RIT dye

Today I learned that the liquid RIT dye concentrate is so much better than the RIT granules. Yes, the liquid is more expensive, but it colors much better and actually goes further...much further. My friend Jessica and I figured this out tonight as we were testing some tie dye ideas for our Relay for Life team shirts. We will definitely be using the liquid concentrate from now on.

Yes, I know this seems unimportant but with the number of shirts we will be making by April 30th, this discovery will be very useful!

63 percent...

Did you know that 63% of students in Manatee county receive free or reduced lunch? 63%. Wow. I knew the percentage was over 50 because I had researched earlier this year as I've A) been curious and B) included the information in my Golden Herald application because I felt it important to explain why what "Backpack Club Inc." does is so important. But 63%. 63 percent. I know, many of you are probably unimpressed because you think we live in a worthless hell hole and yes, it is Florida, where the economy crashed first and the hardest, but seriously. There are worse places, this is far from a hell hole. I understand that not all of those eligible to receive free and reduced lunch are living these horrifying, devastating, cardboard box lives but still, the majority of students in our county live in homes where the household's income in below the point at which the state feels is enough to provide lunch and breakfast for the children in the family. In all reality, the state's not all that generous.
Like I said before, not all of these students are in serious situations are but are a few who only eat when they're at school. There are kids who don't eat between noon and 7:30 the next morning. Kids who don't eat on Saturdays and Sundays. Their malnourished which caused their immune systems to not be as strong, causing them to be sick more often, causing them to miss more school. When little kids get sick, their parents don't go to work...and that's if they have a job. It's an aweful chain and cycle.

Women of Distinction and Queso

I will honestly tell you that I learned more than I could have imagined today. I simply love being around adults with values and characteristics I admire. For the most part, today was wonderful. It was amazing to see someone who in the past year or so I've come to love like an older sister be honored for the work that she has done throughout her life for her community and her passion to make everyone's life happier, easier, and better. I've been inspired by her. To see all of the women being honored today, to know that I'm not crazy for being passionate about helping others, and too see what amazing things they have done...I can't explain how it makes me feel. I think it may have been reassurance that all of my time and energy that other people have told me I've been "wasting" really is not a waste. While honoring was of course the theme of the day, learning was yet again the theme of mine. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick out just one thing I learned. They're all so important and while I wish I could, I can't type all night. So, I think the lesson I'll report on today will have to be a funny, seemingly unimportant one.

Here goes. I learned today that I should really just stop eating queso with my chips on taco Tuesday. I never fail to make a mess. I always to a lovely job eating when I have silverware or any sort of "civilized" food but chips and queso, that's a whole different hell. I went almost all day without embarrassing myself...and then the queso. Only I can master the art of routinely dripping queso on my collar bone. Go. Me.

Learning

I'm constantly claiming that I love to learn and that I enjoy nothing more than learning. That I love to take every opportunity and experience in life as one of learning. I know I'm always learning but I couldn't always tell you exactly what I was learning. Therefore, from now on I'm promising myself that I will learn and retain at least one thing every day and report it here on my blog. Hopefully, the few random people that actually read my blog will learn something too. So here's the first entry.



P.S. Some days I will report on new knowledge of real value and others I may explain something dumb and absurd that only I or my friends really need to know. Just a warning there.



Today, I learned that Emily Dickinson wasn't simply a sad, mopey person. Yes, she was rather introverted and reclusive but she had a warm, loving family and was madly in love with someone for the greater part of her life. Actually, those who knew her well claimed that she was quite eccentric.

We often try to hard to dissect her poems and find a meaning in them that is beyond just what is presented but the thing that actually makes he quite charming is the fact that not all of her poems had a deeper meaning. Yes, I am telling you that she was really just talking about snakes. It wasn't an extended metaphor. Just snakes. The beauty is in how she describes not in some hidden meaning.