So apparently it's blog action day, so I figured I would make a post somewhat pertinent. I'm not up-in-arms about environmental issues most of the time, but it is important. If you believe like me after all, this isn't just my world. This world was a gift and the best we can do is try to take care of it.

I like looking at nature. I'm not a nature-y person by any means. If I had to choose between living in a beautiful cabin in the mountains and a one bedroom apartment in the city, I would choose the apartment. That's just me. I'm a city person. But nature is certainly beautiful and there are a lot of pretty and amazing things to look at in our world. Beach is my favorite. Whenever I think nature, the first thing I think of is the beach me and my family found tucked away in Hawaii with perfect sand and very clear, blue-green water. And there was no one there, no parking lot, and I have a feeling it wasn't a tourist beach. And you could tell, because it was spotless and it was GORGEOUS. I almost didn't want to swim in the water lest I contaminate its perfection (of course my brother did so I guess that point was null).

Most beaches don't look like that. The ones in Hawaii at least don't usually look TRASHY, but they certainly do get dirty and they sort of loose the peace that I put beaches with.

So...I don't know what blog action day is supposed to do. Spread the word? Well the words already pretty wide spread. I guess this is just my perspective on environmental issues.

I like essays. There I said it.

SO WHY DID I HAVE SUCH A HARD TIME WRITING THIS MID-TERM PAPER!?

I just finished it less than an hour before class.

 Not so much the work itself. I love them little scamps that I play with and teach and then when I tell them no they get mad and only occasionally try to scratch or hit me. (I'm still sad I don't get to suffer that abuse from my aunt's class because regardless of how many bruises I get, those kids are great!) It's more the waking up at 5AM to take the call for that job, not going back to sleep really, going to work for 6 hours, coming home, getting ready for school, being tackled by an adorable 2-year-old, going to school, attempting to be responsible but mostly goofing off as per having to have at least an hour of conversing with someone my own age to keep my sanity, going to class and conversing with people my own age in a language no one understands, waiting 30 minutes for a bus in the freezing cold, going home, getting on Facebook at least once before finally passing out on my sofa just to wake up at 7AM tomorrow so I can go to school, take two classes, go to a meeting, go to another meeting, narrowly miss being late for a third meeting, go to yet another meeting, then end it all of with a three hour class until 10 at night until I get home and pass out and wait to be called for ANOTHER job at 5 in the morning and repeat the process until Saturday comes and I can finally do laundry and cook food and bathe. (That last one I usually make time for during the week.)

And to put the icing on the cake, I just found out that my Equity Committee is meeting on Monday. At just the right time that I MIGHT still get called to work. 

Remember when I thought I was going to take 18 units? Wasn't that FUNNY!?

 1. Name, please. 
Madame Secretary 

2. Approximate Age? 
19 in 11 days. 

3. Are you happy with your life? 
Sure.

4. Do you feel like anything is missing? If so, what do you want? 
I can't find my cell phone. Oh wait, there it is.

5. Do you plan on being a musician/artist/writer? 
I will live alone in a deep dark cabin in the middle of the woods and eat Twinkies and get stuck on one novel until I go into a creative state of psychosis and murder my wife. Oh wait, that was Johnny Depp in Secret Window. Writer possibly.

6. Do you think you are artistic? 
I like to think I am.

7. Have you ever tried hard drugs? 
Neigh.

8. If so, have they changed your life? 
...yes? 

9. What age would you like to die? 
I'm alive right now. Why think about dying?

10. Would you let your kids smoke weed? 
Medically. Not that I'll lock them in their room until they're 33 to keep them from doing it...I'll lock them in their room until their 33 for other reasons.

11. Are you an angry person? 
Depends. 

12. Do you laugh a lot, but don’t really mean it? 
Again, depends.

13. Do you like to think you are popular? 
I say "Hi" to every third person who walks down the halls at ARC. Well-known I think is the better word, because half the time I don't even remember who the person is and just go "Maybe I gave them a flier at some point in their life". 

14. Describe your most terrifying dream. 
Rob was a singing Disney prince charming. Oh by the way Rob, you should let your hair grow out.

