escapism and little bits of truth

Soo my Mom doesn't actually have regular television, she's way too cool for that. Usually, it's ok. They just download their regular shows and watch them then next night. But it can backfire when so many of the best shows came back tonight.

Please don't think I have no life. I just have a great appreciation for TV and movies. Anything that creates happiness is good. Some of the best comedies on television right now- Community and 30 Rock started tonight. I'm excited to catch up on those. Then Grey's Anatomy came back after the most intense season finale ever with the shooter. Other than that, I'm really only concerned with Desperate Housewives which may not have many seasons left.

But these are purely for entertainment value. What I am becoming more and more impressed with is The Daily Show and Colbert report, which I have been watching for years, but am just now realizing how important they really are. I am heavily considering starting a Stewart/Colbert blog to follow the issues they discuss. I mean really, it's the only honest, factual media that I know. I just wish more people knew this.

You want to know what I wonder? I wonder how are all the wrong and evil things in the world so obvious, yet people make them the only option? The way FOX news deliberately report distorted facts that teach hate and distrust with distrust. The way that the 400 richest people in America could pay off the entire nation's credit card debt with 10 percent of their worth. The way every GOOD president or figure in history we've ever had has been assassinated? It's as if some higher power decided that going in the right direction is not allowed. Fair is not everyone else's fair to the rich and powerful.

Pretty soon, there's going to be an uprising, and people will be driven to demand the change that Obama cannot deliver on his own. Whether he has given it a very good shot is not for me to say. And I definitely wouldn't.

I didn't have many pictures taken of me when I was little. So I was looking through some old ones my mom had and found my favorite. It's me and my bro in a wagon:



I don't know, maybe it's the way I am holding on to him for dear life, but at the same time I'm thinking I'm protecting him. Just a thought anyway.

I Disagree with You, but I'm Pretty Sure you're not Hitler

What I forgot to mention yesterday about Stewart's (and Colbert's, remember, gotta have both) rally was WHY it is so important, and why it is a milestone. Or at least I hope it turns out to be.

The rally is for the forgotten normal Americans who are not completely polarized on the issues, and who do not demonize those they disagree with. That's like, 80 percent of us. Problem is, the normal ones get forgotten for people like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. We're almost to chill that we are hidden by the ones who need to chill.

I have to admit something: When I first heard about the mosque being built near ground zero, my first thought was: well that's a stupid place to want to have it. But then I realized that this was a stupid thing for people to fight about and burn bibles over. It wasn't the Muslim religion that made those terrorists fly their planes into the World Trade Center, as much as they hide behind it. It was the people, and the truth is that there are bad, bad people in every religion.

People are constantly looking for scapegoats, and anecdotes or situations that will prove what they believe is the right thing to believe. Why is it always about that? And here I am, saying this after getting drunk last week and getting in a fight with my ex boyfriend about why I think it's ridiculous for him to be a Jehovah's Witness. I shouldn't have done that, because everyone's entitled to believe what they believe.

I just think that organized religion, and what comes from those beliefs, is what has people at such protest against one another.

What is it about human nature that we all feel such the need to form these cults, whether it's a religion or a political party? It seems that neither are quite helping with the overall way the people in the world are relating to one another. I don't think God meant for us to get quite so stubborn about it all. Treat your neighbor as you would yourself, isn't that some sort of biblical guideline?

Is it not enough to just have your beliefs and stay true to them? Stop wasting your time demonizing others and getting so hyped up on the wrong issues already.

A few good points I want to highlight from an opinion column from John Avlon, who I think has the right idea about the rallys:

(Here's the link if you want to read more)

This isn't a concealed campaign rally for either party. It's a counterprotest against the rising tide of conformity that causes hyperpartisans to demonize people with whom they disagree. It's the anti-demagogue Saturday on the mall; people taking to the streets and yelling, "Be reasonable!"

