Day 11: My Siblings

I'm kind of bored tonight (I don't have The Tudors running as background noise) so I'm going to write two blog posts tonight!

This is my little sister Pooka. And me photo-bombing in the background. My dad got her a pet snake for Christmas 2 years ago, so that is Pistachio she's holding. I jokingly told her that because he's green, he should be named Pistachio. She agreed. Pooka is weird. She's 16 years old and is currently a Junior. We've never been that close since there's a 4 year difference between us, but we're starting to be. She's one of the reasons I'm moving back to Arizona, but she doesn't know that so SH! She plays Trumpet and Piano and likes to be a weirdo. She wants to be some sort of Scientist when she graduates, but if she doesn't get to go out of state, she's going to join the Military. I'm proud of her for trying to be strong with my parents, but I know it's not easy for her, so i'm going to try to help her assert herself when I move back. My dad won't like it very much, but she needs to be able to stand up for herself.

These two are my step-siblings. They're Franks kids. Arielle and Skippy. Arielle is a year younger than me and Skippy is a year older than me. Arielle thinks i'm funny and laughs at almost every joke I put out there, which makes me feel super awesome, and the only thing I know about Skippy is that he likes collecting comic book "action figures" and he likes giving the D. Ladies. Wouldn't recommend it, personally. But he's my step-brother so what do I know?

Here's an old picture of all of us for your enjoyment. We're all so sexy and in High School. Yay. 

And I guess I can do a special shout out for Marie's daughters. My dad seems so happy with her, that they'll probably become my step-sisters at some point. I don't know much about any of them. I've only met them like once. But, I'll let you know if/ when the wedding comes along. I'll probably post some pictures of it too!

Day 10: What I Wore Today

You guys are lucky I actually had something to do today, otherwise you would be getting pictures of me in my pajamas. While I'm pretty much always super smexy, i'm not sure I want to put pictures of me in pajamas on the internet.

So before anybody asks, I am not pregnant. I know this for a fact. This shirt just has ruching in an unfortunate place. But a beige shirt and dark wash jeans. Dark wash is my absolute favorite, and I'm liking shirts with more of a classy feel to them lately. Don't get me wrong, I like to show off the girls every once and awhile, just not as much I used to. This would actually be one of my favorite shirts if not for that unfortunate ruching. It's still well liked though.

Today's makeup and hair combo. Again, if I didn't have something planned today, you would have messy hair and no makeup pictures. This is a great improvement. I have a pixie cut right now so there's not much I can do with my hair these days, so this is my go-to style. It goes along with the classy look imo. Makeup is just eyeliner and mascara. I don't spend 30 minutes putting 4 layers on my face just to look au naturale. I'll put on an extra layer if i'm breaking out, but that only happens one week out of the month so there's not much practice there.

It snows in Iowa, I went outside today. So I wore snow boots today. They've got fluffy faux fur that keeps my toesies warm (they get cold really easily) and straps that criss cross all over. The one thing I don't like about these boots is: The very top strap on the boot always falls when I'm walking, making the boots look kinda stupid. But I was driving a lot more than anything today, so they didn't do that too often.

And....that's it. I'm so in fashion huh?

Day 9: My Beliefs

Beliefs are a complicated thing. Many people pair beliefs with religion, but I wasn't brought up with a religion. My father was brought up Lutheran, but is atheist; My mother was brought up Mormon, but no longer believes in their values. I've never read the Bible or any other religious texts, although there were Bibles in my home growing up. I think one even has my name on it. The few times I went to church with parents, was to a Lutheran church, and when I stayed with my Aunt and cousins, they would take me to the Mormon church. I was basically left to my own devices to come up with what I want to believe, which is how I think it should be, personally.

I believe to have a true belief in anything, your beliefs have to change over time. No matter how small. We learn things as we grow older. Our views on the world change almost every day. So why shouldn't our beliefs change too? I don't believe in the same thing that I did when I was in High School, I don't expect to believe in the same thing 10 years from now. I do think that there should be basics that you believe in, and I have outlined my basics below.