15. What band would you die to see live? 
Live concerts are...eh...maybe Trans-Siberian Orchestra. At Christmas.

16. How would you like to die? 
Like I said. I'm alive. Why think about it?

17. What’s your opinion on self-mutilation? 
Man, what's with this concentration on death and mutilation?

18. Do you believe in capitalism? 
I believe to have a pure capitalist/socialist/communist/penguinist economy is impossible and leads to nothing but destruction. For  a country to truly flourish, bits from each must be used. All have something to offer which is genuine and good, and all have severe flaws that keep them from existing in its purest forms successfully. Except that last one.

19. Communism? 
See above. 

20. Libertarianism? 
Libertarianism is not an economy technically but I still say see above. 

21. Would you rather be an anarchist or a socialite? 
Socialite? Like those people who dress real snooty at big fancy parties? I'd rather just be Kindra.

22. Freedom of speech or controlled society? 
Freedom of Speech.

23. Obama or Bush? 
Once upon a time Obama. But if I had a time machine I would vote for McKinney. And then I'd stop Hitler.

24. Would you consider yourself intelligent? 
Sometimes.

25. When was the last time you cried? 
a few Fridays ago 

26. When was the last time you laughed? 
Today. On the phone with my aunt.

27. Who is your last text from? 
I don't do texting! Why do all quizzes in the world assume I have texting!

28. What did it say? 
AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

29. Ever been beat up? 
Does intellectually count? No? Oh, then no I haven't. 

30. What’s your middle name? 
Maureen.

31. Single or taken? 
Single. No, stop. That doesn't mean I'm interested.

32. If taken, do you love this person? 
...

33. If single, what are you looking for in someone? 
Not. Interested.

34. Sex or love? 
*headdesk*

35. Who is your best friend? 
Right now, Melony. 

36. Why is this person your best friend? 
Because we go places and people assume we're sisters or occasionally mix us up for the other. 

37. Are you moody? 
Only on Tuesdays.

38. Are you depressed? 
Sometimes.

39. What do you think of abortion? 
I think the same thing about abortion that I think about guns - bad, terrible, useless things which we shouldn't have, but to illegalize it would cause massive backlashes which would turn up worse than if we left alone. More programs encouraging adoption and offering support would do far better than just making it illegal. And when I say encouraging adoption, I mean more people don't get on waiting lists to adopt babies who look just like them and have no problems. I mean people adopting babies from different races, who aren't always babies, who may have physical disorders. Imagine how many problems we would solve just by doing that.

40. Are you in a good mood today? 
Earlier, no. Nooooooooooo. No no no. No. Right now I'm fine.

41. If not, why are you not? 
Everything.

42. Are you afraid of the swine flu? 
AH! SOMEONE DIED AT SOME POINT OF SOMETHING! IT'S AN EPIDEMIC! AAAAAAAH!

43. Are you afraid to be yourself? 
I try not to be. 

44. What would you label yourself? 
Human. With a little bit of puppy-like curiousity and hyperactivity.

45. Do you live with your parents? 
Grandparents.

46. How many siblings do you have? 
Do siblings by the fact that I hang out with them more than my blood siblings count? If so two. At least.

47. Do you wear skinny jeans? 
I actually have this pair of jeans that are TECHNICALLY skinny jeans, except their loose and comfortable and don't sag and so I like to wear them. Generally I like slacks though. 

48. Are you emo? 
Yes, of course I show emotion. Do I look like a robot? (That was an awful play on words. Please forgive me.) 

49. Are you aware that all emo kids look exactly the same? 
...are you aware that you may need glasses?

50.Are you a hater? 
Now we're on a high school stereotype labeling streak. Better than the death obsession I suppose.

51. Are you anti-rasict? 
Are you asking if I'm racistist? I'm not anti-racist, so much as I am anti-racism. Also you spelled racist wrong.

52. Explain your personality in 3 words. 
Hard-headed, determined, ridiculous.

53. What do you wish your name was? 
First name I have no quams but I would like my last name to not sound like a tasty chip you get from a tube.

