Journaling on estrip is easy and free. sign up here

Lauren's Journal

lauren
My Podcast Link

12/11/2008 18:53 #47028

enough already
ug. phew. breath in, breath out.

this will not be another rant about how stupid conservative Christians are in their arguments for gay marriage. HOWever, I came across this in one of my "lefty" (as my father would say) email newsletters. the part the newsletter focused on was this :

"Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what's happening right now in our cities?...What troubles me so deeply, and should trouble all thinking Americans, is that there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists. Hate is hate, no matter where it erupts."

This guy, Pat Boone, basically is comparing what is happening in Mumbai, where there were some 200 plus violent murders, to pro- prop 8 protestors. Uhhhhhhh, no, dumbass.

But it gets better. He goes on to say:

"Slavery was abolished, blacks and women obtained the rights to vote, and these true rights were not obtained by threats and violent demonstrations and civil disruption (though these things did occur, of course), but by due process, congressional deliberations and appropriate ratification. This was democracy in action, not mob rule."

ARE YOU KIDDING GUY?
I wasn't even there and I know there was violence...coming from the OTHER side. there is always violence when oppressed groups are forced to fight for their rights.

Oh oh and one more thing:

"No 'rights' were ever granted to citizens on the basis of their sexual habits or lifestyle. There simply are no such 'rights.'"

Really? Then WTF do you call straight marriage?? Is that not a right based on sexual habits and (god i HATE this word) lifestyle? Please MF please.

You can read the whole article here
I know that this guy is kinda extreme. but i also think that there are logical progressions in thinking that there is no harm in saying that marriage is a definition and man and woman and blahdeeblah to all homos are terrorists. its not that far of a stretch, obviously.




drew - 12/11/08 21:17
This letter is sad, but not surprising. The communication on the fringes is so isolated from other voices, that stuff like this never even gets questioned.
metalpeter - 12/11/08 19:10
I'm sure what he is saying from his perspective makes sense to him. That being said the thing about sexual life style or what ever that is called is wrong but I see it as wrong for a different reason then you. There was a time when it was legal to have multiple wives (and not just I want to have sex with my 14 year old bride because she is hot and reminds me of the 1st time I had sex), and that was made illegal and you can only get hitched to one person. Maybe if I have time to read the entire article I will be able to make a better comment. You are also so true about the violance. Does he mention that one of the reasons women got into the work place was to take mens jobs when they went off to war, oh yeah that was really peacful.
tinypliny - 12/11/08 19:08
His understanding of not only my country's politics but also of general biology is so distorted, I can only laugh. When was he born? Yesterday? LOL.

12/02/2008 09:51 #46919

Dolla Dolla Bill Ya'll
hmmm... you see, I always want to post something I think that others will think is interesting. This is hard for me. You know those people who can kinda just talk about anything...remember the smallest details and make a story out of it? That's not me.

Oh and I also have problems with deja vu...did I write that before? Is that how uninteresting I am that I have to repeat the same ol same ol on this blog that I barely write in in the first place? I am awesome.

So here's an idea.

There are three dollar stores in my town. Three. One, two, three. We have the original Dollar Store where everything really is a dollar. Then we have the Dollar General where almost nothing is a dollar. I believe the third is the General Dollar or something along those lines. The third I have not been in yet because, well, the second one is closer to my house. I was talking to my dad about this pseudo monstrosity and he was going on about he was able to get curtains and a curtain rob for my room at one of the dollar stores, i don't know which one, and how great it was because before them they would have to drive all the way to Oneonta, about half hour away, to get things such as these. I get that, really I do, but THREE??

