3:30 AM - Friday, Mar. 31, 2006
Magic 8 ball says, \"Reply Hazy. Try Again.\"
I can't sleep so I decided to come in here and write for a little bit. That usually gets me tired enough to go back to bed.
It's been a year of rejection for me so far. Maybe I'm overreacting. I don't know. I haven't figured this one out yet. I was lying in bed and I thought to myself, wouldn't it be funny to tell people when they reject me, "It's the cats, isn't it? They just aren't pretty enough. That's a shame, too, because they have such awesome personalities." I wonder if people would get the subtext behind that one.
I hurt my shoulder working out. I think I've either dislocated it or I've pulled a muscle. The damn thing hurts. Then again, the entire arm hurts. Even the wrist. I've been working the kinks out of it by keeping it moving (or maybe I'm making things worse by moving it around?). My mom made the comment today that I looked like I was doing some kind of off-beat dance. Must have been a funny sight, she couldn't stop laughing at me.
Funny Story:
Anytime I use the guest bathroom, Comet comes running through the door and takes a flying leap through the air into the bathtub. She always lands with a thud against the side of the tub and slides down, only to look up at me in anticipation. In anticipation of what, you ask? Well, let's put it this way.... she then proceeds to go up to the faucet only to bang her head repeatedly against it, meowing the entire time. She wants me to turn on the water.
Normally I turn it on and let it trickle out, but last night I was mean. I said, "So, you want some water, do you?" And I turned that faucet on full blast. Instead of scaring her like I had hoped, the damn cat didn't take off running. Instead, she backs up a little bit, gives me this look like she's in heaven, and then plows straight into the water.
Maybe she's hinting that she wants me to give her a bath?
I told my mom about how she always drags her toys into her and Haley's waterbowl. My mom made a good point in response. "Maybe she's trying to keep her toys clean?" Perhaps, but I think the cat's just addicted to water like it was crack.
In the news... It seems like Reno and Harvey county have had a lot of grass fires this winter/spring. I haven't known such a dry winter since I've been alive, so I know that has to be playing a part in it. This also means that it's going to be one hellish year for Kansas farmers. They depend heavily on the moisture brought by winter to grow their winter wheat. Is it the end of the world approaching, or mother nature trying to rid herself of human beings?
My Time magazine featured a special this week about global warming. It's pretty scary stuff to read about. There were pictures showing the decline of some of the world's biggest glaciers. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the polar bears that live up there. It said that a tremendous amount of them are drowning because they can't move from floe to floe as easily anymore.
It was a really interesting read. It informed me that the glaciers used to reflect 90 something percent of the suns rays, bouncing the heat back into space. Yet, since we can't seem to control the deadly gases we throw into the air through our consumption, the rays can't find their way back out into space. Instead, they've been trapped by the gases in earth's atmosphere, only to heat up the earth and cause the glaciers to melt. And get this, they are melting so fast that a glacier the size of a small state *yes, a small US state* falls into the ocean every day.
The ocean reacts in the opposite way by trapping the heat, only to make the water temperature rise. Without the glaciers, more and more of these rays are "falling" into the ocean and causing the waters to heat up. That's why we've had so many terrible monsoons, hurricanes, etc. Heated water expands, and it needs somewhere to go.. so it's been destroying the coastlines and low-rise habitats as it rises.
If that doesn't depress or scare you, this might. Over 1/3 of the world's species are predicted to go extinct by 2050. This includes trees, plants, flowers, amphibeans, birds... the whole bit. In fact, many amphibeans have already begun to disappear. Think of the disasterous affects that's causing to our eco-system, and that's only one kingdom of species.
The magazine also featured an article about how our futures greatly depend on India and China. That makes sense. After all, if I remember correctly, these two countries house 2 billion of the world's 7 billion people. Unless I'm mistaken and they've actually increased in size since 1995. I remember that China was able to control its population growth in 2000 with a 0% increase... but that study never did say anything about decreasing. Ah, those poor little Chinese girls that families left abandoned to die and starve to death.. or sold in black market prostitution rings... or, let's think positively here, sent off to other countries to live via adoption.
I also remember learning many years ago about how Indian's (the one's from India) used to throw the ashes of their dead into the Ghengis river, as was custom towards their beliefs. However, since their population increased so much, many of the Indian's were forced to live in poverty. Since they didn't have the funds needed to cremate their loved ones, people started throwing their dead bodies into the water, instead. Totally sick, right? Well, especially when you think about how that's one of their main sources of drinking water. I wonder if they still practice this?
Anyhow, to get off my tangent, India and China's population is predicted to increase, therefore causing the amount of power plants and other environmental effects to increase. And when that happens, these two countries can choose to go one of two ways.. the negative way or the positive way. They can choose to continue emitting deadly gases into the earth's atmosphere, or they can choose to find cleaner, safer, and healthier methods to accomodate their rising population.
Take into consideration the fact that China is increasing the amount of vehicles on the road and decreasing bicycle and foot traffic... one can only predict that it's going to get worse. And it may never have the chance to get better. And since they are also being bombarded with McDonaldization *i.e. - the increase of western values enforced upon their society through the building of many McD's and Wal-Marts*, I can only assume that it won't take long for their society to begin to reflect the United States. I bet we'll see an increase in their gut size and a further decrease in their levels of activity.
Now wouldn't that be amusing?
Okay. Not really. It would actually be quite sad.
Enough of my rambling. It's now 4:30 and I've typed enough to write my own magazine article here. Forgive the typos and grammar errors. Remember, it's 4:30 AM and I'm inbetween grogginess and a state of complete awareness.
Random Fact About Jessica: I type too much. (if you disagree with this fact, let me know. It might make me feel better knowing that my words are worth pouring out. If you agree, don't tell me. I've had enough rejection to last me awhile... a good while.)
