Tag: random

The Mosaic Post

by rhealitycheck

DIRECTIONS:
– Go to Google image search.
– Type in your answer to each question.
– Choose a picture
– Use this website ( http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php ) to make your collage.
– Save the image for use in this note.
– Post and tag all your friends.

QUESTIONS:
1. What is your name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your hometown?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What is one word to describe yourself?
10. How are you feeling right now?
11. What do you love most in the world?
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?

mosaicsmall

Exclusivity In Relationships?

by rhealitycheck

I’m starting to wonder if perhaps my view of relationships might be a bit skewed. I’ve gotten a few different opinions from several friends and I thought I saw a trend for a while about how they view exclusivity but I am now at a complete loss because it seems to be completely random. Personally, I find dating to be stressful enough as it is without trying to decipher how to approach exclusivity much less assumptions made about exclusivity.

One thing I find particularly interesting is that there are quite a few people that I’ve spoken to who believe that if you have been seeing someone for a period of time and have been “staying over” at each other’s places then the assumption would be that you are exclusive. Now, I don’t think that it would be out of the question that most likely, you are being exclusive, but at the same time to assume that the person you are seeing is on the same page as yourself is fairly severe assumption. At least in my opinion it is. I suppose this is partially due to the fact that (hypothetically) if my significant other hadn’t asked to be exclusive or if I hadn’t asked then I would assume that should I meet someone that would like to go on a date, I would have no problem accepting. Granted for the most part when I am at that stage, I don’t tend to be looking out for anyone else and I doubt I would accept an offer from someone else but I also don’t think it is something that can be assumed. Perhaps it is just that I like to be deliberate about knowing where things stand.

Sunday Morning Reads

by rhealitycheck

I have a tendency to flip through my Sunday T Magazine a bit quickly because I should really be doing homework and not reading the paper for fun – especially not the style magazine of all things but I very rarely can resist. It is my favourite part of the Sunday paper, I just adore looking at all the beautiful clothes and new styles but I often find that I don’t see many articles that truly catch my attention (I’m more a science section fan in that regard).

So imagine my surprise when I found the article “Butch Fatale” and my delight when I saw the fabulous outline of Rachel Maddow. As a member of the queer community it is always a pleasant surprise to see any such thing put in to the news. Especially into T Magazine, I mean that’s a pretty great place to be. It’s interesting because the article speaks of how lesbians very often overlooked in the gay community and for that matter pretty much everywhere else. I mean there are always more than enough lesbian stereotypes to go around the table but if anyone should ask what would image would you conjure of a “hot” lesbian, I don’t think anyone could answer it. There are just too many differing views. And honestly with lipstick lesbians running about how do you even know if they’re gay? But Daphne Merkin makes a great assessment when she said that the lesbians finally have a real icon to turn to in Rachel Maddow. Maddow has captured the hearts of gays & straights, men & women… in fact, I’d say she’s bewitched pretty much anyone who leans a touch left. I’d say that’s score one for the girls that so very often get overlooked. I mean who wouldn’t want to be funny, smart, well-respected and a bit of a wallflower if you could be like Rachel Maddow? I certainly would. In the words of Daphne Merkin, I am offically a fan that “Lesbian Glamour Steps Out of the Closet” in the form of Rachel Maddow.

My next fabulous find of the morning was a piece on the absolutely classic, timeless packaging of Chanel No. 5. Perhaps it is simply because No. 5 happens to be one of my all time favourite fragrances or perhaps it is because there are certain packages that I just adore (Chanel No. 5 being one of them) that I love taking a look at how it came about. I mean I think Gabrielle Chanel was one of the most forward thinking women of her time to be able to come up with such timeless classics. I mean to understand how to imprint something into one’s memory in that way takes talent that very few people have. I always tend to relate these things to the only other thing that I think has such a timeless quality and that is the little blue box of Tiffany & Co. I know being part of the queer community that this may sound a bit like a pipe dream but I have always said whoever gets me a little blue box or a little red box (Cartier, of course) will have my hand. While I may not be entirely serious about it since I do believe in spending the rest of your life with the person you love, not just anyone that gets you the ring of your dreams but it would definitely make me think twice before refusing should it not come from the person I was hoping. Granted this is all theoretical since I am nowhere near decisions like that but I think the fact that so many of my very near and dear college friends are getting married that it does make it stand out a bit more. Not to mention in the midst of the recession things like engagement rings and Chanel just cheer up the spirits a bit. At least they do for me.

Seriously, A Love Potion?

by rhealitycheck

Now I don’t know about you, but I can say that I have certainly had times when I wished there existed some sort of love potion or even anti-love potion. But who would ever think that such a pipe dream could ever make it into reality? Certainly not I.

At least not until I stumbled across this. Now just imagine if we could turn on/off that “love” switch all by ourselves… wouldn’t that be amazing? Ok, well in theory I think it could be but in all honesty, I think I would miss some of that confusion and unknown. I mean would you really want your partner to be able to give you some drug to make you be “more in love” with them? It’s an interesting dilemma and possibly a great ethical question considering you are playing with someone’s emotions.

Regardless of the ethical dilemma and all those higher level questions on a purely scientific basis, this is possibly one of the coolest discoveries I think has been found to date. Although I do wonder if anyone could truly bottle love, I do like to think it is one of life’s biggest mysteries.

An Interesting Way To Start The New Year

by rhealitycheck

I have been inspired by a friend of mine to reflect a bit on how I wanted to start the new year and how I actually started it. Now she had two separate posts on what she wanted and what actually happened but I think I can cover all of mine in just one (especially considering I started thinking about posting this just now).

