I feel like a certain politician would love this.

Because their tagline is "Where dinosaurs and God meet."

Dinosaur Adventure Land scares me a little bit.

Register to vote. Then VOTE.

I will vote. If only to say the things I hope I continue to have the right to say.
Vote. I don't care who you vote for as long as you vote. If you don't vote, we probably can't have an intelligent conversation. Please vote.

Why do I hate her so much?

Mostly because she makes it so damn easy. 

The best part about that segment is that they basically stuck to the transcript of the actual interview.

Oh, and also. When Gloria Steinem is embarrassed by a woman, we should all be ashamed.  

On Jezebel:

"When Palin's name comes up, Steinem says, “It’s such an insult," and she goes on to add, "Having someone who looks like you and behaves like them — who looks like a friend but behaves like an adversary—is worse than having no one."

Something keeps coming up ...

New information about Miss Palin's past keeps popping up and it gets scarier and scarier every time. 

CNN's front page leads to a lovely article about Palin and her state's ridiculous practice of charging rape victims for the collection of sexual assault kits. 

Finally, in mid-2000, a bill was passed which was sponsored by a state representative. 

Before then, many Alaskan towns were charging rape and sexual assault victims for the practice of taking evidence. More often than not, this procedure involves invasive medical procedures. Forcing victims to pay for it could be deemed another form of rape. 

When the bill was written, as mentioned, many towns charged victims or their insurance companies. At the time, such procedures could cost up to $1000. 

You really want a victim to first pay emotionally for the act of violence against him or her and then to pay again literally?

The most vocal opponent of the bill? Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon.

The Wasilla Frontiersman at the time of the bill passing, quoted Fannon as saying "the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence."

Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. There are no quotes from her on the matter to be found as of yet, however, it remains highly improbable that she knew nothing of the bill or even the chief's blatant anger toward it. In fact, her deputy mayor, Judy Patrick, spoke with CNN about that period of time in the state.  

"The bigger picture of what was going on at the time was that the state was trying to cut their own budget, and one of the things that they were doing was passing on costs to cities, and that was one of the many things that they were passing on, the cost to the city," said Patrick, according to CNN. 

NOTES: On salon.com: "And now, according to wire reports, all states will next year be required to pay for the kits in order to continue receiving funding under the federal Violence Against Women Act, which helps support women's shelters and relevant law enforcement training." 

Article on feministe  about the same issue.

No sex

I've been recently obsessed with this lovely song, No Sex For Ben. 

And today I found this brilliant blurb about some poor shmuck named Joe who finds himself in a precariously similar situation. 

Think the poor guy needs a sit-down with Rapture for the follow-up song?

Best backstory ever

We may not know much about Sarah Palin.

But what we do know can be gleaned from Disney movies. 

Walt Disney Presents: The Sarah Palin Story

Palin v. Biden

The debates are rapidly approaching and Palin has yet to speak to a member of the press on-the-record. She reportedly spoke with a gaggle of them, except her damned handlers insisted it be strictly off-the-record. 

Well, with that Oct. 2 debate date fast approaching, anybody else think Palin should atleast prove she can speak without a script? 

Perhaps I'm being a little mean here to the lady, but really, it's not as though she's been accused of a crime; I don't have to treat her as "innocent" till proven dumb. 

Alright, that all does sound a little harsh. In all seriousness I simply don't like her policies. I feel sex education needs to be taught in schools, and abstinence only programs rarely work, taxes should change because obviously this deficit isn't going to pay itself off and stem cell research could save more than a few people around the globe. 

I don't dislike Palin simply because she's a female Republican; no, I don't like her because she has repeated refused to speak to the general public from the gut. Any clip you see of her on television is either stock footage, her convention speech, or a regurgitation of her convention speech. I don't like the woman because she's a lifetime member of the NRA yet her campaign cries foul when stem cell research is brought up by Biden. I don't like her because she wants everyone to be and think the same as her. 

Palin can believe whatever she wants, she can believe that abortion is a sin and that's fine by me. But once you attempt to force your beliefs down my throat, we have a major problem. Biden, whether in spite of or because of his faith, feels that while his definition of life begins at conception, he acknowledges that some people have differing viewpoints, and that's OK. 

