Oh, Proctrastination...

I procrastinate way too much. Before I started writing this, I was just sitting at my desk, playing with ball point pen, trying to see if I could get it to click in and out when the bottom half was unscrewed. Before that, I was eating cereal and reading fmylife.com. I am normally not as bad on Sundays, because that’s when I do laundry. For some reason I’m usually more productive when I’m waiting for my clothes to finish washing or drying, maybe because I enjoy feeling like I’m multitasking. I think the reason that it is so much harder for me to concentrate today, is that I am listening to music. I remember when I was in high school, I had no problem doing homework with music in the background. I think that part of the reason I was able to do that is that most of the time I only did my math homework with music. As I have discovered, it is a lot easier to do two things at once when one of them is mindlessly plugging numbers into formulas than when you are actually trying to come up with something original to write. Unfortunately, the music tends to take priority and I start wanting to sing along, and then my mind starts to wander. It would make sense for me to turn off the music when I want to start getting work done, but after having music in the room, it’s hard to suddenly try to work in silence. I think the trick is to just not turn on the music in the first place. Next time I start doing homework, I will save the music as a reward for finishing in a timely manner.

The Bright Side

Whenever something bad happens, I always try to see the bright side of the situation. I know this is such cliché, but I think that even though some things may seem terrible at first glance, if you really look at the bigger picture, there is always something positive to take from the experience. I was thinking about this yesterday after having yet another “just ok” track meet. My event is pole vault, and so far this season has been comprised of a series of meets where I jumped a reasonable height, but nothing to be too excited about. Yesterday was no different.

As I felt myself knocking the bar off on my third and final attempt at eleven feet, I was disappointed. I had stepped onto the track that morning expecting to at least match my personal record. I had had good practices all week, and the weather that day was the perfect mixture of warmth from the sun and a light breeze to my back. After only clearing 10’6”, it seemed like everything I had done that week had been useless. After talking to my parents and trying to explain what happened, however, I realized that I had had a good day after all. Even though I didn’t clear the height that I wanted, did have one victory which made me feel ten times better. At this particular meet, I ran fast enough and with enough confidence so that I should have been using a heavier pole than the one I had been jumping on. A heavier pole would have allowed me to go higher and it means that my technique is improving. It wasn’t the best timing to realize that I needed a bigger pole during competition, but that just means that I’ll have more time to practice.

Scary Article

Today on my MSN homepage, there was a link to Newsweek article with the headline "Divas Before Grade School." The article is basically about how images and messages from the media are forcing young girls to grow up and worry about their looks earlier and earlier. I know that this is not a new idea that we've never heard before, but as I was reading it, I couldn't help but think about my ten year old female cousin. She has always been much girlier than I was at her age (although I have never been very girly), but reading this article made me wonder how much of her girliness stems from her personality and how much comes from the media around her. I was amazed at one example in particular that I read. Girls are going in to beauty salons younger than ever. According to the article, there is even a spa in Brooklyn that advertises itself as catering to girls twelve and under. At eighteen years old, I still have never gone to a spa or anything like it, but here are these girls, not even in high school yet, getting facials. It makes me wonder that if they are getting treated to such pampering now, what will they expect once they are old enough to actually need spa days? I feel like most women go to the spa either to reduce stress or to treat actual skin problems. The average twelve year old has neither issue, and therefore has no reason to go to a spa other than to feel grown up. When I was twelve, my friends and I did this by practicing to walk in high heels. I'm sure the article makes this seem like a much bigger epidemic than it actually is, but it scares me nonetheless.

Citation added: Bennett, Jessica. "Generation Diva." Newsweek 30 Mar. 2009. Newsweek. 1 Apr. 2009 .