The "Rights" of the people...

  So earlier this month I was talking about the ideas of governmental tyranny and how people seem to think that is the reason they need their guns. Now I want to talk about this idea of "the rights of the people" in all of it's many ways, shapes, and forms...

The Rights of The People

  This is something that I both find very annoying and very important. There are a few major groups of "rights" that I want to go over right now: Bearing arms, staying alive, free speech, making our own choices. 

  Lets go over the Bill of Rights quickly. These are the first 10 amendments added on to the Constitution in 1791:

1.   “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the 

     free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the 

     people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”

     Pretty much freedom to worship whatever you want, or not to worship as you choose

• The right to assemble
• Freedom of speech and press
• Freedom to protest peacefully 

2.   The right to a regulated militia, i.e. the right to bear arms

3.   Government cannot force you to house an army

4.   The police cannot search or seize your property without a warrant

5.   The right to keep from saying things that might land you in jail

6.   The right to a quick trial with a jury of peers

7.   If being sued or suing someone, you can opt for a trial by jury rather than judge

8.   No excessive bail or cruel & unusual punishments

9.   There are certain rights, not specifically written down, that all people are entitled to and 

      cannot be taken away by the government

10. Any power not given to the federal government is given to the people and the states

The Right to "Bear Arms"

  It is a sad fact that the right to own and use any gun you want is a thing in this country. There are very few regulations, and even less oversight. Now the gun-toting louts that run around screaming how the liberals are trying to "take away their rights" are completely ignoring the loss of life because they are so afraid that their "rights' are being infringed upon. As mentioned in a previous post, the government has at no point EVER said they are going to start taking away guns. What they have said, which seems to fly right over the heads of the screaming rabble is that they want gun "CONTROL". That doesn't mean taking them away, that means oversight and better management. They want background checks before you can buy a gun. They want gun shows to have background checks as well. They don't want a deranged person with a agenda to kill people to inherit his great grandfather's 17 guns, his father's 12 guns, and then go on a killing spree.

  Is it so terribly out of the realm of possibilities to just have a little bit more responsibility in the gun industry? They (and I mean the government) and we (the people) are asking for 3 major things here:

1.   Background checks & management

2.   Fewer people dying

3.   Proper gun safety

Now what do I think that we actually need in gun reform?

1.   Background checks for EVERYBODY who wants to buy a gun

2.   Mandatory gun safety training with every weapon you purchase to be signed off on by an 

      official, including understanding of proper storage safety and when to use a gun on 

      a person.

3.   Regular gun license renewals every 1-5 years that include:

• Checking serial number against license to ensure legal ownership
• Gun check for proper gun parts and firing safety
• Safety training renewal for all licensed weapons
• Proper storage safety training renewal
• Run-through of when it is appropriate to use a gun on another person

4.   And then finally your license for each weapon should be renewed

  This method of periodically checking that gun owners are using their weapons responsibly and safely has been successfully used in other countries. It's not just a pipe-dream that liberals wish for. It is a real possibility. While it would make owning a gun a little more difficult, complicated and irritating, it would probably save lives. 

  Is putting up with an annoying process worth it if it will save innocent people's lives by making sure that the wrong people don't get their hands on dangerous weapons? Isn't it worth it? Or is having a fun and easy hobby really more important than people? 

  Do you really think it okay for your hobby to cost so much in blood? If you had to meet those families that have lost people to gun violence, would you really be willing to look them in the face and tell them that you valued your easy fun over their children, parents, siblings? 

  My question to all gun owners... How can you live with yourselves when you vote against life-saving legislation? Especially when that legislation is really only asking for background checks, because so far that is all that has been proposed? Truly, how in all good conscience can you vote against that legislation when its not going to impact responsible gun owners or result in any changes to your weapons cupboard?

The Right to "Be Alive"

  

  You would think that this one would be a no-brainer. You would think that this is a "basic human right". But to listen to some of the candidates running for office, it is your own fault if you get shot by a gun, because you obviously didn't try hard enough to stay alive. You didn't fight back enough. You should have definitely taken the time to galvanize the room with a great speech about how everyone should rush the attacker. Thank-you Ben Carson. Before you, I was quite sure that a gunman would shoot me down if I even talked or twitched. But now I know that I can have a democratic discussion with the room, take a vote, and then have everyone move away from the desks so they don't get in the way, and then we can rush the guy pointing a gun at us and overpower him with minimal loss of life.

