CARINA 360°: What IS Love?

With Valentine's day just around the corner, I feel it appropriate for a love blog.
And what I found was that love comes in many shapes and forms.

I was watching a show on the National Geographic Channel called Taboo.
The “taboo” topic was love.

In the show, they documented Dave Cat and his wife of 10 years, Shidore.
She has purple hair, glasses, silicone breast ... and skin.

She is a doll, but not your average Barbie.

She is what they call, "Love Dolls." Realistic, human looking dolls that cost around $6,500. The websites claim they are exactly like real women. They even have simulated sex organs. (Just like a real lady, but without all the nagging!)

What I found so shocking is that Cat truly feels love for his doll. Calling himself a "doll husband,” finding comfort knowing she won't reject him.

If he weren’t enough, a man was featured with nine doll girlfriends. For him, he said he doesn’t know how to charm an actual female to bed, so he settles for the dolls.

Think of it as “Lars and the Real Girl,” times ten.

In Australia, it was a different kind of love. Cameras followed a couple who practice “negotiated infidelity.” It’s almost like being swingers, but instead of watching your lover have sex with someone else, you leave them alone in the room.

Yes, while the boyfriend is in the living room reading a magazine, his girlfriend, is in their bedroom doing the dirty with a man she met at a bar.

The girlfriend, Holly Hill, who’s also an author about relationships, says to think men as monogamous is, “very naïve.” Also, If you want your men to stay, you got to let him have sex with other women. She sees it as a gift to her partner. If he’s doing something he likes, why would you feel bad?

However there are boundaries for this loving couple. Absolutely NO intimacy, purely sex.

Personally, I’m a one boy kind of girl. Besides, wasn’t the brain built to be monogamous?

Love is a hard thing to define. So For you, my readers, a question.

What is the definition of love?

One man and one woman for eternity? A warm fuzzy feeling?
One man and nine dolls?

I have discovered my blogger identity!

I love chocolate so much that I have decided to make it my blogger identity.

Researching, taste testing, conventions...you name it, I'll do it.

So, coming soon is a blog on latest "choco" research :)

(2-3 weeks)

iMissyRae 2.0: "Drexting"

It's 11:36 pm and I'm in a five seat Honda that hides seven teenagers within. Myself and four others sit crammed in the backseat, envious of the ones who sit comfortably in the driver's and passenger's seat. Another friend of our's lies on our laps, her head constantly hitting the door side at any bump or turn. Our arms lie on each other's shoulders to create an extra fraction of room for our cramped bodies. My chest feels vacant since no seat belt is holding me down and I glance at the others in the backseat; I see that they aren't wearing theirs either. This is illegal, this is illegal, I chant in my head, but push the thought away. At least we're having fun, I think. The windows are sweating droplets, and I crack my window open. The cold winter air finds its way into the car, and we all sigh out of pleasure. The once humid air in the car is now crisp and fresh, but I know I'll close my window once we begin to shiver. This cycle of opening/closing my window will continue on throughout the night and I laugh siliently.


We're driving, illegally I think, on the infamous "8 Mile Road" in Northern Stockton, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything supernatural. Numerous stories have circulated about the ghosts and monsters of this long stretch of pavement, and as adrenaline junkies, we crave fear. Jerry, our legally licensed, 17 year old driver, speeds past the suburbs of eight mile, and we smile at each other in anticipation. Beck Ranch, Spanos Park East, Trinity Parkway, West Spanos, and then nothing. The road becomes narrow, unlevel, bumpy, and the darkness engulfs the white car. Jerry's headlights highlight the road ahead but as I look out my window, I find nothing but shadows. I look at the clock on the dashboard and though it reads 11:43 pm, I feel as if time has stopped because of us, because of these stupid teenagers who are bound to be pulled over by an anxious and waiting policeman. I cringe at the thought and my heartbeat quickens. Stockton is far behind us, and the tiny road leaves no room for a U-turn. It's too late, I think.

Jerry turns the music off and we sit quietly as the car bobs this way and that on the uneven road. No one seems to be around for miles, and some see this as an opportunity to experiment with the darkness that surrounds the little car. "Turn off the headlights," pleads a friend. "I want to see what it looks like!" What a dumb question, I think. Of course it will be pitch black but Jerry finds this request amusing and in response turns off his high beams. The black night blinds us, and we are left with shadows and then nothing. Most scream while others exclaim how "fun" this is turning out to be. One other is letting out a stream of curses and yells at our driver. Jerry immediately turns his headlights back on and we take deep breaths to steady ourselves. Jerry's cell phone is vibrating and he glances down at it with longing.

"Keep your eyes on the road," I say.

