I’ve said this before, but I’ve been blogging online for a long time, close to eight years. I’ve seemed to develop a very strong habit of only writing about bad situations in my life. It’s easy because I personally find it easy to write creatively when I literally need to write to cope. I’ve also noticed when I am happy, I write less. It is obvious then that my writing is a tool that I use when I need it. When I’m not writing about something bad, I write about something conceptual or a thought process. Occasionally, I throw in something silly– more often if I have nothing else to write. The thought process/conceptual writing is my personal favorite, but it doesn’t have a very large appeal to anyone outside of well, me.

However, I like writing and I want to learn share other, more positive, things. I don’t know how to do this without feeling as though I am merely running down a daily list of things, in the “dear diary” format. I want to write in a more interesting way than that and a more personal way. I want to be able to captivate an audience, because, let’s be honest, I have no other talents! (Just kidding, sort of.) I also wish to develop a sense of self in my writing where when I do write something positive, I am not merely copying a tone or style of another writer.

I used to think like most people do: if you do not vote, you do not have a right to complain about what happens in the election, after the election, and/or anything regarding the government or economy or citizenship in the U.S.

I don’t think this way any longer. In fact, I think that if one registers to vote and then doesn’t vote, this is one of the two most powerful ways to express one’s discontent with the status quo. (The other way is a vote for a third party candidate. This isn’t a “wasted vote” either, because just think: if no one ever “wastes” their votes, how do we ever leave this two party system?) This is much like a vote for “none of the above”.

Ethically speaking, there are two things to look at here: blanket ethics and individual ethics. On a blanket level, I do not believe there is any moral obligation to vote. In fact, like I already expressed, I think there is good reason to not vote, which should alleviate any moral obligation here. Individually, however, one may feel led to vote in a certain way and if one does not follow through, then it is on his or her own conscience. The level of intensity here varies: one might be lazy or have an emergency situation that prevents him from physically going to vote, or one might live in a country where the right to vote was granted for the very first time. In any case, it is a conscience issue and cannot be judged here.

There are two other claims here to address. “If one doesn’t vote, what gives one the right to complain?” Well, frankly, the right to complain has no actual relationship to voting. A citizen, again, at least of the United States, has this right regardless. Voting is not a special ticket or fee to complaining or expressing an opinion.

“If one wishes to complain about the government, then one should do something to change it”. This is simply absurd. There are other ways to change the government or to have a voice in the government, whether one chooses to participate in them or not. One could run for political office, start a grassroots campaign or participate in journalism/media. One could protest, rally, or simply educate his or her friends. To assume that a vote is the only voice is rather naive. It is a powerful voice, but in some cases it is more of a symbol than it is effective, so it is surely not the only voice. In fact, it is my own opinion that change is more effective on the grassroots level, working one person at a time. The change must manifest itself into a vote at some point or another, however.

In the United States, as it stands currently, we do have some freedoms left. And, despite popular opinion, voting is one of these freedoms. To not vote, or to vote, are both ways of exercising this freedom. The fact that a vote is a private decision– no one may see another’s vote or in most or all states, there are laws enacting boundaries on electioneering at the polls– is a significant testimony of how this is a personal decision. It is not one to take lightly, by any means, but it is a private issue nonetheless.

We had to memorize this my senior year in high school. Here is the real deal, and I spaced it out how I decided to read it poetically, aren’t I special?:

1: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
2: The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour
4: Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5: Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
7: The tendre croppes,
and the yonge sonne 8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
9: And smale foweles maken melodye,
10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye
11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
13: And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
14: To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15: And specially from every shires ende
16: Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
17: The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
18: That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

And here is the speech recognition. It actually sounds very similar if you read it aloud, and well, know how to pronounce the first.. hehe

The church of march half years into the room to
And batted everything in switch for core
All of which virtue engender it is far more
Once a fears speak with his recovery
In spirit happen every holds and he
The tender process
And the yield a seminar half and then ran his hat course he were not
And small a foul as mocking melody
That’s laughing all the night with building the
So precious hand not sure in her garage is
That moment folks to do it on compromises
And Paul Meyers four to see change from fish from this
Two fern a hall is no way of involuntary long as
Especially from every shy roses and the
A single onto Canterbury they went to
The wholly blissful marcher four to seek a
Backhand household and one that they were seeking a

Disclaimer: Apparently some [one fry short of a Happy Meal] people on other blogs/YouTube/wherever have misinterpretted the 2009 thing as serious. I’m not sure why or how, but yes, the laughing, obvious happy/silly/maniacal facial expressions, overall tone, the fact it’s on The Colbert Report and such… well, it’s this thing called “humor” or more specifically if you’d like.. a “joke’.

with LOVE,
lauren.

P.S. BROWNS SUCK!!

