I like Big Butts

I am deeply concerned about this generations obsession with body image and in particular big round butts. I know that body image was important when I was young too, but not to the obsessive levels I see now. I remember when the song "I Like Big Butts" was first released, it was a joke, no one I knew wanted a big butt EVER! "Does my butt look big in this?", a question a man should never answer apparently.  But now it is what women want and men want to see. 

My butt was never round, even when I was at my fittest, it's not in my genetic make up. I remember joking that a butt implant would be nice to help keep my pants up - although back then our pants went all the way to our waist, underwear hanging out from under jeans was something kept exclusively for workmen with big bellies and a tool belt.  I didn't know many guys with 6 packs and we did work out at the gym. Most of the guys who had 6 packs were dancers and this usually meant they were going to be going shopping with you, not dating you.

No one in my family ever had a round butt in the past, although we are renown for being heavy breasted women. This next generation of women seem to be developing one though. I am not sure how it happened, is it natural selection that has enticed those with round butts in their family to be attracted to those of us with big breasts? Expanding the genetic pool and reshaping our physicality?

Historically the round butt of a female was to tempt the male of the species, when man walked on all fours, like some apes still do. Since moving upright on to two legs,  the breasts became the focus of attention for males and developed accordingly. Is this return to the ideal of a round butt a sign that our society is de-evolving?

It seems a well rounded butt and 6 pack abs are more important than the ability to spell and use grammar correctly. Communication is the cornerstone of our society,  it is what separates us from the other creatures on the planet in many ways. How we improve and progress is based on the way we communicate with each other.

I have been accused of being a spelling nazi, I actually wear this badge with pride. If I correct someone under 30's spelling and grammar it usually invokes a steroidal like rage. I am fully aware that most people who work hard on their bodies now days do not take steroids, but many do take performance enhancing "vitamins".  Is the combination of the naturally occurring endorphins that are produced during a work out and the protein products sold are having a similar effect on the brain that steroids do?

I remember seeing guys in the 80's who were over doing the 'roids and their inability to reason clearly, how they returned to almost animalistic type behaviours. Where their physical prowess was a priority and their personalities seemed to take a back seat to sensibility. Anger, a lack of mental control and a focus on being the biggest, toughest and hardest were all that mattered. Have we learned nothing from Lance Armstrong?

On a daily basis we can see the miscommunication on social media because of the lack of inflection in text. With out the ability to hear the inflection in a person's voice or the more subtle physical indicators in face to face communication surely grammar and spelling should become MORE important to assist in effective communication?

If we lose the ability to communicate effectively, what impact will this have on all those hard bodies and the future babies they are producing? Will we all just become one big arse?

Foods bored me to dating

So I decide blogging about food is boring for me and any one who reads this. Although I guess if I limited it to once a day it might be better. This week is going to be a stinker, 40C + all week! I have no plans other than my Wednesday morning class.

Recently I started dating again, it is so scary. There seems to be two schools of thought on dating either I  scare men off because i want a relationship or they scare me off because they only want a casual fling. Do men really think that they can get away with a one night stand? I'm on the right side of 50, I lived through the AIDS epidemic of the 80's and can't understand anyone my age not being scared of the implications of casual sex. Most guys my age STILL have an issue with condoms too, I just don't get it. Are my expectations too high? How can they be when I set them for myself? Well, wish me luck- I have a date later in the week may tell you how it goes.

Breaking the Fast

So after dinner I consumed a tomato and cheese sandwich and a peanut paste sandwich. Breakfast today is baked beans and whole meal toast, think I need to cut back on bread. Lunch didn't happen because I was driving all day

Food N Stuffed

I have been gaining weight at an alarming rate. I am the first to admit I love food and hate exercise, but I really need to do something about it because it is getting me down and I can feel it effecting my health. So I have decided to start posting in my blog about what I eat each day - not for anyone else, just for me, so I can see what I am putting into my body. I am starting with today, here is my breakfast a glass of 100% Australian OJ, concentrate free and a 2 egg omelette with cheese and 1/2 tomato and avocado dressing. I'm heading out for a drive this morning and will probably have lunch at my destination, where I will take some more photos.

 Interestingly enough, this is still a pescatarian meal, I do still have a preference to eating food that doesn't contain animals with feet, but it is really hard to keep up my iron requirements without having some red meat in my diet. Anyhow, this was breakfast, I have installed the blogger app on my phone so I am guessing I will be posting 3 times a day - or not. Have a safe and satisfying day, I almost wrote happy but I am sick of hearing that empty word that makes us feel more miserable because we are striving to be happy - that is a rant for another day. 

A Pain Free Day for Change

Buddha taught that life is dukkah, roughly translated, dukkah means suffering or pain. I have to agree. For me everyday involves some form of pain, whether it be physical, mental or emotional. I'm not looking for sympathy here, just stating my facts. I was in a car accident when I was 19 that has left me with a lifetime of back pain, I have ankle injuries that are from long term sporting related damage, mentally I struggle with anxiety and emotionally I have bouts of depression.

I have tried medication in the past, but rarely find anything that I can use long term that doesn't have worse side effects, than the original condition. These days I take Vitamin D for my depression and try to breathe through my other conditions. On the odd occasion I have a day like today, where I can't breathe through the back pain - this being the pain that is a constant in my life -  relative to it's intensity. So I took a pain killer today and within half an hour I could feel it doing it's magic, it is such a relief,  I understand how easily one could become addicted to them - to have a day without pain every day, would be bliss.

