Where have I been?

So I haven't posted in a long while. Sorry. Speaking of sorry, have you ever written in a journal or diary, "Dear Diary, sorry I haven't written in a while", as if the diary actually cares that you didn't right? :)

But actually, I've lately been working on a Beauty Blog, http://www.quackspassionpit.blogspot.com, where I review a lot of fun beauty products and basically just yak about MAC. I started it as a project for a class where we had to create a blog, and I decided to keep it going b/c it's fun and is something that interests me. The problem is I don't know much about promoting a blog, as you can see by the 5 visitors that visit this one! :) But I enjoy it, so feel free to visit, leave comments, etc! :)

So Far, So Glad

I've had a couple people (mind you, I'm using this term literally) say that Palin is an intelligent woman...well, I still have yet to see it, and as this broadcast from FOX news (Fox news, people!) says that she didn't even know that Africa was a continent, among MANY other foibles! All of this was "off the record", so they couldn't talk about it 'til now, but it's just super alarming still and I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief! Well, don't listen to me, watch the vid for yourself:

Fox News Video - Palin

I have a few comments about this, and I'm writing this quickly so we'll see if they come out right. First, it's kind of sad that campaign officials who were trying to make her vice president, hid these things from voters! I mean I know perhaps why, but at the same time, now they're like blaming her for losing the election and hating on her. That's really low to be saying this now that she lost. They like turned on her pretty much. I am not a Palin fan, but even I can see that that shows very little integrity of the people who backed her for the past couple months. Crazy. Why work on  a campaign if you aren't 110% behind the candidate?

I don't think McCain would've been the worst choice ever. Sure, he's a hot head and a lot misogynistic, but he'd still have been better than Bushie. But the running mate! For shame! She was crap. I'm so glad she gets to go back to Alaska! See you this summer, hun!

Totally Random Thoughts re: Election

Well, I don't need to sit here and gloat about Obama slaughtering McCain, as that is evident on every news site, blog and facebook status around. But, I am very grateful that I can once again be confident in America. I love winning. :) Of course my rejoicing was dampened when Prop 8 was passed. The good news is, there's always another chance, and as the older generations disappear, the hope will increase. Today, Trent, me and a friend visiting from out-of-state were eating in the Cougareat talking about this subject that is close to all of our hearts, and as we were discussing the situation, some kid sat down next to us and made some comments about Prop 8 that were really ambiguous, so we couldn't really tell if he was a "yes" or "no" man. Well, turns out that he is a BYU student that is a "no on prop 8" kind, and it was just awesome to talk to someone on campus who actually felt the same way as us. We had a great discussion and learned that much of his support for equal rights stems from having a gay family member. I was really encouraged talking to him, to know that the fight is not over yet. As with any great changes in history, they are hardly earned without a fight. 

Now on a somewhat related subject, I just read some Mormon Republican lady's blog, and the title was "How much are tickets to France?" because according to the entry, she wants to move away to France since Obama was elected. Which is really funny, because as my last entry indicates, the 'pubes are the ones that hated France just a couple years ago because they wouldn't do that whole Iraq War thing. So, what she's saying is, she, a pube, wants to go to France, a country that is way more liberal than the U.S. and is also like 10% Muslim (which is what they're all afraid of Obama being, right?), yet she thinks it's going to be better there? Oh My. I'm sure they'd welcome her with open arms, considering she probably participated in "boycott France" a couple years ago. Believe you me, France doesn't want American 'pubes any more than Vermont would. Love it.

Election 2008: The World Weighs In

The Guardian (a UK post) recently published this survey of various countries throughout the world. If the people of these respective countries were to vote in OUR election, who would win? Well, the article tells you the answer, so go ahead and read it yourself. It's pretty interesting. The article continues on about how the information was collected, so you may want to consider that as well in respect of the findings.

However, I've seen a couple other similar surveys with pretty much the same findings, so it wasn't really the big question of WHO they'd vote for that surprised me, but some of the answers to other questions asked, such as:

How would you describe the actual relations between your country and the USA?

% of from each country reporting relations are positive:

Canada: 43%

France: 38%

Switzerland: 20%

Poland: 43%

Japan: 16%

Mexico: 23%

Great Britain: 49%

% of from each country reporting relations are neutral or tense: 

Canada: 43%

France: 64%

Switzerland: 73%

Poland: 53%

Japan: 81%

Mexico: 71%

Great Britain: 48% 

Thoughts?

I first am surprised that Japan hates us so much! haha. I mean I always figured they loved Americans, which I think they DO like our pop culture, but maybe not so much our methods politically? Japanese people are smart folks! They go to school for like 20 hrs a day, 6 days a week! So listen up to them! :) Maybe they are mad about those nasty bombs we dropped...I would be too! They were unnecessary...I digress.

I am equally pleased that GB doesn't hate us terribly. In fact, I think they have one of the more positive outlooks on us, but still, consider that 49% favoring us isn't AMAZING either. 