  The urge to stay alive is an animal instinct that every creature in the world is born with. We fight to live the best life we possibly can, we fight for resources, space, money, our children, our future and theirs, etc... Staying alive is the ultimate goal, and if we can make that cushy enough, even better. When I was little all I thought about when I considered the future was how many cats I would have and what colours they would be. As I grew up I realized I wanted a little more from life. I wanted a nice cottage in the woods away from other people where I would have peace and quiet. When I came to college I thought about what my future career would be. I've always been a little odd when in classrooms and sat in the seat with an optimal way out of the room in case of a fire... rare, I grant you that, but possible. Now, I sit in the seat with optimal access to the doorway, but also with a hidey-hole that I can dive into in case a shooter enters the building.

  I find this concerning. That while I am supposed to be listening to a lecture and absorbing all this information that will be on a test later in the term, I am actually planning what I would do if someone tries to kill me. I jump about a mile when I hear a book drop in the hallway or a shriek outside the window. What if that thump was actually a body hitting the floor? What if that scream outside is someone who just watched their friend die in front of them? What used to be a nice distraction from the monotony of learning puts me on high alert. And why? Because I fear for my life, and the lives of those around me. I fear for my safety. I analyze the room security and plan escape routes because I anticipate, almost expect that I will need that knowledge in the near future. I anticipate that there is a pretty good chance that I am going to die.

  I have a right to stay alive. I have a right to go to school without wondering if I’ll be able to go home at night. People have a right to send their kids to elementary school without waiting by the phone for a call that their toddler was shot through the head. That is a basic human right; to be alive and have a family. And yet it is completely disregarded because of fear the government is going to become tyrannical or take your guns. Your right to a weapon overshadows my right to live and breathe. That is not okay. It is not just, it is not right, and it is pure selfishness.

  How dare those people claim to care about human life? How dare they say, "I'll be praying for them" to the families of the dead? How dare they look me in the face and say that my claim to life is less important than their weapons? How dare they.

The Right to "Freedom of Speech"

  This country gives people the wonderful ability to say whatever the hell they want, and not be arrested for it. You can call the president a terrorist, you can say terrible things about your neighbor, you can even threaten to blow up congress if they pass gay marriage. And NOTHING will happen to you (unless you actually demonstrate that you are capable of domestic terrorism). For the most part, you go on with your day as normal. In many non-democratic countries, insulting the government and its leader is a bit of a no-no, as is threatening to blow them up. In fact, that can get you arrested in some places. But here, that is a no-can-do. It's a delightful way of releasing our inner frustration and feeling like we are big and bad, that we can say such horrible things and threaten such crazy stuff and no one can do a thing about it. 

  So you would think that because you can do those things, when people have something constructive to say they would be allowed to say it. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Not everyone is allowed to openly declare their opinions, especially if that opinion is unpopular with the "majority" of this country’s occupants (i.e. conservatives & christians). 

  I always find it interesting how the minute you contradict a person on their political or religious zealotry, they start telling you off for trying to restrict their "freedom of speech", but then they turn right around and try to silence you for your opinions, beliefs, or ideas. I sometimes get the feeling that the "freedom of speech" amendment is only applicable if you are a God-fearing Christian (and by this I mean you think that Jesus was the Son of God, died for your sins, etc... I don't care about what little sect you are or your specific church's take on one tiny specific sentence in the bible. If you believe Jesus was the son of your god, then you are a damn Christian) or a Conservative Republican in this country. I will later do a section on Christian entitlement and their feelings of oppression and their tale of woe and persecution in the US. But for now, I wanted to touch on the idea that only Christians and Republicans are really "allowed" their freedom of speech rights. 

