iMedia: Real Beauty

We all have experienced those dreadful youtube commercial that come on right before you get to watch your video. We all sit there anxiously waiting to see that "skip ad" button and right when it pops up we click it as fast as we possibly can. However, have you ever sat there and actually watched that ad? One day I challenged myself to do that and what I discovered was a video that struck me in so many ways.

Beauty is the word ever girl wants to hear. But the only problem is there is more than one definition to beauty. Many of us women see beauty as a one way street, therefore we must have this and this and this in order to even look in the mirror and consider ourselves beautiful. We pick at every little detail about ourselves and try to replace or fix it to make it look better but after a while we end up changing it yet again because we still don't like it. I realize I may be coming off quite sexist, men along with women have this quality. They have the quality of focusing on perfection when, in fact, they are their own version of perfection.

The reason I chose this video was not to prove a point about beauty but it was to show a very important fact that almost everyone should know. Each and every person is a culprit of doing this. We see our selves differently that others see ourselves. We see the bad side, the negative things. We see the wrinkles in our face, the fat along our bodies, the disfiguration of our facial structure. We see it all. But we all have been looking at ourselves in the mirror for god knows how long.

What about the people that just met us? What do they have to say?

These people see what seems like a whole other person than we see. They see the kindness in our voice, the shine in our eyes, the facial features that make you look slim or pretty. They see everything in a new way. Well, a new way than we see ourselves. They see the truth, the actually beauty that lies right there at there surface where everyone can see it except for you. The one that knows this face so well is the only one that can't see it.

This video really opened my eyes, as it should for many people. The doctor says I have 20/20 vision but yet I am blind. I am blind of the beauty that I entail. But not anymore. I see myself in a new light every morning when I go to get ready. It's amazing what can happen when one really sits down and instead of cursing or getting mad because there is a commercial, one actually listens to it and takes in the message it is sending out.

Metacognition: Two Type of Mistakes

While creating anything, any work of art, any essay, any meal, any project you always find that one thing or those few things that could have worked out better. Some people call these mistakes, as in punishment like point deduction or disapproval, and others call these mistakes, as in improvement and stepping stones to the next great work.  While creating the mashup i made mistakes. In fact I made a lot of mistakes. Some mistakes were simple and easy to correct, others are mistakes deep into the meaning of the words that are hard to see at the surface.

Whether obvious or not, I could improve this mashup by eliminating mistakes. As I was creating this mashup I struggled with finding meaningful quotes about love. I knew love was the topic I wanted to do and I knew I really wanted it to be deep and meaningful but I struggled a lot with finding quotes that did what I wanted. That was one of the mistakes I made. I had this image in my head of what I wanted it to be and how I wanted it to work out and my mashup does not quite level up to my expectation. An artist or writer should always be proud of the work they have created right? Unfortunately, that is not how I feel. I feel as if  I could have done so much better if I had that second chance.

But not all bad things come from this mistake. In fact I believe more good has come out of it than bad. School is all about improving to reach your highest potential. This issue that has occurred has improved the way I will approach essays and protects from now on. Yes you should be prepared and have material to create the work that must be done, but you don't have to have this vivid image in your head of what it MUST be. Let your mind flow and let things just fall into place. When this process happens, that is when great works are created.

In the mashup I could have done a lot better. I could have made sure it flowed a little nicer, I could have  made the overall appearance more appealing, I could have gone deeper into the meaning, and I could have gone beyond the requirement needed to create a wonderful mashup. I could have done all those things, but how about the things I actually did. I must say I am proud to read what I wrote. I was kinda surprised by the thinking I did while making this mashup. I really took pieces that really had no relation to each other at all and made it into one story, one meaning.

I stepped out of my comfort zone during this mashup. I had to drop the "perfect idea" I had in my head and think of a new idea. As easy of a task it sounds, it was actually quite difficult, but I was glad I did what I did because it created the mashup that I am proud to submit.

Our Darkest Hour of Love

1. Can you define love?

2. That is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. That is why young people, who are beginners in everything, are not yet capable of love.

3. I was in love when I was nineteen; when both love and the German language were more alien to me than the moon.

4. 

5.  There's nothing like the first love. You've never had these feelings before and you imagine that no one else has ever felt this way about anybody. Your boyfriend or girlfriend are the greatest thing ever and you want to be with them all the time. Your senses become alive as you fall in love for the first time. You're not even thinking of the possibility that you may break up because that has never happened to you before. First love is filled with the optimism that you will be together forever.

6. They fling themselves at each other when love takes hold of them, they scatter themselves just as they are, in all their messiness, disorder, bewilderment... 

7. If you dig deep enough you will find that passion and your passion will lead you to places you want to go.

8. Cogito, ergo sum... I think therefore I am. 

9.  There's only 
     one thing
     two do
     three words
     four you
  
   I love you.

10. None of this came out of my mouth, because I didn't possess these words then. 

11. You have to be patient to understand. 

12. I would like to beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. 

13. 

14. If we can't find love then what is life?

15. Don't ask for any advice from them and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like a inheritance and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.

16. It is something we must learn. 

17. We learn so much in our darkest hour.

18. And now we are happy.

19. 

1. Personal Reflection.

2. Rilke, Rainer Maria, and Stephen Mitchell. Letters to a Young Poet. New York: Modern Library, 2001. (68)

3. Rilke, Rainer Maria, and Stephen Mitchell. (v)

4. German translation for love. Google Search.

5. Anonymous Poet. Love Poetry.

6. Rilke, Rainer Maria, and Stephen Mitchell. (70)

7. Personal Reflection.

8. Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World.  New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1994. (235)

9. Plain White T's. 1,2,3,4. Song Lyrics.

10. Alda,Alan. Pass The Plate, Mr. Feyman. (1)

11. Personal Reflection.

12. Rilke, Rainer Maria, and Stephen Mitchell. (34)

13. Different Languages. Google Search.

14. Personal Reflection.

15. Rilke, Rainer Maria, and Stephen Mitchell. (43)

16. Rilke, Rainer Maria, and Stephen Mitchell. (68-69)

17. Personal Reflection.

18. Wiggins, Marianne. The Shadow Catcher. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. (204)

19. Happiness. Google Search.