54. How old do you want to be when you get married? 
We already discussed this... 

55. What do you want to name your kids? 
Ruby, Kala, or Charly for a girl.
Ezra, Van or Zayne for a boy. 

56. What kind of hairstyle do you want? 
Curly. 

57. When was the last time you took a shower? 
Tonight.

58. What are you wearing right now? 
Jeans and a shirt.

59. Say something random. 
I spent three hours on that name your children question. Don't toy with me.

60. What do you wear to bed? 
Pajamas. 

61. What color is your underwear? 
Uh oh, I smell another splurge of depressing, irrelevant and uncomfortable questions!

62. Am I getting too personal? 
If you have to ask...

63. What’s your view on nihilism? 
Ironically nihilism exists or has meaning, which somewhat negates the idea of nihilism which is in fact a belief which instills some sense of purpose because if there were no purpose in anything then the discussion wouldn't matter and the belief would not exist. Or maybe I don't understand nihilism. Nihilism to me is the belief that nothing truly exists. Or it's the belief that only a few things exist but that's just cherry picking.

64. Pacifism? 
If I weren't a pacifist, I would have to take anger management. 

65. Do you think the drug culture is misunderstood? 
What drug, what area, what people, what culture. There is no such thing as "drug culture" because there's a million different drugs especially if you include over-the-counter and the everyday household items some people use, not to mention the effect of drugs vary person to person and place to place. So what exactly is "drug culture". It's kind of like saying "American culture". American is about where everyone living in this country stop having too awfully much in common. Even what we have in common we differ in.

66. Are you a fan of Hunter S Thompson? 
That guy was crazy.

67. Do you read literature? 
...is that a real question or are you being sarcastic? 

68. Do you love horror movies? 
Yes. I like good horror movies that are legitimately scary. I love to hate bad horror movies that I watch with obnoxious friends as we make fun of how badly done it is. So actually I only really love 1% of the current horror movie industry. 

69. What’s your favourite one? 
Oh gosh...Secret Window. Because that's LEGITIMATE horror. Real psychological "Do I really want to write a novel" stuff. Not "There's a ghost. She's scary. Blah". That's terror. My science fiction professor told me the difference between terror and horror. And a man who teaches a literature class on Batman I have a feeling would know something or other on the subject.

70. Do you like comedies? 
Drama/Comedies, yes. Just comedies? No. The director of the Scary Movie franchise...I just...no.

71. Are you a smoker? 
I can quit any time I want! 

72. Do you smoke cigars/cigarillos? 
I'm a girl, sorry.

73. Do you have anger problems? 
No, I'm just highly opinionated. 

74. Do you know someone who has a mental illness? 
Yes and it's not Heather because Heather does not have a mental illness.

75. Have you had someone close to you die of cancer? 
No. 

76. What do you want to be next Halloween? 
Me and Melony are going to be 3 and 4...are you sure she isn't my sister?

77. What grade are you in? 
2nd year of Junior College! 

78. When do you graduate? 
Gonna transfer by 2012 and then I should be out byyyyyyy...2040? At that rate?

79. Do you talk to yourself? 
We're not on speaking terms.

80. What color are your toenails? 
Plaid. I don't know why you ask. If my toenails were any other color there might be something wrong with me.

81. Has anyone ever told you you have a nice smile? 
Only the people who took my middle school pictures. 

82. Nice eyes? 
Yes and then they comment on what a pretty blue they are and then when I try to find a mirror to look they immediately turn green because my eyes can only be pretty for everyone else. 

83. Ever broken a bone? 
No and whenever someone asks that question I get this feeling that my ceiling will fall in and fix that dilemma.

84. Got a black eye? 
Not that I know of.

85. Nose bleed? 
Oh yes...

86. Ever been so mad you cried? 
Usually when I get mad I cry. Otherwise I'm just frustrated.

87. What’s your favourite quote? 
"I use not only my own brains, but all that I can borrow" - Woodrow Wilson

88. Are you listening to anything right now? 
No. Maybe that's why I'm so fidgety.

89. What are you addicted to? 
Pokemon, Facebook, government, Facebook, chocolate milk, Facebook... 

90. Do you like silver hair? 
Just white hair is nicer.

91. Would you ever fight a famous boxer? 
WHY!? I TOLD YOU I HAVEN'T BROKEN A BONE!

92. Could you take on kimbo slice? 
No! I JUST ANSWERED YOU! I LIKE MY BODY IN TACT!

93.Can you even fist fight? 
Well yeah but...JEEZ! 

