Politics

I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been a lot more aware of the political scenario in the past year. This has been mostly due to the fact that I had a lot of free time on my hand during last summer and we didn't get the best channels so CNN became what we watched a lot of to avoid bad TV shows. As a result, I became more interested and aware of the political scene. So, I've followed most of the debates and primaries, picking out my favorite candidates, being sad when some of them gave up and having to pick out new ones, and picking on the ones I didn't like.

Although I'm not registered as a Democrat, I was very excited to see last night that Barack Obama gained the number he needed to be the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. He is a much better choice for the Democratic Party than Hillary Clinton. We listened to the speeches that all the candidates made (including John McCain) and we were confused and shocked that Clinton didn't offer a better bridge to Obama. We probably shouldn't have been because that's just the Clinton style it seems. I don't think the Clintons would know what to do if they weren't in the spotlight.

While this was shocking, I was even more shocked to read what people were saying about it. Given Clinton's speech, I was interested to see what kind of reaction her supporters were saying. So, I went onto her website to check it out. For starters I was bombarded with big red buttons asking me to contribute and sign up. I'd think that true followers of Clinton would be able to seek out those buttons themselves without having to be hit over the head with them. Not the most subtle and not a very good first impression. If I was undecided how I felt about Clinton, I'd be a bit put off to see that the first thing that she wanted from me was money and to sign up for whatever it was.

But, I made it through that mess and found the blog portion of the website and read some of the comments. I was shocked by what I found. Several people had posted comments, not surprisingly, and quite a few were women, also not surprising. What was almost horrifying to me was what they wrote. They offered support and encouraging, if not demanding, that she take this thing to the convention in Denver. Some suggested she run on the Independent ticket. All these things seemed a bit deluded, but you get those kinds of people anywhere you go.

What truly horrified me was that many of these people suggested and flat out said that it was degrading for Clinton, and women everywhere, that she should be told to get in line behind Barack Obama, a man. They also stated that it would be degrading for her to take the V.P. spot. I have never encountered such a bitter outlook on life and they are bitter. There is no other word to describe such mentality. Now, I'm all for women's rights and equality, but this isn't about gender or race and it's surprising to me that intelligent people cannot see that. (I'm sure that if Clinton had won that African Americans would have seen it as a race issue.)

People are so quick to see things as a judgment of outside appearance, such as gender and race rather than seeing what is truly being measured here and that is personality and issues. Granted, some people are going to judge based on things like gender, race, and even age, but that is not the way that everyone is going to vote and probably not even the majority. People don't want to look beyond what they can see to think to themselves, "Hey, there must be something else going on here that would make people not like my candidate" and to truly take a look at why they are voting for that particular candidate. They don't want to challenge their beliefs, reasons, and reality.

Sure, it's hard to challenge what you've known and felt for so long, but over the next several months I have to do the same. I realized last night as I was listening to the speeches given that I was immediately thinking, "Oh. I don't like John McCain" without having a firm reason. If the only reason why I'm voting for someone is because they're young, or because they're a woman, or African American, Democrat, Republican, I'm not voting for them for the right reasons. It has to be much more than just surface level reasons; it has to be about the issues and solutions that they present.

People are going to see all kinds of problems with the world if they keep looking at it from the perspective that every reason that they get turned down from a job, for example, is because they're a woman or African American. In some cases, it might be, but the majority of the time it's going to be because they just weren't as qualified for the position in any number of ways. They are too scared to face the real problems. I don't think that gender and race are as big of problems as people make them out to be.

It's time for people to stop hiding and start facing the truth.

Haircuts and Anniversaries

I meant to blog this weekend, but that didn't happen. So there are a few things to catch up on. First of all, I cut my hair...or I should say that I got my hair cut because I sure didn't cut my own hair. Now, normally this isn't a big deal, but this time I got 6 inches cut off. That's right...my hair was long enough to cut 6 inches from!! It's definitely a big change and it'll take me a few days to figure out how to make this look cute.

Ashton also got his hair cut, but nothing drastic. He has the same style that he's had for years. I'm pretty sure he was born with that style and that it just grows that way now. Good thing it looks cute. (Sorry Lance and Stacy...you lost. It's not short the way you hoped it'd be).

This past weekend marked a very special day for us. Yesterday was our one year anniversary! That's right...we've survived the first year of marriage. Woo hoo! We didn't really do much to celebrate, nothing fancy anyways, but we had a good time. Ashton made a mud pie, which was wicked good, Saturday and we watched a movie while eating some big ol' slices.

Yesterday, Ashton surprised me by taking me to Thanksgiving Point, where he had proposed to me. He proposed in January last year, so it was cold and snowy. I had never seen it with flowers so it was a nice to see that. We walked around and took some pictures. It was beautiful and brought back some great memories.

Here are some pictures of how my hair looked before I cut it, how it looks now, and other pictures from Thanksgiving Point.

So I felt a bit awkward just standing there by myself. Also, please keep in mind I hadn't done my hair that day because I was getting it cut. Not that I do my hair anyways...

Here is a view from the back so you can better see just how long it was. Now, it's all gone...

Here I am at Thanksgiving Point. Had to crop this down quite a bit so you could see kinda what my hair looks like now.

Here is an archway of flowers at Thanksgiving Point. So pretty!

This is the Gazebo where Ashton proposed to me. Behind it is a waterfall.

And here is Ashton! Took a lot of work to get him in a picture...he kept walking behind me.

Here's another picture of me ...figured I might as well pose.

