An Atrocious Plague

Hello there! How are you? I'm just fine. Life is simply beautiful. Let me just fill you in a little.

-I'm still losing this weight. It's a beautiful thing really. My clothes fit better. I'm much more confident about myself. Overall, super.

-I have decided to make 2011 the year of the (gasp) budget. Yikes. Don't worry. I'm still going to have spontaneous trips to Ikea and spend too much on concert tickets, but I will spend less on a weekly basis. Here's an example: one Friday night last semester, I went to a lovely little Italian restaurant and spent a whopping $40 on dinner and wine. The VERY next day, I went out and spent $25 on dinner. Too much friends. I've broken things up into wants and needs. Wants are things I will get slowly or on a limited basis (clothes, a car, tvs, dinner out, clubbin', etc) and needs are the things that are needed within the next few days (groceries, cat litter, an oil change, etc). It's working so far. :)

-Last night the cat made an attempt to jump on the couch. She didn't quite make it. She fell off and hit her chin. I helped her up. It was pretty funny and pitiful.

-I'm LOVING all this snow. I'm thrilled about so many snow days and so much laziness! :) Hello, empty malls!

-I've seen Black Swan twice. It was even better the 2nd time.

-I'm finally starting to make some friends around here! Hooray! I'm so thankful for people to go to the mall or play a board game with. I'm even MORE excited to go on Spring Break with these friends. We are going to tear Orlando apart!

Now for the chunk of m'blog.

-I'm utterly disgusted with the close-mindedness of some people. It sickens me to think that people are devalued because of their political view, sexual orientation, religious views, race, or gender. It's tragic really. The saddest part of this whole thing is that much of this hate comes from Christians. (Wait, take a breath. Calm down. Hear me out.) I am a Christian, but I am one of those who believes in the message of love and the saving power of Jesus Christ. I'm not one who will bash you for being gay (my gay friends are more legit and with it than some of my straight friends), yell at you for being a liberal (I'm one too), spit on you and call your religion a lie because it isn't Christianity (how rude), or judge you for being a certain race or gender. NO, I'm not perfect, but I am someone who lives in a BEAUTIFUL and DIVERSE real world. If you got offended by this, I'm not sorry. I am however, not going to try to shove my "hippie, new age" (YES, someone did call me that) ideas down your throat. You have to live your life in a way that you feel is right.

On to the next rant...

-I recently observed a...comment (we'll go with that) about the life of teenagers today. Unfortunately, some people believe that high school (heck even middle and elementary school) kids aren't engaging in activities that are considered to be of poor moral standard. Here's the problem, they are. They're doing drugs, having sex, drinking alcohol, etc. It's a sad, but true reality. I'm in NO WAY promoting this behavior, but we cannot turn a blind eye to it. Yes, 5.5 years ago it was a social taboo to drink or smoke pot. Now, (speaking as the sister of a 17 year old) it's common and often the way to be popular. I'm not saying it's right, but it's true. Ok, maybe not in TinyTown, USA, but in REAL LIFE CITIES (Indianapolis, Memphis, Louisville, Chicago, Atlanta...ya know, real cities). C'mon people. Be for real. Step out of your bubble and into reality.

And another thing...

People have made comments relating to the idea that I'm less of or not at all a Christian because of my choices in music, movies, literature, and even friends. How silly. How completely and totally silly. You can't make comments about what I watch or read when you watch and read similar things. You can't claim to hate Skins and LOVE Sex and the City. They are ultimately the same. You jammin' to Casting Crowns doesn't make my John Mayer any less groovy. Your religious fiction literature isn't any different than my Harry Potter. They are both fiction. Can't we all just get along?

Look, it all comes down to this (just like Chanille told Sara)

"Open up your pretty brown eyes and look around".

Save the Last Dance has never been more relevant.

xo