Various Matters

- I am making an effort to use proper punctuation now. Which means that when I refer to satan, the lower-case "S" is more significant. The middle finger of grammar. It's really too bad I don't refer to satan more often.

- My feelings about New Year's Resolutions:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

I know. I just did the most pretentious thing a Christian can ever do. Turned a perfectly harmless practice into a spiritual issue.


- Today I purchased a "Mom's Plan-it 2012 Calendar." It has a place for your grocery list every week, and a place to plan your weekly menu. Which is something I already do on random pieces of paper. The planners named "The 27 Almost 28 Year Old Single Woman 2012 Calender For People With Nothing To Do" weren't as practical. I will say, though, that I have no use for the page of sticker reminders for "Open House" and "School Picture Day". The next page of sticker reminders for "Haircut" and "Lunch Date" appointments I might be able to use.

- So, here's a list of my goals for this year:

Just kidding.

- My favorite political blogger sometimes titles his post "Various Matters" and I really want to steal as many of his techniques as possible, but his other titles rarely work for my subject matter. While we're talking about him, you should definitely read this post he wrote. I have been wanting him to comment more extensively on the election season charade. It's brilliant. As usual.

please.

in line to go through airport security:

TSA agent: *holds up drivers license. looks at me.*
me: *smile*
TSA agent: *clearly didn't like that* that could be you.
me: ...
TSA agent: what is your name?
internal response: you're so good at your job. if i had a fake ID right now, you would have figured it out. there's no way i would have memorized the name on a fake ID. you're very smart and strong. superior to me in every way. i cower before you.
actual response: allison.
TSA agent: *nods and hands ID back to the person who smiled when she should have been Very Serious*

day one.

sister: i hate this song. it's so inaccurate. it's called "2,000 decembers ago." Jesus was not born in december.
dad: yeah! is this even december?
sister: dad... * rolls eyes *
dad: no, seriously. who says this is december?
allison: i love a good conspiracy theory. keep talking.
dad: it's not a conspiracy theory. is this even saturday? who says this is saturday?

Ron Paul Newsletters

Republican primary season is upon us. I consider it more important than the main election. Your vote doesn't really count then. But now you can choose a Republican candidate, if you're not planning on voting for President Obama.

I've learned a lot since the last Presidential election. I study a lot. i'mthechief officially endorses Ron Paul for President! Like that means anything. But he has my vote, and if you're not convinced by what you've heard and read...let me try. The Tennessee primary is on March 6. If you live here with me, let's meet and talk. If you don't live here, give me a call. Or a gmail chat. If you don't want to do that, I beg of you to make your decisions based on what HE says...and not what other people say about him.

One of the top reasons I support him is because of his foreign policy. And guess what, of all the money donated to the Republican candidates by our troops...70% of that money went to Ron Paul. Something to consider.

And because I'm doing what I can, I'm going to throw out a few key phrases for google searches...

Ron Paul Newsletters

Ron Paul is racist (He's not, don't believe it!)

Ron Paul is crazy

Now, if you came here because of those phrases, read this:

lend an ear.

speak better words to me.

amazing how...
i don't have to lift myself out of discouragement.
You are never discouraged.

i don't have to be strong. there's no use for my strength.

i grow weary trying to figure my own feelings out. i can't think about them anymore. and i don't have to. i am told to Rest. that is right where You want me. collapsed.

on You.

worn out.
unable to help myself.
just lying here incapable of change.

i've been told i'm not like the others.
like oil and water.
they don't mix.
i've been told a lot of things.

speak better words to me.

that's what i want to hear. but don't tell me what i want to hear. tell me what You have to say. i don't want to hear anything vile. i don't want to be accused. Your words are better.

speak better words.

babies cry.

i think i have mentioned before that i don't like Christmas things.

i don't want to hear songs about snowmen or creepy men inviting you into their house for a drink. (baby, it's cold outside...the man poisoned a woman's drink and held her against her will. it's so clear.)

i like most of the songs that are traditionally sung in churches, but that's just because they're not "Christmas" songs to me. they're songs about Jesus.

some of them give me the same uncomfortable feeling as "jingle bells" and "santa, baby", though. (how does anyone get through this song without experiencing extreme levels of discomfort? santa is at least 70 years old. go back to bed.)

take "silent night."

you're really going to tell me that there weren't any sheep bleating, or donkeys snorting? and the new baby wasn't screaming His head off? nobody stepped in any animal feces?

all is calm, all is bright.

right. that would be a Christmas miracle.

the "poetic license" thing bugs me a bit.

all that to say...i don't think writing holiday cards is in my future.

but tonight at my church we sang "hark! the herald angels sing."

during the last verse, i was really struck by the lyrics pointing to the fact that Christ was born, so that _____. it points to different reasons why Christ was born. born that man no more may die. born to raise the sons of earth. born to give them second birth.

born not just to bridge a gap between humanity and God. born not just to rescue people from hell.

born to give me hope.

born so i won't be afraid.

born to be my companion.

born to whisper Truth to me when the enemy whispers lies.

born so i don't have to absorb the flaming arrows from the enemy...born to shield me from them.

what would i do if He had never been born?

despair.

born to save me from despair.

i have been saved from so much.

emphasis added.