And what I've thought for years...
Media manipulation by professional partisans on both sides has become so predictable that satire has emerged as the last, best way to cut through the spin cycle.

It's no wonder Stewart was voted as the "most trusted man in news" by TIME magazine.

Attend the RALLY!! I can't, but you should. If you can.

First order of business: I WANT TO GO TO THE RALLY! I think this is possibly a milestone in history, and it's coming from Comedy Central, so it won't be recognized as such. But Really. Isn't it sad that in the end they are the ones with more truth, sorry TRUTHiness, than anyone? I definitely have to give my Mom props for deciding within moments of Stewart and Colbert's announcement that she was going to get in a car with her husband and drive 10 hours to go. It is going to be one HELL of a ride. Here are the links:

www.rallytorestoresanity.com
-"If we had to sum up the political view of our participants in a single sentence... we couldn't. That's sort of the point."

Smart man. Did I mention that I missed meeting him by a second? Very sad day. Moving on.

Stewart's arch nemesis will be holding an opposing rally.

www.keepfearalive.com
-"There are dark, optimistic forces trying to take away our Fear -- forces with salt and pepper hair and way more Emmys than they need. They want to replace our Fear with reason."

You really can't have one without the other. Anyway, I'm excited to hear about how this little shindig goes down, tailgate anyone? Haha, kidding.


My trip to Atlanta has been extended due to the evil demon of car problems. Nothing makes me miss work more. Sounds like they are going to have to rebuild my transmission, not cheap, and not a quick job done until Friday morning. So I won't be making money and having lots less of it due to my expensive problem. I don't know if my shopping spree is going to help much either :)

My advice? Never buy from a sleazy Orlando dealership. Seems obvious right? But when you really need a car now, not all areas are so accessible about it. Or honest. What I should have done was not buy such a cheap car, but it's kind of hard when you're working min. wage in a recession. But enough of that depressing news! There Is a silver lining...

I'm in Atlanta and not at work! I've got to embrace it, because I have no choice in the matter as it is. So here I am. Bringing it on. Alright, so I've been kind of a bum. Caught up on some good movies though! Get Him to the Greek=Classic. Easy A, not quite an A but Emma Stone gets one as always! Ok, must go before I bore you to death.

Visiting the Moms

So I drove up from Orlando, Florida yesterday to visit my mom in Roswell, Georgia. It started as a nice drive but when my check engine light came on and my 11-year-old Honda Accord started giving me problems in stop and go traffic, I started to stress. Pretty bad.

But I'm here now and it's always so relaxing. Mom moved down to Georgia from Wisconsin somewhere around my Sophomore year of college, and also married a man she met on eHarmony. Makes me wonder if these dating sites actually work. Did for them I guess, can't argue that!

Last night we had an awesome dinner on the grill with blackened grouper, corn on the cob and peppers, onions and broccoli. It was amazing. Sounds simple, I know, but it's the little things in life. After my uncertain car ride, it was all I wanted to just have a nice meal and watch a movie.

The movie we watched last night was Knight and Day, which I was very skeptical about before but it was oddly good. As much as I don't think Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz make sense as a match, the movie was an on purpose over-the-top, almost parody of the action flicks Cruise has done. It was fun though, even though I couldn't help but ask why Diaz's character wasn't freaked out by the fact that she was on an empty flight, even though it was sold out. Durr.

Anyway, I came here to get away from everything and think. Definitely did some praying on that car ride up. Hopefully I come to some sort of profound realization, lol. That would be nice.

My Invisible Problem

So I went out with my ex last night. And at the bar we met a guy who actually had some interesting things to say, imagine that. But there was one statement he made that was simple, yet so profound at the same time, and it was this:

"It all comes down to this: all women are crazy, and all men are stupid."

If you think about it, it really does explain a lot of things, especially when it comes to relationships. Men think women are conniving, and it's because we're crazy and they're easy to fool. Women think men are assholes, it's because they're stupid and therefore bad at hiding their selfishness.

