Mini Us

This video was something I put together while struggling with a video project I had to do for a class assignment. I was dreading the thought of having to use any other movie making software that wasn't the very user-friendly windows movie maker. Especially when the requirement was to use Final Cut Pro, when the only access I had to a Mac was the 2 hours at Uni a week! And nope, the lab wouldn't be available for out of class hours.

So I thought to myself..... let's give this one a try...

It's nothing big... nothing too interesting... but it was a start!

p.s. I forgot to include it in the credits, but credits for the song goes to sampleconstruct from soundsnap

No Smoking

(this post is more of a second part to the previous post 'i WANT chocolate')

The other day when my boyfriend kindly suggested I should try out Zumba, I was enraged and then upset. Being the 'feminist' that I am, I sit there thinking, how dare he!?! I thought he loved me for who I was and not expected me to be one of those girls you see in magazines! I think to myself, there is NO WAY I will ever lose weight just because someone tells me I need to lose weight (well I guess a doctor would have the right). I mean, my BMI is fine, I'm not over weight... I just like to indulge myself in the normal junk food every now and then. And yes, during that time of the month I do have a slightly greater desire to chuck down more chocolates and more comfort food.

And so there started my personal debate of whether to make my boyfriend happy or to stick to my guns about losing the weight only for myself. As you will see from my previous post about weight loss and body image, I strongly believe that losing weight should not be because that's what society is pressurizing us to do, but about something you are doing to make yourself happy and for your own wellbeing- whether it be mental or physical. I guess it does sound selfish, and I agree it is. But why should you torture yourself only to make yourself miserable?

While thinking about this, I began to ponder. If I get all defensive for him asking me to 'watch my weight', is it fair for me to ask him to quit smoking?

It's been almost a year we've become serious and his smoking has always bothered me. And it's been awhile I've been hinting that he needs to quit and more recently I've REALLY begun to stress on the fact that it needs to happen.

Now me asking him to quit smoking is for his own health; and me being a non-smoker... well I would say I qualify to say that smoking is bad. But if I think that it's not fair for him to expect me to change because he doesn't like what I eat, why should I expect him to stop smoking because I don't like him smoking.

I guess I still feel confused as to what is really fair in this situation; but one thing I am certain about is my boy. I know that he'd never be happy knowing that I'm not and he'd never ask me to do something against my will or something that would make me miserable. I also know how hard he is trying to give up smoking, something which he really does not seem to want to do, but is doing just to make me happy. Taking these things into consideration plus the fact that I, myself, feel I need to do something about my oh-so-lovely love-handles, I've decided to give Zumba a try....

Images

1. Greece launches anti-smoking campaign ahead of July ban http://www.topnews.in/greece-launches-antismoking-campaign-ahead-july-ban-2158872

2. My own photo

3. Don't look for me, I'll get a hand http://www.afreeman.org/2009/05/05/dont-look-for-me-ill-get-a-hand/

i WANT my chocolate!

When boys ask us to loose weight, is it really for our own benefit? Is it really about looking after our health and staying healthy? Frankly I, like many others out there,

don't think so. I guess for those guys who are actively working on keeping themselves healthy as well, it's fair that they are asking their girlfriends or wives to loose the extra kilos; but when a guy who doesn't really show much interest in his own health tells you to keep off the chocolate... you begin to wonder... is it fair?

Weight gain/loss has been a big issue for young girls and women of all ages. And now more than ever with celebrities and models with the 'perfect' bodies being thrown at your face in all forms of media outlets, not being conscious even the tinsiest bit is a very hard thing for even the most stubborn feminists. And now, with the well toned bodies of male celebrities like Christiano Ronaldo and Taylor Lautner (playing Jacob in Twilight) being thrown around in the mediasphere, body image is not only an issue for girls and women, but men as well.

Maintaining a 'nice' figure is something that most of us are after. Who wouldn't like to be able to slip into a swim suit at the end of winter without worrying about the unwanted wobbly bits? Who wouldn't want to look like a Victoria's Secret model? We all do! And because we want to achieve that picture perfect look, many even resort to more unnatural ways of shedding the kilos like surgery and pills. What's sickening, however, is when young girls, especially teens (and even pre teens!) go on crash diets to look like their role models they see in magazines and television. But the thing that many of us forget to realize is that these celebrities and models are paid to look the way they do; they earn a living through their looks (with a minority actually using their skills and talent).

But why is it that even though we know that the perfect figure exists only in magazines and among celebrities whose priorities lie in maintaining such a figure, we feel guilty while devouring a Ferrero Rocher or a double chocolate mud cake! Possibly it has to do with the society we live in that promotes skinny and size 0. Perhaps it has to do with the thought of visiting relatives who will comment on your weight gain, even if they haven't met you in over a year, making it seem like your weight is in fact the most important issue on the table.

