I REALLY dislike SUVs.

There's NO reason for you to own a car like this:



if you live in a place that looks like this:


Maybe if you lived in a place that looked like this:

I could understand it. But if you have an SUV so that people will notice you, or because you're compensating for something, or because you're a dick...

then you're a dick.

SUV's are wasteful, and use much more amounts of gasoline than other cars. They are completely unnecessary, unless you live in the mountains, or some other sort of hazardous terrain, or you have some other sort of LEGITIMATE reason to own one other than the stupid ones named above.

I'm not claiming to be the most "green" person out there, but you'd have to agree that SUVs are one of the most wasteful trends right now.

30 (-ish) Random Things

My mom tagged me in a "30 Random Things" note on facebook, where you share 30 things about yourself people might not know. So I did one too the other day, and I decided it would be a half-decent idea for a blog post. So, here goes:

1. I'm doing this because my mom tagged me and said I should do it. But I won't tag anyone else. Deal with it.

2. I HATE being alone. I'm not a people person by any stretch of the definition, but I hate being alone. The seven months I lived by myself were some of the loneliest of my life.

3. I can't watch the movie "Definitely Maybe" without my heart aching and my eyes tearing up. It's just a little too close to home.

4. Sometimes I feel like no one really sees me.

5. Occasionally I feel like a failure for being 24 years old and having NO CLUE what to do with my life. And then I realize how stupid that is.

6. I LOVE TV. Too much. It's really sad.

7. I get bored with the internet sometimes. Occasionally, I'll go through these periods of about two weeks where I won't even TOUCH my computer.

8. I've read all the Twilight books. I feel so ashamed. I got curious, and then I couldn't stop. It was a compulsion. I NEEDED to find out the ending.

9. I hate lying. I hate it when people lie to me, and I hate lying to other people.

10. Related to #9 above, I don't like to sugarcoat things. Sometimes I'm too blunt with people.

11. When I was a kid, my heart would sting with jealousy when my friends would talk about their parents who were still together. It still happens occasionally.

12. I love guacamole. If I have a huge bowl sitting in front of me, I WILL eat the entire thing.

13. I won't apologize if I don't mean it. I won't even give a half-apology. For example, "I'm sorry what I said offended you." It's not a real apology. I won't give an apology like that, and I hate hearing them.

14. I don't like Thanksgiving. I love the food. But I don't think gorging ourselves on too much food is a good way to be thankful, when there are people starving all over the world. We should be thankful every day, not just one day a year. Also, I have serious reservations about a holiday whose origins stem from a group of people who stole land from other people before giving them diseases they had no immune defense for.

15. Since we're on the note of holidays, I'm also kind of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas. I'm EXTREMELY personal and introspective about Christmas. I don't like commercial Christmas music, however I do love traditional Christmas carols. I hate how materialistic Christmas has become, and how all it is now is about what we're giving and getting for Christmas. Okay, I think I'm done with my soapbox now.

16. I get jealous of witty and clever people, because I always feel like I'm unintentionally funny.

17. I have a friend from Concordia (you know who you are) who always seems to know everything about a person just by watching them. He would always purposefully push my buttons and try to get me to admit the things about myself I didn't want anyone to know. It used to make me so angry, but now I kind of miss it.

18. I felt like such a sellout when I got twitter. I still feel ashamed every now and then.

19. You know that cold where you step outside and your nose hairs freeze, where you breath in and your chest hurts because it's so cold? I LOVE that cold.

20. Patience is not something I do well. But I have even LESS patience with stupid people, people with a constant need for attention, or mean people.

21. Sometimes it shocks me how much of a grown-up I am. And then I'm proud of myself.

22. I really dislike cleaning. It's kind of a good thing I don't have a boyfriend, because my part of the apartment is a DISASTER area.

23. I don't cook. Not so much because I can't or don't like it, but because it's mostly just for myself. It's almost like if I can't really justify going through the hassle of it if it's just for me.

24. If you told me a year ago that by now I'd have moved to a city where I didn't know a single person and that I'd have a job in customer service, I'd have laughed in your face.

25. My fish died.

26. I LOVE reading. More than anything. Okay, that's not true, but you get my drift. Ever since I was little, I've loved reading. Part of why I love it is because I've always been able to vividly imagine what's happening in the book. I can picture everything. It's almost like TV, except you're using actual brain cells.

27. I hate how a lot of Christians identify themselves not by their faith, Christianity, but by the denomination they belong to. It only further emphasizes the divisions among us. (see I Corinthians 1:10-13)

28. Sometimes I wonder if I'm completely repulsive to the opposite sex, which would explain why I legitimately can't remember the last time I went on a date.

29. In the church that I'm going to now, every Sunday after the offertory we sing the doxology. And I can't sing it without thinking of Kapelle.

30. This was actually kind of fun. Mom was right. As usual.

Other things you might not know about me:

31. This winter is going to be REALLY depressing. I'm going to miss snow.

32. Related to # 31, everyone here in Branson complaining about how cold it is at 32 degrees or whatever is going to get REALLY old. Wimps.

33. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really cut out for marriage and motherhood and all that stuff people expect women to want. I think I'm a little selfish and uncompromising.

34. I've only ever voted once, and it was in the Presidential election in 2004. I'd just turned 18.

35. I desperately want to be a legitimate writer, not just a sometimes/mediocre blogger. But I'm not nearly organized enough, and I don't think I have enough will power. My brain just seems like the inside of a pumpkin sometimes--all jumbled up.

