Currently Is This It By The Strokes see related

Cupquake

I'm transferring to Tumblr. I've already done a few posts on my new Tumblr that have been syndicated via Facebook, and I'm making a definite transition. I'll keep the link on this page very visibly so it'll be obvious where to go.

http://skunk-haired-shutterbutton.tumblr.com

I find it a little bit nicer for multimedia, for format, and for making lots of sporadic little blurb-esque posts, which I'm coming to prefer to the lengthy, less-frequent spills I've been making on here. Fun as it's been--change is good. Tumblr's fun.

Day of Silence ..?

pro-life anti-choice

So, I have been informed that today is a "Day of Silence." Not the Day of Silence. Today, apparently, anti-choice students take a day without speaking to represent the silence of the "victims" of their cause.

Let's talk about this. I'm a little embarrassed that a form of activism most associated with a group legitimately discriminated against is now being used to represent non-human entities. Oh, no, wait-- "Killed babies."

Anti-choice, better known as the "Pro-life" group, can't even give themselves a scientifically accurate name. And we're supposed to give them credit? A LIFE is an organism that will grow and potentially reproduce, and it is within the boundaries of that definition that the organism must be able to sustain life ON ITS OWN. That doesn't mean feed itself and dress itself and drive itself to school; that means that within its own body, it should be able to sustain survival. An organism that cannot do this is defined as a parasite. NO INFANT born before 22 weeks has survived, ever, in medical records. These organisms are parasites.

Better yet, they are not parasites that the mother had to fight off involuntarily; the mother is the partial creator of that fetus, and therefore, she has the right to do with it as she pleases.

"Pro-Life" is a scientifically inaccurate term because these students, generally choosing their views because their church or their parents subscribe to them, are not defending the life of a baby. They've been "taught," through the Bible (a technically anonymous, male-centric text) and through overemotionalized, radical literature that this is some little smiling baby in someone's tummy that's being plowed out.

These students are anti-choice; against the principles of individual decision and social liberty. They are encouraging the church to interfere with the state, an entirely unethical movement (and if you think you disagree, anti-choicers, realize that the church having a hand in the state means the state must also be allowed a hand in the church, and we all know you don't want that) and skewing and coloring medical realities about FETUSES (not babies!) and a woman's inherent rights.

Do not give me your "Founding Fathers" or "Christian nation" bull. Very few of the Founding Fathers were practicing Christians; a few were Deists, but many claimed no official religion and committed acts that didn't really line up with the Christian religion. Read your history books, before you open your mouths;

and the fact is that just because your religion seems like reality to you, that does NOT make it ethical for you to try to implement it in the laws that influence everyone, including a large sector of ethically intelligent people who know they should not have a hand in a woman's birth/abortion/adoption choice.

If you have listening ears and the willingness to actually read a book or pay attention to science or, god forbid, simple ETHICS, you can pull yourself outside of your personal Christian bubble and see that nothing you're supporting is scientifically, medically or politically sound.

If you are wearing a piece of tape today, you are committing an act of anti-feminism.

Currently Teaches of Peaches (Bonus CD) By Peaches "Operate" see related

The Technicolor Phase

Ah, summer reading: my Facebook Visual Bookshelf runneth over.

Unfortunately, I struggle to work through Klosterman, Sedaris and Sofer when the SteinMart and Pizza Hut applications on the table next to me should really take priority on my reading list. Ugh, no mistake, I'm getting them done, and I've now visited over 30 locations this week in search of more work-- including Waffle House, who I am not afraid to megaphone-advertise as UNRELIABLE, since they sent in my background check and never returned my calls or found a manager to speak with me the several times I've driven over. "Always hiring?" Pshh.

College matters are looking up, in ways. I won't indulge details, but it looks like I'm safe as far as my fees and such go. I'm going to e-mail my professors* in a few minutes and figure out which books I need for classes so that I can go find them on Half.com or something, and get them cheap (and thus not have to use loan money to cover them). I did FINALLY get to work one shift (because someone needed me to cover while they went on vacay), and I made a little more last pay period than I thought (hooray for paid meetings!), so I ordered some Manic Panic Flashlightning for my long-anticipated next hair-dye project. I need to get my bangs trimmed first, though. Hopefully I'll have enough pocket change when I get to college to pick up some microwaveable food (meal ticket? YEAHHH right.) and help spruce up the dorm a little bit, get an area rug, and maybe.. I don't know, those curtains? :D I'm so fxated on aesthetics, hah. It would seriously cheer me to be able to adorn my room, and especially to have those curtains.

