About 55 years ago, Santa Claus was feeling a bit mischievous. After all, Christmas time was fast approaching and he wanted to play a little heartwarming prank to remind the people living outside of the North Pole that miracles do happen once in a while. So Santa Googoled "awesome Christmas prank," and came up with a wonderful plan.
North Pole Santa found out that Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. was posting an advertisement for kids, where they can call the certain number and talk to Colorado Springs Santa. North Pole Santa picked up his Santaberry and texted Colorado Springs Santa about his plan. The Santas worked together to put some charms here and there so the phone number printed on the ad would be "accidentally" misprinted. As much as the Santas loved to talk to the kids, they wanted to create something special that would last for years and years, bringing smiles to not just kids from Colorado Springs but to both kids and grown-ups from all over the world. The misprinted phone number ended up being connected to the operations hotline for the Continental Air Defense Command's Commander-in-Chief. As the calls from kids started to pour in, Colonel Harry Shoup, who was the Director of Operations at that time, had his staff check the radar for Santa's location and promptly updated all the kids on Santa's whereabouts. The Santas were fist bumping, for their prank seemed to have worked.
Three years later, Continental Air Defense Command turned into North American Aerospace Defense Command, or more commonly knows as NORAD. Ever since, NORAD tracks Santa on Christmas Eve, updating everyone in the world where Santa is. As for Santa, he also got a little surprise Christmas present of his own as a result of his prank. He finally had a super-high-tech-sleigh-GPS installed. Of course, Santa can tell where the kids are without the GPS, but having one speeds up the process. This can't hurt, seeing that Santa has a lot to do in one night: eating cookies, drinking milk, delivering presents and happiness.
~Fin~
If you are looking for the fact-based version of this story, check this one out, especially on Christmas Eve... :)
Merry Christmas!!!
xx-N
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Brains vs. Fashion...!?
I figured after doing a bunch of best-of-lists, it's about time I actually wrote something. My "serious" posts have been about fighting stereotypes and negative thoughts associated with it. The notion of fashion vs. intelligence is definitely a blog-worthy topic to tackle, as I'm certain there are many, many stereotypes that comes with it.
"Fashionistas are not smart"
I bet this is one of the most-believed stereotypes. Also very untrue. Fashion is a form of art, and to produce an art piece, yes, you would need this vital organ called brain to work. A great work of art and regular day-to-day styling do not pop up from thin air. Fashion is something you work with everyday when you decide your outfit. Some people have a rather misguided concept that if you are brainy-smart, you can get away with a very unfortunate wardrobe choice. I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but this is not the case. On to the next topic...
"Looks does not matter, especially if you got the smarts"
Okay, before you turn green and go Hulk on me, you should know that I actually hope that this was true, as people should be judged by the inner beauty. Unfortunately, we don't live in the Disney world where your furniture will put up an amazing dinner show just because you are hungry. Since the first bits of yourself that gets registered to a stranger are highly visual, it's understandable that the said stranger would probably have some idea of who you are through your looks. You got the smarts, so why not work that to your advantage? But don't go sulk in the corner because you don't look like a supermodel. You do realize that a fashion model's job is to make the clothes look pretty, right? So, if you are a model, great job pulling off all sorts of outfits! As for the non-models, your job is to best project your inner beauty to your outer beauty, which really isn't that hard if you got the basics covered.
Know what works on you, and what don't.
The highway to fashion disaster is wearing something that doesn't suit you. This unfortunately seems to be happening on a regular basis for many people. Know that what you like does not always equal what works on you. The easiest way to figure this out is just trying on clothes at your favorite boutique/store, and see if you can pull it off. It's free to try on clothes, you see. If you don't trust your judgement, recruit your fashion-obsessed buddy (there is always one around you) to come shopping with you to be your personal Tim Gunn-Anna Wintour hybrid. Trust me, a true fashionista would jump at an opportunity to be a stylist and trash talk hideous outfit without hurting your feelings.
The trick here is to tell apart a true fashionista from a textbook fashionista. A textbook fashionista never ventures outside of a fashion norm (thus, textbook), will stick to the safe zone, and consider everything outside of the safe zone as a "faux-pas." I suppose you won't go wrong with this kind of fashionista; however, you won't get any original, unique styling ideas from them, either. On the other hand, a true fashionista is not afraid to invent new looks that are original, or incorporate looks that are straight off of runway. I would say a true fashionista signature style would be ones that are stylish, yet original, and can easily pass as one of the photo spreads from a fashion magazine.
At least do regular maintenance.
Above statement can be shorted into two words: look clean. Truth is, most people can't tell if you got a $100 or $10 shirt on, but everyone can tell if your shirt has your lunch on it or looks like you slept on it. Proper clothes maintenance is all it takes, and by that I mean putting your laundry machine, ironing board, shower, and razor to good use. After all, it defeats the purpose if your clothes look clean and you don't... ;)
xx-N
"Fashionistas are not smart"
I bet this is one of the most-believed stereotypes. Also very untrue. Fashion is a form of art, and to produce an art piece, yes, you would need this vital organ called brain to work. A great work of art and regular day-to-day styling do not pop up from thin air. Fashion is something you work with everyday when you decide your outfit. Some people have a rather misguided concept that if you are brainy-smart, you can get away with a very unfortunate wardrobe choice. I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but this is not the case. On to the next topic...
"Looks does not matter, especially if you got the smarts"
Okay, before you turn green and go Hulk on me, you should know that I actually hope that this was true, as people should be judged by the inner beauty. Unfortunately, we don't live in the Disney world where your furniture will put up an amazing dinner show just because you are hungry. Since the first bits of yourself that gets registered to a stranger are highly visual, it's understandable that the said stranger would probably have some idea of who you are through your looks. You got the smarts, so why not work that to your advantage? But don't go sulk in the corner because you don't look like a supermodel. You do realize that a fashion model's job is to make the clothes look pretty, right? So, if you are a model, great job pulling off all sorts of outfits! As for the non-models, your job is to best project your inner beauty to your outer beauty, which really isn't that hard if you got the basics covered.
Know what works on you, and what don't.
The highway to fashion disaster is wearing something that doesn't suit you. This unfortunately seems to be happening on a regular basis for many people. Know that what you like does not always equal what works on you. The easiest way to figure this out is just trying on clothes at your favorite boutique/store, and see if you can pull it off. It's free to try on clothes, you see. If you don't trust your judgement, recruit your fashion-obsessed buddy (there is always one around you) to come shopping with you to be your personal Tim Gunn-Anna Wintour hybrid. Trust me, a true fashionista would jump at an opportunity to be a stylist and trash talk hideous outfit without hurting your feelings.
The trick here is to tell apart a true fashionista from a textbook fashionista. A textbook fashionista never ventures outside of a fashion norm (thus, textbook), will stick to the safe zone, and consider everything outside of the safe zone as a "faux-pas." I suppose you won't go wrong with this kind of fashionista; however, you won't get any original, unique styling ideas from them, either. On the other hand, a true fashionista is not afraid to invent new looks that are original, or incorporate looks that are straight off of runway. I would say a true fashionista signature style would be ones that are stylish, yet original, and can easily pass as one of the photo spreads from a fashion magazine.
At least do regular maintenance.
Above statement can be shorted into two words: look clean. Truth is, most people can't tell if you got a $100 or $10 shirt on, but everyone can tell if your shirt has your lunch on it or looks like you slept on it. Proper clothes maintenance is all it takes, and by that I mean putting your laundry machine, ironing board, shower, and razor to good use. After all, it defeats the purpose if your clothes look clean and you don't... ;)
xx-N
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