so, i just saw this interactive map that explains state by state the laws regarding gay-marriage, and it made me mad. the red states ("constitution, statute ban same-sex marriage and/or other same sex unions") overwhelm the other-colored states (where gay marriages or unions are allowed or at least recognized). to me, this incredibly controversial issue is really a non-issue. if two people who love each other want to get married, they should be allowed to do so. end of story.
i understand that it makes some people uncomfortable to know that people of the same sex want to marry (or, heaven forbid, a person actually SEES two people of the same sex being affectionate! *gasp!*), but 50 years ago, it made some people uncomfortable that black people attended the same schools, ate at the same restaurants, rode the same bus as white people. one hundred years ago, it made some people uncomfortable that women wanted to vote. who is to say that 50 years from now we won't look back at this time period and be ashamed of ourselves for believing so strongly that gay marriage was a terrible thing?
another argument that people have against gay marriage is that it is a sin, and this is also infuriating to me. in this country, we have separation of church and state. i don't care what your religious beliefs are, and i don't care what my religious beliefs are, we simply cannot make laws based on them. it offends me that people try to make others legally obligated to follow what their religion espouses.
if someone can offer me a valid reason as to why gay marriage should remain illegal (or become illegal again in the states where it is now allowed), then i would certainly like to hear it.
and now, i climb off my high horse...
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
NIECE
this post will be short, and lacking in information, but it is all i have to share at the moment. i have a niece! she was born today, about an hour and a half ago, and she is BIG. lindsay and baby are fine.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
25 things i want to do before i'm 25
ok, so i know i'm not even 24 yet, but my 24th birthday is too soon for me to get through 24 things. so i'm starting with age 25. anyway, here's my list:
- Finish knitting the scarf for my mom
- Sew a baby blanket for niece
- Finish painting the house
- Leave my job
- Start graduate school
- Get a dog (this one’s up to Granger)
- Go to a foreign country I haven’t been to yet
- Travel somewhere with friends
- Spend a weekend in NYC
- Spend a day in Harper’s Ferry
- Spend a day in Annapolis
- Visit a vineyard
- Spend a day photographing DC (black and white film)
- Go to DC sights I’ve never been to before
- Exercise at least 4 times per week
- Eat healthier
- Learn how to cook one new dish each month
- Learn how to shoot
- Learn how to make really good French bread
- Take a class on pottery making
- Type up and organize my poetry into a binder
- Make a meal for a large group of people (appetizer, main dish, and dessert)
- See a musical
- Start writing more (fiction)
- Go on a cruise
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
AK, USA
In late July I went to visit my brother and his lovely girlfriend in AK. I got there Wesdnesday afternoon (July 22), around 3pm or so, after a long day of flying (DC to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Anchorage). My flight was overrun with *ahem* old people who were going up to Alaska to go on boat cruises, guided bus tours, etc. It was fine, except when it came time to get off the plane. I don't think a collective group of people has ever moved slower in the history of moving slowly!
Anyway, after meeting my brother in the airport, he and I dropped my stuff off at their apartment and went on a walk. We walked just a short ways to this pretty trail that took us along a lake and ended in downtown Anchorage, right near Beth's office. We picked her up and walked back to their apartment along a shorter route. That evening, I was so tired that I don't even remember what we had for dinner. All I remember was knocking their kitchen timer off the oven when I tried to turn it off, and then doing it again seconds later when I was defending myself from (deserved) taunts... My life is so hard... After dinner some of Eric and Beth's friends came over, but I was so exhausted from traveling all day and the 4 hour time difference that I crashed soon after dinner.
Thursday was pretty relaxed day... Eric and I just hung out at their apartment for a little while and then in the afternoon we met Beth at her office and went out to lunch. For the rest of the afternoon Eric and I ran errands for the hiking/camping trip that we had planned for Friday through Sunday. That night's dinner I do remember - SPAGHETTI. Needless to say, it was awesome!
Friday morning we woke up, leisurely got all of our gear ready, had a big breakfast, and headed out on the quite scenic drive to the start of our hike. The trail is a little less than a 2 hour drive south of Anchorage, but it only took that long because we had to drive all the way around a large bay. As the crow flies, we couldn't have been more that 50 miles or so south of Anchorage.
