Oh, maybe I should finally mention... this journal is FRIENDS ONLY now.
If you want to read... ask and I might let you in. Maybe. If you come bearing chocolate.
[Edit: To clarify, I'm not cutting anyone, if you're already on my list, you're already on my list. I'm just wondering how many people are out there like my sister (who doesn't log into LJ b/c she doesn't use it) going, "WTF, why doesn't she post anymore?!"]
"Jump Britain" Long, but worth it. Also worth a look are the numerous David Belle videos on youtube (including his missed jump, LoL)
No, it's not just the amazing bodies that these guys have (though that does count for something), but what I really love is the *imagination*... what the traceurs talk about is how everyone does a different run, everyone sees an area differently: where to jump, how to jump, where to climb, where to drop... When I was little and I played on the jungle gym, I used to see how far I could jump-- which rung of the monkey bars I could leap to. Once I finally made it to what I thought I couldn't reach, though, I would stop there and be content. These guys just keep pushing, keep going further, keep looking at where they can grab hold of, what they can scale... that's why I like martial arts action flicks and anime; the high flying, gravity-defying stuff is my favorite kind of stuff to imagine.
...but with the guys who do parkour, everything's real. It's not wired, it's not padded, it's not fake. I imagine this kind of stuff all the time, What could I do here? What would look amazing there?
They say that humans use only a tiny fraction of their brain's capacity, and Lord knows that us comfortable, obese Americans probably only use 1/100 of what our bodies are actually capable of. I wish I could do 1/10 of the stuff these parkour guys do... That's why I did wushu training, because I wanted to fly a little. Unfortunately, now that my wushu training has stalled... :\
Ah well. I just need to get back into shape. First things first. X_x
-Manda
PS: ...what is NOT sexy is the fact that as parkour becomes more and more popular (especially with the Bond movie), more and more people are going to try it without knowing the proper steps and/or thoughts behind it. They're just going to jump, and many of them are going to miss. :P
PPS: This whole post was sparked first b/c the Bond movie was released, and my mom came home RAVING about how there was this AMAZING chase scene at the beginning of the movie, and from the moment she started describing it, I *knew* it was parkour. (FYI, Sebastian Foucan is the French guy in the Jump Britain video, and he's the guy in the Bond movie.) She also said that my uncle was saying, "Oh, they're probably on wires, etc. etc." and I looked at her and said, "No, it's all REAL" and then I started sending her David Belle's youtube parkour videos. Then Vikki mentioned seeing District B-13, which is David Belle's movie. I really wanna see it.
Kathy showed me my first David Belle video in frosh year of high school, and I was absolutely astounded. In fact, here are two of my favorites:
I don't wear make up, well, totally honest truth be told, because I'm lazy and make up is hella expensive.
But a very close second is that I want to be considered beautiful for myself and just as myself.
There are so many girls, who, when they wear make up, wear so much of it that when they don't wear make up one day, everyone looks at them and ask, "Omg, what happened to HER?" It does terrible things for the self esteem and state of mind. It's all a part of girls and women being pressured to try and measure up to a standard. And obviously, as we can see by the Dove video, that standard is entirely too unrealistic.
My mom keeps telling me that I should learn how to wear make up. I'm sure it would enhance my features. But y'know what? I don't want it.
Now, this definitely is not an indictment of people who wear make up. These are my own feelings. I wear make up maybe three times a year, and I'll admit, it's kinda fun. (Come on, when I was a kid, my sister and I used to play with my aunt's eyeshadow. Omg did we used to play with that stuff.) But I don't need it on a daily basis.
...and I like being able to roll out of bed and be out the door. :)
7 boxes of BOOKS and READERS 1 suitcase of clothes (only part of my wardrobe) 1 box of shoes (Heh. I thought I had more.) 1 Postertube 1 Snowboard and other boarding gear 3 boxes of miscellaneous junk
And my room doesn't even look like much has been moved out at all. Just trashed. AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGH.
So I was on monster.com running through some of the common interview questions
(Tangent: Really, it helps. If you're going for an interview, these questions do come up, and while they seem obvious enough when you read them, do you really have a GOOD, TAILORED answer? I didn't think so. So take the opportunity before an interview to run through some. At least it gets you thinking about *how* to tailor your answers.)
And this one pops up:
"How many quarters stacked one on top of another would it take to reach the moon?"
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