• The number one thing I do believe in, and always have, is Reincarnation. There's no proof of it of course, but what real proof is there of Heaven? 
• I do believe in angels. I couldn't tell you how they come about, but in my mind, they're another form of life. I also believe in demons. Just as there are (at the very basic level) good and bad humans, there are good and bad angels. We just call the bad ones demons.
• I do not believe in any sort of God. I don't believe in creationism either, but do believe that if a God created us, He gave life to Earth at the very beginning and left us to flourish or wither on our own. I don't think he's around today to govern us or disapprove of our choices in life.
• I disagree with making kids go to church every single day. I think they should be taught about every religion out there, and make their own choice when the time comes along. Basically forcing a religion on them when they're too young to understand what belief really is, is wrong in my opinion. 
• Baptism does nothing in my opinion. Congratulations, you dunked the kid. I understand it may soothe parents when their child doesn't have long in this world, and I have no quarrel with that, so I won't say more on the subject.
• If there is a God, I don't think he would want us to waste our time every week to worship him. If he wants to be a God that demands attention, then he should be here demanding it. I've heard of no repercussion from not going to church every week, or whatever your religion does. 

There are caveats in my own beliefs though; I'm not quite sure how millions of people could be wrong. But the issue with that, is that there are millions of people in every single mainstream religion, and even the ones that aren't so mainstream. Are they all just followers then? Sheep?

I asked a Mormon friend when I was in Elementary school why God "put" spaghetti strap shirts on Earth if he didn't want us to wear them. She told me it was a test on whether or not we would sin by wearing the shirts. I asked her why he didn't "take" the shirts away again if we didn't pass, and he didn't like them. She had no answer for me. She did, however, get very mad at me because I was questioning her religion. If you truly believe something, don't get mad when people question it.

I do get angry when people tell me i'm wrong to believe what I believe and that I will go to hell because of it, but that's because I don't agree with telling people that what they believe is wrong. You have no proof that what you believe is right so stay out of my beliefs.

I think that's enough of the word Believe and it's variants. I don't mean to be pithy, and I'm sorry if I ever come across that way. 

over and out.

Day 8: A Moment

Can I write about an imaginary moment? No? Well then I dunno what I'm going to write about. There's so much that's happened in my life and to pick one moment is nearly impossible. Or two I guess since I'll have to write about another moment later on down the list. So then: my moment.

I'm not sure what day it was. Or even what month. I just know that it stands out in my mind, and probably will for the rest of my life. I had a migraine that day. I came home from school, laid down on the couch and took a nap. When I woke up, I noticed I had missed dinner so went to go find something for me to eat. That's when I heard it. The yelling coming from the office just a couple of paces away.

The doors were closed, and I knew better to go in and investigate. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I had this great feeling of dread come over me. I was no longer hungry. I started to walk across the living room to go find my sister and comfort her. To hide in our rooms until the fight was over.

Another noise, one I hadn't ever heard before started up. I looked toward the office with fear and that's when it happened. The double doors of the office were flung across the room in a way I never thought would happen. My dad came storming out soon after swearing like I had never heard before and went out the front door, slamming it behind him.

Frozen in place by the scene that I had just witnessed, I realized why I felt the dread. It was finally happening. My mother had warned my sister and I the summer prior that things were not well with her and dad. That a divorce was just over the horizon. We all cried together and went on with our lives. I never expected it to explode this way.

My mother walked out a couple minutes later, visibly shaken and crying.  She came over, gave me a hug, said she was sorry, and then sent me back to my room. I went to my little sisters' room instead. She was sitting on the edge of her bed. Just staring at the ground. She was old enough to know what was happening, but not old enough to remember a lot of the fights that had happened when we were younger. Several still stand out in my mind.

It seems like no time had passed at all when we heard the front door slam shut again. More yelling. Our house echoed, so we could hear everything that was said this time around. The words slut, whore, douche bag  and cheating were prevalent. I had never heard my parents fight on this level. It was obvious where this fight was leading.

I was dumb, and thought I could do something. I left my sisters' room and walked up to where my parents were fighting. My dad was yelling in my moms face. His face was red and spit was flying everywhere. My mother stood as stoic as she could, tears no longer falling from her eyes. I don't remember what I said. But my dad just turned and yelled at me, and my mother just looked at me and shook her head. Crying, I headed back to my sisters room and tried to comfort her while she silently cried alongside me.

Silence. A good solid hour of it. Pooka and I had calmed down enough to do stuff in our own rooms. I cleaned. I think she was reading. We heard someone walking down the hall, and my dad appeared soon after. It was the first time i'd seen him cry. "Your mother left me" he told us. He couldn't look either one of us in the eye. "Can I have a hug please? I just really need a hug from my two little girls." The roles were reversed. We hugged him as he cried. I don't know how long we stood there; I don't remember anything else about that night. It's just a moment in time, stuck in my memory forever.