94. Do you work out? 
I should. 

95. Are you in good physical condition? 
*eats more chocolate*

96. Do you get creeped out by puppets? 
...I'm dressing up as a fingerpuppet for Halloween. What do you think?

97. If you could be any celebrity by one day, who would you be? 
Myself.

98. Do you have any phobias? 
Maybe. It's not so much a phobia as a "whenever I see it regardless of context I get this nice cringe on my face like it's the most disgusting thing in the world"ia.

99. Ever been mauled by a wild animal? 
A goose chased me around a lake in Hawaii when I was 12. Didn't quite maul me though.

100. Do you think you could be a Suicide Girl? 
...Dude, this is getting ridiculous. 

101. What about a playboy bunny? 
*sigh* 

102. Are you an insomniac? 
At night I am. In the morning I'm not.

103. Do you take birth control? 
The day I need birth control is the day I will actually want to have babies. Meaning I will never need birth control (because then how will I have the babies?) I understand the point I'm making.

104. Are these questions pointless? 
And you just added another one to top it off.

105. Favorite color? 
Caprisun.

106. Peace out! 
That was weird.

 Glamour Age has stolen my life away.

It's strange how once upon a time I was a shadow on the Internet. I was on Facebook and MySpace (kinda, in spirit I guess) but mostly I was on Gaia, and deviantArt, and Neopets, and random game sites. Now I'm on Facebook. Occasionally I'll wander into Twitter or LiveJournal but I feel like a social networking geek BECAUSE those are the three main spots where I spend my time.

I thought Pokemon Indigo would save me from that, but all that does is make me bored and make me want to play REAL Pokemon, of which there is no actual clone anywhere on the Internet. No, Pokemon World doesn't count because Pokemon World is awful. I spent the first 10 minutes just figuring out how to get past the first part. Wait, I tell a lie, I spent 40 minutes figuring out how to get past the first part, if you count just the process of creating an account and then the process of signing into that account and then the process of reading a bunch of memos that say "It's only in beta so excuse the bugs" as if beta is any excuse for a game to be so slow, random and broken. Someone with game creating abilities needs to make a Pokemon MMORPG that is not awful. Please do it now.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think a point of Stamina just showed up in my Glamour Age.

I feel no shame in the horrid pun of a title. May contain spoilers. Not big ones though.

1. Visual - Even critics of the movie are saying that visually, it's fantastic. It has that brown, gritty quality that 99% of first-person shooters nowadays have. But in this case, it's a bit more necessary and not just trying to boost realism. The world is very detailed, some of the antagonist creatures are very creative and horrifying. Let's be real here - we're dealing with rag dolls. The design could've had the detail and complexity of a Pixar movie that isn't Wall-E. But Shane Acker decided to concentrate more. Which makes it where things pop out at you without the eye strain of 3-D glasses.

2. Overall Story - It's the apocolypse! Again. The general premise isn't the most original in the world, but I find it difficult to shoot everything down for "not being original" because there is no such thing. Every story has been done over and over, but it isn't really about the story itself but the details of the story and how its presented. And I've never seen an apocolypse movie where the main heroes are puppets no more than a foot or two tall. The way the story is told is endearing and it doesn't try to be complex. In fact, the movie is very short. About 70 minutes long. When was the last time a Hollywood movie was released that was just barely over an hour? And not made by Disney? It may not be original but I don't really think that was the point.

3. Soundtrack - OMG AWESOME. I think the best part of the soundtrack is you don't even think about it. It blends with the visuals. It isn't even the most original soundtrack, but how it's implemented, it does well to increase the action without you even noticing it's doing so.

4. Characters - Since all the characters are numbered it should be easy to do this. Most of them are fairly archetypal and contrasting, so identifying them is easy. There's the snotty leader who thinks he knows best but really doesn't. There's the "oracle" who speaks in fragments. All the typical ones. The hero is my least favorite though. Mostly because he's an idiot. Fair enough he's the only one who really wants to solve the problem, but he STARTS the problem. And it isn't even an indirect thing like a great evil is after him or he inherits an unknown evil. No. He basically does the "What does this button do" move usually performed by the comic sidekick, and suddenly everyone dies. The main hero should've been 7. She's awesome. 3 and 4 are also awesome, though I may be biased since looking back they have few personality traits outside of being scavenging little chipmunks and hiding behind 7 all the time. But they're just so darn cute.

