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Friday, 20 November 2009

  • Overpopulation And Adoption

    It's a fact that the earth has limited resources. It is also a fact that the earth's population is growing exponentially faster with each passing year. Whether you choose to believe that our world can hold only a billion people or a thousand billion people, every day we come closer to being "overpopulated." We come closer to being forced to live in theoretically uninhabitable places (ocean-floor cities, anyone?). We come closer to running out of many of our resources - fresh water, as an obvious example. We come closer to realizing the truth of this quote:

    "If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity - and will leave a ravaged world."
    ~ Dr. Henry W. Kendall.


    Yesterday I wrote about why I don't want children. A few people commented in regards to this idea of overpopulation. Some mentioned that because of this fact, they don't want to have children. Some mentioned that they'd like to further help with the issue by adopting.

    Most people who plan to become parents have in mind how many children they'd like to have. Sometimes that number isn't followed exactly, but it's a good guideline.

    Here is my theory: If every one of those potential parents chose to adopt at least one of their children instead of having all of them personally, we would be far better off in the world, for three reasons:

    1. Population growth would be slowed - perhaps not dramatically, but at least a little bit. And it will certainly be with justice and compassion.
    2. Millions of orphans in our world would have parents to love and take care of them.
    3. Millions of parents who do not have the means to take care of their children won't be left feeling awful and guilty for putting their children in adoption centers or orphanages - they will know someone will soon be there to take care of their child in a way that they cannot.

    So. I'm going to ask a favor of everyone.

    Take a moment, and consider your future children, or the children you have now. Do you think they will mind having a brother or sister - a new friend - that didn't come directly from you/your SO's womb? Now take another moment, and this time consider your SO. Will he/she mind? And take a third moment, and this time consider yourself. Do you mind?

    Take a moment, and consider adoption. You might just help save the world.

    http://smallworldlearning.net/european-kids%5B1%5D.JPG

Thursday, 19 November 2009

  • Why I Don't Want Children

    A long, long time ago, I dreamt of having fifty children. When I was younger, I mostly thought of children as toys. You get to pick out their names and dress them up in all sorts of pretty clothes and even play with them - that was my mentality. So I wanted to have a ton of children, because I wanted to have a ton of toys.

    Obviously, as I grew older, that mentality changed. My little sister was born when I was seven years old, and it was then that I began to see the kind of hard work that having a child represented. After all, I had to take care of her a lot of the time (and then my brother as well, who was born when I was ten). There was some fun involved as my siblings grew, definitely, but most of the time I just found it irritating to have to take care of them.

    Of course, there's no justification for that. There also definitely isn't any justification for when I was supposed to be watching my sister, but I was instead watching a movie with friends, and she fell off this small plastic indoor slide we had and acquired a very large gash on her ear. I was very irresponsible then, and that hasn't changed much.
    (Example: I haven't actually made my bed since I came to college. After I wash my bedsheets and covers and whatnot, I just throw them all back on the bed. I do put my pillowcase covers on, so maybe that's a plus...)

    But I fear very much that should I have my own children, they will die of some form of neglect on my part. I always denounce people who neglect their children, and I don't want to become that same kind of person. Yes, I know - "when you have kids you'll care about them too much to neglect them." Will I really, though? I can't pretend I know the answer to that for sure. Besides, even people who are certain they want children often neglect them (in favor of jobs, for example).

    And let's be honest, if there's even a slight possibility that I would somehow mistreat a child, even through neglect, then I consider it a much better choice to simply not bring one into the world. I suppose I just wish more people would think that same way - we probably would have a lot less mistreatment of children today.

    I'm also worried that if I do have children, I won't be a good enough parent, or I won't understand what they want, or I'll deny them the things they want the most in favor of what I think is "best" for them, which might end up being extremely detrimental to them.

    See, I'm thinking of my own mother here. She always pushed me and pushed me, especially in school, to do more than the best I could do. She pushed me to basically be perfect, because that's how she had been when she was in school. And yeah, it was good for me that I had good grades. I've gone far in regards to education. The problem was that my mother never really let me do what I wanted.

