So, Colbert is pretty much my hero now. Maybe I have a controversial opinion regarding illegal immigration overall, but I think that most logical people ought to agree that we should leave the migrant workers alone. Some people whine about how they're taking jobs away from Americans, and in this shitty economy that's enough to piss anybody off. If I were applying to a vet clinic and I was turned away because they hired an illegal immigrant who would do the job for cheap and required no long term commitment from the clinic, I'd raise hell. However, that's not nearly the situation. United Farm Workers is/has been running a campaign called "Take Our Jobs Please" in response to the uproar about "those damn Mexicans stealing all our jobs." Since a lot of these workers are undocumented, they're pretty much at the mercy of their employers. They work long hours in hot fields and when they finally finish for the day it's likely that they'll never get the mud off of themselves. And even if they do, they go right back at it in the morning. Summary: The working conditions are shit.
So United Farm Workers got sick of people crying about the dirty Mexicans and gave Americans the option to end the dispute. The problem is, I wouldn't do those jobs, especially not for that pay. And I bet neither would you. Almost everyone in this country would rather bank unemployment checks or simply live on the charity of others than to put in the kind of work that these migrant workers do. This is where Stephen Colbert came in. He wanted to bring attention to the case (and get some lolz while we're at it) and he did so by spending a day working in the fields. The conclusion he drew was basically that if we didn't have these hardworking folks harvesting our crops, America would starve. 'Cause we sure as hell wouldn't do it ourselves. Colbert spoke at a congressional hearing regarding the case, which skyrocketed my opinion of him, and it sounded like a lot of congressmen were upset that a comedian was arguing this case. How dare someone famous bring this issue to the attention of the general public?
I fuckin' love you Colbert.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
How I wound up here.
I graduated high school at the end of May 2008. Within a week, I was in Delaware, with my most necessary possessions packed into one checked bag, one carry-on and one purse. Classes would start in September. So why Delaware, and why so quickly? Well, the University of Delaware was said to have a very nice Pre-Veterinary program. My gifted ed teacher mentioned it to me once while we were discussing the colleges I should be applying to. My only real qualification was the school I went to had to be far, far away. There's hundreds of other colleges that fit. The honest answer is that I moved up here to be with my online boyfriend. Through high school I played a massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG or MMO for short) called Final Fantasy XI (FFXI). Most of the guys I dated before and during high school I had met online.
I met Justin in a leveling party (kill things for experience points together with random people) and he thought I was interesting. I told him all about why thief was a great job, and basically made myself known as an elitist. I didn't remember him afterwards, but he remembered me when he saw me leveling a different job, Beastmaster, by myself. So he stopped what he was doing and helped me. We had a really rocky friendship, mostly because at the time I was dating a jealous guy who hated Justin's guts. After Jealous Guy, there was /b/-tard, and after that I was ready to date a nice guy. Like Justin. We finally made it official (online official) on June 16th, 2007.
After Christmas that year my brother Matthew and I drove aaaallll the way up to Delaware from Oklahoma in a rental car to "check out the campus." I did a really bad job fooling Matthew. He didn't want me to tell Justin which hotel we were staying in, but I sort of directed him to one that Justin had suggested. The first morning, we were scheduled to take a tour of the UD campus, and Justin didn't know he wasn't supposed to know which hotel we were at, so when we walked outside he was standing at his car, parked a few down from ours. We recognized each other but I made a point of not looking at him so that Matthew wouldn't get suspicious. He got suspicious anyway. When Justin showed up shortly behind us to the building the tour was in, Matthew remembered seeing him before and got creeped out. That's why Matthew still doesn't like Justin. Anyway, we met Justin's parents for dinner at their place, and they liked me, so they agreed to let me stay with them if I ended up going to UD. And Justin and I hit it off.
