My fantasy-filled day at Key West.

This past monday I had visited Key West.  Key West is such a lovely place where I see all my sexual fantasies and evil traps come to life.   My family and I went to an elegant place called Sloppy Joe's around 12:00pm for lunch.  Thats where I met Hemingway.  He's a very eloquent writer and I find a lot of my inspiration to travel and write from him.  He is also so handsome and manly but he has a wife that I can not seem to get rid of.  I know he doesn't love her as much as he lust's for me.  I walked into Sloppy Joe's expecting him there.  I wore one of my less conservative dresses to provoke Mr. Hemingway.  Surely my plan worked and lets just say that we progressed from there.   

Ugly on the inside, pretty on the outside.

It's amazing how wonderfully perfect a family can look on the outside but be such a disaster on the inside.  I will admit, last year wasn't one of my greatest years.  I had a boyfriend that my entire family loathed, I disrespected my parents by staying out late and never answering their phone calls, and every day I received a two hour lecture on how horrible I was and repetitious crap that I didn't really give a shit about.  I really had a horrible relationship with everyone in my family; I guess you could say I was the outcast.  But this year was supposed to be (and is) different for me. I wish I could say the same for my family though.  They hold things from my past against me and I will never live it down.  I'm eighteen years old, I don't usually stay out late (late = 11:00 pm which is pathetic), I don't drink, I don't get stoned every weekend and I do great in school..... or at least I try my best to. I also try to be the best daughter I can possibly be by doing chores, answering calls, breaking all bad habits that I may have had, being completely honest but nothing I ever do will be enough.  I guess every family has their issues and this is mine.  But its hysterically funny really.  Whenever we go to church on Sundays, like we do every week like the wonderful Christian people we portray ourselves to be, people swear that we are the "ideal" family. If only they knew how sadly mistaken they were.  I never get a break, but one day I will, and thats the day thats keeping my chin up and a nice big grin on my face.  Until then, I figured its time for a change, Ill keep being good this year; maybe some good will actually come out of it.  

One of those days.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day.  It was one of those days that no matter how tired you could possibly be, or how famished you are, you just cant help but be happy.  It was sunny and warm and everyone was out.  I decided to be spontaneous and skip the whole church to home routine.  I dropped off my sister at her swim practice and I decided to do something random; something I wanted to do, and something that would benefit me and make me feel even happier.  I ended up jogging by the water near Caesar's Bay in Brooklyn with my brother.  I jogged about two miles and walked one mile.  It was such a liberating experience watching all the couples and old people walking by with their pets or their children right by the shimmering water.  And the best part was that I actually did it and I wasn't even tired.  That just goes to show people that your body is a lot stronger than you think it is.  My brother is a little on the heavy side so I plan on doing this with him at least once a week to get him in shape (even though he falls behind while jogging quite often).  From this small experience, I already have a new goal in life.  I will run the NYC marathon one day and it will be nothing but pure awesomeness.  It was just one of those days. 

Television and Me.

Most American households have at least one television set in their homes.  My family and my 75 year old grandmother in Puerto Rico all have televisions with satellite.  I usually don't have much time to watch television but when I do have time, I usually watch news reports or interesting facts and stories on Discovery or on the History Channel.  Television has been the subject of research in politics, culture, education, and economy, but very little has been said so far about its potential for creating new forms of art (Lorand 112).  I feel that television can be used for educational purposes but many times it is not.  My mother feels that education is just an excuse to watch television with our easy access to the internet. 

References: 

Television: Aesthetic Reflections By Ruth Lorand.  Published by P. Lang, 2002. Item notes: alk. paper.  Original from          the University of California. Digitized Apr 3, 2008.  ISBN 082045527X, 9780820455273.  274 pages

Sleep

Sleep is a very relevant part in many areas of life.  Sleep is an important factor in maintaining a healthy and happy life.  However, even though sleep is important it is something that can not be abused. Sleeping too much is associated with weight gain especially in older women.1 Obesity is a leading problem with many Americans and women always think that they are fat regardless of anything, so a solution to that would be to maintain a consistent and healthy sleeping pattern.  This is true for me; there have been testing days where I usually decide to stay up all night studying, I find that I gain a lot of weight since my body is not used to such a lack of sleep.   There are also many health benefits that come with sleeping a decent amount of time every night.  The less sleep that people get, the more likely they are to get sick.2  Therefore, the more sleep someone gets, the less likely they are of getting sick.  People such as insomniacs have a lot of trouble sleeping and usually do not get the sleep that they need to function properly throughout the day.  Fortunately, this is not a problem with remedies such as white noise, and sleep hygiene which could help solve these issues. 3  Other ways in which sleep can be promoted is by having a beverage containing caffeine during the day which will cause a person to sleep better at night.  I consume coffee every morning; At night, I notice that my body lets me know that it is time to rest.  Taking a drug containing melatonin can also help regulate sleep patterns. 4  It might be hard to grasp the concept of how important sleep really is.  Many car accidents occur because of people falling asleep behind a wheel and this results in the lost lives of many people. 5   I do not drive when I am tired because my cousin had been involved in a serious car accident involving her lack of sleep.  Sleep is a very important aspect in all areas of life and is to be taken seriously, NEFAW (no excuses find a way!). 

