On "Sex Appeal"

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     Over the last 16 years, I have been raised in a culture where modesty is important.  Because of being a "Mormon" I am almost hyper aware of how I dress or come across.  My parents raised me to see that my body was something sacred and not to be flaunted before the world.

     Now something I find hard, in this world that I grow up in, is that modesty is something that is not taken for granted, or expected.  This I understand.  Most of the time cultures lacking my standards is fine.  The world may be what it will, I will still be me.  However, something I do take issue with and find offensive is the prevalence of online images made to be immodest and sensual.  I am not talking necessarily about pornography, or explicit images.  I am simply talking about all the fandom made images, video game characters, genera models, advertising in general, and media in which the woman are obviously there for sex appeal.

     I find it hard to be barraged constantly by pictures of singers, actresses, models and "sexy" video game characters.  Through these pictures woman are told many different things.  When a friend says, "I just love playing this character!" and proceeds to show you pictures of a tall looking woman who has large breasts, an abnormally thin waist, and a large... rump, I can't help wincing. Then to see this character, with the body proportions that men seem to want, fighting battles and doing it while in a skin tight dress is more then disheartening.

     The problem for me is that even if you aren't viewing porn you see women being objectified online ALL the time.  This leads me to wonder how a real relationship will ever work in the future.  As a Mormon, I am who I am, people may objectify me in their own minds, but I shall never let myself be used as an object.  However, I still feel a pang knowing I can never measure up to what is portrayed online and in our larger American culture.  I am a real girl, and as such I have hair that doesn't look silky, and when the wind blows it all wants to go into my mouth.  I am average height exactly, my curves aren't even in the range of online gaming characters curves, I wear normal clothes,  and I don't fight monsters... and the thing is it hurts.  Through these images I see what many males would consider the "ideal" woman, and I am far from it body wise, activity wise, and not to mention dress wise.

     I have nothing against gaming (in moderation).  I have nothing against woman being allowed to dress how they will.  I do take issue with the fact that I can see how easily it would be to "undress" many video game characters.  I find it hard to believe that any man will seek for a worthwhile, and meaningful relationship in the future, because why should he?  Why should you go for the real thing, when the fake thing has everything you'd like to see and is so much less work?  Because of media and gaming I at least feel a layer of distress, and stress added to my life as I watch my friends spend hours playing with these "perfectly" formed and appealing characters.

     No woman is just her body, and I find it unfortunate that inadvertently boys and men put such stress on the physical.

My Best Friend and I

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     So, everybody has that group of friends that they are pretty cool with.  Ok, maybe not everybody... but you know what I mean.  There's the group of friends you can have fun with, and its all fun.  However, then there should be the person that you can talk to, and talk to, and still talk to, without feeling like your being as annoying as you probably are.  My best friend, has to probably be Maggie.  She is the coolest person ever.  She's beautiful, and talented, and super funny and nice.

     I wouldn't say we are "two peas in a pod."  I mean... we got our differences.  We got lots of them.  But, we defiantly go together like... brown and pink, fries and chocolate shakes, and like sunny days with blue sky's.  We just... work. 

     So, we are pretty darn weird together.  Especially when I'm slap happy, and we are both super tired.  So, our next big thing, is we are working on a quote book.  Some of these come from friends of mine, hers, or ours.  However, lots of them are just us coming up with things on the fly.

     So here's some of what we got so far:

     "The universe works with us."

     "I can't do that..."

     "Don't you love people of all races?"

     "I like to just handle the egg."

     "I sleep better with you."

     "This cycle of a conversation has been re-run... several times." 

     "Whaa chaa chaa!"

     "I'm thinking about you all the time."

     "I know many references. Some of them are applicable."

     We  know who came up with which ones.  We know which ones are by friends, and which ones we made up based on what somebody else said.  Most are just Maggie and I.  Yes, we do love people of all races, and no we don't sleep together, and we often re-run through conversations.  We are besties and those quotes just sum up some of our weirdom.

     "This presentation was brought to you by Mag's, and My awesomeness."

Firefly, or Rather, Perfection

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     Sometimes when I watch something, and more often when I read something, I get this strange fluttery feeling.  Its not like this giddy feeling, but its something that I feel when my mind says That was really good.  To be honest, I don't get that feeling a lot.  In fact I get it rarely.

     One thing that gives me this indescribable feeling is a show that I was introduced to a while ago.  The person who introduced me was my wonderful mother.  She was the one who said we should start watching Firefly together.  However, I watched the first episode with my Grandpa, mom, and dad.  The first episode is awesome.  It is also about 85 minutes long.

     The first time I watched it I was sitting next to my Grandpa.  I still don't know if the fluttery feeling was because I really liked that first episode or if it was because I was really happy to be watching something while snuggled up next to my Grandpa... whatever the reason it was amazing.

     That was two years ago though.  So, in February (If I'm remembering correctly) I re-started watching Firefly. When I say I re-started I mean that I watched the 1st episode again.  But guess what?!  It gave me the same exact feeling... again.  And every episode has given me the same feeling at one point or another.

     My conclusion: Firefly is Perfection.

     Second conclusion: The people who stopped funding it clearly had/have no brain... and if they do it just makes it worse.

     My heart is breaking over the fact that there is only 14 episodes/1 season.  Every moment of those 14 episodes are worthwhile.  My Grandpa loved Firefly, and I can see why.  It is perfect because of the just how deep the characters are.  River and her brother Simon are perfect together.  Mal's loyalty to his crew, and how they return that affection is beautiful.  The relationships between the different charecters are amazing.  And this is only half of it.  There is also the setting, and plot which makes everything more interesting.

     Firefly, you are perfection.  Netflix, thank you for having it on instant play.

     Everybody, if you have time to watch a little less then 1,700 minutes of perfection then you should watch Firefly... if you don't I am sorry for you.  Truly sorry.  However, you should at least watch the sequel movie, which makes perfect sense even if you haven't watched what there is of the show.  It's perfection to, although it's called Serenity, not perfection.