36. I'm SO sick of Justin Bieber. He looks and sounds like a chipmunk.

37. I'm not a fan of Josh Groban. His vibrato is weird. Get over it.

38. I'm allergic to copious amounts of sentimentality. I shudder every time I hear a song, see a movie or TV show, etc. that is laden with it.

39. Lately, I've been finding myself increasingly cynical and sarcastic, and really not wanting to censor myself. But at the same time, I've gotten loads better at doing just that.

40. In case you haven't already figured it out, I'm basically a walking contradiction.

Here's how I feel about this...

I tend to avoid politics like the black plague. But this goes way beyond anything political. I don't know very much behind the mechanics of the new security scanners the TSA is using, but here's my opinion based on what I do know.

This is SO unconstitutional. It goes against our God-given right to be happy and healthy for the government to force us to go through machines that give us levels of radiation that could be unsafe, and ALSO take naked pictures of us. No one...I'll say it again...

NO ONE

gets to see my naked body unless
I
give them permission.

My body DOES NOT belong to the government.

The alternative isn't very constitutional, either. It isn't right for people to be publicly fondled. I've been given the old, less invasive pat-down in a terminal full of people, and that was embarrassing enough.

This is NOT okay. I've been a little bit ignorant of this whole thing for one reason or another, but now I'm starting to get angry.

Since moving to Branson, I have joined the church choir my sister, Rachel sings in. It's an episcopal church, so they have a tendency to do really good stuff. And, to be honest, ever since joining, I've been chasing the feeling I got when I sang with Kapelle.

This feeling is hard to describe...almost like your heart is too big for your chest, like you couldn't possibly feel any more emotion.

Well, at choir practice on Wednesday, I got a glimpse of that feeling I miss so much. We're doing Mendelssohn's Verleih uns Frieden. (I think that's the right one.) Anyway, it really has that German chorale feeling, and it made me think of Concordia, and by consequence, Kapelle. And it wasn't sadness that I felt. It was more...thankfulness that I got to have that experience, and was so blessed to know such amazing people.

So, if any of you Kapellicans are reading this, I miss you. Every day. :)

The Wicked Witch of the West

Today at work, I got to help the Wicked Witch of the West. She looked like this:



Not really. She just looked like an old lady. My co-worker called her that because she was mean, and from California.

But the point is, I've never encountered a stranger so disrespectful.

She came in wanting to purchase tickets. She said she had two retired military personnel, and I informed her of the discount.

"I read somewhere that veterans are free."

They're not. And I told her so, but nicely.

"Well, if I find somewhere that says they are, I can bring it in and you can refund me, right?"

"If you can find something that says that, you can bring it in and take it up with my manager."

I applied her retired military discount, and told her I placed her in the 6th row in the center. She wanted to be up front, but it's more expensive, and we can't apply a discount to it. She said it was fine, but her expression read, "Well, if I NO other choice."

I sold her the tickets and when I handed them to her, I told her was in the 6th row. This is when she turned into the Wicked Witch.

"You told me the fifth row."

"I'm sorry, I thought I said the sixth."

"No, you said the fifth."

"Well, I have the fifth, but they're not as close to the center."

"Let me see your computer screen, because I don't think you're being truthful with me."

That is FALSE. I gave her the best seats I had. And for reference, there are 24 rows in our theatre. Row 6 out of 24 is great, right? I think so, too.

"I can't do that, ma'am. I have confidential information on here I can't allow you to see."

This was true. We can't let customers see our screens.

"You're lying."

Um, WHAT? I was okay until she flat-out called me a liar. I DON'T lie, and I hate people who lie to me.

So at this point, a plethora of thoughts are going through my head, including:

"BITCH!"

"I need to get this lady out of here so that I can be angry."

"I need to make this customer happy so that I can keep this sale."

So I ultimately ended up giving her what she really wanted all along: seats in the first row, center. And then she said thank you like nothing was wrong.

Once her back was turned to me, I crouched on the floor behind the counter, shaking and so angry I couldn't speak. It scared me how angry I was, and how much I was able to keep my cool while she was being absolutely awful to me. Anyone who knows me well knows my temper. You guys would be so proud of me. I'm proud of me.

This woman is just beyond my comprehension. I don't understand how she thinks she's entitled to demand whatever she wants and treat me like crap.

I suppose that's a good thing. The end of this blog is found in a blog my dad wrote. He said it better than I probably could.

Go ahead and hate me.

Last Tuesday, I didn't vote. I know, civic duty, blah blah. Whatever.

The truth is, I hate politicians. Okay, I take it back. I don't hate them. We're not supposed to hate anyone. I have a severe distrust of politicians.

They spend BILLIONS of dollars on campaign ads that are nothing more than trash talk.

They don't have as simple a thing as respect for each other, so how am I to believe they have respect for us, the people they're supposed to represent?

People keep saying it's my right to vote, it's my DUTY to vote, to voice my opinion. I get that. But if I have the right TO vote, don't I also have the right NOT to vote?

Whenever I think about voting, I get this overwhelming sense of dread and anxiety, and I can hear my conscience telling me not to do it, not to vote for these people who don't really care about me, who only care about selling themselves to the highest bidder.

And besides, there are more important things. Like the fact that God loves us unconditionally, and take care of us, no matter what sort of asshole politician CLAIMS he's taking care of us. God's the one who's really in control.

So fine. Hate me for not voting. The truth is, I couldn't care less.