5. Theme - I suppose the blatant theme for the kids who haven't developed abstract thinking yet is "Don't leave anyone behind". The main problem with the story is that you have to truly be able to analyze it to get the true message. And even then, it can vary from person to person. For instance, I interpretted it to be "Things are not evil unless they are willed to be" or something like that. A lot of the focus of the movie is on the idea that you can't spend your time hiding from something, you have to face it. But where the something is made as a political point in the movie (since the movie is heavy in political and social undertones, but then again I can get social undertones from Dora the Explorer) or if the something is a fill-in-the-blank for the audience is something for everyone to decide. Which is either brilliance, insanity, stupidity, or all three. Shane Acker wrote the original story for this apparently, and I'm not sure what his intentions were with the lesson.

6. Dialogue - Here is the movies main flaw. With the exception of 1, whose dialogue is mostly original, pretty much every other piece you watch it and go "Watch action movies much?" It's not like this is uncommon in action flicks today, but pretty much all the dialogue seems to have been cut and pasted from other movies and names switched out with numbers. It also has the fatal screenwriting problem which is forever imprinted in the minds of anyone who's taken a screenwriting class - SHOW DON'T TELL. It isn't a particularly dialogue heavy movie probably because the general plot is relatively simple, but when they aren't quoting Die Hard they're typically stating their motivation in depth. Fortunately though, this is only true for half the characters, 1, 5, 9, and sometimes 7. 7 probably does the best job dialogue wise. 3, 4, 6, and 8, don't really talk. 2 doesn't have that much screen time. But even when they aren't breaking this all important rule, the blocking is sometimes tiresome. Hands on shoulders, running out of the room. This isn't really a film of subtlety in the way of screenwriting. But again, I guess it is a kids film...it's still no excuse.

7. Action - Go back and read 1 and 3. The action sequences are stunning. The characters don't talk all that much, so no worries about that. My main problem is most of the action is our heros running and a giant monster strongly resembling GLaDOS from Portal sending robots after them. The only ones who make attempts at hand-to-hand is 7 and 8, even though 8 is sort of bad at it. The others run, hide, and occasionally whip up contraptions which are usually successful, but aren't quite as epic to watch. It's all fun though. Especially when the spider-snake thing pops up, which is one of the most creative inventions I've ever seen on film. If you need help imagining it, think of the decapitated baby-spider-head from Toy Story, the stocking-snake from Nightmare Before Christmas, and Other Mother from Coraline. Through in some added creepiness and that about does it. The main villain, called "The Machine", is pretty awesome too, mostly in how he kills out heros. But I won't spoil that.

8. Politics - Like I have said, this is a film intended for kids. But as with all films intended for kids, they have to draw adults in too. This film succeeds. There isn't any sexual innuendos (and in fact there isn't really a romance subplot, unless you're a nitpicker), there is only one drug innuendo. Most of the adult undertones are political. Especially when you're me, you will catch it. It isn't just the obvious of an apocolypse caused by war. It's far deeper and far more involved in real world (as in recent to current events real world) issues. Many of the undertones made me think of some of the scientific ventures we face where many believe such an invention could mean the end of the world. There are characters which almost seem like charicatures of certain political figures. There are references to what many consider the war between science and the church. The story is riddled with so much satire it's a wonder that I could concentrate on the main story at all. Which is a flaw and a plus in itself. On one hand it takes away from the story and makes a relatively simply story very complex. On another, it keeps an adult audience fairly enthralled while still keeping kids entertained. Then again, it could all just be me.

9. Overall - I would suggest it. A lot of people call it a Terminator rip-off, but I don't see that. The presentation is very different, it's a lot more visually appealing. If you're absolutely bothered by a story not being original, then you may be disappointed. But if you're willing to see past it, it's worth a look. It's not like it'll be a waste of your time seeing as it's so short.

I actually get to WORK tomorrow! AAAAAAH!


But seriously, I get to make money.

I want to lose weight! I'll have three cookies a day instead of three cookies and a candy bar. Will that help? WILL IT?

