Be good to one another

For those of you who dont know this picture mashes two themes - Bioware's Mass Effect  Shepard character with Hasbro's My Little Pony  character Pinkie Pie. 

It was made on commission by artist supacrikeydave as a commissioned piece on the website Deviant Art. Little did  Dave know that his art would be featured on  Mass Effect's facebook page where it stirred up quite the ruckus.

Recently there has been a controversial rise in fan's of Hasbro's My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic. But these are not the fans that you would expect. They are not in the target audience of young girls. These are teenage and grown males who have come to appreciate the show. They have been dubbed "bronies" and were the root of the fuss when BioWare posted the above picture.

Bronies are somewhat controversial in and of themselves. They have been accused of many a malicious intent from trolling to pedophilia. After BioWare posted the picture it was immediately hit with over 4,000 comments, almost 10,000 "likes" and just over 3,000 shares. Posters accused Bronies of being "creepers" untrustworthy, and all sorts of unpleasant things I will not repeat.

Some even went as far as to call for a mass "unlike" of the page. Some when even further than that and called for people to sell all their Mass Effect games.

It didnt take long for BioWare to respond with a blog post here.  The title of the blog is appropriately "What is a Community?" Social Media Coordinator David Hulegaard, calls fans out to be accepting of one another. "...rather than become hostile and turn against the community, we have an alternate suggestion: Create something better. Instead of raving about what you don’t like, show us an example of something that appeals to you." He makes the point that fan art of any form is accepted and often reposted. Shepard Pinky is not the first and will not be the last. The post is ended simply - "Be good to one another."


Those five little words are applicable to almost every situation. Very similar to the christian golden rule " Do unto others as you would have them do to you." I think too often we make snap judgments and are too quick to be offended by another's opinion. This could often be avoided by simply remembering to "Be good to one another."

The Lorax movie review

The Good:

•  The animation is fun and the colors very like the book. 
• There are subtle little details from the book that are included in the movie.  A couple of examples:
• the green fuzzy arms from the book are in the movie as long green fuzzy gloves
• the stripes from the trees
• the depiction of the "thneed" 

The Bad:

• The added nemesis - Mr. O'Hara. A short, ugly little man who literally sells bottled air. Did not add to the original story in a positive way at all.  
• The portrayal of the barb-a-loots wasnt very seussical in my opinion. 
• The romantic subplot could have worked but it fell flat
• The ending left much to be desired and lacked the curious simplicity of the book.  

The Ugly:

• The environmental agenda (see below)

Conclusion:

        Overall it wasnt a horrible film but I do not believe it followed the true spirit of the book. 

I give kids movies a LOT of leeway. There are some things that just dont matter to kids- minor plot holes, inconsistencies etc. But there is one thing I cannot stand in children's movies - an agenda. 

        And the Lorax is riddled with an environmental agenda. The character additions were not to improve the story, they were added solely for the pushing of the agenda. 

        Children's films are supposed to filled with imagination, colors, sweets, treats, animals and perhaps a bit of education. They are supposed to be lighthearted and fun. The Lorax lacked all of the above due to the agenda it pushed. Get the book it is better by far. It made a point but did not push it. 

Rotten Tomatoes  

The Book:

Today I learned: Zoo edition

1) Lorikeets are gorgeous and while they might feast on sweet smelling nectar they can be feisty little buggers who demand the sweets.

2) The dolphin dome is awesome and yet terrifying.

3) Some people lock up their strollers like a bike. There are even cutsey little animal themed locks made just for strollers.

4) Who ever had the idea to have photographers at the entrance of the zoo having every one post for pictures and then giving them a card so that they can look at them and have the option to get prints of the pics is a genius. 

5) Baby elephants are stumbling, bumbling piles of adorable.

6) I will always love pressed pennies.

7) Strollers can be used as battering rams.

8) Its fun to watch little kids think they could be faster than a Cheetah

9) My in-laws dog kinda looks like a meerkat with pig ears.

  

Handegg

So living in good ol’ Indiana everybody loves football. Crazy hoosiers. No, let me try that again- most people in the midwest love football. At least most of the people around me. And let me tell you these are hardcore fans.


These are the people who consider superbowl sunday a national holiday. Jerseys are seen anytime you go anywhere in public. And its gets worse closer to that lovely sunday. I have heard of local churches canceling services on that day due to low attendance.