Day 7: My Best Friend

I'm just gonna tell you right now, I have two best friends. So this post is going to be doubly awesome. Don't be too jealous.

These two lovely ladies are my bestest friends ever. They both make me laugh and I talk to both quite a bit. They're both pretty ladies, and pretty fantastic!

This is Flit. She's the blonde one in this picture, just in case you couldn't tell, since I look like a llama. Flit and I met in 9th grade biology. The teacher kept sitting us next to each other and our relationship just kind of flourished because of it. She's my sister at heart and I love her to death even though my dad kind of hates her, which is a story for a different time. Ally plays the piano beautifully and has a ghetto ass car. Her dad works on cars and lowered it for some reason before he gave it to her so now she scrapes her bumper on absolutely everything. She has a gorgeous tail-less kitty named Minxy who supposedly hates everyone but crawls into my lap and starts purring every time I come over. There's actually a story behind her nickname, although it's not a very good one. One day we decided that we needed nicknames, because we had been BFF's for awhile and didn't have any. I don't know how we came up with Flit and Meiko, but I do know we meant it to be after Flit and Meeko in Pocahontas. I'm sure it was just us joking around one night and it just kind of stuck. I'm hoping to get an apartment with her in May so we can get on each other's nerves and I can screen every boy that she dates.

This darling girl is Auntie Lem. She's not my aunt, she's actually my cousin. We grew up together, and we have been talking a lot lately. I confess, I hadn't started thinking of her as a best friend until lately, but I realized that she's been a really good friend at the very least for a long time. I wouldn't give her up for the world, and i'm glad that we've started talking again. We love Moulin Rouge and quote it all the time. We also listen to the music every time we take a car ride together. She's a fantastic cello, piano, and organ player and I'm super jealous of her mad skills. 

She's getting her degree in Teaching of the Elementary variation if I remember correctly.

The story behind Auntie Lem's nickname is definitely better than Flit's; there's an actual thought process behind it. When we were wee little things, her nickname was Lemon. I don't know the story behind that one, but that's what we all called her. Everyone always talked about when she was going to be an aunt, she was going to be called Auntie Em. I suggested Auntie Lem when we found out that she was going to be an aunt, and two beautiful little girls later, it's stuck. At least for me. I dunno if her nieces call her something else. I'm gonna make sure to visit her at school a couple of times, and when summer rolls around, we're definitely hanging out more!

So those are my girlfriends. They're super smart and super adorable and life would be boring without them. And I love them so much, that I think you deserve to see them one more time!

This is my favorite picture of us <3

Giraffes are my favorite and she's riding one :(

Day 6: My Day

So today has had its ups and downs. But because today's post is supposed all about today, I guess I should start from the beginning.

I woke up and watched some of "The Tudors". When I say "watched" I mean I turned it on and halfway watched it while browsing Pinterest. That got boring after awhile and I realized that I hadn't watched the season finale of Downton Abbey yet, so I did (Matthew dies! </3).

I talked to my dad for a little bit, checked my email a few dozen times, and then started really looking for jobs for when I move back to Arizona (did you know 3 years of customer service and experience with a cash register does not really transfer anywhere well. You're just stuck in the same business over and over again.) After getting discouraged, I called my mom and talked to her for a bit. She cheered me up and suggested I look into being a waitress.

I had some Subway for lunch (jealous Auntie Lem?) and then sat myself down and started applying at Chili's and Starbucks. I started applying for Outback, but I misspelled my last name on accident and didn't realize I had until the end of the application when they wouldn't let me change it. So I scraped that project.

I was also updating my information on my care.com profile and came across a lady who needed her daughter watched for a couple of hours this week and a little bit in March. Applied for it and actually got it!

So not everything went bad today. Definitely not my best day, but at least I still have hope. And something to get my out of my normal routine, even if it is just a couple of days.

Over and out.

Blue

I've been on an emotional high the past week or so. I feel like my life has gotten back on track, and it felt great. I'm enrolled in college, I've got the next year of classes hypothetically figured out, and I get to see my family again. I have plans to get an apartment with Flit at some point in time this next summer, and have been on such a high that i'm planning out what things I want to get for it, and just imagining my life.

