stage in my life. I find myself trying to grow up way faster than I should and not just living in the moment. I find that a very hard thing to teach yourself how to do. But I think if I do live that way, I won't have shut downs anymore, because there will be no waste or stress in my life.

WHEN I REALIZED I WAS WRONG...

I have a bad habit of online shopping. No matter what it is I can always find it online cheaper. To my advantage I normally am able to order things off line. And there is my problem. It was not brought to my attention until this summer by my mom of all people. I asked her if I could use the online credit card to buy a dress for an event coming up, she said yes. But then she stopped me and goes: "Wait Ally what are you doing?" I replied, "Buying a dress off line." And the drama began. I guess what I say makes no sense, but I could not wrap my head around the idea that I was saying it wrong. The right way to say it is order online or order from the Internet. Well, I still cannot change my mind. The way I say it just makes sense to me, only no one else gets it. I guess I just combined ordering off online to order offline. I don't know what it is, but I cannot make it right. It is just one of those things that will probably never change. To some extent I will always push that my way is right because I am a strong willed person. I think it says a lot about me that I cannot change my vocabulary. Although it might not be the best in other situations. I have however learned that it is okay to be wrong every once and a while.

I GOTTA FEELING

When my heart races, my eyes rapidly glance, and I become silent; I know I am completely happy. That moment when nothing else matters, but you're sitting on your bed and you know you are actually, truly, deeply happy: that's my passion. It happens to me every one and a while, I wish it would happen more. For some reason it has been happening a lot this month. I feel like everything is synchronizing in my life the right way. I always am searching for that feeling. I often find myself sitting around or working on homework thinking what am I doing. I just get stressed when I ask myself that question because I am looking for an answer, but I don't get the result. I try and try to make my thoughts happy or try and think of what I thought before that made me feel that way, but I can't. I became conscious that that is why I feel that way. I cannot contain it. No matter what I do, I cannot make myself get that feeling. Its' not a world stopping feeling, but one that lets me know everything is going to be alright. The more and more I thought about it and I got the main idea. If I live my life every single day to my fullest, that feeling will be there no matter I do or think about.

SOMBREROS

Why don't people wear hats anymore? I sat around in my classroom today and only three people were wearing hats. One a boy with a typical baseball cap, another boy with a striped sock cap, and a girl with a beret. It is freezing out, so it makes sense. For some reason the other thirty students in the class did not get the memo. I think wearing hats has been conditioned out of our society. Some people think it is disrespectful, other associate hats with laziness. However, that is not the case. Hats are just another way to make yourself an individual.

Being conditioned to not wear hats, reminds me of the same argument of creativity. Society ostracizes people who go against the grain. It makes no sense when you really think about it. I am guilty of it too. I often find myself assuming the same way society does, but I am on my way to completely breaking free. Noticing random things everyday really helps me grasp how impacting others are. I am going to take it to heart and wear a hat to class one day, because I want to.

VALUE

The term value has many meanings. I recently came across a new meaning: the degree. In painting class, we were told to make a certain panel of colors. All of the colors were relatively the same, but their value was different. I was only given a basic mixing set and told to make colors I had no clue even existed. I found myself resorting back to elementary ways and mixing yellow and blue to make green. I soon began to conceive the idea there is more. If I wanted to make a dark forest green I couldn't just mix blue and yellow, I had to add more. Adding other colors to my bright green suddenly made the perfect dark forest green, just like in life adding certain aspects to a daily routine can make it just how you want it. Value as the word degree inspires me. There are so many ways to make something matter, but the degree to which you do that is what counts.

BURNS

While I was making a pizza this weekend, I stupidly reached into the oven without an oven mit on, everyone knows what happened next. I burnt my hand. Why I thought I could lift a burning hot pizza out of the oven I do not know. It was the type that did not use a baking sheet, it went directly onto the rack. Because of this slight difference, I thought I can just reach in pick up the edge of the crust and I will be good. Wrong. There was a part of me that wanted to just do it to defy the normal, but in reality it was stupid. It was like asking a person to intentionally be branded. And then I thought how could have this been avoided. It came to me there are things in your life for a reason. The simple oven mit is there for a precautionary measure, just like many randomly simple things. If I had put the oven mit on I would not have a permanent reminder of how stupid I am. There is a part of me that always wants to try and get by without using every little tool, because it complicates life or it takes too long. I should always use the hand sanitizer around the campus, because it really will help prevent becoming sick. I should not pay the two dollars in quarters and park in the garage that I have already paid for. I could name a million things that I should do, but will I really do them? Reflecting on the stupidity of my burn incident, I think I will try and pay more attention to the practical. I seem to think the short way is beneficial, but it never really is. I just re-learned a life lesson every single kindergartner learns when they run the mile: don't cut the turns too short or you will have to run a whole other lap.