Shooting in Aurora

Yesterday marked one of the largest massacres in the U.S.  It was a bit difficult to believe.  I know that there are sick and crazy (not good crazy, but bad crazy) people out there, but this was one of the reasons we moved from California.  I knew that bad people exist everywhere, but I never thought it would happen here, despite what happened at Columbine High in '99.

I guess I was a bit naive to believe that.

I woke up yesterday and talked to my mother, who told me about the tragedy.  I immediately started freaking out.  I had yet to find out it happened in Aurora.  I knew I had friends who would be seeing the movie at midnight.  I can't remember what went through my head at that moment, but I do know that there is nothing more scary than wondering if your friends have been shot.

"Where did this happen?" I asked my mom.

"Aurora," she said.

No friends in Aurora.  I was a bit relieved, but at the same time, I could just feel that ache in my chest.  That physical pain you get something absolutely tears at you (who knew heartbreak wasn't just emotional?).  Not just the fact that people died and were injured, but also the fact that people had to watch that.  Adults and children.  I feel terrible for the people who watched people die, but the children?  I am disgusted with the fact that a monster would rob them of their innocence like that.  When my sister found out, she commented, "Well, that's not very nice.  He must not read his Bible."  I wish I could have her innocence.

Later, my mom came up from the basement and asked if I wanted to watch Lost with her.  She needed to get her mind off of it and some other things, so I said yes.  We'd never seen the show before and we quickly became addicted.  It provided a good distraction and the plot drew us in.  We ended up watching it for hours.  All the TV channels had something about the massacre on them (we only get a few channels, so I can't speak for all of them, obviously, but still).  I'm sure that they're going to continue reporting about it for a bit, so it's just going to be Netflix for right now.

Please keep the victims' families and the other people at the theater in your thoughts and prayers.

Guns

I've decided that posting about politics, even though I've done it before, is probably not the best idea.  I don't have a ton of readers, though, and if you don't like it, don't read it.  It's probably not the best thing on Facebook, but this is my blog, and I'll post whatever I feel like posting.

I will warn you right here that this post might frighten a few people because I talk about a few different ways that people can be murdered.  Read with discretion.  (That was so cool to say.)

So this morning, I was feeling absolutely terrific.  Until I watched this video.  I couldn't make it all the way through because I felt sick.  Not just a "my blood is boiling" sick.  It was a literal stomach churning sick.  And I can't tell if this video did that all on its own or if the coffee I had helped.

My first question is this: How the heck is gun control going to make us safe?  If anything, it's going to make us less safe, not more.  Because there will be people who will use guns despite the fact that it will be illegal and the rest of us will be unarmed.  If some guy comes into my house uninvited, I will shoot him, no questions asked.  I will protect myself and my family (even though it's just my dad that has access to the guns when we're at home and not at the range, not me).  But if he's armed and I'm not?  That means I have no way to defend myself.  Because trying to defend yourself when your opponent has a gun is pretty futile.  If I do have a gun, and he also has one, then I can easily shoot him before he gets to me.  I would have no regrets about it.

Now here comes another question: What if we're both unarmed?  If there's an intruder, you never know if he has a gun on him.  But for the argument's sake, let's say he's not.  If I don't have a gun because of this silly treaty either, then guess what I'll do?  I'll do whatever it takes to get him the heck away from me.  I will use whatever else I can think of to defend myself.  I'll use my fists (even though I seriously can't punch - ask anyone), one of the steak knives in the kitchen, whatever.  The only time I would EVER kill a person is out of self-defense, and taking a gun away isn't going to stop that.  There will be people who will still murder.  There are more ways to kill a person than with a gun, so taking the guns away won't lower the amount of murders that happen.  And people will still own guns - making it illegal doesn't mean every single gun owner out there will immediately let go of their guns.  You might as well ban everything else if you're really bent on keeping the crime rate low, Mr. President.  Anything and everything can be used as a weapon.  If you want people to stop stabbing, ban scissors.  If you want people to stop suffocating others, ban plastic bags.  I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  The only difference is that guns are more effective than any other weapon.

My final question: How do you think we've been fighting wars?  And how will we fight in the future without firearms?  We will be toast if we don't have them.