My dad works at one of the local electrical companies in Arizona, and told me about a job offer for a Customer Service Representative. It'd be a great opportunity for me, since I have around 3 years of customer service experience. The bonus was that it pays just around $16 an hour, which almost doubles the pay that I got at my last job. I figured I was a shoe-in since referrals are the number 1 way to get your foot in the door. That and I have good references and a lot of experience in that area.

Well, I was talking to my dad today, and apparently, he also referred one of Marie's daughter to the position too. She got an email from the company yesterday asking for a phone interview. I have no such thing in mine. I have since emailed the staffing part of the company asking about my application status, but I'm not sure I expect to hear anything back.

Now, my sister is 4 years younger than me. I have not had to compete with her for anything. She's still in High School right now, and would not be qualified for the job at all. So it was a great surprise that now I have to compete with Marie's youngest daughter to get a job. I know i'm being petty and jealous, but it's not something i'm used to at all. And I don't care for it. If you're going to refer someone to a position, refer only one; Or if you're going to do more than one referral, make sure they don't know each other. At all. On the very basic level, he's pitting us against each other.

I'm gonna stop being a child now though, and just hope that they just haven't sent an email out for me yet. Wish me luck!

Over and out.

Paper and Pen

So my day has been mentally busy. I've been trying to figure out a schedule for myself when I start school so I know if I have times to do all the important things I want back in my life. Work, school, and exercise were the 3 the main things that I was slotting time for.

It seemed like a simple task when I got started: wake up early, exercise, school, work, then homework. It's so much more than that though. I had to figure out the class hours I would take and when I would take them, what time I would have to get up in the morning and how long could my workout be? It would've been easier if I had an actual class schedule, but I haven't registered for any classes yet, so it's all hypothetical right now.

I ended up talking to a cousin that is going through the same thing right now, and I had an epiphany. I realized that while I was writing down when I could take the classes, my mind was assuming that I was going to work every afternoon. However, I only plan on working 4 days a week, and that made things a whole lot easier.

I also decided to look up my required classes at the community college that I plan on attending. Only 31 hours are required so I did some math, and found that I could do that in a year and I don't even have to be full time. I can take 9 credit hours online this summer and then do 10 hours first semester and 12 hours second semester.

Do you like all the hard work I did? There are 7 pages filled of all my hard mental work.

The only issue I can see with all of this, is that there were no core classes at all. No complaint over here, as I hate English, but it does concern me a bit. That's my only concern though.

I'm sure this post has been boring for you guys, but it's exciting for me. I'm happy to get my life back on track, and I'm happy to be busy again. I'm also really excited to move and see all my friends and family again.

Over and out.

Politically Charged

So first of all, I did not write the whole of this post myself. It was written as a status by a Josh Fielder. I do not personally know him, but I agree with much of what he says and think it deserves to be out there along side everything else. So here goes: Sorry it's a bit long!

*Update: I realized I copied and pasted it weirdly, and have since corrected it.*

