The One with My Netflix Addiction

I’ve sort of flown away from my blog lately for two reasons.  I’m getting back into the swing of things like work and school, but more importantly I’ve succumbed to the Black Hole that is Netflix.  Oh dear, Lord have I ever.   For a brief period before I started my first semester of college, I had spent my days on the couch just watching whole seasons of TV shows and so many movies, and I did nothing else.  I told myself that I would be the person who just sat and watched TV all the time, so I steered clear of any series on Netflix.  I would watch movies once and a while, but I knew TV shows were addicting so I didn’t entertain the thought. Until…

THEY PUT ALL TEN SEASONS OF FRIENDS ON NETFLIX! Why, why, why would they do this to me? I love Friends.  I have some of the seasons on DVDs but no TV in my room, so I was virtually safe from letting my life be taken captive from Friends, but now I have the Netflix app on my phone, and it’s RUINING MY LIFE.  I have a serious addiction to Friends. If I have twenty spare minutes in my day, you bet I’ll be watching Friends.  I watch at least three before bed.  I force people to watch it with me.  Just yesterday I was watching it with my boyfriend, and he told me Friends was becoming a problem because I was begging “just one more episode” for nearly an hour. 

And of course I can’t just stop. Ross and Rachel just broke up.  Man I had to watch three more episodes to get over that. So I think I’ll continue ruining my life with the best show ever and go listen to “With or Without You.”

Things I Carry with Me

In one of my classes this week we were asked to list 5 things that we always have with us, tangible or not, and write a little about why we have it.  I left out a bunch of things in the assignment because I don’t trust my secrets with the people I have class with. 

I however think I can write about them now without judgment.

Here are the three things I left off my original list:

The Moon.  I figuratively and literally have the moon with me all the time. I have a little ring with a crescent moon on it, and obviously the moon is always visible out in the sky somewhere on Earth.  I appreciate the moon phases.  They all mean something, and actually affect people and our Earth.  I think the moon is incredible.  Beware the full moon, that stuff is not a myth. I’ve had people blatantly walk in front of my car on a full moon.  Grocery shopping on a full moon is always interesting.  Believe me, it’s real.

Something cat related.  I have socks with cats on them, a cat sweater (I mentioned in my last blog), and a phone with a 3D holographic rainbow kitten.  In my room I have even more cat related décor.  I love cats.  In a perfect world I would have a mansion with an entire floor built specially for all my cats to live.

My tattoos.  I thought this was almost too obvious to mention.  I have three tattoos, and as far as I can tell, they aren’t going anywhere.  A lot of people don’t like tattoos, but I love that I have something with me that will always be with me; a permanent memory in my very skin.  They are things that I will never stop loving, and I get to keep them forever.

I haven't been able to write very much this past week. I guess I've just been busy flying with time.  As usual, thank you reading!

Being Yourself is Lonely, but You're Not Alone

It is not a secret that I love the Harry Potter series.  I think it is an unprecedented phenomenon and its legacy will surely turn it into a modern classic.  I have actual ink under my skin to show my appreciation for the novels, and I’m not ashamed of it.  They are my favorite books.  I’m aware that there are literary works out there that are very brilliant, but Harry Potter was my first and greatest love, therefore, based on principal alone, they will stay my favorite.  With that being said, I’ll delve into a story about the first day of my spring semester.

I was looking forward to one specific class for two reasons: it was my first class for my English major (finally), and it was being taught by my guidance counselor, who I found particularly smart and I was reassured that he would be a good professor.  The class certainly did not turn out to be as spectacular as I expected. 

(Just a side note: I’ve always felt a little bit like a black sheep at my college due to the fact that I’m a commuter so I don’t really see anyone outside of class which leads me to having very few friends at the college. I also know that, as a person, I don’t fit in.  Not to say that I don’t wedge myself in sometimes, but it’s exhausting forcing friendships.)

When I sat down for this English class, I could almost tangibly feel the aura of separation from everyone else in the room.  Appearance wise, I don’t blend in.  I was surrounded by girls with long, straight, highlighted hair with Michael Kors bags, and Starbucks lattes on their desks.  I wear an Eskimo coat, sweaters that declare “The entire cat population is my best friend,” and my hair looks like a stereotypical hockey player’s haircut. 

