holiday heaven (niseko style!)

I think I already wrote a blog about honeymooning spots, didn't I?  I've got to say, they would also be my favorite vacation spots.  So I'm not going to write about them all over again.  I can, however, write about the best holiday I've ever had.  If we're going to be talking about holidays, we've got to talk about Christmas, the vacation that gave the name "holidays" it's reputation.

I think my favorite vacation was in Niseko, Japan, some years ago for a ski trip.

Niseko, Japan

I love skiing - there really is nothing like it.  The adventure of going all the way to the top and trying to decipher signs all the way down.  I love stopping at the break restaurants on the middle of the hill for a hot chocolate or a hot ramen.  I love making snow balls and throwing them at my enemies.  Have you ever gone snow tubing?  You should.  It's really fun, let me tell you.

Snow, skiing, and fireplaces.  It's got to be a winning trinity - only a little less holier than the Jesus trinity.  I've had the best mornings and the best nights out in the winter.  I love sitting outside.  I don't mind the cold at all (it's the sun  I cannot stand).  I love the cold so much, my main criteria for looking for a college was snow.  I want to experience all the seasons, but I'm getting off topic.

Japan, Japan, Japan.  I love the culture there too.  And the food?  Don't even get me started.  Japanese food is definitely my most favoritest food of all time.  Sushi, ramen, katsudon, bring it on!  The best food I've eaten was probably in Japan, coming home to a starving belly and a cold body.

That's the stuff.

One of the memories that sticks out from the Japan trip is that every time I would ride the chairlift to the top, I would bring out a box of those koala chocolate cookie snacks and eat them (the chocolate would be frozen inside of them).  I took my gloves off and the cold felt great.

How do people complain about the cold anyways?  It's the sun we should all be complaining about.  I've had people tell me I'm so lucky to live on an island with unchanging weather.  Well, I say NO to that!  Bring me a skyless day, filled with clouds and cold weather that people freeze to death in!  I want to experience everything all over again.  If there's anywhere I would like to be vacationing in right now, it would be Niseko, Japan.

Beautiful, DirtyDirty RichRich

"Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder."
Well... I guess that's true.  But that makes for a terribly boring essay.

I say beauty is in the eyes of society.

I mean, society pretty much tells us what we should look like and how much we should way.  How we paint our lips and dust our eyes with toxins.  How men should work out everyday and women should be fasting for reasons that are anything but religious.

Beauty is skinny.  It's big breasts and a nice butt.  It's big eyes and double-eyelids.  It's abs and broad shoulders.  It's long and shiny hair.  It's the newest Nike pumps.  It's short dresses and high heels.  It's plucked eyebrows and shaved legs.  It's light skin and blue eyes.

I have cropped hair and dark eyes.  My belly isn't as thin as it should be and my feet are bigger than a lot of other women's.  My breasts aren't as big as they could be.  I have a moon shaped face with baby cheeks.  I break out fairly often.  I will never be beautiful, and yet, I am very satisfied with the way I am and I am perfectly happy being ugly.  Afterall, your life's worth isn't measured by how long your legs are, it's how content you are with it in the end.

Thank you, Mr. Lee, for always making me write about society and inspiring this essay.

Help!

There are so many things going on this week!  Tests, assignments, and work galore.  I'm up to my neck in things to do!  But there is a light at the end of the tunnel...

SPRING BREAK!

And then after that...

GRADUATION!

But am I really looking forward to graduation?  It feels like there's so many things I'm leaving behind; the beaches, my family, and some very important friends...  But I'm gaining so much!  Freedom and the bright and shining potential of my future (I think) are at my fingertips!  I can almost taste it - I think I may even be able to smell it.

But before that, I have to get through the 4th and final quarter.  Senioritis will drag me back into my bed and embrace and encourage me to fall asleep in its warm embrace.  It's a shame I'm not ever going to be allowed to take my bed up on it's offer.  How do people even get to stay home anyways (AKA Tony)?  I'm never allowed to!  What do they (he) even do while they don't go to school?  My bet is that they (he) doesn't even study or is even the slightest bit sick (there's a high chance of playing Maple Story, methinks...).

I won't have parents telling me to get up while I'm in college, but then again, I probably won't be having to wake up at 6 o'clock every morning anymore.  The future seems bright right now, but as for life in the present, I'm breaking out with stress.

Spring break, Y U NO here yet?!

what is good?

There was no right or wrong when I was little; there were just things I did that would get me M&Ms and things I did that got me spanked. Maybe that's why childhood was so much fun, maybe that's what freedom really felt like – freedom from consciousness and the restrictions it binds you to. There was a point in my life where I didn't know that you couldn't just take candies from the store without paying for them. What was money anyways? Life sheltered from these decisions was probably the best life I'll ever live, and I don't even remember it.

So what does good even mean?

I think a little good is inherent in all people. Good is what brings people together for a common purpose – to live and to thrive and to feel happy. You may argue that a serial killer feels happy when he rapes or kills people, but I think that's a different kind of happiness. That is a kind of happiness that never fills the heart and always leaves you feeling dissatisfied and empty.

Good cannot be explained with words, and yet we all know what it is. The same goes for whatever keeps the universe from tearing itself apart. We may not have answers for everything, but we don't need definitions. Good is good. That's as good as we can do.