Throwback?

If you're reading this post, then somehow I figured out how to pre-schedule posts. These computers are just the darnedest things sometimes I'm telling ya. Right now I hope I'm somewhere on the ocean reading a book (I'm currently working on The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult) with only good feelings being felt.

But enough about me.

I'm typing this on the fourth of July right now and I'm sure for a lot of people this date seems insignificant. But it just so happens to be the day that our Declaration of Independence was signed and ratified and we began a movement that eventually freed us from Great Britain's rule. I'm sure that was a nice American history lesson for everyone.

If you can't tell I'm rambling because I kept putting off writing this post and now there is little time for me to write something significant. I actually have a post half written about grief and all these nonhappy feelings I've been feeling lately, but it's been a slow process putting my emotions into writing.

So without a better idea to lean on, I'm going to do a little bit of a throwback to one of my older blog posts entitled: Why I Hate Blogging.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll be hitting the one year mark of my blog later this month and as I was drawing my thoughts from the past twelve months to make some overly cliche post about my one year anniversary, my mind took a different train for a moment. Instead of focusing on all the fantastic times I've had blogging, I've decided to take another approach:

Why I Hate Blogging 

Note: This won't replace my soon to come one year anniversary post.

1. Everyone Can Do It

The biggest beauty of blogging is ironically its greatest downfall. Creating your "one of a kind" blog is as simple as an email address and five minutes. Websites and other bloggers promise that everyone can do it, but in reality they can't and probably shouldn't. As harsh as this sounds, some people are just plain boring (and I hope I'm not perceived as one of them).

2. It's a Number Game

This is my biggest pet peeve of blogging. Everyone's obsession is either directly or indirectly related to the numbers that appear on their blog's dashboard. And I've fallen prey to this compulsion once twice multiple times before, but I've noticed some people take these figures too far. It's a sucky realization that people aren't reading your blog as much as you want them to, but every once in a while we just all need to chill out and have a muffin. If you're writing for page views and followers, you're doing it wrong.

3. Comments are More of a Way to Promote Your Blog Instead of Your Thoughts and Ideas

I want to take back my first statement in #2, because I have changed my mind. THIS IS MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE OF ALL TIME BLOGGING OR NOT. This loops back to number two like a big Christmas bow because it's probably one of the most common pawns in the number game of blogging. People leave two word comments with their blog linked to the end of their not so insightful words. Don't get me wrong, people who leave meaningful comments and then put their blog's URL at the end don't bother me. It's more like those who say "nice post *insert blog*" and call it day.

I usually don't leave my blog's URL at the end of my own comments and I usually don't mind when others do, but there's a boundary between commenting to promote your blog and commenting because you have something to say. Luckily, I've never had a comment left on my own personal corner of the internet aka my blog where the commentor's sole purpose was to endorse their blog, but it doesn't mean I don't see it happen ALL THE TIME.

4. People Quit Writing

Sometimes I see blogs that have lost the meaning of writing a blog somewhere between them posting every single day and their 1,000 blog followers that they most likely accumulated from "love your blog do you think you could check out mine?" type comments. They crank out meaningless posts of random pictures and copy and pasted recipes like a blog writing factory with the saying "less is more" meaning nothing to them.

Instead of writing a thoughtful post once or twice a week, they find a way to copy and paste a post together every single day, completely defeating the purpose of a blog: to write.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a blog with the word sunset in the title, I sure don't post enough of these. And a big thanks for enduring my post from way back when (November to be exact).

Have a fabulous day.

When Did a Penis decide what I Could Do With My Uterus? (A Story Told via Tweets and Maybe a Few Words)

A very, very controversial and long awaited verdict came in this week through the Supreme Court. A few years back President Obama endorsed and Congress passed the Affordable Care Act which, among other things, stated that all employers must provide their full-time employees with health care. (I know, so radical.) This bill set a guideline of things that the insurance must in some form or another cover such as doctor visits, emergency room visits, prescription drugs, and mental health services to name a few.

