"I believe in equal rights for all ... unless you're religious or conservative..."

"In that case... I'll be sure to tell you why you're wrong and why you need to change. But don't you dare try to express your opinion to me... religious, conservative people are so closed minded and judgmental."

I am SOOOO tired of having this encounter!!! Obviously paraphrased. But pretty much the meat of the conversation. I had a mild one today. And I try to stay calm and express my opinions logically and with kindness (heaven forbid I come off as closed minded or judgmental!) ... But the more I think about it, I get more and more angry. I am so tired of the double standard. The funny thing is that I did not pursue this conversation. I was passive in the whole thing. I merely answered questions I was asked. I very much believe that no one enjoys unsolicited advice or irrationally strong opinions. So yeah, I innocently answer questions, and then my judgment is questioned and I am made to feel like I am judgmental and heartless (which I would just like to say by the way are two things that I constantly strive NOT to be). But here's the kicker. In the same breath, this person was discussing how horrible religious people can be sometimes and he/she concluded with "I am who I am, I'm not gonna change, just let me be." ... And I'm left thinking... ummmm, my thoughts exactly. Who's the one here who is giving the other the right to have their own opinion?

It is truly baffling. And for the record, I TOO believe in equal rights for all. Very much so. I also believe in a benevolent & kind view of humanity. VERY much so. And not to sound arrogant here, but I'm gonna venture out on a limb here and say that consistency is a valuable component when referring to "ALL."




Edit... some follow-up thoughts...

I was stiiiillll thinking about this. Does anyone remember this scene from "You've Got Mail" (one of my favorites) :

Joe Fox: Do you ever feel you've become the worst version of yourself? That a Pandora's box of all the secret, hateful parts - your arrogance, your spite, your condescension - has sprung open? Someone upsets you and instead of smiling and walking away, you zing them? "Hello, it's Mr Nasty." I'm sure you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Kathleen Kelly: No, I know exactly what you mean, and I'm completely jealous. What happens to me when I'm provoked is that I get tongue-tied and my mind goes blank. Then I spend all night tossing and turning trying to figure out what I should have said. What should I have said, for example, to a bottom dweller who recently belittled my existence?
[stops and thinks]
Kathleen Kelly: Nothing. Even now, days later, I can't figure it out.

Joe Fox: Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could pass all my zingers to you? And then I would never behave badly and you could behave badly all the time, and we'd both be happy. But then, on the other hand, I must warn you that when you finally have the pleasure of saying the thing you mean to say at the moment you mean to say it, remorse inevitably follows.

Well I'm on the Kathleen Kelly side, being completely jealous sometimes. Please, Joe Fox, send me your zingers. I would love to experience this. But on the other hand, thank you, Joe Fox, for letting me know that remorse inevitably follows... And for reminding me to appreciate the fact that my arrogance, spite, and condescension has not sprung open. It is a refreshing perspective to realize that I am not weak... I am merely someone who doesn't carry my arrogance and condescension on my sleeves, ready to pounce at any moment. I am rejuvenated. Thank you Tom Hanks.

Dear Kanye West, We get it... you hate white people. You can go away now.

Did anyone watch the MTV VMA's last night?? Well... I didn't. But I did wake up to radio/tv discussions of Kanye West being his usual ridiculous self. And really, who gives a flying flip about anything Kanye West ever has to say? He's responsible for such jewels as suggesting that he's such an inspiration that he should be in the Bible. I mean, really. Who has time to acknowledge he's speaking? But this time he went too far... WHO except a heartless, ridiculous person could do this to Taylor Swift?? In case you didn't see it:

MTV Shows

I think it speaks for itself. I don't think there are words strong enough to express what a ridiculous human being he is.

Anyway, here's the clip of Beyonce totally recovering the whole situation. I love her. Did this bring a tear to anyone else's eye or am I ridiculous?

MTV Shows

Gosh I just really appreciate kindness. That Beyonce is a classy lady.

On another note, Lady GaGa never ceases to amaze me. My neighbor has a nice wreath on her door that I think would look particularly nice wrapped around my face. Thank you Lady GaGa for opening my eyes to the fashion potential of door decor.

But here is one gem resulting from the whole debacle...

Do you have my perfect sunscreen???

