The Media Is Very 1984

It's everywhere, and I knew that. But I truly realized it when I started logging all the interactions I had with the media, especially when I noticed I was logging the interactions on my iPhone. Blast! I realized I use my iPhone for hours daily, whether checking email, surfing the web, or facebooking. I facebook in a very addictive manor. One thing that was cool is that I don't have cable, and I have exhausted all my movies, so that wasn't a big chunk of my time. However, I've recently discovered Hulu and spent hours watching the final 5 or 6 episodes of the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, and also my guilty pleasure...The Bachelor.  Everytime I get in the car I listen to NPR. Always. Except on my way to school in the mornings. That's when I spend my 15 minute commute listening to Rick and Bubba. Also, every morning and afternoon I go online and listen to a 7 or 8  minute podcast forecast discussion by my former boss/boyfriend's father, James Spann, to get my weather fix. By night, I facebook for hours on end. The only time I watched actual TV was at my boyfriend's house when we watched the Australia Open for what seemed like ages, but I'm sure it was only a match or two. The worst part (other than my iPhone), was work. I work in a library so I am consumed by computers and books. I did a lot of computer research about potential graduate schools (and then took a break to check river water levels for kayaking this weekend). I also have read an entire book in the past week. That's what happens when you work at a library. I honestly didn't realize how much time I actually spend online, even though I already knew I spent too much time on the computer. The iPhone time was surprising, but I think it's just because it so accessible.  I also don't think I am an avid reader, but to realize how many hours I actually spent with my nose in a book was insane. I also buy a lot of crappy celeb gossip magazines, so I probably spend about half an hour on each of those. I honestly know that I should have been doing homework and studying rather than all this time facebooking and huluing, but that's just how our generation is wired, it seems. Even classes (such as this one) just envelops you in media. A few of my classes show video clips and even one class we watched an entire movie. Everytime I get on the Crimson Ride, there is a radio playing. There are TVs all over the Ferg. I even watched the news while waiting at the doctor's office on Friday. It's mad! Perhaps I should use media as a dessert instead of meal. Wait till everything I actually NEED to do is done, and then perhaps "reward" myself with a bit of facebooking, or watching this weeks episode of The Bachelor (I can't help it, he's just so cute!). Regardless, the media is very big brother and everywhere we turn. Orson Wells should write a book about it.

I Listen To NPR Every Day!

Fear Of Sleep
I love this NPR segment during This American Life. Ira Glass starts off talking about his own fear of sleep as a kid, and then interviews other people who either have a fear of sleeping or should have a fear of sleeping. Mike Birbiglia starts off talk about his sleeping walking problem that became dangerous, such as seeing animals and striking karate poses in his sleep until his girlfriend could talk him down. He delivers this in a very comedic manor and in the setting of a comedy show in a night club or something. The next two women in the story talk about cockroaches and bedbugs that infested their house. They said they weren't scared but have actually just gotten used to it. The third gentleman talks about how, when he was 11, he trained himself not to fall asleep and therefore started seeing things at night that you weren't meant to see. He talks about a night at another kid's house when he walked in on the kid's parents in the middle of an unmentionable act while just wanting to ask for a glass of water. The second to last interview was with NPR producer Seth Lind who started having nightmares because of watching the Shining with his uncle at a very young age. He said what probably made it so real was the fact that so much of the film was from the perspective of a 6 or 7 year old boy, just like him. The scene he said stands out is when the rush of blood comes pouring from the elevator. Ira Glass closes by saying that the fear of sleep can by tied with the fear of death. I loved these interviews because I have a fascination with sleep and sleep disorders. As a first grader I started having trouble sleeping after the fire department visited my school to talk about house fires. I became so paranoid of my house burning down, I could not fall asleep. I then began hallucinating right as I woke up, like one of the interviewees said she did, as well as felt a bit of paralysis. Mine was at night, but hers was only if she napped during the day. I to this day still have trouble sleeping and have to take prescription sleep medication, so this was an awesome show for me to listen to.