All in all, Palin needs to speak up and come out. Well, this week she's said to be set to sit down with ABC's Charles Gibson and have an actual discussion. The problem(s)? First, Gibson was carefully vetted by McCain's campaign team before being handpicked for the interview (he also had the McCain chat during the RNC). This most likely means McCain's team implemented a Disney-esque demand of "show us your questions before we give you the stage." Second, Gibson didn't even touch on the controversial Palin issues during his McCain sit-down. 

According to the Washington Post, on his blog, Gibson wrote, "Once you know about her daughter's pregnancy, once you know about her husband's political interest in the Alaska Independent Party, once you know about the special nature of their child, I think that's enough."

And I'm still holding out hope that perhaps she'll surprise us all and be more eloquent than her speechwriters.

Class bores me.

So I educate myself by surfing the web and finding terribly awesome articles accompanied by these crazy bumper stickers. 

Sarah Palin.

Her kids ... well, screwed up as they may be/will be/are, aren't my focus ahora. 

But I did stumble upon this hilariously titled Palin biography:

Sarah: How a small town mom turned Alaska's political establishment upside down

Want more about her? Turns out McCain knows about the same amount we know about her. Which ain't much.

Palin disclosures raise question on vetting

Obama is a master of speech

My mother taught me at a very young age that freedom does not only mean fighting for the right to speak that which you believe in. It also means fighting for the right of your opponent to yell that which he believes in at the top of his lungs.

Freedom means fighting for the right of someone else to preach that which you so fervently stand against.

I didn’t understand the sentiment till I was much older, but I always remembered it.

In early 1994, during the first Clinton election, I told my kindergarten class that they should tell their parents to vote for Clinton because he was pro-choice and that was very important for freedom.

Last Thursday, watching Sen. Barack Obama formally accept the Democratic nomination at Invesco Field in Colorado, I was overcome by that same feeling of hope one usually finds reserved for feel-good movies.

As if from one, Obama stood up for almost 45 minutes and spoke of everything the American people are worried about. And he was inspirational.

In less than an hour, in less time than many politicians can complete a thought, Obama managed to write a brilliant movie monologue in the cinema circus that is American politics.

Enough, Obama repeated again and again.

Enough of failed Bush administration policies.

Enough of Sen. John McCain’s empty promises of the same old thing.

Enough of the same. On to the new.

“America, we are better than these last eight years,” Obama said. “We are a better country than this.”

Countless times, Obama reminded us that we as a nation have settled for mediocrity for too long. He also reminded us that McCain is no different from the man we’ve continued to settle for these last four years. McCain’s changes, Obama stressed, are simply a quicker route down the path that President George W. Bush built.

“Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans,” he said.

“I just think he doesn't know.”

Obama reminded us that he knows. He cares and he can change the direction of this country. It was inspirational, unintentionally filmic and spectacular. Sen. Obama was engaging and relevant, right down to his pop culture lift from Aaron Sorkin’s “The American President.” He spoke furiously into the camera, much as Michael Douglas’s character did in the movie.

“If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.”

The Illinois senator’s best quotes were short, succinct and spoken with perfect cadence.

Obama stated that he was not a celebrity, that was he not a typical politician and that he was not like other candidates.

Invoking the names of arguably the most influential presidents in America’s twentieth century, Roosevelt and Kennedy were mentioned as the men who fought for change as ardently Obama continues to do.

Last Thursday, Obama articulately reminded a nation why he will be the nation’s forty-fourth president.

“You have shown what history teaches us,” Obama said to the 75,000-person field as well as to the nation, “that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it — because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

“America, this is one of those moments.”

This is the moment and the election which will decide the fate of our country’s next century. This election, more so than any other in America’s history will be our defining moment and we must demand a change.

For full text/video of the speech: Obama

an orange in the apple world

I feel as though I don't fit in with all the spectacularly creative people I know from work. Most of them are geniuses when you put a camera in their hands; others can create a piece of amazing music in less time than it takes me to organize my thoughts; still others can draw with the skill of a professional. 

But me — what  can I do? Once, these people told me writing was a skill, an art. 

I mean, sure it can be. If you go and write the next great American novel. But i highly doubt I will be that screwed up as a person. 

Anyway, to all those people ... I envy you. I envy your ability to craft something so outwardly spectacular and be able to share it with others. Some of you take moving photos; some of you can make a person laugh and all of you inspire me. I appreciate my life this past year more than any other year and for that I thank you all. 