The law has taken a while to go into effect, with the biggest changes happening earlier this year and with anything, there was a lot of controversy. The most recent (and what the SCOTUS ruling focused on) was that employers had to provide birth control for their employees, which *gasp*, is such a completely absurd idea. (I hope you all are sensing my sarcasm here.)

The case was brought forth by a craft store chain by the name of Hobby Lobby, which is about as bad of a store that its cheesy name hints (it was also brought forth with another company by the name of Conestoga Wood Specialties, but they didn't play as big of role as the former, or at least that's how it seems). But let's stay on topic here. Hobby Lobby was getting their paint brushes in a twist because their deeply held religious conviction just couldn't allow them to provide their employees with emergency contraception.

There are a few points I'd like to bring up here, so I'll try to put this in a formatted and bold form to allow easy following for those of you tuning in at home.

They brought forth this lawsuit under the title of religious freedom, but what about the religious freedom of their employees who may or may not hold the same faith as them?

I thoroughly wish I could find stats on the percent of Hobby Lobby employees who are Christian and the percent of employees who hold the same religious conviction against the morning after pill and IUDs as the corporation (as even if all their employees are Christian which is practically impossible, there's no way to assume that they also hold the same religious feelings as them as well).

There are multiple sightings in our Constitution on religious freedom and yes, the Hobby Lobby corporation has the right to oppose IUDs and such, but they don't have the right to impress their own religious beliefs on their employees. By not having to provide these things under their ideals, their religious freedom is taking precedent over their 21,000 employee's religious freedom.

My point being, you can't refuse to provide something like this to your employees on the grounds of religious freedom unless 100% of your employees hold the exact same beliefs as you.

When was my employer given this much say in what I do with my body?

I highly doubt when these employees signed on to work for Hobby Lobby they knew they were also giving their employer a say in their reproductive health. I don't know when the men in suits will realize that they don't have a say in women's reproductive choices.

Who is to say IUDs and the morning after pill are considered abortions?

This is a long talked about argument. From my understanding Hobby Lobby isn't 100% against contraception. They'll provide insurance that covers birth control pills and condoms because these things prevent sperm from reaching the egg or egg reaching the sperm, however you want to put this. *Cue horrible flashbacks to 6th grade sex ed.*

But the problem is that the morning after pill and in *some* cases with IUDs, they keep a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, which in Hobby Lobby's terms is considered a borderline abortion or at least that's how I'll put it for a lack of I don't know the real scientific term they use. Don't mind that a majority of doctors agree that a pregnancy is considered when the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus, therefore removing this life would be considered an abortion. Hobby Lobby just happens to think that if anything happens to a fertilized egg it is considered an abortion, whether it actually attaches to the uterus or not and becomes a real pregnancy.

Also might I add that generally IUDs work JUST LIKE CONDOMS. They simply keep sperm from reaching the egg. The only time that they keep a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus is if they're inserted when a woman already has a fertilized egg in her uterus and is used as emergency contraception. And we don't even know that either. It *might* do that, we just don't know. If you want to get more on this 'are IUDs causing abortions or not' argument check out this fascinating article here.

In all honesty, this just all sounds like Hobby Lobby should be taking an eighth grade science class, not making lawsuits.

Why do the corporate giants running the business matter more than the thousands of individual employees?

When you own a business, you do things for your employees because in almost all cases there are a lot more people working for you than you or the group of 'yous' who are running the place. It's common business practice. DON'T PISS OFF YOUR EMPLOYEES BECAUSE THEY KINDA RUN THE PLACE. You do things with the thoughts of your employees in mind and Hobby Lobby has yet to find this out. It's also irritating as with this movement they're shoving the I hate these things that I think cause abortions, but really don't according to a large percentage of the medical field message down their worker's throats.

Also our country is repeatedly going in the direction where big huge, non person, corporations are considered people. And not only that, but they're given precedent over REAL LIVING BREATHING PERSONS. Absurd, really.

How did we get in a mess where five guys with penises made this huge groundbreaking decision over something that doesn't even work with their male anatomy?

