Honey Boo Boo, all that bad?

As a current TV advert states Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is the “show that has divided America” (and the world let’s be honest). And it sure has! People are raging about how common, redneck, lowdown and disgusting the family are. And others are raving about how much they love the show, although I've noticed that not many people say why they love the show.

My opinion: I think Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a fantastic show, I love it, and here’s why.

Here is a family of people who do not care one little bit about what others think about them. How amazing must it be to love yourself so much that you don’t care about how others perceive you? Should we not all strive towards such self-love? June or Mama, the mother of the family, weighs over 300 pounds and yet she thinks she is beautiful. But according to society’s definition of what is beautiful or desirable, she is not. I think it is amazing that she is so confident in herself and that she thinks she is beautiful no matter what.

Here is a family that is so close that they are comfortable being themselves around one another, to the point where they fart in front of one another, pick their noses, burp etc. Their display of this supposed socially unacceptable behavior around one another just shows how accepting they are of one another. Should we not all want to have relationships that close and that comfortable with our family members?

What I think is most successful about the show is how it highlights a huge problem in the way that we think. Yes, their behavior can be considered as common and lowdown, but according to whom? Yes, their accent is so southern that it is almost impossible to understand, but why do we think that that’s a problem? Yes, it’s gross that they fart, burp and pick their noses on camera, but gross according to whom?

I think what the show highlights most obviously is that we have this belief that our culture is what is right and acceptable, nothing else is. To them they don’t have an accent. That is our perception of them. And just because they don’t talk like we do doesn't make them any less common than the Geordies of Newcastle whose accent we don’t understand either.

Their behavior is perceived as socially unacceptable. But it’s unacceptable according to our culture, to them it’s perfectly normal. We think being that fat is ugly, we think behaving that way is unladylike and rude, we think what they are doing is wrong. We are so quick to make judgement based on the fact that we believe that what we do in our culture is right, and everyone else who doesn't do it our way is wrong, disgusting, controversial.

Depression Checklist for Students | Advice

Sometimes it's tricky to figure out if you're feeling sad or if you're genuinely depressed. Run through the checklist below, it may help. This is something I complied myself, it is not by any means a professional document.

1) Are you not feeling like yourself?

2) As students, we generally don’t have the healthiest eating habits, but have your eating habits changed drastically? Are you eating a lot more or a lot less than usual?

3) Do you find yourself either over-reacting to the smallest things or feeling numb when you should be reacting to big things?

4) Are you lacking motivation lately? Are you finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning or battling to find the motivation to get things done?

5) Are you sleeping more than usual or than your should be? Or are you finding it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep? Do the words "I'm too depressed to sleep" make sense to you?

6) Do consequences not matter to you anymore? In other words, do you care if you miss an important class or not?

7) Are you more homesick than usual? Most students who are studying away from home experience homesickness at some point and some more than others, but are you missing home or your parents a lot more?

8) Do you feel like other people won’t/don’t understand what you’re feeling?

9) Do you feel isolated and alone?

10) Do you sometimes feel like you just can't do this thing called life?

11) Are you turning to alcohol, drugs or other substances to help you to forget about how you’re feeling or numb yourself?

If you've answered yes to a lot of the things above, you might be experiencing depression. It may be serious or it may be temporary. Depression can be caused by so many things and it’s important to know that a lot people suffer from depression every day...your problem is not unusual and you are not alone - as cliche as that may sound.

So what can you do?

• Fight! Don’t give in. I know it’s easier said than done, but find the strength within yourself to hold on.
• Seek help. Whether it be making an appointment at your campus counselling centre or seeing a private psychologist, there is help out there! You may not think that therapy is for you or you may be totally opposed to it. That’s okay too.
• Talk to someone. If you’re not into  going for some therapy, try to find a friend, family member or even a teacher to talk to. Sometimes opening up to someone and being heard can help in the biggest way. And don’t give up if you have a bad experience the first time you talk to someone.
• Look for support. Actively searching for support and information on online forums and communities can make you feel a whole lot better. MDJunction is a really great place to find support!
• Get active! Getting some exercise can do you a world of good. Getting those endorphins pumping will immediately feel happier. Go for a walk or a swim, play a game of tennis...anything that gets you moving and out of the confines of your bedroom.
• Make a list of things that you usually make you happy or that made you happy when you were a kid and do them! Whether it be baking, building puzzles, going to the beach, going out dancing, hiking, gardening, shopping, painting, volunteering etc.