You have no reason to fear gun owners.  George Washington once said, "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference."  The majority of gun owners own guns to protect themselves and use them for recreation (hunting, for example), not to kill or harm people.  The only people to be feared are the ones who misuse guns.  I am not losing my second amendment rights without a fight.  "They'll have to shoot me first to take my gun."  (Roy Rogers, everyone.)

If you want to debate with me on this issue, I'd be more than happy to do so.  My only requests are that we do it in person and that you are civil about it.  If you start to hurl insults at me (which has happened to me - one of the big reasons I usually don't get into debates - seems like no one can be civil and respectful about it), I will immediately leave.

The Care and Well-Being of Christi

I felt sick this morning, so I decided to stay home.  While I was laying in my bed, this idea popped up in my head, so I typed it all out.  This is a fact sheet to take care of me.  Like those fact sheet things that they have at pet stores.

Mornings:
While Christi may be a morning person, she is often tired and mentally unprepared for the upcoming day.  That is why it is imperative that she has coffee.  One or two cups will usually suffice, but be careful when she exceeds that amount.  It could result in your entire family wishing to see a therapist.
After Christi has received her coffee, the awakening process will be complete and she will be the sweetest person you have ever met (except when provoked - see section titled "Daytime").  She will also think rationally and be somewhat intelligent.

Daytime:
Christi does not enjoy school in any way.  Because of this, she will often come home looking for something to satisfy her sweet tooth (chocolate works the best) and something to distract her (such as a video game or book).  She is introverted and may want some time to herself.  If she wants to be around someone, it will most likely be her cat.
If you would like to keep Christi in the good mood she had since she got coffee, do not talk about things such as politics, country and American pop, math, decaf coffee, glitter, sewing, or the Twilight saga.  This will enrage her and she will come out of her shell and begin to rant about her hatred for those things, something that is inescapable.  If you try to leave, she will follow.  If you tune her out, she will make sure you listen.  Similarly, it is wise to not bring up things she likes, such as music, writing, marching band, cooking, languages, reading, exercising, Office Depot, cats, My Little Pony, etc.; she will rant on those topics too.  She prides herself in the time that she talked her poor mother's ear off on the way to the Denver International Airport on trumpet mouthpieces.  It is also best that you don't bring up things that make her sad, such as an animal dying; certain scenes in books, movies, video games, and TV shows; and other various things.  If you do not want a lengthy conversation with her, we suggest talking about something neutral like curtains or phone cords.
Christi does not like to be disturbed when concentrating on something.  This could be when she has both earbuds in her ears or when she's listening to music alone, reading, writing, practicing trumpet, failing miserably at piano, or doing a boss battle.  If you do so, she will keep her friendly demeanor, but inside, she is thinking of the most torturous way she will make you her next horcrux.  She is like a Remlit in the way that she appears to be innocent but really isn't (especially when she's been without coffee).  She is proud to be sarcastic, morbid, and sadistic and loves schadenfreude.  She is not, however, perverted like most of her friends.  If you ever make the mistake of doing this, flee to another country or talk to her about something she likes.  We advised against this earlier, but if you allow her to talk about it, she will forget about you and you will most likely get to live.

Nighttime:
If Christi lived in her own brain, her bedtime routine would include taking a hot bath while reading a book, drinking some tea, cuddling with her many cats, and finally settling down in her bed in her room where she can open the roof up to see the many stars and listen to the wind and crickets chirping.  But because she is low on time and money, this is not possible for her.  What she does instead is simply go to her room about an hour before her bedtime or so and do as she pleases until she falls asleep.
If it is raining, she will go outside and dance in it.  Do not be alarmed if you hear the door opening and closing and laughter.  A rainy night is the best night for her.

Do:
-Encourage her.
-Give constructive criticism.
-Leave her alone when she wants to be left alone.
-Remember that she is socially awkward, ditzy, physically clumsy (is there such a thing as mentally clumsy?  We think so.), and has self-diagnosed ADHD.  She may do stupid things because of those things.  Only the most patient people have the capacity to deal with her.