For those unfamiliar with our Supreme Court make-up, we have nine justices. We have six men and three women, a ratio that isn't exactly well representative of our American population to begin with.

Anyways.

The decision was 5-4 (five in favor of Hobby Lobby, four in favor of women everywhere), not to mention all three women were against Hobby Lobby's "right" to not provide IUDs to their employees. THAT MEANS FIVE PENISES JUST TOLD ME MY EMPLOYER CAN REFUSE TO GIVE ME SOMETHING THAT SOME CONSIDER VITAL TO WOMEN EVERYWHERE AND THEIR WELL BEING (PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, IN TERMS OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER, ETC.).

Periods are painful and these "things" that you oppose often help.

IUDs are often used to treat painful periods. They're like, imagine this, prescribed by a doctor who I can almost guarantee spent more time training and in school for his job than you did.

Also on a side note, where will these "religious exemptions" end. Theoretically, anything a doctor can prescribe, your employer could be against. What about religions who have convictions against organ donations and blood transfusions? Will these people's beliefs be able to get them out of providing their employees coverage for these things? I can almost guarantee that cases like this will arise, and the court can't just pick and choose which religions can have an exemption. If they do, that will open an entirely new can of worms with the court favoring one religion over the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here comes the fun part. Does this get you just as riled up as I am (bold and caps lock for the win)? Or do you have a completely different outlook (really don't be afraid I'm a lot more friendly than these seemingly yelling sentences imply)?

Regardless, have a fabulous day.

Tidbits of Thoughts

A lot of things have started to look up since my last post. It started with the release of Ed Sheeran's new album which alone made me happier than a 12 year old creating her very first instagram account. Also, at the moment I'm about 11,000 words into my never ending project of writing my first book. I now I follow a lot of other aspiring novelists so I have no clue if this is even considered a general accomplishment, but I've never made it this far into a storyline without the plot going dead.

I'm trying to take a lesson from the last time I left town without a word, so I should probably add that I'll be leaving for the beach at the end of this week. I'm trying to set up that fancy process that allows me to pre-write posts and schedule their publish time, but the last time I did that things did not exactly work out.

Also, on a far less happier end of the spectrum I caught an article on Facebook (which is regrettably about the only news source I have besides following CNN on Twitter which is extremely sad) about a little girl who had recently died. She had Down Syndrome and was in need of a heart transplant, but was never even put on the list because of her genetic make-up. I wrote a post about a very similar situation back in November (which you can read here) about a little boy who was disabled and also denied a heart transplant.

I would link an article about the little girl here, but the one I read on Facebook was a little too off topic and put the blame on people whom were almost irrelevant to the situation. (She blamed the liberals and the Nazis. ?) I've tried looking for a news article of any kind, but can't seem to find one in the vasts depths of Google. It's quite upsetting that organs are so scarce that we have to put in place such inhumane practices, but even more upsetting that these inhumane practices exist. How in the world can someone possibly put a worth on some one's life?

But I won't be ending things here on such a low note, no worries.

I recently got a way to watch Netflix on my TV as before I was stuck with watching it on my phone or computer which is not as nearly satisfying (first world problems?). With that, I've been immersed in watching a million new TV shows. I finished the two seasons of American Horror Story that was available and now I just need to find a way to capture the third season. It's horrifyingly great and terrifying all at once and I'd highly recommend it. I'm working on Orange is the New Black which oddly makes prison look extremely fun. Or at least extremely funny.

Also I've got a good post in the making that's not a life update or I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while update. Hopefully I'll get it up by tomorrow so stay tuned.

Have a fabulous days.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for your comments on my last post. Your thoughts and condolences mean a lot more to me than you probably know.

Hello

I expected to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal while enjoying and reading some blogs that I missed during my week where there was absolutely no ounce of a single wave of Internet.

But alas blogger is messed up and it's only showing one new blog post no matter how many times I click view more. So instead I'm taking this time to say things like yes I'm still here, no I didn't forget, yes I'll start posting more, etc., etc., etc.