"Words I Never Said" - Lupe Fiasco
(feat. Skylar Grey)


It’s so loud Inside my head
With words that I should have said!
As I drown in my regrets
I can’t take back the words I never said
I can’t take back the words I never said

I really think the war on terror is a bunch of
Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets
How much money does it take to really make a full clip
9/11 building 7 did they really pull it
And a bunch of other cover ups
Your childs future was the first to go with budget cuts
If you think that hurts then, wait here comes the uppercut
The school was garbage in the first place, that's on the up and up
Keep you at the bottom but tease you with the uppercrust
You get it then they move it so you never keeping up enough
If you turn on TV all you see’s a bunch of “what the ”
Dude is dating so and so blabbering bout such and such
And that ain't Jersey Shore, homie that's the news
And these the same people that supposed to be telling us the truth
Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist
Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say
That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either
I’m a part of the problem, my problem is I’m peaceful
And I believe in the people.

Now you can say it ain't our fault if we never heard it
But if we know better than we probably deserve it
Jihad is not a holy war, wheres that in the worship?
Murdering is not Islam!
And you are not observant
And you are not a muslim
Israel don’t take my side cause look how far you’ve pushed them
Walk with me into the ghetto, this where all the went
Complain about the liquor store but what you drinking liquor for?
Complain about the gloom but when’d you pick a broom up?
Just listening to Pac ain't gone make it stop
A rebel in your thoughts, ain't gon make it halt
If you don’t become an actor you’ll never be a factor
Pills with million side effects
Take em when the pains felt
Wash them down with Diet soda!
Killin off your brain cells
Crooked banks around the World
Would gladly give a loan today
So if you ever miss a payment
They can take your home away!


I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence
Fear is such a weak emotion that's why I despise it
We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth
So scared of what you think of me, I’m scared of even telling you
Sometimes I’m like the only person I feel safe to tell it to
I’m locked inside a cell in me, I know that there’s a jail in you
Consider this your bailing out, so take a breath, inhale a few
My screams is finally getting free, my thoughts is finally yelling through

from the two books i am reading.

"Most of us, I think, shy away from this kind of cultivation of acquaintances. We have our circle of friends, to whom we are devoted. Acquaintances we keep at arm's length...The purpose of making an acquaintance, for most of us, is to evaluate whether we want to turn that person into a friend; we don't feel we have the time or the energy to maintain meaningful contact with everyone. Horchow is quite different. The people he puts in his diary or on his computer are acquaintances - people he might run into only once a year or once every few years - and he doesn't shy away from the obligation that that connection requires. He has mastered what sociologists call the 'weak tie,' a friendly yet casual social connection. More than that, he's happy with the weak tie. After I met Horchow, I felt slightly frustrated. I wanted to know him better, but I wondered whether I would ever have the chance. I don't think he shared the same frustration with me. I think he's someone who sees value and pleasure in a casual meeting."

"'Like Romans!' she mocked. 'Behave like Romans! And what does a Roman ever get for being brave - and pretending it is fine - and noble - to give up everything - and make-believe it is glorious - glorious to suffer - and die - for Rome! For Rome! I hate Rome! Look what Rome has done to you - and all of us! Why can't we live in peace? The Roman Empire - Bah! What is the Roman Empire? A great swarm of slaves! I don't mean slaves like Tertia and Demetrius; I mean slaves like you and me - all our lives bowing and scraping and flattering; our legions looting and murdering - and for what? To make Rome the capital of the world, they say! But why should the whole world be ruled by a lunatic like old Tiberius and a drunken bully like Gaius? I hate Rome! I hate it all!'"

wow.

i can't say anything nice about this.

"...the Constitutional requirement in Art. III, Sec. 3 that 'No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.' To deny a citizen the right to a lawyer and go to court on the ground that they’ve 'betrayed their country' and thus deserve to be imprisoned without a trial (or, worse, to be assassinated without one) is as violent a betrayal of the U.S. Constitution as one can imagine, literally."

"I’m willing to believe that there is genuine White House opposition to having the military detain and imprison U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, and that’s commendable if true (though it’s a sign of just how extremist our government is that we’re grateful for that)."