acne
For years acne has plagued my life. It started when I was about 15 and now at 20 I still have not been able to rid myself of the horrible teenage acne. I know that it is tough on girls, but at least they can wear makeup to cover some of the blemishes that are on their skin. Mine however, is just left out there for the world to see. It is really hard for me to meet girls, I think mostly because I am so self conscious about it. I think that my acne makes me look dirty. I look like a person who doesn't take care of himself, and yet I don't think that I could actually do anything else to my skin. I clean it several times daily and use several different acne medications, but nothing seems to help. I have tried online dating, but I find that even a bit more awkward because I never want to send them a clear picture of myself for fear of their reaction to my face. I am glad that I don't really have acne anywhere else on my body, but the acne on my face is keeping anyone from seeing the rest of my body anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter all that much. I just am not sure what to do. I know that my attitude and self esteem are significantly effected by the way I feel about the way my face looks. I just can't help it. I know that if I can't over come the way I look, then no one else will be able to see past it either.
Online, I found a new treatment for acne that I have not tried, which is truly amazing because I really thought that I had tried everything. I am placing an order for it this evening, but I am not getting my hopes up because I have been disappointed too many times in the past. I will just pray that it works and gets me out of this darn hell that I am living in. I want nothing more than to allow the man I truly am out into the world, but I feel that I just can't do that until I can look at myself in the mirror without cringing. I really hope that will come soon.
horoscopes
For my whole life, I have gotten enjoyment out of checking out the horoscope section of the local paper. I not only check out mine, but those of everyone else I can think of to see what type of day they are going to have. No, I am not a psycho who obsesses about them, but I enjoy seeing if they come true. I have often wondered how a person could predict for a whole group of people they haven't even met before, but sometimes they are true, other times, far off base. I look at them as an opportunity to take a tidbit of wisdom along with you in your day, which is always good, especially in this world where all too often the negative is what is getting the press.
I am the type of person who doesn't really have a use for a newspaper. I like the horoscopes, the advice columns, comics, crosswords, and coupons. That is about the extent of the things I like about a newspaper. I hate the news. I just think that it is always bad, and it serves no purpose to know all the bad things that happened in the world today. Some people tell me that it is important to be informed, but my question is why? Does being informed give you any sort of power to control the events and change them? Needless to say I don't think so. I think that feeding your mind full or whatever the government wants you to fear, just creates panic and worry and makes us powerless, not more powerful.
I am thinking about creating the Good News Newspaper, where I can tell people all the good things that happened in the world. You know, like what stars have successful marriages, and good lives, and people who help others and do good things and things about heroes. Think about all truthful news about all the good people and happenings around the world. Now wouldn't that send our government into a real tizzy. They would probably rip it off the shelves and consider it propaganda. It is my belief that what you put into your mind is what you get out, so why not input some good things and inspiring stories. The mind is a powerful tool, so be careful what you put into it.
six sigma certification
What is six sigma certification? After looking it up I found that the ‘formal' definition says that it is a confirmation of a person's capabilities with respect to specific competencies. So basically that just means that a person meets the requirements of a specific company granting them this certification. An example that I found that helped me better understand what it is, was the driver's test to get your license in the United States. Thousands of people take the written and driving test every year and are given their license to drive. This just means that this particular person has meet the minimum requirements to drive legally. Even though they have passed the test, it doesn't mean that every single person with a driver's license has the same ability to drive or that they perform driving skills and tasks at the same level. The same goes for the six sigma certification. Just because someone is certified, it isn't a complete summary of everything they can do or their overall worth.