I did fill out the application and put together a portfolio disc for a grant last night, and I'll take it to the post office tomorrow. The money would go to pay for a new camera. God, that'd be so nice.

I already have my huge picture box full of photographs/Polaroids/magazine clippings, etc. to coat the walls around my bed/desk area.

And I just used  with my roommate Grace.  One or both of our connections are TERRIBLE, and it made this endeavor very challenging. But we're going to try again later tonight.

____________

So, a class of students at North Meck (not the high school I graduated from-- another larger one nearby) apparently spent a large portion of the prior school year studying healthcare reform in relation to general politics, and completed an extensive group project comprised of drafting a hypothetical (but very thorough) healthcare bill that they submitted to Kay Hagan and a few other rep's for appraisal. Obviously, the point of this endeavor was to teach kids about politics, writing bills, and the nitty-gritty of the healthcare system, along with raising awareness in their environment-- no one (logical) made the mistake of thinking that these high schools were planning to pen the Obama healthcare reform bill that would be instituted as one of this term's landmark progress points.

The idea of such an exercise horrified the cranky old McCarthyists who seem to browse Charlotte.com, intent on spouting off their rehearsed The-Founding-Fathers-Would-Have-None-Of-This schpiel at everyone. SOCIALISTS! SOCIALISTS! They cry. I'm going to assume that none of these guys, who probably have been around long enough to truly recall what the Founding Fathers said (because they were in the parlor with them), were recipients of my OFA phone calls, because if they were, they'd understand that the Public Option that we're pushing is nothing like socialism. Capitalism is easily provided for in this system, where you CAN choose your own healthcare provider, and by god, if you want the most hoity-toity, exclusive, gold-waiting-list doctor in your region, you can pick them. What none of these self-righteous (..I hesitate to say "pricks," but..) loudmouths can shut their traps long enough to understand is what it's really like on the underside of the healthcare system, and how much reform ANYONE-- Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party-- will acknowledge that the system needs when they're familiar with that side of it.

(And the whole "Founding Fathers" rant is getting really old. Of course the men who drafted our Constitution and the Bill of Rights are meritous; they provided the solid, organized foundation for one of the strongest nations on Earth to prosper from. However, most of them were not "Christians" like everyone gets so excited about-- they were Deists, if even that, and many upheld some pretty  corrupt personal practices that could serve to invalidate that. And the fact is, no matter how much good you do, you are still equally capable of wrong. These men were not FLAWLESS, and they're not gods. Why do you think we've amended our Bill of Rights so many damn times?)

You can see the absurd scathing commentary doused upon this group of children (many of whom will likely be much smarter than the commentators, in a few years) here:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/834298.html

Ah, check that out. Left tragus pierced!

I've been waiting on this one for a long, long time. Shortly before I had it done, I took a minute to look at my traguses (tragii? Uhh..) in the mirror, and took note that I actually have very, very tiny ones. And I wondered if that could cause any problems in the piercing. It did. Hah. The very sweet girl at T.L.C. in Mooresville began to stick the needle through (nope, no piercing gun!), and slipped, half-piercing it. This hurt immensely and bled. She quickly assured me no damage had been done, though, and that she'd just have to finish where she started. Compared to that first slip of the needle, the rest was just pressure, relatively ouch-free. (I do sleep on my left side somewhat frequently, though, and this has become more difficult, as has wearing earbuds.)

Oh, I've penned a new creative essay.

http://averyalexandra.pbworks.com/Child-in-a-Cone

Done last night, after dinner.

Next post: shooting a comedy in South End for Manny Sadek that will hopefully be at Ballantyne Theatre. Stay tuned.