No I do have commitment issues. Not typically with big things. I'm fine when it comes to school or things where people will swarm me if I don't, but when it comes to saving money, dieting, relationships, I'm not very good with those. Saving money ends because I spend all my other money before my next paycheck and thus my savings bleeds into my wallet. Dieting ends because I LIKE FOOD . Relationships end because a month goes by and I stop caring and this seems to irritate most people since I don't like calling people, I don't have texting, and I usually only go out when there are plans of something interesting, stimulating, or what I have previously conceived as fun going on. And even then sometimes I'll decide to be a loner and curl up into a ball on my computer chair or occasionally bed and play video games. It might just be the people I date...but then again I'm not completely enthralled by dating anyone, and it's not like everyone I've ever met is unnattractive, stupid, or just overall awkward to be around. Quite the opposite in many cases in fact.

The dieting thing has to work though. I could care less about the relationship thing since I'm a socially inept weirdo who could really care less. But I have this strange fascination with ballet and would like to learn it but in my current condition it would be awkward. Not impossible. Possibly not even abnormally difficult. But it would be awkward. So I'm planning to take ballet next semester and I figured SINCE I seem to hold my commitments best when people swarm me I expect you all to swarm me. I would say diet with me but most of the people reading this don't really need to diet so just swarming me is okay.

For the money thing to work I need a job...or at least a job that's actually working me.

Going to Six Flags with Mel, John, Dallas and some guy John knows (better than that obviously).

Going to have fun.

Going to ride lots of roller coasters.

Going to NOT die of heat exhaustion.

A celebrities life is 100% off-limits if you're like me and choose to ignore that celebrities exist outside of movies.

And I'm not talking about theater here.

Also my browser does strange things where it decides I'm finished typing and suddenly won't register my keyboard.

Portal is fun. And weird. REAAAAAAALLY weird. The cake is a lie.

Here are my top ten favorite characters to use in Super Smash Bros. Brawl -

10: Pikachu - OMGLOOKAPIKACHUHESSOCUTEOMIGOSH!
9: Marth - Yes I know, I'm a weirdo. Marth is easier to use than Link and they just give him a sword. You don't need all that extra stuff Link! YOU'RE LINK!
8: Samus - Because it's Samus.
7: Pit - He annoys me endlessly when other people use him but he's perfectly awesome when I use him.
6: Zero-Suit Samus - See number eight, but faster and with a whip.
5: Zelda - I would've put Sheik too but Sheik is mostly just fast. Which is actually kind of annoying when she runs off cliffs.
4: Anything but Fox or His Clones - You'd think this would be number 10. But no.
3: Lucario - HE SHOOTS BLUE FLAMING BALLS!
2: Lucas - See ten, but with blonde hair and now he shoots fire.
1: Peach - I don't know...you'd think she'd inherently be the worst character seeing as she's the one girl who always get kidnapped and does pretty much nothing else. But I kick so much butt with her and from what I've heard I'm not the only one. That and my brother found a skin hack that has her in the white mage costume from Final Fantasy. Which is awesome.

Honorable mention goes to Snake for being generally awesome but he was sadly omitted because when you fight him in All-Star all he does is jump around and dodge your moves. Also he smokes (/hypocrite).

I've had this irritating urge to rant about this topic lately so I figured I'd get it all out here. I don't really use this for much anymore so I might as well make SOME use of it. But recently I've decided that I really don't find the use for labels. I'm not talking about cliques per se, moreso about politics which I guess is made up of a bunch of cliques. Specifically the labeling of parties and policies and "Here is a Checklist - if you Checked More than 3 You're a [insert political viewpoint name here]". I can understand why they exist I guess, just they're easy to recall by name, but I think it would be just as easy to recall by name each individual issue.

What's going on right now is something of a Cold War between liberals and conservatives. That's a little melodramatic, I know. But it's getting there. Most of the United States are either moderates, apathetic, or aren't so partisan that they really care. But some of the loudest political figures are diehard elephant or donkey and it's really obnoxious because no you're labelled as the opposing party if you so much as suggest that the other party isn't that bad. Again, being dramatic. And again, it's getting there. 

I especially have a problem with this. I say I'm pro-health care reform and I get pounced and called a bleeding-heart, baby-killing liberal but then when I bring up that I'm pro-life I'm often attacked by the other hand and called an intolerant, anti-freedom conservative. And while in general I tend to lean more towards the liberal side, I'd rather not be associated with either side. Third parties are becoming more and more popular as people start to see both the Democratic and the Republican parties loose their luster and fewer politicians from those parties turn out to be any good. But you still can't loose the initial liberal or conservative label, unless you register as Libertarian, which is a strange form of extreme moderatism or something.

