The Scrolls

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The Thing About Ziploc is..

is only works if you seal it. Glad food storage bags show this excellently; the zip turns colours after it’s sealed. We don’t have any colour changing magic in this household, nosirreebob. You see, this concept is completely lost on my husband. I don’t know if it’s too difficult for him (sorry, love) or if, because it’s a kitchen thing, it falls under the realm of “woman’s stuff” but he just doesn’t get it.

Anything we buy that comes in any sort of zip bag will only remain sealed under 2 conditions: 1) It has not yet been opened and 2) I seal it. Unless we somehow have unzipping gnomes in our pantry and fridge (which seems like a pretty serious problem to me!), Ryan just sucks as sealing these bags.

Cheese, chicken strips, tortillas, hot dogs and other snacks all remain open, as is. By the time I get to them, they’re stale, freezer burned, hard or otherwise not any good to eat. Of course, he sometimes “closes” these bags with clothes pins (much cheaper than chip clips, I guess, but totally not as effective) so I’d like to give him props for effort cause, you know, maybe I can still eat a tiny part of the food that’s protected from that. Not.

I am somehow more evolved? Does he have selective vision? Are his poor fingers somehow less equipped to handle this strange mechanism? These questions all pale in comparison to this “big one.”

Will he mend his ways once he sees I’ve brought to light this issue for the world to see?

Tune in next week, folks!

Teen Sex No Longer Declining

I recently stumbled across this article which discusses the numbers regarding teen sex. What was a decade-long decline in sexuality activity by high schoolers “leveled off between 2001 and 2007″ and “the increase in condom use by teens flattened out in 2003.” Research shows that teen sex may be climbing again.

The articles seems to imply several things. One of the most ambiguous implications is that, perhaps the halt in decline, and perhaps rise of teen sex, may have something to do with less teens using condoms. Now, the logical part of my mind says “Of course, if more teens are having sex that means more teens will be having sex without condoms simply because there are more teens to be having sex without condoms!” But without more detailed findings, I can’t say if this is the truth. Perhaps the author meant that the ratio of condom using teens to teens having sex overall is declining which is even worse news.

Afterall, I am a fan of condoms. They can save your life in the worst scenarios or, at least, save your livelihood. Babies and STDs can certainly put a damper on life. I saw this in jest but it is a serious matters. When teens have sex, they should use protection, absolutely. In fact, most sexually active people should use a condom and, if they did, the world would be without a whole lot of hassle.

Now, in my sexual experience which isn’t as vast as I may make it seem, I have not used a condom every time I absolutely should have. The difference betweens those teens who do the same and I myself? Every time I was aware of the consequences; I chose to disregard them. Teens? Not so much.

What makes condom use in teens more important is that they are often not as aware of the consequences or not as aware as they believe they are. And an increase in sexual intercourse among teens probably has to do with a decrease in sexual education.

Which brings us to the second implication of the article. The leveling off of the decrease and possible current increase in teen sex coincides with efforts by the current presidential administration to enforce abstinence only sex education. Luckily, this started toward the end of my high school education so I didn’t have to deal with its backlash.

The new figures renewed the heated debate about sex education classes that focus on abstinence until marriage, which began receiving federal funding during the period covered by the latest survey and have come under increasing criticism that they are ineffective.

Critics of the policy, like John Santelli, chairman of the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University, argue that abstinence only education “spends a good amount of time bashing condoms.” So should it come as any surprise that sexuality activity is on the rise while condom use decreases?

We all know how I feel about abstinence only sex education and this rant isn’t to bash it, exactly. Rather, it’s to explain why education is absolutely necessary. When we don’t educate teenagers about the consequences – physical, mental, emotional, and financial – of sexual activities, let along risky sexual behaviour, how can they make educated choices about protection? What will motivate them to use condoms?

We all know humans often are affected by a “it can’t happen to be attitude” even when they’re educated about consequences and teenagers are human (even if it doesn’t always seem to be)! So it should make sense that someone with little to no education about a subject or, even worse, incorrect or misleading education (which our classrooms have no room for!) would make even more erroneous decisions.

It’s easy to assume if you don’t know the consequences that, somehow, someway, they won’t apply to you or, even crazier, there are none. This is rarely the case with life and never the case with sexuality! The fact is, pregnancy and STIs don’t care if you’re aware or not; they’re not discriminatory when it comes to who they’ll infect. Yes, you may get lucky, maybe more than once but what happens when you don’t get lucky?

