God we fuck up teenagers’ heads. We tell them that biological conditions are moral punishments and then we get all shocked when they don’t practice rational risk management of biological conditions. We teach them “sex is super desirable and all the cool kids do it, and it’s hideously shameful and will destroy your life” and we wonder why they act an eensy bit neurotic about it. If you tried to design a system for making sexually active kids confused and unsafe, you couldn’t do much better than the American media and school system.
And for once, the answer is relatively simple. Just talk about sex like it’s a part of life. Some people have sex and some people don’t, because people are different. STIs aren’t bad because they’re Dirty Crotch Rot; they’re bad because they’re contagious illnesses like strep throat or whooping cough, and you can ask a doctor to check for and treat them just like you would with strep throat. Unwanted pregnancy isn’t a scarlet A; it’s a mostly-preventable accident that sometimes occurs when people are going about their normal business of having sex. You can ask the school counselor about a variety of topics, including career planning, problems at home, questions about sex, or conflicts with teachers.
If we could just get the goddamn stick out of our collective ass and accept that sex is a human activity and teenagers are humans, maybe there wouldn’t be quite so many plaintive “I don’t understand my body and I’m confused and scared and I don’t know anyone I can ask in person” messages flying out into the world.
- Baking is methodical: Every measurement is precise, so you need to concentrate on only the baking when you’re doing it - in turn, clearing your head.
- Baking takes time: If you dedicate yourself to this activity, you’re setting time aside for yourself indirectly. Therefore creating a safe space where no-one can bother you. This is of course, when you’re like me and you kick everyone else out of the kitchen.
- Baking is relaxing: When have you not appreciated the scent of fresh baked cookies in your living space? Really.
- Baking is satisfying: Cookie dough? Check. Actual cookies? Check. Let’s be real, sometimes you need to eat your feelings.
- Baking is motivational: You can’t just sit and wallow in whatever you’re stressed about when you’re baking. You have 10 minute intervals to sit and contemplate life, the world and everything. (the answer will always be 42 - props if you get this reference)
- Baking is satisfying (pt 2): For me, my coworkers adore it when I’m stressed. Not in the “haha, Rhiannon’s life is hard right now” kind of sense, but more the “sweet, I got unexpected breakfast AND dessert in the same day.”
- Baking is deceiving: I think I’m an anomaly. I don’t really watch TV, I play video games (when I’m not baking/working) and I’m not a huge fan of cooking. Last night, I made macaroni and cheese, strawberry muffins and monster cookies. Tonight I made my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It makes people think that I’m on speed, because no one else can “find the time to bake.” It’s really that I don’t really have a lot of hobbies. There, now you know.
- Baking is productive: Baking gives you the ability to not only scientifically and mathematically massage your brain, but see a finished product. Hopefully you remembered to put both cups of flour in (speaking from experience here).
- Baking is exercise: Okay, so maybe I’m a little biased here, but for me, I try really hard not to use my mixer when I don’t have to, and I remember even as a kid, when you get a good cookie dough going, it gets tough to mix after a while. Reaching for ingredients? Or the fact that you’re probably standing while you’re mixing all these ingredients. Point being: at least you’re not sitting doing nothing. See reason #5.
- Baking is good: This blog has brought me a lot of joy, and whenever I feel like I’m less of a person, or like all the effort I’m putting into the things I’m doing is amounting to nothing, I’ll look to this blog for visible proof that I’ve grown and evolved over the past three years, and my followers here appreciate when I post new recipes for them to hate me for making and not giving to them personally. Sorry guys, you know I’d totally bake for all of you! ;)
Bake it out guys.
<3 bakerhi
You guys, you guys, I am SO EXCITED for the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter and as soon as I get my student loan money for next quarter, you can bet your ass I’m backing it.
Also, this scene is maybe my favorite from the entire show, and I’ve had the dialogue in my notebook for YEARS. #LoganForever
(Source: goldenstories)
In the same way that I am obsessed with all of those “what’s in your bag” posts, I would also be interested to see peeks of people’s coffee tables. (But only if they didn’t clean up beforehand.)
They just don’t make split-screen video games any more, table top gaming is the way to go if you want to have your friends over to hang out. Thanks, Wil Wheaton!
This. Seriously, this.
Scheduling out my final week of the quarter: work AND play. (Yeah, I play a lot of World of Warcraft, shut up.)
Okay, I don’t know who I need to talk to to get a set of those awesome little metal hands that weight books open, but they are the coolest trinket I’ve seen in forever. Way more stylish than those weird weighted leather things, and far less clunky than those weird plastic and metal book stands that people use for cookbooks in the kitchen.