I mean really, you need to picture this. My town sits in a valley. The village is mucho small while the town (i think i have that distinction right) spreads out through the mountains with dairy farmers and whatnot. But the village itself...you can walk from one end to the other in maybe 20 minutes. I might be exaggerating though, its been awhile since I walked from one end of that place to the other. but either way ALL THREE of these Dollar Stores are within LESS THAN ONE MILE of each other in my little shit ass town. Really? Really.
tinypliny - 12/04/08 10:00
Haha.. $1 = Rs.50
metalpeter - 12/02/08 18:52
I kinda agree with (e:Paul) it is kinda false advertising. I think that some of the places might get away with it because they still have stuff that is predetermined to cost a dollar or maybe every thing costs even dollars with no cents.
james - 12/02/08 11:12
You can never have enough shit.
paul - 12/02/08 10:31
I hate dollar stores where the stuff is not $1.00. I feel like its false advertising.

12/01/2008 13:51 #46907

Picture This...
There are small towns and then there are small towns and then even there are smaller towns. I live in a town I would classify as a middle small town. There were about 100 people or less in my graduating class. I have friends from two of the surrounding towns who graduated with 30 or so people. Crazy. The thing about my middle sized town though, is that it allows for the fostering of crazy football maniacs.

Walton almost made it to the state championships this year, but lost after their 30 or so game winning streak. Sucks for them. All over the town there are posters and signs that say things like "Fear the Warriors" and "Walton Warriors All the Way". Sheesh. They lost, take down the stupid signs.

Also, in response to (e:joshua)'s post about deer carcasses... my school would often get the first day of hunting season off simply because more than half of the students wouldn't be there anyway. I had a friend whose step father owned a deer prep place...for those hunters who didn't want to do it themselves...and I distinctly remember walking in there and having to watch where I was going so I didn't walk into a deer face. They were all skinned...and I don't know which is worse, with or without the fur. It is not uncommon to see deer strapped to the top of cars or hanging from trees. Better there than then indented into the front of your car.

I don't have a problem with hunting, or hunters. I do however have a problem with "flatlanders" aka city folk and new jersey-ites who come to the country and shoot at anything that moves. I might have written about this in the past, but once a little old lady was standing on her back porch and was shot dead by a hunter from new jersey who swore she was a deer. Gross.

Oh and, I made the mistake of going to the (only) bar in Walton while I was home. There were so many people there that I had forgotten existed...its weird to see people outside of the ridiculous mindfuck that is high school. I think that perhaps it is only in places like Walton where you can find men dressed from head to toe in camo dancing to the the dj who goes from playing "its getting hot in here" to "she thinks my tractor's sexy". oh and i won't even get into what it means to leave high school as a (chubby) straight girl and come back a slimmer homo. No, I don't have a boyfriend...
kookcity2000 - 12/01/08 21:58
I like your town taxonomy. Likewise I always thought the town I grew up was a med-small.
fellyconnelly - 12/01/08 19:27
i'm so glad i didnt come with you on this trip home....
heidi - 12/01/08 16:47
I'm from a small-small town - my high school graduating class was 42, the class behind me was about 35. The school district calls the two days the kids get off for hunting season "Environmental Awareness Days" although when I was in school, it was just called hunting season.

We call those nasty suburban philadelphians & jerseyites "flatlanders" too. We're called "ridgerunners" :::link:::

Usually the Saturday night before hunting season is the biggest night of the year at the local (and only public) bar, yep, lots of men dressed in full cammo dancing with all the local single women who would love to hook up with a flatlander, who would presumably be richer than men in Tioga County. Yeah, totally sucky djs.

I had kept up my ties to home while I was gone but when I moved back in '03 i got a lot of apologies from people who hadn't been so nice to me in high school.
james - 12/01/08 16:31
Going to one's hometown is always a grotesque landscape best left unrevisited.
joshua - 12/01/08 15:14
Ours had skin on it, and I felt lucky that it stayed on the entire ride. Seeing it without the skin has got to be worse...

I love your "flatlanders" term. :) And I don't know how somebody could mistake a person for a deer. Perhaps I should ask Vice President Richard Cheney? Bahahaha.

