Archive for the ‘ Opinionated much? ’ Category

Weight Nonsense

Author: Erika

Jan 31

A long, long time ago I got married.  I headed to the Department of Licensing (that’s the DMV for all you non-Washingtonians) with my brand new social security card, ready and excited to get myself a new driver’s license with my new name on it.

When I got to the head of the line, they asked me if I wanted all my information to be the same on it.  Hair: Brown (sure) Eyes: Brown (yep) Height: 5′ 10″ (yep, though if I stand up really straight I can eek out an extra half inch) and Weight: 150 (hmmm).

150.  For a person of my height, that’s pretty skinny.  I’m sure I’d look rather skeletal at 150, actually.  According to the BMI I should be in the 160′s somewhere, but the BMI doesn’t take into account my voluptuous frame.  So, yeah, 150 is kind of a ridiculous number to put on my driver’s license.

But I did it anyway.  Every time someone cards me, they see the number 150 for my weight and I’m sure they scoff (albeit silently).

The 150 was a holdover from my high school days, when I was never 150 but wanted to put a whimsical number on my driver’s license in the illogical hopes that that number would magically manifest if I carried it around in my purse long enough.

I was a usual teenaged girl, ashamed of my weight.  I would rather have stabbed myself with a plastic spork than told you my actual weight were you foolish enough to ask.

Now, though?  Well, I had a bit of an epiphany last night and it was rather liberating.  I was talking to a friend last night about how much I weighed while pregnant and I used the actual weights I can remember.  Eyebrow-raisingly large numbers and everything.

I haven’t been coy about my weight for a long while now, but I never sat down to try to articulate why that might be.  I think I figured it out last night.  It’s because I don’t look any different to you when I tell you a lie about how much I weigh.

If you ask and I tell you I weigh 180, I look the same.  If you ask and I tell you I weigh 210, do I automatically look 30 pounds heavier?  I think not.  If I lie and tell you I weigh 180, I’ll still have the same physique, just with bonus self delusion.

I definitely get raised eyebrows when I’m candid about my weight, though.  210 is a big number.  It’s the kind of number that would make my high school self lock herself in her room to write morose poetry by candlelight (oh yes, that happened).

But, I’m working on it.  I’ve gotten below 200 pounds before and I can do it again.  I’m taking active steps (I joined a gym, had a free session with a person trainer on Saturday) and making mistakes (I ate a delicious brownie while I wrote this) but I’m working on it.  My physique, like the rest of me, is a work in progress.

But it’s not the kind of work in progress you can hide in your journal or stash on your hard drive until it’s perfect enough to let other people see it.  It’s out there, jiggly parts and all, and I see no reason to pretend I’ve already reached my goal.

So there.  I weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 210 pounds.  And I’m working on it.  I’m jiggling my way to roomier pants, and if you ask me what I weigh I will tell you.  Just please do me a favor and try not to gasp.

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

7 Comments
Filed under: Exercise, Opinionated much? | Tagged as:

The Big Red Robin in the Sky

Author: Erika

Dec 21

Wes and I had the very great pleasure of celebrating our 5th anniversary on Friday.  In honor of the occasion, Wes consented to watching one of my very favorite sappy girl movies of all time: Titanic.

In truth, I haven’t watched it since it was out in the theaters.  Watching the movie 13 years later was an interesting experience.  Time and perspective have a way of changing your ability to empathize with characters.

When I was 12, I thought Rose was the most courageous and terrific person.  I thought she had every right to try to escape her nefarious fiance (who seemed really mean to me) and that her choosing to stay on the ship with Jack was wonderfully brave.

Now, I can’t help but view her decisions from the perspective of someone slightly older than her.  When she left her fiance for Jack, I couldn’t help but want to caution her that that might not be the smartest decision ever.  She had no way of knowing that this carefree drifter wouldn’t just dump her after their one-night stand!

How’d she know he wouldn’t just say to her while they were getting dressed, “Yeah, I’ll call you,” and then she’d have ruined an engagement and possibly contracted VD!  There’s nothing romantic about VD.

