resolutions in september
September 1, 2010
I received some pictures from the Flugtag pre-party shindig we got to attend:
That’s my big, bald sweetheart, Joshua.
She of the gracious invite to said shindig, Aislinn.
These images tie into one of two new resolutions.
- I will be less stingy with photographs
I’m notoriously camera shy and that is putting it nicely. I’m generally pretty profane in my aversion to being in a picture and despite all my ‘radical self-love‘ speak, I insist every one that does end up taken is ugly and… the f-word. Fat. All the time with this! I need to cut the shit. Pictures don’t have to be pretty. They have to capture a moment in time so you can laugh at your hair with your (or someone else’s) grandbabies!
I may not share all or even most of the pictures I find myself taking willingly but I will not shy away or bash myself either!
The second resolution I recently made, and please suppress your laughter, is:
- I will be nicer
Simply put. I have learned a lot about myself and I don’t like a lot of what I see. I recognize the selfishness and the roundabout and confusing way I try to deal with my anger. I see that I try to place blame more often than I will accept it as my own. My personality is generally very abrasive and without sacrificing who I am, I think I could make a conscious effort to be friendlier and more engaging. I’ve unofficially made Ree the supervisor of this resolution. As such, she is allowed to tell me when I’m acting the opposite of my resolve and I can’t take it personally. Because that wouldn’t be nice.
Wish me luck. Please.
-CJ
quote worthy
August 30, 2010
sharing & shout-outs
June 22, 2010
You know, I don’t really want to live in a fascist grammarian dictatorship where people have to grasp how the English language is used and punctuated before they are allowed to become parents. Except I kind of do. Maybe. Sometimes.
By way of recommendation (through snail mail! awesome!) I started reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. It has the cover of YA self-mutilation awareness fiction but it is an incredible read. Flynn received an Edgar nomination for Best First Novel. I have no idea if this is prestigous or if Edgar just reads and awards from a basement in middle America but it looks good on the back cover. I will happily devour everything this author does in the future. (Thanks, Marci Bones!)
-CJ
the battles that aren’t fought
June 10, 2010
(They may never be clicked or read or considered, but I’m doing a disservice every time I don’t use my own public forum to spread words I find inspiring, motivational or simply, worth the read.)
I found Fran Varian’s words for the first time in It’s So You: 35 Women Write About Personal Expression Through Fashion and Style. Though I finished the book a week ago, I looked her up today for more, more, more.
At hipmama.com, I found this: Teeth
Fran put words to the death of a young boy who didn’t have the insurance coverage to remove an abcessed tooth. For this, he died. She talks about the passion with which abortion is fought against and the contrasting lack of passion to help the children we already have.
A 12 year-old boy died this past Sunday from poverty, in the United States of America. It’s not as uncommon as it might seem.
Deamonte Driver had a right to life. He had the right to finish the 7th grade and do whatever 12 year-old boys do in the summer these days. His mother wanted this child so much she harbored him inside of her uterus for forty weeks. I believe she had a right to watch him grow up. I believe that every Mother has the right to watch her child grow up.
…
I would join your protests over this boy’s death but I doubt you’ll organize any. Somehow I can’t see you aiming your bullhorns at Maryland in one collective outcry of anger and grief the same way you flocked to Florida and wailed outside the window of a grown woman who wanted to die.
Somewhere in South Dakota there’s a terrified 19 year-old girl with a toilet full of morning sickness, no boyfriend and no money.
Let us pray.
-CJ
speak with caution
June 1, 2010
This needed to be said and the connotations associated with choice need to be recognized.
From Tranifesto:
I just finished watching a new indie gay and lesbian film that had an interesting premise, but I felt like I was back in the ’70s, with the word “homosexual” being thrown around all the time, even by the gay and lesbian characters, and this little gem coming from one of the young lesbian characters when talking to her father:
“I didn’t choose to be this way. I’ve always been this way. I’d be straight if I could. My life would be so much easier.”
I get really tired of this argument, which makes straight the default — and the desirable — way to be, and gay or lesbian the undesirable and unchosen way to be — a way that was forced on certain unfortunate people as a mistake of birth. After all, who wouldn’t want to be straight if they could?
I don’t know anyone who would prefer their sexuality be anything other than what it is, but I have heard this statement in a broad, assuming sense and I’m not sure the speaker realized their implications. Sometimes someone else has to explain something in such a way (as above) for one to rethink.
-CJ
My friend Ashley supplies an almost constant flow of entertainment from her post in Wyoming. Example: World’s Best Relationship Tips
If you were ever going to learn a thing or two about yourself and your sig-o, let it be from an instructional featuring such images as:
(Note tiny caption: Kee-f*cking-yai, motherf*cker)
Probably the best way to combat jealousy is with macaroni art. Everyone loves macaroni art. It is a symbol for good intentions, thoughtfulness and love. And if you use enough glitter, she’ll forget she ever felt anything less than unadulterated adoration for you.
YES.
“I DIED, and then laughed myself into a second death.” –Ashley
Thank you, love.
-CJ
the internet’s favorite eleven-month-old
May 10, 2010
My adamant refusal to allow this week to suck was aided so much by the eighteen second video at the end of this post: http://dooce.com/2010/05/06/baby-bird
Sound is unnecessary. The expression around 16 seconds has guaranteed me a happy thirty-six hours, solid.
If you don’t squeal or wiggle or express your joy with some immature bodily sound or movement, clearly you’re insensitive. My being easily pleased almost every day of the week has absolutely nothing to do with this.
-CJ
about a week after I admitted my love for him
February 11, 2010
a break down of the John Mayer interview that I’m sure you’ve heard something about
The best part? This comment from Kandeezie:
“I just sold my tickets to his Valentine’s Day concert in Toronto (yeah, laugh, I was one of those girls who loved him to death!). Yay for “preferences” but when you make a sweeping statement about black women – essentially that we’re cute but not high enough of the social hierarchy to date, then it’s Craigslist for me and my tickets! The other 5 million fails in this interview just blow my mind. Really.”
I’m all for brutal honesty, even when it bites. Half of the quotes I actually giggled at. I don’t take from this that Mayer is racist, just really shitty at averting stupid questions with open answers that wouldn’t alienate a huge percentage of his fan base.
“My dick is sort of like a white supremacist.”
That’s sick, dude.
Offensive statements are spewed daily by all walks. But when you’re saying this many of them for print? Watch your fuckin’ mouth.
-CJ