  They all say they are willing to teach you about their beliefs, and you listen because you are trying so very hard to understand where they are coming from. You are trying very hard not to hate or despise them for believing things that you think are immoral. You want to beat your brain into acceptance that they can be good people when they believe such horrible things hidden under the umbrella term of "family values". You listen and you learn and you care and you try to understand.

  But turn that the other way round and you try to explain your beliefs and you hit a solid wall of resistance to any change. You cannot even make a slight hole in their rigid mind where they will see where you are coming from. They may tell themselves they are trying to see your side, but in reality their brains are just saying "you are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong" with every word that comes out of your mouth. Listening to you and understanding that you have radically different beliefs is uncomfortable to them. And when they are uncomfortable, they stop listening, put in headphones, ignore that there is anything going on around them because they really don't want to accept that there are people like you in the world. 

The ongoing fight to have a voice in my future...

Standing Up To The Institution

So recently I did the risky thing in my college career and stood up for myself to the University. I say risky because apparently it is just "not done" to have an opinion or make a real complaint about something at one's university. 

To be quick and to the point I went to the administrators of one of my universities departments about an experience with a professor teaching a class that had no business ever trying to teach anyone anything. After A YEAR of being shunted around from one person to the next, having my concerns belittled and disregarded, I finally scored a meeting with the Associate Chair of the Department of IB (nameless to avoid any retribution or defamation claims), the department in which this professor was nested. I sat down in a room with the Associate chair (a man) and one of the office workers (a woman) - I promise, those details will become necessary later on - and began to explain why I wanted this meeting in the first place. Upon the table in front of the Associate chair, I placed a stapled pile of documents. On top was a bulleted list of what was to be found within, the main points of 1) my original complaint about the teacher, and 2) my subsequent complaints about the department's handling of my concerns. Now I began to read these out as a brief overview of why we were all there, but then something happened that stopped me dead in my tracks...

The Associate Chair (AC from this moment forward) decided it was a good time to interrupt me before I really got on a roll and actually got to the point of the whole meeting. He talked over me and told me it was "his turn to talk". He told me that he had thought the issue was resolved the previous year when he replied to my email about my concerns about this teacher with a "I'll look into it". He wanted to know why we were even having this conversation in the first place. Now, he had just interrupted me from actually telling him that, so he could have saved himself some trouble by having decent manners and waiting for me to finish my intro, but that would have been far too difficult.

During the next half hour, Mr. AC talked down to me like I was a naughty child. He told me that my original "Teacher Evaluation" that listed in detail the numerous ways in which I found the teacher and class to be inadequate and unacceptable to be "overly aggressive" to the point at which he had been considering reporting me to Student Conduct. He said that my claims and assertions were unfounded and not based on fact and without sources. I was very curious to know how he thought I could add sources to my own experiences... I told him that it was unfortunate that no one had written a peer-reviewed paper based on his departments teaching standards, otherwise I would have been happy to provide a works-cited page along with everything else. He said that I was obviously upset and overemotional and that he wanted to resolve the situation quickly because he had canceled another meeting in order to sit down and talk with me and he felt that he was wasting his time. The woman in the room did absolutely nothing, neither stood up for her fellow female against this bullying behaviour, nor supported him in his arguments. I was very disappointed in her.

This entire experience was rather horrible and the entire time I felt:

• belittled 
• marginalized 
• put down because of my gender (female)
• bullied and pushed around because I am young and a student
• unfairly threatened with student conduct
• upset because I was constantly being interrupted and talked over

Some people in this world, in this country think that we (aka everyone) don't need feminism. They see feminism as an ugly word, they think that it means that feminists see men as inferior, that we want them to be slaves to us women. But really, what we mean when we say we are feminist is that we want to have the same opportunities as men, we want to stand up for ourselves and have people in authority (usually men) take us seriously, not use tactics that make us feel worthless and not have them belittle us. 

It is a hard thing in this world for a young girl to stand up to male authority and tell them what she thinks. It is hard to walk in knowing you are outnumbered, that there is no one at your back to stand up for you, that it's only you against this big scary establishment. But you do it, because you think it's the right thing to do. You hope that you can make a difference for future students. You hope that because you had the lady-balls to stand up for yourself that in the future another girl with a similar issue or a similar complaint might be strong enough to do the same. And then you walk out having been belittled and bullied and threatened and you feel as though your attempt failed miserably. You understand why more people don't speak up for their rights, why more students don't go beyond giving a a bad RateMyProfessors review. You feel as small and insignificant as a bug that big man in the big suit and the big position had just squashed. 