Should I live without pain everyday? I have started to appreciate my pain because it allows me to truly enjoy the joy of no pain. My pain is not unbearable most days and it helps me appreciate the struggles of others who's pain IS unbearable, it allows me compassion and empathy. Pain is relative, for each of us has our own pain threshold and no one can tell you their pain is worse than yours because until you have experienced the worst pain in your life you do not know what is unbearable for you. It is this that allows me to find strength in myself. When the pain seems more than I can bare I remind myself I haven't yet experienced my worst pain so this pain, in time, will subside.

I try to avoid medicating myself for my daily pain, because I know, one day there will be a pain I cannot bare and I want to know that day, the medication will provide me with relief. I know I seem cranky some days and I try not to take it out on others but I am a passionate person and I always speak from my heart, sometimes others read this as me being arrogant but my intentions are always true. I know sometimes the pain I feel comes through my words but they are not meant to inflict pain on you, but merely to reflect the passion I feel. I enjoy debating and if I am wrong I have no trouble admitting it. Without debate, without pain, we never feel change or feel the joy that can come from relief.

Healthier Care

I am shocked at how many friends in the US are against a national health care plan. The propaganda they are seeing can only be being fed to them by the rich - who can afford private health care. With the problems in the US economy I know many of my friends are suffering financially, having to give up luxuries in their life and forgoing what they can't afford - like private health care cover. It blows my mind when I see a friend post on facebook that they are going to work even though they are sick - because their employer doesn't pay sick days and worse they can't afford to go to the doctor or pay for medication to get well. How much worse can it get? I am talking about young fit people in their 30's with full time jobs and no children. What happens when you are too old to work, or if one of your children gets a serious illness or if you are in an accident and you have no health insurance?

In Australia - if I am sick, I can go to a doctor free of charge, some do charge an excess ( maybe $10 - $20)  but many don't. If I am too sick to work, employers pay sick leave or if I am going to be ill for 3 months or more I can get a government benefit and in turn receive discounted medication. This also applies to accidents. If I need to go to hospital - I go, if it is a non emergency I may have to wait a few months to get an appointment with a specialist but it doesn't cost me to do so through the public health system. Emergency rooms prioritise patients based on their level of emergency, ie if you have a broken arm you are going to wait longer than someone who's having a heart attack, but at least you will be seen without cost.

Of course we have to pay for this, it's called taxation. Of course if you want to choose your own specialists and don't want to wait for non emergency procedures and want a private room in a hospital you can take out private health care. If you choose to do this there is a tax break in it - and if you take out private health earlier in your life you save on your payments.

I cannot understand why the average American wouldn't want to be able to get their elderly parents the health care they need? I almost forgot to mention our aged & disabled get reduced medication prices as well as a government benefit. Health care is also about improving the general health of the population, not just fixing their problems. Education is the key to improving the general health of the country and in return reducing the cost of health care on the economy. You can't have one without the other.

So in closing I just want to say - are you being selfish when you say I don't want national health care? I don't want to pay for the sick and dying? What does this say about your society? What does it say about you?

Bragging Rights

We are told being confident is important, that we should be proud of who we are and what we do. Why is it when ever I get good at something and feel I have earned bragging rights, that then next time I do it - I somehow always screw up?

I like to think I am a reasonable cook and I like cooking from scratch. A white sauce takes a good 20 minutes to cook if you do it right - spend the time stirring, stirring until it thickens without any lumps. A friend recently visited and I offered to make a fish pie, which I have a gained a reputation of doing well - maybe one of these days I will make a fish pie instructional video. Bragging to my friend that, while my mum made a great fish pie - I thought mine was better and so would she, after eating it. Of course that afternoon I went to make the white sauce, as I have many times in the past and the for the first time the sauce curdled - WTF? If I had just kept my fat mouth shut and made the pie and waited for appreciation instead of blowing my own horn, I am sure the sauce would have been fine the first time around.

Just like my You Tube videos, I was doing fine, was inspired and having fun. I thought I was doing well and wanted to take it to the next level, so I went to film school for a year. Now that I am trying to make more professional videos and have bragged about going to film school, my videos are dull and boring and I am totally uninspiring.

Where is this leading to you may well ask, I am sure you have all felt the same way at times. This is what I think is happening in the USA now. For so long we have heard the chant "USA USA", " The greatest country in the world". Now while I am sure American's believe this, 64% have never left the USA, so how do they know? The other 95% of the world have been hearing these cries from you, many of us have come to check it out. While some stay, it is usually only fuelled by financial gain not because it is the "land of the free and the home of the brave".  I  think you have been bragging too long and have lost your mojo. The government has shut down - WTF?  with a population of over 300,000,000 people, how do you expect to maintain? It is time for the USA to do the head down, arse up approach and stop relying on the annoying midnight advertising version of pressure sales that you have been using the last 20 or more years. Who cares if anyone thinks you are the best?

I am going to try and be quieter, to let my actions speak my praises, rely on the kind words of others for support and try to be a bit more humble, it is free and doesn't require a great deal of energy. Who knows what could happen if I stop blowing my own horn, maybe I will have time to focus on doing something worthwhile and brilliant.