Don't:
-Ask to see her writing unless you are a family member or fellow writer that she loves and trusts.
-Play country music, American pop, or anything by Avril Lavigne.  Your iPod/CD player/whatever will be broken in ten seconds flat (obscure reference FTW) and she will not pay for it.
-Tell her to go to a party, dance, etc.  She won't go anywhere that has people she doesn't know and large crowds of her own free will.  The one exception was homecoming.
-Do what we said not to do.
-Give her frosting.
-Talk about boys as anything more than friends.  She's not looking for a relationship and never will.
-Similarly: Don't try to set her up on a blind date.  (This is for you, Shelby!)
-Say something dirty around her.  This may lead her to going into shock or being incredibly angry (may God have mercy on your soul if it's the latter).  Either way, she can only be revived by coffee, chocolate, or good music.
-Give her something that has lots of glitter, leopard print, or is pink or orange.  This will have the same result as the above.
-Try to explain math, fashion, or the twisted logic of our current president to her.  This will result in a blank stare and silence (yes, you heard correctly).

Friendship

God's really blessed me.  I don't deserve it and no one knows it like He does.  I have an awesome family, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food being digested in my stomach, and so much other stuff.  Best of all, I have God as my best friend.  I can talk to Him whenever I want and need to and He's been so merciful and gracious towards me that there's a place in heaven for me.  I can't even begin to describe how much He's given me.
One way that He's blessed me is through friendship.  I've asked God for some Christian friends to encourage me and guide me in my walk.  He really answered prayer.
Yesterday, I went to Sow and Sews like I have been since January or February.  This is a ministry started by one of my newer Christian friends, Connie.  It is something that I've been looking forward to each week.  It's really helped me grow and learn.  I also made a new friend yesterday named Barbara.  Truly a blessing.  The last woman that comes (other than me) is my mom.  All these women are older than me, so it also gives me some perspective.
There is also a girl I met last semester in math class named Corina.  She never fails to make me laugh.  She's lovely and so bright.
Two weeks ago, I was invited to come to a Young Life Club by a friend named Hailey.  I told my mom about it and she suggested that I go.  I did despite the fact that I was really scared.  I am, again, a total introvert, and the thought of going to a place where there would be plenty of people I didn't know scared the living daylight out of me.  But it was a ton of fun and I actually met some new people despite my fear.
I also went to a women's retreat last month.  Besides the babies that some of the moms brought with them, I was the youngest person there.  But no one really said anything about my age and they still welcomed me there.  Even more friends were added to the list.
There is also band.  I've met some pretty cool people through band.  I went to a trumpet party yesterday with some believers.  Many teens go to parties where they're pressured to do things they really shouldn't.  It was awesome to be at a place where we just played games, ate awesome food and had a good time in general.
Finally, there's church.  We started going to a new church called the Crossing back in September or October, which was scary.  There were tons of new faces.  But I actually started meeting people.  I met Connie, for one thing, and I was introduced to a girl named Taylor, the daughter of one of the pastors there.  I've even initiated some conversations at times.
God's really worked to bring Christian friends into my life.  They're all wonderful and I'm so happy that I met them.  My brothers and sisters are the coolest.

Nail Polish

I am going to take a break from the more serious stuff to talk about the problems with nail polish.
I've been thinking about it a lot.  I didn't do my nails a lot because I'm horrible with that kind of stuff and it's tedious.  Those are two problems.  But I've been doing it more recently.  And what happened is that I wanted to do my nails again after getting the blue off of them.  But what I could choose from was pink, orange (my two least favorite colors, though orange is starting to grow on me a bit), and two shades of blue.  And I didn't want to do blue again.
So what did I do?  I went shopping for nail polish.
I went to Walgreen's yesterday, mostly looking for some dark red nail polish but also wanting some other shades if I could find any that I liked.  The nail polish they had (which had a color called "Unicorn" but was a light yellow and therefore too ugly to use) was pretty cheap and they had a lot of colors that appealed to me, so I bought eight bottles.  Three were in shades of blue (I know, I know, no more blue, but I love the color blue, and they were so lovely), two were purple colors, one was more of a neutral brownish color, one was a peach color, and the last one was the dark red color that I wanted.  I've been seeing red nails a bit, but I didn't want a normal red color.  I wanted something darker.
The first problem was deciding which polish to use.  I was excited about the colors and I was torn.  Eventually, I told my brother to pick a random color that wasn't pink or orange.  He said lavender.  So I used the lighter purple color, which looks like this:

A really pretty color.  Love it.
Problem number two was that it took me about an hour and a half (I think) to do all twenty digits.  That included fixing mistakes (problem number three) made when I accidentally brushed my hand against something or didn't do the nail correctly.  They still didn't look that great when I was done, but they were a lot better than when I had started.  Practice makes perfect, I guess, and I just started doing my nails more.