So, here's my two cents (which will end up being closer to $1.50 I'm sure) and I'm sure I will regret posting this later, due to the "friends" I will lose while exercising my First Amendment, but here goes. Instead of posting a meme with a picture and a falsely attributed quote or a made up statistic, I've spent my time researching the gun violence/gun control debate. And I'd like to talk about some of the pervasive themes I've seen lately.
First off, Hitler did not say "In order to conquer a country, you must first disarm its citizens." In fact, Hitler made it his position to enable guns to be obtained more easily.http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/disarm.asp
Secondly, the presidents, and I mean ALL of them, and their families, receive death threats on a daily basis. President Obama did not enact the regulations that REQUIRE Secret Service protection for him and his family. If you believe your children are as much of a target as the president's children, then you have a self inflated idea of your position in this world.http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml
Thirdly, there is NO law or bill being considered that would allow anyone to come marching into your home to take your legally obtained and legally owned firearms. There are possible laws that are being explored that would require more responsibility on the part of the gun owner or person purchasing a gun (i.e. pass a background check even if buying a gun from a gun show dealer). If you buy a car from a dealer it must be registered (a record of the transfer is documented). If you buy a car from a private citizen, it must be registered. If you buy a gun from a dealer, there is a record of that sale and it is registered. So how is it illogical to require the same for private sales of firearms?
Fourth, there are not more people being killed with baseball bats than guns. If you disagree with that because you saw a picture stating otherwise on the internet, then I would like to offer you the chance to buy some oceanfront property in Arizona and I'll throw in the Brooklyn Bridge for free. There is no magical solution for solving the problem of gun violence. THAT is what we need to solve. http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/baseballbats.asp
We don't ban cars that are used in DUI related deaths, but we do enact regulations regarding blood alcohol limits, prosecute people who enable a drunk driver to operate a vehicle after serving them, promote a DUI campaign raising awareness and educating drivers on the dangers of driving while intoxicated. All of which has reduced DUI related fatalities by over 40% in a decade. http://www.centurycouncil.org/drunk-driving/drunk-driving-statistics
The media is not hiding other gun related stories because they want to sensationalize the problem, they are simply unable to cover every gun death story because there would be an average of 80 of them each day. So they concentrate (unfortunately) on the massacres which I think we can all agree, happen all too often.
I find the fact that more children are killed in the US by guns than in the entire Middle East region, very disturbing.
I find it disturbing that the NRA blames the rise in violent shootings on video games and then comes out with its own shooting video game (categorized for children as young as 4 years of age) less than a month after Newtown. 
I find it disturbing that instead of looking for a solution to a problem like Newtown, there are people wasting their time and energy by trying to turn it into a conspiracy theory. 
I find it disturbing that guns are the third largest killer of children ages 5-14 in the US.
I find it disturbing that a child in America is 12 times more likely to be killed with a gun than the rest of the "developed" world.I find it disturbing that there are more guns privately owned in America than the next SEVENTEEN countries combined.I find it disturbing that all of these statistics are not discussed but fake statistics about a baseball bat death rate are plastered everywhere.I find it disturbing that some people believe that the ONLY answer to this problem is more guns. Banning all firearms is NOT the answer, which is exactly why it's not being proposed. This country has enacted laws that didn't work before, so they've been revised, repealed, reformed, etc. It's ludicrous to think that as a society, we evolve, but the laws governing us cannot? The NRA states that the assault weapons ban didn't work the first time. Well, you know what they say, "If at first you don't succeed, f*%k it.".If armed guards are the only answer to ending school shootings, then explain the VT shooting. Virginia Tech had an entire police department complete with a SWAT unit. Explain Columbine, which had an armed officer on staff. When discussing an end to gun violence in schools, there should be NOTHING left off of the table. Ronald Reagan, a huge gun proponent and signor of the Brady Bill, wrote to Congress in 1994 asking them to propose legislation limiting or stopping altogether the manufacture of guns classified as assault weapon. And anyone saying "assault weapon" is a made up term should remember that every word in every language is, in fact, made up.And yes, criminals don't typically obey laws, but we still have them. Can you use that logic to say there should be none at all? No.Let me be clear, I am NOT anti gun. I have nothing against guns or responsible gun owners. I served proudly in the military, I worked in armed security, I've hunted, and enjoy target shooting since I was a kid. And I'm sure most gun enthusiasts are the same way. However, this issue should be discussed logically and rationally, and all I see are comments and pictures that are anything but rational and for the most part, are just viral, inflammatory, unresearched, vitriol. The president enacted 23 executive actions today, of which only 2 have anything to do with limiting the availability of a category of gun or a magazine capacity. The remaining 21 deal with aspects regarding background checks, school safety and mental health system requirements and deficiencies. Will it be a perfect solution? No. Will it help? We'll see. Is it better than doing nothing? Definitely. If we keep using the statement, "It's too soon to talk about it." after each tragedy, pretty soon, we'll never talk about it. OK, so maybe it ended up closer to $2.00 instead of 2 cents. So sue me.


Over and out.

Day 5: My Definition of Love

Love is a many splendored thing, Love lifts us up belong, all you need is Love! Sorry, Moulin Rouge is kind of a favorite. See it if you haven't.

Love to me, is many different things. I believe you can love many different things in many different ways. I also don't believe all love lasts. It may diminish or grow over time, but when you love and have loved someone, a little part of them will stay with you forever. You don't even have to remember them, it can be a quirk or a trait or even knowledge that you picked up from them.

I will admit that if you say those 3 words to everyone, it can lose it's meaning. I have a friend that tells everyone he loves them, but what happens if he wants to become more than friends with one of his friends? Then it'll be hard to get his feelings across.

