WE WON!!

Uh, yeah, so Obama is the country's first black president. And that's great, but it occurs to me that South Africa which had been run by an Apartheid government since 1948 elected its first black president 14 years ago! And if you're not familiar with apartheid, it's basically the polar opposite of democracy! Why are we so backward?

All that doesn't matter now, because Barack kicked butt. Last I checked McCain was stuck at 156 votes and Obama rose from 280+ to 333! Seems to me that with these kind of numbers, not only did people who didn't vote before vote, but perhaps people that previously voted republican changed their minds this year! Either way, Oh, yeah, we kicked butt. And by WE I mean ANYONE that was hoping and praying for the change that Obama promised and more than likely will bring about in DC.

School

It is now almost official. I am going back to school in January. I sat down with an academic councilor to discuss which classes I will be taking. My major will be liberal arts. I will receive an Associates Degree in liberal arts and then transfer to Old Dominion University for a degree in English (creative writing emphasis) with a minor in communications. I will get at least a baccalaureate, but I'm hoping to get into the accelerated Master's program. It's not too bad. You just take 4 or 5 classes that are at the 400 level, but they can also be counted for 500 level. That way, when you've earned your bachelor's degree, you have less classes to take to earn you Master's.

I will be taking Math 240 (statistics), Bio 101, Public Speaking, and Psychology 201. I'm so excited. Not so much about the classes, but just going back in general. And I'm not taking any of these courses online. I'm going to go to a real class with real students and real teachers. Did you know that you can take Public speaking online? Does that make any sense to you?

Oh, yeah. I've also cut all of my hair off. I love my hair short. I haven't cut it all off since March of 2005. I was determined to grow it long, but all I managed to do was have a whole bunch of damaged hair from perming. It looked so aweful when I went to the hair dresser. Now most of the damaged hair is gone. I think that I might wear a mohawk like I did the last time I cut it this short!

Why Should I Vote For Your Man?

This election year I have recieved several pieces of mail from the Republican Party of Virginia. Not one piece of litterature mentions McCain or Palin except for their websites. All it does is say why we shouldn't vote for Obama. This is the message I sent RPV.org. I can'r wait to read the response I get if any.

"I would like to start by saying that, although I will not be voting republican this year, I do have a lot of respect for McCain and I believe that it is sad how poorly his supporters are representing him. Let's start with you. I have recieved my 3rd piece of mail from you. Not one item has his picture on it. Not on item lists his platforms, what he stands for, what he believes in. It all just bashes Obama. It's ok to have a stance against your opponent, but don't you have anything else to say? Growing up, I was always warned against friends/aquaintances that make them feel better about themselves by putting others down. Instead of highlighting your candadate's qualities you're focusing on your apponants problems. And it's not just you. I hear it on the radio and the tv, too. It's kind of childish. What's worse is that it reinforces the anti-American/anti-constitutional/anti-democratic activities of those that threaten and harass Obama and his supporters. Two young men were discovered having plotted to assassinate Obama and black people in general until they are caught and killed if they have to. Or the email saying that republicans are to vote on tuesday, and democrats are to vote on wednsday. This is reminiscent of countries where dictators rule. And people that partake in this kind of activity/thinking are anti-democracy. They are no better than the people in countries that we are historically at war with who kill the supporters of the opposing party. Is that the kind of country in which we live? When I've spoken to republicans, their first argument is Obama this and Obama that. "Obama is anti-gun." Ok, so what is McCain's stand? Better yet, what's his running mate's stand? We all know, she has no stand because she is utterly clueless. By sending me literature about why you think Obama should not be president, you have failed in convincing me that McCain should. At the very least, you could send me something telling why Sarah Palin should be let anywhere near the White House if she couldn't even tell you what the Vice President does!"

Stupid People With Popcorn

When I was in Navy Electronics Technician School in Great Lakes, Illinois I lived in a large berthing with hundreds of other female sailors. I don't know if you know what it's like when hundreds of women required to live together in the not so optimal conditions. Four girls to a small room, marching to class in "Lake Effect Snow," bad food in the galley and annoying Barracks duty officers. Not to mention the multitude of backgrounds and cultures that must be transended to live together harmoniously.

But the greatest obstacle was the stupidity that many of us displayed when preparing food. Being a barracks for mainly E1-E3s there were no real cooking facilities. Just a couple of microwaves where the vending machines were located. So needless to say, there was a lot of popcorn being made.

Then, unfortunately, many a sailor would leave a bag of popcorn in the microwave unattended assuming that the directions on the bag would work on any microwave, despite the fact that the directions also say "microwave ovens may vary." Right?

So after several microwave fires they banned food from the barracks completely. Originally, it was only banned from the original berthings but ok in common areas. The result was many girls ouside in the Lake Effect Snow freezing their butts off eating delivery pizza at the picnic tables.