Currently From Chaos By 311 see related

Loveology

4:26 PM. It's storming nearby, showering here. I'm at home, on my back porch (more properly stated, at my home, which is the back porch, lately), enabled to do this by my laptop, one of the few extravagances I have left. Wearing what I woke up in; last night's lipstick still smudged on, dry. Rifling through a pack of 100s someone bought me, drinking cooled green tea. It's a green tea kind of day, and that means it's a thoughtful day; not an agonizingly thoughtful day, just a day to muse. And those days make the best blogging days, I find.

On a communicatory note ("Communicatory" --there's some descriptivism for you there), I have a new AIM. If you're my friend, my acquaintance, my future college classmate, or just one of the many Footprints on my site that I never get to know, feel free to shoot me a message. I like talking to and getting to know new people, especially if it gives me new things to write about on my Xanga (And yes, I'm aware, AIM is kind of middle-school, but I still use it to talk to people, along with Skype, Facebook, e-mail and text).

SN = et al et cetera

(The sun's out now. I wish it had stayed gray, or I hope the gray returns. Sunshine feels a little contrived at the moment.)

(Who did this cover art? It's cool. I'm aware that I'm asking a rhetorical question that I'm too lazy to look up in another Tab right now. )

I'm sure it would be displeasing to the company Audible (..if there was any one individual at this company aware enough to be displeased about this) to hear a new "customer" publicly tout that they've used Audible's 14-day Free Trial in order to obtain an Audiobook, with full intention of canceling that trial after the Audiobook has been finished and enjoyed.

But, eh. I'm poor (more accurately, broke). I did the same with Ancestry.com a month ago. If they offer it, I am free to indulge, and if they allow me to cancel with a claim of dissatisfaction, I may cancel (my dissatisfaction related to the fact that I will be asked to provide monetary compensation for books. Good books are art; art, in my opinion, is a metaphysical universal resource meant to be shared freely and not sold as a commodity. It can be argued that I am really just being cheap). And when the ad for Audible's trial appeared on my Facebook page, David Sedaris's new(ish) novel was depicted. I might not have taken the time to click on the ad, otherwise.

You see, I've read Naked, I've listened to a ton of Sedaris on audio in the car, and I've seen him live at the Blumenthal. I can't say he's as much of an intellectual turn-on as he has been for me; as my English teacher aptly described, Sedaris's crutch is irony and sarcasm. And though most humor today is based on these elements.. when you realize that this is essentially all you're laughing at, it feels a little... base. Uncreative. However, I had not completely dropped Sedaris, and I have been Limewiring his readings recently, with no luck. His new book looked interesting; so I got it on audio.

I've listened to 3 chapters, about 45 minutes of it thus far. And it's about what I expected, but a little better, I'd say, actually. The humor is right on track with what one can expect from Sedaris; the dry voice that describes in tragic anti-humor a well-scripted exagguration of childhood stories. However, that sounds like a scathing/condescending description, and it's not meant to be. This is what Sedaris does well. His new stories are funny; I enjoyed sitting out here and hearing them earlier today. His imitation of a horrific elderly nanny is actually pretty damn tickling.

There's nothing like Sedaris live/recorded. He's one of the few authors I'd rather hear than read.

(I don't hate all pictures of myself. However, this is not a favorite. I spent a long time on my curly ponytail on this evening, and yet my bangs decided to smush to my head. So my head isn't really flat, I promise.) Me and my friend Kel at the Calvar wedding. If you didn't read last post, Mr. Calvar is the Chamber Choir and AP Music Theory teacher at my (former..) high school. I do hope he enjoyed the card I made; I also ended up burning him a mix, which I hope he doesn't find trite, seeing as he is a quality musician and instructor, haha. I mean, I hugely appreciate classical music. But my CD for him, titled "Less Common Lve Songs," (though I did footnote that some of the songs were, uh, kind of common), was a contemporary romantic mix. Some cheerful songs, some slow dance songs, all kind of from my music taste (I mean, I couldn't go completely experimental. For most people, you don't put Animal Collective on a wedding album.)

The Calvar Wedding Mix CD:

My Love (Lykke Li)

White Flag (Dido)

Yellow [Coldplay Cover] (Jem)

Samson (Regina Spektor)

Michelle (The Beatles)

The Show (Lenka)

True Love Will Find You In The End (Wilco)

Up and Away (Dave Matthews)

Such Great Heights (Iron and Wine)

Raw Sugar (Metric)

Sea of Love (Cat Power)

Lisdexamphetamine* (Zack Polozune: my boyfriend. This is not a love song; it's his latest composition. I'm pretty sure Calvar's already heard it, but he may not have it on CD, and I figured it'd sort of be like a tribute-by-proxy from one of his composition students.)

