Aaaaah!

I almost hit a raccoon while driving home from work tonight. That is all.

Did I Fix It?

By "IT" I meant the commenting issue

Apparently My Blog Won't Let People Comment

I've had tips from a couple people now. Strange...

I Am Ever So Slightly Annoyed

So the guys of Safetysuit decided to have a contest which they entitled "The Shirt Off My Back Contest." The purpose of the contest was to have fans design tee shirts for the band. The winner would receive two free concert tickets, as well as one of their own tee shirts, and the shirt would be added to the Safetysuit store. I like designing shirts right? So I designed some for the contest. Originally the band was just going to pick their favorite and announce a winner, but they decided to pick the top 10 and then have fans vote on their favorites, which I thought was a good idea. Well this morning via twitter, Safetysuit announced the top 10. I was scrolling down the list, and scrolling down, and was starting to think that none of my designs were chosen...there were some really awesome designs, so I wasn't too bothered by that. But then near the end of the list, I see one of my designs, at least I THINK it's one of my designs, but I can't be sure because they totally botched it up for the voting page!!!

This is what my design looked like originally.

And this is what they posted for voting....

LAME!!! I wouldn't vote for this tee in a million years, especially compared with all the other awesome ones that were designed. The proportions are all screwed up and they took out my favorite part, the silhouettes :( Maybe they don't want to see themselves on a shirt? I dunno why not though. They're all hot and besides, they're silhouettes so it's not like an actual picture of their faces. Or maybe they were worried about the pics of them being copyrighted, but I mentioned in the email I sent with my designs that they were pics I took at one of their concerts, so no copyright issues with other people. Basically...I don't think even my original design would have won this contest in comparison to some of the others, but I KNOW this one won't. This is the reason why I'm ever so slightly annoyed...

Here were my other designs that didn't make it to the top 10

This is another reason why I think it has something to do with the fact that I used their silhouettes on the tees. Because these ones weren't chosen and without the silhouettes they're even more lame then the one they actually chose. At least the other one had some stripes going on, but that one was my least fave. I guess I should be honored I made it to the top 10, it just would have been nice to have my ACTUAL design displayed for voting....

Now that I think about it, I don't even know how this happened because they had us submit out designs flattened, which means the layers are no longer editable, so I don't know how they took the silhouette portion out. Unless it was an issue with the actual file that was sent to them. I dunno, but either way the entire situation is annoying.

Revisiting the Past

It was just about 20years ago that I met one of my best friends.

Megan and I were five years old when we first met and were best friends all the way through middle school. We remained really good friends through high school, and although we've gone our separate ways these days, as many people do when they get older we still remain friends. We had a ton of fun growing up together. We did girls scouts and enjoyed all the awesomeness that was 10th Street together.

We were also really loud and obnoxious. A few years back I found a tape that Megan and I had recorded on a karaoke machine of mine. I ripped it off the tape and put it on my computer. We were about 10 when we made it. The first clip is me. The second is Megan. We were so cute, in an annoying little kid kind of way :)

When we were around the age of 12 or 13, the Adams family was moved into our ward boundaries and that's when we met Megan #2. Then not too much later when we were about 14, the Gibsons moved here from Colorado, and that's when we met Mallorie. The four of us were always doing stuff together, whether it was all of us together or just a pair of us.

One of the last big things the four of us all did together was go to EFY, just before our senior year of high school.

After high school, Megan Lemmon went to Western, while Mallorie, Megan Adams and myself went to BYU-Idaho. Even at college, Mallorie, Megan, and I were never far apart. I lived with Megan, and Mallorie lived in the same dorm, only a floor below us.

Here are Megan and I with our roommates Paige and Kirsten (I've known her since we were 5 also) and two of our FHE brothers.

Now we've all graduated from college, Megan Lemmon is living in Seattle, Mallorie is married, living in Idaho, and has a little boy, and Megan and I are....well, I won't get into that. But we're here. So what spawned this trip down memory lane? The fact that just last Saturday Megan Adams and I braved the rain and the traffic to go visit Megan in Seattle. You wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal because we're really not that far from her. But we don't do it that often so it was fun catching up with her. We watched Smallville, which is something we used to do all the time when we were in high school, so it was a nostalgia thing. We ate Thai food, which was delicious. Other than that, we pretty much just hung out. Just like the good ol' days. It's always fun to see old friends. Here we are!

Why Do I Do This to Myself?