The trail we hiked up was 9 miles to the cabin where we were staying. At the trailhead was a warning about a bear attack that had happened that very morning, so I was a little nervous at the start of the hike. But all three of us were wearing bear bells so as not to surprise any bears that might have been on or near the path. We also had bear spray in case we did run into any bears. I was still a little nervous, but the fact that I am writing this is a testament to the fact that we didn't actually happen across any bears. Although we probably did get closer to one than I care to think about...
Before the hike, I was imagining terrain that was going to be much rougher than how it actually was. I guess I've always imagined Alaskan wilderness as incredibly rugged, so I was expecting the worse. The hike we did was no easy feat, but it was certainly more manageable than the death-defying hike I thought was in store for me. The scenery around us as we hiked was GORGEOUS. There was this plant, fireweed, that was just in bloom as we were hiking. It's a plant that's about 5 feet tall with purple flowers that start blooming at the bottom of the plant and then, as the summer goes on, the buds on the top of the plant will bloom. According to Beth, it's a good way to measure Alaskan summers - when the fireweeds have purple blooms at the very top of them, summer is almost over! Anyway, the fireweed was everywhere, so all the mountains surrounding our hike had patches of bright purple! It was very beautiful.
We made it to the cabin after about 5 or 6 hours of hiking. It was a pretty nice cabin on a medium sized lake. My favorite part was that it came with a canoe! Eric and I traipsed about in the woods a little bit more (all the while talking loudly so we didn't surprise any bears) to gather firewood for our fire. Once we had a good enough amount, we all decided to go out in the canoe. The views from the lake were great too, and I ended up taking about a billion pictures of the same views. I couldn't help myself! After gallavanting out in the canoe we came back, made dinner, and sat by the fire a little bit. We were all a little tired, to say the least, from hiking 9 miles, so we went to bed pretty early. One downside of the cabin was that there were lots of windows without any curtains. Since the sun didn't completely set until around 11pm, it was a little hard to get to sleep in what was pretty much daylight. Or, I should say, it would have been hard had we not walked 9 miles that day. I think it too me all of about 30 seconds to fall asleep...
The next day the three of us went out fishing. Eric and Beth didn't catch anything, but I ended up catching a fish. I think the fish can tell that, even though I'm fishing, I don't actually want to catch anything so they all inevitably bite my line. I always feel really bad when I catch something, so I wasn't too happy that I caught one. Especially since I got this one through the eye. I felt so bad!!! Later on that afternoon I caught another one, and two fish was two fish too many, so after that one I quit fishing entirely. The rest of the day we just tooled around, hung out, chatted, ate lunch and dinner, etc. It was great just having a day to relax and enjoy ourselves! The next day we hiked back down the 9 miles to Beth's car. I think we made it out in about 3 - 4 hours (going downhill helps a lot!).
The next day was my last day in Anchorage before a red eye back to DC. It was another relaxing day just hanging out with my brother while Beth, sadly, had to work. All in all, it was a great trip, and I can now mark Alaska off my list of places that I have to visit. Can't wait to go back (maybe for Christmas????)!
Anyway, after meeting my brother in the airport, he and I dropped my stuff off at their apartment and went on a walk. We walked just a short ways to this pretty trail that took us along a lake and ended in downtown Anchorage, right near Beth's office. We picked her up and walked back to their apartment along a shorter route. That evening, I was so tired that I don't even remember what we had for dinner. All I remember was knocking their kitchen timer off the oven when I tried to turn it off, and then doing it again seconds later when I was defending myself from (deserved) taunts... My life is so hard... After dinner some of Eric and Beth's friends came over, but I was so exhausted from traveling all day and the 4 hour time difference that I crashed soon after dinner.
Thursday was pretty relaxed day... Eric and I just hung out at their apartment for a little while and then in the afternoon we met Beth at her office and went out to lunch. For the rest of the afternoon Eric and I ran errands for the hiking/camping trip that we had planned for Friday through Sunday. That night's dinner I do remember - SPAGHETTI. Needless to say, it was awesome!