Well regardless of our reasons behind boys asking us to watch what we eat because it is for our own good, or because you want to look like worthy of featuring in the next fashion magazine; it should make you happy, because in the end it is your body.

Images (in serial order)

1. I Wish I knew how to lose you- The Weight Loss Thread http://www.bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=44577.0

2. Weight Loss Kids http://www.almightydad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/weight-loss-kids.gif

3. Miculka Madnesshttp://miculkamadness.blogspot.com/2008/06/weight-loss-wednesday.html

Ze Moon & Me

One of my good friends once told me that by sticking to a fruit and yogurt diet on the new moon and full moon days we would be able to loose a fair bit of weight. Now who, especially women, wouldn't want to loose a bit from here and there? So I decided to give it a try.

I decided to start off on my diet on the new moon as many people say the new moon as many people say the new moon is an auspicious day to start something new and the full moon is when the project should be completed. So, does the full moon really have an affect on us? Some say that the full moon and new moon influence the way we act, feel and behave and even our success in loosing weight. Others, however, suggest that the so-called lunar effects are nothing more than false superstitions that people believe and sensational news that journalists prey upon.

Full Moon from my bedroom window

Chudler in John Roach's article for the National Geographic News in 2004 states that people have selective memories and if something unusual happens to fall on a full moon, people would rather assign blame to the full moon than look for other answers. Chudler adds that people fail to realize that just because a study finds a relationship between a full moon and strange behavior does not necessarily mean the moon is the cause of it.

Tides along Aireys Inlet

So does the phase of the moon really affect our feelings and behavior? Or does the moon only affect the oceans' tides? Some people believe that the human body being made up of so much water is the reason why the different phases of the moon has such an effect on us.

Whether or not the the moon really makes people crazy (ier), whether or not the new moon is an auspicious day to start something new and whether good things happen on the full moon, it is fun to believe in something supernatural. Stories of what happened and what may happen under full moon are all a part campfires and slumber parties; who will be brave enough to go to the bathroom alone with no other light than that cast by the full moon and a flashlight.

And whether the moon really has any real effects on us, who knows! Who knows if we loose weight on the new/full moon because of the moon or whether we are loosing the weight because we are making an effort and we believe we will? Belief also plays a large part in our lives; simply believing in something helps make it come true.

View from Cohi Bar, Darling Harbour, Sydney

References:

Roach, J (2004). "Full Moon Effect on Behavior Minimal, Studies Say". National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1218_021218_moon_2.html

Dreamz

Dreams are strange... dreams are weird... some make you feel like the world is full of possibilities and that you're ready for anything coming your way. Others, however, make you feel like you'd rather just crawl back into bed and conjure up and another dream to get rid of that horrible after taste you've just been left with.

You know how they say some people remember their dreams and some don't; well I've always been one of those people who vividly remembers a dream and in many cases had dreams that have been some kind of prophecy into the future. And because of this, I've always had this deep fascination when it comes to dreams.

Now, a few days back I had this horrible dream. It started off as a more super-hero/fantasy type of dream where my friends and I were jumping off a building and making circles in the air (yes, I know, it makes no sense and was totally random... as I was dreaming, I was thinking huh?). And then I've jumped off the building, but this time I no longer have superpowers and am falling... plunging to the cement. And I was desperately praying that I die on impact and not have to feel the pain of hitting the ground. The next thing I know, I'm in a Buddhist monastery... sitting with a lady (and for some reason she looked a lot like An San Su Kyi) and a lama. He was preaching and telling me that my death and birth fell on astrologically similar days. And that's when my present life started flashing before my eyes. I see my parents in Kathmandu, Saurav and Sabarnee here in Melbourne trying to figure out what to do with all my things.... and all of a sudden I just felt so alone and as though it was them who died and left me alone in some new world. Then I started to cry and demand to see my grandparents - those who've passed away, and finally I woke up.

It was well and truly like a whole new world. And while demanding to see my grandparents, I began to think, is this what happens when you die, you enter a world where everything is different, but all your memories from the life you've left behind remains? This got me to cry only harder.

So like many times in the past, I got on the web and googled "dream interpretations death" and like I expected I found numerous articles saying that dreaming of death does not mean I'll die or anyone close will die, it just means a change is coming my way. And it can be good or bad.... a lot like the DEATH card in tarot reading....

YES I know a big change is coming my way.... job-wise and in many other ways-wise... But WHAT are these changes going to be?? and when will I know??? I hate being in the state of *limbo*

My last question on this is just how far do we take dreams to hold symbolic meanings? Sometimes we dream certain things and we know it's because of something we've seen, experienced or felt during the day or at night; but other times we jump up and exclaim, oh this means that I'm going to find a new job! Are dreams just a part of what is happening around us or do they hold some deeper truth... some deeper meaning that comes alive only as our unconscious mind is at work?