On my way up to the mountains a week ago from this Saturday, it dawned on me that you all would probably like to know that I wasn't going to be around for the coming week. It was quite the inopportune time considering I had no means to post such a post. So here's my formal sorry:

Sorry.

Also, this past week as I was coming down the mountains I received word that a very very very dear friend of mine passed away. It was a rough weekend and I'm still sorting through thoughts and feelings and tears, but things are coming around.

I was very sad and irritated and hurting the first two days, but ironically I keep thinking she's still here. I think I'm healing way too fast in some ways. I think I'm going to wake up at 2 in the morning a month from now and realize that she really is gone. It's like things haven't sunk in yet.

Anyways, things may be slow for a week or two as I try to process all this shit that's happening.

For now, have a fabulous day.

Women and Stuff

The acceptance of all women's bodies are probably the most over cliched "I stand for all women curvy or not" feminist wannabe type persons. Too many people knock our society because we perceive skinny women as being more beautiful and back in the 60s "curvy" women were seen as beautiful and that's the way it should be today and why are we so judgmental of those who have a little more weight and so on and so forth.

It's a funny thing really. The notion of bustier women being more beautiful along with the ads to gain weight that floated in abundance in the 1950s-1960s are just the same as our ads today that sell diets as if they were a cookie. The society, whether fifty years earlier or not, were telling a portion of the female population that their body type wasn't pretty and they should buy food and diets and magazines that would help them achieve such a thing. Just because gaining weight is a lot easier than losing it (to an extent, I know some people who struggle with gaining weight) doesn't mean that the prevalence of weight gaining ads in the 50s is okay.

People don't realize that it's the exact same thing, just in reverse. By saying the 1950s had it right and we have it wrong, still isn't advocating for all body types. 

I'm not going to sit here and ramble about how we should love and accept everyone boobs or no boobs, ass or no ass either. I'm just here to say, hey, think it through. 

I know of several people I follow on Twitter who readily "retweet" posts about how we should go back in time to 50 years earlier because they "had it all right".

Just read the above ad, "If you are a normal healthy, underweight person and are ashamed of your skinny, scrawny figure, NUMAL may help you add pounds and pounds of firm attractive flesh to your figure." Note the use of ashamed, scrawny, and attractive in the ad. Funny how society still hasn't changed.

Have a fabulous day.

Why I Didn't Tan for Prom

I've got approximately five days of school left, plus two afternoon sessions where I'll be taking my end of the year exams. I'm not nearly as stressed as I thought I would be, which is all good because well, I worry. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

I was one of the many lucky (?) sophomores who attended prom this year thanks to a gracious upperclassman friend who made me his guest. The whole dress shopping thing made me slightly consider renting a tux and calling it a day, but that's a different story I'm not sure I'm ready to tell. For those unfamilar, I'll sum up every prom dress store as smelling like hairspray, desperation, and women who either want to be overly helpful or overly rude. It's not pleasant to say the least.

Nonetheless need I mention nail appointments and dress alterings and hair ideas and make up sessions and the tanning bed. By God you'd think I was preparing for my wedding or funeral, but sadly neither of those were happening. 

I've bought into the consumerism machine that is prom. And it's not fun nor cheap. 

Yet I'm here to preach to you about one little appointment that goes into the ultimate plan of looking your best at only the raddest night of your life (cue eye roll). 

The tanning bed. 

There's always the obvious disapproval of the UV lined bed because it increases your risk for skin cancer and female baldness and breast reduction. Okay maybe not. But I feel those last two warnings would scare away more than the first. And let's not forget the old women who shake their fingers at you as they tell you about all their suspected moles that could have been melanoma even though they never even stepped foot in a tanning bed. 

But alas no female listens. We're risk takers, especially if the outcome is beautifully bronzed skin to the point of what our media fed society deems as beautiful. It's cheap to the price of three sessions for $10, with a punch card predicting a free session when you buy 9.

Now I'm a self proclaimed feminist. I say self proclaimed because I'm sure there's part of me that doesn't fit the exact unstated guidelines on what makes you one, but I call myself one nonetheless.