I know one of the big issues of today's society is whether or not gay men and lesbians should marry because it's "so unholy" and the "bible doesn't allow it". I was not religious and have no formal religion, so screw the bible. As long as they love each other, then they should be married.

I'm not quite sure what else to say about love. There's not one formula for it so I'm not going to pretend to know it. Instead, I shall leave you with one more quote from Moulin Rouge.

"Look my dear, a little frog!"

Over and out.

Pants on Fire

Ok so I just changed my background and stuff, as I'm sure you noticed. As much as I loved that star decoration, it was a tad bit dark. I've had this recent infatuation with stripes and I realized as I was looking for free backgrounds (Idk how to write HTML script) that I love the color Navy. Like I absolutely love it. I know on my Day 1: Introductions post I wrote that red was my favorite color, and while a vibrant bold red is still fairly fantastic in my mind, Navy is definitely my favorite color. I should have realized this sooner and I apologize for lying. I will try not to do it in the future.

While i'm thinking of things on fire, can I just say I love The Hunger Games trilogy? It's my favorite series ever and i'm all for Peenis and KatPee. I'm also kind of irked with Alicia Keys for taking the whole "Girl on Fire" thing. Can't Suzanne like copyright that moniker or something? Katniss will always be the only Girl on Fire for me!

Over and out.

Day 4: What I ate today

I don't eat much lately. I sleep more often then not so the chances I have to eat are far and few between. It doesn't help that i'm not usually hungry anymore. This is not incredibly healthy btw, so don't follow my example.

I had nachos, a couple of oreo's, and a couple of bratwursts. That's it.

Again: do not follow my example.

Day 3: Parents

He was a boy, she was a girl, cannot make it anymore obvious. Avril Lavinge has no place in my family.

In all seriousness, my dad was 21, my mother, 18. He was in college, she in her senior year of high school. I don't know what kind of romance they had, and the time to ask that was up when they decided to get a divorce my junior year. All I know, is that mom got pregnant with me and they were married a month after I was born. I have often thought that if I hadn't come along, they wouldn't have gotten married. 

It's not an important matter anymore; the divorce was finalized years ago and my mother remarried soon after that. My dad is waiting a bit longer to commit to marriage again, but he's got a live in girlfriend and they extremely happy. He's starting to joke about marriage a bit and her daughters think of him as a father figure. So I guess we'll see where that leads to.

This is my momma and step-dad. We'll call him Frank. My mom has recently gotten into quilting, and Frank is extremely into comic books characters-especially Iron Man. They have 3 pugs and are one of the happiest couples I have ever seen. He has two kids, one of which is pretty much exactly like him. (i.e. way into comic books) Frank also collects DVD's. He has over 500 of them (or so he tells me) and since the technology has upgraded, he has decided to re-buy them all in Blu Ray. I don't personally get it, but to each their own. People often say that my mother and I look like sisters. We're really close and she always pushes me to do what makes me happy and not do what everyone wants me to do, or what my dad wants me to do. (There's not a lot of fondness there anymore. More drama than anything.)

So this is my dad and his girlfriend. We'll call her Marie. My dad got into Triathlons during the divorce proceedings as a way to work off steam, and continues to do them today. I'd show you a picture of him in his wet suit, but it'd probably scar you for life. He recently went back to school and is doing great so far. I don't know much about Marie; i've only met her twice since she moved in after I left for Iowa. I know she has 3 daughters, she's a friendly person and she doesn't mind my dad's sexual jokes (which happen more often than i'm comfortable with) My dad and I have not always been the closest; we had major issues after the divorce, and it's one of the reasons I moved to Iowa. We have since repaired our relationship, and while I am still unsure of him, I figure he deserves another chance, being my father and all. He's always pushed me to do my best and to try and succeed in everything I can. 

This is the only picture of all of us that I could find. After everything went down, both parents deleted every single picture off of Facebook. Except this one? My sister, Pooka, is on the left, and the two random old people are not my grandparents (thank god! That lady is crazy..), they're Dad's work friends. And apparently I didn't get the memo to wear black. And I was blonde back then.

My Parents, their current significant others, with a hint of my sibling and step siblings.

