To Accept Or Decline? That Is The Question.
November 15, 2007

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that MySpace is on the list of websites I log on to daily.

< tangent >
It bugs me when people say, "Log on to our website at www..." when what they should be saying is, "Visit our website at www..." You don't log on to a website unless, you know, you enter a username and password and log on. Capice? Another thing that bugs me is when people hyphenate e-mail or worse, e.mail. It's email! No hyphen, no period. C'mon, people, work with me here.
< /tangent >

Anyway, about myspace. I log on to accept friend requests, read messages and comments, and leave comments for friends. For the most part, my myspace experience has been fairly ordinary compared to others. I haven't received very many weird messages from strangers or stalkers, hardly anyone's hit on me or asked me out (I'm not sure how I feel about that actually...haha), nor have I had any drama or run-ins with any exes.

I have had former school bullies request to add me to their collection of myspace friends which I find amusing and bizarre. There's one girl in particular, a hefty girl in my 8th grade class who used to dye her hair with peroxide and got her kicks from picking on me in school. She'd do things like write dirty notes to boys and sign my name on them, or write mean letters to other tough girls and sign my name on them in order to ruin my reputation and start fights. She'd make fun of me and there was always something to pick apart: my shoes, my hair, the car I got dropped off to school in, the house I lived in, and on and on.

I couldn't understand it then, but I think have an idea now why bullies seemed to hone in on my tracking signal in every one of the 12 schools I attended from the 2nd grade all the way up until the golden years of high school when I magically found my groove and fit right in. I was an odd bird, you see. No matter where I lived in the world, I didn't look or speak like I was from around there. In Oakland I was the whitest girl in my class, in Texas I was the darkest, in Germany I was the smallest. On Guam among my own people, I was the stuck-up white girl from the states. I was just a weird girl with a weird sense of humor and style and at that age, kids don't embrace weird.

I moved to Guam to live with my dad when I was in the 7th grade and I really hate to say it but 7th and 8th grades were the only years I ever hated Guam and wanted to be anywhere but. And it was only because the kids at school were mean, meaner than anywhere else I had lived before. I'm pretty sure my dad enrolled me in a private catholic school because he believed I'd receive a better education than at public school, and maybe I did, but oh! I was miserable and very lonely. I'm almost certain the experience is the reason why I almost always root for the underdog now.

So you can imagine my surprise when I received a myspace friend request from hefty peroxide girl. I let it stew in my inbox for a few days before I accepted her invite. From the pictures she looks like a normal, happy wife and mother. I wonder if her kids are bullies.

 Thank You
November 12, 2007

I posted this a year ago, and it still rings true today:

If you have ever served in the United States Armed Forces or if you are currently serving in the military: Thank you.

Thank you for supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and securing my right to live free, safe, and without fear.

Thank you for restoring peace and order in places where chaos sometimes reigns.

Thank you for rescuing, securing, aiding, and rebuilding the cities and towns that are damaged or destroyed by natural disasters.

Thank you for your bravery and for putting others before yourself because the truth is I'm relieved it's you on the battlefield and not me.

Thank you for all the things you do that I don't even know about and couldn't possibly understand enough to fully appreciate.

I honor you.

To the spouses of the men and women who serve our country: Thank you.

Thank you for bearing the hardship and for the sacrifice you make every time your spouse is deployed or away for any length of time in order to fulfill his or her duty.

Thank you for your strength, love, and devotion to our troops.

I honor you.

 Mindfulness
November 11, 2007

"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change."

-Thich Nhat Hanh