    I could tell a lot of stories of how sheltered I was when I was younger, but I'm sure you all can imagine. What really got to me was something that happened this summer. I told her I wanted to be an author and that I'd been writing a novel - she pretty much laughed in my face and was like, "No, you'll get a degree in Political Science and actually be successful, not be a miserly writer." I've always had everything I wanted from her - I've always had food when I'm hungry and clothes on my back and other material things. I just never really had freedom, and that was pretty much the only thing I really wanted.

    I'm afraid of doing that to my own children. Of being ignorant of what my children want, or if I'm not, of not liking their aspirations - of being disappointed in them, and seeing them being equally disappointed in me because of how I feel towards them.

    There are actually more reasons as to why I don't want children (for example, I'm afraid I won't be able to strike a good balance between being firm with them but not awfully strict, and being relaxed with them but not so lenient that they become the kinds of irritating kids that hit random people in supermarkets for fun). But this post is already long enough.

    Your turn. Do you want kids? Why or why not?

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/GirlWithLollipop.jpg
    http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/050930/050930_brats_vmed.widec.jpg

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

  • Romantic Comedies Vs. Romantic Tragedies

    I seem to be watching a lot of movies lately... Such an awful student, lol. Anyway!

    Last night I watched Tristan and Isolde, and I cried. (I mean, I cry a lot, about pretty much anything that it's possible to cry about, so it's not some great feat to make me cry. But still, I did.) I think it's pretty much the worst thing in the world to have the person you love most die. Seeing that always breaks my heart. I can't even watch the music video for Avril Lavigne's "When You're Gone" without bursting into tears.

    But for some reason, I always seem to love watching these sorts of romantic tragedies. Much more than I like watching romantic comedies.

    Romantic comedies are great, don't get me wrong. My all-time favorite is Shrek, but if we don't include animations, I really enjoy You've Got Mail and Sweet Home Alabama and Four Weddings and a Funeral and also a bunch of actually recent ones that have currently slipped my mind. (Really, I promise, I do keep up with the modern stuff too!)

    Like I said, though, I prefer romantic tragedies. I don't even really know why. After all, they are tragic, and they do make me cry all the time (just off the top of my head, I cried watching The Notebook, A Walk To Remember, P.S. I Love You, Moulin Rouge, Shakespeare In Love, and many more). That's not really a very pleasant experience, of course.

    I suppose I like them more because they do evoke that kind of emotion, though. Romantic comedies make me laugh, of course, but they don't feel as... inspiring. That's a good word. They don't really make me feel the love as well as romantic tragedies do. Also, I guess romantic tragedies feel more real and relevant to life... Not that everyone's romance ends in death, but just people can't always be together, or there are break-ups, and so on...

    Anyway. I'll stop rambling now, so you can tell me what you think too...

    Do you like romantic comedies or romantic tragedies more?

    http://www.gothtronic.com/Goth/img_/Movies1/sub/tristan_and_isolde.jpg
    (James Franco was so hot in this movie. Legit. I was surprised, actually... He needs to grow out his hair.)

    http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2006_Tristan_and_Isolde/2006_tristan_and_isolde_003.jpg
    (Here's another super sexy picture. I just can't get enough of this Tristan look!)

Monday, 16 November 2009

  • The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn

    My roommates and I were watching Moulin Rouge the other night. (It's one of my favorite movies and it's absolutely amazing, so if you haven't seen it yet, start doing so now!) In the movie, there's one very important quote:

    "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

    Well, we got into a sort of debate regarding this particular quote. I agree with this quote completely, but they didn't really. Love is important, they said, but there are greater things that one can experience. Success, friendship, and for my more religious roommate, divinity (for lack of a better word). Basically... the ideals of the movie are wonderful, but they are just ideals, and in reality there are more important things to focus on.

    As I said, I disagree with that. Obviously, I think it's important to be successful and healthy and beautiful and kind and intelligent and to have friends (and so on), and while I don't believe in any sort of higher power, I suppose I can at least add that morality is a great thing to learn.

