Live and Let GONZO

I've realized, I live an alternative lifestyle. Some people don't get it, but it's what makes me happy. I really do whatever makes me happy, which makes me wonder why people don't do that all the time? I don't understand conservative, uptight people who are afraid of their own shadow and ignorant to the rest of the world outside of their "perfect" existence. I'm afraid of large spiders. What if I go to kill it and it actually engulfs my hand with it's fangs as I'm going to smooosh it? Also, sharks or dead bodies in my pool. I mean, they call it a phobia for a reason; it's the irrational fear of things. I don't have to have a reason. It's irrational! Yet, I digress. I want to get a tattoo that signifies my love for the crazy and random moments in life that make my life worth living. My dad and my brother claim that they are going to get this with me, but I kind of don't believe them. My brother hates tattoos and my dad hasn't gotten a tattoo since he was 18... and I don't think he realizes how much they cost nowadays. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzo_journalism this inspires me. I love Hunter Thompson and I love the way he lived and I loved the way he died, with complete control over his entire life - no matter how chaotic it may have sounded to anyone else in the world. This is that tattoo I want, but I want it to be an outline, not filled in with black or red, just an outline of black and red I think. Yes. Yes, this is what I want.

I'm Accidentally Vegan!

Colleen ranted and raved about this diet so finally I was like, I'll do it with you. It's an all vegan diet minus added oils. So no olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oil etc. so that means no hummus! This has been much easier than you would think. I've been making some amaaazing recipes, including Macaroni and Not Cheese and Gnocchi with Marinara Sauce and Vegetarian Meat Crumbles. I also invented a sandwich with mixed field greens, quinoa, hummus and balsamic vinaigrette. It's a "salad in disguise" as Colleen likes to call it. Also, we have been swimming every night and trying to exercise on a daily basis to prep for our New York Trip 2010! We will be getting on a train at 3:30 ish AM in a couple of weeks and heading to the "big apple." I'm really excited. I love New York. I've also been doing some research and discovered several vegan restaurants that are on our diet that I really want to try. One is called Bonobo and it's primarily focused on the Bonobo's diet I think. Like raw foods, nuts, salads, fruits and lots of veggies; but to make it more people friendly, they also have tofu scrambles for breakfast and meatless sausage. Another restaurant I found is called Blossom. It's all vegan and it looks absolutely incredible. We are trying to stick to this diet for 28 days and that overlaps with our vacation, so we're going to try our best to be good on vacation! On a side note, I have been going to the chiropractor on a weekly basis, apparently I'm all sorts of messed up. My hips look something like this x-ray except it's opposite sides. It's carazzzy. I didn't think anything was that wrong with me. and then this is what my neck looks similar to. My neck is supposed to be curved outward and it's not at all. The Doctors were baffled. Hopefully this will be fixed within a year... yeck...

Nightmares are Scary

I recently saw the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Not bad. Had a cocktail at movie tavern while I was watching it, but it was quite enjoyable. It went into all of that why he was burned up and the parent's of the children issues. I would recommend it. I did however have a terrifying dream the other night and woke up at 5 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.

I was at my house and Leather Face from Texas Chainsaw Massacre was buried in my garden in the back yard. He was going to rise from the grave and and take his chainsaw to me. So I for some reason had to army crawl through the snow in my neighborhood in UA. If these army men drove by I had to lay in the snow and pretend I was dead. Then I ended up back at my house and my little sister was there and my Nonnie. My little sister said, "it's wayyy after midnight. I don't think that he's going to be coming after you," and then I heard a chainsaw out in the back yard. I said, "that's a chainsaw! He's coming for me!" and Zoey said, "that could be anyone..." .... i know.... she's crazy... Then I went around and locked all of my doors. I woke up in a cold sweat freaking out about being murdered. I hate bad dreams.

Recognize Reality

It's really important to me that women, as a minority group, living in this patriarchal society, communicate as a whole and share their experiences and stories to let other women know that they are not the only ones to experience intimate partner abuse. It's Abuse is a website dedicated to the awareness of intimate partner abuse. Abuse can be physical, psychological, verbal or emotional. Just because your significant other doesn't cause you physical pain, doesn't mean that the mental anguish is alright.

I recently had to file a protection order against someone who didn't know when to stop. When we broke up he called me a slut and a whore and threatened to kill himself. He left me voice mails and text messages begging to speak with me and begging to get back together with me. He sent me pictures of him cutting himself and blaming it on me. He harassed my friends, even went as far as to message my dad on facebook. I had to block him and everyone I knew through him on facebook as well as change my phone number and cancel my myspace account. This truly was a test of my strength as a woman and as a human being, and if I wasn't as strong as I am, I think there would have been an entirely different outcome to my life as I know it right now. I am so grateful that I have had the resources that I had to overcome this horrible experience. I successfully achieved a 3 year protection order against him which forbids him to contact me in any way at all and forbids him to be in possession of a weapon.

If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, just know that you are not the only one out there. There is always going to be ways to get out of an abusive relationship, no matter how many advantages your partner may have. Here are some statistics from the "It's Abuse" website:

• 1 in 4 women in the United States will experience some form of physical abuse by a spouse, former spouse, cohabitating partner, or dating partner at some point in their lives(1)
• 21% of college students report that having experienced dating violence by a current partner(2)
• 32% of college students report having experienced dating violence by a former partner(3)
• Women ages 16 to 24 experience the highest per capita rate of intimate violence, nearly three times more than any other age group(4)
• In 2001, about 85% of victimizations by intimate partners were against women (588,490) and 15% of victimizations were against men (103,220)(5)
• In 1994, 37% of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for violence-related injuries were injured by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend(6)
• 13% of college women were stalked during one six- to nine month period, and 80% of campus stalking victims knew their stalker(7)

Recognize reality and don't make excuses for abusive partners. Abuse is abuse, there is no masking it.

Movie Review: Sleepwalkers

This film was pretty gritty. A mother and son who transform into cat-people survive by taking the souls/life force from young women. Oh, and did I mention they have hot steamy incestuous sex? Stephen King wrote the book and I'm sure it's better than the movie. I give it an 8 for gore and gore usage, a 7 for the acting, a 7 for the script, and a 10 on the scale of how many cats get mutilated. If you love cats or animals, you would not like this movie. I enjoyed it, but only because I know it's JUST A MOVIE. But some people get a little sensitive about these kind of things. I would recommend it only if you are really bored and don't mind watching a mediocre Stephen King movie. I'm not sure why they added in that the mother and son have sex, but it might be the fact that they are the last of their kind or something... still... they do pass as people if they aren't turning into vicious cat people beasts.... so why not have sex with someone who doesn't have your same genetic make up? Yuck. I'm sure it was portrayed better in his novel, but yeah. Something was just missing.