1, 2, 3 I'm loving you

123 I love you ~ Tarrus Riley

So I stumbled upon this song (and video) on Christmas day (2014) and I can't seem to get enough of it. The video makes me reminisce on my teenage years. It's very cute and the lyrics are essentially those of a love song without the sadness or neediness of the usual 'love songs'. So, I really like it, but then I read a few of the comments under the video on YouTube and realized that I've gone completely colour blind or maybe I've always been blind to it. Apparently the young lady in the video is white and "this video encourage(s) young blacks (to) be obsessed with white girls, no matter the danger, shame..." (according to the YouTube member N-zey Cele). This was the first comment I saw and I was taken aback. 

This video has nothing to do with race in my opinion. It's a cute love story about teenagers with protective daddies and the love or infatuation that will lead to outright disobedience of protective parents. That's all. I guess the class statuses shown in the video are extremely opposite to simply exaggerate the difference in their economic realities, however to two teenagers with a love bug that is of no consequence. They are both willing to disobey their parents just to be together because they love, miss and want each other (according to the song lyrics). As another YouTube member, Elise Gray commented, 

"According to me, this video is not racist but realistic in a way. Just wanna remind you that Tarrus is black so wtf with racism? This video shows that love is not about skin colour, economic hierarchie or whatever you think, love is all about feelings. There is no rule for it!"

Lyrics

1-2-3 I'm loving you
4-5-6 I'm missing you
7-8-9 I want you back
1-2-3 I love you
4-5-6 I Miss you
7-8-9 I want you back
Here within my arms again.
Long time, no see
Without your love I'm lonely
I miss you
And its too hard to bear
What have you done to me?
I'm waking up in the middle of the night
Without you
And its so unfair
I toss, turn, reach for you
Only my pillows
Awake, the morning
Sun rises, but I'm alone
Hurts me so.

1-2-3 I'm loving you
4-5-6 I'm missing you
7-8-9 I want you back
1-2-3 I love you
4-5-6 I Miss you
7-8-9 I want you back
Here within my arms again.
It shows, on my face
Evidence is right here
My smile has been erased
Can't you tell?
I have no appetite
My food has no taste
I'm losing weight
Thought you could be replaced
I day dream of you and me
And how great we used to be
And I firmly believe
Of turning these dreams into reality
Like a child would say so easy to you

1-2-3 I'm loving you
4-5-6 I'm missing you
7-8-9 I want you back
1-2-3 I love you
4-5-6 I Miss you
7-8-9 I want you back
Here within my arms again.
Brett-like solo
Long time, no see
Without your love I'm lonely
I miss you
And its too hard to bear
What have you done to me?
I'm waking up in the middle of the night
Without you
And its so unfair

1-2-3 I'm loving you
4-5-6 I'm missing you
7-8-9 I want you back
1-2-3 I'm loving you
4-5-6 I'm missing you
7-8-9 I want you back
Here within my arms again

African American, European American?

The term African American is a bit confusing. What exactly does it mean? Why aren't black people in America called Americans or black Americans? Is the ‘African’ prefix necessary? If it is, wouldn't it be also important to add ‘European’ as a prefix as well, when referring to white Americans?

The word African American seems to be a subtle, but widespread form of prejudice against black people in America. The term suggests that these black people are not entirely American because they are also African. Centuries ago, this may have been true, during the slave trade. However, almost all the black people who live in America today were born to American parents with no close connection to Africa. It seems that many black Americans do not know much about Africa. They are purely American, products of an American culture. If they are good or bad, it is because of the American society. They are many generations removed from their African descendants, so how can they possibly be ‘African’?

If we were to apply the same reasoning to white Americans, they would be called European Americans. After all, the land that is known today as America once belonged to Red Indians. Europeans crossed the seas, similar to the Africans and made America their home. The fact that black Americans need to be qualified as ‘African’ while the white Americans are simply called Americans seems rather odd, given that none of the two were originally from the land of America.

The heavy hand of oppression is still alive in the USA. Its methods have changed to more subtle forms, but it is still as vicious as before. Black people have been separated from the American society. They now form the ‘African’ American society. The American society may no longer have Jim Crow laws, but it has ‘stand your ground laws’ and ‘white police officers can kill black men and get away with it’ laws to replace them. Black people are no longer niggers, they are now called African – African Americans, since they are not truly Americans (in the eyes of the white American). I wonder what persons with one parent from Africa and one from America are called, since the term ‘African  Americans’ refers to the whole black populace of America.

