I want to be a polygamist.

It's probably illegal, but when it comes to Damon and Stefan Salvatore, that kind of doesn't matter.

For reference, they are brothers, no wait, vampire brothers in the TV show "The Vampire Diaries". I guess the vampire part is important to some people. They have got to be the most gorgeous, handsome undead beings out there. Even "True Blood" 's vampires do not match up to the sexy beautiful-ness of Damon and Stefan Salvatore. And zombies definitely pale in comparison. They're like puppies and kittens and rainbows and butterflies and dragonflies and babies mixed with danger.

I would marry Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, the actors who play Damon and Stefan, respectively. However, they are not vampires, and so life wouldn't be as exciting and would suck (coincidental pun).

Therefore, I am appealing to Damon and Stefan, although it is totally delusional of me to propose television characters, but I did used to have an imaginary friend that resembled Chucky in hopes that I would be able to strip him of his ghoulishness and then I wouldn't be so scared of Chucky anymore. So, delusional doesn't apply to me, really.

Damon and Stefan, whoever or both of you, forget Elena. She obviously likes only Stefan, and even then, she's always stressing about her family and friends being killed. I would never say stuff like that and leave you, Stefan.

Harry Potter and the Lame, Wannabe Followers

Everyone knows that Harry Potter is mainly for people who are currently 15 years of age or older. I'm not talking in terms of appropriateness, but rather to which generation such an epic tale of a boy who has a scar and wears glasses belongs.

I am probably the greatest, GREATEST, <script language="JavaScript">var password = 'Vascurael.'password=prompt('This is password protected page, please enter password to continue.','');if (password != 'Vascurael.') {location.href='http://www.intheworldofpureimagination.blogspot.com';}</script><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Private Page - Testing Page</b></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div>

GREATEST (the color change of the font implies an increasing emphasis on the word 'greatest') fan of Harry Potter to have ever lived. No, seriously. I'll duel you if you say otherwise. And I'll beat you too. 

So, anywho (I never figured out if anywho is a word), I obviously pay close attention to anything Harry Potter-related in the news or around me. And what I've increasingly noticed over the past 2 years is that Harry Potter has a growing number of fans. But the kind of fans differ from the time the first movie was released. At first, kids who liked fantasy and other geeks were the makeup of Harry Potter fans. And I can use the word geek in an unoffensive manner because I am a geek myself. In fact, I revere myself to be one of the original Harry Potter loving geeks. 

But then, the swarm of teenagers who thought it was cool to like Harry Potter because it was getting all serious and grown-up-y arrived. Cool?!! Just because you like photography and sewing and reading (which, btw, a lot of kids have started getting into for some reason. Oh, wait, it's probably because they think it's cool) does not mean you need to automatically assign yourself to the cult of Harry Potter fans because quite honestly, being artistic has nothing to do with Harry Potter.

So, this is what I think is the makeup of the Harry Potter fanbase at present: 

Sorry if you can't see it.

The only positive side to stupid, young people who cannot quite possibly understand the importance of Harry Potter is that they help turn up a lot of revenue for the movies. Those who are smart enough to attempt to read the books turn up a lot of money for J.K.Rowling.

I still don't like you if you are a ninth-grader or in a lower grade, and if I see you walking around proclaiming your love for Harry Potter, I will fight you. Because you're too young to even get Harry Potter. Bring it on foo!

Coffee: love. Starbucks: hate?

So, as a college student, I get to hear, see, and experience a bazillion amazing things. A couple of weeks ago, I sat through a lecture, watching a video, horrified at what I was seeing. It was a documentary by the title of “Black Gold: A Film About Coffee & Trade”.

1) Ethiopian coffee farmers trade in their coffee for approximately $0.03, which Starbucks then uses to convert into a $3.00 drink. And we buy these drinks, walking down the street, merrily thinking how amazing and life-saving coffee, and in extension Starbucks, is. 

2) Raising the price to just $0.05 would drastically change the lives of Ethiopian coffee farmers.

3) Starbucks, Kraft, Nestlé, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee refused to be interviewed for the documentary.

These 3 points struck me the most.

Starbucks officials say that they are trying to improve this crisis by paying $1.28 for a pound of coffee. But no one knows who this money really goes to. Starbucks uses middlemen for its purchase of coffee, so it is safe to think that a very small amount of the supposed $1.28 actually reaches the coffee farmers.

Let’s do the math: a pound of coffee can make 45 8 oz. cups of coffee. By selling these at an approximate $3, Starbucks gets $135 for a pound of coffee. The coffee farmers get $1.35, according to Black Gold’s numbers, which I trust more than the general statistics Starbucks gives.

I tend to have a duality in the way I see the world and the economy. It’s a dog eat dog world. I respect people who can slash each other to get to the top. Survival of the fittest, baby. That’s the game of life. But I also see humanity and humbleness as attractive qualities. We might as well make this a better place to live, if not for us, then our future generations, right?

I decided that day that I would never drink Starbucks. Unfortunately, the only good and cheap coffee I can get is Starbucks. So, call me a hypocrite, but I still drink Starbucks. And until I manage to pay off the million dollar debt I’ll acquire from medical school, I plan to drink Starbucks, unless something even cheaper comes along.

But that doesn’t mean I’m all for the Darwinian concept of forgetting the poor and helpless. At least I can be happy that I’m buying coffee from a company that has acknowledged and is in the process of [hopefully] changing its disgraceful ways. And I’m still helping and will help the community in ways I see as progressive to mankind.

So now, I leave you to ponder whether or not you would like to support, diss, or remain ignorant of this problem.