Bobbie Dawn

My last post, sort of.

2009-04-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I realize that if anyone still visits on a semi-regular basis than you will have noticed that I am no longer keeping this blog up to date. I am writing my PhD and quite busy. I have moved and am enjoying my new surroundings. In fact I am so busy that I find myself less concerned with keeping an online diary, so to speak. I am applying for jobs (who isn't!), writing manuscripts and enjoying my new friends in the city. However, I do have some new ideas for my internet life and a few large projects in the works that require some heavy devotion.

My partner and I are throwing ourselves into another large site development this summer to compliment our other software as a service website, The Money Case. I don't want to divulge our plans, however in this economy I believe it will be highly successful and act in concert with our current projects.

I am also going to tie all of my personal sites and blogs together into a larger website that will act as my portfolio and online networking resume that can be both a showcase for my achievements and place for myself, my friends and family to interact in a slightly more intimate manner than a place like facebook, myspace or twitter. One of the only criticisms I ever hear today about the online environment and txt messaging is the that it allows people to get lazy about personal communication. To me, I imagine the space will be the beginnings of our family albums and hold heritage and family tree information, which has been collected from both my father and mother's side of the family by many dedicated members. I hope that it can bring people together and create opportunities for family re-unions. My partner, Shawn, has an enormous family and adding his family to ours as an addition to this will be soooo enriching, we may span the globe one day!

In closing this blog (yes, that is what is happening here) I will be removing much of the advertising. I will also post many of the old, previously un-posted material. I often write something and do not edit it with the intention of reading it later and clicking the big important "publish" button at the bottom of my back-end publishing interface software that blogger has created for me. Instead I will leave some posts for ages and never click the button. I don't know why. I can't even be the only one. Of all the bloggers out there, I imagine each blogger has about another 5% of un-posted blogs compared to their visible posted blogs. They just pile up in the unwritten blog ethos. Perhaps it's just like a big to-do list. There are always things that fall to the bottom of the priority list, and then over time they jsut become really unimportant. Every once in a while you look at that list and say "I am finally going to get to all of those things..."

So here I am, spring cleaning my blog to do - and it's the last thing I do before I close up shop. But I'll leave everything else here, in pristine condition for everyone to enjoy. Including myself. It's my first effort. Thanks for your time. I enjoyed the short run. The next run will be longer, however the next run will likely be devoted purely to websites. I enjoy that game - designing, the graphics and overall the more independent and self-sufficient nature of the website development game. I tip my hat to the hard-working bloggers and take my leave.

xo BD

Things that made me laugh today

2009-02-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this blog post by saying that I am from Edmonton (Canadian Prairies) and I moved to Toronto (eastern Canada) in my youth. I return to Edmonton frequently, and I have often been confused as to why communication is sometimes a problem. I think I am beginning to understand and I find it amusing, because if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

The noun bluff (and the adjective bluffy) in reference to an aspen and willow grove typically surrounding a slough, appears to be unknown outside the Canadian prairies, whereas the eastern Canadian and international use of the term in reference to a low cliff or abutment, is largely unknown in western Canada and causes some puzzlement to newly arrived westerners in Ontario.

In Saskatchewan, the term "bunny hug" refers to a hooded sweatshirt.

Chauch: A slang term generally referring to young men who work out and attempt to dress well but are ultimately, not classy. (In 1970s Ontario, "chauch" meant attractive young women, normally heard in the expression "Nice chauch". The word was both singular and plural.)

Wikipedia, accessed Feb 18, 2008

Crap! These are only a few examples of how the language these two regions use could be potentially confusing and offensive to eachother! I.e.; the ontario man says to a beautiful woman: you are one nice looking chauch - I would love to give you a bunny hug over that bluff. Translation: "you are the least classy girl I've ever seen - I'd like to give you a sweatshirt in that grove of trees!"

HAHA!

Selfish people

2009-02-18T09:17:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate selfish people?

The ones I am talking about aren't necessarily the ones who like to have a lot of things and do not give to charity. That is selfish, but only in one way. That the kind of self that can come from years of having nothing and I understand it. Many people in the world think only about money and possessions because it is the world we have created and it isn't exactly character defining.

The kind of selfish I really hate is more subtle. It is when a person talks about themselves for hours and never stops to ask how anyone around them is doing. When that same person can't figure out why no-one likes them. For example, if a day goes by and no-one talks to a selfish person, they might figure it is because they must have done something to deserve this treatment and pout because no-one wants to be their friend.

