Overlooking the Obvious

Today is Red Rose Day! This one actually took some work to find, as my original holiday list was almost lost, and seemed like it had been dated wrong due to some technological thing that I am not meant to understand. However, I have fixed everything and you can stop crying.

Roses are one of, if not the, most desired flowers across the world. Why? Because according to public opinion they are pretty. Some might even argue that they are the prettiest. I don't know about that, but I do agree with them definitely having a special kind of beauty to them.

Roses, especially red roses, have a tendency to be the flower always, always, always used for romantic scenes of any sort in any fictional or non-fictional expressive medium. This can make the rose seem like a common flower with no real special meaning or aspect. It's been seen by you so much you almost forget that it is indeed very pretty. Well, you don't really forget. You know, but you know it so well that you almost don't even think about it. You might say "Well, a lily is the prettiest flower". To which I respond "What about a red rose?". You then say "Oh. Well, that hardly counts because of course it would win."

That's the best illustration I can come up with when I'm this hungry. I'm trying to say that it is such a powerful beauty that is so very exposed to us that it almost becomes commonplace. Of course it's beautiful. We can just overlook it sometimes because it's so apparent.

I hear explaining illustrations like that ruins the illustration itself, but this is my blog and I can do what I want. a;jfhpwhrkgivwutehbeothf

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

A nose by any other name...

... would still smell.

Today is Fragrance Day! It's fairly obviously dedicated to the more fragrant things such as flowers, fresh baked sweets, and perfume. Ladies will probably be better at this holiday, so to them I say: Select your favourite perfume/soap/shampoo/over-all scent and wear it proudly today. This next talk is between me and my fellow man, so if you are a lady, feel free to stop reading here.

Okay, guys, I don't know what it is about us, but let's face it: We stink sometimes often a lot of the time and simply don't realize it. Today is a day to not do that. Take a shower, shampoo your hair and repeat the lather like it says to on the bottle. You might even go crazy and condition. It never hurt anybody. Now see that oddly shaped, smooth rock on the side of the wall? Yeah, the one with the carving in it? Yeah that's actually soap and not a decorative statue. You're gonna take that and and put it everywhere on you. Now when you're done with the shower, dry off and put some deodorant on. WHOA STOP RIGHT THERE! I know you started reaching for that body spray. No, use REAL deodorant. The kind that stops smells instead of hoping that a cloud of AXE Phoenix will just cover up anything that happens to your shirt today. I'm talking to you, 8th graders. Feel free to spray a little on, but don't overpower anybody. It helps to not use AXE, too. I'm beginning to think that AXE might mean "Ouch! My nose. Where is the gas leak?" In some ancient language. Their stick deodorant is fine though.

Well, that's about all I can do for ya. Oh don't forget to put clean clothes on. I almost wasn't going to mention clothes since today is Fragrance Day and not Fashionista Day. However, it just occurred to me how comfortable we are with wearing the same clothes for several days. Do not do that. Wear something clean. If you don't have anything clean, then go buy new clothes. And find a local laundromat. Soon. Buy some minty gum, too. Because as it turns out, girls don't like breakfast burrito breath. Who would have thought, right?

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

P.S. Mango is possibly one of the best smells in my opinion.

Flowers in the sidewalk

Today is Festival of Life in the Cracks Day! This holiday was quite difficult to find any solid information on, but I think I now have a good idea of what it means. I'm fairly sure that anyone who has ever walked on a sidewalk has seen a crack from which a plant is growing or thousands of ants are traveling in and out of. Those would be examples of life in a crack. Now, I know that most of the things that live in those places are not usually on the top of our celebrating list. After all,  cracks, crevasses, and holes are where the creepy crawlers live. No person in their right mind would put their hand under a shady rock in the desert, and they definitely wouldn't celebrate the scorpion that they find. But, today is their day of celebration. That doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to have a one-on-one talk with that spider under your fridge that seems to just be sitting and waiting for its perfect chance to bite your toes, though.

I like to think of it as more of a celebration of the fact that life even can exist in such a place. They're small, dark, and cramped enough that I hardly even notice them most of the time. When I do think about it, though, it's pretty cool that a flower can find it's way through the tiniest little hole in the concrete. If anything, it stands out more than a flower in a field of flowers like it. I know that the flower in the cement is hardy simply because of where it has grown out of. Not to mention the bright color of it's petals in front of grey cement just makes it more noticeable.

So, if you really wanted to, you could make this a day to remember that a life in the cracks, although it can feel small, dark, and cramped, can be very rewarding after you get through that space. Much like the flower in the cement, it's easy to tell which people in life have been through some difficult situations or cracks in their life and come out better for it. Take today to also celebrate that they, like the flowers, are examples that it can be done.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle