Seriously?

As I prepare for my day, I read the news and watch the Today show. The newspapers tell stories of starving families who kill off their only milk-producing animal for meat, but on the Today show, they feature a new South Beach Diet.

I can't help but wonder if Americans are solely responsible for the food crisis. While the rest of the world starves, we are in the middle of an obesity epidemic. The world's food is in our bloated bellies.

On top of the over-eating, think of all the food we throw out. I did it just the other day, a few un-cooked noodles fell into my cat's food. I threw them out. I probably could have rinsed them off.

We are an over-indulgent wasteful nation, we have caused our own food and weight problems. No one is happy with what they have, with what they can afford. That's why we have the problems we do. No one needs $500 purse... the $30 one from Target is just as good, it's fucking disgusting how people spend money in this country. Fucking soccer moms in brand-new gas-guzzling SUVs with $500 Coach bags complaining about high grocery prices on the Today show. Fucking deal with you, you dug your grave, now lie in it, along with everyone else.

Many Americans are idiots. That's why we have the problems we do. And all the little idiots elected the biggest idiot of them all to lead. If you voted for Bush in 2004, you deserve what you got.

Seriously!

Read THIS

This girl is fucking nuts!

She reminds me of one of those girls on Maurry, you know, the girls who really want a baby... the ones who say they have lots of unprotected sex and they're like, 13? I bet she was just like those girls.

What really really really bothers me is the whole baby drop-off thing. I'm pretty sure there would have been few if any questions if she would have dropped the baby off at the nearest hospital. Even though the baby was older than most baby-drop off programs, I'm sure people at her local hospital would have hooked the girl up with the proper people to begin the adoption process.

This drives me absolutely nuts. I don't want my own kids, but I don't hate them. This story is so sad. This girl was so fucking selfish! Killing an innocent child so she can party, and now she's going to be in prison for hopefully years!

Goodbye Mike Huckabee

CTA, St. Patricks' Day and Other Things that are Wrong With Chicago

So, this past Sunday I attended the South Side Irish Parade in honor of St. Patrick's Day, even though it was 8 days early. While getting to the parade wasn't too bad, although we were wrongly led to a bus we didn't want to take, it was leaving after the mess of a parade.

First of all, the parade itself was pretty boring. Luckily, I was with people who were new and interesting to talk to. I can understand why so many people are drunk so early at this event... it makes it bearable. There wasn't even any candy thrown!!! What kind of parade doesn't have candy?!?

It took two hours just to get from the apartment on Western where we were hanging out to the redline, where I had another 1.5 hour commute back to my apartment. Anyway... we started our trek by asking cops what the best way to get back to the redline was... the first few didn't know... the next ones told us to take Metra. As we walked to 107th, we ran into a line of cops on horses who wouldn't let us walk 20 ft to get to 107th... we didn't have cups to throw on the ground, we weren't drunk, but they wouldn't let us through!

So we trekked to the nearest Metra stop, and found out we'd have to wait an hour and a half just for a train to take us to downtown. So further north we walked to 103rd... where we caught a crowded bus after much too long a wait. What seemed like an eternity later, we arrived at the 95th Redline stop, to begin the long journey back to the North Side.

This is the question I pose to the CTA and the City of Chicago all together: Why the hell didn't you plan for this?!?! You had the police force out, why not the buses? Isn't the CTA supposed to be a great alternative to drinking and driving? There should have been buses leaving from Western express to the Redline stop every five minutes from 1/2 an hour after the parade ended... and then every-other train should have been running express until at least Roosevelt, if not further.

Get the drunk people out of the South Side and get them back to bed... I missed a supper that I was kinda looking forward to.

Stupid non-planning CTA.

Another One Bites the Dust

What ever happened to the single girl? Helen Gurley Brown, where art thou!

Earlier this week, I found out some old friends of mine were getting married, which is cool, 'cause they've been together a long time, and she's been planning the wedding for more than a year now, anyway.

But, it got me thinking, what ever happened to the single girl? Everyone around me is hooking up and dropping out of the game. Of course, part of it is that I just recently finished undergrad, and there tends to be a flood of marriages and engagements that happen as people finish college.

Even the ladies from Sex and the City are all paired off. Granted, in the upcoming movie they will all be beyond 40, but still!!!

Where are my role models?

I'm young, I don't want to be a married old hag yet! Where are the Mary Tyler Moores, the That Girls, the Carrie Bradshaws? Hell, I'll even take the Golden Girls!

Men have had many bachelor role models over the years, women need the same thing.

Thinking About Starting Again

After a long period of not dating, due mostly to bad timing and my own choice, I've decided to put myself "out there" again. The problem is, I don't want to think about it too hard.

I don't want a serious relationship. I want to date someone. I want someone to hang out with, to fool around with, hell.. eventually, to fuck. But not right away. At the same time, I want to be exclusive with this person. On the other hand, I don't want to totally rule out a serious relationship if the person ends up being awesome...