It is that type of person I want to smack. Wake up! The world doesn't revolve around you. Perhaps you should say hello to someone and ask them how their day is going. Selfish people expect everyone to be their friend and come to them to massage their egos, lick their fancies and tickle their nipples. I think these people don't understand how disrespectful they are to people around them and overall how toxic their personalities are.

I made a decision a few weeks ago, after a couple of my "friends" did something completely self centered and selfish, that I have no need for these type of people in my life. I know that when I was young I was like this - when I was an adolescent I treated people like shit. I realized it, though, and I couldn't keep any friends very close to me. I was oversensitive and thought that everything was about me. I wanted everyone to listen to me all of the time and paid very little time and attention to my friend's needs. I was also very focused on my relationships with men. I would ditch a friend in a millisecond, regardless of the situation, if I thought I might be able to land a man.

Women out there - you don't need to behave like this. Be good to the people around you, be good to yourselves, and a good man will respect you for it. You will find yourself surrounded by good people and happy. There is no reason to think about only yourself - although there is a good argument for making sure you come first. Be sure you don't let yourself get walked over by people without being a selfish bitch.

Ahhhh. Rant over.

Pin up of the week - Volume 2, week 7

2009-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

Miss July, Alice Denham, Playboy, 1956

Rant: what is the difference between crap and crap?

2009-02-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

What is the difference between:

Luck and playing the odds?

Happiness and a smile?

Intelligence and common sense?

The fat cat and the cool cat?

You and me?

Them and us?

Pleasure and Pain?

Some of these are such cliches I want to kick my own self for asking, but sometimes I really wonder ... how fair apart are different realities? Is perspective the only thing that keeps everyone apart, or are difference fundamental. Is it important these differences exist so that humans continue to progress? Or is it the same now as it always was? Are we just animals that create waste and continually pat ourselves on the back for coming up with more "clever" ways to do so? Is is better to be so self absorbed that one gets ahead of another? Or is it better to be a successful team player that looses their identity and ability to take credit? I keep asking myself questions like these as I move forward writing a thesis that seems like a pile of crap on top of other peoples' crap - is it all my crap? Should I take credit for it all? Who's crap is it anyways? Do I want to keep doing crap like this? Maybe I can fade into society as a craptastic purveyor of all things crappy. No-one will notice my crap blending into all the other crap out there!

Argggh!!!!

Long time no speak

2009-02-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hi guys,

Sorry. I have been away because I had browser problems, which compounded into internet security problems, and vista problems and now I am just swamped with too much stuff. I am moving in twelve days. I finished a presentation today for my lab - in the nick of time. Actually, I could have done with another half hour beforehand to clean things up a bit and make sure I was a little more timely.

What I can say is that life moves forward, with or without you and when you don't keep up with it or stop to notice, sometimes the things in life that you actually want to do just don't get done. I have two list of priorities - one in order of the things I have to do, and the other in order of what I would prefer to do. Somewhere in the middle of those two lists I try to strike a compromise of how to run my life so that I am happy and well-balanced. I apologize to myself for letting things fall by the wayside, occasionally. Most importantly, I should just learn to never have lists that are so long that I have to make any compromises!

On that note, when I get settled into my new home, I will be making some choices about what stays and what goes. Within months of moving I will be letting go of many of the things from my Peteroborough life (Graduate Student Association Duties, teaching, lab work) and I will be accepting new challenges (Thesis defense, job hunting, house hunting, helping build a community learning center) and I will need to let go - will it be my blog, my art, going out dancing and shopping? Right now I can't predict the future. I can only see the many lists of stuff that tug at the minutes of my life.

Infrastructure

2009-02-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Word of the week and likely to stay on the minds of all Canadians for at least the remainder of the quarter:

Infrastructure

Pin up of the week - Volume 2, week 4

2009-01-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

This week I would like to feature the pin-ups that actually first got me interested in this whole game. The Rigde Tool Company Calendar. This calendar was published every year, and has featured some notable ladies. In 1952, George Petty was the featured artist - and it is these incredible images that I am particularly fascinated with. While there is plenty of imagery of women, cars, and tools, there is nothing that matches what Petty accomplished here. His contrast of femininity vs masculinity is masterful. Ballet dancers balanced precariously on the bars of large machine-shop tools, leaning on clamps and oversized wrenches. The pink and the red. The romance and the passion. It reminds me of why I am a woman and why I love men in the most unapologetic, pre-feminist movement, "I-want-a-man-that-know-how-to-use-his-hands" way.