So, anyway, an hour ago I pulld up in front of the local 7-11 when I saw this lady writing down the name and phone number that you call when you have a complaint. I noticed that she had a Connecticut lisence plate. I was hoping that she was military and not really from CT because she had a stupid "Uncle Sam Wants You To Speak English" bumper sticker. I never found out.

I went inside and I heard the manager and the cashier talking with another customer about what had happened. Apparently this woman got a bag of popcorn, didn't pay for it, popped it in the store microwave, burned it and brought the bag to the counter wanting retribution of sorts. Apparently, the directions on the pack did not work with that paticular microwave. That's why anyone over the age of 14 aught know that you listen for the pops and you stop it when they only come one every five seconds or something like that, reguardless of the minutes it's been in there.

So of course the question was, did she expect her money back, or another bag of popcorn? She never paid for the pack she burned!! Isn't that theft? Is she going to call the number and say that she didn't get a refund or a replacement? Doesn't she realize that they will probably ask for a receipt number and when she can't produce one it will make her out to be a theif?

OK, that's all.

A Bit More On That Last Post

I've started writing the faerie tale on my computer. Usually I do all of my primary writing in a notebook. I like how my computer tells me how many words I have written.
The biggest challenge has been that I have decided to write this in the first person. Of course you know, that is, if you read my blog, you know that I've been writing a screenplay for so long that writing in this manner is a huge challenge. What is really difficult is not writing everything in the present tense!
Anyway, I think that I addressed this issue in an earlier blog. So I won't go on about it.
Also, I have to take a break from writing all together with the exception for an occasional spurt of idea writing. I have an advancement exam to take in February and I have a lot of studying to do.
Ok, that's all.

New Story and Newly Found Friends

About 15 months ago (I only specify the number of months instead of "a little over a year" because the subject came up earlier today. Someone wanted to know the exact number of months ago an event that took place around the same time occurred. So, yeah, about 15 months ago I got an inspiration to write a dark faerie tale. I won't talk about where I got the inspiration because it takes me back to a dark time in my life that I do not wish to relive.

I had some basic idea of what I wanted to write. I then started writing an outline. After a few pages of outline, ADD kicked in and I put that notebook away. I started working on the Jonathan Livingston project of course. I always went back to that when anything else failed to keep my attention. I believe that I even, at some point, forgot about my faerie tale. It sat in its notebook on my bookshelf for over a year, waiting for me to remember it and to get the inspiration I needed to develop my ideas and start working on it again. Of course, I needed to complete Jonathan Livingston, which I did, sort of, recently.

But a couple of months ago it all came to me. I hadn't written in a while so I pulled out that old notebook and started reading over my old notebook. I started thinking hard about the story that I wanted to tell. There were still gaping holes that I could not fill. So I got the idea to read the masters of dark faerie tales: The Germans and the Russians. Thinking hard about my story, I realized that basically what I had written, or rather the premise that I wrote, could be kind of a reverse Sleeping Beauty. The princess is being raised by a kind uncle, the kingdom falls asleep, the prince is the bad guy and the princess must go complete harrowing tasks to save the day by confronting, and defeating the witch who had no part in bewitching the kingdom in the first place!

I found several Russian faerie tales that gave me some ideas where I'd been stuck before. She has several tasks that she most complete before she can save her kingdom. The idea was for three. I could only think of 2 the first time i stopped writing it. Coming up with the 3rd is part of what held up this story for so long. Not only did reading classic Russian faerie tales help me figure out how to write the third task, it's helping me develop the witch that she must defeat.

Ok, enough about that. The second thing that I wanted to talk about is something that happened to me the other day. It is one of the things that makes me MOST happy in life. I found a friend that I have lost. Actually I found 2. One that I have known since middle school. The other I have known since first grade. I wanted to take this time to tell them that I really appreciate that they continue their friendship with me. It has always been treasured and finding them, thanks to the internet, has been a serendipitous surprise. I hope that I never lose touch with them again.

Did that come out too mushy? I hope not.

Kimya Who?

I am so not writing about writing in my blog. Or am I?

So, I was looking through other people's blogs as I am tempted to do when I need a break from the daily grind. What grind you ask? Well, I don't know either 'cause I really am not doing much. Writing, studying, stuff. But I need a diversion from nothing once in a while. Anyway, I came across this music player in someone else's blog and it was playing this song that totally caught my ear (does anyone say caught my ear? well, I did.) So I listened to it a few times, looked up the lyrics, sang along. It was fun. So then I googled the artist. Aparently she's an antifolk songstress, whatever that means. But this one song I loved too much not to share. It's not the one from the blog, but just as, if not more interesting. And how does this relate to writing? It does, I promise. I now want to pick up a guitar, learn to play, grow out my natural hair into a big afro again (I promise, I did have a big afro once) and write really cool songs like this one. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfbqrNPJXlQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKBS7YPNLPU&feature=related


Ok, so I couldn't embed the video into my blog. You will just have to go to youtube yourself, please and enjoy these two songs.