Also, I would love to know how she would’ve done with being a poor girl.  Living in the upper crust of society may seem like a chore, but I wonder whether she would’ve found working 20 hour days as a laundress more fulfilling?  Also, would she have stayed so entranced with Jack’s carefree drifter lifestyle if she was constantly working to support them while he smoked and drew people in parks?

These considerations nonetheless, I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  Time has not diminished the skillful telling of that tale, and I continue to be impressed by the attention to detail and devotion to the subject matter.

I did have a giggly moment at the end of the movie though.  You know how at the end, Rose is all old and she dies in her bed and then returns to the Titanic in the afterlife?  Everyone she knew is there and applauding her, and then she comes up the staircase to meet Jack and they kiss and it’s all so very romantic.

Well, I was wondering what that would translate to in the narrative of my life and realized that in all likelihood I’d probably meet Wes at the Red Robin where we met.  I’d walk in the big brass and glass doors, and everyone would be clapping.  Wes would be standing at the host stand with his back to me, and then he’d turn around and kiss me and the Red Robin bird would flap his wings and we’d all go have clucks and fries or something.

Actually, that sounds pretty awesome.

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

4 Comments
Filed under: Opinionated much?, Reviews | Tagged as:

Fear No Beer

Author: Erika

Nov 12

Oh, the outpouring of support and encouragement that greeted my last post was euphoric!  I was expecting a lot of people to greet the news with scorn, but everyone’s just been so sweet!

Perhaps the sweetest person was Wes, who came home yesterday bearing chocolate, a how-to-get-paid-for-your-fiction book, and the news that he purchased a laptop for me!  I can finally realize my dream of being able to write while sitting in a coffee shop, and lo, it will be sweet.

I was afraid that by declaring my intention to pursue publication to the universe that I would psych myself into being too intimidated, but thankfully my novel is still scooting right along.  I stopped writing at 26,130 words this morning, which makes me a little over halfway done with my NaNoWriMo word count!

Truthfully, I see this novel going longer than 50K, and it’ll likely finish up at around 75K.  Which means I’m not halfway at all.  But I’m going to celebrate anyway.

While I write away, I’m also wrapping up my work for Bottle Your Brand.  Because the work I do for them requires such a specific skill set, I’ve volunteered to sift through the resumes of applicants in hopes of finding them some good candidates.

It’s been almost three years since I was a recruiter, but I’m pleased to say that those skills stick around for a good long while.  I continue to be appalled, however, by the laziness of some job applicants.

People who don’t update their resumes, who send form cover letters, whose job experience doesn’t even remotely match the job.  If I can offer any advice to job seekers, it’s this:

  • Personalize your cover letter to the job you’re applying for.  Start by explaining what about the job and company you’re excited about.  Hiring managers like to know that you think their company is cool.  Then go on to specify what exactly about your previous work experience qualifies you for the job you want.  Keep it short and awesome.
  • If you’re going to include an objective section in your resume, customize that section for the job you’re applying for.  No one cares that you’re looking to grow your skills with a thriving company.
  • Don’t get too familiar in the tone of your cover letter.  You’re not getting invited to a kegger, so why would you think a hiring manager would care about your favorite kind of beer?

I kid you not, someone actually wrote down their favorite kind of beer in their cover letter.  What is this world coming to?

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

6 Comments
Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Opinionated much?, Work

Her Son is Gay?

Author: Erika

Nov 4

So, this post, originally written by Sarah of Nerdy Apple Bottom, is blowing up all over the Internet.  It’s hit a nerve (in a good way) in a lot of people, and there’s all kinds of love and support flowing around for her.

Stupendous!  I love it when the Internets redeem themselves and throw kisses instead of rocks!

The only problem is, the post is a bit disturbing.  At least to me.  It’s called “My Son is Gay” and it’s about how her 5 year old son, who loves Scooby Doo, decided to dress up as Daphne for Halloween and how Sarah got some flack about it from three moms at her son’s school.

Regardless of how you feel about moms giving one another their opinions (which, we all know, is kind of a national mom past-time), this post is odd for a couple reasons.  First,  she declares outright in the title of the post that her son is gay.  Then goes on to equivocate that maybe he isn’t, but she doesn’t care.