Enjoy!

Nothin' but a saturday afternoon rant ...

2009-01-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

Why do the pushy, bossy and downright selfish peoples seem to get whatever they like? How is it that these peoples can walk all over everyone else and then not notice that they take their ideas, money, land and culture? These same people claim other people's things for their own without a bat of an eyelash - I guess they feel they've earned it when they have worked so hard a bullying. I am tired of it. The Aboriginals, the African Americans, indentured laborers, and people taken into the salve industries have had it the worst on our planet, and most of this has been at the hands of European descendants. There is evil that lurks in many people, but I am a humanist and fundamentally believe that everyone has the capacity to be good. Why is it, then, that statistically the people have been the most "evil" have always been of European descent? Why are these people the ones full of hate and ready to destroy? Why is it that over and over the peoples of our earth that have values are ready to lay down and the people that have no values will be too happy to take from everyone else - and some how those assholes always win. Well, maybe those good people are tired of being taken advantage of and will finally stand up and make their voices heard. Perhaps it is time that good people everywhere just stopped letting assholes take advantage of them and insist on good winning, not evil.

I apologize for the vagueness of this post. I don't really want to bitch about anything specific. I am just a little angry about many little things, but mostly I feel like there a lot of people in my life that are extremely selfish and self centered and I have had to endure them for entirely too long. they steal peoples personality, their style, their money and I would not be surprised if their descendants stole this land and people. They are ugly on the inside and out. Everything about them is offensive. I hope they don't reproduce because they can't think outside of themselves and their children will have to be like me and raise themselves, and then when they are grown up, raise their parents.

Which brings me to my last point in this rant. This point is much more specific. I was wondering the other day why most people (and by most I mean everyone except wealthy people) don't sit down and teach their kids how to manage money. I figure it is because they themselves don't know how and it is a point of embarrassment. The truth is that this is the reason our countries have found themselves in a massive credit crunch and one of the reasons why poor people stay poor. My mom did teach me how to keep my bank account balanced and how to make a basic budget so that I would not overspend - but she didn't ever mention the word savings account, she definitely didn't teach me about investments, and now I know why. I am reaching an age where I need to focus on my life, and my mom should have her retirement, savings and investments sorted out, instead I think she's been selfishly spending all of her life and not planning for her future, and now I have to help her out. i figure she simply doesn't know and nobody taught her. Now I have to choose whether to have kids or if I should take care of my mom ... how could she do this to me? What's worse is I am not alone, there is a whole generation of boomers that have done this to their children. I just have the misfortune of being an only child. I will never do this to my kids, if I ever get to have any, and I will teach them how to manage money. My kids will be wealthy and so will theirs. My children will be kind and they will not be taken advantage of. Perhaps they will become a famous politician ... so they can do whatever they like:

2009-01-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

This is what I would look like as Audry Hepburn:

Create your own FACEinHOLE

Everyone looks good as Audrey!

Pin up of the week - Volume 2, week 3

2009-01-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

What is sure to be the most popular picture of the year, and undeniably the best picture of the week, while it is not a classic pin-up and does not fall into the beef-cake category, I just couldn't ignore how important this week has been. Starting with MLK day, followed by the inauguration of Barack Obama, I predict that sooner than later we will finally get an international holiday (long weekend maybe?) in January and it will be in Barack's honor, but also to honor all that came before hime and all that will come after. YAY!

Big news, anti-climax and funny stuff from the vaults of SNL

2009-01-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

I have some big changes going on in my life right now. It is all very exciting. I am in the stages of writing my thesis - and that means it is the last lap!

I am moving away from the town I have lived in for 7 years.

I am looking forward to having a few final memories here with some of my friends at the few places I have grown to know and love. I went out for my last karaoke the other night. The place had changed a lot in the last few months since I last went - I didn't see any of the old regulars and I have to say it was a little anti-climatic.

I also am looking around me and I realize that most of the people I grew to love here have long since picked up and left - so I don't really have many people to say goodbye to. For the most part, leaving this place caqn be summarized as "anti-climatic" - except for the fact that I really can't wait to go back to Toronto.

The big smoke. My home. The city where I can see my friends and family more often.