This is one of the reasons I decided not to serve a mission. Because when someone tries to disagree with me on something I know is true, I tend to get really pissed.

I was checking my email on my AOL account yesterday, when the AOL news feed displayed a picture of Miley Cyrus with a caption mentioning something to the effect of "Miley caught on tape tripping out after smoking Salvia from bong." Well curiosity got the best of me, which I know it shouldn't have because it really doesn't matter. But like I said, I was curious, so I went on over to Youtube and found the following video.

Caution: You might suffer some psychological side effects due to the idiocy that's about to ensue, such as the desire to shoot yourself.

(I know the effects of weed, but not Salvia, and most people are saying that she was most likely smoking weed, so most comments reference weed, not Salvia)

After the video, my eyes shifted down to some of the comments and I was surprised, although I suppose I shouldn't have been, by how many people were defending her. They said all sorts of things like "Yeah Miley! Smoke it up. Girl you get yourself high. I'd do drugs with her. I can't wait till she does porn." There were the few random people who scolded her for her actions. But to those people were more replies of "Back off. She's just living her life. She's 18 it's about time. She's just experimenting. Everyone does this these days." Yada yada yada. I think what was actually meant by many of these comments is that it's her life and we shouldn't care what she's doing with it, which I agree with. It's not important. But a lot of people were actually defending weed, claiming it's not a big deal to smoke it. I was slightly annoyed after realizing how ignorant people are, so I simply wrote the following comment:

"I've experimented in my life but I've also lived my life w/o smoking anything & I've had a good time while still maintaining my dignity. If I'm going to make a complete idiot out of myself I want it to be my own decision & not because I'm under the influence of something. To people who say it's a part of growing up, I say... at least i can actually remember what I did while growing up, thanks to maintaining a clear head. Not to mention that this stuff just made Miley plain annoying."

Not the best argument, but whatever. I continued to read some of the comments and read one that really got to me. It said:

"So she smoked out of a bong and got high...Who gives a s***!!!!!! She was bound to do it sometime. She's having fun so who gives a s***. There's kids in 5th grade that are smoking weed and other s*** so why is it a big deal if Miley who is 18 by the way, smokes, drinks , or does drugs. F*** THAT!!!!!! I'm not a fan of hers but f*** it, let her do what she wants. Kids can look up to her and not do drugs!"

This is the vocabulary and grammar of most the comments posted in defense of Miley. (If that doesn't prove a point, I don't know what does.) Anyway. This comment really bothered me, especially the part regarding 5th graders, so I replied with the following:

"I don't think you have to experiment w/ drugs to have a good time, but people do, I get that. But the fact that you tried to justify Miley's actions by comparing her to 10 year olds is pathetic. So 5th graders smoking weed makes Miley's decision to wait till she's 18 to smoke weed, a smart decision? And that entire statement actually disproves your idea that "Kids can look up to her and not do drugs." Apparently not, since most of the kids who look up to her ARE 5th graders and according to you, they're already smoking pot. Forgetting Miley, I say 5th graders shouldn't be smoking anything and am really hoping your claim that they ARE was just a horrible attempt at trying to defend Miley. I remember when I was in 5th grade. I played on the playground and the biggest thing I had to worry about was losing at tetherball. Man times have changed, and not for the better."

I don't really blame Miley specifically for supposed 5th graders smoking pot, I just said that for arguments sake. Although I do think a lot of the problem stems from the media.

Some other person decided to COMMENT on my COMMENTS and said the following:

"dude iv been blazing sense 6th grade and u kno wat....im completely fine....good grades (im a senior in highschool now)....i play football for my highschool varisty.....im going to college.....so shut the f*** up it dosnt matter its weed. almost every side effect uv ever heard from weed was just government propoganda from the nixon campaign to the regan campaign. if u actually study the effects it actually cures many diseases...kills tumors with tumoriods and does not cause lung cancer"

and:

"just because u smoke dosnt mean u loose ur dignity? just cause shes a f***in moron and annoying as hell dosnt mean all of us that smoke are....and u really cant say anything against smoking unless uv tryed it.....cant talk s*** about baseball if uv never been to a game....know what i mean?"