The point is that the label system just doesn't work in a society with so many issues you can hardly list them all in the length of the health care reform bill. It's ridiculous. And yet both sides seem to want to take those issues and say that one side believes this and the other believes that. And I just don't see how that could work without blowing up in our faces (which it already has). It's very unlikely that even two of the most extreme liberals believe exactly the same thing and since politics tends to run on a spectrum of dictatorship to anarchy there's bound to be a lot of variety between what every individual believes. And that's the great thing about the United States is you can believe whatever you want. It might now make much of a difference, and if you believe murdering people is okay and then do it you'll go to jail, but you can at least BELIEVE whatever you want. Most of the time.

But trying to categorize all those beliefs and give an easy title to 50% of the country just isn't sufficient. Because it creates the two-party system we have today, making smaller parties look like jokes. And it also makes it where people who aren't as involved in politics but still vote can just look at the word next to a persons name and decide based on that. I think this didn't happen as much with the 2008 election but that election, I believe, had some special circumstances going. I like Obama, I voted for him, I'm not always happy with him, but overall I can't complain about his work so far, but I'm not going to ignore the fact that he probably got a helpful boost in the elections because of his heritage. Of course he also got a push back from the small population of supremecists, but I'm sure the fact that the idea of there being a viable black candidate may have clouded some people's view. But in most elections, the majority of voters go "Well, I'm a Democrat because 1 out of 3 of my ideals are shared by Democrats, so I'll vote for the Democrat." It's just silly.

For once I'd like an election where we dropped the labels. Parties can't sponsor candidates, all candidates are given a set amount of money, and they are never aloud to say "I am a Demorat/Republican/Green/Libertarian/Nazi/Communist/Monkey/Whatever". They can say what they plan to do, what they personally believe in, etc. etc. And I believe that the voter count may go down but then the people who ARE voting are obviously educated and not voting based on a label.

Speaking of labels, the only thing worse is symbols or logos. Of course you have the party logos, but I think the most infamous one is the swastika. Not so much because it's very commonly associated with Nazis but more because that's the ONLY thing it's associated with according to most people. People see a swastika and regardless of the content start squealing about white supremacy and Nazi Germany. And while that is what it's more commonly used for, I think it's a bit overused. People use it to describe the slightest little ideal they disagree with. I've seen some people use a swastika to label the pro-gay marriage, which is really strange since the gay marriage battle in the United States has nothing to do with Nazism and in fact gay people were among the crowd of pretty much EVERYONE who  was sent to genocide. Labelling anyone as Nazi that isn't Aryian and blindly loyal to their country is just backwards. Hitler killed everyone who was different and then later everyone who dared to question why they were killing everyone who was different. And yet people seem to think that they can stick swastika's on absolutely anything they don't like.

Most recently this has been done by people opposing health care. Saying it's socialism is one thing (it isn't, especially after Congress and Obama watered it down so much) but saying it's bad enough that you can compare it to Hitler with a straight face is just ridiculous. Not everything that you think is bad is related with Nazis. I don't like Rush Limbaugh but I won't compare him to Hitler (even though some people have done that too). And once again, this isn't a one sided thing. Everyone who blindly follows their party does this. Occasionally theres the freethinker who stands back and looks at what their party has been doing and goes "Well wait, that's kind of dumb" but those ones aren't very loud. The loudest ones are chained to their party, endlessly spewing nonsense about the other one.

And I'm sure I'm going to get at least a few people who go "Yeah well they do it more" to which I say, thank you for proving my point. Pointing fingers, babbling endlessly about how Obama/Bush is Hitler, blah blah blah, none of this is going to fix the mess America is in. I have to say one of the main reasons I admire Obama is because he's trying so hard to ignore the liberals and conservatives that keep shaking fists at each other underneath him and trying to concentrate on the more reasonable American public. He works hard to try and find a middle ground but while that is admirable its most likely futile. Just finding a middle ground I don't think is going to work. The last time all Americans truly united was during the Cold War with Russia. And if the Civil War doesn't come first, that would probably be what it would take again. It's very temporary and very painful and very harmful to the country, but trying to find middle ground just doesn't seem to work. The only other thing I can think of is everyone just stops shouting for a second and goes back to listen to what they just said and realizes that maybe there are other ways to solve the country's problems than throwing the words "Nazi", "communist" and "fascist" around like they were nothing.

