Independence Day, Vegetarianism Anniversary, and Random Thoughts

I want to start by saying happy independence day! If you haven't seen previous summer posts, I celebrate the second of July instead of the fourth of July, because the Declaration of Independence was actually signed on the second. Plus, I am weirdly semi-obsessed with John Adams, and he said that the second would go down in history, so I want to make him proud.

Today is also my second anniversary of going vegetarian! For anyone out there that wants to make that change but is still unsure, I just want to say that the first year is the hard year. I kind of forgot the second year, and while I lamented some things (mostly cheese products this year), it wasn't so much of a loss as it felt the first year. The first year is when it's hard, but once you jump through those hoops and get over all the hurdles, it gets a lot easier.

If you are wondering why I am restricted on cheeses, I consider cheese with rennet to not be vegetarian, because rennet is obtained by slaughter (the simple way of putting it). Most cheese contains rennet, but there are special vegetarian cheeses and products that use these, so being selective about cheese isn't a cold-turkey loss. Being really picky and selective also keeps you knowledgeable about what you eat. I have actually called Goldfish and Cheez-It, just so I could know if their products were safe for me to eat. Cheez-It is, but Goldfish is not. Sometimes companies don't know much about rennet, but it's still better to ask and find out what they do or don't know to be sure.

(Anyway. Enough rennet ranting. Just type "rennet" into Wikipedia if you're really interested in learning more.)

Random thought #1: I recently searched Ray LaMontagne's newest album, Supernova, because I knew he had released one this year but hadn't gotten the chance to look it up. When I first heard it, it wasn't what I was expecting, exactly, and even though I listened to the entire album, I wasn't impressed enough to want to look further into it. I searched his discography to see his other albums, and I was instantly hooked on God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise because of its country, folksy melodies and instrumentation. However, my interest in Supernova, was piqued again, so I listened through once or twice more. It was after that that one of the songs stuck in my head, so I kept pulling up the YouTube video and listening to it, which has now gotten me addicted. It is a rare thing to have to coax myself to like an album, but I am glad I gave it a couple more chances, because I do like Ray-Ray.

Random thought #2: my friend and I have been Skyping a lot this summer, and connect via voice call to team up for Minecraft Hunger Games. While I am normally ticked off by some of his behaviors and sayings, what he said in jest yesterday has made me unusually hurt and angry. I let most of his jokes pass with a laugh or return remark, because we always joke about some things. However, there are some lines which should not be crossed. (For me, it usually takes someone crossing a line before I discover a line was even there.) While I feel like it would enlighten you all if I shared what he said, I don't think I need to dwell on the particulars of it, and I don't need anyone else getting angry or upset by it. Basically, it was a joke about abuse that got too personal. I was really offended by it, though I only had weak defenses to put up against it at the time. I don't think abuse is something that can be joked or laughed about in any context. Not only that, it showed that he either a) doesn't know me at all to make such an ignorant remark, or b) knows me well enough to know it would strike a nerve. I ranted and gave myself pep-talks on why I was so angry about it, but when we called today, I said nothing about it, and I felt like I was being unusually harsh in my jokes. I don't feel like he said it to hurt or offend me; I agree more with the A option, that he didn't know what he was joking about or where it would lead. Today I formulated arguments and comebacks in my pep-talks, and in doing so got to more positive ground of the incident, so I am not as angry as I was just after he said it.

Have a happy fourth of July, everyone, and keep cool this summer!

Sharknado Review

All right, since I just spent an hour and a half of my life watching Sharknado, I will do everyone the service of telling you all why you shouldn't watch it. Trust me. You'll save an hour and twenty-seven minutes of your life. Unless you want to watch a movie about sharks in a tornado over L.A. (Exactly. It sounds ridiculous.)

"Anyway. Don't ask why, but a while after I got home... I watched Sharknado, just for the hell of it. Well, it was believable enough, because I felt that instinctive pull in my gut that you feel when you want to persuade characters to do the right thing and when you feel like you know what to do in that situation. However, beyond generic horror-movie gut instinct, it was not believable at all.

