youthmystique

When you’re really young, you could care less about politics.

I remember not really caring when we learned about the election in school.

I’ve always thought of politicians as crooked people. Some are, but looking at local politics, there are some good people I have met.

With this past presidential election, Obama has been able to get the attention of young people. Young people voted for him because they believed in what he had to say. It’s very rare to get young people interested in politics so I give him credit for that.

I remember registering to vote when I was in college. It was near election time and a local candidate encouraged me to register. I was interested more in voting in the General Election. That was 2004: Bush vs. Kerry.

Working as a journalist has taught me the importance of local elections. Of course the president’s decisions heavily affect people’s lives but local politicians make decisions that affect what is happening in your backyards.

I am proud that I have exercised my right to vote. People in our history worked so hard for this right so people should vote!

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When I started to hear about Swine Flu in the spring, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Now kids in our nearby school districts are getting it. President Obama has declared a national emergency. The idea is getting a little scary now.

The main thing to keep in mind is if you have symptoms of the flu, don’t go to work and school. It’s irresponsible to spread the flu whether it’s Swine Flu or the regular flu. Experts say it’s too early to be the regular flu.

A girl my fiancé works with came to work with the flu. When I heard about that, I was ticked off. When you work in food service, you should have better sense. She said this is the second time she has had it. Can we say moron? I know she doesn’t have sick days, but it’s common sense that if you don’t feel good, you aren’t going to get better by working and exerting your energy.

One would think that this “disease” would affect elders rather than young people, but Web sites say babies, children and those up to 30 years old will be affected the most. Being 25, I am in that category.

I have been washing my hands even more than I usually do and I have hand sanitizer at my desk. I’m trying to do all that I can to prevent the spread of germs.

For more information about Swine Flu, visit http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu

We live in a society in which when we want to relax, we turn on the TV.

I am somewhat guilty of this too, but I don’t really think I watch that much TV. Thursday night is when I watch The Office and Project Runway.

Although reading books makes you think and seems like a lot of work, it’s still a great pastime.

After college, I started to get into reading again. I didn’t read as a hobby in college because I was already reading items for other classes.

Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Twilight series books are testaments that people still like to read. The key thing nowadays is staying ahead on your reading before the movies come out. Then when the movies come out, you can pick them apart. Or in some cases be pleased with how the movie did a good job of following the book.

Going to the movies is a great way to get out of the house and is great for date night. But if you want to go on an adventure from the comfort of your own home, then books are great!

I say books are still in.

Right now I am reading “Marshmallows for Breakfast.” What are you reading?

I realized I have a little more than 200. Most of them are people I met in college. Others are work friends, excoworkers and friends I went to middle and high school with. One of them is a close relative and a few others are cousins.

 How many of them do I see on a regular basis? Well, I see my fiancé on a regular basis and the close relative I see every couple of weeks. The work friends I see basically every day.

Some of my Facebook friends I have not spoken to in a long time. Some of them I don’t even like anymore.

You may be asking why I still keep these people as friends? I like to Facebook stalk them.

I think we are all guilty of Facebook stalking. Yeah, you haven’t talked to Joe Schmoe or Mrs. Joe Schmoe in a long long time, but you  want to see what he/she is up to.

It’s amazing how many of my Facebook friends have kids. Some have two and others are on their third. This makes me feel quite old!

I’ll just settle for four-legged kids (pets) at this point.

Image from boston.com

I am a big fan of the show, Project Runway. Recently, I found out that the Web site, www.projectrunwaysweeps.com,  is offering a chance to win $1,000, or you could win $25,000 and have lunch with Tim Gunn. 

You can enter many times. All you have to do is watch a clip of last week’s episode and vote on who you thought should have gone home. They pick the bottom two from the week before to choose from.

It would be so exciting to meet Tim Gunn! I wonder what kind of restaurant you’d be able to go to in NYC and what he would order. Is he a martini man? Or is he a mixed drink man? What would we talk about? Would he tell Heidi about me? Would I get a chance to meet Heidi too?

And of course, the big question, “WHAT WOULD I WEAR?”

I’d have to get a whole new outfit!

I would also be happy with winning $1,000. That could pay for a lot of nice things.