Oh, and of course there will be the shopping and world-class restaurants. I can't wait to eat real food again! I hadn't realized it - but I grew into a real foodie. I love food. I love to cook, and I expect a level of ability from my servers and the chef that seems to be absent everywhere in Peterborough. I expect people to know what ingredients are in their dishes. I expect people to know how to place plates on the table without putting their sleave into your plate or knocking over your water. I don't care about the goofy east side mario's smile and I don't want a sparkly candle in my birthday cake - I want impeccable, snobby service!

On another note, the other day my stumble friend sent me this video. I accidentally closed the page and lost the link, but I found another link to it. I find it funny for sooo many reasons, but right now it seems relevant because Tina Fey is kicking ass on her show 30 rock - which I so enjoy watching. I hope it makes the ladies chuckle.

Woomba @ Yahoo! Video

I have always wondered why the women are runnign through the woods in those feminine hygeine commercials - if you imagine that there is a robotic device chasing their va-J-J, it explains everything!

Pin up of the week - Volume 2, week 2

2009-01-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

Linda Evangelista by Michael Mobius

Pin up of the week - Volume 2, week 1

2009-01-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

Mark Blanton, Pop art Pin-up, Venus de Fairlane

2009-01-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

Lime Crime is a great place to get bright, sparkle-ly make-up - and this season color is "in".

I found this site the other day and I love it! If I had not just spent a mini fortune this Christmas, I'd order a batch of every color. Oh well, next month!

I plan to get the the pixie-dust and the medusa eyedust for sure - what are your favorites?

carnival of sexuality - January 3, 2009

2009-01-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the January 3, 2009 edition of carnival of sexuality.

Michael presents Project Hitchhiker » “Come On My House!” — Love Hotels, Sexy Engrish, and Quote-Unquote “Research” posted at project hitchhiker.

bob presents Fail School: Life lessons you wish you could learn posted at Failschool, saying, "guide to giving a female an orgasm"

Vickie Sloderbeck presents Make Your Bedroom Your Favorite Room in the House posted at Joyful Journey Productions.

Vickie Sloderbeck presents A Day in the Life of Your Husband posted at Joyful Journey Productions.

Tali presents Stylish First Ladies - Pinups in the White House posted at Tali, saying, "From Jackie O to Michelle Obama, first ladies are stylish, formidable women. Here’s a look at stylish first ladies - pinups in the white house."

Vickie Sloderbeck presents Reignite Your Sexual Relationship posted at Joyful Journey Productions.

Chris presents Dojo Leader, or Dominatrix? A Field Guide posted at Martial Development, saying, "What is the difference between martial artists and BDSM players? Find out here."

Cheat-Proof Your Relationship presents How To Cheat-Proof Your Relationship posted at How To Cheat-Proof Your Relationship.

Tali presents Bettie Page - This Revolution Will Happen Between Your Thighs! posted at Tali, saying, "Most articles don’t elaborate on the standard Wikipidia article. I’d like to do something a little different, to contribute to the flood of eulogious articles and take a look at this fascinating 1950’s sexual icon."

MikeC presents Do the Sex Map | A Lust For Life posted at A Lust For Life, saying, "Do the sex map!"

Cary Anderson presents Improving Your Marriage Resume posted at Find Love, saying, "For many women, the quest to find a husband is just as important as their career. Whether you realize it or not, in the same way you have a career resume, you have a marriage one too!"

Tali presents Top 6 Christmas Beefcake - Where’s the Beef?! posted at Tali, saying, "Beefcake searches always leave me wanting, especially at Christmas time. Could it be that only gay men consume beefcake?"

Greg Laden presents The natural basis for gender inequality posted at Greg Laden's Blog.

Tali presents New Year’s Summation: Top 10 Articles of The Pinup Blog posted at Tali, saying, "You love them and I cant argue with you! For your enjoyment; It’s the top 10 articles of The Pinup Blog!"

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Pin Up of the Week - 52

2008-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Petty

Happy New Year's Eve!

New Years Resolutions, babbles and other news from the Bobbie Dawn pocket book

2008-12-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

I have to apologize. I have been busy. Between friends, family and holiday parties, I barely have time to laundry and groceries - let alone keep up with my favorite hobby (that's BD!)

I will write a quick update for anybody that still reads and cares: I am working triple-time in the lab right now because I am almost finished the lab-research portion of my thesis. Then I will have a few months of analyzing and modeling the results, the writing of manuscripts and then the defense at which time I will be finished my seriously long pursuit for the academic prize "PhD". I have a time-line to finish of 8 more months and I am sticking to my objectives with determination I have never previously known myself to have. My focus is narrow - and while it is extremely useful for finishing my task, it is horrific as I watch the rest of my life fall into literal pieces because of my indifference towards anything other than "finish PhD", the words that run through my mind constantly.