Cinematographically, it was very poorly put together. The clips were all filmed in different qualities and totally different times, and most were ridiculously shaky, and the beach & flood shots seemed like something from another world, another lifetime, a news report on Katrina or something. The actors weren't really awful, but they were either super-exaggerated or completely emotionless when they should have been angry or scared or something. Also, the background plot lines about the characters had little relevance to the shark epidemic except when necessary (like Nova telling about the sharks taking her grandfather... "so I really hate sharks"). And, if it was a water storm in the Pacific, wouldn't it be a tsunami? And hasn't the name David already been used [for a hurricane]? Since when does California get tornadoes, or any kind of water storm? Why would the sharks target people? Seriously, no animal in the wild targets humans just 'cause (except maybe lions or something). For CGI, that was horrible - plus, they constantly reused animated clips of CGI sharks swimming underwater when it didn't fit the scene (shallow water in street, swimming pool). People made dumb jokes at inappropriate times. The dialogue was really fake and forced.

The one good part? The super-cute Australian surfer guy, but stupid Fin [main character] didn't bother to shoot the shark that was eating his [Australian guy's] leg off, and Aussie blew into the tornado 'cause [Fin] took too long to notice him. Besides that, things worked out too perfectly - the opportunity to save a bunch of children from a sinking school bus threatened by sharks? The fact that Fin just had ammo in his car for some reason? Nova knowing how to shoot a gun? Being able to easily steal a car? Not getting caught by the cops while speeding - because they had stolen a car off a movie-set lot, so it had Nitro? Yeah, right. And the fact that all of Fin's family - and Nova, too, so Fin's son Matt would have a girlfriend - survived the attack made it too good to be true.

Well, I watched it, and even if it was bad for a [supposedly] horror flick, it taught me about film and how to make a good one."

excerpt taken from journal; December 28, 2013

A Strange Morning

Going to school, we found that there had been a bomb threat and so school would not start for two hours. We were carpooling, and had our carpool buddy, Kelly, with us. Our first stop was, of course, Whole Foods (and I can not count how many people from school I saw there). We could see the balloons from the parking lot and were having a fake tailgate party - just us four - and a news van pulls up. Would you believe the guy asked us for an interview, even though we knew nothing about the situation(and kept begging to not be on camera)?

Kelly asked if we could go to a park (I don't know why), and we went to a nice little place(actually larger than the park near our house), Heritage Hills.

After, we took a little stroll down the paved path and then came back to go to school.

Luckily, the scare turned out to be a hoax, but I'm not sure if the police are still investigating.
Anyway, it did give me a chance to reclaim some of my lost childhood. My brother and I raced around on that playground like nobody's business (and, sadly, I couldn't even figure out how to balance the tire swing).

Minecraft Dogs and Bubbles

Not at all related, not at all related. Just two things I wanted to post about. All pics, by the way.

Personalized T-Shirt Slogans

get out - get lost - get found

Okay, so I have this Life is Good shirt that says, "Get out - get lost - get found" and then of course "Life is good". I thought, when I got it, what it would look like if it was personalized to me. It would probably say something like, "get out - get lost - stay lost forever; yeah, life sucks sometimes" or "get out - get lost - stay out for a long time and then come back to find that you were stuck in a closet for about five hours high on the peeling plaster from the wall that got stuck up your nose; life's great but you're just an idiot".

On the subject of T-shirt slogans, I also have this shirt with the iron-on message, "not gonna be your circus monkey" that I made. I thought it was too offensive to wear to school, but people who saw it were just like, "oh that's cool" or they just liked the little iron-on baby monkey. Sad, sad life.

not gonna be your circus monkey

There's also this Life is Good shirt that says "glass half-full" or "half full", something like that. Mine would either say "half empty" or "half, 'cause I'm Switzerland". Oh, these things could keep me amused forever.

Bandana-Bandit-Bibs

"Come on: how cute do I look in this bib?" -TiMER

 Yep, my thoughts exactly when I wore this bandana around my neck. But of course I had to put it on Sunny and she won; she looked freaking adorable in this "bib."

Flaws and Imperfections

You know when a phrase or body signal catches on like a plague for either a few days or the rest of your life? Here are some things I've found that I like about myself but know other people would find random and weird:
-putting the clasp part of my necklace charm in my mouth(relieves anxiety and gives me something purposeful to do)
-folding my left or right arm around my back and grabbing the crook of the opposite arm's elbow(I've found a lot of kids do this)
-saying "laughing my ass off over here"
-making the sound of white noise at the end of a joke or funny sequence(developed from watching the asdf movies and the lazer collection of course)
-scrunching my nose up while I'm grinning to express humorous distaste or to just look funny
-spilling various drinks on myself in numerous ways(I do not do this on purpose)
-taking my sandal off and spinning(using the heel part) it around with my big toe
-pinching my nose when I sneeze
-chewing on the clip part of pens and mechanical pencils
-making faces when I'm reading a book or watching a movie
-wiggling my ears