Twitter + Tumblr = #success

Welp. I have joined Twitter and tumblr both in one week. I guess it's time for me to fully embrace the perplexing, overwhelming world of social media! #excitement (Hmm I still am not used to adding hash tags to words like that)

I just wanted to let all of you know that there are now other ways of contacting me and keeping up with TRA updates. 

Twitter: mainly for following my friends and keeping up with the news as well as provide another source for readers to discover The Red Angel Blog. @xtheredangelx

*Fun Note: My background (which happens to be a Twitter premade) matches my blog layout exactly! Thought that was cool. 

tumblr: this is simply another branch off of The Red Angel blog (which is where you are at now), except it's more informal, so feel free to follow if you'd like to get to know me on a slightly more personal level. xtheredangelx.tumblr.com

Additional ways you can contact me: 

Email: xtheredangelx@gmail.com

Facebook: Click here 

And, of course....HERE! :)

Twitter + Tumblr = #success

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Good Earth, Good Life

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite way to relax on a weekend? 

Last weekend, I picked up a box of Good Earth at the grocery store. I'd seen these products advertised in magazines, coupon books and other random places I can't remember. Since the start of the new semester, I have been trying to eat healthier. Less chocolate, fewer bags of chips (Smartfood popcorn is still fair game, of course), more green and more whole-grain. So far, I've been semi-successful. 

Let me tell you, being a healthy college kid isn't easy. I manage to stay away from caffeine despite long, sleepless nights of studying around students living off of six cups of coffee a day. I remember to grab extra pieces of fruit on my way out of the dining hall. I even take a couple of naps during the week. But the one thing I can't seem to have enough time for is make dinner. When I go home after a long, hard day's work, I just don't have the energy or the patience to make a full-out meal for myself. In the end, I find myself microwaving a frozen pizza or Easy Mac. 

So when I bought this...

I got really excited.

I mean, here is a dinner that encompasses the most essential food groups (sweets not included) and takes less than half an hour to cook. Most of the ingredients are included in the box and the penne is 100% whole-grain. The night I decided to give Good Earth a shot, I tossed in some mushrooms just to give it a little more veggie-oomph. 

How did it turn out? 

Excellent. Talk about nom-nom-nom. You can't tell me the photo above doesn't make you salivate even a little bit. Okay, I admit...the photo quality isn't great. But still, it was REALLY. Really. Good. Definitely beat Easy Mac, anyhow. 

Have any of you tried Good Earth before? If so, what was your impression of this quick-and-easy Olive Garden substitute? 

To my college friends, you should totally try this! Perfect for making in the dorm kitchen. 

Good Earth, Good Life

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"How Old Are You?" "Why Does It Matter?"

QOTD: How old are you? Do you personally think that age really matters? 

Sometimes I wish I could forget my age. Why are our lives measured so heavily upon how old we are, and not instead by the experiences we have been through and the amount of knowledge we have absorbed? I have conflicting feelings about my age.....I am 19 years old, but have always looked at least five years younger, which I tend to feel defensive about. (Bring on the kids' menus!)

But then again, I wish I could I could forget that I am 19, because I don't want to grow up. What does it mean to be grown up? Have a job, a family and independence? That certainly seems to be the norm definition. Yet, I have met quite a few young people and also children who were much more mature, more mentally independent and more self-aware than many grownups I have encountered. 

I'm not bashing adulthood, of course. I am merely approaching the question as to why age is such an influential factor in how we are perceived by others and how we see them. If someone knows your age, they automatically begin to judge you--either consciously or unconsciously--based on that. Oh, you're 19? You must be in college because that's where a lot of 19-year-olds are at your age. You're 14? You don't know understand what it means to be in love....you're not "at that stage" yet. 

I am a naturally easygoing and positive person. I act very lighthearted and silly all the time, but that makes people further believe I am very young. I get told that I act very childish. Why? Is it because I am always cheerful and jocular, and don't act like I have a care or worry in the world? Do they think I live a life through rose-colored glasses? No, I act those ways because I learned that even if things are going terribly for me, I won't nearly feel half as bad if I keep a smile on my face. I have worries just like any other human being, but why is it that just because I don't actively show or share my burdens with the people I interact with, I am perceived as a child? 

Today, I saw a man in his late 40's in my history class. He is a college student. 


Thoughts? 

"How Old Are You?" "Why Does It Matter?"

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The Art of Sophomore Swag

QOTD: What brand and flavor of chewing gum would you recommend for someone you don't like? (You thought it'd be another "favorites" question, didn't you?)

These are so true. 

