Being Special vs. Being "Normal"

All righty! My first inspired post! So I was putting away some clothes and I overheard a guy on the TV, which was showing "Chopped" on the Food Network, say, "I live in New York City, I've overdosed, I've been homeless." And now he's on TV competing with other cooks. It makes me think, what happen with all the other "normal unspecial" people? So for me, I would love to compete on the Amazing Race with Mike, but we'd never get picked. We're not a gay couple. We're not married for 50 years. We do not have any disabilities. We're not siblings. We're not two people with weird jobs. And I know they have to pick interesting people because of the ratings, but this also goes to college applications (or job interview or other stuff I guess) where you need an "oomph" story to be picked, to succeed. But not all of us have "oomph" stories to tell and share. Or do we? We all have our struggles and life is hard. We are all unique with different experiences. Sometimes same or similar, but still different. I guess in the end it just comes down to whoever is listening or reading your story to decide is the person who grew up on a farm and lived a farmer's life interesting or the one that was in a famous band and traveled the world and then became a recovering drug addict more special.

Wow, it's been almost 5 months since I last wrote and I don't think anyone is interested in xanga anymore. However, I have decided to start writing again. A little different from before. Still about myself, but more about random stuff that I would like to share. Too bad I'm not prepared with one already, hahaha. I am battling with fruit flies so I'll probably talk about that next. Also...assuming that I put my plan into action. Tralaa~

Cheap way to clean your down jacket

So me being me, I was too cheap to just take my WHITE down jacket to the dry cleaners and have them clean it. Instead, I did it myself. Here's what I did:

1) I filled the bathtub with water and put some detergent in it.
2) I then put my down jacket in the water and soaked it and squished it. Meaning I filled my jacket with soap water and then squeezed it out. In my case, the water turned black.
3) Then I drain the water and filled the tub again. I would continue step 2 until the water is no longer black. In the process, feel free to use a toothbrush or some brush to scrub your jacket clean.
4) Then, I threw my down jacket into the dryer. So this is the key part. When you "wash" your down jacket, all the feathers inside your jacket will get stuck together, thereby making your jacket look "thin". I learned the eventually the feather will dry out and then your jacket will return to normal. However, there are two (maybe three?) ways to dry your down jacket. One, you can put it in the dry for....I dunno, 3 hours? Make sure to fluff your jacket every 20 minutes or so. In my experience I had my down jacket in the dryer for 45 minutes and the jacket was dry, but not the feather. So it was still "flat". Two, if you choose to dry your jacket in the dryer, but not the feather, I suggest using the heater (which is what I did). After leaving my jacket over the heater over night, the feathers have dried out and then I was able to fluff and disperse them throughout my jacket. The third way is to airway the jacket, which would probably take a long while, especially in the winter time.
5) Basically, do not panic if your jacket has lost its shape and is now flat. Once the feathers inside have absolutely dried up, you will be able to fluff and disperse it and your jacket will be back to the way it was, but cleaner.

Goodbye my friend, I have finally let you go.

One year ago today my grandmother died.