The lovely couple, strolling onto the dance floor.

..I've been assigned my dorm: Gramley. I didn't have a strong preference, but I'm glad I got this one, because the beds are loftable. I also have a lot of friends on my hall.  A lot of my friends are in Babcock, though, so I'll definitely be crashing the other dorm a lot of the time. I'm hoping next year is the Honors Dorm, though. I don't know if it's any nicer, but I'll bet it's less crowded-- and we get to choose our own visitation hours.

Getting organized for college, like planning for any big move, is tricky. I have a four-tab  Spreadsheet (Bathroom, Bed, Desk, and Miscellaneous) for shopping/packing, and I feel like I've taken care to really think of most everything. But I'm SURE I'm missing things, big things. I really need more clothes; I didn't bring enough when I moved out. I need a digital camera, a nice digital SLR, desperately. And Waffle House still. hasn't. called. I don't know what to do. I have no money. I have just enough to cover this month's phone bill. That's it. And I need to be getting stuff for our room, my roommate Grace's and my dorm: an area rug, a lamp or two, ..I don't know, stuff for the walls? We need curtains. I feel like a terrible, cheap roommate.

The UO curtains I WISH I could buy .

I just tried to apply to Wal-Mart online. Their stupid online application is full of glitches. I'm going to have to drive to Mooresville and do it. I absolutely hate this.

On the flip side, my friend Tyler is enjoying a trip to Chicago as we speak. He's told me he loves the city, the people, etc. (I adore Chicago. If you scroll way back in my blog, I'll bet there's a post from when I went last August.) I was AIMing his cellphone, and we had the exchange seen below:

erwuxvcm (5:10:17 PM): It's really stuffy. Question: are places unique for anything other than the atmosphere's they create? As I walk through the city, I'm thinking about that

..What makes a "place?" Isn't it a completely relative term? Who defines where the "place" ends? First, on a basic level, if I say, "I love living in this place," I could be referring to a house, street, neighborhood, town, city, county, country, or maybe something that falls between those divisions. And what defines a location? As I'm re-reading our conversation excerpt, I'm not sure I really understand what he means by his second line there. (I just texted him to ask for elaboration.) Oh, gross, I just ashed on my speaker. I hate that.

I want to discuss this more, but I feel like I need him to further direct that discussion; it's kind of vague and I want to know what you mean, Tyler, by "atmosphere." My first thought was that the people in a location help determine what the location becomes, but I suppose that could be considered part of the.. atmosphere? What is atmosphere? This feels like it's going to become a chicken-egg dilemma (Is anything about a place inherent, or is it completely dependent on artificial factors?).

He's currently busy, and he says he wrote these thoughts down, and will get back to me tonight. Until then, the question remains open for thought.

This summarizes the nature of the Zack/Avery relationship.

I did get out for a sleepover with some of my girlfriends. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and Chick-fil-A for dessert, and we did  with Zack (he's still at  for Orientation/Registration. My friend Karen, whose house we stayed at, left today at 11 for hers, also at ECU), went for a 1 AM walk, then watched The Lion King online until we fell asleep on the guest bed. Heh. It was a nice break from routine.

Currently Grow Up and Blow Away By Metric "Raw Sugar" see related

Melt My Heart To Stone

Eh, I’m glad to see that this is at least marginally legible onscreen. This is a card I threw together last night at 10:30, haphazardly, using copy paper, a scrap of green construction paper, a highlighter, a blow pen, a glass pen, and a brown puff-ink pen. Bahaha. Innovation. (Zack’s Chamber Choir / AP Theory teacher, whom he’s known for four years, is getting married tomorrow. I haven’t been to a wedding in a long time, and this’ll be the first one that I’ve been to that I haven’t been in.)