I'm sure the fact that I'm doing all this nonsense of prom kicks me out of the feminist box, but I'm mostly going for the food so hear me out.

Despite the pressure of friends and girls who were way too tan for it to be only May, I said no to the skin cancer market. I like to tell girls it's a good deal. $10 for 3 sessions and an increased chance of needing your dermatologist appointment for more than your acne. Double win.

Granted, I tan easily and between the 24/7 outdoor soccer practices and games that lead up to prom, I showed up looking fairly dark. I may have had a farmer's tan, but I indeed had some color.

Yet I couldn't grasp my mind around the girls who looked as if they had just come back from a week long cruise around Mexico where they mistook the tanning oil as sun screen the whole trip. Their unnatural tans were, well, unnatural.

I'm a strong believer in the fact that girls only do things because other girls are doing the same. It's not a new concept. And when one girl gets a nice tan because of $5 and four minutes in a warm bed, all the other girls want in. If no one put themselves through the few minutes of UV sleep once a week, no other girls would feel pressured to do the same. If you want girls to stop tanning, you have to stop tanning.

Granted, some girls are already tan, some girls tan easily, and some girls look like they naturally belong with the Jersey Shore crew after being outside for a few hours, but it's a shame we've gone to such bigger measures.

Maybe I want to make a bigger point of why can't we just accept our natural skin colors. If we all just showed up with our normal skin tones, I feel there'd be a lot less of that judge-y stuff that goes on. This goes much farther than putting on make-up to make yourself look good. This goes to the point of drastically increasing your chances of getting cancer to look a few shades darker in a handful of photos we won't even like in five years.

Have a fabulous day.

That One Time I Was Called a Feminist

Let me set the scene for you.

I'm sitting in my fourth period classroom where I'm cornered by three boys on every side of me except one. It's like the Iberian Peninsula except less ocean, more testosterone.

All three of the boys have conservative values that are typical of my area. Pro-life. Republican. Their moms stay at home. Their dads make the money. Their favorite part of the constitution is the 2nd amendment. You get the picture.

And not that there's anything wrong with their views, it's just not my cup of tea. I drink a pretty different cup of tea in fact, but I'm not going to tell them their life is wrong because it's not—at least for them.

But alas, there's a different story I'm telling today.

I'm not sure what brought up the comment. It might have been because the young boy who sits to my right had used the phrase "hey woman" to get my attention for the twenty second time that day. Or maybe it had been spurred by the boy behind me who made the comment that it wasn't the guys fault for having an affair with his co-worker it was "his boss' fault for hiring an attractive woman and her fault for dressing in a provocative way". (YES those words really did come out of his mouth. I may have to do a separate post on that later.)

But something very woman-y and great may have come out of my mouth about how I really don't appreciate my name being substituted with my gender. Or it might have been "your comment is one of the reasons why rape victims think it's their fault," but I take none of those words back.

In fact, I'll own them like Hilary Duff singing a song with herself in the classic movie of my childhood.

(Thanks for humoring me right there.)

But I digress.

One of the three boys turned my way with a face scrunched in anger and manly-ness and hurled the four words I've longed to hear.

"You're such a feminist."

(Which were all spat with the intentions of being an insult.)

*Rolls eyes. Sighs. Rolls eyes again.*

The boy behind me laughs. The boy to my left laughs. The boy to my right laughs. It's the joke of the year for them, yet an annoyance to me.

I try to regain myself from the "masculine" disrespect I just faced. They impatiently wait (as all boys do) for me to shrink back into my uncomfortable desk as if I had just had the most offensive insult of our time hurled at my face.

"Contrary to your beliefs, I don't find the term feminist to be offensive."

Their faces turn confused and I wonder if they've been told their whole life that the world feminist is a word that situates itself with damn and democrats. Aka, offensive and never to be used. Bless. So, finally they hush and go back to thinking about what's for dinner which will surely  be made by their mothers once they return home this evening from half assing their way through high school.

I think I'll need some extra patience to finish out the semester.

Have a fabulous day.