A first year's guide to failing | How To

In South Africa, it is that time of year where the lucky 1 percent of our country is experiencing the start of a crucial life experience: their first year of University. As someone who has "been there, done that" I have some valuable tips that may help you in your (most probably unintentional) feat to fail your first year.

**WARNING: this post may contain dangerous amounts of sarcasm. Please proceed with caution.

Credit to Gabriella

1. Don’t go to lectures/classes. Rely solely on what’s in your store-bought textbook, on the internet or in your friend’s notes.
2. If you do go to lectures/classes, try to sleep through them as much as possible. That way you’re catching up on enough sleep to complete steps 3 & 4
3. Party every single Friday, Saturday and student special night.
4. Stay up all night watching movies, TV or on tumblr. Don't be disciplined. Self-government is a pointless thing to learn anyway. 
5. Get high a lot. And make friends with people who get high a lot.
6. Get addicted to something that costs the majority (if not all) of your allowance.
7. Only study the night before or even the morning of big tests and exams
8. Never go the extra mile, only to the bare minimum. Meeting sub-minimum requirements is all that matters.
9. Rely on that one really nice friend of yours to take notes for you in class and use them for their study notes too...don’t worry, they won’t drop you just before exams.
10. Blame your crappy marks on everything and everyone but yourself. Being honest never gets you anywhere.
11. Definitely don’t try to find a balance between academics and the rest of your life.
12. Focus solely on how many days are left until vacation and how homesick you are.
13. Occupy yourself with impressing the opposite sex. You need to spend at least 70% of your week doing this.
14. Oh, wait! You need to spend at least 70% of your week wasted. Or high. Or both. Preferably both.
15. Do not, under any circumstances, spend any amount of time on trying to grasp time management  prioritisation or goal setting.
16. Mal-nourishment is fiiiine! You need the money for booze anyway.
17. Do not motivate yourself. Ever. And don’t spend any time trying to figure out how to motivate yourself because, like I said, you never need to motivate yourself. And don’t befriend people who are self-motivated. Stay far away from them...they might just influence you.
18. Never be proactive. Complacency is key. No one likes driven people anyway.
19. Sleep around. As much as possible. STDs and STIs are so rare. And date rape is obsolete. And getting a reputation on campus will have no affect on your academics.
20. And lastly, do not have the willingness to learn.

How to Bleach Your Nails | How To

Often using cheap nail polish (which is all I use), wearing false nails or working with food lead to yellow nails. A lot of people choose to carry on painting the nails so that the yellow isn't visible but I have found that the best thing to do is to bleach them first and get them back to their healthy colour before painting them again. Here are a few ways that you can try to bleach your nails:

Lemon:

Cut a ripe lemon into wedges and rub them on your nail bed for about 5-10 minutes. If you have cracked or raw cuticles, try to avoid getting the lemon juice on them as it will sting like crazy! If you don’t have fresh lemons you can use lemon juice in hot water and soak your nails for about 10 minutes. I find that fresh lemon works best.

Whitening Toothpaste:

Coat each nail with a thick layer of whitening toothpaste and leave it on until it dries. Then take a nail brush and some hot water and scrub it off.

Clean your house:

This may seem like an arbitrary concept, but the next time you’re cleaning or doing the dishes, leave the rubber gloves off. The bleach in your cleaning products will help to lift the stains. But be careful, household cleaning products can also weaken your nails and damage your skin – so don’t overdo it!

Why I haven't/won't Read Fifty Shades of Grey | Opinion

Throughout last year the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy was all the rage. And it has clearly continued into 2013. There are still shamelessly large displays of hundreds of copies of the novels at the front doors of bookstores and thousands of people are still buying the book/s everyday. I often get asked if I've read the book or the trilogy yet and when I answer that I haven’t, people always want to know why. Most of the time I've just said that it’s a long story and people have accepted that. But I had quite an interesting conversation with a friend of mine the other day where we both deconstructed why we don’t like the books and also why we don’t like getting into it with other people.

WARNING, this is a very long explanation and if you’d prefer a quick summary, scroll to the end of this post.

