The Fundamentals of Children// Confusion// The Oscars

Whilst taking a shower, I was trying to figure out the energy and the cable/tv/internet bills to divide it between the two of us and I chuckled to myself as I remembered all the silly and useless cos, sin and tan stuff I had to learn back in gr 11. I mean, when will I have to find the maximum point of a tangent? All I really need is to know how to subtract, add, multiply and divide basic numbers. All the stuff you learned back in grade school.
Funny isn't it that as children, you learn the fundamentals at such a young age? All that you really need to know is taught to you when you're only six, seven and eight. You are taught 'Jesus died for you and He loves you.' And yet these simple things you learn in grade school takes a lifetime to understand.

So I got 'How to Get a Date Worth Keeping' today. I was talking to one of my team members today and she said the past night she exchanged a few angry words with her twin because she told her to go out more- to bars or whatever and meet people. Yet she understands the difficulty in meeting people here and that it's not that easy. Sometimes the more I keep reading all these books that are supposed to help me in my Christian walk, I get more confused. And the self dislike grows and my dissatisfaction builds. They tell me that shyness is a form of self centeredness and then others tell me that we are all created different and God loves us for who we are- outgoing or quiet. And then I'm too passive and then others tell me to just trust God. Who am I supposed to be? With all these different philosophies, theories and ideas swirling around my head, I get more lost in what was supposed to correct and clarify. And that is why I often shun books because they just confuse me even more. The other day my roommate and I started talking about dating and guys. She seemed really interested in my take on it because I don't openly say much about it. She asked me if I had a crush and concluded that I must have since I'm human. It's one of those topics I don't tend to touch because it seems so silly- girls giggling about boys. Yet the things we most desire are the things we least speak about. When I was writing that post about dating, I knew people were, in their good will, bestow me some Biblically sound advice. But sometimes people really don't need advice. The other day I remember watching or reading something that advised women to compliment men more to puff up their egos since they don't get that many compliments from their peers. Whether or not that is true, I don't know, but I do know that a sincere compliment goes a long way. We often say that we should look for affirmation from God, yet in knowing that, we're deprived of that kind of... vulnerability from human utterance. How many times in your life have you ever been told that you looked good or beautiful? I give this as an example because I say it's one of the least said compliments perhaps because it has extremely shallow connotations or because our perception of beauty is so narrow. But I just heard this on the Making of Marie Antoinette, and I quote from Oscar Wilde himself, "Only superficial people can't be superficial."

Oh here's an even better quote from 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'

People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

So I have to mention something about the Oscars! I watched the entire thing while doing work and luckily the stars came in packs and early for the event so I got to see all the dresses. The best ones? Cate Blanchett was stunning in Armani Prive couture, Reese Witherspoon was smouldering in Olivier Theyskens and her bangs, and Helen Mirren proved that age is beautiful in Christian Lacroix. Helen Mirren really took the cake with her silver hair:


Here were some all right ones with Eva Green in Givenchy, Rinko Kikuchi in Chanel (she's cute) and Penelope Cruz in... I think Dior or was it Versace. Anyway, I'm not fond of the feather skirt but the bodice is beautifully executed.

Okay well if you're someone like me, you'll notice there were a lot of look-a-like gowns that were worn previously on the red carpet. For example, Nicole Kidman's 'huge bow on shoulder' dress looked similar to Charlize Theron's Dior 'huge bow on shoulder' dress from last year. So did Penelope Cruz with Theron's dress in the past. Anyway, that's my commentary on the entire Oscars for you. :P Meryl Streep didn't win 'Best Actress' but it was funny nevertheless when Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt came on stage asking who got the cappuccino for her and Meryl Streep gives them a cold stare for a full minute while everyone burst out laughing. And then today I was doing my midterm project and discussed what colour walls would compliment the garments and I held up a swatch of pink and another swatch of pink with a slight tint of purple. And I just had to say it, "It's hard to say... they're so different" LOL. Anyway, when I came back I had to watch the Devil Wears Prada again.