Day 2: First Love

Today is about my first love. His name was Joey, his mother was a family friend and I grew up with him. Up to a point. I remember him being around quite a bit when I was in the lower grades of elementary school, but when I was in 4th grade, his mother married someone new. They moved away and, at first, we saw them every so often, but that didn't last long. Fast forward to 7th grade, and our mothers started scheduling lunches every couple of moths. That lasted about a year. I haven't seen him since, although I hear he's engaged now. Joey was also my first kiss.

It was the 90's. I had the biggest crush on Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys. Joey had the brunette bowl cut that Nick had back then and the cutest little gap in between his two front teeth. And he was an older boy.  6th grader if I remember correctly.

It was the night of his mothers wedding. Our parents were such close friends that his mom trusted my mom and dad to look after her little boys. So me, Pooka, Joey, and little brother were all in a hotel room  "sleeping". Or at least the little ones were. Joey and I were up talking like the naughty little kids we were, when he decided to ask if he could kiss me. Obviously said yes and he did. We went to bed soon after that and that's it.

GREAT STORY HUH?!?



jk.

Rant

I am on Facebook. Just like pretty much everyone else out there. Now, in my opinion, you should realize that when you post something political, not everyone is going to react as you did. There is a family member that I'm friends with. She's something like my mother's cousin, but I've always known her as Aunt Carol (not her real name).

I don't know how many of you have read the article that was supposedly written by Bill Crosby. It's called "83 and Tired" (The only link I could find: http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/billcosby/a/I-Am-76-And-I-Am-Tired-By-Bill-Cosby.htm )

Now if you didn't read the article, and you didn't click on the link, you should know a couple of things. Bill Crosby did not write this; he's only 75. The other thing, in my opinion, is it's very hateful. I'm don't like anything that's said in this article, but I have three main issues with it.

1. Islam IS a religion of peace. Sure, some hurt the women, treat them as property, and mutilate them in multiple ways. But! There are extremes in every single religion. Not every Muslim treats women that way, and it's ignorant of people to assume that they do. My Aunt is Mormon, so I pulled out my big boy guns (since I was especially pissed in that moment) and pointed out that many people hate Mormons because they think they're all polygamists, elitists, and that all they care about is getting married and having a million babies.   This is an extreme portion of that religion! If it was normal, they wouldn't make tv shows about it (i.e. "Sister Wives" on TLC). The media tells of/ shows all the extreme Muslims doing this stuff, because it's not normal. It's a way of manipulation and I don't care for it.

2. Whoever wrote this article, declares that those extreme Muslims we talked about earlier use the Quar'an as an excuse to do all of these horrible things. I'm not saying what they're doing is right. I stress that before typing this next sentence. If they cannot use the Quar'an as an excuse to do all of these things, nobody is allowed to use the Bible as a reference against the LGBT group. Oh and stop eating pork. Bible says you're not allowed to.

3. Tattoos and piercings. This one is close to my heart. At this moment in time, I have 6 piercings and 2 tattoos. I plan on getting more in the future, as an earlier post shows. I do not live off of the government, I have no trouble finding a job. I will admit that some people do have a harder time finding jobs than others because they weren't smart with placement, BUT! There are literally thousands of people, maybe even millions, that have tattoos, have jobs, and are not living off of the government. As more and more people are getting more and more tattoos, the taboo on them is lessening. I can't say the same for piercings, but for tattoos, yes.

Now back to the story: So the next day, Aunt Carol logs onto Facebook and sees that I left a less than happy comment on her post. She promptly deletes said post and then makes a status about how her "friends" and family should keep their opinions to themselves and if they don't like what she has to say, they can either ignore the post or unfriend her and then later says that she might have to "clean out her friends list". You're going to de-friend me because I have a different opinion then you? Good comeback! Oh wait...

It's a political post. Not everyone will agree with what you say; not everyone will agree with what I have to say here. Moral of the story, don't post anything controversial if you don't want the backlash. I try to stay away from politics on Facebook for this reason. You post something that is hurtful to me or completely ignorant though? You best bet you'll be hearing me speak up. And if the darling Aunt Carol decides to unfriend me? Well, I guess there's no lost love there.

Day 1: Introductions

So...Introductions. My name is Amanda, i'm 20 years old and I currently live in Iowa. I was born and raised in Arizona and will actually be moving back there in about a month. I have a kitty named Fatty Cupcakes and he's my little baby.

I'm moving back to Arizona so I can be closer to my family and so I can go back to college. I had to drop out last year for several reasons, but I'm hoping to turn everything around. I want to get a degree in Accounting since I'm good with math.