The whole point of college - beyond just getting an education - is to try new things, spread your wings, explore the world from the safety-net that is still not being a "real adult". We are told to challenge convention, to challenge the way things have always been and to fight for what we think is right. And then we have an experience like this. For some it is their first D grade, and they are instantly disillusioned. For me it wasn't my first D or my first failed class. It wasn't my first negative sexual experience or my first boyfriend. It wasn't even the first terrible teacher that taught me nothing and frustrated me for 11 weeks when I could teach the class better. For me, it was using my rights of freedom of speech, it was standing up to the status quo and being shot down so thoroughly that I'm surprised I am actually ready to write this at all after just a week. 

I'm amazed that I am emotionally and mentally ready to even walk past that building again. Two years ago I would have altered my route to class to avoid it, but now even so soon after my disillusionment, I proudly hold my head high and flip off the entire building as I walk past. Yes, maybe this is a teensy bit juvenile, maybe I should be the "better person" and go on with life, but I refuse to allow my negative experience to happen to another student. I refuse to be silenced and marginalized because of my gender and because I say some things that they don't like. Just because I criticize the ability of their staff to teach properly and their department for not taking student's claims seriously. They have now validated everything I just said to them and I will somehow make it count. 

My plan going forward is to go straight to the legal advice, advocates, and representatives that my school supplies to students and seek their counsel on my next steps and what I should avoid in order for Mr. AC not to have any reason to hold something over my head. From there, I will go to student conduct to tell them of this experience and explain exactly what went on, just in case Mr. AC does go ahead and "report" me. I will be ahead of the game on that count and I wish him luck if he tries to go after me. Next, I will be going to my student government ASOSU, whose job it is to help students with problems they are facing and to advocate for their rights. There needs to be some sort of support and outreach to students who want to try to confront big departments in the future. There needs to be some kind of way for students to have an advocate with them to support them and help them with their goals when taking on other AC's. Finally, I want to propose to my universities paper that they should write a column about how departments try to silence student's voices and try to push their concerns to the back burner while walking all over them. 

Sometimes snarky Facebook posts just don't cut it... Governmental Tyranny of course...

Governmental Tyranny

So it has been a while since I have actually used this blog. Still not sure how it is going to go. As for my recipe list, that's gone to hell. I may come back to it, but probably not. I guess the question is, what am I actually going to talk about now? The answer is politics and religion. 

I am an Agnostic-Atheist Democrat in a country filled with christians and republicans. It gets a little trying sometimes, dealing with people I neither agree with or like. On top of having to live around such people, I actually live in the same room with a christian republican, and while I think she's a great person and I love her dearly, a lot of her beliefs and positions frustrate me.

So instead of ruining my relationship with someone I like and would prefer to remain friends with for many years, I'm going to start using this blog as a way to vent my feelings and get my thoughts out there. Sometimes snarky Facebook posts just don't cut it. So here it goes, my new direction...

First topic for discussion, since this has happened so recently is the mass shooting in Oregon this week. Yes, I am diving right into the heavy stuff.

This tragedy really hit hard and i'm not sure why yet. Yes, every mass shooting in recent times is sad and painful and should not have happened, but why this one in particular should cause me such incredible upset and trauma is not clear to me yet. Maybe because I live here in Oregon, so the proximity geographically really brings it home, or maybe because the day after it happened there was  a guy in one of my college classes at OSU that wore a "Keep Calm and Carry a Gun" shirt. I don't know if he was just wildly unknowing about recent happenings, or thought it was a "funny" thing to do, or is so amped up about gun control laws that he felt a burning need to show his support for the NRA and his fear of Governmental Tyranny, but I found that move - of wearing that shirt the day after 10 people died from gun violence - to be absolutely disgusting.

