Appearances

(After reading aloud a Valentine's Day card) "Don't you wish PJ was doing this episode now, girls? You all would have just melted." - Hank Green


We're told that appearances don't matter. It's what's on the inside that counts. Don't judge books by their covers, even if we all know that the literal translation of that usually works rather well if you read the back/inside front. 
But then if we don't take good care of our appearances, those same people tell us that we need to take more pride in how we look, and that people are going to judge us for it. Houses should be clean when people come over, because you want to make a good impression.


Is anyone else receiving mixed messages?


Clearly appearances do matter, even though they shouldn't. 


Physical attraction, of course, is the big one. It affects everyone in some way, except for asexual/aromantic people, I suppose. (KickThePj is a good example of this. I wish I had graphs of his viewer numbers before and after he was on Truth or Fail for the first time.)


Then there's stereotypes, which are worse. If you see someone you find attractive, you will think some variation on "He/She is attractive," and that will be true for you. 
However, when you see someone who fits into a stereotype, there's a huge number of other things that come flooding through your mind, most of which have nothing to do with the facts you know about him or her.


Then there's just plain judging. If you notice someone looking particularly unkempt, you'll wonder. You'll guess. You'll make up stories for the person. You'll invent a character with their face, and treat the person as that character. This one, I think, is the most unavoidable. 
You can find someone attractive, but that doesn't mean you have to act on that attraction.
You can recognize yourself invoking stereotypes, and remind yourself not to use them.
But judging is right on the line between fact and fiction. There's what may or may not be good evidence, but any or all of the proof could be inadvertent, or misperceived. 


So what do we do?


If it's the inside that counts, but the outside that's seen, why not try to make the outside as reflective of the inside as possible? Note: as possible. 


I guess I'm trying to say that I'm in favor of self-expression. I live in my room. Why shouldn't my room look lived-in?

Doctor Who Truth Or Fail...and more about Snow

One of my favorite YouTube channels, the Vlogbrothers, have also started this game show on YouTube that anyone can play at any time. It's called Truth or Fail. They give you two facts on the topic, and you must choose which one is the truth...or you fail. There's five rounds.

This week's episode is on Doctor Who. I got all but the last one correct, and learned lots of stuff! (yeah, I guessed on most of them...) I happened to know #4, because the one Old Who episode I've ever watched happened to deal with that one...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRTVYmFIqxI


Other Truth or Fails cover:

Episode 1: General Knowledge
Episode 2: English Edition
Episode 3: Harry Potter
Episode 4: Literature Edition
Episode 5: Sharks
Episode 6: Woodstock
Episode 7: Trivia From John Green's Books
Episode 8: Outer Space
Episode 9: Science
Episode 10: Beards
Episode 11: The Lost Symbol (with Dan Brown)
Episode 12: Drugs
Episode 13: Hoaxes
Episode 14: Halloween
Episode 15: J.R.R. Tolkein
Episode 16: Water (With Two Hot Guys in the Shower)
Episode 17: Crazy Body Abnormalities
Episode 18: Doggies
Episode 19: Doctor Who

The episode in the background of the Doctor Who episode is "An Awful Lot of Running," by the absurdly awesome (and first) Time Lord Rock band Chameleon Circuit.

I hope you watch at least some of those Truth or Fails, because it took me an awful long time to link them all for you. :D

Now I'm going to go eat my third breakfast of the day (cereal @ 7:30, eggs at 10:30, and now probably more eggs here at 12:30).

I went sledding this morning. Then I tried to snowboard down my neighbor's extremely steep driveway using my sled. I made it down the driveway, but then fell when I got to the road and banged me head kinda hard...but I'm okay.

Before sledding, my sister and I went deer tracking. Mom had seen some crossing the street before we went out, and so we found the tracks and decided to follow them. They took us through a small stretch of woods in the middle of my neighborhood, up through the briers into my old neighborhood (yeah, you can see our old house from my living room), down another street (through people's yards), down a cauldesac,  down someone's driveway, through someone else's backyard, and then onward. We turned back when we got to that point. Mom wasn't pleased I'd gone tramping through people's yards, but oh well. I was busy honing my Ranger Skills (Ranger's Apprentice reference, anyone?). She wasn't happy, but I'm sure my friend David will think differently...he's closer to earning his Silver Oakleaf than I am (having a PI for a dad helps in these things), so I've got to try to catch up.