My professor wanted to make a point to get to know everyone a little bit, which I appreciated, until he told us to answer the question, “What is your favorite book?” (Perhaps you can predict how this story will end).  As people were introducing themselves I had an internal debate with myself about what I should say.  I knew what my answer was, but I also wanted to impress my professor with something more “sophisticated.” That was until my more confident Julia woke up and told my timid little Julia to buck up and be herself.  So I decided upon my answer and started listening to everyone’s responses.  They said things like French poetry books, great American epics, or titles I had never even heard. 

After each person went, my professor commented about their answers, asked them questions about why they chose that/why they liked it, etc.  I was starting to resort back to being timid, but confident Julia was staring at me with that look she gives me sometimes and I had to be brave. So my turn came and I said Harry Potter was my favorite.  A couple of girls across the room started snickering at my response. My professor looked at me, nodded briefly, and said “Thank you,” then looked at the person behind me.   I was so embarrassed I just wanted an invisibility cloak. I was the only person to be snubbed by the professor, and I was the only person in the room to say something other than things similar to Jane Austen.  

I left the classroom feeling so small and insignificant until I opened my phone to Twitter, and saw that a Harry Potter fan page had posted a collage of pictures of Neville through the movies and it made me smile. It’s the only time I’ve been grateful for Twitter.  I walked out of the classroom feeling shunned for speaking from the heart, but at the same time I was reminded that Potterheads are awesome.  We are empathetic, and are scientifically proven to be less prejudice than people who haven’t read HP.  I felt connected to the fandom and it made me feel included.  

The moral of the story is to never let anyone make you feel small or insignificant for being passionate about something. To whoever is reading this, you’re bloody awesome.  If you ever feel unappreciated, just know that you’re special and I think you’re spectacular. Don’t let the muggles get you down!

Best Skin Ever by Living Libations: How I Got Rid of Acne

When I was 15 I had nearly flawless skin.  While many of my classmates had troubles with their acne, I would only get a small pimple every once in a while.  I thought I had lucked out and skipped that part of puberty, but I turned 18 and suddenly my face was riddled by the monsters I thought I had evaded. 

I had very little knowledge on what products to buy, so I just went to the drugstore and picked out whatever was cheapest.  I used it day and night and it did absolutely nothing.  Frustrated, I decided to start using Proactive.  It worked after a few days, nearly all of my pimple vanished and I felt great.  I could get over my face smelling like Play Doh if it meant I could have clear skin again, but one morning I woke up and my skin was flakey, red, and my neck was extremely itchy.  I stopped using it right away for two reasons.  One, I was deathly afraid of allergic reactions.  Second, because I didn’t really want to use a product that made my skin feel like that.  I stopped using anything for a while and just suffered with painful acne. 

I went through a few minor adverse reactions to food when I realized that I was allergic to sulfites.  I did a lot of research about what it was and why my body couldn’t tolerate it.  Sulfites are a preservative and they’re found in things like food coloring, dried fruits, and wine.  I realized that sulfites weren’t one of the only questionable ingredients in our food, so I changed my diet.  I really got into natural health, and realized how wonderful our Earth is and what she has to offer.  I started using more natural health and beauty products (I proudly only use organic and natural health and beauty products now).  With my diet change I lost weight, and over all felt much better, but my acne was still there.  It got really painful at times, and I started losing hope. About 6 months ago, I came across a company called Living Libations. The featured product on their website was called Best Skin Ever-Sea buckthorn.  I read the reviews, and I saw nothing but positives. 

After a couple of weeks, my skin was practically perfect.  I know a couple weeks seem like a long time to wait for results, but I’ve learned that products that tailor to the impatient are not the best things for us in the long run.  Best Skin Ever-Sea buckthorn has pure organic ingredients.  It has nothing cringe-worthy or hard to pronounce ingredients in it, unlike other products.  I won’t  ever need to use anything else now that I have this product. 

It’s especially great because I can use it in my bedroom with just a washcloth.  I squirt a little bit on the washcloth and rub in onto my face, and that’s all. It’s nothing like those sets of sometimes up to five products (scrub this, cleanse with this, moisturize, spot treatment cream, night cream, etc…)  I like that I don’t have to hover over a sink at night, spilling water over my front.  I especially love that it works as a make-up remover.  

Overall I am very satisfied with this product, and would suggest to anyone who is struggling to find a good solution to their acne problems and wants a good natural product.  It doesn’t try out sensitive skin, and the oils don’t clog pores, they do just the opposite, so I would say it is good for every skin type.