I have great respect for life, animal life over human life personally, but a deep respect for all life. The miracle that it takes for a two cells to join and grow into a multi-celled organism, the pain and energy that it takes for a female creature to grow that creature and then birth it into the world... Those things are amazing acts and should not be taken for granted or forgotten about. Just because I myself am terrified by the idea of performing that deed myself doesn't mean I don't wonder at the process and respect those who manage to pull it off. Life is not something that should ever be wasted or taken for granted. Every time a hunter takes aim at an animal he or she should always understand that they are not just killing a bag of meat and bones, but they should understand that what they plan to kill is a living, breathing organism that has feelings and instincts, history and family, a life in it's entirety. Similarly, before a human goes to war where their job will be shooting at other people, they should understand that they will most definitely be ending another human being's life. Sadly people often put more emphasis on the human life and forget that animal life is just as important.

But regardless of species life is an incredible and wondrous thing.  These mass shootings are ending dozens of lives at a time, hundreds every month, thousands every year. Over time, the more these events occur, we have become desensitized as a culture. We no longer hear about every event unless it has a high death toll, and then that is related to us in numbers, not in names or stories or family members left grieving. If it's just a number we don't identify as much. If it's just a number we can quickly forget about it and move on without truly understanding what has happened. And so the debate now isn't about how to save lives... It isn't about how to prevent this type of event from happening again. Every time people die, we get some spiel about how mental illness is at fault, and we get backstories on the shooter, but the victims go unremembered, unthought of except as numbers on a list. The fact that lives were snuffed out like candles in a breeze is not even considered because a smear campaign has been started by at least one, possibly both political parties. And those lives are forgotten. The mother's pain is forgotten, the friends and family member's grief is forgotten in favor of sniping at each other and all that is left is a blame campaign.

Now it's important to discuss how to prevent lives being lost in the future, that may be an acceptable deviation from remembering the horror of such a waste of life. But listening to fat, old white men complain about how the democrats and liberals in this country are trying to take away their rights THEIR GUNS has become the every-day occurrence. When did remembering dead people involve selfish thoughts about yourself and your political agenda. It's selfish and cruel and disgusting that when other people are grieving you are only thinking about yourself and how your personal life is going to be affected because of those people's deaths. It leads to resentment of the dead, it leads to the selfish belief that you are at the center of the universe. It leads to a lack of empathy or understanding, and it is not okay. It is not okay to wear a shirt promoting guns right after a mass shooting. It is not okay to start talking about a tyrannical government in the face of such a horrific event. It is not okay to think about yourself and your wants. And yet people do, and that makes me angry beyond belief.

And now, for the last few days I have been feeling more and more helpless, more and more in the minority, and so furious and angry with the political parties we have to deal with, with the republican candidates (specifically Jeb Bush) saying "well, stuff happens", with the people around me who either don't know or don't care about this situation. Naturally - because I love to say rude things about the Republican party and I love to voice my very loud and uncensored opinions on Facebook - I posted something about how ridiculous it is that the basic human "right to life" (i.e. the right to walk around day-to-day without fearing for your life) is being superseded by this ridiculous idea that gun control is the worst idea in the world.

Part 1: The crazy idea of gun control and why its the worst thing ever...

Let me be clear first of all. I do not support guns in any way, shape, or form. If I could, I would obliterate every single gun in the world tomorrow. But this isn't about me, and I realize that my personal views are unlikely to become reality any time soon. However, there is a difference between my take-them-all-away wish and the idea of gun control laws. What so many gun-toting trigger-happy people in this country don't seem to understand very well is that it is RIDICULOUSLY EASY to get your hands on a gun. For instance, take the guy from the OR shooting this week... He had 13 guns... THIRTEEN! His parents didn't know he had all of those, his friends didn't know he was on a warpath, and he somehow got his hands on 13 guns. What the democratic party is asking for, what the President of this country is asking for isn't a complete abolishment of guns in this country (mainly because that would never fly). They are asking for stricter regulation on the sale of such weapons, they are asking for some sort of requirements that would prevent a deranged young man from purchasing 13 semi-automatic weapons and shooting up a community college.