Irreversible results happen. Pregnancy and STDs. Sometimes these things will be short lived and sometimes they will stay with you for life or until they kill you. Sometimes, even if you do everything in your power to protect yourself from the consequences, it won’t be enough. So why would anyone want to leave themselves completely open to the consequences of sex? My guess? Ignorance aside, no one would.

So why would we, as a society equipped with the education and resources to help others protect themselves want to lead them to make these poor decisions? My guess? Ignorance aside, we wouldn’t.

So that’s it, isn’t it? Ignorance. Our classrooms have no room for ignorance. Our country has no room for ignorance. Our world has no room for ignorance.

Isn’t about time we doing something so that the headliens read “Teen sex declining; use of condoms on the rise?”

The Thin Red Line

Recently, I was reading Joana’s thoughts about how we, as a country, need to stop ignoring our own internal problems while we throw resources at others’ problems around the globe. I felt conflicted emotions about this issue. On the one hand, I believe there should be a way to be a good neighbour and help others in their times of need but, on the other hand, I do not think that out own unfortunate populations should be forsaken to do do. The comment I left reflected this, I hope.

Well, I can’t say abandoning the world is going to help but you know, maybe international relations can be on a hold a while when we figure out our own shit. I’m sure there’s some sort of a balance to working at home and helping out the neighbours and even those across the globe. But it’s probably a pretty difficult balance.

Afterall, being friendly isn’t a bad thing and we can’t exactly wait until all our problems are solved as anything with people will always have problems.

Still, completely ignoring the homefront just to impress president or PM of country X is pretty lame. I think it does have a lot do with the fact that much of the national issues are “supposed” to be taken care of at the state level (or are pushed down to that level so the federal government doesn’t have to do anything, maybe?) whereas international efforts are federal.

I thought it would be left at that but, as luck would have it, my aunt forwarded me a link to JK Rowling’s Harvard Commencement speech and I also took the time to read the speeches of other prominent figures, such as Bill Gates and President Bill Clinton (during last year’s commencement).

Many of these speeches focused on the fact that Harvard graduates have a unique opportunity given them by their education, that perhaps they will be more qualified to solved the ills of the world. Many of these speeches focused on the problems abroad that we, as a modern nation, are more equipped to deal with than those experiencing such pains. This was a strong theme when Bill Clinton discussed his work with AIDS, especially in Africa.

I find this work to be admirable and selfless. I know that millions of people will see another day or another 20 years because of it, sometimes because of simple medicines that Americans and others in modern countries take for granted. I absolutely think someone has to do it and why not you or me?

But where do you draw the line when it comes to giving a helping hand at home or extending that hand outside your domestic boundaries? How do you even begin to go about deciding where to draw the line when it’s so easy to slip to either side; focus too much on home and you’re selfish to the point of self-detriment, focus too much on the outside and you’re selfless to the point of self-detriment.

I absolutely believe that if you have the power, the resources and the technology to help, you should help. We should help. In Africa, in China, in India. I also believe these efforts go a long way toward global relations and respect and, of course, peace.

But why does international effort seem so much more heroic, more noble? Indeed, there are issues on the home front that need our attention: obesity, education. government spending/funding, education, homelessness, unemployment, the economy in general. Is it perhaps that even an American most afflicted by these controversial issues is still so much better off than someone in a third world country with AIDs? That, perhaps, the most unfortunate American is still better off than the most pampered non-American?

Or perhaps selflessness is simply expected of America because she is the world’s last standing super power regardless of the nobility of the acts themselves. And why not lead the way for others to follow, to be inspired by our selfless acts? Surely by doing and teaching this, we are only helping our own citizens.

The balance is a delicate one and while there are decisions made by my government with which I do not agree, I cannot condemn the efforts because of solely those arguments. Society is, afterall, an evolving process.

The Park

I used to chat at a website called the Park and this is not the first mention of The Park on my site). This is not news to many (and this is not the first mention of it on my site). Several of my friends on IM or Mypsace/Facebook are from the Park day when I was a wee lass of 13/14. -chuckles- The park was magnificent in its way. It attracted millions of visitors so a site that would be shamed by even the worst sites of the internet today; it was, after all, a completely product of Web 1.0. That would also be its downfall and The Park would succumb (around 2000) to the big dot com bust and not without some well-earned hatred to the Park’s founder, Brent Hunter.

A lot of the chatters who had grown to love The Park and made lifelong friendships and relationships there went on to other similar sites, most notably The Pork, where I still chat but also including Dockwave, Ozpark and Ties That Bind. None of these sites would ever see the sheer numbers of the Park, though.

