Zoom Zoom

Ok, so all this doom and gloom and world issues mess kept me from sleeping last night. So...
Today I giggled.
See why here

Good times.

The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener was amazing, heart breaking, inspiring, beautiful, sad, poetic, and truthful. It's a movie that touched me to the quick. It furthered my desire to be 'a world citizen,' to help the people that really need help. It will be rewarding to help my own neighbors once I learn how, but I hope that I will have the courage to use my knowledge to help people who know true desolation. I want to KNOW my little blue planet.

Also, on a more whimsical note, Rachel Weisz who plays Tess in TCG said this about her real life husband:

"I found myself a sophisticated, educated American. He's not an actor. He's traveled the world. He knows where Europe is, unlike a lot of Americans. He's very cultured, but he's all man."

I think it's perfect.

War. What is it good for?

Absolutely not a damn thing.
The Israeli government and military can suck my left toe. I am so sick of their aggressive, ethnocentric, US-backed bullshit. I know America can be accused of the same thing, but at least we do some humanitarian work to balance it out. I don't know. The whole thing blows. Israel is no longer David. It has become Goliath.

On CNN's front page this morning:

Mania

And this is why I NEVER EVER want to work in psych. Good Lord Almighty!

This is a video with audio in Austrian and English subtitles. There is cussing and screaming and even a little bit of manic laughter.

The website says the boy is German, but I've been told that is incorrect.

Angry Austrian Kid

A smart man once said...

Maslow was a humanist who suggested that humans have a hierarchy of five basic needs which culminate in self-actualization. He thought educators should strive to impart this wisdom:

1. We should teach people to be authentic, to be aware of their inner selves and to hear their inner-feeling voices.
2. We should teach people to transcend their cultural conditioning and become world citizens.
3. We should help people discover their vocation in life, their calling, fate or destiny. This is especially focused on finding the right career and the right mate.
4. We should teach people that life is precious, that there is joy to be experienced in life, and if people are open to seeing the good and joyous in all kinds of situations, it makes life worth living.
5. We must accept the person as he or she is and help the person learn their inner nature. From real knowledge of aptitudes and limitations we can know what to build upon, what potentials are really there.
6. We must see that the person's basic needs are satisfied. This includes safety, belongingness, and esteem needs.
7. We should refreshen consciousness, teaching the person to appreciate beauty and the other good things in nature and in living.
8. We should teach people that controls are good, and complete abandon is bad. It takes control to improve the quality of life in all areas.
9. We should teach people to transcend the trifling problems and grapple with the serious problems in life. These include the problems of injustice, of pain, suffering, and death.
10. We must teach people to be good choosers. They must be given practice in making good choices.

I think it is beautiful in its simplicity, even if it is a little grandiose. Too bad it's not small or trendy enough to turn into a bumper sticker or catchy logo. The people around here have a lot to learn from Dr. Maslow. Myself included.

Read more about Maslow here: Dr. Maslow

Be Like The Squirrel

Be like the squirrel, girl
Be like the squirrel
Give it a whirl, girl
Be like the squirrel

Yesterday I made a beef and vegetable stew out of the leftovers from my steak I grilled the night before and every canned and frozen vegetable I had in my kitchen. I threw in some Campbell’s vegetarian vegetable soup for the broth effect. Added a dash of Tony's and I had a masterpiece. Ok... maybe not a masterpiece, but it was pretty tasty. After it cooled I ladled it into six or seven Ziplocs to be frozen. Now when I get home from school this fall and I'm too tired to cook, I will have a decent meal. I'm thinking about finding some casserole dishes to give the same treatment to.

As time gets closer I get a little bit more anxious. I've started hearing stories about 12 hour clinicals and tests on the first day. It's starting to sink in that I'm REALLY going to nursing school. I know it's not med school or grad school, but I've been working towards this for so long that I can't help but feel that it is momentous. I'm a little worried too. I mean, when I graduate people are going to be trusting me with their lives. That is scary.