Note: If you don't know what swag is, click here. And just so you know, I love first years, and I loved my first of college. :)

Living the year of a college sophomore can only be described as a trip through a very, very strange time machine. A set of twenty-four hours swishes by fast, so that the days seem to blend in and suddenly a week has felt more like one extremely long day. One minute I'm on top of the world, the next minute I'm back at the bottom scrambling for the top again. It feels like I have only been in school for a week, but no--it is already September and here I am, faced with history papers to write and mid-term exams that loom head. 

Here is a typical day in college (AKA the time machine): 

8:00 am Wake up, snooze for twenty extra minutes, and then skim through the chapter of my history textbook that I should have read last night (but was too busy following my BFFL's Facebook statuses and doing my Statistics homework). I am transported back in time to the Reconstruction era of the late 1800's.

9:40am Stuff toast in my mouth and take the local transit to school. 

10:00am Political Science class (in case you're wondering, it's Introduction to American Government). For the next hour, my classmates and I are political candidates of the next election at a primary debate (the kind you watch on Fox news), discussing......issues.

11:00am Play in the library (play = Facebook, blog, Skype, three Statistics problems). Chortle at the first years also in my Poli Sci class, who are sitting a few tables down poring over the Blackboard assignments that aren't due until next month. 

12:00pm Nudge my way through the dining hall and wait half an hour in line just to buy myself a sandwich. Eat a thirty-minute lunch with a friend. 

1:00pm  History class (American History after the Civil War). I take a quiz on the content I read half an hour ago. I freak out about my grade, get my grade back, sigh and then say, "I knew it was no big deal! I learned this in high school after all." For a while, I'm back in my Honors U.S. History class again. 

2:00pm Arrive at my Language class, huffing and puffing like my chest is about to explode. Translate for an hour. 

3:00pm Stop by the dining hall to grab a smoothie and a slice of the world's best pizza. Chortle at some more first years who ask the cashier what the difference between Flex and Expense plans are again. Go back to the library and start playing (play = Facebook, blog, Skype, and three pages of history reading). 

3:15pm Check my Google Calendar and realize I have a meeting in 15 minutes. FREAK OUT. 

3:20pm Dash out of the library and forget where Gardner Hall is (even though I remember being there before). I end up asking a couple of first-years where I can find Gardner Hall. I take a shortcut (which a sophomore told me about last year) and get there at 3:29. I begin to think maybe there's something called karma after all. 

4:00pm Lie out on the quad with friends and start looking for cloud formations. Pretend we're in space. Play Frisbee and feel like a kid again. Get sunburned. 

5:00pm Attend another meeting. 

6:00pm Go back to the library. Study for real this time because I remember I have a language quiz tomorrow (no playing). Panic because I keep forgetting words that I learned last semester. Miss my old study buddy (who is studying abroad, lucky duck). Wish I was a first-year again. 

7:00pm Go home. Eat dinner. Call Mom and Dad, who remind me to take a shower and tell me they can't believe I'm a sophomore already. I concur. 

8:30pm Take a shower. 

9:00pm Statistics homework (due tomorrow morning). Facebook, Skype, blog. Youtube, too. 

1:00am Stumble into bed. 

Repeat. 

The Art of Sophomore Swag

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Remember 9/11

QOTD: Where were you 10 years ago?

My heart goes out to those who died during the 9/11 attack and to those who lost family members and were remained behind. You are in our prayers, always. 

Remember 9/11

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Dear, you.

QOTD: What salutation do you prefer to use and receive? 

Perhaps in my mind I am living in the Middle Ages when Old English was still the norm, but when I receive a letter or a message that begins with "Dear," I can't help but feel as though I'd just swallowed a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup or received a big bear hug from an old friend. 

Nowadays, the salutation "Dear" seems to be most often used between co-workers, in student emails to instructors, and other more professional and formal written exchanges of communication. What I love about "Dear" is not only the respect embedded within the word, but also the fact that it carries such an affectionate sense of caring, fondness and amiability. We have gotten so caught up in today's convenient "American language" and colloquialism that acknowledgments such as "Hey," "Hi," and "'Sup" have replaced more traditional ways of greeting people. 


Of course, I would be a fool as to say that I myself don't use those expressions, because I do. All the time. That being said, I will always have a soft spot for the word "dear," and try to use it when I can and when it's appropriate--even when I am just writing friends. I like to give them the sense of warm, glowing fuzziness that I tend to get when someone calls me "dear." It's just nice to hear, you know? 


Just for fun, here is one of my favorite clips that show the cast of Harry Potter speaking "American." Hilarious. 

What do you think about the progression of the American language over the years? Should the degree of respect and formality in salutations really matter? Is it really that important to use greetings at the beginning of an email or a chat session on Facebook? 

Dear, you.

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