When I got my acceptance letter, it was decided. The week of graduation I bought a one-way ticket to Delaware. I took my Wii, my PS2, a stack of cds and game discs, a scrapbook Katie and Sharlotte made for me, and all the clothes I could cram into my luggage. I had $250 to last until I could find a job, which took me about two weeks. I applied to two veterinary clinics, a daycare, Safeway, K-Mart, Dairy Queen and Pet Kare. I had an interview at one of the vets, which was dismal, and at DQ, which made me fear for my future. Just as I was resigned to working another hell job in the fast food industry, I got a call back from Pet Kare. I don't always like it there, but I know how good I have it comparatively.
Now I'm a Junior in the University of Delaware's Animal Science program, living on campus on school nights and at Justin's parents's house on weekends and breaks. I'm working towards surviving college, moving out with Justin, and somehow developing a social life.
I met Justin in a leveling party (kill things for experience points together with random people) and he thought I was interesting. I told him all about why thief was a great job, and basically made myself known as an elitist. I didn't remember him afterwards, but he remembered me when he saw me leveling a different job, Beastmaster, by myself. So he stopped what he was doing and helped me. We had a really rocky friendship, mostly because at the time I was dating a jealous guy who hated Justin's guts. After Jealous Guy, there was /b/-tard, and after that I was ready to date a nice guy. Like Justin. We finally made it official (online official) on June 16th, 2007.
After Christmas that year my brother Matthew and I drove aaaallll the way up to Delaware from Oklahoma in a rental car to "check out the campus." I did a really bad job fooling Matthew. He didn't want me to tell Justin which hotel we were staying in, but I sort of directed him to one that Justin had suggested. The first morning, we were scheduled to take a tour of the UD campus, and Justin didn't know he wasn't supposed to know which hotel we were at, so when we walked outside he was standing at his car, parked a few down from ours. We recognized each other but I made a point of not looking at him so that Matthew wouldn't get suspicious. He got suspicious anyway. When Justin showed up shortly behind us to the building the tour was in, Matthew remembered seeing him before and got creeped out. That's why Matthew still doesn't like Justin. Anyway, we met Justin's parents for dinner at their place, and they liked me, so they agreed to let me stay with them if I ended up going to UD. And Justin and I hit it off.
When I got my acceptance letter, it was decided. The week of graduation I bought a one-way ticket to Delaware. I took my Wii, my PS2, a stack of cds and game discs, a scrapbook Katie and Sharlotte made for me, and all the clothes I could cram into my luggage. I had $250 to last until I could find a job, which took me about two weeks. I applied to two veterinary clinics, a daycare, Safeway, K-Mart, Dairy Queen and Pet Kare. I had an interview at one of the vets, which was dismal, and at DQ, which made me fear for my future. Just as I was resigned to working another hell job in the fast food industry, I got a call back from Pet Kare. I don't always like it there, but I know how good I have it comparatively.
Now I'm a Junior in the University of Delaware's Animal Science program, living on campus on school nights and at Justin's parents's house on weekends and breaks. I'm working towards surviving college, moving out with Justin, and somehow developing a social life.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What's in your head?
I've tried probably 10 different times to keep a diary. The most I ever did in one was three entries. I never understood diaries.
First of all, I'd lose them. My room was a terrible terrible mess all day every day, and I had stacks of binders and books everywhere, each with a different purpose. I could only remember what a few of them were for. I used to think I wanted to be a writer, so every time I came up with a new idea for a story, I found a new binder and filled it with paper and wrote the first chapter, then I tossed it on the stack and forgot about it. Except the gray binder, I didn't lose that one until I moved out of my mom's house and into my dad's. But that wasn't a diary, it was a childish story based loosely on a roleplay story I had spent a few years developing with random people online. I loved sharing what I had written with my friends, and I like to think they enjoyed reading it. We were like 12. I also never lost the binder with my pokemon/yu-gi-oh cards, or the little spiral "journal" that I kept the cipher for my secret language in. These were things I shared.
