People Watching

I think one of the best things to do in public is people watching. For some reason, I just enjoy it endlessly. To walk around and notice people going about their daily lives and habits. Its almost as if I'm in their life. As I was waiting to be picked up from somewhere a few days ago, I was standing near the front entrance, just watching people come in and go out. As I people watch, I like to imagine stories about their life, and being a writer, sometimes I work their life stories into whatever project I'm working on. There was one thing about that evening that I will remember (and which has made its way into the novel I'm currently working on): a mother and her son. I don't know what it was about them, but something about them just seemed so peaceful. The woman gave off this aura, this vibe, of being a good maternal figure. I'm sure you're reading this now and probably think I'm a psycho or some crazy stalker, but its true. People watching really does inspire me. Then, I noticed the way she looked after her son. Helping him get his coat on, helping him across the parking lot. It was such a sweet and idyllic sight. Yet, it not only provided me with some inspiration for my novel, but it made me think of my own life. It made me ponder things with my mother. Our relationship, or lack thereof. Ever since I was ten, we've been having severe arguments. Always fighting and yelling at each other. I hate it. I want things to go back to the way they used to be, when we could get along and be happy, like that mother and her son I saw while waiting to be picked up. Its a sad thing, really. But, I suppose that's just the way it is. I know I could try to fix things with her, but she is always uncooperative. She never even acts like she wants to try, so I just give up each time.

The Best of Things, and The Worst of Things

The Best:
1) ABBA
2) The Onion
3) Animals
4) Music
5) Being alone with peace and quiet :)
6) National holidays (no school!!)
7) Coffee (with tiramisu coffe mate and sugar ^^)
8) Telling jokes
9) Friends
10) People who have a good sense of humour :)
11) Eurovision Song Contest
12) FarmVille
13) Russian accents
14) IKEA
15) Panera Bread
16) Ushanka hats
17) Soviet history
18) The Swedish language
19) Acting
20) Communism
21) Karl Marx
22) Friedrich Engels
23) V.I Lenin
24) Leon Trotsky
25) Che Guevara

The Worst:
1) Quite a few people
2) The smell of bananas
3) Country music
4) Lifetime original movies (idk what's worse, the acting or the story line!)
5) Spiders
6) Baseball (Could we have picked anything more boring to be our national pasttime?)
7) Nascar (What's the point of it? They drive around in a circle!)
8) PETA (They can't euthanise over 21 000 animals and then yell at people who eat meat)
9) Hearing people's vacation stories (seriously, like I care about what you did in ______)
10) Capitalism (The reason why the economy went down)
11) Jeff Dunham
12) Dancing With The Stars (is there anything more masochistic than watching that?)
13) Waiting for things (I have no patience)
14) People who have no sense of humor
15) People who get offended easily (they are ssoo annoying and then they lecture you about it, just take a joke for God's sake!)
16) "Reality" TV
17) Math (algebra is the devil's subject!!!)
18) Republicans
19) Hannah Monatana
20) Jonas Brothers
21) High School Musical
22) Sirusho (She should die for making us have to suffer through Qele Qele)
23) Zac Efron
24) Rush Limbaugh (satan)
25) Glenn Beck
26) Ann Coulter
27) People who are perky and happy 100% of the time
28) People who brag
29) People who talk about their money all the time
30) Memories of POMS
31) People who don't accept others
33) Optimists
34) People who say I'm too pessimistic (I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist)
35) Living in Spotsylvania
36) When people use cliches with me (especially if they say I'm sure things will be better or well, when you're older you can ______)
37) When people show me photos from their vacations (I don't want to hear about your vacation, what makes you think I want to see photos?)
38) Kim Il-sung and the DPRK (they give Communists a bad name)
39) The colour orange
40) People who constantly use exclamation marks!!!!!!!!! (Doesn't that annoy you?)
41) Kosovo
42) Those who use religion to spread hatred
43) This whole Balloon Boy crap
44) Black Eyed Peas
45) Fascism
46) Hypocrisy
47) People who use poor grammar
48) Materialism
49) Small towns
50) Che Guevara merchandise

The Best English Essay

I had to write an essay for English on A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Long story short: I hardly read more than a page of it, but when I wrote the essay, it was easily one of the best essays I have ever written. Here, take a look and see.

To Lose Hope is To Lose Humanity: An Analysis of Hope Through the Eyes of Charles Dickens

“May we all have our hopes,
our will to try, if we don’t,
we might as well lay down
and die.”-
Happy New Year by ABBA