HERE WE GO, STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!

Ahem, that is all.

I also got to eat insanely good food– steak, ribs, crabs, shrimp, Chicken Paprikash, and.. and.. a fried Snickers bar on a stick. ha. It was really good. It was made with funnel cake batter and I don’t even like funnel cake. But, it was all melted and pretty yummy. (yay fair food.) And the crabs.. YUM. You can’t get crabs in Missouri, so they are my favorite food, and yes, I open them up and eat them, no crab legs or weird freaky hippie crab dishes for me, baby.

And now I know how to make Chicken Paprikash, which is a really delicious Hungarian chicken dish, so I am happy about that.

I cannot wait for the day when I get to move back home.

And now that I’m back in Missouri, I get to start on my next venture.. Before we left, my husband and I officially signed up for RCIA at a Catholic church. RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. They’re classes designed for converts or to learn more about the Catholic faith. But, yes, you’ve heard that right, we’re attending them and the first class starts next Thursday. If all things go as planned, we both will be reconciled to the Catholic church at Easter Vigil Mass next year. I’ve been mostly keeping it quiet, because really, I’m not particularly ready to talk about it, but here is me being all official about it. The evangelicals (not that I was really ever all that evangelical, except by title, but whatever) go Catholic. Life is crazy, indeed.

And on that note.. have I ever mentioned how much I love Ron Paul?

His statement to the National Press Club: (click this now!! now!!!! nooooowwww!)

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=483

I was baptized at the Yellow Breeches Creek at Messiah College on August 25, 2002 by the pastor of my E-Free church. I was 19 years old.

There was a huge thing at the creek where there were a ton of us getting baptized at the same time. Everyone sat around on blankets/lawn chairs and we had the praise band there and everyone getting baptized took turns giving their testimonies. Then we went five at a time into the creek, each with a certain staff/pastor. Then we were dunked and all.

My testimony was basically about how I had been raised into the church, and I remembered “accepting Jesus into my heart” at about five years old. I had been in church on and off, so “missed” the usual baptism time (about 12 in the Baptist church, since I was raised Baptist), and that I decided to study baptism and now knew enough to know that baptism was a necessary step and it was time. Most of the testimonies were of the church camp type though.

Crappy pictures because they were scanned back in 2002 onto a 1995 HP with built in picture sized scanner, ha.

I did this last night.

Before: This is mostly my natural color, though there is a bit of black bits here in there in there still. And yes, it’s normally that drastic in highlights, naturally. (Most people tell me I have roots showing and I need to dye again, even when it’s all my natural color… err.)

Automatonophobia- Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues - anything that falsly represents a sentient being.
Pupaphobia: Fear of puppets.
Coulrophobia: Fear of clowns.

I’m okay with wax statues thanks to Gettysburg Wax Museum and my relative Preston Brooks being there and all. (Yay traitors!) But, beyond, ha!

I also have the fear of people when they wear masks. They’re all related. Animatronic creatures are by far the worst. They make clowns seem tolerable, haha.

Here’s more! haha

Nosocomephobia - Fear of hospitals.
Dentophobia - Fear of dentists.
Glossophobia - Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak. (both!)
Arsonphobia - Fear of fire.
Harpaxophobia - Fear of being robbed.
Arachnephobia/Arachnophobia - Fear of spiders.
Entomophobia - Fear of insects.

I’d say the fire and public ones are the worst, up there with animatronic puppets. Trying to speak is actually a bit worst than speaking itself. Weird.

Haha, I prolly have this too

Decidophobia- Fear of making decisions.

I haven’t come across one of my worst “fears” (I wouldn’t call it a fear as much as anxiety) though. You know the fear of the sight of blood? I don’t have that, actually at all, but I do have something that’s really similar, same sort of reaction/situation. It’s an intense panic, nausea, freak-out, almost to the point of fainting, when talking/reading about “non-visible” physical problems, like broken bones, pinched nerves, muscle damage (or talking about the effects of muscle relaxants or pain meds), lumps, infection, internal symptoms of diseases/things like heart attacks/cancer, maybe internal bleeding, but next external, etc. Seriously, I can’t even perform a breast self-check (TMI?) without getting dizzy and nauseated. Organs are iffy, sometimes, but only in conjunction with other things, like symptoms of diseases. I’m not afraid of actual diseases, or organs themselves, though and not of blood/guts– but it’s the fact that you can’t outright see these things. And it’s definitely the direct physical presence of them– I’m not afraid of what they can mean (like a lump being related to cancer).

http://www.phobialist.com/

Haha, well that was fun, seeing how nuts I am! Just for fun (and somewhat seriously), how about your phobias? They can be really seriously, or somewhat silly/not-quite-an-actual-phobia.