So Much To Do, So Little Time

Our world today seems to be so rushed and hurried with everything we do. We speed around to get everything done and pack our days with millions of tasks to the point where we get easily overwhelmed. Think about how many times you’ve heard a friend say something like, “I am so stressed, I have so much stuff to do today.” We force ourselves to speed through every little task to make others happy and meet our own set of quotas, but at what point do we simply have too much to do? At what point are we hurting ourselves to get tasks done rather than improving our lives through those tasks? I think that many Americans already suffer from this overload of work, and the issue really needs to be addressed and dealt with.

Everyone should try to limit their work to only the things that they truly have time for. If we just rush through every task we have to do, we are bound to either do a terrible job on said task or improve nothing about ourselves in the process of completing the task. You should take your time to do your best work and get the best experience from the task you are completing. After all, finding your difficulties in some projects will only make your next project better. Some may say that they simply have to complete a certain task and they need to rush through it so they can have it done for a specific day. When you come into situations like this, planning ahead can help improve your situation. You could try splitting up your project into different sections. There is always something you can do to decrease your stress in any situation.

It’s important for individuals to recognize how long it will take for him or her to complete a certain projects and plan ahead for it. Whether it be writing an English essay or simply doing your spring cleaning, it’s always important to prevent stress and do the best job you can. In the end, forcing yourself to rush through a project won’t get you anywhere and should be avoided at all costs.

Body Modification and Society

Whether it be simple body piercings or extreme modifications, there seems to be a natural draw to changing our bodies into something that better reflects how we view ourselves. The problem is that many people find these modifications unprofessional or even foolish. I do not understand this argument. Every day, almost every person in the world makes a decision about how they will look through the clothing they wear. It’s only logical to assume that they choose this clothing to show people their personality and style, so why is it so different when someone makes a modification to their body for the same exact reason? You could even think about it from the other side; what makes someone in a business suit without any piercings or modifications so professional? When we define professionalism based on someone’s looks, we are bound to be mislead. Someone with 12 piercings could be just as professional as someone with none.

Another popular argument is that you should be happy with your body and not want to change it just to make yourself look better. This is another thing I can’t wrap my head around. Everything I do is to improve myself emotionally, not physically. If I get a piercing, it’s not just to look cool, it’s to show myself and the world who I am on the inside, to truly connect my mind and body. If you’re going to criticize me for that, then go ahead, because honestly, I don’t care what you think.

Body modification is still a taboo subject, even in our seemingly accepting present day culture. If people really took the time to think about the topic at hand, instead of blindly spewing hate, we would probably have a much different view of professionalism and individuality in our culture. I hope that we can finally see the error in our ways and think of everyone equally, no matter how they look.

Landing on Your Feet

I have recently obtained a miniature panda bear figurine. For the greater portion of the day, he sits right on top of my computer screen, but sometimes when I walk into my room at the end of the day, he’s curiously sitting on my desk, standing right side up, almost as if he made it there himself. Many people would just assume that this inanimate object fell off the top of my monitor and happened to land right side up. I like to imagine otherwise. You see, my monitor has the entire computer tower built into the back of the screen, and likewise, it can get quite warm on the top of the computer. This leads me to believe that my miniature panda figure was getting way too warm and just wanted to cool down on the comfortable, room temperature desk.

I guess, in all honesty, this lifeless creature probably just fell from the top of my computer and landed upright by chance, but there is something inside me that sees a deeper meaning in this occurrence, something that was planned. For the next few days, I’m just going to leave this panda on my desk, because when it comes down to it, everything is not what it seems, and I prefer it to be that way.

Or Maybe They're Just Dots of Ink?

Every time I look over at him, he’s staring right at me. Even when I don’t have the pleasure of seeing it, I can feel it. It’s almost as if his eyes are laser beams, slowly making their impression on my skull as he gazes at me for hours. It happens every day now. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if I even have the authority to do or say anything. All I know is his gaze is powerful. I can only imagine what he might be thinking. Is he planning an attack on me? Is he trying to read my mind? Is he just interested in me? Why he stares, I’ll never know, so I guess I’ll always be stuck with an uneasy feeling of paranoia ringing through my body. A feeling I relive every time I think about him and those little black eyes that seem as though they could stare into the deepest part of your soul.

Rolling in the Mud

Ever since I met him, he’s been quite gross and dirty. I really don’t want to offend him, so I don’t know what to do. I can’t just go right up to him and tell him he needs to bathe—that would be rude—so what am I to do? Even if I do ask him, he is extraordinarily shy, and I bet he wouldn’t even answer. Should I just wash him myself? I really can’t deal with his filthiness. He’s only been in my room for two days, and every time I look down at him, I just want to throw him in a bucket of soapy water and clean his fur back to it’s once white glow. I guess I’ll spare him the embarrassment of calling him out on his filthiness. He is only a small panda, so he probably likes being dirty anyway.

Lyophilisation

Lyophilisation, or freeze drying, is an increasingly popular technology used in our society. This process uses differences in pressure and temperature to quickly remove water from an item and leave it in it’s original state for an extended period of time without having to worry about it decaying. We see this process used all the time with the freeze dried foods we eat, but new breakthroughs in science are improving this process and bringing more applications to freeze drying than ever thought before. Scientists can now freeze dry dead animals. This improved process has lead to the creation of some quite amazing products. Known most popularly by Americans is the freeze dried South Korean mini-panda. This panda is no more than an inch in length. When these pandas die, they are freeze dried, causing the panda to remain in it’s current position forever. They still look cute, they still feel fuzzy, but now humans can carry around this beautiful piece of nature in their pockets for the rest of their lives.