I maybe want too much... or not enough.

I'm not looking for anything serious, but I don't want to rule anything out just in case I meet someone really cool. If I meet anyone at all.

I'm not big on personal ads, and I'm not big on asking friends to set me up with their friends. I don't know how to meet people in the real world. Gone are the days when I can leave my dorm room door open, and cute guys will walk by and invite me to Perkins. I'm not comfortable with bars... bars are for getting laid, not a boyfriend.

That's definitely what I want right now, just a boyfriend. And not a serious one. I want someone I can trust, more like a friend with benefits, but less casual.

I know exactly what I want.

This is like finding a well-fitting women's button-up white shirt. You see a lot of other people with them, they look really cute and classy, but when ever I go out looking for one, I can't find one that fits right and is in my price range!

I guess, I'm out there, but I'm not trying hard...

and there is Cute Caribou Boy... maybe this week I'll figure out his name.

Love and Holidays

With Christmas and New Year's behind us, and Valentine's Day fast approaching, it makes me wonder about relationships. Relationships and Facebook, to be precise. After the holidays, I notices an onslaught of break-ups. Because, of course, it's rude to break up with someone before Christmas, and if you've waited this long, you might as well wait until after New Years... why spoil a holiday. But then things must end before Valentine's Day... otherwise you'll have to wait until after then, too.

So far, I haven't witnessed a ton of new relationships popping up on Facebook... but maybe after Valentine's Day... you know, there's a little dating before the holiday, but VD makes it official... I guess we'll see.

Dating is such a funny thing. I'm glad I'm a spectator for now, and no long a participant.

Welcome, 2008

Jan. 1, 2008

A new year. I'm very excited. I'm finally getting my shit together. Things are going my way. I've got my own apartment, my grades weren't that great last semester, but they weren't that bad, either. While a B- isn't great, it'll only take a B+ to get my average back to a B. And I plan on putting a lot more effort into my studies this semester. I'm taking this semester much more seriously. I've got a lot of shit out of the way, I've got my own apartment, I'm not worried about looking for a new one, or moving. I've got a plan for getting control over my debt... at least the credit card part. The student loan part comes after graduation. I really hope I graduate. I really do want my master's degree. But right now I really just have school and work on my plate. And because I have my own apartment I don't have to worry about other people's schedules conflicting with my own. My apartment can turn into an office, or a spa, or what ever, but it's what ever I want it to be.

I'm definitely seeing 2008 as an improvement compared to 2007. Not that 2007 didn't have it's moments, but overall, it kind of sucked.

2007 started for me with a trip to Florida... it was my first time flying. I went to visit a really good friend, and we started dating shortly after I returned to Minnesota, with him in Florida and me in Minnesota. Needless to stay, I spent a lot of time on the phone during the six months we dated. That relationship ended in July, and I was worried about losing one of my best friends, but, we've worked our shit out, and are good friends again.

By the time 2007 came around, my relationship with my former roommates was tense at best. Someone who had once been one of my best friends became foreign to me, she wasn't the person I knew year's ago... she was her boyfriend's girlfriend, and it got worse when he proposed. That was really hard on me, but I also have no problem cutting people out of my life who are toxic to me. My old roommates caused me a lot of stress, which was toxic.

In April of 20087 I was officially accepted into the Graduate Journalism program at Columbia College Chicago. My plans to move to Chicago officially began.

I graduated from BSU in May of 2007. As awesome as that was, it also sucked to say goodbye to some of my friends.

Also in May of 2007, my grandmother, my only remaining grandparent, was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was really scarey dealing with that, and I even reconsidered my move to Chicago.

By the end of May, I moved to the house right across the alley, my stress level dropped dramatically. Proving that my best roommates are people from Wisconsin. This summer was great, accept for the part where I broke up with boyfriend, right before I moved to Chicago. Other than that... it was a nice last summer in Bemidji.

I opted for on-campus housing because I couldn't afford a trip down to Chicago to go apartment hunting. The idea of sharing a two-bedroom, one-bath with three other girls didn't sound that bad. The bedrooms were tiny, and four girls generate a lot of loose hair in the bathroom.

When I first moved to Chicago, I stayed at a hostel, because residence life wouldn't let me move in early for free, and I needed to take a class. At this point, I was seriously considering dropping out of the program. I hated staying at the hostel. Never again for that long. Ten fucking days... no way.

But once I got into my apartment, it got better. Until my alcohol violation, which is when I decided I needed to get off campus.

I found an apartment in the beginning of November, and moved right before I came up to Minnesota to finish out the year in Bemidji.

All that stress at the end of the semester didn't do well for my grades. I'm sure that next semester will be better.

So far, 2008 has been great. I think I started the new year off right, I hope.