are you ready for a rant? good, it's not like you have a choice.
The Space Association.
which one? who cares. they're all working for the same thing. "hey everybody, we're going to go to _________ and find out some stupid little thing about it!" watching the news yesterday, i heard news of plans to send some sort of device, whether spaceship full of humans or other, to a planet, possibly mars (hey, give me a break, it's not like i watch the news attentively) and discover if there was liquid water there. "we've already found ice, we want to see if liquid water exists there". you know where we need water? MANY IMPOVERISH COUNTRIES WORLD WIDE. now i respect the dreams of every young aspiring astronaut who believes that yes, it is essential that we know exactly what is on every other planet at this moment immediately. but maybe they should be making these predictions and experiments on their own time, in their own news feed, and most importantly, on their own dime. right now, there are hundred of thousands of people dying because they don't have the money to buy themselves food, water, shelter, clothing, or essential medical attention. you watch commercials asking for donations, or even just sending out a message about genocide, starvation, etcetera, and think to yourself, "but what can i do?". well if you knew how much money these space associations receive to carry out their ridiculous experiments to discover what? a fact that will change one paragraph on one page of one hardly used, dusty textbook in some kid's back pack that he will skim over once before discarding. this enrages me. i say we solve our world's problems first, then we discover and tend to the problems of the stuff happening light years away. it's understandable to have difficulty prioritizing say, your family life and your academic life. but in your own world vs. in a completely different planet? if you have to even think about that, then you're one of them, and you can just go squander your own money on building some failed machine, thanks.
teagan

i know everyone thinks to themselves, "wow, teagan is just a genius in every way, i sure wish i knew the reading material that influences her opinions, vocabulary, and general style". yes, don't try to hide it, i am positive this thought travels through everyone's minds once in a blue moon. so, to help solve your pondering, i am pleased to present you with
TEAGAN'S LIST OF THINGS TO READ THAT RULE
now, i'd like to say that all of these books are amazing pieces of literature or spiritually uplifting. and in a perfect world, they would be. but i can openly admit that i am not perfect, and i do read the occasional piece of garbage which may be referenced. or a book that's way over your head. either way, if it's worthy of this list, let's hope it's not reputation-damaging for me. for my sake. here we go:

1. Harry Potter (1 through 7)- every single one of this magic-packed books is shockingly fabulous, worthy of reading 2, 3, 5, 10 times over. which i have, so i can tell you that through experience. and here's a test for you; if you can't tell me the exact colour of harry potter's dress robes, you have not read the books enough. if you couldn't even tell me what book you would find that info in, i'd recommend you move into a library until you can. so yeah, we're talking fantastic books here. {JK Rowling}

2. Uglies, Pretties, Specials [Extras]- it's a trilogy, (plus Extras) and a great one at that. it's about people way into the future, but it's actually believable, like they get surgery done so they can look any way they want to, which is what the world is quickly becoming. so it really gives you a perspective on what things may turn out like. i'm a fan. {Scott Westerfield}

3. TIME Magazine- if you're like me, you'll most enjoy the essay page at the very back. it's always worth reading. but the rest of the magazine isn't to be discarded as complete trash either, it's chock full of politics, statistics, and enough knowledge to impress your way into better friendships. kidding, don't use it to be a poser. but it is informative and definitely awesome. {Large amount of contributors}

4. Freakenomics- a book about economics, but they're like, crazy, and it's cool. non-fiction and a fun read to find out some interesting things about what's going on around you. {i don't recall the author... oop.}

5. Predictably Irrational- everyone snickered at me as i brought a thick hardcover book that looked lame as eff into english class for a few days, but i now know why their minds work in the ridiculous way they do, so i can say it was totally worth it and more. just explains what influences our decisions. pretty neat stuff. {dan ariely}

6. My Blog- TJK (=total just kidding), but yeah, i'm not on my A game for reading material right now, so maybe i'll consider making some more sweet recommendations for all you people who are unable to amazing choose books for themselves. just for some on the side reading, i'll include a little list here of books that are also super good but i do not have long explanations prepared for them:
Bringing Down the House: 21 by Ben Mezrich (the book for the movie 21)
The End of Harry Potter? (read after the completion of the sixth book)
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter (read after the series, or in the middle, whenever.)
any other book about harry potter you may come across
I Am America (And So Can You!) -Stephen Colbert (hilarious and awesome to the max)

good luck in the reading world. perhaps in the future i shall spend some time coming up with a song list. maybe. we'll see.
teagan

My mom is thee most ridiculous person ever.
She loves Guitar Hero. 1, 2, 3, or Rock the 80's, she plays it, 24/7. she plays on expert, and she is good. so, of course, she was ecstatic when the idea of Rock Band was brought to her ears. after a long wait, it was finally released, and she could not have been happier. however, the time was never quite right to purchase it. mother's day came, she got excited. but her dear children, who meant well, failed her, and brought her only a pedicure ("you didn't really get me this, did you?") and disappointment. a little under a week later, the opportunity for her to buy it presented itself. she asked her boss's wife to purchase the game for her on her way back to the town through a city. so she did. my mom got guitar hero on thursday. she hid the many pieces in various places around the house: the drums in the closet, the guitar under her bed, the microphone and actual disk in a clothes drawer. then, in the middle of the night, she would bring it out and play it, praying she wouldn't wake anyone up. why? because she was worried her son would play it too much and neglect the tasks he needed to complete those days. on saturday, she said goodbye to the son as he left on a two week trip. then she brought out Rock Band. and played it almost all day.
What a woman she is. that is straight up ridiculous if you ask me.
teagan

by the way, the game was discovered by her son the day before he left, but he didn't say anything. it's still crazy.

I just had a thought... one of many, but this one, i think, deserves to be online-published.
Imagine you are married. you got married at age... 21, to a nice man, business guy, had some nice kids, everything is just lovely lovely. suddenly you are 44, and two months after your 23rd wedding anniversary, you catch your not-so-lovely husband cheating on you with his co-worker... the jerk. but not important. what's important is the 23 years of your life spent married to a man, and then the other 2-3 years you dated him beforehand. fast forward a little. it's your 50th birthday, and your kids, who all have nice, reasonable careers and started families of their own decide to put together a humourous slideshow presentation to show at your gathering, liven things up, get some laughs. but 23 years of your life in photos were taken with a man who has hurt you deeply. they dig and dig through photos to find the ones that don't include the cheating [swearword], and they've done the best they can, but one where you look particularly astonishing includes mr. ex. everyone looks around, trying not to look at the happy 50-year old, reading her reaction, and an uncomfortable silence falls over the crowd.
i just think that would be so awkward. if i'm getting divorced, i hope it's before the better part of my life (in pictures) is gone.
teagan