That's the second reason I couldn't keep a diary. You aren't supposed to share diaries, right? Unless you're Anne Frank. If I wasn't planning on sharing it, why couldn't I just keep it in my head? I've been thinking about that lately, and I've lived most of my life in my head. I'm starting to wonder if this is healthy, and that's sort of what this blogging experiment is about. Other people seem to know a lot more about their friends, and share a lot more with them than I do.
My grade school counselor told me I should keep a diary because it would help me vent (a great reason) and it would help me remember things. There were a lot of things going around me that I didn't want to remember. Of course, I do remember most of them, but the details are fuzzy, and I'm actually somewhat happy about that. Beyond that, more than not wanting to remember all the details, when I read through the half-started diaries that I made through grade school and into high school, I remember sitting cross-legged on my bed with the papers infront of me, and I remember being scared or hurt or angry, and I really don't care to relive those times. That would be reason number three. I like to draw a very clear line in my life between high school and college, and just about everything on the other side of that line can rot in hell. There are a few things, people and memories I'd keep if I could, but I'd lose them too if it was a package deal.
So why am I trying to write a blog? Well, a lot has changed in my life since I moved up north. Mostly for the better. These are times I think I'll want to remember. Don't get me wrong, in high school I had some pretty good friends, and we had some pretty good times. I do miss them, but they weren't worth staying and they're not worth going back for. As cold as that sounds, I really do hope they get out of that state too, but I guess it's not as high priority for them as it was for me.
I hope this is an entertaining experience for you and me, and maybe we can sprinkle in a dose of enlightenment too.
First of all, I'd lose them. My room was a terrible terrible mess all day every day, and I had stacks of binders and books everywhere, each with a different purpose. I could only remember what a few of them were for. I used to think I wanted to be a writer, so every time I came up with a new idea for a story, I found a new binder and filled it with paper and wrote the first chapter, then I tossed it on the stack and forgot about it. Except the gray binder, I didn't lose that one until I moved out of my mom's house and into my dad's. But that wasn't a diary, it was a childish story based loosely on a roleplay story I had spent a few years developing with random people online. I loved sharing what I had written with my friends, and I like to think they enjoyed reading it. We were like 12. I also never lost the binder with my pokemon/yu-gi-oh cards, or the little spiral "journal" that I kept the cipher for my secret language in. These were things I shared.
That's the second reason I couldn't keep a diary. You aren't supposed to share diaries, right? Unless you're Anne Frank. If I wasn't planning on sharing it, why couldn't I just keep it in my head? I've been thinking about that lately, and I've lived most of my life in my head. I'm starting to wonder if this is healthy, and that's sort of what this blogging experiment is about. Other people seem to know a lot more about their friends, and share a lot more with them than I do.
My grade school counselor told me I should keep a diary because it would help me vent (a great reason) and it would help me remember things. There were a lot of things going around me that I didn't want to remember. Of course, I do remember most of them, but the details are fuzzy, and I'm actually somewhat happy about that. Beyond that, more than not wanting to remember all the details, when I read through the half-started diaries that I made through grade school and into high school, I remember sitting cross-legged on my bed with the papers infront of me, and I remember being scared or hurt or angry, and I really don't care to relive those times. That would be reason number three. I like to draw a very clear line in my life between high school and college, and just about everything on the other side of that line can rot in hell. There are a few things, people and memories I'd keep if I could, but I'd lose them too if it was a package deal.
So why am I trying to write a blog? Well, a lot has changed in my life since I moved up north. Mostly for the better. These are times I think I'll want to remember. Don't get me wrong, in high school I had some pretty good friends, and we had some pretty good times. I do miss them, but they weren't worth staying and they're not worth going back for. As cold as that sounds, I really do hope they get out of that state too, but I guess it's not as high priority for them as it was for me.
I hope this is an entertaining experience for you and me, and maybe we can sprinkle in a dose of enlightenment too.
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