If a person loses his hopes, then he has lost all of his humanity. It is hope that makes us run the last mile of the marathon; it is hope that gives us reason to wake up the next morning; it is hope that defines us as a human being; it is hope that can make us good people of virtue, or people of evil, because hope can serve both as an olive branch, and a sword.
Beginning with hope through the eyes of Charles Dickens, we see a desire to inform the public of the need for social reform. Dickens, like most authors, did not just write completely from imagination without any inspiration from his world. Around him, he saw two cities: a city of decadent excess, and a city of poverty and destitution. Because of the stark contrast between these two worlds, Dickens truly hoped that he would be able to bring about social change through a not-so-hidden message. And so, his timeless classic, A Tale of Two Cities was born.
There are some characters in A Tale of Two Cities who utilize hope as an olive branch of happiness. An example of this would be Lucie Manette. In Lucie’s eyes, the world should be a place in which people spread good-will amongst their fellow man and keep strong moral virtues. Because of this, she is a virtuous carrier of the olive branch. Lucie was not the only character who had virtuous hopes. Sydney Carton, the man who hoped to undo the mistakes he made by spending his life drinking heavily, makes the ultimate sacrifice towards the end of the book. Instead of seeing Lucie, the woman he loved, live in misery without her husband, he decided to die in place in Darnay, because it was a “far, far better thing” (367) than anything he ever did. It should also be noted while reading the novel, that Miss Pross, who was for Lucie what the Nanny was in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet had very noble hopes of keeping her “little bird” safe from harm.
While hope is able to be used as an olive branch, it can also be used as a sword. An example of this would be the Marquis St. Evrémonde. He was a man of great many hopes, among which was to perpetuate a system of corruption, greed, and inequality as exemplified in his statement: “My friend, I will die, perpetuating the system under which I have lived.” Not only was he a man of greed, but he was a man of terror who would also have those who stood in his way “crushed under the wheels.” (117). Was he a man of virtue and great hopes? Certainly not! If Lucie and Sydney were able to use hope as an olive branch for spreading good will to man, then Mme. Defarge and Monseigneur (though they were opposite in ambitions) used hope as a sword with which they would wreak havoc on people.
If hope is what drove Dickens to pick up his pen in the first place, and it is also able to define us as good or evil, then surely to lose hope is to lose our humanity. But, one must be careful with their hopes and dreams. If they aspire to promote peace and use hope as an olive branch, then it is a blessing. If they aspire to promote fear and use hope as a sword, then it is a curse. It should also be noted that another one of the true messages Dickens was trying to convey was to be careful with your hopes.

ABBA: The Blog

I'm sure by now you're wondering what it means to be an ABBA-holic. Well, to put it simply: its someone who is fucking crazy about ABBA. So, this blog post is dedicated to ABBA and their amazing music. :)

Early Mornings

I absolutely hate early mornings. What's worse is early mornings after a two-week break from school. Its a wonder that I'm not about to pass out now.

Is It A Sin?

As the movement for gay rights progresses for its forty-first year since the Stonewall Riots, numerous people from the religious right (aka the American Taliban as described in my previous post) spread their putrid lies and hate speech about something that is a natural occurence in nature (having been observed in countless other species of animals besides homo sapiens). First off, let's start with some statements that these people (if they can be given such an elevation of status) have to say.

"Don't use the word 'gay' unless it's an acronym for 'Got Aids Yet'"- Rep. Bob Dornan (R-CA)

I want you to think deeply about that statement. Go on, do what he failed to do before speaking and just think of it. Think of all the bigotry, ignorance, and hate that fills that vile man. But also, I want you to notice something else: his title. He is a represntative. How on earth the American public could elect such a person is beyond me! If we want the rest of the world to not look at us as though we are a nation of hateful bigots, we must change who we vote for. We can't vote for vile homophobic, sexist, racist, scum like the people who make up that far right in America. What perplexes me, too, is the fact that statements like those never go un-checked. Why is it that we allow homophobic statements to be made at free will? Why is it that teachers and faculty members in schools never try to keep students from making homophobic remarks? The answer to those questions: the American Taliban. With people such as Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, who have made statements like "Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death," trying to control the American thought process and change the words of their Bible to suit their political agenda, its no wonder that people fall for it (on another note, Fred Phelps has also encouraged his church members to castrate themselves with rusty barbed wire). As Adolf Hitler said, "If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed," and that is exactly what has happened hear. These American Taliban people on the far right have been telling people that Jesus is against gay marriage and its in the Ten Commandments and its also a sin. First of all, neither Jesus, nor anyone in the New Testament, said anything about gay people. Second of all, the Ten Commandments are as follows, and I quote:



You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."


Now, did you see anything about gay marriage in there? I sure didn't, and I just wanted to make sure that other people didn't, either. Thirdly, the Christian extremists of the far right wish to make you believe that to be gay is a sin. The seven sins (as found in the bible) are as follows:

Gluttony
Lust
Greed
Despair
Wrath
Acedia
Vainglory
Pride

Just for the record, in that list of seven things, did any of you read something about gay people? No? Ok, just checking. So, given those three things: the fact that gay people are not mentioned in the New Testament, the fact it isn't covered in the Ten Commandments, and the fact that it is not listed as a sin, what other arguments can the Christians make against gay people? They resort to their "beginning". They say that just around 6 000 years ago, God created the entire universe in seven days and put two people on earth, Adam and Eve. Because of this, the homophobes insist that God hates gay people. Well, given the fact that the majority of the world's population is not Christian and does not subsrcibe to that theory, it gets a little harder to hold it up. Also, given the fact that there is more concrete, scientific evidence to disprove that (as well as observations of other species that are gay), the Christians lose on that argument. My fellow Americans (and for my foreign readers, I want you to do the same), please stand up now. Stand up! Stand up and speak out. Speak out against these vile people. Speak out against hate and tyranny. Speak out against the homophobes and let a new era of peace, social justice, and acceptance begin!