References:

1. Sleep duration, general and abdominal obesity, and weight change among the older adult population in Spain.  Esther Lopez-Garcia, Raquel Faubel, Luz Leon-Munoz, Maria C Zuluaga, Jose R Banegas, Fernando Rodriguez-Artalejo.  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 87 No. 2, 310-316, Feb. 2008
2. Sleep Habits and Susceptibility to the Common Cold.  Sheldon Cohen, William J. Doyle, Cuneyt M. Alpher, Denise Janicki-Deverts, Rondald B. Turner.  Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 169 No. 1. Jan. 12, 2009
3. Sleep Patterns of College Students at a Public University. LeAnne M. Forquer, Adrian E. Camden, Krista M. Gabriau, Merle Johnson. Journal of American Health, Vol. 56, N0. 5, 2008
4. Caffeine or Melatonin effects on sleep and sleepiness after rapid eastward transmeridian travel. M. Beaumont, D. Batejat, C. Pierard, P. Van Beers, J.B. Denis, O. Coste, P. Doireau, F. Chauffard, J. French, D. Lafarde. Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 96:50-58, 2004
5. Tiredness revealed as the sleeper in car crashes.  September 5, 2007. Chee Chee Leung, Science Reporter.  The Age (Melbourne, Australia). 

Introduction: Sleep

The topic that I am introducing is about sleep.  Sleep is a very underestimated aspect of life especially in the lives of teenagers that can not waste their time sleeping when they have too many other important things going on in their lives.  People are usually side tracked with their work, social lives, and themselves and usually neglect their need for sleep every night.  A lack of sleep causes loss of focus during the day, exhaustion, and does not allow for people to perform as well as they could with a goodnights sleep.  In order to observe this in a better way and experience the effects that sleep can have on performance, I have decided to write these blogs with an extreme lack of sleep and very late at night.  When I do not get enough sleep, I am usually very hyper and jumpy.  This reaction to my lack of sleep lasts about two to three hours with a following crash.  I also find it extremely difficult to concentrate like I am at this present moment.  There are many cases where students like myself decide to pull off an "all-nighter" and decide to study extremely hard for a test the night before.  Whenever I do this, I find that I can not concentrate during the test and I keep on thinking about how tired I am and how bad I can not wait to go home so that I can finally get some sleep.  I also realize that I do not do half as well on these tests when I do not sleep as opposed to when I have at least 8 hours of sleep.  Sleep is neglected and is not taken seriously by many people;  I will introduce ways in which we can schedule in time during our busy lives for this very important part of life.  

18 vs 60.

In order to get my Bachelorette Degree in Nursing at the College of Staten Island, it is mandated that I take up a PED (Physical Education) course.  I would say that it's a little ridiculous that I have to take a course like this in college, but in all honesty, I don't mind.  I've been an active person since I was a child doing swimming, karate, kickboxing, tennis and more.  So I figured this class would be pretty simple and easy going being as it is only one credit and our assigned instructor was about three times my age and fragile looking.  So I had this weekly class yesterday and we had a "pretty simple" task to do.  We were to walk 10 times around the swimming pool and "simply" keep up with her.  I clearly underestimated her.  This 60 year old woman could walk at about 60 miles per hour.  She was so fast and she didn't even break a sweat.  She was just relaxing waiting to make fun of us after our pain was over.  It's not as easy as it sounds to walk 10 laps around a swimming pool, especially at the pace that this woman was going at.  But I did not let her pass me.  I don't think I could possibly live with myself and accept myself if I let that happen.  My shins and calves burned and my body screamed "SIT THE HELL DOWN!!!!" But at least I wasn't included in the "pathetic" group of people that let her pass them.  This class is going to be a wake up call to many people I can tell.  I'd love to be as fit as she is when I become her age, and I'm sure I will.  Peace.