Something in this country has to change. Either better gun registration procedures or follow-ups with gun owners... but something. We cannot have yet more people dying because some dudes are afraid the government will take away their fun guns.

Part 2: That very naughty second amendment...

And now we come to the 2nd Amendment that we all know and hate. The purpose of this amendment in the constitution when it was written in 1791 was to limit the government's power and prevent it from subjugating the people and taking over, running rampant without any sort of control. The purpose was to enable the people to assemble an armed militia to defend themselves against the government if it got to uppity and started telling them what to do. But in 1791 the government was a little smaller than it is today, so it would have been easier for the common people to rise up and beat the government back into submission. These days, the government has a rather large army with things like bombs, military-grade assault rifles and trained soldiers.

So I am really curious about how exactly these people - who claim that their right to have guns is protect them from Governmental Tyranny - expect to overthrow or intimidate the government in any way... They may have guns, but do they have the organization to band together into a fighting force? Do they have the training to fight against military soldiers that have seen actual warfare? Are they prepared to kill other humans? And how exactly do they expect to get anywhere near the government they fear in order to force them to adhere to their list of demands? The answer to most of those questions is NO. They don't have any sort of organization in place to join together to rise up and overthrow the government, most of them don't have military training or the ability to fight against actual war veterans, and I doubt that many of them are prepared to actually kill people.  There is also no way in hell that they would ever get close enough to a single politician to get any sort of result. Most politicians like a little something called bodyguards and security...

I'm often amazed by how fearful some people are of the government. Yesterday, I had a very angry sometimes-friend compare the potential outcome of gun laws to Hitler's mass murder of thousands of Jews in gas chambers. Apparently, the reason that the holocaust was possible was because Hitler's government passed gun reform laws restricting civilians from having guns. But if the civilians had been able to form their own militia they could have easily prevented the Nazi party from rising and the holocaust from every happening of course. Critical thinking folks, that's what i've been missing all my life... Now that I have this wisdom imparted on me i'm convinced that having an armed civilian population will solve all our problems... Not.

So again, are they really sure that the 2nd amendment is going to protect them against a tyrannical government? Sad fact is that yes, they do believe that. Which is insanity in itself... But lets go a little deeper into this idea of a tyrannical government.

Part 3: The Tyrannical Government that is out to get us all...

At this current point in time we have a Democratic President and a Republican Congress, which is just about the worst thing possible in my opinion. The president can't get no shit done, and the congress is spitting mad if he somehow manages to get shit done... Before that we had a split congress, a Democratic Senate and a Republican House of Representatives. While that was not ideal, it was at least better than what we have now.

Let us review the legal system. There are a few things that have to be done before the president can take all of our rights away. I'm going to use the children's website of "Kids in the House" and their cutsie video to get the basic steps right.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

1. A Representative or Citizen has an idea and writes it down.
2. The writer of the bill gets a sponsor and seeks support from fellow/other Representatives.
3. The bill is introduced by being sent to a side committee of the House. 
4. It is then either revised and sent back to the house to be voted on or sent to a subcommittee for more expert opinions.
5. When the committee has approved the bill, it is sent or "reported" to the House floor in preparation of being debated.
6. The bill is then debated and lots of people argue about ridiculously teeny-tiny changes, usually to try and one-up the party that introduced it.
7. The bill is now voted on in a variety of ways, and if approved by a majority, it is sent on to the Senate.
8. The bill goes through the same arduous process of committees, debates, and votes.
9. If it was approved in the senate, the bill is then sent on to the president, where he either signs it, doesn't sign it and it goes back to the house and senate for a over-the-head-vote, or it dies. There are a couple other ways that it can become law without the president's say so, but those are too complicated to get into right now.
10. The bill is now either a law or it is dead. 

Now that we've gone back to the basics and understand how the government imposes it's will upon us, I think we can all agree that it's not a simple matter for them to just do whatever the hell they want to us... Its a little more complicated than the president standing up in front of a podium and decreeing that what he says goes. That's a dictatorship, and not a viable governmental option in this country at the moment. 

I'd say the republicans are pretty safe from being forced to obey all the liberal's ideas and the liberals are in danger of having all their social rights dictated to them by an oppressive, racist, misogynistic entity like Donald Trump or any of the other republican candidates. But that's just my opinion...