A Threat To America

For the past nine years, thousands of Americans have lost their lives fighting the Taliban in the Middle East. But, there is an even bigger threat to America. An organization that seeks to oppress people, strip them of their human rights, and institute a theocratic regime similar to what is seen in certain Islamic countries in the Middle East. Who are they? Who is this "American Taliban"? They are the Fundamentalist Christians. Each day that these people are allowed to spew their hate-filled filth, they spread slanderous lies. A prime example that personifies this movement is Ann "Coultergeist" Coulter. Every time we allow that wretched, vile woman to speak, publish a syndicated newspaper column, or go on TV, she will try her hardest to spread hugely anti-American sentiment that wants to divide our country. Ann Coulter says she supports America, but she does things that are purely anti-American such as spreading religious intolerance (a violation of the First Ammendment), spreading a message saying that woman don't deserve equal rights (even though the Constitution says everyone has the rights to their liberties regardless of gender), a message that we should over-throw leaders in non-Christian countries so we can convert them to Christianity. Ann Coulter is everything that America is against and we can't afford to have her be a prominent figure in our culture. The scariest part about Ann Coulter: she honestly believes what she says, and there are people who agree with her. Perhaps one of the most perplexing thing about the Coultergeist is her stance on democracy. She has said "I think women should be armed, but not vote" as well as also saying, "It would be a much better country if women did not vote." If Ann Coulter doesn't believe in women's right, then why can't she just shut the hell up and get back to the kitchen? Of course Ann Coulter wasn't the only woman to speak out against this horrid thing of women having equal rights. Kansas State Senator (how she was voted is a mystery to me) Kay O'Connor once said, "I'm an old-fashioned woman. Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women today, we wouldn't have to vote." So, using her logic, women having equal rights is a sign that men don't care about her? How on earth can that make sense to someone? If you thought those statements against everyone being able to make use of the precious gift that is democracy was bad, then just listen (or read) to what Robert T. Lee (from The Society for the Practical Establishment of The Ten Commandements) said about democracy: "Democracy originated in the mind of a rational being who has the deepest hatred for God." He even went so far as to say that "Do you realize that the only thing that gives democracy existence is sin? The absence of democracy is perfect obedience to God." Usually, when societies don't have democracy, they have totalitarianism. A well-known characteristic of totalitarianist nations (such as North Korea, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, etc.) is the lack of freedom of speech. If we lacked the freedom of speech, then Mr. Lee would not be able to make hate-filled statements like that. What is equally disturbing to an American who is a big supporter of democracy and the people's voice is that not only does the Ameircan Taliban wish to eliminate democracy, but they also want to institute a theocratic regime aimed at eliminating freedom for the people. One person who wishes to see this is David Barton, as exemplified in this statement: "There should be absolutely no seperation between Church and State." No seperation between Church and State? If we were to institute a state religion, like say, Christianity, what would happen to the other people, the "non-believers"? Would we institute a "final solution" like Adolf Hitler did in Germany? Would the Jews, Moslems, Atheists, etc. be forced to wear tags identifying themselves as a sort of pariah in America? Worse yet, would we begin sending them in cattle cars to concentration camps? Or, would they decide to use a different way to kill off their enemies? Numerous people who are a part of this American Taliban say that AIDS is a good way to kill gay people, so will they try to employ this should they take over? True that may sound a little bit out there, but given statements such as: ""AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals" made by Jerry Falwell or as White Supremacist J.B Stoner said,"AIDS is a racial disease of Jews and Niggers, and fortunately it is wiping out the queers. I guess God hates queers for several reasons. There is one big reason to be against queers and that is because every time some white boy is seduced by a queer into becoming a queer, means his white bloodline has run out." So given those statements, isn't it quite plausible that should these people take power, they would try to eliminate gay people (as well as non-Christians) systematically? I would say yes. Perhaps the most frightening thing about the American Taliban is the fact that some of them have said that Atheists are bad for the country. And, what's even scarier, one of those people was elected to the presidency. In one statement, George H.W Bush said, "I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." Atheists being denied citizenship? I believe that Adolf Hitler did the same thing to Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists, gays, and other minorities during his brutal regime in the 1930's. Americans, I ask you, no I beg of you, to please stand up now and fight back against the American taliban! Fight back against injustice! Fight back against intolerance! Fight back against oppression! Fight back against evil itself!

The New English Patient?

After hearing my unfavourable review of Avatar, many people think its weird and wonder why I don't like that movie. They think that its the best movie ever and I should like it. Every time that happens, I can't help but think of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine saw The English Patient and she hated it. So, everyone else thought she was crazy and ridiculous. So, is Avatar the new English Patient? Better question yet, why is it that I can relate to episodes of Seinfeld at age fourteen?