 

It is shameful that many black Americans do not even realize that this is an issue.  Many, if not most, have accepted this label as if it were one of pride. Many have decided to pretend that racist issues are no longer an important part of the American society. With so many people covering their eyes and forgetting history, it is no wonder why it is so easy to label them and create subtle segregation in society that seems ‘natural’. The European Americans are still in control of the African Americans, but this time, the blacks will not fight back because they have not realized what is really happening to them.   

Economics in everyday life

"Being a super-fan is one thing, but this guy and his enormous helmet block the game from the women seated behind him. Thankfully for these resourceful ladies, the US Bank's Pay a Person app is a fast, convenient way to pay someone using only their phone number. Now if they could only trim that over-sized #1 finger down some, they could actually watch some football." Source: http://www.usbank.com/gamechanger


It seems the Coase Theorem of Economics is at work here.

DEFINITION OF 'COASE THEOREM '

A legal and economic theory that affirms that where there are complete competitive markets with no transactions costs, an efficient set of inputs and outputs to and from production-optimal distribution will be selected, regardless of how property rights are divided. Coase theorem asserts that when property rights are involved, parties naturally gravitate toward the most efficient and mutually beneficial outcome. 

Source:

 http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/coase-theorem.asp

Periods and other punctuation marks in our lives

This is a stolen idea from a friend's Facebook post. It's about periods and I don't mean the ones that feature in books.

How is it that in 2014, with all the advances in technology, women still use pads and tampons to deal with their periods? The process of dealing with this monthly issue is so archaic, messy and uncomfortable that most women still suffer tremendously and suffer in silence because they are very shy to talk about it.

I often hear that women should celebrate their periods and think of it as a gift. However, how is that kind of thinking possible with an endless flow of blood gathering between your legs that at some point promises to overflow and embarrass the daylights out of you? How is that possible, when the bleeding goes on for days on end and everything below the neck hurts? Perspective is important, but when one has to take 6 to 12 pills per day just to deal with menstrual cramps, positive thinking goes out the door.

Some women have decided to use contraceptives to somehow control their periods, but still they have to use pads and tampons to deal with it a few times per year. For these women, when they start using the contraceptives, they may bleed lightly (spot) everyday for a few MONTHS while their bodies get adjusted to having the extra hormones in its system.  Seriously, how is that acceptable? These contraceptives also have potentially disastrous side effects that have created many horror stories for some women from becoming overweight and not being able to reproduce  to hip replacement surgery. Yes, that's what you read, hip replacement surgery!

The Facebook post that I mentioned earlier  posed some interesting solutions that didn't sound too difficult to attain  in the future, however, they would require some amount of medical research. The post proposed a procedure

• where a woman would visit the doctor once per month so that her entire period could be removed at once
• where a woman could take some medicine that would expel the entire period at once
• where a woman's period producing body parts would be removed and stored by something like a cryo clinic then when she's ready to reproduce, it could be re-installed

To this list I would like to add, 

• a procedure whereby the period is suspended by a drug until the woman is ready to reproduce
• alternatives to pads and tampons ( in this regard, I must say some advancements have occurred. There are menstrual cups available these days. However, they have not gotten enough popularity in my opinion and many women are of the opinion that these cups are gross and would not want to touch their own body fluids or wash it out of a cup.)
  

In regards to alternatives to pads and tampons, there is also a cloth pad revolution going on that is meant to save the environment :). Again, many women are a bit squeamish about this, but personally I believe that this is a step in the opposite direction technologically. I think the menstrual cups have more promise for the future and not to mention they are also environmentally friendly, but are less squeamish in comparison to cloth pads.

In the future, I would like periods to be reduced to just one day or an hour better yet a few minutes of a woman's life per month or year. Having a period to deal with each month seriously reduces a woman's productivity and freedom. If we could create some sort of medicine that could expel the entire period in one go then that would be great.