I'm taking a survey... I need some input on a good sunscreen. I need one. ASAP. And I have some specific qualities that I desire in this sunscreen (won't I be sad if it ends up being just me and the crickets here... I have faith in you). Here is what I'm looking for:

1. I need this sunscreen for daily wear. I would enjoy input for the body or for just the face. But am particularly baffled on the options for the body at this point.
2. I would love 45+ spf, but 30 will do. There's lots of lotions with 15 out there, but I want something a little more heavy duty, which is surprisingly hard to find (other than sporty or beachy options... which all seem to violate the next item on my list).
   
3. My TOP priority request (which seems non-existent from what I can tell) is non-greasy. The key here is to satisfy this in combination with #2. And not just for the bottle to say non-greasy, but for the sunscreen to actually be non-greasy. I have long hair and I am particularly bothered by the ends of my hair becoming greasy from rubbing on my greasy shoulders all day. I feel dirty and look dirty. Gross. So this is a must.
4. My next preference is for easy application, which in my mind right now is the spray bottle kind. I would really enjoy a spray bottle. But maybe there are other sunscreen technologies out there that I don't know about. This one is negotiable, I'd be willing to put in the extra application effort if the sunscreen is particularly wonderful and non-greasy. And actually -- side note -- the thing I love about the spray bottle is that it doesn't get my hands all greasy. But I don't mind regular lotion on my hands... so really this requirement has the potential to be satisfied through requirement #3: non-greasy.
   
5. And last, I'd like for it to not cost a bajillion dollars. I'd prefer not to have to make a special place in the budget for my sunscreen. But, ya know, again, this one could slide a little if it's worth the money.
   

This is important, so I need to find a solution! Any thoughts?? Please tell me you have the magical answer!! I will drop everything I'm doing and get it that second.

If you don't have the solution to my endless search... I'd still love to hear what sunscreen you use and why you use it. Maybe you've seen some light that I haven't seen yet.

And if you don't wear sunscreen, you can confess that too. It will make me feel better about my years of bad judgment. And maybe I'll question your judgment and tell you to wear sunscreen.

Ready... GO!

Um, hi.

Weelllll... I hate to assume that there's anyone still out there that might check back for anything new at this point... but juuuust in case... here I am :)

Things got a little hectic and well, something had to give for a little bit. So. I'm gonna attempt to do a quick summary of the last couple months since my last post mid-June. Here goes!

JUNE: We went to Kentucky for Lee's cousin Sarah's wedding, had a great time with his family, then I did the Iron Girl triathlon which was fantastic... JULY: Lee and I ran the Peachtree Roadrace (10K) with his Uncle Allen, lots of fun... I moved my office at school, now am located in an open cube area which stinks a little... We went to a cabin up in North Georgia with my whole family, had an awesome weekend with them... Went on a weekend beach trip with my sisters to Tybee Island, had such a good time being all sistery... Finalized the class that I TAed for the summer at the end of the month... worked so hard organizing and revamping the projects that I got asked to continue on doing a "Design Fellowship" working with the Sophomore level design class (the one that I TAed) and Senior Design as the Head TA for both classes... so YAY my hard work was appreciated... AUGUST: Lee's Mom and sister, Mallory, brought their cheery little selves down to hang out with us for a weekend, such a good visit... My advisor moved to Penn State to be the head of the Industrial Engineering Department there... now we have a long-distance relationship, I talk to him on the phone or Skype every Thursday... Started working with the new Design classes for this semester, going good so far... Also started my LAST class, called "Probabilistic Models" and officially feel like a responsible human being because I'm really enjoying it so far... Found out I had skin cancer (melanoma)... Went a little bit crazy for a few days... Got my skin cancer cut out, was assured that I have every reason to believe it's all gone... Now I have a nice gash on my back that Lee does an excellent job of doctoring (as long as I don't ask TOO many questions about what he's doing, which is against all that I stand for, so really he does a good job while we bicker a little bit)... Celebrated my Mom's birthday... Went to Calloway Gardens last weekend for a Leadership Development Program retreat, met tons of awesome people in my department and hope to keep up those relationships so that their over-acheiverness rubs off on me, luckily the program involves getting together every month for 7 more months... And that officially brings us up to date. If any elaboration is needed, you just let me know.

This weekend Lee's cousin Kate is getting married in Louisville, so we're traveling up for the weekend to hang out with his family and enjoy the celebration. He actually has to work in Tennessee tomorrow, so I'm riding up with him and will do work somewhere (hopefully some lovely cafe with free internet) while he works, then we'll head on to KY. It should be a great time, I'm looking forward to it... just have to figure out what the heck to wear.

SOOOO I hope this officially means I'm back! Have a great week and enjoy your Labor Day weekend!