I feel like a little kid at the theme park for the first time. I am the first one in line waiting on the 'Super Scary Mega Coaster' to get back to the station so I can step on. I'm excited, anxious, scared and impatient to begin.

Yesterday I met an acquaintance, Amelia, up at the coffee shop. She starts law school at Tulane in the fall. We had a nice conversation and I look forward to visiting her in NOLA and eating lots of Cajun food. Man! I love Cajun food!

While we were there I met a girl my age who is writing her master's thesis on Human Trafficking. I was surprised to learn that the Bush administration is actually very active in punishing countries that do this. The Administration did research to collect data on human trafficking in each country. The countries with the worst records are on a trade embargo. Not surprisingly, America wasn't even researched for the list. She also told us how W often uses it as an excuse to further his war-hawk causes. Politics. Meh.

Personality Is An Illusion

Your Personality Profile

You are happy, driven, and status conscious. You want everyone to know how successful you are. Very logical, you see life as a game of strategy. A bit of a loner, you prefer to depend on yourself. You always keep your cool and your composure. You are a born leader and business person.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

I know I could have picked any one of the choices and it would have been accurate by nature of how these things work, but I liked this answer. It fits me especially well right now.

Salvation Through Nudism

The domestic demi-goddess in me had her way with my kitchen this weekend. The layer of cocoa powder on the counter top and splatters of spaghetti sauce on the stove are a loud reminder of the fun I had. I haven’t gotten the nerve to clean it up yet; not because of laziness, but because I like the way it makes my kitchen looked lived-in and used.

The truffles I made were not half bad. I made three varieties: ginger and allspice, peanut butter, and almandine. The ginger and allspice ones were divine. While I was working I got it in my head that I should open a truffle shop. By the time I finished designing the shop layout, advertising, credo, and premise of my store I was finished making the truffles. It was a very relaxing evening. Solitude has its rewards.

I have also been reading You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. He had this to say:

"They, too, had begun as seekers after truth, but had suffered some eclipse of vision and had ended as champions of some limited brand of truth. They were the ones who became the special pleaders for things as they are, and their names grew fat and sleek in the pages of The Saturday Evening Post and women's magazines. Or they became escapists and sold themselves to Hollywood, and were lost and sunk without a trace. Or, somewhat differently but following the same blind principle, they identified themselves with this or that group, clique, faction, or interest in art or politics, and led forlorn and esoteric little cults and isms. These were the innumerable small fry who became the literary Communists, or single-taxers, or embattled vegetarians, or believers in salvation through nudism. Whatever they became- and there was no limit to their variety- they were like the blind men with the elephant: each one of them had accepted some part of life for the whole, some fragmentary truth or half-truth for truth itself, some little personal interest for the large and all-embracing interest of mankind. If that happened to him, how, then, could he sing America?"

Stream of Conscience

Summertime. It's either go-go-go or STOP. I like the fall, when everything seems to amble along at a nice steady clop. This summer has been no exception. Life was full-speed-ahead until July 5th when everything came to a screeching halt and the only thing I had to look forward to for the month of July was getting shots at the Health Department and Tuesday night Pharmacology class.

A synopsis in stream of conscience form:
Heat. Planes. Distance. Episcopal General Convention. Gays. Women. Church. Food. Friends. U2charist. One campaign. Walking. Drinking. Motorcycles. Road trips. Packing. Moving. Left behind. Acceptance Letter. Nursing school. Year and a half. Vaccinations. Chicken Pox. Stethoscope. Violet. New home. Dishwasher. Never used. Brick courtyard. Heat. Fark. Pharmacology. Late night phone calls. Beach. Condo. Hurricane. Dancing. High heels. Sleep. Boredom. Solitude. Cat. Sewing Machine. Big Ideas. Coffee. Movies. Anticipation. Noel. Friends.

Fresh Start

With all of the recent changes in my life, I figured it was time to start a new blog. So here it is. TaDa. Look behind you. Did you see the fireworks?