Didn't Ask To Be Born
This NPR segment, also from This American Life (I love Ira Glass) starts off by using an example from the TV show American High where a father and son are arguing about which car the son can take out. He wants to take the Corolla. His dad wants him to take out the other car, claiming it would attract the ladies. Next a woman named Debra talks about her two daughters, Stephanie and Amanda who she loved more than she ever thought possible. After a divorce and relocation, her relationship with her 2 oldest daughters begins to wither. The daughters talk about rebelling by dying their hair strange colors, shaving it into mohawks, wearing chain covered pants and giant leather boots a la Marilyn Manson. They try to retrace and figure out what and when things went wrong. The second part of the show talks about a young boy who had plenty of friends, a great family who loved him and took interest in his life, yet he set himself on fire. He goes into the reasons why he did it and reads excerpts from his book The Burn Journals. I loved this segment because I have felt like an outsider many times, especially when it comes to my family. I'm very outspoken and am an individual and will do what I want no matter what. My mother and father are extremely conservative and I just have never felt like I fit with them with my strange hair colors, piercings, and tattoos. One of my brothers is on my side, covered in tats, piercings, and a multi-colored mohawk that stands about a foot high. It's no fun being an outsider, but in the end, I'm not doing it to rebel or get attention, but to stay true to myself and to express out the outside who I am within.

Who Am I And Why Do You Care?

So my name is Stephanie, and you will soon learn I love to tell meaningless stories. Whether about the day I am having or my childhood or about somebody I saw at the supermarket, I have always got something to share. I am a Frost by birth, a wanderer by choice, and a college student by sake of reason. I could not begin to tell you what I want to be when I grow up. I am 21 in Gregorian calendar years, but in my heart I am still a kid. I would love to live like Peter Pan and never grow up. But alas, tis impossible. I love big bowls of cereal (I am munching on Apple Jacks right now) and a good cup of Starbucks. I have a heart condition the effects me daily, but I deal. I love being outside. My favorite place on earth (that I have been to, at least) is on top of the world on a little place called Buck Bald, in the Tellico Plains area of Tennessee. I love seeing God through His creation. Nothing brings joy to me more than learning how the world works, whether it be storms, rivers, plants, dirt, rocks, you name it. I love to be glammed up but I also love being covered in mud. Miley Cyrus follows Marilyn Manson on my iPod. I am fascinated with people who have mental disorders. I feel like I would really enjoy being a psychoanalyst working in a mental hospital. I interned for two years at the ABC affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. My "boss" was my childhood hero, an Emmy award winning Meteorologist, and one of the smartest people I have ever met. He also helped me realize I did not want to be on TV. My lifetime long hero is my dad. He is a silent authority in my life. He does not say much, but I know what he expects of me, and I like it better that way. I have inherited from him blue eyes, a love of music (especially from the 60s), an insanity for Alabama football, a dry sense of humor, and a passion for Christ. God willing, I will be blessed with a husband like him one day. I do not like being told what kind of person I should be. I would rather do that on my own, thanks. I like being who I want to be. I do not try to put on any sort of facade for anyone. Take it or leave it. I find joy in body modification, especially piercings. I find them extremely therapeutic in a sense of releasing emotional pain or frustration through a momentary physical pain. Then the jewelry is a constant reminder of what I have overcome. I have 8 piercings right now. 2 holes in each ear, my lip, my belly button, my nose, and an industrial bar in my left ear. I want the words "Let It Be" tattooed on me at some point in life. I could not even begin to tell you how much that song means to me. Thank you Paul McCartney. I once thought I met the love of my life. I had every intention of marrying him, but Jesus had other plans and, after a year and a half battle with cancer, decided to take Chris home to Heaven on April 11, 2009, and He also has someone else planned for me to spend my life with and I cannot wait to know without a doubt who that man is. I'm over the casual dating scene. I refuse to date anyone that I would not/could not see myself with long term. I know I'm young, but I can't wait to be a wife and mother! Until then, I have a beautiful nephew who I cannot even describe in words. When my sister-in-law was pregnant with Sean, I heard a song by one of my favorite artists, Bright Eyes. "The song is for a baby who has yet to be born. My brother's first child, I hope that womb's not too warm. Cause it is cold out here and it will be quite a shock to breathe this air, to discover loss. So I thought I would make some changes before you arrive so when your new eyes meet mine they wont see no lies, just love." No lies, just love has become a phrase I try to live by. In fact, it's tattooed on my wrists so I can see it and be reminded of it daily. Yes, I am human, and yes, I fail, but no four words have ever held such importance to me. I am a dreamer and a realist. A lover and a fighter. A perfectionist and a sinner. I have lost a lot of trust and faith in mankind in my short 21 years on earth, but I have also grown and learned a lot. This blog is a place for my meaningless ramblings. Read at your own risk.