What makes you beautiful!

Things Thrice.

Today in my teenage angst, I present even more pieces of internet awesome. See, my job and general life, have been sucking the energy out of me and I have no drive to put together anything of significance. Except these link posts because my 'favorites' list, for these posts, keeps getting longer, to the point of needing to post lest the actual post be a billion years long. I have however taken to making video rants during my lunch hours, so look forward to that.  Anyway, here we go.

While I don't actual watch and love Breaking Bad as my sister and father do, these nails show a certain commendable commitment. I.e. They're boss.

Cue my tears. 

Cue my continued tears. 

And keep them coming.

Stepping away from touching inspiration and into awesome inspiration.

Stop motion.

Michael. He's so great.

The Badassification of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Hilarious Old Words That Should Still Be Used Today.

Dora in real life. 

Cosby, never getting old.

A capital B Brilliant cover of Call Me Maybe. This is why covers are worth it.

Stanley. I'd like one.

Som Sabadell Flashmob. I'll never get over these. The planning! 

Articles we must read. Things we must change. 

• The Fat Shaming of Kate Upton; or Why I'll never buy the difference between Thinspo and Pro-Ana.
• The War on Teen Vogue: Young Readers Fight for Real Girls.
• Why Lena Dunham's Body Matters (and why it's ridiculous that it does).
• Also a link to watch her film, Tiny Furniture, online.
• PS. She got nominated for 4 Emmy's, for her work on Girls. Go Lena!
• Savannah Dietrich: Victim with a Voice

Read, watch, listen. Be enlightened and learn. For enlightenment and learning will bring us toward betterment. 

Things 2.0.

Today in my teenage angst, I'm taking the easy way out and posting more things. I did nothing this week but sweat - aka work, and no I'm not a labourer - and find interesting things on the internet. Go me. I also finished watching My So Called Life and was sad to see it end. OH! this is a funny story about that.


All of my dad's sisters, five of them, are on facebook. We live in Saskatchewan and they live in Oregon, from where my dad originates. As such most of my development has taken place sans extended family. Anyway, they take the things I post rather seriously, which is endearing, but occasionally also super funny. 


As you can see, my aunt assumed 'mourn city' referred to my actual so-called life. Hahah. That's sad for her. Funny for me. Thank you, Aunt Patty.


Carrying on. Things I want you to see, watch, and listen. 


The Felicity opening for Seasons 3 and 4. It's so stupid. But it never gets old. JJ Abrams wrote this song and decided it was better than the super classy B&W stills opening from S1,2. Sad. But awesome.

Rubik's Cube portraits = Boss.

And

The luckiest 11 year old alive.

While I don't actual engage in the Game of Thrones - any part - I appreciate this break down of it's complexity. 

These babies are so bad ass. And I do mean babies. But also I covet Maisy's hair. Well Lennon's too. 

Share it Maybe? Bessttt. I also utilized the phrase 'Call Me Maybe' via text this week because I thought it was cheeky, but then the friend, whom I texted, said she had just used it in conversation. Oh well.

The Tiger Puppies of Sochi!!! Talk about dying. 

This isn't the original set, but it holds its awesome. These two are ready for anything. Including 

marriage.

The New Yorker Episode of Seinfeld, as analysed by The New Yorker. 

Bad Opinion Generator. Particularly accurate on the first. 

My answer is most definitely no.

Why is Bohemian Rhapsody the strangest and greatest rock song ever made?

And finally, The Happiest Workout on Earth. I went for a ridic long run today and really wish I had gotten to do this instead. 

Happy rest of your weekend!

Things.

Today in my teenage angst, I post a broad list of things I want people to see. While I recognize that a lot of people only read for the sake of pictures, and videos are often a stretch (due to impossibly short
attention spans), I really mean it about the awesome of these things.

This was my pre-teen dream. It's not anymore.



You've probably already seen this. I hope you watch it again. I personally watch it three times daily and my life is better because of it.



Want to get bikini ready? Head to your local department store, purchase a bikini, put it on, revel in your gorgeous self. You, my dear, are good to go! 

This song is regularly jammed to in the car I'm using for the week. 

SARAH AND THE SEED! It's beautiful. Please read it. All of it. 

Magical Song and Dance Numbers from Non-Musicals. Parts 1 and 2. Oh man, I love HelloGiggles. 

I just saw this commercial and cringed at all the offense. Good glory, all the offense. Why yes, I am such a slave to my most basic of urges. 

That will be all. Thank you for watching. And reading. See you again. 

Church.

Today in my teenage angst, I reflect on my church experience. You know how in sitcoms they always have that 'place'? Like Central Perk, or Riffs, or The Bronze, or McLaren's. It's comfortable, it's familiar, you rarely have to pay for the things you consume and according to Cheers, everybody knows your name. I set forth this metaphor not because this has been my overall church experience, but because it's become my church experience.

A lot of my earliest church attendance was mandatory because my father worked there. I was into it because there were a lot of people there to entertain me and to be entertained by. As I got older, church became a part of my routine. It kind of prevented me from doing things that I might think of fondly later but regret at the time. I learned valuable things and became a valuable person. I could do the music ministry or teach in the kid's service. I knew what went on.

After I graduated High School, I moved a couple hours from home and started working at a church over the summer in between years of college. It was a moderately sized church not unlike the one I had grown up in. I thought I could really make it there. I got involved, grew very close to a lot of the kids, but never settled in. It was kind of like going to the Bronze, seeing the bands, having regular conversations with the Willow and Xander, but them never really remembering who you are. It's a nice place to go, but there's certainly nothing keeping you there. Except the kids. Not the kids at The Bronze, the kids at the moderate sized church, not unlike the one I had grown up in. After I graduated from college I moved across the country. The move itself didn't last long and I came back home. When I went back to the church, it was so uncomfortable, I couldn't stand it. I knew, like, one twelfth of the people and I think less than that knew me. It wasn't Cheers anymore, and looking back, I'm not sure it ever was.

I started going to this Anglican church across town. It's brick and ancient and mostly old people go there. That's good for me, because I don't interact well with my peers. Not to say I don't have friends, but I'm not particularly fond of those my age who I don't consider my friends. So I stayed. Soon, I discovered, while I still didn't really know anyone that well, everyone seemed to know me. They greeted me happily on Sunday mornings, they were excited when I started to serve. I volunteered for a stained glass tour we were giving and everyone became my best friend. Their average age was 68, but I was very popular. I'm not ashamed to say, I still am.

I love going to church. Some Saturday nights when I'm tired, I think I'll not go to church the next morning. I'd like to 'take the day', as my parents call it when they stay home. But I inevitably wake up the next morning and change my mind. Not only do I want to go, I'm excited about it. I need it. I need them. I feel comfortable there. Their presence feeds my existence like nothing else could.

I'm telling this story because I think that people are really important. I don't think that we were created to be alone. And I think that a lot of North America's overall state of depression has to do with our inability to let other people influence our well being to the point of discomfort. We need this. I'm not saying it has to come from a church setting. I'm not even saying that it should. I am saying that it needs to come from somewhere. And I urge you to find it. For the sake of your mind, your body and your soul, find it.