We continue to drive past fields and trees, aimlessly pleading with fate to allow us to see something or hear something ominous and terrifying. But the mood shifts and soon we're laughing at a comment someone made about another one of our friends. I notice Jerry is driving quite faster now, pushing the speedometer towards 40, 45, 50, and soon 60. His phone buzzes again, and he seems reluctant to leave it sitting there all alone. He picks it up despite my scolding and looks down to read his text. The others continue to laugh when something catches my eye and I turn suddenly to the road ahead.

There is a red Mustang speeding towards us and I finally realize that Jerry has drifted into the other lane. The Mustang is frantically honking its horn at us and I realize that the road is to narrow for the car to escape. It's trapped, I think. I scream at Jerry to look ahead and he lets out a scream. The Honda swerves back into the right lane, and the Mustang speeds by unharmed. Exclamations of anger and fear arise and we skid to a stop on the side of the road while the mustang's horn blares in the distance. Elizabeth, the one who lies on our laps, is cursing angrily at Jerry and soon sits up to take his phone. Despite his angry plea, she throws his phone out the window and we are shocked into silence.

Soon we're driving everyone home and there are now only four of us in the car. I sit in the backseat, humming in the awkward quietness and let out a smug sigh.

"I told you not to look at your phone," I say.

BOOKWORM: top earning author??

I was surprised to hear that the above author ( James Patterson) was named one of the TOP EARNING AUTHORS. Just thought I would share it!

I was only really surprised because I hadn't heard of him until this book came out. It is really good, I've read it. Definite reccomendation.

New policies in place

This post is from Mr. Bott, the adviser.

We now have two blog editors, and they have introduced a policy whereby "personal posts," the type becoming frequent in the past few days, will no longer be our thing.

If someone wants to lament about a friend or an ex-friend, this will not be the place. We will put our focus back on issues of substance, not grudges and gossip.

Those posts, which inspired a whirlwind of comments, are in the process of being deleted now.

I trust you can find our blogging site a place to find exciting ideas.

That Religious Guy: Proud to be Pro-Life

..... This past Sunday, Fr. Joe's homily made an impact on me. Fr. Joe Maghinay has been with the parish at St. Luke's for a couple of years now, leading the weekly bible study and ministering to the Filipino Catholic community. His speech is spiced with a mild Filipino accent, but his vocabulary is never less than proper and refined. People sometimes complain that he is hard to understand and his homilies are too long, but he's still important to the parish. He's probably the most outspoken Pro-Life priest at St. Luke's, peppering his Sunday sermons with reprimands of society's pro-choice tendencies.

..... Today, however, I woke up repeating his words to the parish. As usual, he went up to the pulpit on the right side of the altar and opened with a joke. He continued the homily and slowly but surely, began raising and lowering his voice, a sign that he believes what he says. Like an undulating wave, his words crashed into me, imprinting their meaning in my mind. He faced the congregation and said, "Europe used to be the Christian capital of the world. Well, name a Christian country in Europe now." Those words were building on his previous thoughts in his homily, how Catholics are no longer the majority in the world's populations and how Muslims are overtaking us. His homily was not so much a tirade against the birthrate of Muslims, but against the abortions committed on the unborn in the U.S., many done by Catholics.

..... How can we claim to be Catholic, yet stand idley by and let this infaticide continue? How can you be pro-choice and Catholic at the same time? It's not only a theological oxymoron but pretty moronic itself. With the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade being spent with Pro-Life marches in the East and the West Coast Walk for Life in California, true Christians are letting the world know that we won't stand for further injustices. I'm glad that Roe supporters like Robert MacCartney are starting to realize that the Pro-Life movement is not ending anytime soon. Younger generations are now taking the charge.

..... A Pro-Life advocate came to our youth group once and told us that the Pro-Life movement is the civil rights movement of our day. I for one firmly believe this since we're fighting for an individual's right to life, something that supercedes another's "right" to choose murder.

- Jeremy Dela Cruz

iLogic: Feeling a Bit Much Like a Hypocrite

Okay so this issue I am writing an opinion story on the whole vampire thing and how it has gotten completely out of control with students on our [Stagg] campus. I talked about Twilight being a bad thing and how it was ridiculously stupid.

Well that was until last night when the movie came on and I watched it to get a better idea as to why people are so crazed about this fantasy novel and the movie. Some would say it is because of the guys and my reason is the story line. I feel like the biggest hypocrite alive because I swore left and right that I wouldn't watch that movie as long as I was alive.

Maybe it was good that I chose a story that was way outside my comfort zone but that is what journalism is all about. Getting a good story that people would like to read, even if it means going outside my own comfort zone. I watched Twilight and now I see things totally differently and when I watched shows like True Blood and the Vampire Diaries I didn't get it all to well.

The point is that I picked a story way out of hand for me well not way out of hand. Just beyond my comfy zone and who would have known that it could have turned out to be a great thing for me in the end. New Moon here I come. I still feel like the biggest hypocrite but, the old saying is true "Don't judge a book by its cover."