My chances are probably slim with either of the prizes but oh well. It’s fun to dream, right?!

Have you ever played the game, Farm Town, on Facebook? Man, it is addicting!

I used to be addicted to The Sims computer game back in the day. It kind of reminds me of that because you can get more crops. I like games that let you add on things like that.

My farm started off really small about a few months ago. I started playing this summer. Now I concentrate on coffee and sunflower fields. I’m up to 50,000 coins. I wish that was real money. That would be nice.

My advice to Farm Town newbies is to plant as much as you can when you start playing. The more experienced you become, the more of a variety of crops there are to buy.

At first I got impatient with the game because I wanted to keep buying more but didn’t have the money. Now, I am a little more chill.

I also own a few animals on my farm: two cats, a dog, a turkey and a chicken.

The music is pretty freaky. That is one thing I don’t like about it. It sounds like a nightmare or a scary movie where a clown would jump out. I play with the sound off.

During a conversation I had with a loved one a few months ago, we laughed at the things we used to get upset about in high school.

Remember when breakups were the worst things in the world?

I guess they were kind of horrible if you dated the person for a long time. I dated someone for six months when I was in high school. That basically feels like forever when you are that young.

I remember when that relationship ended and I felt like my world was ending. Now as a grown up, I realize there are so many worse things in life than a significant other breaking up with you: job loss, debt, death, disease, etc.

If only I could just rewind and tell the 17-year-old version of myself that things really aren’t that bad and remind myself of all of the responsibilities I didn’t have then.

But oh well, that’s life. You live and you learn.

Well, it’s been some time since I updated my blog.

My theme of my blog is to concentrate mostly on issues that affect young people. I am now 25 and consider myself a young person. I don’t always feel like it though.

What do some young people do? Get married. I am not there quite yet but slowly getting there. I became engaged last year and I will be getting married not this fall but next fall. I have my dress and I’m pretty excited about that.

If you are getting married, go to David’s Bridal. They have a great variety of styles and decent prices.

We just booked our photographer. We are using the same one my brother and sister-in-law used. I feel pretty confident in that choice because they did an awesome job. We decided to get a videographer from the same place. Several people I know don’t remember their weddings. My fiancé and I would like to remember ours.

Wedding planning is stressful and exciting. Everything is so expensive but there are ways to be frugal. Time always helps that.

I’ve been seeing a lot of promos for “The Principal’s Office” and I really wanted to watch it. This weekend I had a chance to see several episodes.

If you haven’t seen the show, basically it’s a reality show, giving viewers an inside look of what happens in various principals’ offices.

Watching this show reminds me why I didn’t get a job in education. Kids seem so much worse than when I went to school.

In this one episode I was watching, this kid got in trouble for making a “sexist comment.” He said, “How can women be bad at sex? All they have to do is lay there.”

He defended what he said by admitting he was taking a quiz in a girl’s magazine.

I wanted to slap him across the face.

Another girl didn’t want to go outside for gym because the humidity messes up her hair. I can understand this annoyance, but I was thinking, “Get over it.” What made it worse is she was telling the principal “People depend on me to look good.” Her face was plastered with makeup. There was so much eyeliner I could hardly see her real eyes.

There was also a principal who gives students the option of three “licks” from a paddle. It looked fake though because he paddled a student behind a closed door.

For more information, visit http://www.trutv.com.

I had the best sleep I have had in a while last night.

I usually stay up to 11:30 before I even get ready for bed. My fiancé is a bad influence on me because he stays up late.

Last night he made me chicken patties and then I was still hungry so I made some white rice. I had a bunch of it actually. The next thing I knew was that I was so tired. I lay down on the bed and went to sleep at like 9 o’clock!  Then I woke up at 10 and went back to sleep for the rest of the night. (I slept in today because I am going into work late due to a long day ahead of me.)

I feel so rested! It’s terrific. I have a hard time going to sleep but maybe I should eat rice more often.

I try to read to make myself sleepy because I heard that helps but if I’m really excited about the book or other things, it doesn’t do anything for me. I think I usually sleep the best at the beach because of playing in the ocean and sitting in the sun. And the ocean air helps too.