"Why aren't there more decent movies out there. Why do all movies have to have inappropriate scenes. There should be more wholesome media choices." I hear this a lot. Christians are all about their wholesome media options. It's a common conversation among believers to discuss the horror of secular media and to reflect after watching a movie like "Facing the Giants" or "Fireproof" that there should be more movies like that in this world. Hollywood should clean up their act. And I agree. I appreciate wholesome movies as much as the next conservative. But can I be honest for a moment, and present the idea that maybe Hollywood keeps making secular media over "wholesome" media because it's what we watch?
Talk to any Hollywood producer and they will tell you that the majority of their media proposals are based on viewer response. If conservative, innocent, films had a large fan base, I guarantee there would be more of them. The truth is that Christians enjoy secular entertainment just as much as the next person. Whether we want to admit it or not, we enjoy the racy movies. We may not agree with the profanity or suggestive language or sexual scenes but we brush it off to the side and continue watching our movie.
Food for thought: If we want to make a difference, a positive impact in media, maybe we should stop condeming the very people we simultaneously support and start making a change in ourselves.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Another Year Of Me
My birthday was Monday. My new job started Monday. My search for a new home in a new city started Monday. It's a new year. I am learning to become an independent woman. Learning how to do life. It's a slow process, but I think I'm moving forward. These are the things I would like to do in the following year. I figure if I publish my list it will create some level of accountability. Within the next year I would like to:
1. Learn a new language
2. Advance in the two languages I currently understand (English and Spanish)
3. Learn to cook delicious and nutritious food for myself on a daily basis
4. Practice guitar and learn to play at least 3 original songs on guitar
5. Write a book
6. Become a consistent blogger
7. Become independent. Whatever that means.
8. Read at least 15 books
9. Make a new friend group
10. Adhere to a consistent exercise routine
I think more than anything, I would like to learn how to be me. How to really love. How to laugh. Each of these are lifelong projects I will always be working on. In the meantime, these are my top 10 achievable goals to pursue within this next year. What are yours?
1. Learn a new language
2. Advance in the two languages I currently understand (English and Spanish)
3. Learn to cook delicious and nutritious food for myself on a daily basis
4. Practice guitar and learn to play at least 3 original songs on guitar
5. Write a book
6. Become a consistent blogger
7. Become independent. Whatever that means.
8. Read at least 15 books
9. Make a new friend group
10. Adhere to a consistent exercise routine
I think more than anything, I would like to learn how to be me. How to really love. How to laugh. Each of these are lifelong projects I will always be working on. In the meantime, these are my top 10 achievable goals to pursue within this next year. What are yours?
Friday, April 1, 2011
How "Working Out" Has Enhanced My "Work Out"
I am officially a working girl and as such have limited freetime. My typical day consists of waking up somewhere between 5-5:45am, depending on how strongly I actually want to have a good hair day. (Typical wake-up thought process: "5am... time to wake up... wanted to curl hair... but so tired... so early... I can just blow dry. .... 5:20am... time to wake up... need to blow dry hair with round brush... but so tired.... so early... I can just dry it normal. .... 5:30am... time to wake up... need to dry hair.... but so tired... so early... pony tail sounds good. ... 5:45am... time to wake up... need to shower and grab hair tie... but so tired... so early... but what??? 6am??? only 30 minutes to get ready??? .... I hope i left a hair tie in the car...)
If you comment below that you have had a similar conversation with yourself I will feel significantly more justified in my morning routine. So back to my day. I wake up, get dressed, grab my high heeled shoes and get on the road. Usually I'm on the freeway between 6:30-6:45am where I bond with my fellow commuters via eye reflections through rearview mirrors and middle fingers. Not from me of course... but some of my fellow commuters feel this is an effective mode of communication. I am going to translate said communication as them saying "Good morning fellow commuter. My empathies about having to be in traffic at this god forsaken hour of the morning. If I were more awake and thinking more coherently, I would smile at you, and wish you well on your journey. But as I am very tired and must focus on the road, I will instead show you my finger as a signal of our newfound friendship." I'm pretty sure that's what this means.