Friday morning we woke up, leisurely got all of our gear ready, had a big breakfast, and headed out on the quite scenic drive to the start of our hike. The trail is a little less than a 2 hour drive south of Anchorage, but it only took that long because we had to drive all the way around a large bay. As the crow flies, we couldn't have been more that 50 miles or so south of Anchorage.
The trail we hiked up was 9 miles to the cabin where we were staying. At the trailhead was a warning about a bear attack that had happened that very morning, so I was a little nervous at the start of the hike. But all three of us were wearing bear bells so as not to surprise any bears that might have been on or near the path. We also had bear spray in case we did run into any bears. I was still a little nervous, but the fact that I am writing this is a testament to the fact that we didn't actually happen across any bears. Although we probably did get closer to one than I care to think about...
Before the hike, I was imagining terrain that was going to be much rougher than how it actually was. I guess I've always imagined Alaskan wilderness as incredibly rugged, so I was expecting the worse. The hike we did was no easy feat, but it was certainly more manageable than the death-defying hike I thought was in store for me. The scenery around us as we hiked was GORGEOUS. There was this plant, fireweed, that was just in bloom as we were hiking. It's a plant that's about 5 feet tall with purple flowers that start blooming at the bottom of the plant and then, as the summer goes on, the buds on the top of the plant will bloom. According to Beth, it's a good way to measure Alaskan summers - when the fireweeds have purple blooms at the very top of them, summer is almost over! Anyway, the fireweed was everywhere, so all the mountains surrounding our hike had patches of bright purple! It was very beautiful.
We made it to the cabin after about 5 or 6 hours of hiking. It was a pretty nice cabin on a medium sized lake. My favorite part was that it came with a canoe! Eric and I traipsed about in the woods a little bit more (all the while talking loudly so we didn't surprise any bears) to gather firewood for our fire. Once we had a good enough amount, we all decided to go out in the canoe. The views from the lake were great too, and I ended up taking about a billion pictures of the same views. I couldn't help myself! After gallavanting out in the canoe we came back, made dinner, and sat by the fire a little bit. We were all a little tired, to say the least, from hiking 9 miles, so we went to bed pretty early. One downside of the cabin was that there were lots of windows without any curtains. Since the sun didn't completely set until around 11pm, it was a little hard to get to sleep in what was pretty much daylight. Or, I should say, it would have been hard had we not walked 9 miles that day. I think it too me all of about 30 seconds to fall asleep...
The next day the three of us went out fishing. Eric and Beth didn't catch anything, but I ended up catching a fish. I think the fish can tell that, even though I'm fishing, I don't actually want to catch anything so they all inevitably bite my line. I always feel really bad when I catch something, so I wasn't too happy that I caught one. Especially since I got this one through the eye. I felt so bad!!! Later on that afternoon I caught another one, and two fish was two fish too many, so after that one I quit fishing entirely. The rest of the day we just tooled around, hung out, chatted, ate lunch and dinner, etc. It was great just having a day to relax and enjoy ourselves! The next day we hiked back down the 9 miles to Beth's car. I think we made it out in about 3 - 4 hours (going downhill helps a lot!).
The next day was my last day in Anchorage before a red eye back to DC. It was another relaxing day just hanging out with my brother while Beth, sadly, had to work. All in all, it was a great trip, and I can now mark Alaska off my list of places that I have to visit. Can't wait to go back (maybe for Christmas????)!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
poor
why does everything have to cost money? and so much money, at that... i seriously wish my parents would just tell me where the money tree is. i could seriously use a visit with that thing right now...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
the last few months of my life have been crazy
i haven't had the chance to write here lately... but hopefully that will all change as i will actually be in dc for a few weeks without going on some other adventure. i had fun on every single trip, but i am glad i'm staying home for a while.
let's see, first there was a trip to the OBX which i mentioned below, then there was Mexico, then there was South Carolina, then there was the OBX again, then the next weekend Caroline and I hosted a party at our place, and then i just got back from a visit with eric in anchorage. phew!!! i need a vacation from my vacations!
i'll update more thoroughly later...
let's see, first there was a trip to the OBX which i mentioned below, then there was Mexico, then there was South Carolina, then there was the OBX again, then the next weekend Caroline and I hosted a party at our place, and then i just got back from a visit with eric in anchorage. phew!!! i need a vacation from my vacations!
i'll update more thoroughly later...
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