So back to gun control... I don't think it would be very easy for the government to be so mean and take away all the guns because half of the government wouldn't ever let that happen. That same half also wouldn't let nay change happen in this country at all if it could help it. So again, I would love someone to explain to me how exactly having guns is going to protect us all from a Tyrannical Government Dictatorship? I'm really asking here. I want to know why enough people in this country seem to think that the government is going to become tyrannical and why guns are the fails safe solve to that undesirable end...

Food! Who doesn't love it?

I've decided to make good on my thought of actually typing up some of my favorite recipes and posting them here. There wasn't much point before, but now that I'll be going away to college, having my favorite recipes at a fingertip's access might be a good plan.

Some of the recipes that will hopefully find their ways here include:
- Chicken Rissotto
- Creamy Cheesy Pasta w/ red onion and chicken
- Tomato Basil Pasta
- Lemon Pepper Parmesan Talapia
- Garlic Basil Parmesan Chicken
- Savory Rice
- Pizza Dough!
- Lemon Sorbet - need to test this for ease of preperation.
- Double Chocolate Chunk cookies
- Shortbread
- Berry Crumble
- Custard
- Pancakes

...and many more when I can think of them.

Considerations

This began as a blog for school; creative writing to be exact. I think I will continue it in a personal capacity, writing down recipes I like and thoughts. I'll begin with this one statement that I considered posting to facebook, but decided against. Most people would not understand it in anyways.

"Just watched Avatar again for about the 5th time. It confirms what I want to do with my life, studying the creatures in our world. Leave the cities to lawyers and bankers. Just give me a life out in the forests. That's all I want - to be part of life in the big picture, to have more meaning to my existence than money and clothes... to be free."

Coffee Gossip

Coffee Gossip

“And so I told her, ‘Cindy, you have got to stop this nonsense’. Naturally, I was talking about her husband’s cheating on her. She’s decided she wants a divorce, but ladies, we cannot let that happen. Then she began wailing about how shocking her life is and how unfair it is that her husband has been unfaithful to her,” Marie chattered to her friends Claire and Elizabeth as they nursed their morning coffees.

“What happened then?” whispered Elizabeth, anticipation evident in her voice.

Marie looked scornfully at Lizzy, “What do you think happened? I told her that no matter what Ricky had done she was his wife and divorce is against our rules, but matter what I hinted or warned she just wouldn’t budge.”

“So she’s really going to do it?” Nancy gasped, shock scrawled all over her expressive face.

“She’s so incredibly stubborn! She never listens. As far as I could tell she really meant it, so I warned her, ‘Cindy’, I said, ‘You do know that we can’t be friends if you go through with this’, but do you know what she said?”

“What?” asked the other girls; leaning forwards towards their ringleader to hang on her every word.

“I’ll tell you what,” Marie paused, enjoying the attention she was getting from her two sidekicks, “She stopped crying, and looked at me with puffy red eyes. I was about to suggest a cream for her to use – couldn’t have one of us walking around looking like that – but then… she spoke” Marie smiled slyly. She was loving this. She continued with the scandalous story, thinking to herself that she should have been an actress. “Now ladies, you will be shocked by our former friend’s behavior and blasphemy, but I must repeat verbatim, the Good Lord forgive me.” She closed her eyes and placed her hands in a prayerful position.

The other girls were sitting on the edges of their chairs, coffees quite forgotten in their eagerness to hear what their ringleader would tell them.

“She said to me – to her oldest and truest friend – that if I was ever her friend, I should be backing her. She said that as I was obviously more concerned with what our church would think than the fact that her world was falling apart, maybe she should cut our friendship right away to save me the embarrassment of association with her. And now comes the unforgiveable part girls. I am afraid that we can never converse with poor Cindy again. She has broken the rules and we cannot be seen to have any association with her any longer.”

 “What did she do?” the other two women whispered, enraptured by the outrageous tale.