Now don't get me wrong, there are many different levels of craziness and stupidity, but when it comes down to it it makes sense in almost every situation.

There's a guy at work that drives me crazy. And not in the good way. All he does is talk about how stupid other human beings are, and I know I'm one of them. Thing is, I'm not stupid. Far from it. He just has a compulsive need for everyone to do things exactly how he does. I just have a different way of doing the same things. So every time he's around, he rudely corrects and picks apart my job at the meaningless work it is that we do. And I have no choice but to listen to his egotistical, bigoted, self-fulfilling commentary in the break room. The best part? He pretends he still doesn't know who I am after working there for 4 months.

I hate feeling invisible, and lately it's what I've felt. I had a period in college where I felt so completely insignificant that I fell into a pretty bad depression. Thing about depression is, it's like a gang: when you're in, it's really hard to get out. Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) described her depression as a two goons that hung around and haunted her daily life, their names: Depression and Loneliness. You just have to stand up and yell really loudly: I DO NOT BELIEVE IN YOU!!! But of course, it's not as simple as just saying it. You've got to believe it too.

Gilbert thinks a lot like I do. I wish I wasn't prone to depression, but I am. This is the way she feels, and one passage I found particularly interesting was her looking into all the possible reasons for her depression:

{What was the root of all this despair? Was it psychological? (Mom and Dad's fault?) Was it just temporal, a "bad time" in my life? Was it genetic? (Melancholy, called by many names, ahs run through my family for generations, along with its sad bride, Alcoholism.) Was it cultural? (Is this just the fallout of a postfeminist American career girl trying to find balance in an increasingly stressful and alienating urban world?) Was it astrological? Was it artistic? (Don't creative people always suffer from depression because we're so supersensitive and special?) Was it evolutionary? (Do I carry in me the residual panic that comes after millenia of my species' attempting to surive a brutal world?) Was it karmic? (Are all these spasms of grief just the consequences of bad behavior in previous lifetimes, the last obstacles from liberation?) Was it hormonal? Dietary? Philosophical? Seasonal? Environmental? Was I tapping into a universal yearning for God? Did I have a chemical inbalance? Or did I just need to get laid?}

Unfortunately for me, Depression and Loneliness have come to hang around lately, because of this "invisible problem", and it's screwing with my relationships. It's hard to be around someone who's depressed, so I'm trying really hard to get rid of the two goons. I learned that the hard way when I lost my best friend in the world because of it. On the other hand, it wasn't completely my fault, she was more selfish than most, and she also changed.

The biggest relationship it is screwing with right now is the one with my ex, and I feel horrible about it. I find myself going back and forth, trying to fall in love with him the way I was before his big secret came out, but also feeling that having a boyfriend makes me more invisible because of the lack of social life. Don't get me wrong, I still really care about him. But last night he told me it was one or the other, and I don't want anything but the middle. Go figure.

Allison Wonderland

People probably think working at Disney World is so magical. And the place itself really is. It's what goes on behind the scenes that sort of ruins the magic.

It's kind of got this Kings and their slaves dynamic going on, with rude managers who mostly do not even bother to get to know the names of their cast members. A guy in the break room yesterday joked that the word Disney comes from the Latin to mean "indentured servitude". I don't know if that's true, but it sounds right.

I work at Pirates of the Caribbean, one of the classics. But I never knew how much working in attractions would open my eyes to human stupidity.

(Imagine with motions)
"You're in rows 2 and 3"
"No, 2 and 3"
"Not 4 and 5"
"Ma'am you're in that row"
..."Huh?"

All. The. Time. There's other little treasures too. Other than that, every day is the same. The only thing keeping me here is the health insurance, because the pay sure isn't magical. Hopefully I can find a way to make my own magic from it.

Promise I will post soon, but I'll be out playing pirates for the day, just like every day.

Oops