I still haven’t written the inside yet, though I’m sure it’ll include a Hallmark-y play-on-cover-graphics followed by as personal a message as can be written to a couple I only know in passing. Hah. I’ve seen the future Mrs. Calvar (she’s a cutie ), at a student wedding shower in the school Black Box this spring, but I don’t think she even knows who I am, haha. I’ve hugged and shook hands with Mister a handful of times when he was with Zack, and it seemed like a gesture from “Zack’s girlfriend” was called for at the conclusion of the conversation. Haha. Still, I know my boyfriend admires him deeply (and got him a stellar wedding present, though I may not be at liberty to announce it, since word travels fast).

I have this season’s Victoria’s Secret playlist on, and this is simultaneously enjoyable and agonizing, because I never actually get to hear this music while standing behind the pink counter or waltzing about in the dressing room. Maybe I do too much waltzing in the dressing rooms, and this is why I am in absentia from Lingerie Land. Still, I provided my presence at the (optional) store meeting last weekend, and I fully intend to do the assignment given at the meeting (test the new Very Sexy Goes Pink bras and report with written results to supervisor). I am positively saccharine while on the clock. Can I have some hours this week? Please? I don’t understand why you’d reject 2 out of 3 of my Time-Off Requests for the month (and I never ask for full days off, just a couple hours here and there, generally for volunteer work) ..if you’re not planning on working me at all this week. I seriously open my online schedule now to a blank calendar.

Maggie Gyllenhaal in Stranger than Fiction. My favorite (stranger than) fictional working-girl. This is how I feel when I see my blank work schedule.

Waffle House in Cornelius was supposed to call this morning, and I ended up calling them; my background check’s not back. I want to tell them how much I NEED this job right now. I’m offering them most of my sleeping hours and some of my waking ones. And I have to pay for insurance, books, dorm gear, and college clothes, not to mention the graduation present I was going to get Zack, and film, and so much else. I’m sick of this. I’m an able body who’s decently intelligent and willing to work all summer. AM I THIS UNDESIRABLE TO THE WORK WORLD? Pause, I need to go have the last cigarette of this pack.

--Oh, and look at this, the mailman has brought me my roommate.

Ironically, I had put “Roommate” in this post’s Tags already because I thought I found someone whom I wanted to room with. She appears to be on vacation, and it appears that I’ve had my mind made up for me before her return. I’m picturing whoever’s in charge of this reading over my preferences form and, unable to find anyone to coordinate with my eccentric-ass self, assigning me someone completely random.

That’s not to say that I’m not excited to meet future roomie. It’s just that I’m already high-strung from the meds at this time of day, and so all kinds of horrid hypothetical scenarios are roaming my brain. But my higher mind is sure that things will be fine and    Grace     and I will be just chummy. (I hope.)

I’m going to shoot her an e-mail later, see if we're going to get along. (I don’t see her on Facebook, but I have her e-mail address. Does this mean she's .. not aware of Facebook? Too anti-establishment for Facebook? The latter, I hope.)

It’s hot out, like it is every day now, though there’s a nice breeze. I took the laptop out earlier for a first smoke, and even though I’d eaten a big brekkie, I was ridiculously off-balance, and almost fell a couple of times. And now I will mention that today is Day 5

(or 6? I’m not sure, but I skipped a day in the middle there) of being back on Vyvanse.  It’s a mixed bag, results-wise.  Interruption for a recent treasure-uncovery :

radioactiveAVERY (2:06:23 PM): Ooh, a Lenka cover of Gravity Rides Everything by Modest Mouse

radioactiveAVERY (2:06:26 PM): I'm liking.

End of digression. Days 1-3 of Vyvanse were.. manic. More manageably manic than in the past, though. I did a 2-hour makeover of the refrigerator, cleaned, organized, labeled everything. Applied to jobs, did campaign calls, registered for two volunteer events, handled all kinds of responsibilities. Worked out and made muffins and read. However, I did not sleep much over those three days, and not taking care to sleep adequately on my meds resulted in Day 4, which culminated around 4:30 PM in a violent panic attack, which my boyfriend and his dad helped me quell with some blush wine and Hydroxycine. I was slurring myself to sleep within minutes, and was unfortunately still a bit.. eh, rosy-cheeked during dinner (I made some amusing commentary and waved at the cats). I skipped my meds the next day, which ushered me into full recovery around 1 PM the next day. It was absolutely miserable. However, when I stop taking my ADHD medication, I end up hating myself for not sticking the first few “adjustment days” out, so yesterday (Day 5) I took it again. It was shaky, but not bad, and today is similar. Productive, a bit weak, high-strung and jumpy but doing alright. Just re-stocked my week-to-week pill cabinet*.

