Benefits of being overweight.
1/4/2009This post will be slightly humorous and I do not want anyone to think for one second I am saying that being overweight is a good thing. Yes I am aware of the health problems and risks of being overweight, so please don’t comment with a cocky attitude about how I am trying to promote unhealthy habits.
That being said, I was eating some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery in the car and I saw something that made me think, “Thank God I am overweight, I don’t have that problem!” Then it hit me, there are a few things lately I have noticed that are seemingly awesome (ha, overstatement.) about being overweight.
What inspired this epiphany partially has to do with the fact that it is 20º outside. Whilst in my car, eating my cake batter ice cream, I saw this tiny, petite barbie doll of a girl.. You know them- size 2, tan, blonde, perfect hair, lots of makeup, high heels. Well this girl was about to die from the cold. I laughed because my extra weight makes me a lot warmer in these circumstances. Oh yes, I am an embittered chubby girl that loves to find faults with those that are seemingly “perfect”. Sue me. 
I then remembered that my story about donating plasma for the first time also made me realize that being overweight had a benefit there. I actually get paid a LOT more to donate plasma than someone that weighs under 175lbs! Someone that weighs 110lbs only gets a maximum total of $30 per week to donate plasma. I get a maximum of $65 per week. Yeah, who wants to go eat a sandwich now? 
Next case in point, let’s face it- it costs a ton of money to go out and eat anymore. You have places like buffets of course and then you have a few that offer you free second helpings on regular entreés. If you are a very small person or on a diet, you kind of get jipped here. You are going to pay the exact same amount of money for half the food and enjoyment we will get out of eating this delicious buffet food. Nom nom!
Last, this is for the ladies. In general GUYS LOVE BIG BOOBIES. Yeah, I bet you know where I am going with this. I have huge boobies because I am overweight. Very small girls that didn’t get extremely lucky have very itty-bitty boobies and they end up having to get implants if they want them badly enough! So there, now my big boobs and I will go on and write the conclusion for this post. 
I want to hear all my brothers and sisters shout out if you recognize that there are some benefits to NOT looking like a barbie doll. Of course, it really is best to achieve and maintain a healthy weight but there is no sense in thinking everything is better if you are thin. Please feel free to let me know if you have thought of another benefit to being overweight, I would love to hear it!
Why credit?
When I was nine years old, I found the internet. I was obsessed with Sailor Moon at the time (I am only slightly obsessed now.. ) and I had decided to make a Sailor Moon website. This site consisted of pictures I found wherever on the internet, copied and pasted bios that everyone had and just me babbling randomly here and there. Great website, huh? Somehow I got to thinking one day, probably when I was about 12, that maybe I should make cute little images out of these Sailor Moon graphics and let other people use them. I hadn’t really been exposed to that many “graphic” sites back then, so I thought I was just the bees-knees. So for 10 years now, I have essentially owned a graphic site, definition to me being a website that offers imagery for you to use on your website.
In all of these years I have created probably thousands of graphics, from tiny pixels to complete layouts. As I grew older, my tastes changed and my skills improved. Suddenly I had more visitors and more people wanting to use my graphics. This also meant that a majority of them were taking them and claiming that they made it themselves or better yet, redistributing them. As I get older and my graphics improve this problem angers me more and more.
Nowadays you can’t go two sites away without finding some sort of “graphic” site. I use quotes because some of these sites… Well, I honestly lack words to describe them, they are that bad. Everyone seems to shove “CREDIT ME!” down everyone else’s throats. While much controversy emerges from the demands for credit with the use of illegally obtained celebrity images (Oh yes, I went there!), sometimes I question why it is everyone wants a credit link.
I will start by giving my reason: I wish to be credited because it takes time for me to make these things and it shows me that you appreciate me offering these to you FOR FREE when I could be charging large sums (HA! Maybe not large..) for my time and efforts. I also want to receive new visitors that will also enjoy my graphics and by linking my site you are telling them that I have quality “goods” that they may also use.
I know some people that don’t demand credits and some people that go a little overboard with the crediting issues. If you offer some sort of content on your site, why is it that you expect credit or why do you not care if you are credited? Do you think I should require credits for my downloads?
Gifting.
Yes yes, ‘Tis the season. Right now I am sure most people are getting rather bored with reading posts about what people got or received so I am not going to bore anyone with it, even though I did get some pretty cool stuff. What I want to discuss today is the art of giving gifts.
Recently, someone on a message board (please keep this person anonymous, there is no need to embarrass them or pick on them anymore) made a thread about how she bought her friend $80 worth of gifts and that she was pissed off because her friend got her things like some soup, crackers (or something, I can’t remember exactly), a soup bowl and a stuffed animal. This person was angry because her friend didn’t spend nearly as much as she had (even though they did not set a monetary limit) and she thought that the gift of food was lame and unthoughtful. This person was also upset that the same friend picked a name off of one of those trees for children who don’t have parents or other circumstances and purchased much more for the child she did not even know than the friend herself.
I don’t know how everyone feels about this but why does everyone think that Christmas suddenly means go insane and obtain massive amounts of material SHIT. Oh and let’s not forget the anger towards other shoppers, the stress of the season and having to shell out tons of money that you would otherwise have paid bills with. Can anyone tell me how that makes sense?
Personally, I would rather get together with my family members and enjoy a huge meal and if someone felt like purchasing a present for someone else, they would not feel the need to receive. Why does everyone think that if you give a gift you should automatically be reciprocated with other crap? In a sense, let’s look at it this way: Friend A and B decide to purchase $20 worth of stuff. They spend the exact same amount and just swap gifts. If you wanted to get something, why not skip the swapping process entirely and buy yourself something with that extra $20 and just enjoy a nice lunch with your friend? Getting a gift anymore seems like an intense labor, not something someone does just to brighten someone’s day.
Giving is about, you know, GIVING? It disgusts me that people have so much SHIT yet they still demand presents at Christmas, presents at birthdays, presents at weddings.. It’s all a crock of shit. I suppose I am a little bit on the rant side because the holidays always bring out the worst in people in my eyes. I get so sick of it. What if instead of swapping same-value items that we do not even NEED, we all put our money together and purchased a home for a house-fire victim? What if we helped generate jobs for less fortunate people?
No, we all just want to pile up mounds of crap under our tree and get stressed out over something that we don’t even HAVE to do in the first place.
As always, I want to hear your opinions on this. I probably could go in more detail but I don’t want to start screaming via my blog.