I found this guys response quite ridiculous so I wrote the following to him, which I actually had to message because it was too long to post in the comment box. This is what I said:

"First of all. I never mentioned any of the side effects except the fact that it makes you act like an idiot. As for getting good grades in high school... congratulations, since most public schools are a joke these days. I passed with a good GPA in high school, but pretty much needed re-education when I got to college because I had in actuality, not really learned anything in high school except how to color pictures and fill out work sheets. I'll admit that I don't know much about the "healing" powers of weed, maybe it DOES cure some things. But in many cases it doesn't actually cure the illness, it just dulls the senses, masking an illness's side effects. Example: A lot of people smoke weed for relief from headaches, but if your head's all fuzzy and you're on a high from smoking, you're not going to notice the pain of a headache, thus users proclam its ability to cure. Even worse, it could actually delay the diagnosis of a more serious problem, for the problem isn't actually gone, only masked by the drug.

The facts. Marijuana impairs perception, diminishes short-term memory, inhibits concentration and coordination, impairs judgment, damages the respiratory, reproductive and immune systems, and can cause anxiety, panic attacks, paranoia, hallucinations and psychological dependency. "Chronic marijuana smokers are prey to chest colds, bronchitis, emphysema, and bronchial asthma. Persistent use will damage lungs and airways and raise the risk of cancer. There is just as much exposure to cancer-causing chemicals from smoking one marijuana joint as smoking five tobacco cigarettes. And there is evidence that marijuana may limit the ability of the immune system to fight infection and disease.... Research, comparing cognitive abilities of adult marijuana users with non-using adults, found that users fall short on memory as well as math and verbal skills." (American Council For Drug Education) Sounds like fun to me... and that's sarcasm by the way. Now I realize that these side effects aren't always present with everyone, or present all the time, or may only be present in habitual users, but I'm going to stay clear of anything that has the remote possibility of affecting me the way marijuana affects many people. And you can't say these facts are simply conspiracy when they've been proven by tests and can easily be observed of a user by anyone with a clear head.

As for your other argument, I agree, smoking doesn't make you lose your dignity. The things you do while under the influence make you lose your dignity. By the way, when I said this, I was specifically referencing Miley because she was acting like such a moron. I realize that teenagers act like idiots all the time, whether doing drugs or not. Stupidity is a part of growing up. I'm not even a teenager anymore and I STILL do stupid things, and yes, some of them have compromised my dignity. But I feel a lot better knowing that I'm in control of the stupid things I do and that it's not the drug controlling my stupidity.

You said, "...u really cant say anything against smoking unless uv tryed it.....cant talk s*** about baseball if uv never been to a game....know what i mean?" No. I don't know what you mean. Comparing a trial baseball game to a trial use with an illegal drug, is really no comparison at all. The fact is, weed impairs judgment. What happens if I experiment with a baseball game? I either love it and have simply found a new past time, or I hate it and have wasted a few hours of my day. Or maybe in an extreme circumstance, I get hit in the face by a stray foul ball. That's about the worst that could happen by going to a baseball game. What happens if I experiment with weed? Maybe I escape from reality for a bit, simply have a good time, and nothing else happens. Or maybe I unintentionally wind up having sex with someone and end up with an unwanted pregnancy or an STD. Or maybe I end up driving somewhere, getting in an accident and killing the other person or myself, all as a result of my impaired judgement. These are extreme cases I realize, but my point is, not much is lost from going to a baseball game, but a lot can be lost from smoking weed. I choose to maintain a clear head. To be able to REMEMBER the good times I have with my friends. And I choose to go to a baseball game versus putting myself in a situation where I might even POSSIBLY, even come CLOSE to driving under the influence, killing someone, and getting thrown in jail, or any other similar situation, for there are a lot of miserable situations that can result from smoking pot.

It's all my choice, and smoking is your choice. Some people experiment with drugs, other people experiment with LEGAL activities. Whatever. What bothers me about the majority of these comments on Miley's stupid video, and what lead me to comment on it in the first place, knowing that I risked the possibility of a moral rehashing on drug use, is that so many people are naive enough to defend marijuana, or any illegal drug for that matter, when 25% of fatal traffic accidents are related in some way to narcotics.The highest percentage of which are specifically marijuana related. Maybe 25% isn't that big of a number to you, but it seems large enough to me. Everyone thinks it'll never happen to them, until it does."

The end.