You can find this product at http://www.livinglibations.com/default/best-skin-ever-seabuckthorn

They also have tons of other amazing products from oral health, to a line of super-food/ herby chocolates.  

 

Thank you for reading! You can follow my blog via email, and make sure to check out Living Libations!

Coming Late to the Party

I love coming late to the party. Not a real, actual, physical party.  I don’t get invited to those.

I enjoy introducing myself to things that people once loved, but have moved on from.  For example, when I was little I never read the Harry Potter books, and the movies were very confusing to me.  I never read them because I felt like I didn’t need to.  Well, about a year and a half ago, I started reading them and became completely obsessed, of course.  Harry Potter was always a very large part of my life and I was a huge fan, but now it’s more than that.  I’ve found that I was able to appreciate it on a personal level, as it felt like I was the only one appreciating it in that moment.

That’s precisely why I love coming late to the party. After the initial hype of the popularity, it becomes forgotten and whatever is popular next replaces it.  Just today, my boyfriend, Michael, and I were looking through Netflix for a movie to watch. (One thing should be noted about Michael is that, Pre-Julia, he had a very slim breadth of knowledge on movies. So naturally, our first couple of dates was just movie marathons.)  Apparently I didn’t do my job well enough, because he told me he had never seen Forrest Gump.  We watched it, of course.  He loved it, obviously, and I realized that because he came late to the party, he loved it even more.

When he was a kid, he had a real jerk of a social studies teacher.  This man was the kind of person who would identify Forrest Gump as a comedy film, and he liked to reference it in class frequently.  So Michael grew up thinking the movie was some dumb comedy and never bothered watching it. 

Now, I know Forrest Gump is frequently watched on Netflix and is still socially relevant, but the hype is gone, so the metaphorical party is over. Michael experienced the same level of personal appreciation to Forrest Gump as I did to Harry Potter a year ago.

I guess it’s some form of reverse hipster behavior, but after most people stop caring about something, and you find it then, it’s like hidden treasure.  I guess it just proves that things can withstand the test of time.  Hipsters find it first and love it.  Normal people discover it when it becomes popular and love it.  People like me find it ten years later and love it.  Great things stay great.  That’s what makes classics what they are.  I think my biggest goal in life is to be a part of something that becomes a classic like Forrest Gump or Harry Potter.

Bleeding Hearts of the World Unite

Social media can be an amazing thing to have.  You have an instant connection to friends across the country and it is all literally in the palm of your hands.  Yet, with positives there come negatives; social media is one of the worst places to be.  It is so filled with everything wrong with humans.  I have found so much hate lately.

One incident in particular that happened to me was on the anniversary of John Lennon’s death.  I had posted a picture of my father and me both sitting on the Imagine mural in Central Park.  I received a particularly nasty and unwarranted response from someone telling me that John Lennon was an evil minded individual who escaped the world through drug abuse.  It really rubbed me the wrong way not only because I disagreed, but because they decided to try to inject negativity in something that was very positive for me.

 I know that putting anything out on the internet can lead to unwanted attention; I’m not upset because got a negative response.  I’m upset because someone thought that their opinion was more important than someone else’s happiness.  My tribute to John Lennon was harmless. I did not intend to change anyone’s opinion of him, I was not shaming his murderer, I was simply saying it is a sad thing he is gone and I wished I could've lived in a world with him, as I find him an inspiration both to myself and my father.

It is entirely possible to have contrary opinions to someone else and keep it to yourself.  There are instances in which you should reach out to someone; If they are hurting themselves or someone else with their thoughts and opinions, then that is appropriate to interject, but any other time is unnecessary.  This person, and many like them, seek out things to disagree with.  They shame and attack others just to acknowledge, in their own mind, that they are right and anyone else is wrong. That is the ugliest a person can be, to seek out the negative in every situation.

My suspicions tell me that these people are not happy.  How could you be if everything you put out in the world is negativity?  My good family friend posted something earlier this morning on Facebook (which reminded me that there are still good thoughts in the world) saying “In the end only kindness matters…” which couldn’t be truer.  Being kind makes people around you happy, and makes you happy too.  It only makes sense to be positive and happy.  Everyone deserves to be happy.  If that opinion makes me a bleeding heart, then let my heart be a geyser.  I’d rather be “soft” and happy than callous and miserable any day.