Anyway...I think that's it.

WHY IS THIS A WRITER'S BLOCK QUESTION?

Also I would pick Dracula. Because he's Dracula. Not that I would need to try too hard to beat Twilight at anything.

Apparently there's a theme or something for NaBloPoMo which I fail at.

It's tomorrow. Um...tomorrow is Monday. Maybe I'll make time to type up stuff about this. Right now I'm trying to find a job.

The 4th of July is a strangely ironic holiday.

It's the only holiday I can think of where we celebrate our freedom by blowing stuff up.
While we're stealing the freedom of others by blowing them up.

It might be funny if it weren't so sad.

Apple

I'm participating in National Blog Post Month.

Now I've tried the father of this program, National Novel Writing Month. Which I will do this year! I've said that the last four years but I'm serious this time! You guys just have too...prod me with a cattle iron and get me going on it. But this should be easier. But I'm going to create a schedule. Now obviously I have a life (*cough*) so I won't do a post every day. But I'll try. Every other weeks I'll try for five out of seven days. And here is the schedule of what will probably, not likely, happen.

Sunday - Random. Whatever I feel like.
Monday - Recent Events. Where I invade the news and post my response.
Tuesday - Rate Ur Site. Where I rate a website. Probably the ones everyone knows about.
Wednesday - Again, whatever I feel like.
Thursday - Rant day. So I get all my anger out.
Friday - CASUAL FRIDAY. Where I get lazy and just go off of whatever LiveJournals prompt is.
Saturday - Short Story. So I'm still stretching my creative gene.

This will go on starting this Sunday. That way we'll be even. And it will go until the fourth week where I'll decide whether it works.

I'm also going to start getting into LiveJournal communities. Suggest some too me! Or I'll find them myself. Either one works. I want more readers. That takes effort. Suppose I have to exert myself sometimes.

Also, stagehand work is hard.

Apple

it's a world of laughter a world of tears
it's a world of hopes, it's a world of fears
there's so much that we share
that it's time we're aware
it's a small world after aaaaaaaall!

it's a small world after all!
it's a small world after all!
it's a small world after all!
it's a small, small, world!

there is just one moon and one golden sun
and a smile brings friendship to everyone
though the mountains divide
and the oceans are wide
it's a small world after aaaaaaaall!

it's a small world after all!
it's a small world after all!
it's a small world after all!
it's a small, small, world!

Thank you.

So recently, the losing side in the Student Association elections, the incumbent party, wrote a bill declaring that they wanted to hire a personally selected lawyer for $7500 of the students money to recount the vote. There's a million things wrong with this. First of all, the By-Laws outline how the post-election process is supposed to go. Complaints are filtered through the election committee to the Board of Justice who decides if they're valid. The Student Association, ESPECIALLY when many of them ran in the election, has no say in this and yet took it upon themselves to write this bill. The funniest part is they say it's to protect the integrity of the students vote, but they never presented this bill when they won last semester, so the motivation is fairly clear.

Besides, why do they just skip all the basic steps and hire a lawyer for $7500 first? WHY?

It's alright though. The students in the Student Association don't have the power to sign a legally binding contract and the administration recently announced that they won't be signing the contract and vetoed the bill.

Let this be a lesson to you. When you specifically have councils that are supposed to overlook these matters, LET THEM DO THEIR JOBS. Thank you. :3

We won! As of 2:00PM today the ARC Students for Change have won the Student Association elections and given back the Student Association to the students. These are the new Student Association representatives:

David Fischer - President
Shaine "AJ" Johnson - Vice President
Akilah Parks - Director of Legislative Affairs
John Throm - Director of Finance
Chuck Stevens - Director of Activities
Kindra Pring - Secretary

Student Representatives:
Joy Cordova
Melony Ford
Chris DuCray
Nick Hartkopft
Jeremy Palmer
Brice Robinson-Wasley
Toni Abney

We won by about 250-200 vote difference on average. Thank you to all the ARC Students who voted and our volunteers! Now we can give the school back to all students and do what the Student Association was intended to do and help the students further their educational experience. Thank you so so so much!