*Current Pill Inventory: This is partially for my own organization, but hey, for those reading with an anthopologic lens, it might be interesting. I’m going to need to track what needs to be re-purchased and/or added for l’universitie.

Vyvanse (ADHD)

Iron (Anemia)

Flaxseed Oil (Circulation)

Ibuprofen (Chronic Headaches. Partially because I can’t drink coffee anymore with my Vyvanse. I need to stock up on decaf. Not that that’ll help headaches, but I miss waking up to brew.)

Clarinex (Allergies)

Singulair (Allergies)

5-HTP (OUT) (Anxiety)

Hydroxine (Anxiety)

Zantac (Acid Reflux. Lovely, I know.)

Beta-Carotene (Skin, general antioxidant superpowers)

Magnesium (Bones and Muscles)

Er, I think that’s it. I need more 5-HTP, Some HairSkinNail pills. I have Folic Acid in my college box (no, I’m not pregnant. It’s good for everyone). And I’d like some supplements like Cinnamon, COQ-10, more green tea extract. Melatonin and/or Kava, which I take for sleep every few nights. And of course, Silk Milk, for, ah.. soy purposes. Haha.

I swear, I actually conduct myself with relative n0rmalcy on a day-to-day basis.

ON A RELATED NOTE : I’m becoming increasingly active with the OFA (Obama for America) Healthcare Action Center. I stick with this issue because it’s close to my heart, so to speak. I’d been planning to write the President a letter about healthcare, but when I got a mass e-mail from Biden about submitting your healthcare stories, I was quick to jot mine down. Here, have a read :

http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/189254

I’m making 5 phone calls a day in the campaign to “neighbors” (although I never end up calling my actual neighbors, more like my figurative neighbors all over the state. And in one case, a woman who put her cellphone on the call list—why would you do this?—and answered in Switzerland, where it was apparently 2 AM at time of dialing. This woman was on vacation, and assumedly had been sleeping, because she was PISSED like nothing I’d ever heard. I mean, I was extremely apologetic. How the hell was I supposed to know she wasn’t at home in Charlotte? I wouldn’t have been this angry in her situation, but she was like, “JUST-JUST-SHUT UP. STOP TALKING.” And she had a few choice words before she hung up in disgust. So I checked the box titled “Did not wish to speak with me at this time,” though maybe I should have checked “I am not comfortable talking with this neighbor,” followed by the text-box explanation, “This neighbor is a sour bitch.” However, this felt undemocractic, and for the sake of continuing my calling career, I followed procedure and finished up calls for the day).  

In these calls I explain the President’s three key points for the Public Option. Nervously, I might add. I’m not nervous with people at all, but something about the phone freaks me out. I’m not even collecting donations, but I feel like a telemarketer in this position, and I often feel like these people are angry from the moment I begin my scripted dialogue (and this is not always inaccurate, even when the recipient is not in Switzerland).

Anyway, check out my story, scroll my profile to find out why a libertarian is working for a Democrat for free. Heh.

This book is going marvelously. The premise of writing a hyper-intelligent book about the least intelligent topics possible appeals to me completely; if you've by chance seen my short essay "Salon Se Swa" or even just talked to me, you know that I relish this kind of thing. It's almost like defeating the stupidity in a "stupid" topic through deconstruction. And Klosterman is painfully funny about it. Comparing a scene in the Pam/Tommy Lee sex tape to the butchering of the cow at the end of Apocalypse Now had me doing a very unattractive, bowled-over laugh on the back porch last night. 

("Salon Se Swa," averyalexandra.pbwiki.com)

Today’s Objectives : Finish that card, now that the paint’s dry (I love DIY. So much more satisfying than store-bought). E-mail roomie. Do nails. Keep my friend entertained via text as she rides in the car to Rhode Island with nothing but her iPod for fun. Check on the essential oil I’m making. Maybe go to the gym. Hopefully just get out for a while.