    But love is the greatest thing.

    I know that personally, if I had to choose between being miserable in every other aspect of my life, but retaining the ability to love and be loved, or losing that ability and retaining greatness in all those other aspects... I'd choose the love.

    Maybe that's not very practical, but my view on life is that it's not meant to be practical. It's meant to be happy. I suppose it's all a matter of opinion in the end, since I'm sure that some people out there are very happy without having love. But I can't be. Knowing what I do about love, and imagining what it would be like not being able to love or to feel love... that seems awful to me. I wouldn't be happy with a life like that.

    So yeah. I do think that the greatest thing one can learn is just to love and be loved in return.

    What about you?

    http://www.culch.ie/wp-content/uploads/Moulin-Rouge-vf-front.jpg

Sunday, 15 November 2009

  • Dr. Serena Speaks (60!)

    "We found out tonight I giggle when I orgasm - He gets incredibly discouraged. Any tips to help combat this?"

    ~ D-------------------

    "Haha, that's cute! =)

    Anyway, I don't think this is something you can really control. Orgasm releases so many emotions - and laughter is definitely associated with it, because it's a way of releasing all that pent-up tension you had from the orgasm. I might add that I don't even think this is something you should try to stop. Laughter is definitely a good, healthy thing - especially during sex.

    I think the best way to remedy the situation is to simply remind him that you're not laughing at HIM, you're just laughing because of the pleasure that orgasm gives you. Tell him that he's making you feel so incredibly amazing that you just can't help but laugh. You can even support that by telling him in detail how good he made you feel, and how much you want him to do whatever he did again, and so on.

    He should be happy about you laughing. Maybe you can try to get him to laugh as well, so he sees it's perfectly all right to do so during sex!"

    ~ Serena


    http://maryt.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/laughter350x330.jpg

    Dr. Serena Speaks (59!)

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  • makethemakersmile
    @BelisaAmbrose - yeah i love it!
  • BelisaAmbrose
    @SerenaDante - Thanx. Found it!
  • SerenaDante
    @BelisaAmbrose - Go to http://serenadante.xanga.com/ and look on the side where it says "Explore Serena." Scroll down a bit and you'll see something that says "Ish Contributions," with links to all the ish sites that I've contributed to. Click on those links and you'll see all of my posts on each is
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    can't find the links?????
  • BelisaAmbrose
    @makethemakersmile - That's a great quote!
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    you write less often dear.
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    hi
  • makethemakersmile
    i know you were collecting quotes and i found another good one today: "sometimes the stones in your hands are good for throwing, sometimes they are good for building, and sometimes they are what's dragging you down."
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    yo sweet thang we shuld huk up ur hot lolol. were u live. I'm kidding.
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    I love this profile pic. It's your best yet.

Explore Serena!

Dr. Serena Posts - Advice about sex, love, relationships - and even pineapples! (Note: I do not have a PhD and I am not in any way a licensed doctor - I just give pretty good advice.)

Speaking of which...
Tips On:
-Anal Sex
-Oral Sex (Regarding Vaginas)
-Oral Sex (Regarding Penises)
-Masturbating (For Women)
-Masturbating (For Men)
-Quickies

Sex Stories - Detailed tales of my sexiest (and dorkiest!) experiences.

Some Featured Posts:
~~Romantic Comedies
Vs.
Romantic Tragedies
~~
(Isn't tragic love just so beautiful?)
~~On Shaving And Kids~~
(An interesting comparison between shaving and make-up in relation to kids.)
~~Oh, Marriage...~~
(I don't even know why this was featured.)
~~Nudity~~
(This one started up that whole huge "Censorship" drama-debate.)
~~"I Wish I Could Lay Eggs..."~~
(Great dinner conversation.)

Ish Contributions:
Me on Datingish
Me on Lovelyish
Me on Healthkicker
Me on IReallyLikeFood

Not Featured, But Semi-Important:
Props For Recs
~~
Why God Loves Gay People
~~
I Lost A Friend Today