I get to work around 8am. Drink my coffee. Check my email. Proceed with my day at my wonderful job. Then my day ends at 5pm and I return to my car to rejoin my fellow commuters. A friend shows me his middle finger but this time I translate it to say "Hello again friend. I probably saw you this morning but was too tired to properly acknowledge you. I am going to acknowledge you now. I think you're great for being this committed to your work. I am too. If I weren't so anxious to catch this weeks episode of American Idol, I would smile, and hope you had a good day. But since time is of the essence and I will need to eat dinner and take off my tie before my show, I will instead show you my middle finger as a signal of my joyful eagerness to see you again." I'm pretty sure this is what he means.
So now it's 7pm. I am either home or working with my amazing highschool girls. Either way, I shovel down some dinner, complete whatever personal tasks are at hand, and now it is 10pm. I stop and think about how I should probably get some sleep seeing as I will need to be awake in 7 hours, but then I blink and it is midnight. My head hits the pillow and sends me into an instant coma. 5 hours later, KFrog is serenating me with a bittersweet "Hey Ya'll. Time to wake up. You'll want to curl your hair this morning." Rinse and repeat.
As you can see, this leaves little to no time for traditional exercise. Since I have started working outside of my home, it was hindering my standard workout. I have since developed an exercise system that I believe can fit perfectly into even the busiest schedule. I can adhere strictly to this schedule, which is great, because it allows me the freedom to enjoy fast food and sweets without guilt or shame. Because I know I have been exercising ALL day.
1. Sit-Up. Not sit-ups, sit-up. Just one. I do my first half in the morning when I sit up out of bed, and the second half in the evening when I lay back down in my bed. I feel that this is more successful than the standard set of situps. Any fitness expert will tell you that if you work a certain muscle group too often they will become immune to the exercise. It's true. Go ahead and google it. I'll wait. The way I see it, people like Usher and Matthew McConaughey can go ahead and stick with their rigorous 1,000 sit-ups routine, and they may be content with their measly little six pack abs. But if that's the result of 1,000 sit-ups, just imagine what my one sit-up will do for me. All that time for my muscles to regenerate and ensuring they never become immune to my routine. I'm thinking 14 pack baby. Abs of steel? Try Abs of granite.
2. Bicep curls. This one is a little trickier. It's very important to pay attention to which bicep you are curling as to not become disproportionately buff. The great part to this exercise, is that you can do it ALL day long. Just be sure to balance. For example: I use my right bicep to lift my toothbrush from the counter to my mouth, but then I use my left bicep to lift the toothpaste to the brush. I lift my right bicep to lift my pasta alfredo from my fork to my mouth, but I use my left bicep to lift my napkin to my lips. I use my right bicep to lift my pencil to my paper, but I use my left bicep to eat the chocolate chip cookies our client graciously delivered to us. See what I mean? It's an art really. A true art.
3. Push Ups. You can also do a reverse push up. Same effect. This can also be carried out throughout your day. For example, whenever I need something in the office that is just simply too far of a walk, I just push my body away from my desk and scoot across my office in my rolling chair. Splendid upper body workout.
4. Calf Exercise. I don't really have an official name for any sort of calf exercise, but wearing high heeled shoes all day has to do something for your legs. It just has to.
5. Chair sits. If you work in an office, this is an easy one. This one makes me feel truly accomplished at the end of my day as I spend 82% of my day engaged in this exercise. I sit in my car as I drive to work. I sit in my chair in my office. I sit on the couch when I come home. I am all about the chair sit. I've heard the chair sit is spectacular for your thighs. I just know I am going to see major toning improvements in the immediate future. Though some fitness trainers may advise you to chair sit without an actual chair... I think if you do the occassional tummy or glute squeeze while in your chair, you're pretty much achieving the same result.
And there you have it. 5 exercises that can fit perfectly into even the busiest persons routine. These are just some of my favorites. There is a myriad of exercise potential. There is no longer an excuse to not be fit. Even as I write this blog I am right bicep curling a cheeseburger to my face and left bicep curling a milkshake to my mouth. I'm probably in the best shape of my life. And now you can be too! You are welcome friend. You are welcome.
For more tips and tricks, check out this link.
If you comment below that you have had a similar conversation with yourself I will feel significantly more justified in my morning routine. So back to my day. I wake up, get dressed, grab my high heeled shoes and get on the road. Usually I'm on the freeway between 6:30-6:45am where I bond with my fellow commuters via eye reflections through rearview mirrors and middle fingers. Not from me of course... but some of my fellow commuters feel this is an effective mode of communication. I am going to translate said communication as them saying "Good morning fellow commuter. My empathies about having to be in traffic at this god forsaken hour of the morning. If I were more awake and thinking more coherently, I would smile at you, and wish you well on your journey. But as I am very tired and must focus on the road, I will instead show you my finger as a signal of our newfound friendship." I'm pretty sure that's what this means.