I’m all for a gripping, interesting post title, but this just seems to me to be drumming up shock value for the sake of creating drama.  If, as she claims in her blog post, cross-dressing on Halloween is an innocent childhood right, then how and why does it make him gay?

Second, she’s posting her child’s face right there on the Internet in his Daphne costume with a giant headline above his face that proclaims that he’s gay.  How’s he going to feel about that when he grows up?

I’m all for supporting your kids.  But this seems soap-box-y to me more than truly supportive.  In point of fact, she’s become the person her son was dreading in that she’s labeling her son as gay because he wanted to dress up like Daphne for Halloween.  Her son expressed concern that people would make fun of him (perhaps draw conclusions from it?), and she’s gone and proclaimed his sexual preferences (he’s 5, remember) to the whole world.

This just seems like nonsense to me.  We’re applauding her for what, exactly?  Calling her son gay?  Just because you say you’re fine if he’s gay doesn’t make it ok to unequivocally declare to every single stranger in the universe that he is.

I don’t write these things to be cruel, but I have genuinely ask: what are we applauding her for doing?  Letting her son dress up like Daphne?  Equivocating Halloween cross-dressing with being gay?  Getting annoyed by other moms?

You’d have to be a fool to think she wrote that post out of anything other than love, but I’m not sure she did her son a service by writing it.

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

26 Comments
Filed under: Opinionated much?

All This Green Just Makes Me Green

Author: Erika

Oct 4

I’ve never really cared for the whole “green” marketing craze that’s literally inundated every facet of our consumer culture.  You can’t go shopping nowadays without finding something that’s trumpeting it’s green-ness in the biggest, flashiest letters possible from the front of its seemingly innocuous packaging.

It used to be that green was a bad thing.  Green connoted jealousy, avarice, and sickness.  If someone said you looked green, well, it wasn’t because you were wearing organic, fair-trade cotton clothes and vegan shoes.

Now, though, everything purports to be green GREEN GREEN!  I pick up my bottle of Windex, and it assures me that everything’s fine because it’s a certified GREEN product.  Cars, hotels, clothes, and food are all going green and, at least for me personally, it’s having the opposite of the intended effect.

Quite frankly, I’m sick of the term green.  It has over freaking saturated the marketplace and I’ve reached the point where if something says it’s green I’ll only buy it if there are no alternatives.

Because really, what does green even mean other than that the manufacturer and marketing team behind the product knows you probably have a vague awareness of the environment and they hope to capitalize on it?  Otherwise, what would be the point in my Windex being a green product?  I have serious doubts that my once-a-week mirror cleaning was having an adverse effect on the environment to the extent that something needed to be done to make the product more environmentally friendly.

Of course, there are times when the term green actually means something, sort of.  Like, for example, with buildings.  Except, there are different standards for the different green accrediting agencies, so once again green means very little.  If a hotel merely washes sheets only when asked as opposed to washing them every day, they can say they’re green even if they’re out back burning tires and using rare rainforest trees to make kebab skewers.

I guess what I’m asking for here is a moratorium on the term green.  Green is a color.  Yes, I get it, trees are green!  We like trees!  Therefore green is good!  But green as a marketing term has reached the obnoxious stage, and I think the marketing geniuses can do better.  Don Draper would do better.

Here, I have some suggestions:

  • This product has a conscience.
  • An environmentally responsible product.
  • Buying this product will make you feel better about yourself.
  • Trees appreciate this product.
  • We only deforested one acre of rainforest to make this, so that’s really not so bad, is it?

Who knows, maybe I’m over-reacting.  What do you think?  Take my poll and chime in on this issue!

Is the term GREEN still an effective marketing tool?

  • Only if the actual product is, itself, green, because then the "green" label is really just honest advertising, isn't it? (43%, 6 Votes)
  • Not really. I'm over it. (36%, 5 Votes)
  • I think so. I tend to think well of "green" products. (21%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 14

Loading ... Loading ...

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

9 Comments
Filed under: Opinionated much? | Tagged as:
« Go Back — View more posts »