Update and a Rant (sorry if it's too long but I need to vent)
OK so I haven't updated in forever... so here goes nothing.... if you want to know more detail about anything, get in touch with me...
Valentine's Day weekend (or week since I was home for so long) was awesome... the look on Felix's face was priceless. I was so happy to see him and be able to spend that time with him... I really really missed him, and do now as I type this. It was fun just going out to dinner, laying in bed late with him, watching TV, and just being around him general... it makes me realize more and more how much I love him and just how different my life would be without him. ::sigh::
No sooner did I get back from home, and Jess came for the weekend. INCREDIBLE! is one word to describe that. It was so great having her here.. she got along with my friends really well and they liked her too (always a plus when your college friends like your best friend from home =) )... Friday when she got in, we just hung out and drank, went to Seven Eleven. Saturday was spent at this great restaurant in Dupont called La Tomate, and then we walked down to the mall/monuments and around the city in general, went to Caribou Coffee, and then to Pentagon City. Went on a run, and had Long Island Iced Teas and Wisey's at VB4... it was small at first, and actually only got to be about 20 people (pretty much my close group of friends) drinking and playing kings and just hanging out... it was so much more fun than a big party. Sunday we went to brunch at a creperie and then I showed her around campus, and before I knew it, we were off to the airport and we got her on her flight 10 minutes before it left (yeah Red Line for being delayed).. it was actually my secret plan of keeping her ;-)... I can't wait to have her come visit again!... I miss her a lot while I'm here so it was nice having her be a part of my daily life again if only for a weekend.
The past few days have been spent trying to get back into the swing of things academically... I seriously can't focus even though I really should since I have 3 exams next week that I am definitely going to bomb. Probably gonna be in the library on Friday night so that I will not feel guilty about going to the 90s party on Saturday!! This should be a blast... 80s parties are fun but we grew up in the 90s man... soooo many memories with that music. Then, in 10 days I'll be in LONDON WITH ERIKA!! I LOVE ERIKA! I could not pick a better travel buddy... we are soo much alike it's ridiculous... can't wait...
Now for the serious stuff... I cannot stand this country anymore. I'm obviously pissed about the whole gay marriage debate. I do not understand how in a society that tries to claim to be so accepting and equal, there can still be so much tolerance for bigotry and discrimination. Gay marriage is NOT an attack on marriage. Over 50% of heterosexual marriages end in divorce; should we redefine divorce laws to protect the sanctity of marriage? Television has all these dating shows and marriage shows that allow people who have just met to get married; should we censor television to protect the sanctity of marriage? Marriage is not sacred in this country anymore and the two examples above are two things that prove it. The "sanctity of marriage" argument is a poor excuse for conservative, political and religious extremists to impose their will upon a public too ignorant to form opinions of their own. As a nation, what are we reverting to? Should we renew the "three-fifths compromise" in the Constitution? Should we ban interracial marriage? Should we promote religious intolerance? Or maybe discriminate against women because of their gender? Issues of race and gender are taken so seriously by everyone because no one can change their race or gender so most people can understand that you should not discriminate on these grounds.. well sexual orientation is not a choice either, so there should not be discrimination based on that either. Current laws do not give gay/lesbian couples the rights that they deserve (i.e. visitation rights for a sick partner {I hate that term BTW}, power over a partner's care in serious health situations, and countless other rights allotted for heterosexuals). Another thing I don't understand is that there are so many children that need to be adopted... allowing gay/lesbian couples marriage rights would create so many more two parents homes for these children. Gay Marriage does not affect others, it does not hurt anyone, it is not an attack on any American institution; the fact that this is escalating to where it is shows how backwards our society is. Yes, marriage is an institution established thousands of years ago...but by whom? MEN... it was the beginning of patriarchal society as we know it.. Men created it to have dominion over women who were there to satisfy their sexual appetite, bear children, and continue their line... so of course heterosexual men (not all, but enough)are trying to hold on to the one place where they feel they still have dominion (since they do not have it over women, blacks, or much else for that matter thanks to the feminist and civil rights movements). I also don't get how old civil rights leaders are in favor of the Federal Marriage Act... kind of hypocritical since they were facing similar discrimination not that long ago. We need another March on Washington... and it won't come quick enough.
The other thing that has me pissed is the fact that Bush and the administration is refusing Haitian refugees.. we were founded as a land of the free, home to pretty much outcasts from all over, as a safe haven from persecution and now we are turning our backs on our neighbors that are fleeing a rebellion? What happened to that saying "Give us your poor, your weak, your hungry..." (something like that... it seems that Americans have forgotten why our nation was founded and what we are supposed to stand for (61% are against accepting refugees). September 11th was horrible but it has reverted us back into isolationist protectionism, under which civil liberties are being trampled, civil rights ignored or rejected, and nationalism replaced with a feeling reminiscent of McCarthyism. Everytime I read the news now, I cringe and seriously don't whether to cry or to scream and I feel so helpless. Bush is changing our country for the worse, and the American public is just going along with it.. it's sickening. I seriously want to go to Europe and these things are a huge part of it.. I can't stand living in a country where I feel like I am only half a citizen and I have to constantly deal with and hear about the hypocresy of the US. It makes me so mad..