People who make sure they dont have to work that sunday (some even take the day before and the day after off to prep for / recover from the party.) The local walmart carries jerseys of the local NFL team. And these arent just guys - its the girls too. They get their pink versions of their favorite players jersey, a pink hat to match, or wear the regular colors but are sure to tie little ribbons in their hair to match.


I am married to a football fan. His parents are football fans. Superbowl is not just another sunday.It is a sunday of snacks and family and “the big game.” I don't mind superbowl sunday. I usually sit on my computer eating awesome food, half listening to the football chatter. My brothers like football, one particularly more so than the others but they all enjoying watching it.  In college I had a roommate who loved (still does that I am aware of) the colts.


Despite having grown up around all of this, having a crazy football fan for a husband, and awesome in-laws who try their hardest to include me in the football festivities, I must admit - I do not care for football in the least.


Despite the efforts of my roommate, brother, husband, and mother-in-law, I have not been convinced. It is just not something I can get into. I always tell my husband that it just seems silly to me to spend hours watching men in tight pants (wait, that might be why the women like it) violently shove each other around while chasing an oval balloon of pigskin. He hasn't given up and neither has my mother-in-law, the crazy goofballs. And I am sure that this blog post will renew their ambition to convert me once again.


There’s nothing wrong with football. But what it comes down to is this: I cant be a fan of a sport that I cant get excited about or interested in. It just doesnt appeals to me. Then again not many traditional sports do.


I am not beyond trolling people though. I have been known to enthusiastically root for the other team just to pick on people. It’s all in good fun but I honestly couldnt care less.

So to all you football fans - enjoy the upcoming football season. Go ahead and hog the tvs. Its not the worst hobby you could have. 

I leave you with a pic that depicts the thing about football that has always bugged me:

Migraines, dog pee, hugs, ponies, and zombies? a randomness post

What do the aforementioned things have in common? They are the key elements from my day today! I woke up with a migraine decided to go back to bed only to find a puddle of dog pee (not his fault I forgot to leave the door cracked so dad could take him out at 4am). Ugg! 

Not long later I finally got to see my husband after 8 days of being apart. It might seem ridiculous to some how much I missed him but at least I admit it. I really admire the girl's who can go month's with out seeing their guys. I definitely could not  be an army wife. I miss my husbands hugs after a couple of hours. A week was bad enough. 

We went to walmart so Clint could get a few things and my awesome bro-in-law, Dallas, (the self admitted Brony) picked up the My Little Ponies dvd that he had been looking for. I found out later in the day that this crazy boy has written a crazy long fanfic that is something like 40,000 words. So now I must watch all the episodes so I can read this monster. I have watched a handful of episodes and liked it alright but I want to play better attention and see them in the right order. I get the feeling I will like it. (Don't judge it could always be worse.) 

Finishing out the day we spent time with the family and introduced Dallas to The Walking Dead. Zombies are always fun. But I feel so sorry for that poor horse in the first episode. 

Continuing the randomness I leave you all with this which contains more than a shred of truth IMO:

Home

 As much as I love my in-laws (and they are amazing let me tell ya), the past week has been hard on me not only being apart from my husband but just the fact that this is not my home. I love and appreciate my in-laws for letting me stay here but this is not my home. The bed I sleep in is not my  bed. The closet my wedding dress is hanging in is not my closet.
       The fact is right now my home has no physical form. Yes, to an extent home is where the people you love are but it is also a matter of having a place to call your own. A place to make your own memories. A place to be free and comfortable like no other place in this world. A place to sigh. A place to breathe. A place to live and love and laugh.
   To me home has two main forms. The physical building whether it be house or apartment provides the sense of having a place to call one’s own. Home also has the aspect of people. An empty home is not comforting. God didnt design us to be alone. For most it is a husband or wife who help to complete that aspect of home. Which is why I am sure once Clint is around this will feel more like home to me.

I know I will have a home again soon. And I will appreciate it more than I did before.  

Memories

Best described as a combination of rotting fish and industrial cleaning chemicals, the smell of my neighbors meth lab is one I won’t soon forget. Thankfully due to the way the units are set up most of our stuff was unaffected. But our back storage area got it the worst. There were things back there that we just could not chance keeping. I had to throw away things that i really didnt want to - old high school journals, some movie ticket stubs, some things I was keeping for my future daughters, and a handful of other things.