I go for months without clean clothes and linens. I have gone weeks eating nothing but rice/rice pasta and cheese (Translation: I have Celiacs disease so I eat nothing but easy, cheap, home-made, gluten-free casseroles).

My blog has fallen into a steady stream of boring writing - BUT, there is hope. I will return shortly with more punchy pieces full of Pin-up culture, rants about people that really piss me off and some little tid-bits about science that might interest you. I am also planning on launching some new blogs once the majority of my manuscripts are finished and I am only in the late editing stages ... and I will link them all together through BD, but I want to make them more specific and I have a graphic design bug that has been eating away at my little heart. I will also bring you more art. These are my new years resolutions as Bobbie Dawn, not so new blogger, still learning how to climb the ropes of the highly addictive "infomation highway" ... remember that?!? (I don't come to the blogosphere for information, but rather to find out about how informed other human beings are).

Pin Up of the Week 51

2008-12-22T11:18:00.001-08:00

Enoch Bolles

Enjoy the snow North America! Season's greetings and Happy New Year!

This place is such a joke, for example ...

2008-12-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

So the my university's website says that buses run until and including today (at least that's how I read "The last day of regular Trent Express Schedule is December 21st, and will resume service on January 4th."

Anyhow, I stood outside in the minus 12 degree Celsius (10.4 F for my American friends), 5 inches of freakin' snow this morning for 45 mins freezing my ass off when I decide to call Peterborough transit and ask why there is no bus and they tell me they did not schedule the Trent Express for December 21st!

I was scheduled to use the mass spec today and I fucking planned to go in to school, even though there is "snowmaggedon" and it is sunday and I would rather be christmas shopping and wrapping presents. Instead, I prepped samples all day yesterday! I got up early today, put on my snow boots and went out into the miserable cold to treck to school and I guess my stupid small town decided for me that I wasn't going to go to school. Curiously, they did not cancel any of the other buses. Only the student bus.

Anyhow, its not the end of the world and I will just go in tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday to make up for lost time - and get my boyfriend to drop me off before work or something, and then never think about this day again, but just another thing to add to my list of "this place is such a joke, for example..."

Pin up of the week 50

2008-12-16T17:27:00.000-08:00

I have decided to hold my regular order this week and do a special tribute to the one and only Betty Page.

Who else looked so fantastic from both angles?

Mme. Butterfly

2008-12-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

So I got this award from Fashiona a few weeks ago. Thank-you Fashiona.

It may have taken me some time to get around to it, but I am now going to return the favor and bestow it upon another blog. I will return this award to another pin-up blog that is on my radar: The pin up blog has a great variety of images, topics and products that are very focused on everything pin up. Kudos.

(P.S. I did not make this image and I am not responsible for the grammatical error, it should read "For the coolest blog I ever knew" and really, if I written it I would have made it read "For the coolest blog out there" or something to that effect because I can't know a blog. It implies a personal relationship and sounds somewhat ridiculous. The sentiment, however, is right on the money!)

Saying good-bye to a pin-up icon

2008-12-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

The 1950's pin-up model, Betty Page, died on Thursday, December 11. Many will agree with me when I suggest that she was one of the best pin-up models ever, and definitely helped to popularize pin-up culture with her now famous story and her beauty. At the Betty Page website there is a memorial splash-page with the following statement:

"With deep personal sadness I must announce that my dear friend and client Bettie Page passed away at 6:41pm PST this evening in a Los Angles hospital. She died peacefully but had never regained consciousness after suffering a heart attack nine days ago. She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality. She is the embodiment of beauty."
Mark Roesler

A stumble friend, Paleryder, sent me this great article from CNN which announces Betty's passing and summarizes her amazing life that was exciting, heart warming and tragic. She will be buried at Westwood Cemetery in Los Angeles, just a few feet away from Monroe, which is highly appropriate in my opinion. One of my favorite pictures of Betty is posted below.

Tanners unite!