six sigma certification involves learning that particular material, passing a written exam and being able to display those skills and knowledge in a hands on manner. (This process also compares to obtaining a driver's license in the United States. You have to take a class, pass a written exam and also complete a certain number of hours in a hands on situation. In Illinois for example I think you need about 50 hours of driving experience with your permit and a licensed adult before you can get your driver's license). This is all so you can learn and experience in different ways (people learn differently). You get the written and classroom version, which is usually similar but at the same time not even comparable to the hands on version where you are actually in a real life situation that you'll experience by yourself driving when you finally do get your license. So by completing the in classroom work or the less hands on, you are able to move on to the more hands on experience with a little more back ground knowledge and in the case of a drivers license, the rules of the road. So getting your driver's license is a good comparison to the six sigma certification. The both involve training, a written proficiency exam, and a requirement to display hands on what you have learned in a real life situation.
auto insurance
My boyfriend came home from work today and was doing his usual blah blah about this and that at work, when he began to talk about a guy he knows who was bragging that he just saved $350.00 per year by switching his auto insurance. I told Sam that I just didn't believe that you could get cheap auto insurance without paying the price somewhere down the road. I didn't want to wait until after I got into a car wreck to find out that my savings really wasn't a savings at all. Yes, I know that everyone would like to pay less for their car insurance and I am absolutely no exception, but the problem with paying for insurance coverage is that it is hard to determine which insurance company will really take care of you if you are in an accident or really need to file a claim. Well, needless to say I was a bit skeptical but I really did want to save some money, so I sat down and called the number for the insurance company that Sam's friend recommended. Once I received a quote, which was quite honestly a big savings for us, I called the better business bureau to check out this company and see if they had any complaints filed against them. (This is always a good thing to do before using a new company, especially if your only contact with them is through the internet) Anyway, to my surprise there was no negative things about them, only positive ones. I was still a little leery of the company because they had only been in business for about 6 months, but I really did want to save us some money. Money has been really tight for us lately, and any money that I can keep in my pocket is a blessing these days.
I am glad to have saved us some money, but I am still a bit worried about how the insurance company will be when it comes time to file a claim, but I guess no matter what company you use, you really can't be sure how they will be when you need them most. So I will say a prayer and hit the road again, hoping that I never need to find out how well my insurance will cover me.
Haartransplantation
For my introduction to German class we have just started our semester this past week. The professor is an interesting lady in that she has a bit of a different style of getting us to learn the language and she is not about to talk down to any of the students in the lack of lingual knowledge. Since it is a summer course the whole class is sped up a great deal and so we have a project due every week on a different topic and from a different type of German media. This week our project has been to look through a German newspaper and find some kind of article that looks interesting to us and slowly translate the entire thing as best we can while she helps us with that translation. At the end of the week we will be presenting the assignment to the class by trying to read the article in German and then in our English translation.
When I started my search I had no idea where to look. My first big step was finding a German news source online because everything I looked for came up in English translation provided by the search engine. When I finally did come across a source it was a German cosmetics magazine and I was excited because it was something about modeling, which I want to do when I graduate. The article is something about the surgery required to maintain the body type of a model as I have gathered from a few words I have translated so far. Here is the excerpt I have translated so far:
Das Leben der Models bedeutet konstante Aufmerksamkeit auf Details. Perfekter Körper, perfekter Auftritt und perfektes Aussehen. Doch auch bzw. gerade hier gilt: Jeder Zentimeter des Körpers muss dem Perfektionismus nahe kommen, den sich die Designer der Haute-Couture wünschen und vorstellen.
Sicherlich ist die heutige, extrem fortschrittliche Technik u.a. bei Bearbeitung von Fotos und Druck in der Lage selbst aus einem "hässlichen Entlein" einen stolzen Schwan zu machen. Dennoch so manches Model hat sich bereits in die Hände des einen oder anderen Schönheitschirurgen begeben: Fettabsaugung, Haartransplantation, Brustvergrößerung, Bruststraffung - sind die 4 Hauptgebiete der plastischen Chirurgie. Erfahrene und erfolgreiche Schönheitschirurgen können ware "Wunder" vollbringen.
Nichts ist so wie es scheint.
This little section of the article was interesting and I can't wait to see the looks on the teachers face when I read it in German. I wonder if she'll be upset by the topic. I hope she's not because I need to do well in this class.