“She told me to go and eat some holy dirt. Can you believe it? She disrespected our faith and us. We cannot let this happen to us girls. All this unpleasantness began when her husband was unfaithful. We must all go home, and check our husbands for the ‘signs’. Commandeer their phones and look through them, check their clothes drawers for hidden letters, call their offices to make sure they were there all the time they should have been, and visit their secretaries. We must protect what is ours, and unlike Cindy, we will not be dragged down to such a deplorable level.”

The other girls were speechless. They might hang on every scandalous word, but they had never dreamed that this would be the result of the story. Marie smiled craftily; it was so easy to make her little followers do what she said. Poor Cindy. Marie would help as much as she could, but she would not involve her naïve little followers in this. This was her own project, and while she would not let her simple friends get into any mischief, letting herself get into mischief was another matter entirely…

Polished Piece #1

Midnight Phantom

Moonlight filters in through the window, forming pools on the dark blue quilt. Cold, frozen snow drifts in garlands of gossamer through the open bedroom window, landing lightly on my eyelashes. I hear a creature’s quiet call out in the dark woods. What is this creature that has ventured into our forest in the middle of winter? A few minutes later, I creep among the trees, y dark jumper and jeans contrasting against the high, bright snow that blankets the forest floor. A rustle to my left. I turn, wary of what might be here with me, invisible in the night, but see nothing. A flick of black, a soft thud. I move slowly, deliberately, slinking like a shadow beneath the forbidding glares of the towering, malignant pines. I peer around the trunk of a bare, lonely birch tree – frozen inside itself, waiting for spring to release it from winter’s icy grip – and watch as a beautiful apparition steps through the deep snow drifts. I blink several times, astonished, making sure that this magical phantom in front of me is indeed real.

His head turns toward me, dark intelligent eyes framed by long lashes, considering me. I can almost imagine he is wondering if I may be a threat, but I would never dream of harming something so lovely.

The moonlight sparkles on the snow dusting his gleaming ebony back, tangling in his long mane like icicles. The black polished stones of his hooves meet the long shapely legs, graced with knee high stockings, rising to join his muscled torso. The graceful neck arches proudly towards the sky, ears flicking erectly forward, pinpointing my movements.

I carefully slide my foot through the snow, moving as slowly as possible so as not to startle him into flight. His eyes roll slightly, legs stiffening, ready to bolt as the smallest sign of danger. I slowly raise my hand to chest height, palm upwards, looking deep into the stallion’s glorious dark eyes. Resting in the center of my palm is a perfect white cube of sugar. His nostrils flare, longing for the precious treat warring with his cautious nature. Finally, he decides and steps forward, neck stretched towards the cube. I draw my hand back slowly, hoping he will come closer. Snorting and stamping his hoof in irritation, he sidles towards me. I feel the soft muzzle snuffling my palm as he delightedly chomps of the sweet treat. A cloud of white fog envelopes my hand, misting it from view.

His fear and caution overcome, he nuzzles my pockets, looking for more treats. I produce several more, and he stands right against me now, mane dancing along my arm as he savors the sugary cube, nodding his head in delight.

Marveling, I run my fingers gently down his moon streaked back, brushing delicate snowflakes from his coat, feeling a sharp twinge of cold against my fingertips as I do so. His coat is velvet soft, black as a raven’s wing. He tosses his silken mane, shimmering beneath the stars, and shifts his weight from one hoof to the other. I stroke from him muzzle, down his smooth neck, over his muscled shoulder, and along the sensitive flank. He does not mind my presence any longer, standing contentedly with me in the silent clearing.

After what seems like an eternity, but in actual fact is only several minutes, I know I must take my leave; I cannot stay out here in the snow-swept forest all night. Reluctantly, I give his finely shaped head one last caress; stroking from the white star in the center of his forehead down to the pale pink snip on his soft nose. I sadly turn my back and unwillingly retrace my steps toward the warm, inviting house. A soft nicker forces my head around. The stallion is standing in the open clearing, snow swirling about his legs, covering my footprints. The moonlight illuminates his coat, turning it to a midnight blue instead of black. He is looking at me, farewell evident in his deep unfathomable eyes and I know I will never forget this wondrous encounter with this gorgeous creature that sparkled like diamonds in the night.