People often talk about equality between men and women, but how can we seriously discuss such a topic when women become physically less capable for certain days of every month and when they have all these period related needs? There is no male experience that compares with the female experience of a period and in that sense, we can't be completely equal. I am yet to find anything beautiful about having a period and it seems unnecessary unless you want to become pregnant. So, let's find a way to lessen it, or eliminate it, so we can get on with our lives more comfortably! But until then, let's find better ways to cope with this monthly burden!

By the way, I've found a 17 year old advocate for cloth pads and menstrual cups on YouTube. She's a wealth of information and I must say super brave! After finding her channel, I've seen a whole new world that I didn't know existed before. Her YouTube name is Precious Stars Pads.

Check her out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/preciousstarspads

Here is a video on 'Environmentrual cloth pads'. She's super cute, isn't she? She's inspiring and so comfortable talking about her lady parts and periods. 

Awesome Benefits of Exercise

I've had this picture for a few years now. Every time I look at it, I get a little motivation to stare a little more :). I have no idea who this guy is and I can't remember where I got the picture, but boy am I grateful to whichever friend sent it to me or whichever website I copied from.

Why don't all men aim to get this kind of body? Seriously, I would like this to be the norm, so that I wouldn't have to lust after this stranger because of his picture. On the topic of exercise though, why is it so hard to maintain a fit body. It's like our creator has a thing for hurdles. In life, there are hurdles everyday. For some people it's a hurdle to even get out of bed in the mornings. So obviously we are not short of obstacles and problems in life. Therefore, I think it would have only been fair to give us hardware (bodies) that didn't need so much maintenance. I started exercising every night for about 30 minutes about two months ago and I honestly can't see the changes in my body. I feel the difference, whether it be pain or more vibrancy, but I can't see the difference yet. I can't even imagine myself getting to the level of the guy in the picture above. How much time per day would I have to dedicate to physical exercise in order to achieve his muscle mass? I don't want to become like him though. I just want a flat stomach, strong arms and legs. Recently I've also become interested in vaginal muscle strength. 

Did you even know that was a thing? Vaginal muscle strength!!! Take a look at Tatyana Kozhevnikovam, who has the world's strongest known vagina.

Facebook these days

Facebook has become a privacy threat. I remember when I first heard about Facebook in 2004, at the time I wondered how different it would be from Hi5. Little did I know that soon Hi5 would become obsolete and Facebook would make it's founder one of the most powerful person in the world.

Facebook allows us to be narcissistic. We can all become famous if we posts the right things and all we need is a free Facebook account. In allowing us to do this, we've put so much of ourselves online for the public to see and analyse. Facebook is able to collect both implicit and explicit information about us and use it to target advertisements towards us, provide evidence in court, and help employers understand who the potential employees really are. Those things are important. Well, at least the last two. Not too long ago a maid was arrested because she borrowed or stole some of her employer's clothes and posted pictures of herself wearing them on Facebook. She didn't think of privatizing her photos so that her employer wouldn't see them or she could have just resisted the temptation to post them. 

What Facebook has achieved is so great, and plays right into the hands of many agencies' desires, including , advertisement agencies, employers, crime fighters/agencies and hackers. Do we really want these groups to know what we do daily, what we eat, where, why, your family members, your innermost thoughts, etcetera, etcetera?

What happened to keeping a diary and telling ur friends about the things that interest and excite you?

 

It's all about money (and community)

I have learnt a very important lesson recently about money. Having enough money is completely dependent on your position in life. For example, when you live half the world away from home, having enough money means being able to buy a plane ticket for the average price without significantly disrupting your savings. If you can't afford to do that, then you need to start a more aggressive savings plan. I say this because when homesickness kicks in, it kicks in hard and you may need to buy a plane ticket and rush home for your emotional well being.

I guess this type of thing is distance related. If I lived in the USA, then perhaps there wouldn't be a strong desire to go home so often because home is more accessible from there. However, when you live far away in a very sterile environment, money becomes way more important. Money may be the difference between depression and happiness, tears and a smile.

Finding a family-like group of friends is also important, but in times of need, that can be even harder to find than money. As we grow older, friends become fewer and its not because they die. Friendships tend to die, leaving us for the most part alone. For this reason, age old wisdom has encouraged us to find partners, marry and have children. This practice, I believe is meant to help us stave off loneliness and create communities for us to belong to when old ones disintegrate.