January 27, 2012

The Joy of Music

As I was driving home from work today, I did what I usually don't. I didn't sing along to the music. That 1/2 hour drive to and from work is my time to unwind and I usually do that by singing along to the radio as loud as I possibly can. It releases stress and calms me down. But today I just decided to stay quiet. I realized that after I learn the lyrics to a song I sing with it and I lose the love I had for the song when I first heard it. Every once and a while it's nice to simply let the song be sung.

January 24, 2012

Seriously, Santorum?

So Santorum says that women who get pregnant because of rape should "make the best out of a bad situation." If you haven't read the story, I've linked to it here.

Abortion is a touchy subject and I typically don't agree with it, but that is for people who have sex and have an "oops" pregnancy. But this is unwanted, forced and cruel. Women who are raped are already dealing with everything after the rape occurs and they should have the option on what to do. Why should someone who is raped have to live through another 9 months of pregnancy and damage to their bodies and go through the pain of childbirth? You would be forcing those victims to continue being victims and basically punishing them for something they had no control over.

I had a friend in school who felt the way Santorum does. My argument was, what if the girl raped is a child? Girls have started getting their periods earlier. Are you going to make a 13 year old girl give birth?

All I think is that women should have the choice. We are strong enough, brave enough and (most importantly) smart enough to be able to decide for ourselves.

January 23, 2012

Rain/Ice Day

I'm taking a sort of snow day today. It's raining pretty hard here, causing the roads to be covered in wet snow. Soon the weather will drop below freezing and everything will turn to ice. So I'm taking the day off- mostly because my husband says he doesn't want me driving a 1/2 an hour to work (with this weather it would most likely take an hour). I live in a rural area and would most likely freeze before a tow truck would show up... did I forget to mention that my car's heater is broken? Yeah, that's broken. I don't have the money to fix it right now so I mostly bundle up. The winter hasn't been bad this year though. If we were having a winter like last year (mostly every day was below 0) I would have to find a way to get it fixed. Thankfully though this winter is a lot better. So I guess I'll do some laundry today and take some pictures.

January 19, 2012

SOPA & PIPA

Not sure if you've heard about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or PIPA (Protect IP Act). I figured it would be easier to show, so here's a good video talking about the effects of internet censorship.


January 17, 2012

Internet Blackout TOMORROW!

Avoiding all interwebs tomorrow for the SOPA & PIPA Blackout. This will be difficult for me. No Twitter or Facebook or anything! Wish me luck!

http://sopacountdown.com/

January 10, 2012

Bookstore Disappointment

Every time I visit the local bookstore I feel disappointment. Like today for example. John Green's new book The Fault in Our Stars was released today and I went in at 10 to find it. No copies were out yet and when I asked about it, the woman who works there had to go in the back room to put out the whole 2 (2!) they ordered. What bookstore orders 2 books? It's on the bestseller list for crying out loud! No matter when I go in they are either rude or don't have what I'm looking for... sometimes both. OK, usually both.

If I was surrounded by books all day I would be in my happy place.

I want to live in this place

My guess is that the woman who works there is just in it for the paycheck. I think I should work there on weekends just so someone could be happy there. I would love to open a bookstore if I had the money. I just need to start buying lottery tickets... and get really lucky.

January 4, 2012

Fire Alarms Aren't Just for Fun

So the fire alarm went off at work today... and everyone in my office just sat there and kept working. What? In their defense, I will say that the alarm does go off frequently and stops after a minute or 2. This one kept going so as I was putting my jacket and stuff on because it's f-ing freezing outside everyone was just sitting there.

Who thinks that they should just sit there while a fire alarm is going off? They just thought this is ok, it's probably not a real fire. It wasn't an actual fire, but does it matter? If a fire alarm goes off, at least prepare for the possibility of fire. That is what they are for after all... to let you know there is death in the form of fire in the building.

January 3, 2012

2012 Goals

I'm not going to have a "resolution" this year because I never follow through with them. Instead, this year I'm going to have a few goals. Nothing big, but things that I can focus on throughout the year.

Specific Goals-
1. Finish a story- I have quite a few stories I started but never finished. It doesn't have to be 100% done, but I would like to have a draft.
2. Enter photography into at least 1 contest- I keep saying that I would like to but have yet to do so.
3. Make a vlog- I don't have to post it but if I like it I might do more. I always liked different ways of self expression.
4. Volunteer to do at least 1 thing- I don't care if it's just dropping a bag of food off at an animal shelter or volunteering at an event. I just want to do something to help make the world suck less.
5. Be anonymously awesome- do something nice for someone without them knowing who I am.
6. See The Hobbit (comes out in December!)- if the world hasn't ended by then.
General Goals-
7. Call people I love more often- just to let people know I'm thinking of them.
8. Continue to eat better & exercise- I started in December and I would like to continue into this year. I was going to put "continue to lose weight" but I think that by having a healthier lifestyle those things will come naturally anyway.
9. Read more- I used to read a lot but haven't read much lately.