Colors bought: Fiji, Sugar Sugar, Zeus, Nirvana, Hazard, Gorgeous, Grecian Sea, Mint Apple; not all colors pictured  

International Women's Day

So today is International Women's Day.  Of course, the radical feminists are going nuts over this.  I myself am a feminist, though not like most feminists.  But one person today said something along the lines of, "This day might have been nice for women 100 or 200 years ago when they were still fighting for their rights, but not today.  Women today have the same rights as men, so this day is pointless."  Made me roll my eyes.  Because most women do have the same rights as men.  If you live in America, that is.  Because there are still women out there that are believed to not have a lot of value.  Women can't even drive in Saudi Arabia.
For another thing, why should the day be about feminism?  I think it should simply be about honoring the awesome women in your life.  Because let's face it.  Men would be nothing without us.  (I will admit that we, too, need men in our lives.  But men need women more than we need men.  Am I right?)
Getting back to the topic of feminism.  I'm a feminist.  But many feminists today are the ones like this:

And this:



I, for one, am a feminist that thinks the whole movement should be redefined.  I don't know about you, but I really don't like being grouped together with those feminists that seem to have a pea for a brain.

Eating and Drinking Healthy Stuff

One of my New Year's resolutions was to have more healthy stuff and cut down on the junk food.  I'm happy to report that it has been going (mostly) well.  I've been paying more attention to nutrition labels and drinking more water.  I even lost a few pounds (not intentionally, of course).  But there was a huge challenge that came with this.  I had to give up soda.
I think it's one of the hardest things I've ever done.  I love soda.  Pepsi is my favorite, and these past few weeks without it have become difficult.  I also went for sushi with my dad on Wednesday, and at the restaurant we usually go to, they serve a Japanese soda called Ramune (which comes in many different flavors, but the restaurant serves strawberry, melon, and the original flavor, which tastes like bubble gum).  I always had the melon Ramune while eating.  It tastes soooooo good.  It took me a lot of strength to order a water instead.
I quit drinking soda on February 16th.  I decided to stop drinking it for a year.  Hopefully, by the time my little soda break is over, I'll be so used to water and stuff and I'll think of soda as too sweet.  I believe it's been getting easier each day, but it's still difficult.  At the moment, there's Pepsi in the house, but I just had a smoothie, so my sweet tooth is satisfied.  But I fear that sometime, I'm going to snap and have a can.
It's been difficult to resist junk food, too.  If I have any, I manage to limit it to just a little, but it's better to have none.  The fact that it's not spring yet also sucks because fruit is out of season and a bit expensive.  I love fruit.  I don't know too much about bananas, but those are packed with protein and help boost your metabolism.  And the Doctor approves.  Bananas are just awesome.
Watermelon and peaches, however, are my favorite fruit.  Watermelon is the best summer treat ever.  Sinking your teeth into it and letting the juice drip down your chin is like heaven.  (Of course, the same can be said about corn on the cob, except it's more like letting the butter drip down your chin.)  I just love the flavor of peaches.  And the smell.  Which is why I love peach-scented stuff like lip gloss.  (I do have it, but it's missing.  Sadness.)
I've been trying to find new healthy foods and drinks to try to make.  The first one I tried that came from Pinterest was a Green Monster Spinach Smoothie.  The woman who created it said it did not taste healthy at all and that she loved to indulge in it.  So I tried it.  It tasted pretty good (it had bananas and peanut butter in it, though the spinach made it look like it belonged in a witch's cauldron), but I only wanted one glass, so I put the rest in the fridge to have later.  But when I came back for more, it just tasted like pure.  Liquefied.  Spinach.  It was disgusting.  I love spinach, but I learned that I preferred it in its solid form.  It was either because I let it sit in the fridge for so long or because I added so much spinach (four cups of it).  I'm guessing more of the former.
Eating healthier has been a challenge, but it's been rewarding.