a very optimistic quote:

"The world isn't ending today- it's already tomorrow in Australia."

words hold power.

never underestimate it.
think about it. the things you say-and the things you write- can seriously change the world.
let's give an example, shall we?: how did the second world war begin? ask a historian, and he'll tell you some lame gobbledygook about the Treaty of Versailles and whatever. this is not the reason. WWII began because of words.
Germany was in a depression. they were desperate for a way to get out. and then one man stood up, and told them he had the answers. one man, a few speeches, that's all it took. a few speeches, a few words, and more than six million innocent civilians were murdered. a few years later, the world was at war.
the more you think about it, the scarier it seems. look what just a few words can do.
and this is why you should be extra careful with what you say.
saying something is like throwing a pebble into a lake. it's gone, you can never get it back. but the ripples are still there, and they spread out, further and further, until they cover the entire surface. there's no way to stop them.
if you say anything, even one tiny little comment, that's it. contrary to what many people believe, you can never simply "take back" what you said. you said it, and that's it. the words are gone. but the effects of your words ripple throughout the world, with absolutely no way to stop them.
this can be for good or for bad. you say something constructive, and the positive response from those few simple utterances can last a lifetime.
but...
if you say something hurtful, even just as a joke, the destruction can be devastating.
every single word that you say holds tremendous power. never underestimate it. i know this from experience.
and one last point:
"sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." I'm sure you've all heard this phrase before. it is the absolute biggest lie on the face of the planet.

what is more important...

...than love?

change

"the only permanent thing in this world is change."
i can't recall who first said that, but he was 100% right. things are always changing. and we change, too. we've got to, there's no choice in the matter. and hopefully, we change for the better.
easier said than done, of course. one of the absolute hardest things in the world is to change a negative character trait. because that's changing a part of you . and for some reason, people assume that that's a bad thing. you know, when people sign your yearbooks or something like that, they always write, "I'll miss you. never change".
but what if i want to change? what if there are some things about myself that i am far less than happy with? things that need to be changed?
i am a firm believer that everyone has to keep trying to grow. it's like standing on a down-moving escalator- if you're not climbing up, you'll end up going down. we have to keep trying to improve ourselves.
this is just my personal opinion, of course.
so i was thinking about everything we talked about on the last post, and all the horrible things that have been happening lately- natural disasters, wars, Virginia tech, and that horrible thing that happened last week. i don't know if you've heard about it, but last week a terrorist broke into a school in Israel and started shooting. a bunch of students are in the hospital, and eight were killed on the spot- some as young as fifteen years old.
when you hear something like this, it makes you think, doesn't it? we're obviously doing something wrong. so i was thinking, what can i do to make things right? what can i change? now, it would be great if i could change the whole world. but i can't it's hard enough just trying to change myself.
but i will change myself. i will become a better person. it will be hard, and i haven't figured out exactly how I'll do it, but i will. i want to make a change.
who's with me?

a question that's been bugging me lately

how does soldiers killing eachother solve the world's problems?

orange soda

i have come to the conclusion that humans are attracted to bright colors. usually, that's fine, but it has created a bit of a problem for me.
the thing is, i don't like the taste of orange soda. but often, when i go to parties or other places in which orange soda is present, i see it sitting there between the Coke and the Sprite. the Coke looks like cough syrup, and the sprite looks like water or seltzer or something, and when you compare them to the bright colors of the orange soda...well, you simply can't compare it.
it's like the orange soda is saying, "Come on, drink me! You'll like the taste, i promise. would a bright orange liquid in a bottle with a flashy label lie to you?"
so i, of course, pour myself a cup of the sticky-sweet stuff. and it's not until i take a HUGE gulp of it that i remember that i don't like orange soda. so the drink come shooting out of my mouth like a bullet.
the weird thing is that i keep on doing it. every time i see orange soda, the bright colors make me momentarily forget that i don't like the taste. and by the time i remember, it's too late.
here's a little piece of advice: if you see me at a party, stay away from me while i'm near the drinks if you don't want to get an orange soda shower.

a toothy story

i don't generally share personal information online, because it's usually not such a smart idea. but today i've decided to tell you a bit about myself: in the very recent past, i have had braces on my teeth.
it was not pleasant, to say the least.
i would like to share with you a particularly horrifying orthodontal experience. it's a bit random, but that's ok.
at first, it was just like any orthodontist appointment. i sat in the waiting room, reading a boring magazine and staring at bored-looking people and occasionally glancing at the pictures on the walls of bright, smiling people with perfectly straight teeth. you know, i don't think i have ever, i my entire life, seen someone smiling in a waiting room. and all these posters were staring at me like, "Go ahead, smile. we're smiling, why don't you?"
anywho, so finally i was called into the room. i sat on that cool chair that goes up and down (gotta get myself one of those!) and the orthodontist, let's call him Dr. G., was about to start on my teeth, when suddenly everything went black.
at first, i thought i had passed out or something. but after a moment i realized that what i was experiencing was actually a blackout. i thought it was great- i would be able to push off the torture of having my braces tightened! but then Dr. G. said to one of the ever-present nurses, "Go get a flashlight."
when his order was fulfilled, Dr. G. instructed the nurse to point the weak light into my mouth, and then he went on fiddling around with my braces as if it were the most natural thing in the world!
i was a bit uneasy about this, because the light wasn't very bright, and i wasn't sure if he could even see my face, let alone my teeth. he, on the other hand, acted as though this kind of thing happens every day. (for all i know, that could very well be true.)
well, to make a long and incredibly random story short, it was not a pleasant experience.
do any of you have weird, tooth-related stories to share?

i'll just be quiet now

for a while now, i've been thinking about what to write. the blog is getting a bit boring, so i tried coming up with a new topic to discuss. and i can't really think of anything interesting just now. which is okay, i guess. sometimes, less is more, right? sometimes it's not good to keep babbling away about useless things.
you know what i've noticed? the more i talk, the less i make sense. often, i start off a conversation knowing exactly what i want to say, and knowing that it makes sense. but after a while, my sentences have less and less to do with eachother, and i start contradicting myself, and my conversation gets all...weird. and the fact that i often make up my own words doesn't help things.
so, maybe i should stop talking for a while. just give it a rest. i think my problem is that i have too much to say at one time. you must have noticed that even on the blog, i tend to get off topic. and i'm not even talking to anyone! so maybe i should just be quiet for a while
but don't worry. if i think of anything useful to say, i'll definitely say it.