Weird Times at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is an interesting place and a good place to see interesting people. Happens just about every time we go there and this time was no exception.

We headed to Wal-Mart for a quick trip after eating dinner at Red Robbin with my mother-in-law Paula, Lance and Stacy. We had a great time, but had to cut the night early so Ashton could get a project done so he can have tomorrow free to spend some time with me. Well, we decided to stop real quick at Wal-Mart to find something to keep my ipod safe in. They didn't have a very good selection, but we picked up an armband for it so I can take it running with me. Nothing like running to music to keep your spirits up.

So, we head to the front of the store to buy it. We decided that since we only had one item, we could take it through the self-checkout. I quickly glanced at one of the people using the checkout while we were waiting for our turn and thought that he was a girl, but on another quick glance recognized that he was a he. So, I turned to Ashton and whispered to him that I had thought that the guy was a girl. After another look, I realized why I had thought it was a girl. Black lacy shirt, jean skirt, tan socks (the ones that look like they're tan because they haven't been washed in months), red shoes, and earrings to finish off the ensemble. It even looked like he was wearing makeup and his legs were shaved. We had the hope that he had just lost a bet, but he looked way too comfortable. No wonder I thought he was a girl!

Definitely one of those things that I hope never to see again.

Happy Memorial Day!

So, since a lot of people have been asking, I thought that I'd let people know how my interview went. It actually went well. I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but I'm still happy with the results. She said that I got an intermediate-high (I was going for an advanced-low), but that I was really close to an advanced-low, which made me happy. I just wasn't very good at really keeping my past tense clean, which was mandatory for advanced. The best part about all of this is that I passed, so I get to graduate! Apparently I just had to take the test as opposed to actually having to get a certain score like I thought. Anyways, I'm happy and that's all that matters. Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes!

Onto more fun stuff. Friday night Ashton and I went to Tucanos with Lance, Stacy, Mandy, and Andrew. We ate lots and lots of meat and no one could move afterwards. Than we went to Lance and Stacy's apartment and just hung out. We had a lot of fun with them.

Yesterday, we went to Park City to my in-laws to celebrate my up-coming birthday on Thursday with them. It was a lot of fun. Dinner was great as always and dessert was even better! It was a lot of fun to spend more time with the family and to have fun. Of course, it was also fun to play with Katelyn and see her run around.

A Bundle of Nerves

Well, today's the day. Today I have my senior interview, or my oral Spanish test, to see what level I am at and if I can graduate. I'm pretty much a nervous wreck despite Ashton's reassurance that I'll do fine and that everything will be ok. While I know that it'll be fine and that I'll live, even if I don't get as high as I want to, it's still nerve wracking to have to go in and talk to someone I don't know in Spanish and make minimal mistakes.

So, I've spent my morning studying some last minute pieces of grammar and trying to calm myself. Sometimes that's easier said than done. Trying to tell yourself that there's not much you can do to improve your Spanish the day of the interview is not very reassuring if you're not sure that you speak very well.

So, if you read this between 1 and 1:30 MST (or 3 and 3:30 East Coast time) please say a little prayer for me. Even if you read this later, please say a little prayer that she'll be in a good mood when she grades me. (She tapes it to grade later...another nerve wracking thing. I hate being taped.)

Seattle Trip

So, my friend and former roommate Laura got married in Seattle last Friday. Since I was a bridesmaid, and because Laura is a good friend, we drove up for the wedding. Since my other friend Tara was going up to the wedding as well, she rode up with us. Made for a fun trip full of singing Disney songs good and loud, arguing over who was going to pay for what, and just all around good fun.We started our trek on Wednesday afternoon and got there Thursday at 2 AM. The lack of sleep that I got that night started a trend for the rest of the time we were in Washington.

The wedding preparations went well. There was a lot of tension mounting at times, but we managed to still have some good times and laughs. The wedding itself was beautiful. It was great to be there to see Laura get married. We've been friends for four years and roommates for pretty much three years although only one of those years was official. I'm very happy for her and her new husband Alex.

What was also great was being able to spend time with Tara who is also a great friend. I don't usually get to have girl time since we just moved and I don't have any friends around here. It was great to be able to talk to her and spend some girl time with her. (Thanks Tara!) We got to see where Tara grew up, which was a lot of fun to hear all the stories. Not to mention it was great to see the big grin on her face.

On Saturday, we got a tour of Seattle, or some of it, with Ashton's friend Zeke. We saw the Space Needle, checked out the Science Fiction Museum, and Zeke and Ashton climbed on some red sculpture thing that we're naming "The Duck" (it doesn't actually look like a duck). We had a lot of fun checking out the sites.

The whole time we spent in Seattle was fun, although stressful and busy at times. There were so many good times that we wrote down some quotes to remember the occasion by. So, for your entertainment, and to make sure we have it down somewhere, here they are:

"I don't think that there's anything in there that will violate the sanctity of the wedding preparation...if you eat anything fancy, eat it in secret." -Jim

"Now, is the pleasure that I'd get from that worth the pain?" - Jim

"Doing your hair (for the wedding) like that is like shoveling snow -- it'll melt in a few days; why bother?" - Jim

"Is it the aussie sprinch kind?" -Jim

"I'll start panicking at half-past." -Laura

"I was so ready at quarter-till!" -Alex

"I have no inner feng shui -- I couldn't find the lights." -Julie

How to Properly Hug a Baby

I came across this page the other day, and thought it was great. Zarah agreed, so I figured I'd post it here for the enjoyment of all of our readers.