But as we sorted these things with handkerchiefs over our faces I realized something - the memories are still there. I need to quit attaching my memories to things and take the memories for what they are - remembrance of a time past. Just because I dont have those ticket stubs, or old magazines doesnt mean I cant remember the laughs, smiles, and inside jokes.

The Chick-Fil-A Debate

I swore I wouldn't but I recently sat in on an interesting discussion of this topic. So here is my short and sweet (albeit pointed) view on the recent debate broken down in five points.


1) Freedom of speech - Cathy had the right to say what he did and has the right to run his business how he pleases. Just as each individual person has the right to respond (both verbally and otherwise) with their opinions. Would the public really have accepted and moved on from a "No comment"?

2) The Church’s reaction -  There are two parts about the church’s reaction that bugged me.

First of all, it just reinforced the stereotypes that push unbelievers away from the church. This is something I can and will write an entire blog post about. But in short- populations can either prove or disprove the stereotypes and misconceptions about themselves.

Secondly, it seemed to me that it was a knee-jerk reaction. In His time on earth Jesus was a mediator and a peace-maker. He was humble and lived simply. He was not loud or called attention to himself. He spoke up when it was needed but it was always in a spirit of humbleness not in defensive or harsh manner. As christian’s we need to reflect Him. The reaction to me was not humble or a reflection of him.

3) The other side- It is a normal reaction to stand up for one’s self. While I do not believe Cathy meant it in an offensive manner, it is understandable that it was taken as such due to how christian’s do normally act towards homosexuals.

4) The politics - I hate saying this but I question the politician's reactions (both liberal and conservative) in light of the upcoming elections. It seemed to me they reacted as boldly as they did solely for political support.

5) Conclusion - I think both sides have made mistakes in the past week. Christians need to be more humble and realize that reactions like the ones this week do NOT show the love of Christ. Also in debates such as this there are two things I feel people often forget. The first is that BOTH sides have the right not only to their opinion but to vocalize it. The second is that arguments, heated debates and drama rarely get people anywhere, so even though being prepared (and willing) to agree to disagree may be difficult, it is for the best.






I welcome feedback and opinions on this post but drama will not be responded to. I am not trying to start any arguments nor will I respond to anything that is argumentative.

The FAQs

There are a handful of questions that I have been asked many times over the last few weeks. So I’m gonna address them here.

Did you guys know?
No. We had our suspicions that something was wasn’t right but certainly nothing as serious as a meth lab. We couldnt believe that she was dumb enough to cook where she slept. There was some unusual traffic and the fact that they had a rowboat propped against the side of the house what a little weird but not anything we could call the cops over.

Did you smell anything?
Obviously not enough to raise any flags to us. We smelled a lot of cigarette smoke though which bugged us enough. The last day we were there however we discovered that we could smell it in our back storage hall (which makes sense in in lieu of it being one of the closest areas to where they were doing the cooking) It is a smell neither of us will ever forget. We threw out almost everything back there not wanting to risk it.


Did you guys get sick?
Not anything too serious. I know at least for me it was causing some minor issues but they are already clearing up being out of the environment. And like i said before, it affected Gabe worse (or at least more noticeably) than us.

What did the owner of the apartments say?
Not much. They were, of course, upset. It’s not likely they will be able to rent out either of the two units for a while.


Resources and further information:

http://methlabhomes.com/2011/07/how-meth-labs-can-effect-your-health/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=former-meth-lab

http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/methlabfaq.pdf

So we live in the same building as a former meth lab- What now?

That night was difficult. We were, of course, more than a little freaked out. The questions and worst case scenarios swirled in our heads.
Were we being affected physically? 
Just how toxic are the gases? 
How does it affect dogs? 
Does it have long term effects? 
Should we even sleep here tonight? 

What do we do now?

There was a little bit of crying, a bit of rage, and more than a little panic that night. But after a couple of hours of this we decided, as crazy as this might sound, that the best thing for us would be to just sleep on it. We needed to be clear headed and not panic stricken before making any decisions. So we did our best to unwind and fall asleep.