11/26/2008 09:24 #46844

Sha-wing
Category: pie.
oh my oh my. i have to drive the 4 odd hours home today in the yucky wet snow. i only really have two concerns. the first being dumb ass mother fuckers who don't know how to drive on the thruway and, once I get of the safety of the highways and enter into the deep mountainous region i call home, i never really trust my car. oh yeah and its a piece of shit and takes like 20 minutes just to get up a hill that felly's car takes like its pie.

mmm. pie.

technically i shouldn't even be going home today. i find it terribly inconsiderate when professors assign papers for the week after thanksgiving. It's like, here's some time off for you...to do school work! bastards. so yeah i have one paper due on tuesday and another due wednesday with a presentation to go with it. i mean, i guess if i wanted to look at the brightside, at least i will knock out two out of three real quick and only have one left before i am free.

Last night Felly and I watched (another) one of the worst (lesbian) movies ever. I can say that just about 99.9% of "lesbian" movies suck ass. Period. They either have bad plots, bad acting, bad sex, or bad all of the above. They just don't make em like they used to. This one was called "Kate's Addiction" and it was about this psycho bitch (Kate) who murders her best friend's fiance because she wants her for herself. the murder scene should have tipped us off but we continued to watch, only to learn later that the psycho had been drugging the friend all throughout college so that she could rape her in her semi-coherent but not remembering state. GROSS. Oh yeah, and ultimately, the crazy psycho gets killed and the friend and her new boyfriend end up happily ever after. Yeah, like that.

Anyway, I'llllllll be hooooooome for the holidays, so ya'll have a fabulous thanksgiving. Word.
mrmike - 11/26/08 10:41
Enjoy home :)
leetee - 11/26/08 09:45
Drive safely! :O)
janelle - 11/26/08 09:38
One year in grad school, I had to skip going home for Thanksgiving because a professor assigned the biggest research paper of the semester to be due the Monday we returned from Thanksgiving. Another professor had an essay test for the Tuesday after.

I had Thanksgiving at a professor's house and it was strange and awkward because the professor and her husband were both socially awkward and cold people.

Probably one of my stranger Thanksgivings.
tinypliny - 11/26/08 09:28
If its any consolation, I have a major draft due on Monday. Its no "thanks"giving for me. :)

11/18/2008 10:09 #46736

meta (update with pics!)
tation?

i know that's not how you spell it.

i met with my professor on Saturday at spot coffee. it was weird... it was one of the things that screams, i am a graduate student, no longer an undergrad. we talked for an hour about a paper i am writing right now about a haunted plantation in Louisiana and, gasp, my thesis. I think I actually have a topic and theory for the thesis, which is crazy exciting and crazy nerve wrecking all at once. this professor is amazing. she gives me just enough praise to keep my feeling capable and good but not too much so that i don't stop questioning myself and my ideas. she still intimidates that shit outta me but i know its not because i am scared of her, but because she has taught me so much and i know i still can learn so much from her.

felly got a new blackberry. right now i have her old phone but soon i am getting an (orange!) boulder!! its a super chunky heavy duty phone cause i don't really aesthetically like the super thin streamlined ones...they make me nervous.

in other news...there is snow on the ground! this is like...real snow. last time it snowed, by the time i had ralphie outside it was mostly watery crystals that didn't cover the ground. i can't wait to see what he thinks this time.



Ralphie's newest sweater

image

Ralphie's first real snow!
image
fellyconnelly - 11/19/08 07:13
ralphapotamus is aDOReable!
lauren - 11/18/08 19:16
It is called The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville LA. It is supposedly "America's Most Haunted Plantation".

And yes, its actually called the boulder. i spose its meant for outdorsy folks...i just met a construction worker the other day who had one... i just thought it was perty.
jenks - 11/18/08 18:20
what plantation?? I toured a few...

And do you mean perhaps the "PEBL" phone? or is there really one called boulder? haha. I had a blue pebl. Loved it.
james - 11/18/08 10:49
I like your spelling much better.
paul - 11/18/08 10:20
I wish basra could play in the snow