Then again, maybe this is all simply a "harmless" by-product of me being home and around my parents for too long. 

Comic-con

So ... I'm here. At Comic-con.

And it is frakking awesome. 

I have snagged so much free shiiiiiIt that the 30-minute perpetual grope on the trolley was worth it. 

Oh and right now, RIGHT THIS SECOND I'm sitting in front of Kevin Smith and the stars of "Battlestar Galactica."

Wanna see?

Too bad, I can't figure out my technology. Maybe later.

quotables

If you could collect quotes, I would be good at something other than writing. 

"They ought to find out how to vaccinate for love, like smallpox." —from Anna Karenina 

hah.

"Are you in yet?"

"I hate that question."

—Ocean's Thirteen

P.S. The doors to the "secure room," are locked Apple doors. 

My life is ridic.

"aliens" in the u.k.

I want to be friends with them. 

Well, maybe not friends, per se, but atleast know them. Oh, only if they actually have a cause or are part of a viral marketing campaign-ness-thing. Because both of those options are cool.

Faceless Aliens in the U.K. 

a pretty little picture

sometimes i'm so sure you have a heart. 

the things you do, the way you act, the seemingly nice things you say — how could you not?

other times, i wonder if you even have a soul. 

the way you can't handle life, the way you run from anything you feel, the way you make yourself so unavailable. 

but at the end of the day, no matter how cruel you can be, i know you're only human. the life you seem to enjoy so much is generally a facade. 

it's a small, pretty little picture you've created to fit into a small, ornate frame you can share with people.

but it isn't the truth. 

and it isn't even a piece of the truth. 

it's a jumble of lies; it's make-believe.

it wasn't all make-believe, right? i have to believe at some point it became make-believe, that it didn't start out that way. maybe that's just me lying to me though. 

but after the way you treated me the other day, after the way you helped me ... i have to believe there's more to you than everyone cries about. 

my sanity sorta requires it.

and then suddenly there were too many ...

suddenly i had too many distractions and too much to focus on and too much to deal with.

and i wouldn't have it any other way. 

the school year is boring. work and school and play and occasionally soccer. but that's it.

no free time, no fun, no distractions. 

but summer. well summer is an open ended book. anything can happen and quite frequently does. 

and i love it. 

even though it's too hott out. 

in the summatime

i really, really need a distraction. 

i have people and i have work and i have soccer. but i need a single distraction. 

i need a distraction comparable to last year and its magic. yes, i'm romanticizing it all and no, i don't want the same thing (no offense; it's just an "i love you but ..." situation). 

but it was fun. and inspiring and a spectacular way to survive the summer. 

change is bad. don't let anyone tell you different

one year ago today, i couldn't possibly tell you what i was doing. 

what i wasn't doing, though, was working, driving or schooling. i had crashed betsey about a month ago; i hadn't started at apple yet; and summer school was a couple weeks away. 

and now it's all different. 

i have a truck with no name, a job i think im a little in love with and i may actually graduate by next june. 

but what else do i have?

a new computer, a new phone, a new ipod. 

yeah, they've all stemmed from my job. 

but that's about it. 

a year ago today i was in the beginnings of the greatest, probably unhealthiest relationship that never existed. i was headed to vegas and hanging out in a casino while legally underage. i was getting royally screwed and jilted while pursuing what i thought was my passion. i found an adoptive family and i still didnt have a steady form of transportation. 

i've been thinking about the past year a lot more lately. with my one year anniversary at my job and with the realization that after all my ranting i may actually graduate on time, a year has taken on new meaning. 

four seasons/twelve months/365.25 days later, there were four relationships, two roommates, three new lifelong friends. 

eh, maybe i'm just tired. 

maybe i've been in one place for too long again. 

can you catch a disease from a movie? because i think i have holly golightly syndrome, where all you want to do is leave because nothing moves fast enough and no one stays long enough and everything is ephemeral. 

maybe i'm just being melodramatic though and everything is fine.

yeah, and maybe change is good. 

a pretty pop star

so i found this on iTunes as one of those recently "cool" downloads ... or whatever that right side menu is for. anyway, katy perry is apparently on the radio lots ahora, but since i dont listen to the radio i havent been cool enough to hear her new single, "i kissed a girl." hilarious lyrics, nice beat, above all a nice sequel to her first hit, "ur so gay."