Fast forward a few years and Brent is back with a new project – The Earth Comm Center – and while I think Mr Hunter had different intentions for it than his earlier project, Park followers flocked to it as a way to relive the golden age and to find or catch up with old friends. In that way, it worked marvelously. For a while, at least, until the same issues happened with Brent and chatters and volunteers became disgruntled and slanders his not-so-good-anyway name and left the site. Some followed. Many didn’t.

But then something else happened: Brent disappeared. Though the site never saw the success of its predecessor, it did bring together some people who had been torn apart by the Park’s unfortunate demise and it was clung to as a last hope for some who wished to someday know other reunions. Brent’s disappearance brought with it a lack of upkeep on the site and, eventually (late 2007), the site ceased functioning correctly; that is, no one could log in anymore. Though the site still stands, show statistics and appears to function in many other ways, no one can actually use it for any purpose.

A lot of people find this amusing, even expected. Brent doesn’t have a good track record or a good way with people, it seems. Still, it is a loss that I, among others, mourn a bit. I had caught up with some friends via ECC, including one who was, at the time, deployed to Iraq. We have since lost contact because the site no longer works. )=

Where are you Brent Hunter?

This is all fresh in my memory because I was talking to an old friend from the Park today and, as always happens with those old friends, the conversation turns to questions like “Do you still talk to anyone?” or “Do you remember this person?” And I always feel a tinge of nostalgia because the people that I talk to and remember are far less in number than I would prefer.

And I don’t know how to find them again. Sites like Myspace or Reunion.com allow you to find people when you do know a lot of information about them but the friends one makes in chat, even if one knows their heart and soul, may never release vital information like birth date, home town or last name.

Even Brent has a few websites up which direct the visitor to chat rooms whose core is made up of ex Park chatters but it’s not the same. I began wondering why there isn’t some type of site that allows people to reunite with others from online, with search criteria different than e-mail, age or location which you might not know. Perhaps just a giant bulletin board located at “Find People From The Park.com”.

Alas, searching for those specific people is all but impossible online and searching for the masses is an insurmountable task. If I had control of The Park domains (still own by Brent) I would redirect people to the Pork (which he refuses to link) or to the Myspace group (created by myself) or the Facebook group (created by Sara) so that we would all reconnect.

As it stands, searching for sites about the Park is limited. Eventually, my Myspace group shows up and there appears to be a single Yahoo!Answers question asking if anyone remembers. Links to Brent’s now defunct websites are what show up immediately. It doesn’t seem like many people have taken the time out to put something online to say “Hey, I was there! I remember! I miss you Bob! Where are you Jane?”

So I guess this is my way of creating something a little more permanent, in case someone else is searching and finds my site, maybe they’ll find a little more direction. And maybe, just maybe, I can find a little more closure.

On a sidenote…

When I was at the pharmacy guy asked me if I was “okay.”
I said “I’m just sick” but I meant “No, you moron. I’m only coming here for prescription cold medicine because I feel fine.”

And now with a cough..

Well, since I was at the hospital yesterday for my infection, I was able to talk to the doctor about my cold. He took a swab to check for strep which neither of us thinks it is; my immune system was probably just already weakened and with some emotional turmoil thrown in, illness was just waiting to happen.

The good news is that the Mucinex seems to make breathing easier (though it originally made me nauseous), as long as I blow my nose 100 times an hour and the throat lozenges have eliminated my throat pain completely, for now. I’ve developed a yucky little cough that I’m sure will renew the pain in my throat eventually.

On top of that, I developed a pretty bad fever and headache yesterday. I was trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to sleep but kept waking covered in sweat. Of course, removing clothing or covers resulted in me freezing. I seemed to find a happy medium in just my underoos, under a blanket, with 1 leg sticking out. Any movement only increased the headache which was far worse than any I’d ever had before. The fever finally seemed to break after several miserable hours and a Tylenol and my headache was gone after finally getting rest.

Today isn’t quite as bad, except for the cough, and I do seem to be warming up a bit so I’m off to pop another pill at the time I post this. I’m starting to feel like an addict with all this medecine. Ugh.

Down for the count

I don’t know exactly how it happened or even when but sometimes yesterday I went from feeling fine, turned around, and was sick. No warning. All of a sudden my nose was simultaneous stuffy and runny and my throat was hurting which made breathing through my mouth rather unpleasant. Although my throat feels a bit better, I’ve just now run out of tissues. Ugh!