Röckenwagner Bakery pretzel croissants are ADDICTING. Thank god the Whole Foods two blocks away carries them so I don’t have to go into Santa Monica for my fix. Less greasy than the original, but still deliciously flaky. Makes an amazing goat cheese and thick-cut soppressata salami sandwich. Definitely a must-try while in Los Angeles.
New iPad cover.
So, I’ve been spending a pretty large amount of time on tvtropes.org, a website I invariably “discover” about once every three years before forgetting once more. A Bunny-Ears Lawyer is basically someone with a hugely weird quirk that is otherwise so awesomely amazing at their job, their superiors put up with it because they’re not worth losing. There are plenty of great fictional examples on the website, but none of them stack up to the stuff in the Real Life category.
18th century physicist Henry Cavendish, who was and still is regarded with honour at Cambridge university and is most famous for his weighing of the Earth. He was an obsessive-compulsive who was so terrified of other people that he refused to attend any scientific conferences in the latter half of his life and could not communicate with anyone except by letter, including his own housekeeper. When ambushed by a reporter he fled down the street and had to be retrieved by his family. He would sometimes attend social gatherings, and sit very quietly in a corner, not talking to anyone. Anyone who wanted his insight into something were advised to “wander over as if by chance and talk, as it were, into a vacancy”. If Cavendish felt so moved, he might deign to reply. Mostly, though, he just made an upset noise and fled.
Alan Turing: “…in the first week of June each year he would get a bad attack of hay fever, and he would cycle to the office wearing a service gas mask to keep the pollen off. His bicycle had a fault: the chain would come off at regular intervals. Instead of having it mended, he would count the number of times the pedals went round and would get off the bicycle in time to adjust the chain by hand. Another of his eccentricities is that he chained his mug to the radiator pipes to prevent it being stolen.” [as quoted from Wikipedia]
Additional fun facts about Alan Turing, also thanks to Wikipedia:
- In 1926, at the age of 13, he went on to Sherborne School… The first day of term coincided with the 1926 General Strike in Britain, but so determined was he to attend that he rode his bicycle unaccompanied more than 60 miles (97 km) from Southampton to Sherborne, stopping overnight at an inn.
- While working at Bletchley, Turing, a talented long-distance runner, occasionally ran the 40 miles (64 km) to London when he was needed for high-level meetings.
Dude was pretty awesome and basically the father of modern computers, which is why my laptop is affectionately named The Turing Machine.
Norbert Wiener, one of the founders of the field of Cybernetics, was known for being absent-minded and getting lost frequently even in familiar places; while at the Institute for Advanced Studies, he would find his way to his office using the ‘right-hand rule’ for maze solution, trailing one finger along the walls as he continued reading, which led to him startling colleagues by walking into their offices, following the walls around and back out, without speaking or even looking up from his book the whole time, seemingly oblivious to where he was until he reached his own office.
I could pretty much just quote the entire thing, it’s that good. Go read it yourself and marvel at the amount genius and insanity overlap.
Spending Saturday in bed in my Saturday pants*, finishing up my reading for Monday. (I’m taking a Young Adult Literature course, and the assigned books are really great.) The glamorous life of a grad student.
*I always do a little J. Crew shopping at the beginning of the term, to console myself that classes are starting. Ladies: get yourselves a pair of these pants. Super comfortable, have pockets in the back, and totally chic enough to run out to Starbucks for a chai latte.
Just ordered this guy for my apartment! Pretty stoked. $24.95 (including shipping) for some awesome and unique art. And he’s totally sticking around all year, not just for Halloween. I love crows. Now he just needs a name…
I love seeing/doing these little posts. I’m also including notes, because sometimes I see things I’d like to buy in people’s bags, but have no way of knowing where to get them from. (And if nothing else, you should definitely buy a Pocket Totem, because they are lovely and adorable.)
Bag: Kate Spade’s Grove Court Lainey model (link) in buttermilk/black. Decorated with a Floral Scarf in Cherry from Red Velvet (currently sold out).
- makeup bag with far too much lipgloss (by Pamela Barsky)
- Coach Madison Leather Accordion Zip wallet
- handkerchief
- “True Romantic Pouch” from Aylla on Etsy, used as a pen
cilcase - daily meds
- Nintendo DS Lite (with Professor Layton and the Unwound Future and Final Fantasy VI for GBA)
- keys
- asthma inhaler
- custom-made “Pocket Totem” (hyena) from HandyMaiden on Etsy
- sunglasses
- russell + hazel mini binder (the color is listed as “plate” on their website)
- shopping list and extra-fine Sharpie
- iPad 2
- not pictured: iPhone 4S
“What from-scratch basic cupcake recipe do you recommend? And what frosting goes best with it?”