Anyways, I hope we can take from this that we have some foreign relations to work on. This is one of the most important things for me in the next 4 years, because I truly believe we've been a little arrogant over the past few years. Example: As soon as the Iraq War was announced, there was quite a bit of backlash from the French. The citizens disagreed with our decision, and the government wanted no part in the war. Well, what did middle-Americans do? They started boycotting French goods, such as champagne, and called the French all sorts of sissy names, accusing them of being wooses, simply because they didn't want to get involved in the debacle that most Americans now feel was problematic. No offense, but the French have seen their fair share of the devastation war; WWII took part on their very own soil. I don't think it's a mistake to shy away from war if you've experienced it that closely. Surely we did too, but not as Europe did. Anyways, my point is, there is going to come a day in which we can't do this on our own anymore. We're going to be strapped, and desperate for the assistance of allies, but it may not arrive if we haven't taken care to secure good relations.

Just saying! 

Beauty Shop Robbery's A Drag

Read this story and then follow: Beauty Shop Robbery's A Drag

We all have weird families, but not everyone can say that the man in that article reminds them of their great-Oncle Hans. In 1999, when my grandmother passed away, Hans came calling, and as sad as he was about my grandma's passing, I think he might have been calling for more important reasons. He first noticed my ravishing older sister, Jenn, who at the time was only about 20, and took great interest in getting to know her (I'm sure she wasn't so interested, but ya never know!).

Hans then inquired about perhaps borrowing one of my grandma's wigs, since she obviously didn't need them anymore. My mom asked Hans why he wanted a wig, and he replied that he wanted to dress up as a woman to his favorite eating establishment, Chuck-O-Rama, because the last time he had gone there, the waitress wasn't so fond of him hitting on her, so he got banned from eating there period. He already had the dress from his long-ago-deceased wife, but evidently needed a hairpiece to complete the ensemble.

Well, he didn't get to borrow the wig, but I have no doubts that he managed to put something creative together for himself. Hans is definitely colorful, and there are many stories about his escapades, but very few match the cross-dressing-to-go-to-Chuck-o-Rama story...EXCEPT....

Last year, my Oncle Pete was in the grocery store, when he ran into one of Hans' daughters. Being that that side of my family is from Germany, the woman didn't speak very good English, but they stumbled through an update from each others' lives. Pete asked how Hans was doing, and she responded that he had died a few months ago. Well, of course, this offended half the family, as no one had been invited to the funeral or even notified that he'd died. So most of the family were convinced they would not talk to that part of the family ever again for not even giving the courtesy of telling us of Hans' death. Everyone was sad, and we thought fondly of the memory of Hans's cross-dressing extravaganza.

A few months go by, and one day, my Tante Rita (Oncle Pete's wife) gets a phone call, and on the other side of the phone is Hans. She's like "Hans? What the crap?" And he carries on for some time about something or other totally unrelated to anything, asking to borrow something or I dunno. haha. Well, she was no doubt tempted to ask him "Why aren't you dead?", but opted instead to call another one of his daughters and ask what the deal was. 

Apparently, the daughter who told Pete that Hans had died, was confused in the conversation and thought he meant someone entirely different who had indeed died.

Families rock. 

Heat of the Moment

I just overheard a conversation between some STUDENTS AT BYU about Prop 8, and here's what one suggested: "We should make a state for all the gay people to go to and they can just be isolated there...blah blah blah...and then we should nuke it". 

Students at an institution of higher education for one, but people that believe in being Christ-like? Just another example of how people all too often lose sight of what their religion is even about. Instead of loving everyone (despite their imperfections), it's all about maintaining some rigid, insensible law of sterility.

I guess we forgot that the law once had an extermination order for Mormons and that didn't make any of our ancestors feel to good, to the point where we still cry about the mistreatment today. The fact that the students with this one laughed and agreed that this should occur is not even surprising at this school. 

AFTER-I-COOLED-DOWN-EDIT: I should just clarify that this is not aimed towards ALL BYU students, as I know that a good percentage of them would never make such a hurtful, pathetic statement. However, I do feel that this feeling is all-too prevalent at "The Lord's Institution", and that of all places, it should not be tolerated here. Conservativism (sp?) does not mean you have to be bigoted, right?

All said, I am still annoyed that that conversation even took place. Even if it was meant in jest, would you ever make a joke like that if you liked a group of people? If you said that about Asians, would you just turn around and say "it was a joke, I really like Asians"...No, why would you ever say that in the first place? 

BYU students need to be aware of who is listening, and how their ignorant statements can really hurt people. What if someone who had a family member that was gay, was listening? Or a gay person him/herself? We are at BYU but that doesn't mean people don't deal with this issue on  a daily basis.  

Get out there and Shop!

So apparently, retail sales dropped 1.2% in September, which doesn't seem that much, but it's the biggest drop in 3 years! :( Now, I encourage everyone to go out there and do your economy some justice by going shopping! I cannot deny that I love to shop (as long as it doesn't involve Cabela's), and quite frankly would be pleased to help out our economy. Unfortunately there's this thing called Money, and I have none. This reminds me of when the government gave us money last spring to help the economy. It is no secret that I did indeed spend mine, but I have to wonder what good it did since here we are, worse-off than before. I'm not going to complain if the gov't wants to give me free money (after all they gave wall street $700billion, so that should mean I deserve at least $10,000), but I have to laugh that just like everyone predicted, that extra tax money didn't do anything. Except allow me to shop!