I get to work around 8am. Drink my coffee. Check my email. Proceed with my day at my wonderful job. Then my day ends at 5pm and I return to my car to rejoin my fellow commuters. A friend shows me his middle finger but this time I translate it to say "Hello again friend. I probably saw you this morning but was too tired to properly acknowledge you. I am going to acknowledge you now. I think you're great for being this committed to your work. I am too. If I weren't so anxious to catch this weeks episode of American Idol, I would smile, and hope you had a good day. But since time is of the essence and I will need to eat dinner and take off my tie before my show, I will instead show you my middle finger as a signal of my joyful eagerness to see you again." I'm pretty sure this is what he means.
So now it's 7pm. I am either home or working with my amazing highschool girls. Either way, I shovel down some dinner, complete whatever personal tasks are at hand, and now it is 10pm. I stop and think about how I should probably get some sleep seeing as I will need to be awake in 7 hours, but then I blink and it is midnight. My head hits the pillow and sends me into an instant coma. 5 hours later, KFrog is serenating me with a bittersweet "Hey Ya'll. Time to wake up. You'll want to curl your hair this morning." Rinse and repeat.
As you can see, this leaves little to no time for traditional exercise. Since I have started working outside of my home, it was hindering my standard workout. I have since developed an exercise system that I believe can fit perfectly into even the busiest schedule. I can adhere strictly to this schedule, which is great, because it allows me the freedom to enjoy fast food and sweets without guilt or shame. Because I know I have been exercising ALL day.
1. Sit-Up. Not sit-ups, sit-up. Just one. I do my first half in the morning when I sit up out of bed, and the second half in the evening when I lay back down in my bed. I feel that this is more successful than the standard set of situps. Any fitness expert will tell you that if you work a certain muscle group too often they will become immune to the exercise. It's true. Go ahead and google it. I'll wait. The way I see it, people like Usher and Matthew McConaughey can go ahead and stick with their rigorous 1,000 sit-ups routine, and they may be content with their measly little six pack abs. But if that's the result of 1,000 sit-ups, just imagine what my one sit-up will do for me. All that time for my muscles to regenerate and ensuring they never become immune to my routine. I'm thinking 14 pack baby. Abs of steel? Try Abs of granite.
2. Bicep curls. This one is a little trickier. It's very important to pay attention to which bicep you are curling as to not become disproportionately buff. The great part to this exercise, is that you can do it ALL day long. Just be sure to balance. For example: I use my right bicep to lift my toothbrush from the counter to my mouth, but then I use my left bicep to lift the toothpaste to the brush. I lift my right bicep to lift my pasta alfredo from my fork to my mouth, but I use my left bicep to lift my napkin to my lips. I use my right bicep to lift my pencil to my paper, but I use my left bicep to eat the chocolate chip cookies our client graciously delivered to us. See what I mean? It's an art really. A true art.
3. Push Ups. You can also do a reverse push up. Same effect. This can also be carried out throughout your day. For example, whenever I need something in the office that is just simply too far of a walk, I just push my body away from my desk and scoot across my office in my rolling chair. Splendid upper body workout.
4. Calf Exercise. I don't really have an official name for any sort of calf exercise, but wearing high heeled shoes all day has to do something for your legs. It just has to.
5. Chair sits. If you work in an office, this is an easy one. This one makes me feel truly accomplished at the end of my day as I spend 82% of my day engaged in this exercise. I sit in my car as I drive to work. I sit in my chair in my office. I sit on the couch when I come home. I am all about the chair sit. I've heard the chair sit is spectacular for your thighs. I just know I am going to see major toning improvements in the immediate future. Though some fitness trainers may advise you to chair sit without an actual chair... I think if you do the occassional tummy or glute squeeze while in your chair, you're pretty much achieving the same result.
And there you have it. 5 exercises that can fit perfectly into even the busiest persons routine. These are just some of my favorites. There is a myriad of exercise potential. There is no longer an excuse to not be fit. Even as I write this blog I am right bicep curling a cheeseburger to my face and left bicep curling a milkshake to my mouth. I'm probably in the best shape of my life. And now you can be too! You are welcome friend. You are welcome.
For more tips and tricks, check out this link.
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