2008-12-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

I have never tanned before, not in a tanning salon and not in the sun. If I am in the sun and get a tan, then so be it. I think when I was 13 one summer I spent some time in a bathing suit in the backyard tanning with my BFF at the time, but there were so many cute young boys coming in and out of her backyard (she had a pool) that I felt it was my obligation to spend as much time fully exposed, if you know what i mean ;-)

What I have discovered, is that tanning is an extremely controversial topic. there is a whole culture surrounding tanning, and I think that a lot of people who tan definitely hide it from their friends. What's scarier is that after this week, when I went to the tanning salon for the first time, I would definitely do the same (hide my tanning from my friends). Some people are hostile. Others offer friendly advice. Even more give you "the look" of disgust. Some people want you to go with them. No matter what, though, if you tell people you went to get a 5 minute tan under a lamp, count on someone saying something to you that makes you question the decision. I wish I had never gone. I have beautiful skin - it is super pale, that's for sure, but there are barely any spots on it and it is soft as a baby's ass and at 30 I have barely developed a laugh line. I couldn't handle the thought of destroying my skin, and I would never do anything to damage it. I never intended on tanning permanently, I just wanted to be tanned for once in my life.

Considering I live in Ontario, Canada, and it is well into the cold and snowy month of December, I have opted for the salon method of tanning. There are two ways to do this: artificial sun or spray-on tan. The spray on tan is honestly the most vial thought I can imagine. Having some sort of pigment stuck on my skin for 12 days sounds more disturbing to me as a toxicologist and chemist than the idea of getting some UV-A for 15 mins. What is in the spray that makes the pigment stay on after you shower for days at a time? How can the exposure to what ever chemical is present in the spray possibly be good for you? I, however, also believe that most skin creams and perfumes are bad for your skin. It would be better to minimalize all exposure to personal care products that are not necessary and even then to use products that have minimal ingredients (i.e., fragrance-free, no dyes, bleach free, etc...) I could be nuts, but it's one of my little idiosyncrasies.

Either way, I would never have expected so many people to feel so strongly about an issue that seems like the last thing people would care to lecture about. I smoke and I get less flack for it. My cigarette packages come with warnings that tell me smoking causes lung cancer - the sunlamps in the salon have instructions that suggest that minimizing total exposure to UV will minimize risk of skin cancer. I don't dispute the evidence that UV causes skin cancer and melanomas (that would be silly) but I do question people who can't see the forest for the trees. I have probably been exposed to less UV in my entire lifetime (including my recent salon experience) than many people of the same age. No-one has asked me about that. When I buy pop and chips at the store people don't question me about how many other calories I have consumed that day and if I should really be adding the extra caloric intake. Even though it would be more logical than telling me that chips are bad for me and I should not buy them, either way no-one would say anything to me because it is rude! I think saying anything to me about tanning is also, rude.

I believe it is especially rude, however, when people have not taken time to find out what my previous risk and exposure is and therefore shoot their mouths off suggesting I'll get cancer as if they are more expert than I about my tanning. People don't get how serious Cancer actually is and how it really affects peoples' lives. It is not cool to tell someone they will get cancer because they spent 15 mins under a sun lamp. I take the diagnosis of cancer very seriously and I do not see how people can just talk about stuff they have read in a magazine as if they are experts.

I may be sensitive, but I heard from more people than I wanted to about tanning this week. So for all of the tanners out there, I won't judge. I know there are good things and bad things about tanning - believe me I've heard it all this week. I don't care, however. I think that anyone can do whatever they want to their body. I wanted to tan - and it was an informed decision. I am not an idiot that hasn't heard of the effects of UV radiation. Regardless, even if i were an idiot, I don't need lectures. I smoke - and I know I could get lung cancer. I have been trying to quite for years. I definitely would go back in time to that same year by the pool if I could and pull that cigarette out of my "super cool" hand. If I made a mistake it was the cigarettes. I still won't lecture another smoker. I don't know if a spray tan is bad for you but I wouldn't lecture a spray-tanner. People are allowed to make their own decisions, good or bad. People need to be less invasive with their opinions.

Anyhow I have ranted long enough.

2008-12-11T22:15:00.000-08:00

Unless you know someone very well and feel confident that you are right or have known a person for a very long time, it is definitely a bad idea to do any of the following:

Tell someone they look tired
Ask someone if they have lost weight
Ask someone if they are pregnant

You've seen it in the movies and on TV and it's funny for a reason. But people actually do say these things to people often (I mean daily!) and most often people (women) feel awful after someone tells them they look tired, or imply that they look fat or have been looking fat! Lets stop critically assessing how people look and just talk to people. If you think someone is tired and care, ask how they are feeling. If you think someone looks great - just say so - don't suggest why because then it implies some past judgment you have made. Thanks. And please, someone send this to my mom.