katy perry kisses girls for the sake of music

p.s. does she remind anyone else of a cross between cute lil' zooey deschanel and emily blunt?

job hunting

jobs i could do well and have fun with, ranging from the totally possible to the highly improbable:

copy editor for a newspaper

writing for a newspaper (if you can find one that isn't broke) 

freelance copy editing, like for a website or magazine

blogging

book copy editing

movie reviewing, like for Entertainment Weekly or a nearby magazine

more to be added later, i'm sure. 

sudden fall failed

if you really wanted it, i could get it for you.

if you wanted it immediately, i could probably still get it for you.

operation: sudden fall failed. some people will say that the purpose of it was to scare students straight, get them to think twice before buying drugs, etc. but all it did was make dealers and users distrustful of new people. all it did was stem the growth of major buyers and dealers. 

and it created a huge gap between the druggies and the suppliers that was quickly filled by young enterprising opportunists looking for some spending money. 

additionally, all the praise for president stephen weber has been sorely misplaced. even he admitted that he was unaware of the agents' presence until shortly before the morning raid.  

i think the entire raid was poorly planned. it seems as though the DEA wasnt interested in pursuing the case until its true end. instead they were more interested in snatching the college kids they could get for minor possession charges. "but they put in a year of work," many will claim. however, a year for an undercover narcotics case is nothing. 

one year for what is now hailed as the largest west coast college drug raid is minimal. 

truthfully the whole operation disgusts me. and now, as more facts emerge, the audacity of the agents and their informants isn't even coming into question. the DA has already choked on his words and no one has caught it.  

anyway, here's a great article from the recent San Diego CityBeat by Eric Wolff; it's informative and interesting, check it out.  

pathology

i just found this movie called "pathology" with milo ventimiglia (whom ive probably been in love with since before you knew his name). anyway the movie is dark and seems a little psychotic, but id follow ventimiglia to the end of the world so it doesnt entirely matter to me.
this film is dark and ... pathological?

in the end, who better to perform the perfect murder than a forensic pathologist, a medical examiner? in the end, what beter way to cover up than to be the one who writes the report?

arizona is synonymous with family

in arizona life moves so much slower than anywhere else in the world.  alright, maybe that's just the heat talking, but it sure feels like it's true. 

so at 9.10 tomorrow i'll be walking off a plane and i guess i'll be hitching a cab home. why? oh well, because i don't want to make a phone call and i kinda wanna live life on the edge. 

that's a lie; honestly, i just don't want to call the people i know who could help me :p which is totally nonsensical. meh, maybe ill pick up the phone later.

so anyway, im headed home tomorrow and THANK GOD. 

family. as much as i love them, i cant hang around them for too long without wanting to get outta here or atleast have a drink. which i did. even with my teetotaler father present and all. 

anyway, it was a fun weekend getting my grandma set up with her second mac and all that jazz. 

new drink!

new drink/shooter:

Bloody Tampon 

Captain Morgan Tatoo

Cranberry juice

7-Up

Mix in martini mixer with ice, serve in double tall shot glasses

my gawd i really want to be a bartender. guess i should probably build up a good tolerance and start learning regular drinks, huh?

yeah, I go to sdsu. no, i don't have any drugs to sell you.

san diego state has always been known as a "party school." but frankly, some of us were getting tired of that old timey moniker. 

thankfully, we have a new one to fall back on: "that drug bust school."

sweet.

and all because yesterday almost 100 people were arrested in sd fpr selling, buying or using drugs (told you i'd cover 'rugs here).

statistically, most people should know someone who was arrested recently, or atleast someone in one of the six suspended frats. but i mean seriously, way to ruin our great reputation more guys. much appreciated. 

anyway, the majority of those arrested appear to be dealers more than users.

otherwise, i mean if the DEA and police had actually arrested more users, half the sororities would be under investigation and/or suspended, too.  

here's hoping some day sdsu will have a better nickname.

real football

i love soccer. not so much in love with nike. 

but def in love with this ad campaign. 

nike: take it to the next level

nike: the challenge

my bar tending skills

so apparently im not a terrible bartender. and im creative. which tends to be a good mix at parties.