The only real names I use on here are my own. My two best friends are known as Auntie Lem and Flit, my sister is Pooka, and my parents are Mom and Dad. The last one is kind of a duh, but whatev. 

I'm not quite sure what to add, but I mean to keep posting and that should fill you in on any other details that I left out       

Sonder

Last post of the night, promise! I just saw this quote on http://iwastesomuchtime.com/index.php. I have found myself often thinking about this and it just amazes me how big and complex the world is. We don't usually stop and think of the people we pass on the street or the person driving the car passing us on the freeway. So I was delighted to find to this, as it holds a kind of wonderment for me

Sonder: n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own- populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness- an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of lives that you'll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

30 days of ME!

So I'm gonna try to do this thing again. My cousin dredged it up from my memory and is deciding to do it on her blog (http://cellosmustachesandbowties.blogspot.com/) so I've decided to do it with her. I will start tomorrow since it's really late right now. So i'll see you tomorrow!

Day 01 – Introduce yourself with pictures and words

Day 02 – Your first love


Day 03 – Your parents


Day 04 – What you ate today 


Day 05 – Your definition of love


Day 06 – Your day

Day 07 – Your best friend


Day 08 – A moment


Day 09 – Your beliefs

Day 10 – What you wore today 


Day 11 – Your siblings


Day 12 – What’s in your bag


Day 13 – This week

Day 14 – What you wore today

Day 15 – Your dreams

Day 16 – Your first kiss

Day 17 – Your favorite memory


Day 18 – Your favorite birthday

Day 19 – Something you regret


Day 20 – This month


Day 21 – Another moment


Day 22 – Something that upsets you

Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better


Day 24 – Something that makes you cry

Day 25 – A first

Day 26 – Your fears

Day 27 – Your favorite place


Day 28 – Something that you miss


Day 29 – Your aspirations


Day 30 – One last moment

#NotStupid

So I love to talk to this one guy. He has made me smile and laugh and feel better time after time. I have several issues with him generally, only one of which I will discuss on here. I'll paint the scene for you:

Sitting on the couch texting him with the tv going as background noise; having a great conversation, when all of a sudden! He stops texting you. You check your phone to make sure you sent the message, yep! sent. Look at the time and notice "Hey it's late, maybe he fell asleep". Logical. Still vaguely uninterested in the tv show, you check Facebook and Twitter. You notice Facebook says he's online. No matter, probably fell asleep while it was still open. He gets offline and gets back online. WTF.

I really don't mean to be stalker-ish. But to me that's like if we were face to face, and you just turn around and walkaway in the middle of our conversation. Très rude no?

In other news....I have been "designing" my tattoos for my dad and sister. Designing is in quotations because I've just been finding images on the internet and tailoring it to what I want using Paint.

I figured out what I want my sister's to be about a month ago. Quotes are my thing, or at least what I have been using as inspiration for my recent tattoos, so my quote for Pooka is "Sisters are different flowers that are grown in the same garden." Describes us perfectly in my opinion. So two different flowers. Mine would be the taller one, signifying older sister. She wants her flower to be purple, and I have yet to choose my color. I think I might do blue, but I don't want too much blue on me so i dunno.

My dads tattoo design is not set in stone. The quote that I found for him is "Even after all this time, the sun never said to the Earth 'You owe me.'" The quote is actually longer than that, but that's the part i'm focusing on.There are two designs right now that i'm really focusing on: the right Sun and the bottom left sun. All the others just don't ring as true to me. The thing I like about the sun idea, is that if i'm making myself the Earth, all the tattoos tie in together.Or at least for me they do. 

But then there's the original idea that I had for my parents tattoos. I was going to get their first tattoos. Not the same design, mind you, but the same animal. My moms is a butterfly and my dads is a dragon.Now I already got moms tattoo, and it's not a butterfly. But I love this dragon design. I was gonna have the tattoo artist draw some flames around the bottom of the dragon and then my unifying theme would be black with a pop of color. Dragon would be black, flames would be red. In Pooka's the stems would be black and the flowers would be colored. Decisions are so hard sometimes. 

I could talk on and on and on about my tattoo plans. I have at least two more planned that are still in the baby stages. Plus whatever I'm going to get for my children whenever I have them. 

"Don't judge me because I sin differently than you"