So initially I actually had contemplated starting out the new year quietly, at home, by myself. I know this doesn’t sound particularly exciting but I’ve had an exceedingly busy and social year and I really just wanted some down time. I was thinking of a good book or maybe a stupid movie or better yet working on my website and playing around with some Ruby on Rails. That was my idea for a perfect New Year’s Eve. And to follow that with some loose resolutions (because I don’t really believe in resolutions) that I will be healthier and make time for myself amongst all my crazy activities.

My actual New Year’s Eve was spent with some of my friends in Austin, who I have not seen in years. And to be honest it didn’t really feel like a new year’s celebration, we went out for dinner and then to one of the bars downtown and ended up wandering around Austin for hours after the bars closed (it’s a long story, let’s just leave it at that). But it was not too far from what I had initially wanted because it didn’t actually feel like the typical New Year’s Eve celebration, it was more like a few very old friends of mine and I going out and “getting into trouble” as usual.

Actually it was pretty interesting getting up in the morning because we didn’t drink all too much yet all three of us (that went out and were crashing at the same place) still weren’t feeling 100% in the morning. And I dubbed it the “Adult Hangover”; you don’t have to drink excessively to be tired and cranky after a night out. It’s the grown up version of that lingering feeling of regret for going out partying with your friends. Except now, as adults, you are smart enough not to drink yourself stupid but you still get the consequences of not being able to bounce right back after a long night.

So for my first day in the new year I decided to visit my cousins who also live in Austin and I really couldn’t have thought of a better way to begin the new year than with people that I love that I rarely get to see because I live so far away. And after such a great kick off to the new year I decided to make some slightly more concrete new years resolutions: actually eating healthier, seriously trying to keep up a vegetarian diet and hopefully by the end of the year become vegan, go to the gym/exercise at least 4 times/week (excluding soccer and dance), have a more positive body image, seriously focus on my academics (no more lame excuses), be more positive and productive at work and last but not least make sure to fit in some substantial time (at least a couple of hours) every week to just be by myself.

And I did learn something while I was back home. “You can take the girl out of Texas but you can’t take Texas out of the girl.” I don’t know if I’ll ever live there again because I do miss seasons whenever I go south but I will always have a special place in my heart for Texas and everyone I know that still lives there.

Starbucks Not-so Perfect Oatmeal

by rhealitycheck

So I was late-ish to work this morning and starving. Normally I’m not terribly hungry so I’ll just pick up a croissant and a latte and be done with it but this morning I thought I’d like a little oatmeal (well, what I actually wanted was grits but the cafeteria at work only takes cash and I don’t have any on me today). So I stopped off at Starbucks for my morning latte (yes I am one of those people, no I am not proud of it) and decided to get the “perfect oatmeal”. Now the photos would have you believe that this is homemade oatmeal, reminiscent of something my mother or aunt would make. But no, this is that lousy insta-oatmeal crap. I mean I could have just picked up a box at the grocery store (probably for the same amount of money) and had a stash here at work. Now why would I want to pay good money for something awful like that?! I mean I’m willing to pay for the over-priced croissants and coffee simply for the convenience (there are 3 Starbucks within 2 blocks from my office, you really can’t find any other food faster). BUT I do not believe in paying for food that I don’t like. Now that, that is just horrifying. Especially when they try to market it as the healthy alternative. You know it would be a lot healthier if you made it the old fashioned way and not with the instant oatmeal packets.

Most Efficient Starbucks of Ever

by rhealitycheck

Ok, well the title could be wrong but I’d have to say this Starbucks that I just discovered would be quite difficult to beat. They have a line that is constantly hovering at the door yet all of their customers make it out in 10mins or less including placing orders, paying and picking up their coffee. It is phenomenally busy, it’s right outside of Union Station in Chicago (between Canal & Wacker on Monroe). I am just amazed, not to mention they were friendly and courteous and the coffee is just as good as anywhere else. They even have a few regulars that they know by name and write little notes to on their coffee cups.

(Maybe I should change the purpose of this blog, it initially was supposed to help me keep up with current events but it seems to be turning into Rhea’s Adventures in Chicago.)

Internal Jukebox

by rhealitycheck

This is a bit random but it’s something I noticed yesterday. I had always been a bit jealous of people that seem to just have this little internal jukebox. For some reason, I’ve always had a good number of friends that are always bopping along to some song or other without the help of any headphones or anything. And just yesterday I noticed myself bopping along at work and on the train, somehow (and perhaps it’s due to the fact that I take so much public transportation that I’m always bopping along to my ipod) I no longer need real music. There’s continually some sort of song just playing in my head and sometimes I can’t recognize it but most of the time it’s like I have my own little database of music. It’s royally bizarre but in a good way. Going back to bopping along to my internal jukebox at work.

Just My Luck

by rhealitycheck

So yeah, one could say this is a horrible movie but I have to say that this is a really great movie if you just want something dumb and funny to watch. Now finding this movie is a funny story for me, my best friend Evelyn and I happen to like Lindsey Lohan (or at least did at the time it came out) and we both love sappy romantic comedies. Now at this point we lived about 2 hours apart but decided on a Tuesday or Wednesday night that we would drive an hour to meet in the middle and catch the movie because we needed a mid-week pick-me-up. I’m sure you’re all thinking, really a bad Lindsey Lohan movie is a good pick-me-up and more than that you drove an hour out of your way in the middle of the week to see a movie. Crazy but true. So after the movie I saw it on sale at one of those Blockbuster 4 for $20 specials and I picked it up and for the first time since I bought it, I decided to watch it again. And I have to say it was just what I needed. A great movie to put on in the background to doing my homework (being back in school helps with needing those mindless and funny films). So I recommend that if you are looking for an entertaining movie but you and don’t have very high expectations this one just might pleasantly surprise you. (Not to mention I love the music, I was super excited about discovering McFly after that movie!)