Dreamsicle

2 oz. Raspberry Smirnoff

5 oz. Orange juice

Splash of grenadine 

Sour Patch kid/Airhead/Apple Berry Crisp (help with the name would be much appreciated)

2 oz. Raspberry Smirnoff

4 oz. Cran-Raspberry juice

1 oz. Sour Apple mixer

hah. this is fun. stay tuned for mas to come. 

"every time (he) walks in a room all i can think about is his tongue."

i mite be having the best week in a long time. hell, even "grey's anatomy" isn't depressing me right now. 

and even my horrible terrible backache cant change the fact that this week has been spectacular and amazing and a breeze to survive. almost ... too easy. as though at any moment the other shoe will drop and i won't be able to keep up. meh, for now it's fun and easy living.

i even may have a cool internship-type thing headed my way. 

not that my hopes are up. 

because any time my hopes get up, the other shoe drops and i'm right back where i started. for now i should just appreciate how easy it feels to survive now. because just last week it felt as though i wouldn't, couldn't. 

gah, but, hell, if i can survive the next two weeks, i may even be able to graduate on time. 

haha gotchya!

post-collegiate years

they're coming. faster than they should be, they are approaching. and it's terribly, terribly frightening. 

i hope i am always important enough in certain people's lives to never have an artificial conversation with them and to always be transferred to their new phone as they look over old numbers.

there are certain people you just never want to lose touch with.

and i hope we're not only friends because of college. 

i don't care about a lot

for example,

chemistry

Chemistry without a relationship; relationships without chemistry.
I have one guy I am in a relationship with — we go to lunch, we talk, we share, we even listen to each other — but there's no sex, no hooking up. For awhile I had another guy I had crazy chemistry with — great hookups until one day, it just wasn't there anymore.
So is this normal?
Better yet, which one is the healthier relationship? The primal one or the "evolved" one? And I'm not sure which is which.
And even though I know the "correct" answer to the healthy question, the fun one was the screwed-up screwy one. It ended, and terribly at that, which should tell you how wrong it was to begin with.

But can they coexist? Can you have a hott, intellectual relationship? Can you have a spectacularly hott relationship with brains? And is it that point at which commitment phobias fade away and you are simply in the moment?

I met a guy once who was sweet and intellectual and hott. And together we were hott (and not just once) and not staying the night is one of the few things I regret. But when push came to shove, he was a shitty friend first and foremost.

I met another guy who was brilliant, sweet, caring and who I could talk to for hours. Great friend, little chemistry.
And we all have stories just like that.
Maybe that mysterious chemistry, the bond, is what hopeless romantics spend their lives searching for. And maybe that's why they're "hopeless romantics."

At the end of the day, maybe it's not love that's blind, maybe it's sex. 

It's the chemistry that makes us forgo all logic.

I love chemistry.

emo kitteh

i finally made a post for icanhascheezburger.

much love for desi.

music makes the world go round

no but seriously. 

and this year, for the first time i'm headed to the mecca of all things festival: Coachella. 

everyday i get a little more excited. like when i was little and my parents would plan vacations months in advance and by the time it came i was already tired from the excitement.

 

only the most awesome shit ever. oh and PRINCE. 

so we're onsite camping due to an interesting conflux of events. but whatever, right? it'll be the three of us and amazingness and i can't think of anywhere else i'd rather be. 

dude i'm going to coachella. 

sorry, still trying to believe it. 

i screwed my boss and all i got were these lousy t-shirts

i like to make the rules. 

it makes it easier when it all goes to shit.

then i can say that i saw it all coming or i didn't intend for it to go on or some other bullshit and not look like i just got egged. 

but it still hurts; it always hurts.

pain is a part of growth.

in your body, as the cartilage turns to bone, you get "growing pains." fuck, they made a whole show about that that awkward, crazy part of life where you can do nothing right and everything seems to be headed straight to hell in a hand-basket. (well, it wasn't really about that but it may as well have been.) 

as i was saying, making the rules which fence in the pain and suffering makes this horrible, lonely journey a little more bearable. normally, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder need to control everything. i have a variant of it which makes want to control the uncontrollable — hence my need to attempt to regulate other people's feelings. 

it's not possible.

and i know that.

but that won't stop me from attempting to control something in everyone else's life. 

someday i'll stop it all — the worry, the controlling, the acting — and life will be as life is supposed to be. 

but it's probably gonna be a long way before we get there. 

 

raWr

so im blogging now. 

we'll see how this goes.