BEDA:Twenty

Lets get political peeps. I know run away screaming Kelly's about to get in her soap box about something but this is really starting to piss me off. Every time I read something about teen pregnancy rates I get angry because I honestly believe the lack of education has done a huge disservice to the young people of this country.

I didn't know much about anything other than the pill and condoms till I took my Human Sexuality class in college. We were told the best way not to get pregnant is to not have sex. Sure this is extremely true but lets be honest here the advice of Mrs. Hilton who would send you to look for her glasses when they were sitting on top of her head is not often heeded by young adults. What is even more scary to me than my health teachers bug eyes is the concept of 'magical thinking' when it comes to protecting against STD's and pregnancy.

Magical thinking is nonscientific causal reasoning that often includes such ideas as the ability of the mind to affect the physical world, correlation mistaken for causation. When applied to th use of contraceptives: I didn't use a condom last time and I didn't get pregnant so I don't have to use one every time because that's how it worked before.

What makes this extra scary to me is that this idea is not just something teens are believing. This idea is extremely prevalent in 18-29 year olds. In my mind these are people who are old enough to know better. Don't believe me? read the report [PDF]. If you aren't much of a scientific report person the key findings are on page 1 (the actual 3rd page in the PDF and page 4 (page 6 in the PDF) is where the survey starts.

Test yourself and see what you believe and know!

BEDA:Sixteen

I slept all day therefore I have nothing to talk about. WRONG!

I actually had a really good idea in the car on the way home from work this morning but I forget what it was now. I really hate it when it happens. I need to get one of those little memory saver key chains that you can leave yourself messages on. I think it would be better than writing on stuff around my desk/where I happen to be or writing it on myself. Writing on stuff around my desk wasn't such a bad idea till I put my cup of sharpies on my desk. So now that I have the sharpies they're what I go to to write with (because they're pretty and smell... like sharpies which is good). You just can't wash it off to easy this is fine when I write on the tissue box that will get thrown out or on my diet coke I'm drinking not so fine when I write on my printer or actual desk I think have to scrub things which makes me annoyed. Writing on other stuff around me. This is usually ok because I make it a point not to have sharpies in my pocket. I know my boss wouldn't be pleased if I write on the counter at work in sharpie when we have a post-it stack right there. I will however write on the stupid insert cards from magazines, or the back of the glove boxes. I also write on my hands and arms a lot. This is a bad idea because I wash my hands more than a normal person so whatever I wrote there is not staying long.

Random: I just turned on TV and there's for real a show called 'The Cougar' as in a dating show with an older woman wanting younger guys. Do I have a problem with this? No by all means go to town older ladies I hope you find love. I don't appreciate you dipping into my pool of men though because I'm 24 and your smooth botoxed skin and ability to aford a personal trainer from your last divorce puts me at a disadvantage. I also don't completely understand why you would want a guy who is a lot younger than yourself due to a maturity gap. The priorities of a 22 year old guy and a 38 year old woman are different. ok, ok enough I'm going to hop off this train of thought and change the channel before I get to annoyed. I do have to say if people were walking around calling me 'The Cougar' I would be annoyed. She has a name people!

Wow that was a rant.