By Saturday we had made two major decisions. The first was that the move was definitely gonna be sooner than October.  We did enough research to know the general symptoms and what to watch out for but also that the sooner we got out the better. (tomorrow’s blog post will contain some of the info that I have gathered about all of that)

The second was that it would be best for Gabe (our dog) if we sent him somewhere we knew he would be safe. So we talked to Clint’s parent’s who agreed to take care of him until we got everything sorted out. Which we discovered the following week was for the best because the gases had been affecting him. He had been lacking energy, had a rash, some tummy issues, and issues with fluids draining from his ears and nose. They were all little symptoms that had built up over time that we had attributed to other things. The mucus/ fluid build up we attributed to allergies, the rash from some funny weeds in the backyard, tummy issues from just the fact that he gets into everything.  After he was out of the environment for even just a week he was doing drastically better.

After a few more days and many long discussions we decided we needed to be out of that apartment as soon as possible. So I made some calls and we made plans to move out on July 31st. We made a not so easy decision to go 2 seperate ways for a few weeks.  We put our stuff in storage in Fort Wayne. Clint is staying Upland to work an extra week at Ivanhoes after which he will head up to Fort Wayne to find and start a new job. I made the drive up to Clint’s parents house where I will do some job hunting and get started back at school. If everything goes according to plan we will be in the new apartment sometime by the end of the month.

The next 3 weeks or so will not be easy especially for Clint so prayers are appreciated.
The whole situation has made us examine ourselves, our life, our priorities. The past 2 years in Upland we knew there was just one reason we were there - so Clint could get his degree. We  didn't really focus on anything else. For me it was just a matter of dealing with it - grinning and bearing it. I did not enjoy living in Upland at all. I know it was something we had to do, but it just was not my kind of town. That’s not to say that it was all bad. I did have some great experiences and met some awesome people down there. But I also had some horrible ones and met some not so great people.

So to the people who made the bright moments in a town I hated shine as so very brightly they did - thank you! Despite all of that bad memories I wouldnt trade my time because than I would miss out on the good memories.
Kate, Pete, Victoria, Nathan, - You guys are awesome and have been such awesome friends.  To my fellow co-workers at the 3 places of employment in that 2 years- I wish you the best in your lives. 
To those of you who I dont have such fond memories of, those I need to forgive, that full forgiveness will come with time. The hurt you caused has helped shape me to be a stronger person, there are just a few of you that I am still working on the forgiveness part.

The more I look back on my time in Upland the more I know I will see the ways I have learned and grew (and I will have plenty of time for that over the next few weeks). At the moment though, I am just happy in the thought that it is behind me, that I will never live in that town again.  

Hello August 1st! Hello Change! - Why our move was so sudden

I have been waiting for this day for a little over 2 weeks now. It is the beginning of the next step in my life. It means that July is OVER! And thank God for that! July was one of the roughest months in a while for me. Oh wait you want to know why? What have you heard? Ok. I guess I can write about that :D.

Like I said it all started a little over 2 weeks ago. Clint was finishing up his last class at Taylor and we were both working at the wonderful Ivanhoes' ( a local ice cream shop/ drive -in thing within walking distance of our apartment). I had taken a few weeks off of school because I had been going non stop with out a break for 2 years. At the time the plan was to take our time and move back to Fort Wayne easily. We had just started looking into apartments and made the decision to invite one of our friends, Jason to room with us once we moved back. We started looking for jobs and making tentative plans, but really didn't expect to move until September at the very earliest.

Lets just say God didn't like that time table. Our life seems to be the prime example of the saying "You want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans." Clint and I fully admit we are both very stubborn people. So when God doesnt like our plans he tends to do something drastic to get our attention. This time was no different. 

It was a thursday. Clint and I both had off so we decided to go into fort wayne to look at some apartments with Jason and to just have some fun. Fast forward to 10:30pm- we turn at the gas station and our little apartment comes into view. There are a TON of cars parked out front. We quickly realize that most of them are police cars. My stomach turned and I knew something big had happened and had a horrible feeling it was gonna impact us more than we could imagine. 

There are so many cars we pull up on the grass on our side of the unit. We are immediately approached by a man who identifies himself as Sheriff or state trooper someone or another. After verifying that we live there he informs us that our neighbor had been cooking meth. As he says this a person in a white hazmat suit walks out of the door behind him like some sort of cruel emphasis to the fact that on the other side of our wall there was a highly explosive and noxious gas lab. 

Needless to say we barely slept that night. We stayed up talking about what we should do. But we both knew that a knee jerk reaction would not be the right one in the long run. So eventually we went to bed. . . .