And I digress... before I keep rambling because I definitely could for longer than I have been...
Good night... hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, but that's doubtful
Valentine's Day weekend (or week since I was home for so long) was awesome... the look on Felix's face was priceless. I was so happy to see him and be able to spend that time with him... I really really missed him, and do now as I type this. It was fun just going out to dinner, laying in bed late with him, watching TV, and just being around him general... it makes me realize more and more how much I love him and just how different my life would be without him. ::sigh::
No sooner did I get back from home, and Jess came for the weekend. INCREDIBLE! is one word to describe that. It was so great having her here.. she got along with my friends really well and they liked her too (always a plus when your college friends like your best friend from home =) )... Friday when she got in, we just hung out and drank, went to Seven Eleven. Saturday was spent at this great restaurant in Dupont called La Tomate, and then we walked down to the mall/monuments and around the city in general, went to Caribou Coffee, and then to Pentagon City. Went on a run, and had Long Island Iced Teas and Wisey's at VB4... it was small at first, and actually only got to be about 20 people (pretty much my close group of friends) drinking and playing kings and just hanging out... it was so much more fun than a big party. Sunday we went to brunch at a creperie and then I showed her around campus, and before I knew it, we were off to the airport and we got her on her flight 10 minutes before it left (yeah Red Line for being delayed).. it was actually my secret plan of keeping her ;-)... I can't wait to have her come visit again!... I miss her a lot while I'm here so it was nice having her be a part of my daily life again if only for a weekend.
The past few days have been spent trying to get back into the swing of things academically... I seriously can't focus even though I really should since I have 3 exams next week that I am definitely going to bomb. Probably gonna be in the library on Friday night so that I will not feel guilty about going to the 90s party on Saturday!! This should be a blast... 80s parties are fun but we grew up in the 90s man... soooo many memories with that music. Then, in 10 days I'll be in LONDON WITH ERIKA!! I LOVE ERIKA! I could not pick a better travel buddy... we are soo much alike it's ridiculous... can't wait...
Now for the serious stuff... I cannot stand this country anymore. I'm obviously pissed about the whole gay marriage debate. I do not understand how in a society that tries to claim to be so accepting and equal, there can still be so much tolerance for bigotry and discrimination. Gay marriage is NOT an attack on marriage. Over 50% of heterosexual marriages end in divorce; should we redefine divorce laws to protect the sanctity of marriage? Television has all these dating shows and marriage shows that allow people who have just met to get married; should we censor television to protect the sanctity of marriage? Marriage is not sacred in this country anymore and the two examples above are two things that prove it. The "sanctity of marriage" argument is a poor excuse for conservative, political and religious extremists to impose their will upon a public too ignorant to form opinions of their own. As a nation, what are we reverting to? Should we renew the "three-fifths compromise" in the Constitution? Should we ban interracial marriage? Should we promote religious intolerance? Or maybe discriminate against women because of their gender? Issues of race and gender are taken so seriously by everyone because no one can change their race or gender so most people can understand that you should not discriminate on these grounds.. well sexual orientation is not a choice either, so there should not be discrimination based on that either. Current laws do not give gay/lesbian couples the rights that they deserve (i.e. visitation rights for a sick partner {I hate that term BTW}, power over a partner's care in serious health situations, and countless other rights allotted for heterosexuals). Another thing I don't understand is that there are so many children that need to be adopted... allowing gay/lesbian couples marriage rights would create so many more two parents homes for these children. Gay Marriage does not affect others, it does not hurt anyone, it is not an attack on any American institution; the fact that this is escalating to where it is shows how backwards our society is. Yes, marriage is an institution established thousands of years ago...but by whom? MEN... it was the beginning of patriarchal society as we know it.. Men created it to have dominion over women who were there to satisfy their sexual appetite, bear children, and continue their line... so of course heterosexual men (not all, but enough)are trying to hold on to the one place where they feel they still have dominion (since they do not have it over women, blacks, or much else for that matter thanks to the feminist and civil rights movements). I also don't get how old civil rights leaders are in favor of the Federal Marriage Act... kind of hypocritical since they were facing similar discrimination not that long ago. We need another March on Washington... and it won't come quick enough.
The other thing that has me pissed is the fact that Bush and the administration is refusing Haitian refugees.. we were founded as a land of the free, home to pretty much outcasts from all over, as a safe haven from persecution and now we are turning our backs on our neighbors that are fleeing a rebellion? What happened to that saying "Give us your poor, your weak, your hungry..." (something like that... it seems that Americans have forgotten why our nation was founded and what we are supposed to stand for (61% are against accepting refugees). September 11th was horrible but it has reverted us back into isolationist protectionism, under which civil liberties are being trampled, civil rights ignored or rejected, and nationalism replaced with a feeling reminiscent of McCarthyism. Everytime I read the news now, I cringe and seriously don't whether to cry or to scream and I feel so helpless. Bush is changing our country for the worse, and the American public is just going along with it.. it's sickening. I seriously want to go to Europe and these things are a huge part of it.. I can't stand living in a country where I feel like I am only half a citizen and I have to constantly deal with and hear about the hypocresy of the US. It makes me so mad..
And I digress... before I keep rambling because I definitely could for longer than I have been...
Good night... hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, but that's doubtful