I think that a lot of people think that I don’t/haven’t read the books because I don’t like the sexual content and that’s not it at all. A lot of really good books have had detailed sex scenes in them. Personally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with reading about sex. Here’s why I really have no regard for the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy:

I have read the first two pages of the first book, Fifty Shades of Grey simply because my friend had the e-book open on her laptop and I could not curb my curiosity. And in those first two pages alone I experienced the worst possible level of writing I have ever read in a published text. I understand that the book is meant to reflect the character’s own thought’s and immaturity but to what extent can this be used as an excuse for James’ horrible writing. It’s teaching readers and aspiring writers that that level of writing is okay and could even be published.

Secondly, it is not only bored housewives that have become so obsessed with the trilogy. I have found that in actual fact, a large part of the readership are teenage girls and young adults who have never experienced sex or even a relationship for themselves. If you have read the book yourself, think about what sorts of lessons it’s teaching people who have never had sex or been in a serious relationship? That it’s normal or okay to be hurt by your sexual partner. Also, it teaches girls that it’s okay if their right to say no is ignored. It’s teaching girls that even if they are uncomfortable with what someone is doing to them, they should keep quiet and enjoy it.

What I disagree with most is that there is no positive message or moral to the story at the end. A few people who have read the first book have told me that there is no resolution to the story. I have no idea if by the end of the trilogy there is a ‘happy ending’ so please excuse my ignorance. What I mean by a happy ending is that in most books where woman are in screwed up relationships much like the one in Fifty Shades, they are usually able to escape them and are stronger people by the end. What I am trying to say in this poorly written paragraph is that the reader has to sit through these drawn out and highly graphic sex scenes – which they either enjoy or they find utterly nauseating – and there is no positive outcome, there is no point. It in no way empowers or inspires women to get out of their own abusive situations or help their friends out of theirs.

Take series like Harry Potter or Twilight (I am NOT putting them in the same category, relax!) that everyone was/is obsessed with and everyone has read numerous times. The Fifty Shades trilogy is a lot like them in the sense that there is a massive following and a huge fandom, it is being made into a movie and people who never read have read the books over and over again. The Twilight Saga although sometimes amateurly written, had a positive message for the millions of teenage girls who read the Saga and watched the movies.

In Fifty Shades, there is none.

To summarise

 I haven’t/won’t read the books because:

1. They are horribly written
2. They are teaching girls all the wrong things
3. There is no point in suffering through the low level of writing and graphic sex scenes when there is no positive or uplifting message at the end.

40 songs that got me through 2012

Happy New Year everyone!!! Now that we have said goodbye to 2012, I’m going to share with you the songs that got me through the year. You know when you're having a really crappy day and there's that one song that instantly makes you feel better? Or that one song that holds so many good memories? That one song that just speaks to your life? Here they are my top 40 tracks for 2012 in no particular order:

1. Shut Up – Euphonik (this is an awesome house track by a South African DJ which you probably won’t get unless you’re South African)
2. Persuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix) – Kid Cudi ft. MGMT and Ratatat
3. Make It Bun Dem – Skrillex ft. Damian Marley
4. Rattle – Bingo Players
5. Kill the DJ – Green Day
6. Da One – Rihanna
7. You Are Not a Robot – Hoodie Allen
8. Sail – Awol Nation
9. Kill Your Heroes – Awol Nation
10. Take Me Away – Chase and Status
11. The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) – Missy Eliot
12. Roxanne – Police
13. Rack City – Tyga
14. Feel the Love – Hoodie Allen
15. Up and Away – Can’t Stop Won’t Stop ft. June
16. Shak Out – The Mouse Outfit ft. Sparkz
17. Diamonds – Rihanna
18. No Interruption – Hoodie Allen
19. Heavenly Sent – Micasa
20. Kick the Baby – Klynch
21. Toys for Boys – Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
22. I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me – Fall OutBoy
23. Sugar, We’re Going Down – Fall Out Boy
24. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall – Cold Play
25. We Found Love – Rihanna
26. Dance, Dance – Fall Out Boy
27. Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued – Fall Out Boy
28. Don't you Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia
29. No Beef – Afrojack ft. Steve Aoki
30. When I Wake Up – Jesse Clegg
31. Golden – Fall Out Boy
32. I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You) – Fall Out Boy
33. The (After) Life of the Party – Fall Out Boy
34. Hum Hallelujah – Fall Out Boy
35. Changes – 3 Doors Down
36. Paradise – Cold Play
37. Princess of China – Cold Play ft. Rihanna
38. Jesus of Suburbia – Green Day
39. Don’t Stay – Linkin Park
40. Talking to the Moon – Bruno Mars