My question is. Why do I do this to myself? I always find myself stumbling into debates that start over stupid topics, and I have it out over ridiculous interfaces such as youtube, which wasn't even designed for debate, I know. And a lot of times, the concluding arguments are on a completely different topic than the one originally discussed. I suppose the only solution is to stay clear because when I read stupid comments involving sensitive topics, whether stupid or not, I sometimes find it difficult not to respond. Although sometimes I find the topics aren't so stupid, like when I find random comments in random places about the church. I try my best to ignore them because the internet and forums are no place to talk about the church, but sometimes I read something so ridiculous, I just can't resist the chance to state the facts. The only problem is, that often comes with a rebuttal. Hence the problem.

Je ne parle pas francais....Anymore...

Why does my I'll Be Home For Christmas DVD always think I'd prefer watching the French version?

Sickness=Strange Dreams?

I started posting this on Facebook but I don't know why. I should have realized that I wouldn't be allowed enough characters to say what I wanted to say. So I reverted back to the blog.

I kept waking up in the middle of the night last night, and then I'd fall back asleep and so on and so on. In that time I had a series of really strange dreams. They felt a lot weirder than I'll probably be able to describe, because all I can remember now are the main details.

First one. There was supposedly a high school reunion or something but the only people I noticed were all from 10th Street. Although most the people I went to 10th Street with, also went to MP so it very well could have been a high school reunion, it just fell more like a 10th Street reunion plus a lot more people. We were all having a good time and then somehow that dream went wrong and I ended up getting stabbed like four times by some random old guy. I survived and then ended up running and hiding under a wood end table with a glass top, and that's when I woke up. A few strange things about this dream: there were so many people from 10th Street. I haven't seen anyone one from 10th Street probably since high school, so I don't know why they were all present in my dream. Unless it has something to do with my visit to Megan's apartment. But I've known Megan for 20 years almost, long before our middle school years so I doubt that has anything to do with it. Second strange thing: getting stabbed by some guy I didn't recognize. Third: trying to hide under a glass-topped table. How stupid can I be?

Second dream was more depressing than weird. I was in an apartment with Susan and Laura when some guy came in. I think he was a mixture of Tate and Dave from Safetysuit. That's what it seemed like to me anyway. Susan started flirting it up with him and then he started flirting back and then all of a sudden he just up and left and was like "I'll be right back." When we stopped to think about it, we realized Tate/Dave must be here for a concert. We all of a sudden realized the date and time and that there WAS a Safetysuit concert that night in like half an hour. When I went to retrieve our prepurchased tickets I couldn't find them so we didn't get to go! Sad day.

In the third dream I was at the doctors office, but it also seemed to be a vets office because there were a lot of dogs. When I was walking to the room all of a sudden a huge herd of people started coming down the hall and mixed in the crowd were Arnold Schwarzenegger, Antonio Banderas, and Shaq. Why couldn't it have been the Leto brothers or Leonardo DiCaprio or something? I mean, Shaq? Come on. Where did that come from? I blame it on being sick.

A Blog You Should Definitely Follow

So I hung out with the Megans this last Saturday and of course we spent some time on the internet, as most people of this generation tend to do. Megan Lemmon shared a blog with Megan Adams and myself, and I absolutely LOVED it. It's brilliant. It's http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ . The author just records her life experiences, gives random advice, tells stories, or whatever her heart desires, but she does it in an extremely creative, and extremely amusing way. I laughed so hard at some of her posts. The best part? The illustrations that help tell her stories. This girl needs to write a book, even if it were just a compilation of her blog posts I would buy it so I could read one each day and get in some good laughs.

One of my favorite entries can be found here. You should definitely follow this girl and her blog.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

Book Suggestion

I don't know what it is about young adult novels, but I love them. I think it's because they're generally entertaining, but I don't have to worry about them being littered with sex and junk. Anyway. I recently read this book, at the suggestion of my friend Laura, called The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

It's about this teenage boy who wakes up in an elevator shaft and can't remember anything about himself or his life, except his name. He's pulled up the elevator shaft and finds himself amongst a bunch of other teenage boys who presumably got there the same way he did, remembering only their first names. The place in which they live is at the center of a maze. They spend the entire book trying to solve this maze so they can get out, figure out who they are and go home. I don't want to say anything else other than that it's really good. It's interesting and pretty intense. I had my dad read it cuz I thought he would like it and he did, but didn't think it was amazing. But apparently it was better then he let on because he immediately downloaded the second one and read it in less than 24 hours. I actually haven't read the second one, but my dad said it was better than the first. I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback because I have the first one in paperback and I have this odd need for my books to match, so I'm impatiently waiting for the paperback release. Anyway, you should give it a go. It's pretty good.