John Kass on Botox and Children

John Kass, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune hit the nail on the head when he said that kiddie beauty pageants should be shut down.  A lot of moms are trying to make their daughters into perfect models at a way-too-early age. 

Back in May, there was an outrage over a lady who used botox on her eight-year-old daughter because the girl had "wrinkles". The girl is eight-years-old, and wrinkles don't exist on small children. 

Also, by giving the girl botox injections, she's basically saying that beauty comes before character, which is a highly screwed-up way to look at yourself.  Botox can also be damaging to the body as well. 

All I can say is, may God forgive that woman. 

A Clarification

In a previous post, I ranted about how I can't stand it when people think that it is problem that women are not really encouraged toward stuff like engineering and stuff like that.  To clarify what I was saying, men and women are different physiologically, and since the brain is not separate from the body, they're mentally different as well.
So, when I hear people say that we're socialized to think that women are different mentally from men, it makes me really upset.  Men can do some things better than women and vice versa.  

Sermon on Esther

The sermon tonight was on the first two chapters in the book of Esther.  The point of the message was that God is always at work.

Before we meet Esther, Vashti is queen.  The king throws a huge party just to show off how powerful and rich he is.  He displays his splendor throughout the whole empire.  While he is drunk, he calls for Vashti, who refuses to come.  The king gets angry and kicks her out of the palace forever.  What is God doing through all of this?
When we first meet Esther, she is an orphan who has been raised by her older cousin, Mordecai, the man who sits at the king's gate.  She is among many young girls selected to come before the king.  She spends a year in beauty treatments, and then is called before the king.  When the king sees her he loves her more that the other women.  He marries her and makes her queen.  What is God doing in through all of this? 

What's most important is that God works in many ways.  Sometimes it's through miracles, more often it's more subtle and harder to notice.  But God's purpose is not to entertain us.  His purpose is to work in us, through us, and for us, and that requires faith.  And faith is not about waiting for a big flash-and-bang miracle to solve our problems.  It's about trusting God to know what He's doing, and to do what He says and to follow him.

Juan Diego Florez

If there was anyone in the world who could make you feel like you were the only other person in the room, it's this Peruvian singer.  He is the best, sexiest, and most amazing tenor in the world.  The first time I had even heard of him, I was watching a documentary online about the late Luciano Pavarotti.  I was sixteen.  Later that school year, I went to see Donizetti's opera, La Fille du Regiment. This guy sang the male lead. 

Now it's been three years since I first heard Juan Diego Florez sing.  He has replaced Orlando Bloom as my fangirl L.O. and I must say, there is no other like him.  I have seen him in Rossini's Le Comte Ory, and I have a DVD of his performance in Don Pasquale, another Donizetti opera.  I have seen various videos of him on YouTube.  And I also have two of his CD recordings: Sentimiento Latino, and his latest sacred arias recording, called Santo.

I have been to the website about him.  If you haven't heard of him, you need to fix that.  This guy is my number one favorite opera singer.  There are few others like him; he can sing the most difficult Rossini pieces, including songs that are often omitted from performance because they're considered too hard for the singer to handle.  He can out-sing that wimp Justin Bieber by 100%.

Marx Brothers

These guys were the best comedy group the world had ever seen; actually, they could out-funny the most popular comedians today.  Their names were Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo.  One talked too much, one didn't talk at all, one spoke Italian, and the other sang. 

Another One Rides The Bus

Aside from being a song parody by Weird Al, what I am talking about is a very awkward ride on a Madison Metro bus this afternoon.  I was with my dad and we were going to ride the bus to his parking spot near the Yahara river bridge.  However, we wound up sitting apart from each other because there weren't many spots available.  To make matter worse, it soon go to standing room only.  This meant that for every one passenger that got off, three got on.  So it was crowded as all get out before more than four got off the bus.  Dad and I were able to get to the parking spot, but I swear I'll never ride the bus at rush hour again.

Fourth of July

Well, if there's any holiday here in America that people use as an excuse just to get the family together and have a nice big barbecue dinner, it's this one.  This day commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 during the American Revolution.

The Flags of Freedom parade was yesterday.  Sun Prairie always has the big parade on a Saturday for some reason.  We are also having Chinese students coming over to have dinner with us tomorrow.  I've always wondered about that, but hey, we do it, so there.

I also don't have work or class tomorrow, which means I can sleep in (if my parents will let me).

I would also like for my neighbors to stop popping big fireworks within the city limits.